These are indeed times of transition and refreshing to those who believe and concede to the obvious universal changes and challenges before us. Many are gladly and deliberately adjusting their lives to the growing evolution of consciousness on the planet.
There is a global shift in religious sensibilities. People are awakening to Self and Soul at a level that is liberating them personally and profoundly in every dimension of life.
Making, marking, measuring, managing and mastering the change is the great ambition of all who intend to remain both locally and universally relevant in spirit and to Spirit. It is important to clear out space and place in your thought life for appropriate growth and expansion in your life habits, hobbies, hungers and hopes.
Recovering your original self, owning and honoring your truth and embracing it lovingly will enable you to reach, realize and actualize your highest potential, purpose and privilege. It is your birthright to be free, at peace and happy. Anything else is an illusion and hampers the global energies that facilitate the fuller expressions of Light and Love in you and through you as you. We can change this and help effect the free flow of this energy in ways we've yet to imagine.
Carlton Pearson DOES believe in Hell...just not the one we were psychologically and emotionally tortured with most of our lives. Whatever hell was before Calvary, it is no longer! Jesus took the keys and you can't get in! He took the sting from death and victory from the grave! I believe that we invent hell for ourselves and others, by our limited perception of God. It is a human invention NOT a heavenly intention! He said, "It is finished." What say ye?
Here is an excerpt from a chapter in my upcoming book, God Is Not A Christian on the subject of hell.
The concept of a God who systematically and eternally tortures His enemies is one of the great errors in religious thinking. The conflict stems from this fact: the God of Christianity and a God who is Christian are two different concepts. The God of Christianity is a God of eternal love, grace and mercy. However, the Christian God has become something else entirely: frighteningly cruel, unforgiving, legalistic and draconian. He is lord, but not the Lord. He is the one who uses Hell to intimidate masses of ignorant, innocent people.
Hades and Greek Mythology We have already seen how Greek religion and its continuation in the Roman culture, influenced early Christian doctrine. So it is with the concept of Hell and existence after death. In Roman mythology, Hades is called Pluto and represents both the god of the underworld and the underworld itself. To the Romans, Pluto was the god to whom all men must eventually go. They believed him to be the god of the dead and the dark, misty regions of the afterlife.
According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, Hades was a Greek god or celestial personality. In Greek, Hades means “unseen”, similar to the Hebrew word sheol, which means “pit, grave or out of sight”. The implication is something unknown, hidden by shadow and unknowable. The KJV translates the Old Testament word sheol as “hell” 31 times, “grave” 31 times, and “pit” three times. The New Testament equivalent of sheol is Hades, and appears only 13 times. It usually means “grave” rather than the fiery inferno modern Christianity perceives it to be.
The parallels in Christian theology with Greek and Roman mysticism are understandable, but they are no excuse for confusion or ignorance. They should be identified for what they are and Christians should be aware of how inappropriate they are in influencing some of our doctrinal teachings.
According to Edward Fudge, author of The Fire That Consumes, in Hades, Charon ferried the souls of the dead across the rivers of Styx or Acheron into this abode where the three-headed watchdog Cerberus guarded the gate so none might escape.
This pagan mythos contained all the elements for medieval eschatology (the study of the end times or afterlife). There was the pleasant Elysium, the gloomy Tartarus, and even the Plain of Asphodel, where the ghosts wandered who were suited for none of the above. The word Hades came into biblical usage when the Septuagint translators chose it to represent the Hebrew sheol, a vastly different Old Testament concept. Sheol too, received all the dead, but the Old Testament says nothing about punishment or reward.
Hell On Earth...Really So what we have with Hell is a confused stew of belief systems. The reality of Hell is far more complex. It is not my intention to deny the existence of Hell, but to define it biblically rather than according to Greek mythology. We’ve always seen Hell as God’s answer to sin. This perception is only partially true, if at all.
In many ways, the Church seems to hate evil more than it loves good or even God. Christians have made evil and the devil equal rivals to God, glamorizing both into a form of idolatrous theology. We are obsessed with evil, sin, and with figuring out (according to our own bigotries and preoccupations) which behaviors will send their perpetrators into eternal fire.
In our obsession with hell, the devil, and evil, we have become spiritual warmongers of the first order. I have received scores of letters from evangelical Christians insisting that by teaching there is no literal hell that I am simply leading millions there—and will end up there myself. This is a response I sent to one of those correspondents:
“Your commitment and devotion to hell, devils, the first Adam and death is cultish and dangerous. I'm sure you mean well and have interpreted the bible to support your fear-based theologies, but they are inaccurate and anti-Christ in nature.
Hell is a place we unwittingly create and/or invent for ourselves, not a place God created or would have created for anyone. God is not that vulgar and hateful.
I believe in an eternal God who judges, but not in a God who judges eternally. According to Christian theology, all of the judgment of God against sin was in Christ at Calvary. Any other judgment of sin is temporary and immediate, never eternal. Only Mercy endures forever, as scripture says, mercy will triumph over Judgment. (James 2:13)”
Heaven and hell are states of consciousness. Hell begins and ends here in our earth consciousness. It is something we have invented out of fear, and we continue to recreate it simply because we've been taught to. Only degenerate minds dream up such profane delusions as eternal torture and then blame them on God.
People without sound minds, who don't know the transcendent nature of God’s love, invent such horrifying experiences. Hell exists, but we create many versions of it ourselves. Prison is one of the hells we create. There’s plenty of weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth there. I have a brother who spent three-and-a-half years in federal prison. It was Hell for him. He called prison the front door to Hell; and hospitals the back door.
The concepts of Hades, Sheol and other synonyms for a place of eternal torment have no relevance here. Hell is not a Christian concept taught by the Apostles or Christ. Jesus spoke of Gehenna, (the Valley of Hinnom), which was the city dump on the southeast side of Jerusalem. The term is used allegorically as a reference to separation in consciousness, from the truth and hope that exists in God. Jesus declared that Hell’s gates would not prevail.
The original biblical consequence for sin was death, not Hell. The concept of Hell was brought into the picture some 4,500 years after Adam and Eve's misstep in the garden. Jesus died once for all (2 Cor. 5:14) and removed the sting from death, making it simply a transition into another consciousness rather than the annihilation it probably was before the Resurrection. Jesus opened the way to Heaven. Hell was never part of the equation.
Bishop Carlton Pearson Asks: Why All the Paranoia Over the Da Vinci Code?
-Evangelical Pentecostal Bishop Says that God Has Not Given Us a Spirit of Fear –
TULSA, Okla., May 16, 2006 /PRNewswire/ -- The following is a statement issued by Bishop Carlton Pearson of New Dimensions Worship Center:
"Why all the fuss about the Da Vinci Code? Is it not a fictional novel claiming to be nothing more?
Only those who are alarmed dial 911. Most of the people screaming about the Da Vinci Code are those who profess to be people of faith. However, what some are referring to a "Faith-based community" is beginning to sound more like a "Fear-based community."
The panic of the religious right is obvious in their knee-jerk reaction to the Da Vinci Code or to anything else that challenges their often idolatrous traditions. What is the difference between the Christian response to the Da Vinci Code and the Islamic world's response to Salman Rushdie's 'Satanic Verses'?
As an evangelical Christian pastor, I usually do not read many fictional books; however, as I read the entire Da Vinci Code novel, I could barely put it down even though it clearly states that it is fiction. I loved the fact that the book, as will the movie, touches on several critical points of history that need to be honestly revisited.
While I do not necessarily believe that Jesus was married, it would not be totally unreasonable to assume that the man who said: "...whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart," may have had human attractions, as do other men, to a beautiful young woman attending to Him in the manner scripture suggests Mary Magdalene and other women did. He was, after all, a young single man.
Scripture also says in reference to Jesus, "....we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.” If in fact He was tempted as we are, then one of the only ways He could be so without sin, would be to marry.
According to Christian theology, it is not Christ's possible marriage to a woman that has made the difference in the world; it is His marriage to the church and to His purpose to redeem humankind to God that should be the only thing that truly counts. Even if He were married to Mary Magdalene or any other woman for that matter, it would not change His divinity or His teachings on divine matters of life, at least as far as I am concerned. After all, His favorite title for Himself was “son of man,” not “Son of God.”
True believers should be allowed to ask questions without being accused of being rebellious renegades and thus treated as second class Christians. True believers simply believe, but having faith does not mean you are brain dead. Having faith does not mean a person believes everything he is told about God by someone else—faith should be based on one’s personal inward consciousness of theDivine, not someone else's interpretation of that reality.
One of my favorite authors, Oswald Chambers wrote: "Doubt is not always a sign that a man is wrong; it may be a sign that he is thinking."
Hello! Welcome to the New Dimensions website! We are so thrilled that you've chosen to visit us! We hope that you'll join us in exploring, experiencing and expressing the inclusive love of God!
There is a great difference between spirit and religion, and we would love to hear your thoughts on the subject. What about Bishop's thought that "God is not a Christian"? Drop a line with anything that you'd like to contribute to the discussion of these two points, or any concerning what you think God is saying today!
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