THE ANSWER:  Not actually!  There was over time actually more than just this number twelve that you refer to, as there was some who came and were soon replaced by others.  One of the earlier enthusiasts was even killed. There were certainly a few that were always faithful like Matthew, Andrew and John who were all rather constantly with me throughout my entire mission.  This particular question has given me cause to take a break and actually read just what was actually reported that seemed to have contributed to the idea that there was this rather definitive number of what has been consider those most close to me during that period of my life.  I would wish to rely on Lamah’s knowledge and recollection of the Bible, but I am aware that his own initial study was in the context of his believing that all that he read was the ‘gospel truth.’  This naturally gave him what would now be considered as an undesirable bias.  I’m going to read the modern text of Matthew as it is available, only because it is the only bit of writing to which I may have had any direct contribution, the complete circumstances of which I will disclose later.  (Lamah withdrew from the interview and was away for more than several hours while reading for the benefit of Jesus, the Gospel of Matthew and apparently struggling with some of the discoveries that were seen for the first time through the compassionate eyes of the very one who should be most intimately aware of the whole truth.  When he returned, he—Jesus--continued....) Forgive the break!  I have, as I previously explained, enjoyed the full access to Lamah’s conscious memory and I’m fully aware that he has read the entire Bible on more than one occasion.  But you must understand that when Lamah had initially read this Bible, he was most certainly under the false impression that it contained only the truth of the matter and never thought to questioned its contents with the plausible exception that it might have been possible that something was only slightly altered due to the repeated translations and the multiple transcribing of the original manuscripts themselves.  I certainly trust what Lamah had experienced in his own readings, but there is no way for anyone to know the full truth unless they had actually been there, and certainly no one could have a better take on the accuracy of the Gospels' account of my own life than the very character that was central to the reason for what is known as the New Testament.  Well, my friend, I was totally shocked at what had eventually been written, and I can only add that it was far more than just some slight errors in translation.  First off, there is so little remaining in the Gospel of Matthew that the two of us had agreed that Matthew should relate and was originally recorded in Matthew’s own hand, that it would be hard to believe that the original was even slightly used to create such a travesty of horrid imagination.  The book reads like the story of some ancient witch doctor out of deep Africa.  Knowing from the memory of Lamah the gruesome history of the Christian Church and most particularly its relentless persecutions of witchery; I’m amusingly appalled that I was reported to have literally “cast out devils” and even sent their disembodied spirits into swine, raised the dead as well as all kinks of other witch doctor kinds of magical hogwash.  It just wasn’t that kind of dog and pony show then, and it certainly had none of those imaginative, shallow or even demonic connotations.  I had but one very simply mission in mind, and that driving desire of mine was to bring a bit more joy into the lives of my people.  I imagine that the entire book seemed contrived to fit the idea of establishing some obedience to a Greek-like god that had exclusive and absolute power to determine the ultimate destination of its enslaved subjects.  I wanted only to set my people free right here on this very earth, not further burden them with divine decrees that only added to what was already a dismal life; I wanted to bring some joy into their lives.  No wonder this resultant religion has gone so far astray from what should have been a so very very simple lesson.  I can now understand why there is now so many rather strange and amusingly different denomination of what should be just one simple truth; that simple truth was lost almost at the very point when I had left Judea for the last time.  Like any of my previous points, I just don’t need to belabor the point beyond the simple demand that my name be struck from these felonious annals, as I wish to have absolutely NO association with anything that is remotely called the “Christian” church; the very least of which is the fact that I was NOT born Jesus “Christ!”