Can and/or should people be "delivered" from human and/or homosexuality and are both innate abominations, especially outside the marriage covenant?
The recent viral circulation of a video of a young 21 yr old gay man claiming "deliverance" from homosexuality at the 107th convocation of the Church of God In Christ (COGIC), has been seen by hundreds of thousands, and continues to cause quite a stir both within the movement and outside it. The young man's testimony of deliverance was supposedly the spiritual response to comments made by one of the speakers of the convention who attacked homosexuality in one of the more crude and caustic ways that many have ever witnessed in a public forum. Such vocal and doctrinal hostility has caused many Fundamentalists to reconsider what they believe about human and homosexuality in this 21st century, including the "don't ask, don't tell" position many churches and particularly the African American church have held longer than most other mainline denominations.
James Baldwin, the great African American novelist, essayist, playwright, poet, and social critic, who as a teenager, wrestled with personal issues of sexuality, and became disillusioned with how the church grew to view it, particularly the Pentecostal one he preached in, as a piece of human theater where everyone conspired to keep up the illusion of love and piety. According to his writings, he concluded that both white and black evangelical churches were governed by similar principles of blindness, loneliness, and terror. He loved the church, but left it for the rest of his life. Millions are coming to similar conclusions, but looking for something they can more readily relate to and find relevance in.
Over all, the Christian church, including the Pentecostal denomination I love and grew up in, is becoming increasingly polarized around this delicate and important doctrinal/moral issue, especially with the double standards becoming increasingly conspicuous anywhere from Bill Cosby to "Bishop" Cosby, so to speak. From television to televangelism, this critical matter is causing many to reconsider whether or not they can continue embracing such vitriolic positions privately, publicly or even philosophically. Is there a moral compass, medium or balance? Where do saints and sinners cross the line in the their actions and attitudes?
Carlton Pearson
After college at the Oral Roberts University in Tulsa Oklahoma he served for 15 years on its Board of Regents, and two years as Associate Evangelist of The Oral Roberts Association, (ORA).
In 1977, Pearson founded Higher Dimensions Ministries (now New Dimensions ), in Tulsa, which grew to over 5,000.
Bishop Pearson was consecrated to the office of Bishop in 1996 thru a College of Bishops headed by Bishop Charles E Blake, presently the Presiding Bishop of the Churches of God In Christ, the denomination he was raised in and through whom he was ordained in 1971.
In 1993, Carlton married the former Gina Marie Gauthier who is a professional Life Coach and Yoga teacher.
More recently, he has felt a passion to proclaim the "Gospel Of Inclusion" and has written a widely acclaimed book by that name, published by Simon and Schuster. It confronts the Christian church's exclusivism as being inconsistent, in spirit with the teachings of Jesus.
Pearson's frank and often controversial take on a number of different subjects has earned him appearances on television programs such as NBC and MSNBC's Dateline, ABC's Nightline, 20/20, Good Morning America, CBS Evening News with Dan Rather, BET Tonight with Tavis Smiley, The Edge with Paula Zahn and Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher, The Monique Show on BET, and a number of other television, radio and print media outlets. Bishop Pearson was recognized as one of America's 10 Most Influential Black Ministers by Gospel Today and Belief.net. He has received several honorary doctoral degrees.
Bishop Pearson recently served as the Interim Senior Minister at Christ Universal Temple in Chicago. He and Gina now host New Dimensions of Chicago, building a local multi-cultural and radically Inclusive spiritual community that emphasizes expanded consciousness and Self Actualization. His newest book, God Is Not A Christian, Nor A Jew, Muslim, Hindu...God Dwells With Us, In Us, Around Us, As Us was published by Simon and Schuster and released in the spring of 2010.
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