(AgapePress) - A Pentecostal bishop in Oklahoma has no plans to stop preaching a message that says non-Christians are saved too.

Bishop Carlton Pearson is pastor of Higher Dimensions Family Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He says he is being shunned by evangelicals who object to his teaching that a person does not have to believe in Jesus Christ in order to go to heaven.

"Many of my evangelical friends are adamantly opposed to my saying that Jesus is the Savior of the whole world," Pearson says. "He's only a Savior for the world if they happen to find Him, they think. I'm saying it's a done deal."

Pearson says people are saved through Jesus even if they do not trust Jesus as their Savior -- and he even goes as far to say he is not worried about giving false comfort to those who do not believe in Jesus because, if he is wrong, Jesus is bigger than he is and will not let his error send millions to hell.

An Associated Press report says the pastor, who is writing a book entitled God Is Not a Christian, has seen many members leave his church because of his universalist message.

Meanwhile, on a similar note, the World Evangelical Alliance has added its voice to those criticizing a recent statement from American Catholic bishops that said Christians do not need to witness to Jews about Jesus Christ because Jews are already under what the bishops called "a saving covenant."

The Alliance says the Bible's teaching for Christians to share the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ to the whole human race still applies.

Bill Stalled by Barney, et al.
And still on the subject of attacks on religious beliefs, President Bush's faith-based initiative is being targeted by liberals. A coalition of civil-rights groups and liberal House Democrats have mounted an aggressive campaign to block the faith-based initiative in the Senate unless the bill explicitly prohibits religious charities from discriminating when hiring.

According to The Boston Globe, Massachusetts Democrat Barney Frank is working with two homosexual groups -- the Human Rights Campaign and the Lambda Legal Defense Fund -- to get the Senate bill amended. The chief sponsors of the bill -- Pennsylvania Republican Senator Rick Santorum and Connecticut Democratic Senator Joseph Lieberman -- say they are disappointed the bipartisan bill has been stalled in the Senate.

But White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives director Jim Towey remains optimistic the bill will pass the Senate.

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