@coltenbarnaby: Carlton Pearson was my first introduction to the idea of universal salvation. At one point he was one of the most popular pastors in America. His vibrant multiracial church, Higher Dimensions, was one of the fastest growing churches in America. He was a fiery preacher and a great theologian well-versed in Greek and Hebrew. Until one day he asked God how They could call Themselves a God of love if They allowed poor people to suffer on earth only to suck them straight into hell for eternity because they never heard the gospel. He said he heard an inner voice he believed to be God reply, “So that’s what you think we’re doing?” He went on from there to pour himself into the study of scripture and realized he had it all wrong. He began to preach what he called the gospel of inclusion. In full transparency, it doesn’t map perfectly onto the apokatastasis of the early church, but the intuition is the same, that God will not be defeated by sin, God’s victory will be totalizing, and God will be All in All. As a result, he lost his church and became an outcast in the evangelical circles that once sang his praises. I had the opportunity to meet him a number of times and I am incredibly grateful for the his witness and courage. The last time I saw him was at a Starbucks in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He asked me if he could pray for me and the words he spoke over me carried me through a very long and dark decade of my life. This pic is a young Colten and Bishop Carlton Pearson, circa 2008. #christian #biblestudy #sin #hell

Colten Barnaby

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Friday 12 June 2026 20:44:27 GMT