In one of the most deceptive statements that a body of Christ teacher can make, Clyde Pilkington teaches that marriage and parenting are “the focus of our era,” and “the advanced will of our Lord for today.” Isn’t it a shame that the apostle Paul could not live the advanced will of our Lord for today?
By insisting that Paul’s advice in 1 Corinthians to avoid marriage if one can in order to be undistracted for the Lord contradicts Paul’s later advice in Ephesians to marry and have children (Paul NEVER ADVISES ANYONE in Ephesians to marry and have children), Mr. Pilkington at the same time relegates the snatching away of the body of Christ to a bygone
era.
I’m not sure which came first: the desire to keep the saints from being snatched away from their homes and families, or the desire to make marriage and parenting (Clyde also writes a newsletter about patriarchy) the "focus or our era" and the "advanced will of our Lord for today."
If one’s PERSONAL focus is marriage and parenting, then it would certainly benefit one spiritually—at least in the eyes of others—if one could convince these others that marriage and parenting are “the advanced will of our Lord for today.” I mean, who would not want to portray oneself as living the advanced will of our Lord? Again, how unfortunate for the apostle Paul and for the unmarried and childless in the
body of Christ today.
Clyde has meticulously fashioned an artificial Scriptural distinction between 1 Corinthians and Ephesians (between singleness and marriage) in order to glorify his personal bent (I'm not even saying he's doing this consciously) and to keep himself and his family on this earth practicing it.
If patriarchy one’s thing, then fine. If one wants to live in this fantasy world of marriage and parenting being “front and center” and “the focus of our era,” and “the advanced will of the Lord for today,” then fine. But when one contorts Scripture in order build and then maintain this fantasy SO AS TO PASS IT ON TO OTHERS AS "SCRIPTURAL," well, then those of us who realize that
Paul’s marriage advice never changes and that the snatching away is to be the glorious expectation of all body members of all eras—we must vehemently object and expose the construct.
