“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: – Jesus (John 10:28)
“Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.”
“Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them.”
We see several writings that share the parable and teaching by Jesus that state that His sheep hear His voice and follow him. That those that are His, will by no means follow another…. they will flee from another.. for they do not know the voice of strangers. Jesus goes on to say that those that came before…. the sheep did not hear them… yet is this what we are seeing going on today??
(Note to consider: According to the book of Genesis… man hearkened to the voice of another in the beginning…. who was not God …and now we have Jesus saying that His sheep hear His voice and they follow him and will not hearken to the voice of another or follow another)
We’re to be looking, according to Jesus, for the evidence of the works…. if one doesn’t see the works… then one is not to believe because of words… right??
Jesus says very clear that those that are His… He calls them by name… He leads them… and they follow HIM.
Jesus says very clearly that those that are His …. know His voice and another they will not follow… that they will flee from another…. and yet in most writings, or “beliefs” that are referred to as “Christian” today… we see the words of another… we see quoted what another has said on so many points… not Jesus!!
So what is it that we’re seeing from the evidence of the works…..???
This morning I read an article where someone called themselves a “Christian” with Christian beliefs… but then when asked about the basis for their beliefs…. quoted another who is not Jesus Christ.
Do people not realize that we have the words of Jesus in the pages of the bible… billions of copies of them… in various languages distributed throughout the world today?
Do they not realize that we can read for ourselves that Jesus said that those that know HIM follow HIM… and will NOT follow another?
See when I read the words of Jesus from the pages of the bible for myself…. (I encourage everyone to do so for themselves)…. its not only that Jesus said that His own hear HIS voice and they FOLLOW HIM.. but also that those that know Him… will flee from the voice of a stranger.. who is not Jesus!!
When we read the writings in the bible… each writer clearly tells us in those details and specifics what they say Jesus said…. who Jesus said it to.. or about… as well as the details and specifics of OTHERS who are not JESUS said as well. The voice of another…..
We have Jesus “voice” in the writings.. but we also have “another”… “strangers” in those writings…. yet Jesus says that His hear HIS voice and follow HIM… and will not follow another.
If Jesus’ example was that one is to look to the evidence of what a person is doing… not believe because of words… then when a person today… says they are a Christian, (follower of Christ and His teachings) and are quoting the words of another… teaching others to follow ANOTHER who is not Jesus…. then do we go against Jesus’ words and believe they are Christian based on their words???
Wouldn’t doing so mean that one is himself/herself rejecting hearing Jesus’ “voice” and following another by doing so??? Believing because of words….. not evidence of action??
Do we take Jesus’ “voice” on this and see who it is by the evidence of their own actions… who it is that they follow… and see for ourselves if “another” is followed??
This was an eye opener for me in my own journey through “Christianity”…. and I can still remember it as if it was yesterday, even though it took place many many years ago now.
I had like most … been attending a church… been taught and had participated in the “traditional” aspects of church services… and doing as I had been instructed as part of the “belief” system…. and yet … right there in front of my face… in the words of Jesus… written in red, leaping from the pages of my own bible.. so as not to be missed or ignored were teachings in direct opposition to what I was doing and what was being done in that church service.
In the same collection of writings that so many said they believed to be the words of God… Jesus to be the one God sent.. the only person to have been identified by God to be His beloved Son in whom He was well pleased, commanding man to “hear him”… and there right in front of me… right before my very eyes.. were His words…. His voice… and I sat there realizing … my eyes were opened… I had been taught and had been trying to “follow another” …. as part of what was being called “Christianity”… when it was not to have been done from the beginning!!
I read where Jesus told those in his day that they were making claims of what people should be doing or not doing… and then they were the ones that were not lifting their own fingers to do so themselves…. they were putting heavy burdens on others… and yet were not doing as they said was to be done themselves…those are the ones that Jesus is shown to have referred to as “hypocrites, broods of vipers, a perverse generation”….
So as I sat there that day… all those years ago now… not only did I understand in that moment in time…. why there had been so many struggles in my own life trying to “conform” and “follow another”… but how much by almost “default” even before I read the bible or knew what Jesus said on these points.. that I and countless others… outside of Christianity … followed Him… and didn’t follow another!! It was an eye opener… my blinded eyes had seen…
So what I’d like to encourage each of you reading this to do is to carefully examine the writings in the bible that are said to be those that Jesus said and taught.
See for yourself what they say… and what the writings share with us that a Christian (follower of Jesus’ teachings) is and how to know them by their fruits!!
Check yourself as well…. look to what Jesus is shown to have taught in those pages… and what you do and whose words you pattern your living after…. and know yourself…
Jesus said that one must get the plank out of one’s own eye first so that one can see clearly himself/herself.. so check yourself first.. then look around you….see what the evidence around you speaks to you and through you in light of Jesus’ words that we can all read for ourselves?? Is Christianity today following the words and teachings of another???
Check out whose words are being shared when the bible is quoted. See whose words it is that is shared regarding the basis for their “beliefs”?? Are they those of Jesus.. written in red so as not to be missed or ignored… or are they words and teaching of another who is not Jesus???
Jesus said.. “ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free”… My sheep hear my voice and follow me…. they will not follow another… no matter who they are….. they follow Me!
He replied, “Don’t let anyone mislead you, for many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and saying, ‘The time has come!’ But don’t believe them.
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