Beware the Voice of Strangers

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.
(Joh 10:1-15 ESV)

If you saw a man climbing in the rear window of a building, wouldn’t your first thought be that he was a thief in the act of breaking in? You would not be out of line for thinking that. After all, if it is indeed his house, he should have the key to the front door. No key, means it’s not your house. It’s as simple as that!
Jesus begins his illustration with just such an obvious truth. But he is making a point about ownership of possessions much more valuable than material things. Although he uses sheep, his lesson is really about the precious lives of people and their everlasting destiny. Basing his parable on what his listeners know about the trusting relationship that exists between a shepherd and his sheep he paints a picture of how well he would know each one of his disciples and how well they would know him. They would be able to identify his voice. It would be familiar and comforting to them, resonating deep inside. As an example of this, note what happened after Jesus resurrection:

“Mary, however, kept standing outside near the tomb, weeping. While she was weeping, she stooped forward to look into the tomb, and she saw two angels in white sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and one at the feet. And they said to her: “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them: “They have taken my Lord away, and I do not know where they have laid him.” After saying this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her: “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” She, thinking it was the gardener, said to him: “Sir, if you have carried him off, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her: “Mary!” On turning around, she said to him in Hebrew: “Rab·boʹni!” (which means “Teacher!”) Jesus said to her: “Stop clinging to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father and to my God and your God.’” Mary Magʹda·lene came and brought the news to the disciples: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them what he had said to her. (John 20:11-18)

Just as a sheep recognizes its shepherd by his voice, so Mary recognized Jesus. In the same way, our spiritual discernment enables us to recognize our good shepherd, Jesus Christ.
He contrasts this with how they would react to thieves and strangers. When they speak, something just doesn’t sound quite right and the sheep would flee. Realizing that his audience is not grasping what he is conveying to them he gets right to the point identifying himself as both the door and the shepherd. It seems as though he means that only he serves as both protector of the sheep, keeping out undesirable persons as well as the only one allowed to take care of them and lead them out to safely find pasturage. He feeds them, he leads them, no one else.

But wait, doesn’t Jesus say he is allowed entrance to the sheepfold by the gatekeeper? Who is this gatekeeper? Is it a man or group of men or some religious organization on earth that serves as the way to care for the sheep in Jesus absence? Was it someone in Israel’s history such as Abraham or Moses? Was it John the Baptist who was prophesied to prepare the way for Jesus? While these are all possibilities, Jesus doesn’t say. His illustration doesn’t say the doorkeeper feeds, waters, guides or protects. Nor does he elaborate on any other role of the doorkeeper other than perhaps standing guard. He is merely referred to as the doorkeeper. It is equally possible that the doorkeeper has no significant role at all to play in the story. So it would be going beyond what has been written for us to make application where Jesus has not. What Jesus focuses and builds on is the exclusive relationship between himself as the shepherd and his disciples as the sheep. What he does elaborate on is the tension and uneasiness the sheep feel when in the presence of strangers and rightly so, as these ones turned out to be thieves and robbers.
There is one other character mentioned in the illustration:
The hired man, who is not a shepherd and to whom the sheep do not belong, sees the wolf coming and abandons the sheep and flees—and the wolf snatches them and scatters them (John 10:12)
A villager might own only a few sheep. So he would hire a shepherd who would add the small flock to another one. Hired shepherds had a reputation for showing less concern for the animals of others than for their own. Here we have a character that seems to be authorized to have some share in caring for the sheep. But Jesus shows that he cannot be completely trusted. Why? Since the sheep are not his own he does not have the same affection for them as Jesus does. The apostle Paul showed that such a tendency to put trust in men was beginning to occur in his day:

For it has been reported to me by Chloe's people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. What I mean is that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? (1Co 1:11-13 ESV)

Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. (Act 20:28-30 ESV)

They will tell you that you cannot understand the Bible for yourself without their help.

“The Church is the only divinely constituted teacher of Revelation. Now, the Scripture is the great depository of the Word of God. Therefore, the Church is the divinely appointed Custodian and Interpreter of the Bible. For, her office of infallible Guide were superfluous if each individual could interpret the Bible for himself…God never intended the Bible to be the Christians’ rule of faith independently of the living authority of the Church.” (The Faith of Our Fathers by James Cardinal Gibbons, p. 87).

“No, it is beyond man’s power and intelligence to study and understand the truth, which is God’s word, by himself, without the guidance of God’s messenger.”(Iglesia ni Cristo PASUGO, November 1973, p. 19)

“As the only church that claims to have modern prophets who carry the same authority as Biblical prophets, it is the only church that can even claim that a particular ambiguous verse means this or that.” (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints – Mormons)

“In my books, the truth is stated, barricaded by a ‘Thus saith the Lord.’ The Holy Spirit traced these truths upon my heart and mind as indelibly as the law was traced by the finger of God upon the tables of stone.” (Seventh-Day Adventists Ellen G. White)

“One’s personal interpretation of scriptures should always be proven with the understanding of the Scriptures which the united body of Christ has.” (Church of God in Christ, Mennonite)

They will tell you that it’s alright to trust them because Jesus tells you to:

“What does Jesus, the Fine Shepherd, tell us to do? He teaches us to make disciples and to trust “the faithful and discreet slave.” (Matthew 24:45; 28:18-20)They will also tell you that if you leave their church you will lose out on salvation. (The Watchtower September 1, 2004 p. 17 par. 18 Beware of “the Voice of Strangers”)

But where does Jesus say anything about a faithful slave in this illustration? Jesus clearly identified himself as both the shepherd and the door. Which element would represent such a slave? The doorkeeper? The hired man? The faithful slave is mentioned only two other times in the Bible. (Matt. 24:45-47; Luke 12:42-48) On both of these occasions this slave (In Luke’s account there are more than one) is given an assignment to carry out. It is only after the master returns and inspects how that assignment was performed that the slave is pronounced either faithful or wicked.

They will tell you that they are the only way to gain salvation and if you leave them you will be lost:

“All who desire to draw away from God’s remnant people in order to follow their own corrupt hearts would throw themselves willingly into Satan’s hands.” Seventh-Day Adventists:

In 1830, Joseph Smith established the Church of Christ as a restoration of original Christianity, and in 1831 declared it to be “the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth”.[ Doctrine and Covenants section I (1835 ed.).] Smith later reported that during his First Vision in his teenage years, Jesus had told him that all churches that then existed “were all wrong; [and] that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight”.[ Joseph Smith–History 1:19, Pearl of Great Price (Salt Lake City, Utah: LDS Church, 1981.)]

“As we study the Bible we learn that Jehovah has always guided his servants in an organized way. And just as in the first century there was only one true Christian organization, so today Jehovah is using only one organization. (Ephesians 4:4, 5; Matthew 24:45-47) Yet there are some who point out that the organization has had to make adjustments before, and so they argue: “This shows that we have to make up our own mind on what to believe.” This is independent thinking. Why is it so dangerous?
Such thinking is an evidence of pride. And the Bible says: “Pride is before a crash, and a haughty spirit before stumbling.” (Proverbs 16:18) If we get to thinking that we know better than the organization, we should ask ourselves: “Where did we learn Bible truth in the first place? Would we know the way of the truth if it had not been for guidance from the organization? Really, can we get along without the direction of God’s organization?” No, we cannot!—Compare Acts 15:2, 28, 29; 16:4, 5. (The Watchtower January 15, 1983 p. 27)

But beware! Only Jesus is the good shepherd. You don’t have to listen to them. But you may wonder, how can I tell if someone is telling me the truth when they come bringing a message from the Bible and actually quoting Jesus words? Jesus showed us how we can do that:

“Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, “‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and “‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’” Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” (Mat 4:5-7 ESV)

Here the Devil tried to trick Jesus by quoting his Father’s words written in the Bible. But Jesus knew the scriptures well enough to show that the scripture was being misapplied. In the same way you too can protect yourself. No, you don’t have to get a seminary education or be a theologian.
In this internet age there are many resources available that can help you get a better understanding of the Bible:
Biblehub.com is an online Bible study suite that has 28 different translations that you can reference and compare. Greek and Hebrew study tools, plus concordances, commentaries and dictionaries. They also have a free app that can be downloaded to your home computer, cellphone or tablet.
E-sword is another free downloadable app. After downloading, you can add books to your library, many of them free.
There are many online Christian discussion groups that you can join, such as hermeneutics.stackexchange.com, whether you want to ask questions, join in the discussions or just read the various posts.
There are also loads of videos on youtube.

As with anything, you must be selective and use the Bible and your God given power of reason to determine the difference between truth and falsehood. (Rom. 12:1; Phil. 1:9,10; 1 John 4:1) Take the time, put in the effort, pray to God for his help and holy spirit. But by all means, beware the voice of strangers!