A man went to a barbershop to have his hair cut and his beard trimmed. As the barber began to work, they began to have a good conversation. They talked about so many things and various subjects.
When they eventually touched on the subject of God, the barber said: “I don’t believe that God exists.”
“Why do you say that?” asked the customer.
“Well, you just have to go out in the street to realize that God doesn’t exist. Tell me, if God exists, would there be so many sick people? Would there be abandoned children? If God existed, there would be neither suffering nor pain. I can’t imagine a loving God who would allow all of these things.”
The customer thought for a moment, but didn’t respond because he didn’t want to start an argument. The barber finished his job and the customer left the shop.
Just after he left the barbershop, he saw a man in the street with long, stringy, dirty hair and an untrimmed beard. He looked dirty and unkempt.
The customer turned back and entered the barber shop again and he said to the barber: “You know what? Barbers don’t exist.”
“How can you say that?” asked the surprised barber. “I’m right here, and I am a barber. And I just worked on you!”
“No!” the customer exclaimed. “Barbers don’t exist because if they did, there would be no people with dirty long hair and untrimmed beards, like that man outside.”
“Ah, but barbers DO exist! What happens, is, people just don’t come to me.”
“Exactly!” affirmed the customer. “That’s the point! God, too, DOES exist! What happens, is, people don’t go to Him and don’t look for Him. That’s why there’s so much pain and suffering!”
Matthew 7:7-8, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.”
between standing before Him and hearing Him say depart from Me for I knew you not, or well done thou good and faithful servant! (
Consider this; just as Jesus Christ is the Living Word and He IS the vine, the source of our spiritual knowledge, wisdom and anointing. 
Now, remember that Jesus shared with His disciples that He had to depart this world so that the Paraclete or the Comforter would come, speaking of course of the Holy Spirit as our Advocate and Counselor. It only stands to reason also; for Jesus, the man, in the flesh was limited in His abilities by that very flesh that we ourselves are limited too. His word would reach to all who would listen and hear, but, when He departed to return to Heaven, He sent His Holy Spirit, the very Spirit of Christ, the Anointed One, to dwell within the hearts of all who would accept His truth! His Spirit, not confined to the limitations of the flesh, is able to influence hearts and spirits all over the globe! There are no limitations to where the Holy Spirit can reach! God in His immeasurable wisdom knew this to be the case and it was His plan for mankind all along! How many more reason does mankind need to stand up and Praise Him to the highest Heavens, for the LOVE He has demonstrated toward us!
No one can or needs to teach one who is abiding in Christ and the truth what IS the truth or a falsehood. The enemy cannot “pull one over on us,” so to speak because of the very Truth that lives within us. We still need to be taught in some areas or else there would be no reason that the Holy Spirit would gift us with teachers, or exhorters or pastors. The Apostle Paul would not have encouraged Timothy to stand upon the things he had been taught as a youngster and the disciples would not have encouraged the older men to teach the younger men and the older women to teach the younger women! This is where you have to study the Word, and rightly divide it. Believe me, I have been in churches that truly believe there is no one teacher, but everybody upon accepting Jesus as Lord, instantly knows all the truths of the Word of God. If this were the case, there would be no stumbling, no religious fads, no twisting of the truth and no being blind-sided by wolves in sheep’s clothing!
God never disciplines or reproves us without showing us that if we follow Him, nothing but good will come of it. That should be the same thing when we teach, preach, discipline or reprove. You never discipline or reprove someone with the intent of tearing them down just to build them back up, that is a humanistic way of teaching, rather it is always with the intent of building them up in the first place! This is what the Beloved Apostle’s teaching shows us in his writing style. He is quick to warn of sin and deception, but he is quicker still to acknowledge being able to rise above them!
On this great day that we in the United States of America set aside to celebrate, let’s consider a couple of things:
Any other application, in the name of justice, compassion, unity, acceptance, etc., etc., is an outright lie from the pits of hell and sadly, today, so many are accepting this lie RATHER than the truth that will set them free!!
In closing, remember the TRUE Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Gospel that has been proven over the ages and is the foundation of the TRUE Church, the Body of Christ:
The thing about social media today is that in one sense, it is a great blessing and in another sense it can be a real curse. As with anything, there are extremes in which we need to be very cautious of as true born-again Christians. You see, social media can be used in this day and age as such a useful tool in winning the lost and encouraging and edifying one another in the Lord. The thing is, you see false prophets, wolves in sheep’s clothing and false teaching abounding, and as a child of God, we HAVE to be very discerning. But on the other hand, you can become very close to your brothers and sisters in the Lord in a way that was never possible before and with that comes a transparency, where you see when one or another has problems, many times physical problems in the way of illness.
Secondly, science is not able too, and even Biblical teachers who have studied for years cannot tell you where the spirit or the soul of man, resides. Often times as teachers, we will speak as if it is from the heart, but when we become analytical, we may refer to the brain as the source. Let it suffice for this discussion that if your heart stops OR your brain stops, your spirit leaves the body and the natural body is considered dead! But – we DO know that the brain is the seat of our ability to not just think rationally, but to make choices in a clear and coherent way. Many may say, a person is thinking with their heart, but that in reality is just an anecdotal response, for the heart, pumps blood, it does not have the cells or capacity to think.
So here is something that I want you to consider; when the brain, for whatever reason is not functioning the way that it is meant too, and yet you have surrendered your life, heart and soul to God Almighty, through Christ Jesus by the leading and power of the Holy Spirit and you HAVE been born-again, spiritually renewed, you ARE His! Now one other point I have to make here and I am sorry to my Baptist and Calvinistic brothers and sisters, but I am not here to debate, “once saved, always saved” or “eternal security.” For the sake of this conversation that debate is NOT necessary!
Love, true Agape, Godly love covers, or buries sin, never to be seen again, never to be brought up again. But that is talking about an independent act of sin, not overall sin or a sinful lifestyle, there is a difference, a BIG difference. We can recognize AND even help someone to overcome sin, as shown in 
This is the very reason that when James was addressing the Brethren, those already walking in Christ, he was very plain to state that “wandering from the truth,” is the same as sinning for if someone turns that person back to the truth and away from sin (the very definition of repentance) that the person who accomplishes this, is demonstrating love in two ways; they are number one, saving a soul from spiritual death, for the soul, even though not the spirit, is the spiritual character of the person, their “personality” as it were; and second, covers or buries a multitude of sin! Remember, if God, our Heavenly Father doesn’t remember our sins after repentance, and as written in 
Consider grace like this; you are walking the pinnacles of the mountaintops which come to a very fine edge. You are going about your life as normal and to protect you from falling down into the chasm, you are wearing a parachute, grace. Grace is there IF you fall, it is not meant to be abused by willingly jumping off the edge of the precipice just because you KNOW you have the ‘chute! It is in the motive and how you use God’s freely given grace. It is there because He loves us enough, and He knows our weaknesses and how they can crop up in our “pursuit” of perfection. It is like the safety net. But when you are relying upon the ‘chute to walk carelessly or foolishly, tempting fate, then it becomes abuse!
Peter thought that what he was expressing was noble, but was Peter truly willing to usurp the will of the Lord, just to save the life of His friend, when all along, it is the Father’s will that Christ give His life freely and willingly? Jesus loved Peter eternally rather than just in the moment; He knew Peter would definitely have a hurt ego, Peter was a proud man, BUT – better his ego be bruised now, than he continues in his willfulness rather than surrender to God’s will.
Love is the greatest offensive AND defensive weapon in our spiritual arsenal, but it is no good to us if we can’t identify the enemy WHEN necessary. We don’t have to look for an enemy behind every corner, for the enemy will make itself known sure enough! (Notice I said it and not them, remember, the fight is against sin, not against people!) The Bible assures us and PROMISES us that what is done or hid in the dark, will be brought to the light.
Remember what the Apostle Paul wrote in confirmation of this when he wrote in 
Remember, John started his writing in that last several sentences about the antichrists being among us and our needing to be aware that they are here. So, he is reminding the readers that we know the truth and we know lies, no falsehood or deception is of the truth! I know this seems redundant in the way that he keeps reminding and then going over the same thing, but something I learned when I was in my twenties and going to tech school; some of the best teaching takes you to a certain level but then comes back and reminds you of what you already learned. It tends to make it stick and become more meaningful. This is what the Apostle is doing with the readers of his letter. The modern-day antichrists, just like in the day of John are liars and deceivers. They are willing to manipulate the truth and they try to hide amongst the true disciples in plain sight, spouting religious terms and yet producing no fruit in their lives, at least fruit that is not pleasing!
Also remember this; John is warning his readers of the doctrines of the Gnostics of his day. They did not believe that Jesus was the Christ, the anointed One, but rather that He was JUST a man whom the Christ, the Messiah descended upon at His baptism from John! Does this sound at all familiar to my readers today? It should, for you find this same teaching in many of the “religious” cults of today, and sadly some who claim to be CHRISTIAN Churches!!
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD 
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