THE VOICES OF STRANGERS 

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By Edgar Jones

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A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee
from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers. Jesus, John 10:5

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The only divinely inspired words are the words of Jesus and those OT passages, and prophets, that he validated. The others are the voices of strangers.  There are many practical reasons for this conviction, and listing and explaining them thoroughly is a lengthy process.  So, here, I will only list some major reasons and explain each briefly.  Should you desire additional explanation you need only ask.

The question is: How to tell the voices of strangers from the voice of the Good Shepherd?

I. Contradictions

There are many contradictions throughout the Bible, and we can easily detect them if our minds are open to Truth.  Since we believe that God is such a person as is perfect and true we should also believe that he would never contradict himself.  We should deny divine inspiration where such contradictions appear.  The strangers are speaking there.  I will list only two contradictions here.  There are a host of others!

First, we have these two statements from the Acts:

Acts.9
[7] The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one.

Acts.22
[9] Now those who were with me saw the light but did not hear the voice of the one who was speaking to me.

Then we have these two statements, one from Jesus, which means that the strangers love to contradict him:

Gen.2
[2] And on the seventh day God finished his work which he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done.
[3] So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all his work which he had done in creation.

John 5
[15] The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him.
[16] And this was why the Jews persecuted Jesus, because he did this on the sabbath.
[17] But Jesus answered them, "My Father is working still, and I am working."

These are only two of the scores of such contradictions that one can discover by examining the text with a critical eye.

Ask yourself now: "Did I ever, before now, see these contradictions in the scriptures?  Did I know Jesus denied that the Father has ever rested, but is "working still"?"

Then, if you answer "No," you must, for your own sake, ask yourself "Why?"

II. Failed Prophecy

History has falsified certain prophetic statements, especially  from the NT.  Believing that God is not capable of false prophecy, I conclude that these statements are not divinely inspired, and that the writings that contain them are likewise not divinely inspired, since it is reasonable to believe that the same spirit guided the stranger who authored each document throughout its writing.

Surely God would not inspire false prophecy?  Would He?

NT documents prophesied things that history has falsified. Perhaps most notable is Revelation.  This document begins and ends with false prophecy, a fact beyond dispute because history has proved the falsehood of it.

It begins as follows:

Rev.1
[1] The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants what must soon take place; and he made it known by sending his angel to his servant John,
[2] who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw.

It ends like this:

Rev.22
[20] He who testifies to these things says, "Surely I am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!

The opening statement indicts the entire document since it places it all in the category of "what must soon take place."  And it closes with the words of the one "who testifies to these things" to the effect that he is surely coming soon.  We know this has not taken place, even yet.

There is no rational way to redeem the entire document when we take these opening and closing words at face value.  They constitute a prophecy of his "soon coming" such as history has no record.  The Greek of the text actually means that he is to come immediately!

A stranger is surely at work here.

Nor is there any way to redeem the prophet, who names himself "John," for he attributes these failed prophecies to "the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ . . .."  But God is true, and as such cannot be the source of failed prophecy.  The source of this failed prophecy cannot be either God  or Jesus.
 

III. Corrections by Jesus

Jesus found it necessary to correct Moses and the other ancient scribes. Jesus therefore did not consider all of the OT to be divinely inspired.  I list some examples.

1. Jesus corrected Moses concerning divorce:

Matt.19
[8] He said to them, For your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.

Moses was clearly making an accommodation of the Word to the capacity of the people to receive it.  And Jesus was without equivocation.  Not only was the word of Moses not true in this case, it had never been true "from the beginning."

This surely occurs many times in the Old Testament, where that which was written was false and had been false since the beginning.  Here is another case in which Jesus corrects Moses.

2. Jesus corrected Moses' specifications as to what defiles a man.

Lev.11
[4] Nevertheless among those that chew the cud or part the hoof, you shall not eat these: The camel, because it chews the cud but does not part the hoof, is unclean to you.
[5] And the rock badger, because it chews the cud but does not part the hoof, is unclean to you.
[6] And the hare, because it chews the cud but does not part the hoof, is unclean to you.
[7] And the swine, because it parts the hoof and is cloven-footed but does not chew the cud, is unclean to you.
[8] Of their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall not touch; they are unclean to you.
[24] And by these you shall become unclean; whoever touches their carcass shall be unclean until the evening, . . ..

Matt.15
[11]. . . not what goes into the mouth defiles a man, but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man."
[17] Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach, and so passes on?
[18] But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a man.

Note the radical difference in the way Jesus and Moses defined that which defiles.  Moses pointed to the digestive tract -- Jesus to the heart.  Go figure which is inspired!.

Finally, a large portion of the Sermon on the Mount is given to correct the words of Moses and the other ancient scribes.  Six times he speaks according to the following sequence:

You have heard that it has been said (referring to the Law of Moses) . . . but I say unto you . . ..

3. We list here but one of these cases concerning non resistance:

Matt. 5
[38] You have heard that it has been said, "An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth."
[39] But I say unto you, Do not resist one who is evil.

Therefore we see that, in all these cases, the word of Moses was only an accommodation to the character of the people of Israel.  We must not consider a word that Jesus corrected to be the inspired Word of God.

In this case, neither is it proper to consider the man, Moses, to belong to the category of strangers.  That is because he compromised the Word only as necessary to gain a hearing for as much of divine truth as possible, but was himself an earnest servant of God.  It remains, however, that his words in such instances are not inspired.
 

IV. False Doctrine

The New Testament Epistles interpret Jesus' crucifixion as that of a sacrificial lamb after the pattern of the Temple practice.  In so doing they teach a false doctrine that is contrary to the Word of Jesus.  But unlike Moses, the authors of the New Testament epistles had access to his words and are without excuse.  These must therefore be the voices of strangers.

For example:

Heb.10
[12] But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, . . ..

1Cor.5
[7] Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our paschal lamb, has been sacrificed.

But, when we listen to Jesus, we find first that God does not desire a sacrifice:

Matt.9[13]
Go and learn what this means, `I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.' (Quoting, thus validating, Hosea.)

Furthermore, we find that he did not die as a lamb, but as the shepherd!

John.10
[11] I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

There are many other false doctrines in Christendom but this is cardinal.  Since near the very beginning, men and women everywhere have been hearing and believing that Jesus sacrificed his life to atone for the sins of humanity, and vainly believing that by believing this, they will have eternal life!  Thus, they betray their true origins because they are listening to the voices of strangers, for Jesus said of his sheep:

John 10
[5] A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.

V. Truth's Source

Jesus tells us how to know the Truth, and it does not involve searching the scriptures:

John.14
[6] Jesus said to him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me.

John.8
[31] Jesus then said to the Jews who had believed in him, "If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples,
[32] and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free."

Instead, he rebukes those who search the scriptures instead of coming to him for eternal life:

John.5
[39] You search the scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness to me;
[40] yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.

For further discussion of this text, go to this paper: voiceofjesus.org/scriptures.html
 

 VI. The Key

Those who hear the voices of strangers often profess "biblical inerrancy" and seek to prove their doctrine by diverse Biblical references.  They are responsible for the many divisions of Christendom due to their disagreements.  But when we go to Jesus and listen to him, depending only on his Word as the Source of Truth and receiving it into our hearts, here is what occurs:

John.14
[23] Jesus answered him, If a man loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.

John.10
[16] And I have other sheep, that are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will heed my voice. So there shall be one flock, one shepherd.

John.17
[11] And now I am no more in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to thee. Holy Father, keep them in thy name, which thou hast given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.
[21] that they may all be one; even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. [22] The glory which thou hast given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one,

So, can we not understand that unity comes only from this: "They will heed my voice."  When one keeps his word, he and the Father come "and make our home with him."  The result can only be complete unity in love and faith and Spirit.  But Christianity is the most fractured of all religions, and it is because of all the strangers that are hard at work.
 

 VII. The Crucifixion

Jesus explained the purpose of his crucifixion in all the canonical gospels.  His explanation differs radically from that put forth throughout the NT Epistles, all of which ignore his explanation. See this page: The Great Principle.

We touched on this briefly above, under "False Doctrine."  But if his crucifixion was not a sacrifice, what was it?  It is the Great Principle that explains it, and Jesus applied this explanation to his death in Matthew, Mark, Luke John.  It is thus a fact that Jesus explained his crucifixion in terms of the Great Principle, which falsifies all the scriptures that explain it otherwise.
 

Conclusion

We have defined seven good and simple reasons supporting the view that the Bible as a whole is not inspired.  If it were wholly inspired, then it would be a holy book.  The only wholly inspired words within it are the utterances of Jesus and those texts that he, by his utterances, verified as inspired of God.  They constitute a small portion of the whole.  His words are indeed holy words, the very holiest of words and in them there is eternal life.  Outside of them there is only death, and the words are dead words.  They are the words of strangers, and the sheep do not hear them.  Read more.

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