They both believe Jesus saves, but Bishop Carlton Pearson and the Rev. Michael Pitts no longer agree on what that means.

Mr. Pitts, the pastor of Toledo's Cornerstone Church, has joined religious leaders around the country in distancing himself from the teachings of Bishop Pearson, a man he has regarded as his mentor for the last decade.

At issue is Bishop Pearson's embrace of what is being called the “gospel of inclusion,” a kind of Universalism that holds all people are saved by Jesus Christ even if they do not explicitly repent, confess their sins, and accept their salvation.

On Sunday, Mr. Pitts posted a letter on his church's Web site saying that he and Bishop Pearson have agreed to disagree without being disagreeable. Mr. Pitts said he also had decided against participating in an October summit at Bishop Pearson's Higher Dimensions Church in Tulsa, where he had been scheduled as a speaker.

“I have been deeply troubled and concerned about the direction Bishop Pearson's ministry has taken,” he wrote. “... I know he thinks he is right. I, however, do not.”

In taking a stand against Bishop Pearson's teaching, which some have called heresy, Mr. Pitts added his voice to those of Bishop T.D. Jakes of Dallas's Potter's House and Bishops Gilbert E. Patterson and Charles E. Blake of the Church of God in Christ.

Bishop Jakes called Bishop Pearson's theology “wrong, false, misleading, and an incorrect interpretation of the Bible” and Bishops Patterson and Blake issued a statement formally distancing themselves and their denomination from Bishop Pearson's teachings.

Mr. Pitts said he also knows that evangelists Oral Roberts, James Robison, Marilyn Hickey, and John Hagee have confronted Bishop Pearson about the issue.

In an interview earlier this week, Cornerstone's pastor said he long has regarded Bishop Pearson as a source of counsel and someone to whom he could be accountable. The two men frequently spoke at the same conferences and would converse on the phone several times a month, Mr. Pitts said. Bishop Pearson also has been a guest speaker at Cornerstone.

Mr. Pitts said he first became aware of Bishop Pearson's apparent doctrinal shift about three years ago. “At that time, he was not preaching it so consistently and publicly. It's something he was formulating, turning over in his mind, and discussing in small groups.”

In such discussions, Mr. Pitts said, “I was always on the other side of the debate he was. When I found out he was becoming a little bit more serious about beginning to preach this publicly, then I did try to dissuade him.”

He said Bishop Pearson never preached his “gospel of inclusion” at Cornerstone. “Even while he was formulating it, he was always respectful and knew that I didn't agree with it.”

As word of Bishop Pearson's inclusionary gospel has spread over the last six months, Mr. Pitts said he has had many questions from those who knew of his relationship with the evangelist. In answering them, he said he has consistently tried to defend the man, not his doctrine, but realized that he had to make a public stand clarifying his own beliefs.

“I realized he was not going to be dissuaded from this course, no matter who spoke to him, and that this is no longer something he is working through. But he's going to put a stake in the ground, and this is where he's going to go with it. I thought, we're just not in the same direction. It was time for me to make a step.”

Bishop Pearson did not respond to a request for an interview from The Blade, but in an explanation of his beliefs sprinkled liberally with various Scripture citations and posted on his church's Web site, he said that he still believes in such essentials of Christian doctrine as Christ's deity, virgin birth, death on the cross for the sins of the world, resurrection, and imminent return.

He said he also believes in the power of being “born again,” which he said he experienced more than 40 years ago and which he believes “sanctified” him or set him apart for special service, ranking, and relationship to Christ.

Bishop Pearson said he believes that because Christ's crucifixion and death reconciled all mankind to God, the message people need to hear is that through Christ they already have been redeemed and may enjoy the blessings that are already theirs through Christ.

“It is my objective to simply re-present Jesus in a softer and more loving way, being less excluding and more `inclusive' in His love, tolerance, acceptance, and glorious promise to all,” he wrote.

Bishop Pearson goes on to say that people who have not responded to an altar call or who do not seem to “accept” Christ may not have rejected Him outright. “It may only be possible for believers to actually reject Jesus,” he wrote.

He said he believes in some kind of expression of hell but is instructing his congregation to emphasize the Bible's teaching that “mercy will triumph over judgment.”

In a recent article by Charisma News Service, Bishop Pearson said his preaching has caused a split in his 4,500-member congregation and declining attendance at his church and at his annual conference.

He also told Christianity Today in June that he thinks his theology contributed to his poor finish in February's Republican primary, in which he had sought nomination for mayor of Tulsa.

Dr. Gene Crutsinger, professor of theology at Findlay's Winebrenner Theological Seminary, said the ideas being advanced by Bishop Pearson are counter to the orthodox Christian teaching that although human beings do nothing to earn Christ's atonement for their sins, some response is required for them to benefit from the salvation achieved by His death on the cross.

“Whether you go clear back into Catholicism or the Protestant traditions, all had a clear indication that there needed to be a response, an acknowledgement. ... All of the work of salvation was done by Christ, but until you are born again and have responded to that message with repentance and faith, you haven't partaken of it.”

Dr. Gary Blaine, senior minister of Toledo's First Unitarian Church, said although Bishop Pearson's message is being called Universalism, what he is teaching has no official connection to Unitarian Universalism.

“From what I have read, what he is preaching certainly is parallel to what was preached in the 18th and 19th centuries by Universalists in America, but that is not Unitarian Universalism.”

Early Universalists, he said, rejected the notion of universal damnation, believing either that Christ's death reconciled mankind to God or that any punishment would be temporary and followed by a great reconciliation or restoration.

“Contemporary Unitarian Universalists would say that all paths lead to God and that the path most of us are on is chosen by the culture we've grown up in.”

Dr. Blaine said that when he was minister of Hope Unitarian Church in Tulsa about five years ago, he had a three-hour conversation at his church with Bishop Pearson in which he remembers the evangelist telling him, “You know, what I am really about is hope.”

“I really do believe that Carlton is about hope,” Dr. Blaine said. “And it makes sense to me that he would move toward a universal declaration of salvation, because for an African-American, that's about inclusion, and I think that is certainly what Universalism represents - a radical doctrine of inclusion into the family of God.”

Mr. Pitts said he wonders whether Bishop Pearson, who is 49, may be going through a time of midlife searching.

“It's possible for a person to have a good, sincere, honorable motivation and just come up with the wrong conclusion. He loves people, he wants people to come together, and he wants there to be reconciliation, but it doesn't mean any answer you come up with is OK. You can't have unity and forsake truth.”

First Published September 21, 2002, 10:45 a.m.