New: Audio Teaching!

We now have audio teaching that we will be alternating with our written Daily Email Goodies: a written lesson one day, and an audio presentation the next.

There will be three types of audios, (1) topical teaching, (2) questions & answers, and (3) expository teaching through books of the Bible.

I am personally thrilled with this renewed aspect of my teaching ministry. Bear with us through our initial audios, as we are in the process of acquiring and learning how to best use our equipment and software. The audios should get even better with time.

My son Clyde III is the great force behind these audios. He has been a constant encouragement, and is their producer – investing hundreds of hours in this important project already. My sincere thanks for his extreme dedication and love of the truth.

I am also thankful for those whom Father has moved to partner financially with me in these labors – through you He allows me the time and resources to expand my teaching ministry once again. Without you this would not be possible. I am deeply touched and humbled.

For His truth, and the honor of His name,

Clyde L. Pilkington, Jr.

My Attitude and Writings

If any man thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know (I Corinthians 8:2).

I have always been a seeker of the truth. This means that I have embraced the need to be adjustable. I know people who are proud that they have held the exact same doctrinal understandings for 20, 30, 40, 50 years. This is not a badge of honor to me. I continue to learn and grow. My beliefs have continued to change drastically over the years.

Anyone wanting to see this in my own life only needs to leaf through the 20 years of Bible Student’s Notebook. They clearly attest to the flexibleness of my heart toward truth.

My books are not written in stone. I have never viewed them that way. They are written on paper – and on-demand paper at that. I do not have a stockpile of them. The beauty of on-demand printing is that I have my books printed as they are needed.

For me, on-demand printing is perfect for my lack of money for stock, and also – and probably more importantly – it allows me to make changes, adjustments, corrections, additions and/or deletions between ordering individual copies. Believe me, I have taken advantage of this freedom!

It seems that almost every time that I re-read something which I have written, there is a change that I would like to make. So, on-demand printing is perfect for me. My books go through many editions, even in a single year. I consider them “living” books, rather than “dead” set–in-stone books.

Norman Grubb (1895-1993) has written in this regard:

I don’t know if every writer on the things of the Spirit has the same problem – no sooner have I completed one manuscript than I see this … and this … and this … which could be put much more clearly, or whole areas of insights which should be added. I feel like the automobile dealers who must produce a new model each year! – God Unlimited

So, do my current writings contain mistakes and errors? Absolutely! Where? I don’t know yet. Over the years, as I see more and more truth, I correct my writings. Will you find “errors” in my writings that I do not see? Probably. Will I correct these “errors”? If you show them to me from Scripture and I can see them for myself from Scripture.

Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind (Romans 14:5).

What if you see something in my writing with which you disagree? Disregard them, if it is by faith in the Scriptures that you disagree with them; as I will do with your assertion that they are “error,” if I can’t see that they are indeed “error” by faith in the Scriptures. What will be my response if we differ? I will receive you, as Christ has received me.

Receive each other, as Christ has received us to the glory of God (Romans 15:7).

Martin Luther (1483-1546), on trial before the Diet of Worms, was asked by the Inquisitor:

Doest thou admit that these books are written by thee?

Wilt thou retract these books and their contents, or doest thou persist in the things thou hast advanced?

To which Luther replied:

Unless I can be convicted of error by the Holy Scripture, I neither can nor dare retract anything, for my conscience is held captive by God’s Word. Here I stand, I can do not otherwise; so God help me. Amen.

One day I must stand before the Lord to give an account. I can’t stand before Him and tell Him that I simply did what somebody else wanted me to do. I must stand before Him, having lived in the truth that I have seen.

So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God (Romans 14:12).

My love to each of you.

Clyde L. Pilkington, Jr.
© Daily Email Goodies^™



Things I Have Learned

Over the years I have come to change my understanding about many things that I have learned along the way. I will sum up as briefly as I can a few of the basics of what I learned. Many of them may be alive in your heart as well.

(1) Our Father is active in His universe and “works all things after the counsel of His Own will” (Ephesians 1:11).

(2) We are but clay in the hand of the divine Potter – “Has not the Potter power over the clay?” (Romans 9:21).

(3) “We are His workmanship” (Ephesians 2:10).

(4) We are therefore “confident of this very thing, that He Who has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6).

(5) We know that “all things work together for good to them who love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28).

It is all about Him! God has never lost control of His universe. He is the “All in all.”

We can see this all the way back in the Garden of Eden. Nothing there took Him by surprise. It all worked together for His purpose. God did not start playing “catch-up” with man’s rebellion. God was always in the lead. After all, it was God Himself Who planted a garden with two trees: One tree of life, and the other tree of good and evil. Good and evil come from the same exact tree! They both are of divine origin! – “I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things” (Isaiah 45:7). If we focus on good or evil we will miss life. Divine life is apart from good and evil. It is from an entirely different tree!

God created evil as a part of His divine plan. It did not sneak into His creation; rather, He put it there – right “in the midst.” It is the core of His plan to have His Son be “All in all.” As with Pharaoh, “for this cause have I raised you up.” It is truly all about Him!

The believer’s life has nothing to do with the human performance of good or evil. It is rather about His divine life. It is about a different tree. It is about simply learning to live.

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, Who loved me, and gave Himself for me (Galatians 2:20).

These are truths that are alive in my heart with greater joy and freedom than I have ever known.

Clyde L. Pilkington, Jr.
Bible Student’s Notebook
© 2005, 2010

A Creation with No Creator?

For every house is built by some man; but He that built all things is God (Hebrews 3:4).

Years ago I remember standing at the bottom of the Empire State Building in New York City. I became dizzy trying to look up to the top of it. It and structures like it are simply amazing feats of design and construction.

Imagine if I had inquired with its management as to who the designer and builder was and that they responded to me with all seriousness and sincerity that there weren’t any, that it has just evolved there over millions and millions of years, and through many iterational stages of existence – presto – the Empire State Building now appears in its present form as a result of the evolutionary process.

My sons sell and repair laptop computers. These machines are amazing. Frankly I do not know what I would do without mine. When someone inquired of one of my sons as to who made a laptop they were interested in purchasing, suppose they responded that there was no manufacturer; that it had just evolved in the repair shop.

When I was a teenager I worked for a summer as a stripper. Now before we go too far here, you should know that I was stripping the paint from airplanes so that they could be repainted. Suppose I asked who had made the particular airplane on which I was working and the answer was, “No one,” that it had just evolved.

The daily news paper is delivered to my home each morning before it is yet light outside. Suppose I wanted to contact the publisher, just to have the paper-carrier tell me that there was none, and that the paper just evolved each morning, and he simply just delivered it.

That after eons of evolution the newspaper now appears with columns filled with words, sentences, paragraphs and articles, with the current date – all typeset and making sense, that tells stories of current events – is irrational beyond seriousness!

All of these are absolutely absurd propositions – totally beyond reason. A man would be a fool to suggest any of these; a man would be a fool to accept them.

The very idea that such a complex machine as an aircraft does not have a designer and manufacturer – no one in their right mind would entertain such silliness!

Yet there is a world full of greater wonders than the Empire State Building, a laptop computer, an airplane, and the newspaper. Take our human body for example: it far exceeds the grandeur and complexity of any of these things. If these other things demand a designer and maker, we demand one even more. Look all around us. Everywhere is evidence which demands a Creator: flowers, birds, rainbows, sun, moon, stars – just to name a few.

It is impossible to have a building without a builder. It is impossible to have a creation without a Creator.

For every house is built by some man; but He that built all things is God (Hebrews 3:4).

This is why the Psalmist wrote of the powerful testimony of creation:

The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night shows knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world … (Psalms 19:1-4).

Little wonder the Psalmist also penned,

The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God” … (Psalms 14:1).

Clyde L. Pilkington, Jr.
Daily Email Goodies
© 2009 Bible Student’s Press

A Reminder of God’s Steady Work

God is steadily at work carrying out His purposes of grace.

This is one thing of which we can be assured!

I was reminded of that today.

We received a call this morning from a lady who has been greatly blessed by our book I Choose. She had read it, and had been passing it around to family members and friends who had been touched by it also. She called today to order 3 copies, and a copy of our book The Salvation of All.

The whole story reminded me about how the Lord works. I met this sweet lady a number of months ago on an overnight trip that my wife and I had made. She was very approachable and we shared some sweet things of the Lord with one another. When we got home we mailed her a copy of I Choose.

We never heard anything from her again until today. She had not even acknowledged having received the package. For all we knew the book had ended up somewhere on her bookcase. Yet lo and behold: God had been busy using it for His purposes all along, and we were only finding out about it today.

Suppose she had never called, but just kept passing the single copy of the book around, and it had managed to touch a few folks helping to affect a change in how they viewed the Father and their life: If we had never “heard,” would the Father’s work have been any less real or effective?

We surely like to “hear” of God’s workings, but I was reminded today that there are many “untold” stories of God’s steady work through us, His channels. We must all learn to ultimately rest in this immutable truth,

So shall My Word be that goeth forth out of My mouth: it shall not return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it (Isaiah 55:11).

Those of us who have a glimpse into our Father’s loving nature and ultimate goal, more than others, should live in the assurance of this verse, even when we are not “encouraged” by “seeing” the results. This morning, I was rightfully touched by the phone call: it meant a lot to us; but it is as if I could feel the Father smiling at me, saying, “Did you really need that as proof that I am always working?”

It was indeed evidence that God is moving and working; but it is even more a reminder that He is doing so in many more ways that we will ever truly perceive here in this stage of life, and that it is His work to encourage us from time to time by allowing us to “see” just a small glimpse into His great, eternal work.

We are all on a journey: the Great Adventure of Faith!

My Father Can Fix Anything

We sell used books to make a living. Every now and then we sell a book with an interesting story behind it.

We have sold a few used books to really famous people; or, at least they had famous names. Some did seem unmistakable though, like when we sent a book to John D. Rockefeller, IV in West Virginia; or, Paul Tagliabue in New York City.

We have sold books to universities, government agencies, courts and movie studios; one was ordered to be used in a movie. People are often looking for a cherished book as a child, or occasionally, one that their grandparents wrote or illustrated.

Today “Carol” called. In grief, she was on an unusual mission. She wanted to order a book to place in her father’s casket. The book was, My Father Can Fix Anything by Mabel Watts (Whitman, 1965). She shared how her father had read this book to them when they were little. It was a children’s book with sweet pictures, about a father who repaired all the broken things in his child’s little world. The reading of this book so many years ago was such a lasting and tender memory that she wanted to have this book in her father’s coffin with him when he was buried.

 My son Clyde III took the order, and my son Nathan packaged it. We shipped it out overnight to her. Needless to say, it was a touching moment for us here; our eyes were getting misty. A father now still and silent; surely to be missed. A family in loss and sorrow; a hole left that could not be easily mended. All parts of the course of this earthly life.

How appropriately was the title of the book, though: My Father Can Fix Anything. Though “Carol’s” father may have fixed many things in her childhood, he could not fix this. How cold and final death seems; but my own heart was encouraged that, indeed, My Father Can Fix Anything.

“Is any thing too hard for the Lord?” (Genesis 18:14).

“Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for Me?” (Jeremiah 32:27)

Our Father can fix anything – even death, the greatest of all man’s problems – the last great enemy of mankind.

 “The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death” (I Corinthians 15:26).

The only way to destroy death is by resurrection!

“The hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice” (John 5:28)

The ultimate result is that our Father will fix even death and,

“And when all things shall be subdued unto Him, then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto Him that put all things under Him, that God may be All in all” (I Corinthians 15:28).

For surely, My Father Can Fix Anything!

AARP

“The hoary [gray] head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness” (Proverbs 16:31).

I received my invitation to join AARP by mail this week. I will turn 50 in a few days. I consider reaching 50 to be an honored marker in my life. I have actually been looking forward to my AARP letter to arrive for months. I probably won’t join – as I am not really the “joining” type; that’s not really the issue in my heart. Although I have no plans on retiring (now or in the future – why should I, as long as I can do what I love to do!), it just seems an appropriate token of this milestone in my life.

I have not dreaded being 50. After all, what is the alternative? In fact I embrace it as part of God’s all-wise plan of life – and what a plan it is! My hair is even beginning have a few strands of gray – which I am thankful for. This is the prime of life! I finally seem to have a true grip on life in general, and my Father’s life in particular. I am thankful to be turning 50.

In this strange day when youth is valued above age, we must allow our perspective to be adjusted by the sure truth of the Bible. The Scripture places great worth upon age.

We live in a society that seems to devalue old age, while placing importance on youth. It can be seen everywhere – geared to the youth, being young, looking young, restoring youth – but none of this is God’s plan: He has not designed life to work this way. He values old age, and He knows what He is doing. Always.

Do not be tempted to give in to society’s idea that – just in a man’s prime, just when he is truly ready to get started – it is time for him to “retire” and go play golf.

Alfred Montapert wrote concerning age:

Too old to be useful?

Don’t you believe it!

Only years make men. Rarely do the great men of history distinguish themselves before they are fifty, and between fifty and eighty they do their best work – both as regards to quality and quantity …

Noah Webster, when between sixty and seventy, performed the Herculean task of his life in the production of his dictionary …

Michelangelo painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel (on his back, on a scaffold) when he was nearly ninety. (Alfred Armand Montapert, Success Planning Manual (1967), page 243).

“… The beauty of old men is the gray head” (Proverbs 20:29).

Clyde L. Pilkington, Jr.
Windber, PA

A Memorial

Clyde L. Pilkington, Sr.
January 6, 1911 – February 14, 1996

It is hard to believe that the greatest man that I ever knew has been asleep in Christ (I Thessalonians 4:14) for nearly 13 years. Today is his birthday; he would have been 98. This man was my father.

I am not sure, maybe many children see their fathers as the greatest men they have ever known. One thing is for sure, I truly miss him. He was a faithful and loving husband and father and I was very privileged to have been his son.

I shall never forget his weak and gentle voice attempting to sing and hum the hymns of yesteryear in his last days. As I looked into his eyes for the last time, I remember him looking straight back into mine. I told him that I loved him so very much and that we would miss him greatly, but that I rejoiced that we see each other again. A tear came to his eye and he took a few long, delayed, restful sighs and closed his eyes.

“For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive” (I Corinthians 15:22).

“O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our lord Jesus Christ” (I Corinthians 15:55, 57).

It has been my honor and privilege to have my mother live with me the past few years. She was his great love; and he hers. As anyone who knew them knew, they were very close. Even after 13 years she still misses him dearly. Some days are extremely hard for her; but her pain is tempered with the joy of resurrection hope. I appreciate those of you who have expressed your love to her over these years.

“Happy Birthday,” dear dad. I love you very much. Rest well. I will see you in the morning!

Welcome to my blog!

I have been encouraged on occasions to begin a blog – so here we go!

All of life is an adventure; and so much more so for the believer. The life of God in us produces a lifetime of adventure – what I like to call the great adventure of faith. And how can it not be so, for we are talking here about the very life of God at work “in us!” – “according to power that works in us.”

With the assistance of my dear friend, André Sneidar, I will begin providing a number of themed blogs.

This one – The Great Adventure of Faith – will be my personal blog. It will be a place where I will share personal thoughts, information, updates, etc. – along on this great adventure of faith!

In addition to this personal blog, I have set up a blog where I will post my own daily Bible study articles. You can visit this at:

http://dailygoodies.wordpress.com

I also have set up 12 other themed blogs. These will allow me to post collections of “Goodies” based on common topics. You are welcome to subscribe to as many of these particular blogs for which you have an interest. I have blogs for the following themes:

Bible Study – http://approvedworkmen.wordpress.com/
Right Division – http://godspresentpurpose.wordpress.com/
Body of Christ – http://godsecclesia.wordpress.com/
Freedom – http://christsfreemen.wordpress.com/
Human Government – http://kingdomsofthisworld.wordpress.com/
The Home – http://godsembassy.wordpress.com/
Identification in Christ – http://divinereckoning.wordpress.com/
Love – http://greatestofthese.wordpress.com/
The Religious System – http://mysterybabylonthegreat.wordpress.com/
The Salvation of All – http://salvationofall.wordpress.com/
Sufferings & Trials – http://godsforgottengift.wordpress.com/
Various, Uncategorized – http://choicegleanings.wordpress.com/