Two questions for readers to ponder (answers at the end) …

Question 1: Name Jesus’ twelve disciples AND their professions?

Question 2: What have Alex Jones, David Icke, Eric Metaxas, Lou Dobbs, Tucker Carlson, Sidney Powell, Rudi Giuliani, Jerome Corsi, Nigel Farage, Mark Taylor, Veronica West, Richard’s Watch, Q-Anon (whoever they are) and the nice people at Newsmax and other new news media outlets all got in common?

“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” John 10:27

For reasons I can explain, the above words of Jesus have been weighing on my mind along with some of His other words included in His prayer a little prior to being taken and executed:  “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me” John 17:20,21. I confess along with my watching on the wall at some of the strange happenings in the world, I have been trying to figure out the part the Church (real believers in Jesus) plays in all this. It is an important consideration because if we truly believe God has a plan and the Church along with Israel are His great concerns, then the Church plays a key part.

I recently posted an article titled: “Red pilling others, especially Christians” and in it concluded that while real Christians have been red pilled on what matters most – the Christian Gospel, most have not been red pilled on what is truly going on in the world and its implications. In it, I raised twenty questions that particularly concern me, all of which I can answer YES, and challenge my readers to go through the list themselves. In another recently posted article titled: “COVID-19 VACCINE – should we be concerned?” I list ten concerns that need to be addressed BEFORE I take the vaccine. In yet another article, titled: “Trumpwatch 39 – the “Red Sea” moment”, I expressed the view that if truth and justice matters, it will be Trump who will be inaugurated as US President on January 20^th. (All three articles can be downloaded from my blog.) In a video on YouTube titled: “Nigel Farage: ‘The Church has let the country down worse than politicians’” I found myself agreeing with Nigel and along with my disillusionment with our national leaders and mainstream media, I regret “church” leaders have often fallen short in assisting the Great Shepherd when it comes to leading the sheep in the right direction.  

Anyone reading the above might be forgiven thinking I am a stirrer. I try not to be and I would rather get on with life and doing my bit for the Kingdom as part of my own Christian discipleship. But somehow, I have been thrown into the deep end and raise the above concerns etc. because others don’t. Which is why THIS article is titled “My sheep hear my voice” and is offered by way of a counterbalance, something we all need. While I believe Christians should take an interest in what is going on around them and not merely succumb to following the status quo, which may well lead to a dangerous outcome if we do (yet which may happen anyway if my view of End Times prophecy, given in my book “Prophets of the Bible” comes to pass), I believe it is beholden on all true believers to follow the Great Shepherd of the sheep and to bear in mind the words of that same one who prayed “that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me”. We live in interesting times and I have no doubt things will soon get even more interesting, so it is paramount for our eyes to be fixed on Him. If there is one voice above all others we should be listening to, it is that of Jesus. If there is one more parting word of wisdom, again taken from John’s gospel, it is the words of Jesus: “a new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another” John 13:34,35.

Answer to Question 1:

Andrew, Peter, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, worked as fishermen and Matthew 4:18-22 relates. Matthew, called Levi, worked as a tax collector for the Roman government. Simon was known as the Zealot, not strictly a profession; today we might call him a freedom fighter. Zealots engaged in politics and anarchy, attempting to overthrow the Roman government. Judas served as the treasurer in Jesus’ band; John 12:4-6 identifies him as a thief and an embezzler. The Bible provides no information on the professions of Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, Thaddaeus or James, the son of Alphaeus. They were a pretty diverse group and a motley one at that, including deserting Jesus in His time of greatest need. But they were the advance guard for turning the world upside down after Jesus left them, for which Christians today have to be thankful. It is no accident, methinks, that Jesus chose such a eclectic bunch, for that is how His (real) Church happens to be.

Answer to Question 2:

I have no doubt Wikipedia can give bio details for most of these I have named but given, in the main, their view of the world may not quite align with those who run that show, this may be a bit skewed. I suspect one thing they may have in common is they are more likely to answer in the affirmative the twenty questions I raised above than most and the people who answer more in the negative tend not to read my blog. Just like Jesus disciples, they are a rather mixed bunch, ranging from cultural commentators, conservative activists, conspiracy theorists, prophets and those simply doing a job that happens to be in the limelight right now. They also happen to be some I have checked out in the past week. I suspect some who read the list will approve of some and not others. My interest is not necessarily to put any on a pedestal, although I suspect when I am long gone history will consider most favourably, but they are part of my truth seeking, watching and praying, testing and weighing.