Preaching Radical Inclusion

Bishop Carlton Pearson preaches what he calls “radical inclusion — love, liberty and justice for all.” And this Gospel of Inclusion came on the heels of a theological crisis after his public rejection of a lifelong belief in hell.  As detailed by Donna Mosher in the November 2018 issue of Guide for Spiritual Living: Science of Mind magazine, Pearson once was a pastor to world leaders and politicians — the golden child of the Neo-Pentecostal Charismatic movement. He founded one of the country’s largest multi-cultural Pentecostal congregations in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Pearson today says, “I’m standing with all marginalized people, particularly the LGBTQ global community and the injustices they experience. Now I consider myself a sacred activist. I am … honoring the teaching and example of our beloved Dr. King.”

He brings his gospel of inclusion to Tulsa, the city where he’s lived for 47 years. He says he understands why God sent him here, because “I understand these people, their religious presuppositions and the construct of their minds.

“This town,” he adds, “like our nation overall, is slowly shifting its consciousness and spiritual culture. Many leaders are moving to more expanded ways of thinking. Our kids are rethinking their relationships to the universe, with or without parental support.”

His proclamation of the radical, revolutionary, evolutionary love of God for every single person is being heard around the world. For these reasons and more, Pearson received the first Walden Change Maker Award.

Join the Walden Award Recipients

Tomorrow you can join Bishop Pearson and the other recipients of the 2018 Walden Awards during a free online summit. On October 23 from 5:30 - 8:30 p.m. Pacific Time, the honorees will explore their vision, commitment and progress. The online summit is free, but you must register by visiting www.agnt.today/so/4cMPFavfu?cid=47629685-4c4a-4daf-bf5c-222d91bf95ba&region=88dd6442-d43a-49f9-918c-271489235ff8#/main.

The Association for Global New Thought, Unity, Centers for Spiritual Living, Agape and representatives from Universal Foundation for Better Living combined forces this year to create this list of 27 New Thought and socially conscious leaders who are working to create positive change in the world.

The purpose of the awards is to honor these 27 leaders and to spotlight their notable accomplishments. But the broader goal is to inspire the rest of us to follow in their footsteps with our work and vision.

Working for a Just, Peaceful,

Sustainable World

Students, Nobel Laureates, clergy, interfaith leaders, best-selling authors, thought leaders, politicians, spiritual luminaries. From scholars to activists, pastors to children, the Parliament of the World’s Religions draws people from every corner of the world, every religious path, every quest for truth and meaning.

November 2-6, 2018, more than 10,000 participants from 80 countries, representing 200-plus unique spiritual backgrounds will gather in Toronto to work toward the Parliament’s stated goal: “The Parliament of the World’s Religions was created to cultivate harmony among the world’s religious and spiritual communities and foster their engagement with the world and its guiding institutions in order to achieve a just, peaceful and sustainable world.”

At this year’s conference, Net Thought leaders are among the speakers and participants. New Thought was accepted into the Parliament in 2015. The gathering’s keynote speakers, a who’s who of 33 religious thought leaders, will address the theme “The Promise of Inclusion, the Power of Love: Pursuing Global Understanding, Reconciliation and Change.”

The Parliament’s leadership council has nurtured relationships among people of different faith backgrounds and beliefs. In so doing, it offers a framework for expressing many and varied visions of a just, peaceful, sustainable future.

To learn more, visit parliamentofreligions.org or see the article on the Parliament in the October 2018 issue of Guide for Spiritual Living: Science of Mind magazine.

Find the Divine Within

— by Dr. Ernest Holmes

Go inside yourself and you will meet God, right where you are. The amazing thing is that every man is exactly where Jesus told him to go. Jesus said we should go inside ourselves. He called this “entering the closet,” closing our eyes to everything outside and thinking and feeling something within. He said, when you have done this, very directly, tell God just what you want. Jesus said this is the way to talk to God.

And the next thing is not quite so simple, for he said when you tell God what you want, believe that He is going to give it to you. He was very definite about this, for he said that when you ask God for something, you should believe, not only that He is going to give it to you but that He already has given it to you. …

Jesus announced, with the utmost simplicity, that God is right where you are and responds to you, that He is greater than you are and wants to help you, and He will if you believe He will. So when you talk to God, affirm that He is going to give you what you ask for.

Say to yourself, “I am the captain of my fate, I am the master of my soul, for I am one with God.”

—Excerpted from Dr. Ernest Holmes’ radio program “This Thing Called Life,” Sunday, October 9, 1949, available in full at SoMArchives.org.