Deconstructing The 12

By Irving Martinez

A look at the 12 Disciples of Jesus, how they went from ordinary men to the Apostles of Jesus. Studying their lives we can see that Jesus is still calling disciples today and we are all called to follow Him.
The reality of life is that we are already disciples, the only difference is who our teacher is. This is for everyone wanting to be a disciple of Jesus and to all the Judases of the world who think Jesus can't take you back, He is still calling you to be His disciple.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Irving Martinez
• Release date: Nov 4, 2016
• ISBN: 9781370807543

Irving Martinez

I grew up in a conservative Christian environment and I always thought to be a follower of Christ was this hard and complicated thing to do. Like there was some much I had to give up and receive so little back, and even what I would receive wasn't that attractive anyways. I mean, who wants a bunch of rules and regulations as a gift? After a very rough patch in my life I decided to go "back to church", but it still felt like an obligation more than anything else, I was just going through the motions. One day I was presented with the concept that anything and everything you might have questions about, you can find answers for in the Bible. If you want to know about sex, politics, relationships, finance, anything you want it's in the Bible. Later I was presented with a relevant and contemporary view of the Bible and for the first time, I found myself connecting with the Bible. The Deconstructing The Bible series is a tool that you can use to see the Bible stories from a relevant and practical point of view. I pray that theses books help you see the Bible for what it really is, God's perfect word spoken to you.

Book preview

INTRODUCTION

We Are All Disciples

In the early 1990’s the band Guns N’ Roses (GN’R) was the biggest rock and roll band in the world and I was their biggest fan (self-proclaimed). I owned every one of their albums and videos, of which I knew the lyrics by heart. I would listen to their music from the time I woke up until the time I went to bed. Listening to their more mellow songs really helped me go to sleep.

My bedroom was covered with posters of the band. My closet was filled with fan t-shirts and all my clothes looked like I was a member of the band. I actually entered a look-a-like contest for GN’R and when I won first place I was so excited, however, I was disappointed later because the prize was a cassette tape from a different band.

The way I walked, talked and acted was all focused on the band. My friends were all GN’R fans, otherwise I couldn’t consider them friends. We even formed a tribute cover band, which we named, Black Roses. In everything I did I tried to incorporate the band in some way shape or form.

To this day I thank God that I wasn’t allowed to get a tattoo as a minor, otherwise I would have had several GN’R tattoos on me. As a matter of fact, I had this idea of getting a tattoo of Axl Rose’s face on my back, which consisted of the entire length of my back, Axl Rose is the lead singer of GN’R and yes I wanted this man’s face covering my back. Crazy, I know… now.

I studied Axl’s every move when he was on stage because I wanted to be like him. I also followed his life off stage because I wanted to live like him because to me there was no one cooler than him. The truth is that I idolized him. The truth is that I was his disciple.

It could be a coincidence or a divine intervention, I’d like to think it is the latter. When I had started working on this book my church’s Pastor began a series of sermons on discipleship so I decided to pause what I was writing to see what new insight I could get about what being a disciple is all about. After the series was completed and I did more research it downed on me; We are all disciples, the difference is who our master is.

When I was a disciple of Axl Rose I resembled him. Later in life I was a disciple of work and all my decisions and everything I did revolve around my job and its schedule. I took pride in the fact that I was a workaholic but the reality was that I was a disciple of my job. This might not make a lot sense at first but when you realize that the word disciple and slave are often used in the bible under the same context, you’ll find that it makes a lot of sense. In order to be a disciple or a slave you have to serve, that or who you serve is your master and you its disciple.

In His farewell speech Jesus is very clear that we are all called to be His disciples. We are made to be His disciples and when we are not we gravitate towards other people or things to follow.

The twelve disciples that followed Jesus, who later became the twelve apostles were not that different from you and I. Aside from the era they