Watchman Update: You Will Be Betrayed Even by Your Parents, Brothers, Relatives, and Friends, and They Will Put Some of You to Death. All Men Will Hate You Because of Me. (Words of Jesus Recorded in Luke 21:16–17)

           To the “disciples”:

To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31-32)

To the unbelieving Jews:

You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire.

He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me?

He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.” (John 8:44-47)

To extend this lesson to modern times and the most dominant religion in the United States today, simply substitute "Jews" with "Christians" in Jesus' comments above.

So, now that I've defined "disciple," which in English is synonymous with words like "student," "pupil," "apprentice," and so on, let me address the question I posed at the beginning of this article: Do you know whether or not you are a disciple of Jesus Christ?

As I previously stated, this is a fairly simple question to answer because Jesus was quite explicit on the subject, leaving little space for debate.

The following are the requirements for becoming a follower of Jesus Christ:

... no one who does not give up everything he owns can be my follower. (Luke 14:33)

Anyone who comes to me and does not disregard his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and yes, even his own life, cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14:26)

Anybody who loves his father or mother more than I does not deserve me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than I does not deserve me; and anyone who does not take up his cross and follow me does not deserve me. Anybody who finds his life will lose it, and anyone who loses his life for my sake will find it. Matthew 10:37–39

How to recognize a true disciple of Jesus Christ, or how the masses treat disciples of Jesus:

Even your parents, brothers, relatives, and friends will betray you, and some of you will be killed. (Luke 21:16)

Because of me, all men will hate you, but he who endures to the end will be saved. 10:22 (Matthew)

They will kick you out of the synagogue ("church" now); in fact, there will come a time when anyone who murders you will believe he is doing God a favor. (John 16:2)

"I tell you the truth," Jesus answered to them, "no one who has abandoned house, wife, brothers, parents, or children for the sake of God's kingdom will fail to receive many times as much in this age and eternal life in the age to come." (Luke 18:29-30)

Given the enormous expense of being a sincere disciple of Jesus Christ, few choose (or even seek) that narrow route.

Enter via the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the road that leads to disaster is vast, and many enter through it. "But the gate is small, and the road to life is narrow, and only a few find it." (Matthew 7:13-14, NIV)

Many people are invited, but just a few are chosen. 22:14 (Matthew)

When Jesus walked the earth, what kind of people became his disciples?

When the Pharisees, the professors of the law, noticed him eating with "sinners" and tax collectors, they asked his followers, "Why does he eat with tax collectors and "sinners"?"

When Jesus heard this, he responded to them, "It is the sick who need a doctor, not the healthy." "I have come to invite sinners, not the righteous." (Mark 2:16-17)

When an immoral woman in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume and began to wet his feet with her tears as she stood behind him at his feet wailing. She then wiped her hair over them, kissed them, and put perfume on them.

When the Pharisee who had invited him noticed this, he thought to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—a sinner." (For example, a prostitute) (Luke 7:37–39)

Consider what you were when you were called. By human standards, not many of you were wise; not many were prominent; and not many were of noble lineage.

But God chose the foolish things of the world to put the smart to disgrace, and God chose the weak things of the world to put the strong to shame. He chose the poor and despised things of this world—and the things that aren't—to negate the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. (Paul's words in 1 Corinthians 1:26-29)

Given what Jesus indicated about what it takes to be one of his disciples and the documented history of the types of people who became his followers, where do you think you'll find disciples of Jesus Christ today in the United States?

I can testify that in my own personal experience as an American, especially in the last 27 years or so as I began to publicly go "against the tide" of common cultural beliefs, such as selling food labeled "unhealthy," exposing the Satanic medical system and things like vaccines, (KILL Shots) or pointing out how Christians are participating in child trafficking through foster care and adoption, I have NOT been welcomed in corporate Christian churches.

But I've met people who have spent time in jail or prison fighting the system (and have been incarcerated myself numerous times after being wrongly convicted of crimes I didn't commit) who resemble what a true "disciple" is according to Jesus' words.

I've also talked to many homeless people living on the streets, many of whom live there by choice because they no longer fit into society and have chosen to live on the streets instead, and even there I've met people who resemble "disciples" more according to what Jesus wrote than what I've seen in corporate Christianity.

So, how about you? Do you know whether or not you are a follower of Jesus?

For it is my Father's wish that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the end of time. (John 6:37-40)

Jesus Prays for All Believers

²⁰ “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, ²¹ that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. ²² I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— ²³ I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

²⁴ “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.

²⁵ “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. ²⁶ I have made you^[e] known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”