JUNE 2005

JUNE 2005 continues with THE SECRET OF THE MYSTERY DOCTRINE lessons from our Philippians series as well as other subjects in order by date, (0190) 1325 -1334 with notes and links attached below.
PHILIPPIANS-1325
Pastor Robert R. McLaughlin  •  KNOW YOUR ENEMY
PHILIPPIANS-1326
Pastor Robert R. McLaughlin  •  KNOW YOUR ENEMY
PHILIPPIANS-1327
Pastor Robert R. McLaughlin  •  KNOW YOUR ENEMY
PHILIPPIANS-1328
Pastor Robert R. McLaughlin  •  KNOW YOUR ENEMY
PHILIPPIANS-1329
Pastor Robert R. McLaughlin  •  KNOW YOUR ENEMY
PHILIPPIANS-1330
Pastor Robert R. McLaughlin  •  KNOW YOUR ENEMY
PHILIPPIANS-1331
Pastor Robert R. McLaughlin  •  KNOW YOUR ENEMY
PHILIPPIANS-1332
Pastor Robert R. McLaughlin  •  KNOW YOUR ENEMY
PHILIPPIANS-1333
Pastor Robert R. McLaughlin  •  VINE & BRANCHES
PHILIPPIANS-1334
Pastor Robert R. McLaughlin  •  VINE & BRANCHES
*Some MP3 lessons are not available for the notes. If the link does not bring you to a direct message, it will take you to the related series.

WHAT IT MEANS TO BE INITIATED INTO THE SECRET OF THE MYSTERY, PART 58. THE DECEITFULNESS AND TRICKERY OF THE RULER OF THE WORLD. ISA 14:12-14; MAT 4:3-7; JOH 17:21-24

0190-1325


Robert McLaughlin Bible Ministries

What it means to be initiated into the secret of the mystery. Part 58. The deceitfulness and trickery of the ruler of the world.

Wednesday, June 1, 2005


Jesus Christ absolutely reversed the profile that Satan demonstrated in his willingness to ascend, by His willingness to descend.

Because of that, TLJC ascended to the highest place of heaven, and as a result of Satan’s attempted ascension, he will descend to the lowest depths of Gehenna or the lake of fire.

It sets up the norm and the pattern of all sin and it demonstrates the element in sin which makes it what it is -“utterly sinful,” ROM 7:13, and that is the sin of independence or the choosing of our will over God’s will.

What makes sin “utterly sinful” is not the action itself but the thought of independence from God, and therefore very much like the first sin of the universe committed by Satan - “my will over God’s will.”

Even our human good has to be judged, because if it is not done according to the will of God, it is said to be evil though not sinful.

Anything done outside of the will of God becomes a form of evil in the sense of being independent from God.

All he tried to do was get the Lord to choose independently from His Father.

What makes even the good we produce evil?
Independence from God.

When we think of someone being independent from the plan of God and not really caring about the things of God and God’s will for their life, we don’t think of these individuals as real evil people.

JOH 8:44 “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature; for he is a liar, and the father of lies.”

All these disclosures are various ways of describing one sin, that of seeking to rise above the realm in which he was created and above the purpose and service assigned to him by God.

In his unholy self-promotion, he determined that his abode should be higher than that position to which he had been appointed by his Creator.

The majority of believers are much more occupied with their own life and their own will over the will of God.

1CO 6:19-20 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.

2CO 5:15 and He died for all, that they who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.
MAT 5:16 Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

ROM 6:19 Just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification.

ROM 12:1 I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

There is very little difference between Satan’s sin of independence and ours.
The majority of believers are much more occupied with their own life and their own will over the will of God.

If we truly desire to glorify God, we must realize that His grace will not be satisfied until He can take some members of the human race, by original position lower than the angels, and lift them up to an eternal citizenship in the highest realm.

HEB 2:6-8 “What is man, that Thou rememberest him? Or the son of man, that Thou art concerned about him? Thou hast made him for a little while lower than the angels; Thou hast crowned him with glory and honor, And hast appointed him over the works of Thy hands; Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in subjecting all things to him, He left nothing that is not subject to him.”

Satan has no right either by position or redemption to claim this eternal citizenship and this highest of all heavenly positions, which is why he is very angry.

ROM 1:25 “exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.”

ROM 1:23 They exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.

“Will raise” - hiphil imperfect - rum - causative stem = he is saying, “I will cause myself to rule.”
He will lift himself up above all the angels of God.

Although Satan was appointed to the guardian­ship of the throne of God, he lusted after the possession of a throne of his own and to rule over the “stars of God.”

EPH 2:2 - Satan is the prince of the power of the air,
2CO 4:4 - Satan is the god of this world
JOH 14:30 - Satan is the ruler of this world

I will sit on the mount of the assembly in the recesses of the north = rulership over the government of the earth,ISA 2:1-4. This is Messianic recognition.

The original sin was a sin of independence from God.
The original sin was a thought - he said this in his heart or he thought this.

Morality is not spirituality.

The most awful sins that you can commit and the ones that can really turn you into a monster have to do with what you think and what you say.

Christians can get away with gossip and maligning and jealousy and pride and all these things.

This was power lust expressing a desire to rule over God.

Ascend = to rule or to have the sovereignty in heaven.
This is power lust to rule over the angels.
The third I will is power lust and Satan’s ambition to rule over the earth.

It means to rule planet earth as it existed before the creation of man, and therefore Satan wanted to rule over the angels on the earth as well as those in heaven.

He convinced many in God’s congregation how unfair and unjust God really was.

MAT 24:30 and then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory.

REV 1:7 Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. Even so. Amen.

Since clouds refer to divine presence, the fourth I will refers to Satan’s ambition to take over the functions of God.

Satan has neither the character nor the personality to control all types of creatures bringing them into eternal compatibility with God - there’s where he fails.

Satan wants the glory but he does not have the ability, and that same spirit is manifested everywhere in the human race.

God’s principle in dealing with the human race is grace = man can neither earn nor deserve it, and this is part of the reason why this fourth I will is so evil.

Man cannot of his own ability or his own talent do anything that glorifies God.
Satan wants to set up principles that promote creatures getting credit.

Here is Satan with his own talent and own ability, which was God-given, trying to supersede God in function as well as in person.

There never was, there never will be a believer who ever earned or deserved anything from God.


WHAT IT MEANS TO BE INITIATED INTO THE SECRET OF THE MYSTERY, PART 59. HOW THE RULER OF THE WORLD DECEIVES. ROM 9:14-20; ISA 14:14, 42:8, 43:10, 44:6 2TH 2:1-5

0190-1326

Robert McLaughlin Bible Ministries

What it means to be initiated into the secret of the mystery. Part 59. How the ruler of the world deceives.

Thursday, June 2, 2005


Satan wants to set up principles that promote creatures getting credit.
Here is Satan with his own talent and own ability, which was God-given, trying to supersede God in function as well as in person.

There never was, there never will be a believer whoever earned or deserved anything from God.

Anything we are by way of success, any victory we have depends entirely on who and what God is, never on who and what we are.

1CO 4:7 For who regards you as superior? And what do you have that you did not receive? But if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?

We end up getting in God’s way - we start helping God and then He stops working.

He would like to have the attributes of God and the essence of God, but the very nature of his sin frustrated any possibility of him reproducing any part of the character of God.

Since he could not reproduce any part of the character of God and he still wanted it, the only thing he could do was to imitate or to counterfeit God.

Satan is not only the original conspirator, but he is also the original counterfeiter.

What makes Satan so mad today and frustrates him more than anything else and makes him grind his teeth is that any believer with a little bit of smarts and doctrine in the frontal lobe can do what Satan always wanted to do and never could, imitate God.

EPH 5:1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children;
GAL 4:19 My children, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you -

GAL 5:16 - humans can “walk by means of the Holy Spirit” - Satan cannot!
EPH 5:18 - humans can “be filled with the Spirit” - Satan cannot!

Outside of the gospel there is nothing that Satan hates as much as spirituality by grace.

The filling of the Spirit produces the fruit of the Spirit and the character of God, and Satan with all of his activity and all of His work and his evil nature cannot produce it.

Satan promotes morality as spirituality because even he can be moral.

They will end up saying things like David did -
PSA 51:11 Do not cast me away from Thy presence, And do not take Thy Holy Spirit from me.

Rather than what the apostle Paul said -
EPH 4:30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed until the day of redemption.

In spite of the universal impressions that Satan is unlike God, he is very much like God overtly.

It refers to God as the “possessor of heaven and earth,” GEN 14:18-19.

This does not mean to be like the character and nature of God, but it is a reference to the title “Most High”possessing heaven and earth, GEN 14:19, 22.

GEN 14:19 And he blessed him and said, “Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth;”
GEN 14:22 And Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have sworn to the Lord God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth,”

Satan is not only the original conspirator, but he is also the original counterfeiter.

The essential evil character of sin here, as everywhere, is an unwillingness on the part of the creature to abide in the precise position in which he has been placed by the Creator.

GEN 3:5 “For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

“The day of the Lord” can include the Rapture, the last half of the Tribulation, Second Advent, and Millennium, totaling 1007 years; also used for any portion of this period, ISA 2:12; ISA 13:6; Joel 1:15, 2:1; ZEC 14:1, 1TH 5:2; 2PE 3:10.

Apostasia = a departure, it could either refer to the departure from the faith or the departure of the saints, verse 1.

There was to be the manifestation of the man of sin or the lawless one, Rev 13.

Satan does not have the character nor the personality to control all types of creation even though he is called the ruler of the world.

Anyone who is going to run the universe has to be faithful and loyal to his creatures, to those who belong to him.

Like Satan, who has no sense of loyalty or love or faithfulness to any member of the human race, many members of the human race follow the same system of thinking.

He made a deal with Judas Iscariot and he actually indwelt Judas Iscariot.

MAT 27:5 And he threw the pieces of silver into the sanctuary and departed; and he went away and hanged himself.

ACT 1:18 Now this man acquired a field with the price of his wickedness; and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out.

Sorcery - pharmakeia = medication, drugs, that which poisons the mind - Plato, Polybius, and others.

Satan wants glory but he does not have the ability to provide glory even for himself.

The kind of glory Satan wants is the glory of the person who controls the universe - and that type of glory comes through grace.

GEN 3:13 - The serpent deceived you and you ate.

PRO 4:24 Put away from you a deceitful mouth, And put devious lips far from you.
PRO 12:17 He who speaks truth tells what is right, But a false witness, deceit.

JER 9:8 “Their tongue is a deadly arrow; It speaks deceit; With his mouth one speaks peace to his neighbor, But inwardly he sets an ambush for him.”

EPH 4:14-15 As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him, who is the head, even Christ,

1PE 2:22 who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth

When TLJC was on the earth Satan offered Him the kingdoms of the world and Jesus Christ turned him down flat.

When you start learning something about grace, you not only have a wall of fire around you from the grace of God, but you also have a wall of fire around your soul, Bible doctrine.

WHAT IT MEANS TO BE INITIATED INTO THE SECRET OF THE MYSTERY, PART 60. WHAT THE RULER OF THIS WORLD REALLY DESIRES. 2CO 11:13-15; 1CO 2:14; 2CO 7:10; ISA 14:12-17

0190-1327

Robert McLaughlin Bible Ministries

What it means to be initiated into the secret of the mystery. Part 60. What the ruler of this world really desires.

Friday, June 3, 2005


Satan is not only the original conspirator, but he is also the original counterfeiter.

The purpose of this deception is to imitate the real ministers of Christ and to blind the people from true righteousness which is imputed as a gift from God’s grace and cannot be earned or deserved by man.

These false ministers cannot appear as ministers of Christ unless they gather into their message every available “form of godliness” and then cover their deception with the most subtle hypocrisy.

“The value and delusion of a counterfeit are increased by the nearness of its likeness to the real.”

These false teachers are promoters of “good works and righteousness,” and they will be very attractive and deceptive since they are controlled by Satan.

These false ministers do not necessarily know the real mission they have.

They are usually sincere, preaching and teaching the best things the angel of light, their energizing power, is pleased to reveal unto them.

They are ministers of righteousness whose message should never be confused with the doctrine of grace.

One is directed only at the reformation of the natural man, while the other aims at regeneration through the power of God.

Any counterfeit system of doctrine which would omit the power of God and the grace and knowledge which accompanies that power, is used by the strategy of Satan to force some secondary truth which blinds one from the real truth.

Secondary truth = something that is true, however, it is not being taught or referred to properly.

It is God’s will that you live holy, but the holiness must be the result of doctrine in the soul and the filling of the Spirit not reformation of the flesh.

As a part of Satan trying to be like God and to control God’s people, Satan will allow and even promote some of the great scriptural subjects, but he will distort them.

For example, tongues, physical health, life after death, morality, unfulfilled prophecy, the baptism of the Spirit, etc.

MAT 23:24 “You blind guides who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!”

A system of doctrine may be formed which includes every truth of the scriptures except one: exalting the real person and work of TLJC.

Satan will allow Christ to be worshiped providing that believers remain ignorant toward the power of God and the resultant glorification of God.
Throughout Christianity, secondary truths are elevated and the power of God is ignored.

2TI 3:5 “they hold to a form or system of godliness, although they have denied its power;”

Unbelievers, because they are naturally minded and they cannot understand the things of God; believers, because they are naturally minded not understanding how to be filled with the Spirit.

1. Satan’s major purpose behind these five “I wills” is to be like the Most High, not as the popular opinion presumes, one of attempting to be unlike God.

2. As a part of his strategy to become like the Most High, those under the influence of his false doctrine teach others how to improve human nature while ignoring the new creature created by God.

3. The presence of gross evil in the world is not due to Satan’s intention to have it so; rather it indicates Satan’s inability to be like the Most High!

JOH 18:36 “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting, that I might not be delivered up to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm.”

MAT 26:52-53 Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place; Or do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels?”

4. Satan’s ambition to be like God has led him to take on more than he can handle.

5. Satan deceives the world and even the Christian church into thinking that he is totally opposite of God, which is true inwardly, however, what makes his deceptions so great are the overt similarities that he has with God.

6. The one thing Satan is after is worship from man, so much so that during the Tribulation period he will demand the worship of the people of the earth or they will pay the penalty of death.

7. Any plans to clean up the world and make it a better place to live complement Satan’s evil goals and policies to be like God.
8. All the counterfeit systems Satan has simply reveal his desire to be like the Most High.

9. Religion is Satan’s counterfeit:
a. Counterfeit Gospel, 2CO 11:3-4.
b. Counterfeit Ministers, 2CO 11:13-15.
c. Counterfeit Doctrine, 1TI 4:1.
d. Counterfeit Communion table, 1CO 10:19-21.
e. Counterfeit Spirituality, GAL 3:2-3.

f. Counterfeit Righteousness, MAT 19:16-28.
The Mosaic Law is distorted into self-righteousness, which rejects faith in Christ for relationship with God.

g. Counterfeit Righteousness - self-righteousness, MAT 23:13-36.
h. Counterfeit Power and dynamics (miracles, healing, tongues), 2TH 2:8-10.
i. Counterfeit System of gods, 2TH 2:3-4.

REV 20:10 And the devil who deceived them was thrown [thrust] into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

Thrust down - Hophal imperfect - jaradh - Hophal stem with the passive form = he will receive this.

His prisoners are his fallen angels and he could not even release them from Tartarus.

ISA 14:12 - as the ruler of the world, he weakened the nations.
ISA 14:16 - as the ruler of the world, he made the earth tremble and shook kingdoms.
ISA 14:17 - as the ruler of the world, he made the world like a wilderness and overthrew its cities and he did not allow his prisoners to go home.

This earth becomes the theater of the invisible war.

JOH 17:4 “I glorified Thee on the earth, having accomplished the work which Thou hast given Me to do.”

It is true that Satan is still the god of this world and he still rules as a prince; however, we shall see this office taken from him when the Lord comes back to reign as the king of this earth.

Before Satan’s fall, there was one will in the universe - the will of God.

a. There was no previous example of sin and rebellion; this was the beginning of rebellion against the Most High God.

b. He was created beautiful and perfect; he lacked nothing as the greatest of all creatures - however, like many individuals, he was ungrateful and therefore started his conspiracy.

c. Satan’s sin is especially monstrous because his greatest of all intelligence gave him greater light and understanding of the greatness and goodness of the God whom he sinned against.

d. Satan’s sin is especially monstrous because his highest position gave him the privilege of the greatest service to God.

e. Satan’s sin is especially monstrous because in his perfection and holiness, he had the privilege of intimate fellowship with God.

1. In verse 12, there will be banishment from heaven, “How you have fallen from heaven,” says God to the one who desired to ascend to heaven.

2. The corruption of character - the one whose name was the “star of morning, son of the dawn,” now has become Satan, the opposer and adversary of all that God is.

3. The perversion of power - Satan’s power which was once used for God’s glory and the good of His creatures, is now turned to disruptive and destructive purposes.

4. The retention of dignity - though he was cast from his exalted position, Satan yet retains some of his great dignity - even Michael the archangel “did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment,” Jud 9.

5. He is destined to the pit. He will “be thrust down to Sheol, to the recesses of the pit,”
ISA 14:15, REV 20:3,10.

Why did a holy and righteous God who is all powerful and all knowing allow the fall of Satan and his angels to occur?

a. God is perfect; therefore His plan is perfect and He allowed evil to come into being.

b. Perhaps He allowed angels to sin in order that He might give an explicit example of the wretchedness and degeneration of sin and rebellion.

c. He used the test to gain a group of angels to serve Him from their own free will and personal love.

d. It may have been necessary to allow the fall of angels to finally show the grace of God in the preserving of some angels and in the redemption of unworthy, sinful man who fell because of Satan.


WHAT IT MEANS TO BE INITIATED INTO THE SECRET OF THE MYSTERY, PART 61. THE RULER OF THIS WORLD. 1TI 3:11, 2TI 3:1-5; ROM 8:31-34

0190-1328

Robert McLaughlin Bible Ministries

What it means to be initiated into the secret of the mystery. Part 61. The ruler of this world.

Sunday, June 12, 2005


The title Devil (diabolos) = a slanderer or “the accuser of the brethren,” REV 12:10.

Malicious gossips - diabolos - title for the devil = an accuser, a slanderer, one who judges and maligns.

MAT 16:23 “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.”

JOH 6:70 Did I Myself not choose you, the twelve, and {yet} one of you is a [diabolos, a slanderer, one who gossips and judges] devil?

Satan or Satanas = the accuser, one who opposes another in tongue or action.

Satan’s characteristic sins:
Lying, JOH 8:44, GEN 3:4-5.
Malice and murder, 1JO 3:12, GEN 4:1.
Pride, 1TI 3:6.
Slanders, ZEC 3:1.

His slander of good men, as if serving God only for self’s sake, is refuted by the case of “those who lose (in will or deed) their life for Christ’s sake.”

Satan slanders God to man, GEN 3:1-5, and uses the tongue of members of the human race to slander man to man.

Kenneth Wuest -
ROM 14:4 As for you, who are you who are judging another’s household slave? To his own personal master he stands or falls. Indeed, he shall be made to stand, for the Lord has power to make him stand.

He is a slanderer -
how do you think, like the ruler of the world, or the ruler of the universe?
Do you think like the one who judges and maligns?

Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary - Slander = the utterance of false charges or misrepresentations which defame and damage another’s reputation.

The slanderer is a person who is trafficking in the atmosphere of Satan - the accuser of the brethren and the opposer of men and God.

ZEC 3:1 Then He [the Lord] showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him.

It is a sin against an individual, but most of all it is a sin against the cross of Christ and the redemption accomplished by the Lord during those three hours that He suffered.

Slander is bringing up something, whether true or false, which has been dealt with on the cross and paid for once and for all.

HEB 8:12 For I will be merciful to their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.

HEB 10:17 “And their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”

Female or bitch -
Chapter 1 - “I remember them.”

Male or wimp -
Chapter 2 - “Now you know I’m much more than him.”

Slander is bringing up something that God does not even remember, even if it is true.
1. Slander comes from the evil heart.

LUK 6:45 The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart.

2. Slander often arises from hatred and jealousy.
PSA 109:3 They have also surrounded me with words of hatred, and fought against me without cause.

3. Slander results from idleness.
4. The wicked are addicted to it.

PSA 50:20 You sit and speak against your brother; you slander your own mother’s son.

5. Hypocrites are addicted to it.
6. Slander is a characteristic of the devil.

REV 12:10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of His Christ. For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down.”

7. They who indulge in it are fools.

8. Women are especially warned against it.
TIT 2:3 “Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips, nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good.”

9. Christ was exposed to it.
MAT 26:60 And they did not find any, even though many false witnesses came forward. But later on two came forward,

10. Rulers are exposed to it.
Jud 8 “Yet in the same manner these men, also by dreaming, defile the flesh, and reject authority, and revile angelic majesties.”

11. Ministers are exposed to it.

Satan loves to permeate judging, gossiping, slander and maligning because it is an attack upon the cross of TLJC where sin and Satan both were defeated.

Perverse - tahpuka = a sin connected with the mouth, the heart, the eyes and the mind - a MAS or SOT.

The slanderer is a satanic agent employed to sow discord, spread rumors, repeat hearsay, and hinder believers from receiving doctrine.

JAM 3:6 - “their tongue is a fire and is set on fire by hell.”

1PE 4:8 Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because virtue-love covers a multitude of sins.

Slander is the policy of evil and hate and opposes true biblical love.
Slander - dibbah = evil report or the activity of defaming someone’s character.

They conceal their hatred with lying, flattering speech; then when you are unaware, they strike and make you their victim.

Satan with his policy of evil, opened up his attack in the garden of Eden with a very tender statement for the woman’s well being.

The talebearer is the opposite of someone who is trustworthy and faithful in spirit.

PRO 11:13 “talebearer” -
Rakiyl = slander-monger
Halak = to walk and be continually well-informed or to wander and to slander.

A morsel is just a small piece a food, just a tiny bit, a bite.

These tidbits will reside deep in the subconscious of the hearer and will definitely affect the friendship or relationship that we have with the person being spoken about.

WHAT IT MEANS TO BE INITIATED INTO THE SECRET OF THE MYSTERY, PART 62. THE DECEPTION OF THE RULER OF THIS WORLD. JOB 38:4-7; GEN 1:1-2; JER 4:23-26; EPH 6:12; 1TI 5:14-15

0190-1329

Robert McLaughlin Bible Ministries

What it means to be initiated into the secret of the mystery. Part 62. The deception of the ruler of this world.

Wednesday, June 15, 2005


GEN 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

GEN 1:1 - the universe, the heavens and the earth, were originally created as the domain of the angels.

REV 12:4 And his tail swept away a third of the stars [angels] of heaven,

As part of God’s judgment against Satan and the rebellious angels, the planet was enshrouded in darkness.

“Was” - Qal imperfect - hayah = “became” - it became formless and void.

DEU 32:4 “The Rock! His work is perfect,”
MAT 5:48 “Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

Formless and void = tohuw waabohuw

ISA 24:1 Behold, the Lord lays the earth waste, devastates it, distorts its surface, and scatters its inhabitants.

Tohuw waabohuw - same as GEN 1:2.

GEN 1:2b “and the Spirit of God began to move over the surface of the waters.”

Man’s occupancy on the earth came long after the creation of the earth.
Man’s occupancy on planet earth did not last too long before Adam and the woman fell and then Satan became the ruler of the world again.

a. Satan is the enemy of Israel.
b. Satan is the enemy of all unbelievers, 2CO 4:3-4.

c. Satan is specifically the enemy of the Church, the Royal Family of God, the new spiritual species, the body of Christ, because God has done more for the individual believer in the Church-age than ever before.

d. Satan is the enemy of the Church-age believer, 2CO 2:11, EPH 6:10-12, 1PE 5:6-9.
e. Satan is opposed to Bible doctrine. He is always trying to distort it or distract us from it, MAT 13:9,39.

f. Satan is the enemy of the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union, REV 12:4.
g. Satan is the chief antagonist in the extension of the angelic conflict into human history, Heb 1-2.
h. Satan is the enemy of nationalism, which he often opposes with internationalism.

His warfare is based on deception.

When he is able to attack, he may appear to be unable; especially when things are going right and we are being blessed by God.

When we are being blessed by God, it is not time to sit back and relax but to build and prosper,

2CH 14:7 Asa said to his people, “While we have the chance and the land is quiet, let’s build a solid defense system, fortifying our cities with walls, towers, gates, and bars. We have this peaceful land because we sought GOD; he has given us rest from all troubles.” So they built and enjoyed prosperity.

When using their forces, they must seem to be inactive.
When they are near, they must make the enemy believe they are far away.
When they are far away, they must make the enemy believe they are near.

Satan and fallen angels are the enemies of the believer, 1TI 5:14-15, 1PE 5:8.

1PE 5:8 Be stabilized, be on the alert, your enemy the Devil, prowls about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.

Satan, as the ruler of the world, knows how to wear down the saints, distract them and tire them out, until emotion supersedes thought, DAN 7:25.

The reversionist, though used by Satan, is the enemy of both Satan and the advancing believer.

One of Satan’s most successful tactics is to defeat the enemy without even fighting.

EPH 6:11 “Hold your ground against the strategies of the devil.”
EPH 6:13 “Hold your ground in the day that evil attacks you”

JAM 4:7 “Submit therefore to God [execute the PPOG] Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”
1PE 5:9 “But resist the devil by being firm in your doctrine”

Sun Tzu - If you are near the enemy, make him believe you are far from him. If you are far from the enemy, make him believe you are near.

To fight and conquer all your battles is not the ultimate victory; the ultimate victory consists in breaking the enemy’s resistance without even fighting.

If your enemy makes you believe that he is not your enemy or that he does not exist, then he already has a tremendous advantage over you.

Any area that you are not stable in doctrinally, is an area open to deception.

Verse 8 - “be of a sober spirit” = being self-disciplined and organized.
Verse 8 - there is a parallel between our Lord delegating authority in the human race, and Satan “prowling around” and delegating authority to disembodied spirit demons.

WHAT IT MEANS TO BE INITIATED INTO THE SECRET OF THE MYSTERY, PART 63. KNOW YOUR ENEMY. 1CO 3:18; 2CO 11:3; 2TI 2:1-4, 24-26; JAM 4:7-8; ACT 20:27-31

0190-1330

Robert McLaughlin Bible Ministries

resist the devil by being firm in your doctrine."\ What it means to be initiated into the secret of the mystery, Part 62. The deception of the ruler of this world.

Thursday, June 16, 2005


Satan, the ruler of the world, was around before the creation of the heavens and the earth and before the human race, GEN 1:1-2,
JOB 38:4-7, JER 4:23-26.

As the ruler of this world, Satan is constantly seeking to gain his own objectives by means of his great expertise of deception.

This deception is thought transference of demon doctrine or demonic thoughts to the believer or unbeliever in the cosmic system.

COL 2:4 I keep on communicating these things in order that no one may delude you with persuasive argument.

Panourgia = trickery, subtlety, crafty, cunning, treacherous, deceitful, sly, literally “one who is ready to do anything” to accomplish his goals including lying.

1TI 2:14 And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman being quite deceived, fell into transgression.

You may think that nothing is really happening in your life, when in reality, something is without you even knowing about it.

1JO 4:4 Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.

1CO 16:13 Be on the alert, stand firm in doctrine, act like spiritual adults, be strong.

EPH 6:18 With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints,
1JO 4:4 Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.

The protection that we need is only given by God inside the PPOG or inside the wall of fire of ZEC 2:5.

Another principle that the ruler of the world uses against us is to hold out bait to entice us.

1JO 2:15 Do not love the world, nor the things in the world.

1PE 5:8 your enemy the Devil, prowls about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.

Very few believers recognize that the details of life or the everyday affairs of this life are the situations used by the ruler of the world as part of his plans laid out for victory.

By holding out bait and so-called “advantages” to the believer, the ruler of the world can cause the believer not only to live in the ways of the world or the cosmic system, but to be in bondage to it.

By bringing in situations of pressure and suffering and inflicting damage, the ruler of the world can make it possible for the believer to draw near to him rather than draw near to God.

Being “double-minded” means to have some true doctrine while in the PPOG plus being saturated with human viewpoint or demonic viewpoint also stored in the right lobe; therefore, there is conflict.

You should “know your enemy” and “analyze his plans and schemes” so that you will know his shortcomings as strong points for yourself.

2CO 2:11 in order that no advantage be taken of us by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his schemes.

EPH 6:11 Put on the full armor of God, that you may be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.
Their weakness toward us is always based upon our strength in TLJC.

They know that and that is why they try to separate us from operating in the power of God, ACT 1:8, HEB 4:12.

If we are strong and secure in certain areas, our enemy is prepared for that.
If we have a quick temper, they will produce situations to irritate us.

They will bring in situations of success and victory so that we may become arrogant.

PRO 11:2 When pride comes, then comes dishonor, But with the humble is wisdom.
PRO 16:18 Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before stumbling.

If we are at ease, they will do their best to give us no rest.
If we are united, they will try to separate us.

They will attack us where we are unprepared, and they will emerge when we don’t expect them to.

In the natural realm, the rule of thumb is that the best policy is to take the enemy intact; to destroy it is inferior to this.

To capture the enemy’s entire army is better than to destroy it; to take intact a regiment, a company, or a squad is better than to destroy them.


WHAT IT MEANS TO BE INITIATED INTO THE SECRET OF THE MYSTERY, PART 64. KNOW YOUR ENEMY BY MEANS OF ANALYZING HIS PLANS AND SCHEMES. 2CO 2:17; EPH 4:1-3; ACT 20:27-31; 1CO 14:33

0190-1331

Robert McLaughlin Bible Ministries

What it means to be initiated into the secret of the mystery. Part 64. Know our enemy by means of analyzing his plans and schemes.

Friday, June 17, 2005


We should “know our enemy by means of analyzing his plans and schemes” so that we will know something of his shortcomings as strong points for ourselves.

Their weakness toward us is always based upon our strength in TLJC.

In the natural realm, the rule is that the best policy is to take the enemy intact or undamaged; to destroy it is inferior to this.

2TI 2:26 and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.

In the natural realm, to capture the enemy’s entire army is better than to destroy it.

In warfare to win a hundred victories in a hundred battles is not the ultimate skill.
To subdue and capture the enemy without fighting is the supreme victory and the ultimate skill.

Their aim is to take captive as much as they can by their strategic plans.
This is called the art of offensive strategy.

a. We must know when to fight and when not to - when to be on the offensive and when to be on the defensive,EPH 6:11-13.

b. We must know our real enemy, EPH 6:12, and understand how they war against our soul and how we are to stand against them.

EPH 6:11 Hold your ground against the strategies of the devil.
EPH 6:13 Hold your ground in the day that evil attacks you

JAM 4:7 Submit therefore to God [execute the pre-designed plan of God]. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
1PE 5:9 But resist the devil by being firm in your doctrine.

c. We must know the value of unity and oneness because the one whose ranks are united in purpose will be victorious.

d. We must know the importance of discipline and preparation because only those who are alert and prepared will be victorious.

If you know your enemy and know yourself, your chances of being victorious are good.

If you are ignorant both of your enemy and of yourself, you are sure to be defeated in every battle.

You should examine and investigate the enemy’s plans so that you will know their shortcomings and weaknesses as your strong points.

Our real enemy is also invisible and inaudible.

The areas of our life that he intends to attack, he does not want us to know about.

As the ruler of the world attacking people, Satan knows to avoid them when their spirit is sharp, but to attack them when they are sluggish and divided.
This is the art of studying moods.

EPH 4:14 We are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming;

2PE 3:17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard lest, being carried away by the deception of unprincipled men [men with no principles], you fall from your own steadfastness,

Satan knows that if believers are secure in Christ, he must be prepared for them.

If they are superior in strength because of the power of the Spirit and the power of the word of God, he evades them.

If his opponent is of irritable temper, he seeks to irritate them.
He may pretend to be weak toward us that we may grow arrogant.

If our forces are united, he wants to separate us.
Attack us where we are unprepared.
Appear in our lives in areas and places that are not expected.

Supreme excellence in warfare consists in breaking the enemy’s resistance without fighting.
“A confused army leads to another’s victory.”

1. He who knows when he can fight and when he cannot will be victorious.
2. He who understands how to fight in accordance with the strength of his antagonistic forces will be victorious.

3. He whose ranks are united in purpose will be victorious.

PHI 2:2-3 Bring to completion my inner happiness [in your life] by thinking the same things, maintaining the same virtue-love, united in soul, concentrating on the same objective. Do nothing motivated by contentiousness or ambitious pride, but with humility of mind [by means of grace orientation] let each of you keep on considering one another as more important than himself;

PHI 2:4-5 do not merely be regarding your own personal interests, but also for the personal interests of others. Keep on thinking this [doctrine] within yourselves which was also resident in Christ Jesus,

4. He who is well prepared and lies in wait for an enemy who is not well prepared will be victorious.

5. He whose leaders are able and not interfered with by the sovereign one will be victorious.

When you are ignorant of the enemy but know yourself, your chances of winning or losing are equal.

If you are ignorant both of your enemy and of yourself, you are sure to be defeated in every battle.

Your enemy wants to impose his will on you but does not want you to impose your will on him.

How do you impose your will on Satan, the ruler of the world?
You do so by glorifying God in the midst of the angelic conflict.

Satan, as the ruler of the world, realizes by holding out advantages to many believers, he can cause those believers to approach him and his cosmic system of their own accord.

He masters in the divine art of subtlety and secrecy.
The areas where Satan intends to attack must not be made known; because then we have the opportunity to prepare against any possible attacks.

He does not care if we learn about the tactics that he uses; he just does not want us to see the strategy out of which victory is evolved.


WHAT IT MEANS TO BE INITIATED INTO THE SECRET OF THE MYSTERY, PART 65. THE ORIGIN, ESTATE, AND CHARACTER OF THE RULER OF THE WORLD. EZE 28:11-19, 22:9

0190-1332

Robert McLaughlin Bible Ministries

What it means to be initiated into the secret of the mystery. Part 65. The origin, estate, and character of the ruler of the world.

Sunday, June 19, 2005


In this one context, God records the origin, the estate, the character, and the sin of the greatest of angels.

The king of Tyre was one of the few individuals in human history who was possessed by Satan just like the serpent in the garden and Judas Iscariot who betrayed our Lord.

Tyre was a merchant city of the ancient world that represented the promotion of the world’s ideal of success.

Their bodies are not visible to the human race for the obvious reason of the danger of worshipping angels, COL 2:18.

He has the greatest mind that any creature has ever had - only one mind is more intelligent than his which is made available to creatures and that is “the mind of Christ,” 1CO 2:16, PHI 2:5.

You can be under the influence of the mastermind of Satan or the Master’s mind, TLJC.

If there’s anything that destroys genius, smartness, talent and beauty, anything that can be considered worthwhile, it is arrogance.

First, there is the thought of arrogance.
Then there is the decision of arrogance.
Then there is the action of arrogance.

The original sin among angelic creatures is like the original sin among human creatures - it occurred as a decision in perfect environment.

1. To be a genius mentally.
2. Physical beauty in some form.
3. Perfect or improved environment.

Degeneracy in any nation, in any society, is merely a manifestation of the fact that people are unhappy.

He was created an adult with perfect beauty, with the greatest genius of any creature God ever made and with perfect environment.

With self-consciousness, he had perfect beauty, perfect brains, in a perfect environment.

I think the majority of us would say that if we had perfect brains and perfect beauty in a perfect environment, we would be happy.....but we’re just kidding ourselves.

Satan had beauty and brains from the start of his life, and he also had authority being the anointed cherub or the Messiah’s angel, but he got tired of being second in charge.

Arrogance promotes ambition - or inordinate ambition.
“I can do a better job of the universe than God can!”
“Vote for me angels and I’ll give you a better universe!”

The lust for power always has its roots in arrogance.
Arrogance is a desire for recognition.

Even in the Garden of Eden, his name nahash, translated “serpent,” means “the shining one.”
2CO 11:14 And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.

a. In the high priest’s breastplate as a manifestation of divine grace.
b. In the New Jerusalem, which reflects the glory of God.
c. As the covering of this great angel, which signalizes the highest of all creation.

The workmanship of your settings and sockets = he did not need an instrument to praise and glorify God, he was given a built-in royal crown of praise to praise his Creator.

In the next verse we seem to pass from the royalty of Satan to his priestly dignity.

Anointed = the Messiah’s angel.

The holy mountain of God is the place of His presence in visible glory, where His High Priest would stand before Him to minister,
EXO 4:27, PSA 2:6.

The cherubim were the group of angels related to the throne of God as protectors and defenders of His holiness.

Do not be surprised when you run into someone who is supposed to protect and defend the authority over them but instead attacks it and discredits it.

Their “father” in the sense that John the apostle said it, when he called Christians under the thinking of Satan, sons [teknons] of the devil, 1JO 3:10.

1TI 3:6 Make sure he is not a new convert, lest he become conceited and fall into the condemnation incurred by the devil.

Trade - rekullah - “slander” = to go about in order to traffic something against someone, or to slander, or to try to destroy someone’s reputation by trafficking gossip and slander.

LEV 19:16 You shall not go about as a slanderer among your people,
PRO 11:13 He who goes about as a talebearer reveals secrets, But he who is trustworthy conceals a matter.

PRO 20:19 He who goes about as a slanderer reveals secrets, Therefore do not associate with a gossip.
JER 6:28 All of them are stubbornly rebellious, Going about as a talebearer.

“Trade” = to slander; peddling things for the sake of personal gain.

“Trade” = indicates that going about among the angels which was necessary for Satan to do to secure their allegiance to his program of rebellion and conspiracy against God.

This will all take place before the Millennial reign of Christ and after it as well.

He wants us to see the devastating effects of arrogance and pride.

PRO 8:13 “Respect for the Lord is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way, And the perverted mouth, I hate.”
ISA 13:11 Thus I will punish the world for its evil, And the wicked for their iniquity; I will also put an end to the arrogance of the proud,

1. Through the degenerating power of sin, Satan, as did Adam, became an entirely different being from that which God created.
2. When God creates a being to fulfill a certain purpose, that being must be a perfect fulfillment of that divine pattern.

3. We need to identify the purpose for which Satan was created and evaluate the qualities which were his in view of that purpose.
4. By his sin, he lost his original holiness and heavenly position, but he retains his wisdom and his beauty and he has turned his surpassing abilities into ways of evil.

5. Satan’s office was originally to protect the Throne of God and to forbid the approach of evil or any unrighteousness.
6. The unrighteousness found in Satan was the sin of independence and self-exaltation.

7. Satan is said to have been upon the Holy Mountain of God as the Anointed Cherub that covereth and therefore appears to have been the great High Priest of his realm.

8. Satan also appears to have been the highest angel and therefore the King over his creation.
9. He was perfect in all his ways, and apparently continued so for a length of time.

GEN 1:26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

10. After the fall of Adam, when no other created being could be found to fulfill this function, the Lord Jesus Christ came forth from the Godhead to become a member of the human race and to fulfill all three functions, prophet, priest, and king.


WHAT IT MEANS TO BE INITIATED INTO THE SECRET OF THE MYSTERY, PART 66. THE MYSTERY BEHIND THE VINE AND THE BRANCHES

0190-1333

Robert McLaughlin Bible Ministries

What it means to be initiated into the secret of the mystery. Part 66. The mystery behind the vine and the branches.

Wednesday, June 29, 2005


Verses 1-8 - the production of phase 2, living the spiritual life in time.
Verses 9-17 - a dissertation on true biblical love.
Verses 18-27 - the hostility of the cosmos or the world system.

The “vinedresser” metaphor portrays God the Father as the author of the predesigned plan of God.

The “vine” metaphor portrays the humanity of Jesus Christ during the dispensation of the Hypostatic Union.

The vine metaphor emphasizes the fact that all precedence and all production of divine good in the Church-age comes from the Vine, our Lord Jesus Christ.

Fruit from the branch is a metaphor for the Church-age believer.

Because of positional sanctification (our union with Christ) and the grace provision of the filling of the Spirit, it is possible for the believer to produce divine good.

1. Dead branches representing dead works, or production skills without spiritual skills.
2. Live branches representing divine good, with spiritual skills as the basis for production skills.

The branch in Christ that does not bear fruit represents the believer who does not produce divine good.

a. The law of volitional responsibility, which produces a tremendous amount of self-induced misery.
b. Divine discipline.

Pruning is necessary for properly redistributing the “energy” for production.

The branch that bears fruit must be pruned occasionally so that the spiritual skills will increase and maximize.
This is suffering for blessing.

Just as God provides divine discipline and punitive action for the one who bears no fruit, He also provides suffering for blessing for the fruit bearer.

Personal pronoun - you = humeis, in the plural.

LUK 23:43 “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.”

ISA 43:25 “I, even I, am the One who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake; and I will not remember your sins.”

PHI 3:13b but one thing I concentrate upon: constantly forgetting the things that lie behind and pursuing vigorously to what lies ahead,

“Abide in Me” - a command = this is an experience after salvation (dependent on our volitional decisions) and not a reference to positional sanctification (a permanent result of regeneration, not dependent on our volition).

The “branch in Christ” of JOH 15:2 is the believer in positional sanctification.

When the branch is commanded to “abide in Christ,” the believer is being commanded to enter into experiential sanctification through the filling of the Holy Spirit.

The phrase “I in you” is a mandate for the believer to learn and metabolize Bible doctrine (when we have doctrine, the “mind of Christ,” in our souls, Christ abides in us).

The Vine has provided for us the precedent, the pattern, and the information necessary to produce divine good.

We cannot produce fruit apart from the function of spiritual skills - the filling of the Spirit; perception, metabolization, and application of doctrine; and execution of the predesigned plan of God.

“For apart from Me you can do nothing” = dead works (the function of production skills without spiritual skills).

Production skills without spiritual skills result in dead works.

2CO 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may be rewarded for his deeds done in the body, on the basis of what he has done whether good or worthless.

The drying up of the branch in JOH 15:6 refers to the believer without spiritual skills “drying up” through the production of dead works.

There are three concepts revealed in this verse - the believer in fellowship, the believer in doctrine, and the believer in prayer.

The believer in fellowship can perform good deeds and Christian service, which are produced in the execution of the predesigned plan of God.

“My words abide in you” = consistent perception, metabolization, and application of Bible doctrine (inculcation of doctrine) - the second spiritual skill.

The third spiritual skill is the execution of the predesigned plan of God by advancing through the three stages of spiritual adulthood (spiritual self-esteem, spiritual autonomy, and spiritual maturity).

1. Visible production of divine good, which can be seen by others who observe your Christian service.
2. Invisible production of divine good, which has maximum impact in life.
3. Prayer.


WHAT IT MEANS TO BE INITIATED INTO THE SECRET OF THE MYSTERY, PART 67. THE INTIMATE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE VINE AND THE BRANCHES. JOH 15:1-8

0190-1334

Robert McLaughlin Bible Ministries

What it means to be initiated into the secret of the mystery, Part 67. The intimate relationship between the vine and the branches.

Thursday, June 30, 2005


This discourse was delivered right after the Lord’s Supper was instituted and perhaps as they had made use of wine, TLJC took that occasion to say that He was the true vine, and to associate that His blood (His spiritual death) was the real wine that was to give strength to the soul.

Others have supposed that it was delivered in the temple, the entrance to which was adorned with a golden vine (Josephus).

The Jewish people are compared to a vine which God had planted, ISA 5:1-7, PSA 80:8-16, Joel 1:7, JER 2:21,EZE 19:10.

A vine yields proper juice and nourishment to all the branches, whether they are large or small.

All the nourishment of each branch passes through the main stalk or the vine that springs from the earth, so TLJC is the source of all real strength and grace to His disciples.

The “vinedresser” metaphor portrays God the Father as the author of the predesigned plan of God while the“vine” metaphor portrays the humanity of Jesus Christ during the dispensation of the Hypostatic Union.

Fruit from the branch is a metaphor for the Church-age believer producing divine good.

He is going to teach them that you can be clean, saved, and still not produce fruit.

We cannot produce fruit apart from the function of spiritual skills – the filling of the Spirit; perception, metabolization, and application of doctrine; and execution of the predesigned plan of God.

“For apart from Me you can do nothing” = dead works (the function of production skills without spiritual skills).

God provides the means for bearing fruit through the filling of the Holy Spirit, cognition of Bible doctrine, and the attainment of spiritual adulthood.

The drying up of the branch in JOH 15:6 refers to the believer without spiritual skills “drying up” through the production of dead works.

DAN 7:25 And he will speak out against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One,

SOS 1:6 Do not stare at me because I am swarthy, For the sun has burned me. My mother’s sons were angry with me; They made me caretaker of the vineyards, {But} I have not taken care of my own vineyard.

GAL 6:9 And let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we shall reap if we do not grow weary.

2TH 3:13 But as for you, brethren, do not grow weary of doing good.

HEB 12:3 For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you may not grow weary and lose heart.

“My words abide in you” = consistent perception, metabolization, and application of Bible doctrine (inculcation of doctrine) – the second spiritual skill.

“Ask whatever you wish” – does not apply to believers out of fellowship, new believers, or even adolescent believers, but to believers who have the three categories of fruit bearing, and visible and invisible impact.

“Ask for what you wish as a mature believer and God will provide it for you.”

Spiritual skills plus production skills equals divine good in prayer.

Glorification of God through the spiritual skills goes far beyond good deeds or Christian service.

Fruit bearing, or works by themselves, does not glorify God; it is the source of Christian service, the three spiritual skills mentioned in John 15, that truly glorifies God.

Production, or fruit bearing, is a result of spiritual momentum; it is never the means.

The production of a believer is not a sign of his spiritual life; only God knows if the production is divine good or dead works.

It is wrong to conclude that a person is spiritual because they are working hard.

It is equally wrong to conclude that a person is not a fruit bearer or even a believer, simply because you do not see any evidence of it.

“Disciple” – mathetes = one who is indoctrinated or inculcated with Bible doctrine.

Where spiritual skills are bypassed by negative volition toward doctrine or silliness in the application of doctrine (religious misconceptions), production skills take over completely.

A. Fruit bearing is never a means of spiritual growth; it is always the result.

B. Spiritual growth occurs through the combination of the filling of the Holy Spirit and cognition of Bible doctrine. When the believer bears fruit through spiritual skills, especially in spiritual adulthood, God is glorified.

C. Divine good is the result of spiritual skills preceding production skills. Spiritual skills must precede production skills in order to bear fruit and glorify God. Spiritual skills plus production skills equals the performance of divine good.

D. Production skills do not bear fruit apart from spiritual skills. Unless spiritual skills are developed and constantly used, dead works are produced with many adverse repercussions.

E. Spiritual skills are utilized in three progressive categories.
1. You learn how to be filled with the Spirit.
2. You use the filling of the Spirit for your cognition of Bible doctrine.
3. You will eventually execute the predesigned plan of God.

F. The good deeds and Christian service of the believer in spiritual adulthood are not dependent on the doer.

G. The production of divine good does not create cliques or manipulate the recipients. Instead, the recipients give praise to God for what has been accomplished.

H. When fruit bearing is the result of spiritual skills, God is glorified.

I. The greater part of fruit bearing is hidden from the view of other Christians, but is seen by God, who is glorified by these invisible works.

J. In the Christian life, when production skills replace spiritual skills, there are disastrous results, such as the formation of cliques, the development of legalism, and the problems caused by arrogant “counselors” who interfere in and manipulate the lives of others.

FULL DOCTRINE OF THE SECRET OF THE MYSTERY
JULY 2005