Thank God that certain members of the body of Christ have been designated beforehand to form sects that splinter the body of Christ. The only reason I can be thankful for this is because of 1 Corinthians 11:19, where Paul says, "For it must be that there are sects also among you, that those also who are qualified may be becoming apparent among you."

The key words here are "must be." This has to happen. It is predestined to happen. Why? "...That those also who are qualified may be becoming apparent among you."

A sect is a split-off from standard, established, body-of Christ teaching. The earmarks of a sect are as follows:

--- Scriptures are habitually manipulated.

---Human reasoning replaces believing the written Word.

---Even good translations are re-translated to suit the personal preference of the sectarians. (The Concordant definition of "sect" is "preference.")

--- There is the desire to be different; some in the body desire to be mavericks; contrarians; set apart from the rest; lifted out from the common teaching. ("sect" = Gr. airesis = “lifting”).

---Rebuke and entreaty by qualified teachers is ignored by the sectarians. The teachers who correct the sectarians are slanderously said, by the sectarians, to be mean and unloving.

---Undiscerning people who are excited for something new and different will fall for a sect and form a small group around the sectarians.

Again, Paul who clearly gives the reason why sects MUST exist in the body of Christ: "that those also who are qualified may be becoming apparent among you" (1 Corinthians 11:19.)

The presence of a sect gives the qualified teacher the opportunity to expose the sect and rebuke the sectarian, thus demonstrating to the body of Christ that he is qualified. God deems this important. It is not that the qualified teacher wishes or arranges for this to happen, it happens naturally when the qualified teacher detects the cult, hates the lie, mourns the division caused by the sect, and thus feels compelled to expose the lie and rebuke the liars.

There is a benefit in this, both for the qualified teacher and for those in the body of Christ who are saved by the qualified teacher from falling into the error of the sect.

What earmarks a qualified teacher?

---follows laws of language
---follows laws of Scriptural interpretation
---easily detects the breaking of these laws
---sticks to sound Scriptural translating principles
---is aware of context
---remains emotionally detached
---attacks the sect while loving the sectarians
---has several years (decades, preferably) of experience in rightly translated Scripture.

THE 14 SECTARIAN TEACHINGS OF CLYDE PILKINGTON:

1. The body of Christ will not be snatched away. (1 Thessalonians 4 and 1 Cor. 15 is for Israel, say the sectarians.)
2. Only half of Paul’s letters are for us. (This sect was invented by Charles Welch; known as the “Acts 28 Theory.” To embrace this sect one must know when Paul’s letters were written, yet no such information exists in Scripture.) 
3. All members of the body of Christ must die. (Yet Paul, “we shall not all be put to repose.” Dean Wilkinson and Chris Carnahan are two of Clyde's followers who have given up on the snatching away and happily embraced death.) 
4. There is a 500-year Israel kingdom BEFORE the Millennial kingdom. (Otis sellers invented this sect. All the “evidence” presented by this sect can easily apply to the Millennium; Scriptures must be manipulated to support the sect.) 
5. One can MARRY into the body of Christ without believing in Christ. (Truly, one of the more ludicrous sects.) 
6. A man’s first line of ministry is his marriage. (This is not true; it’s his work) 
7. Husbands must obey their wives. (No, but rather, wives must obey their husbands.)
8. Jesus Christ did not pre-exist Bethlehem. (A flat-out lie requiring an ignorance of rules of Scriptural interpretation and a denial of at least twenty obvious Scripture passages.) 
9. No prophecy is being fulfilled today. (These particular sectarians need to do away with signs indicating we’re near the end of the eon; they don’t want the eon to end in their lifetime.) 
10. The era is UNLIMITED. (Paul says in 1 Corinthians 7:29, “the era is LIMITED.” Again, these sectarians do not want the eon to end in their lifetime. They want to live full lives with their children and grandchildren and die natural deaths.) 
11. The flood of Noah was local. (These sectarians loathe the fact that God is a destroyer before He’s a restorer.) 
12. The bowls and plagues of Revelation affect only Israel. (See above.) 
13. Teaching is secondary to fellowship. (We must all get along even at the expense of teaching.) 
14. Anyone looking for Jesus is wasting his/her time. (Related to “we all must die.” Christ WILL NOT return in anyone’s lifetime; this is critical teaching to a sect that wishes to die a natural death surrounded by children and grandchildren.