| THE NAME YAHWEH Most of us have Authorized (King James) versions of the Bible. You will note that the One Who inspired it to be written, is called, "The LORD," as in Exodus 3:15, where He is quoted as saying, "Thus shall you say unto the childred of Israel, The LORD God of your fa-thers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name forever, and this is my memorial unto all generations." Again, in the Ten Commandments, Exodus 20:7, the third commandment is quoted as say-ing, "Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh His Name in vain." Most other translations of the Bible also render His Name as "the LORD," or "GOD," in small capital letters. But is this the Creator's Name? Is this what He inspired to be written? No, it most defi-nitely is not! The Bible was originally written in the Hebrew language, because it was given to Hebrew prophets He had called for that purpose. What they wrote was the Name He gave Himself: the Hebrew letters, Yod, Hay, Waw, Hay, corresponding in English to YHWH. This is called the Tetragrammaton, or the "four letters." Look up in your own dictionary or encyclopedia, "tetragrammaton," "YHWH," Yahweh, Jehovah, God and Lord. Originally the Hebrew language did not have vowels. Only consonants were written, and the reader provided the vowel sounds. The Jews confirm that the Name should be pro-nounced "Yahweh," in their own encyclopedia, but they will not pronounce it. They devel-oped a superstition that it was too sacred and holy to be pronounced, so they substituted "Adonai," meaning "My Lord," or "the Lord." They used two scriptures to justify this: the Third Commandment, Exodus 20:7, and Leviticus 24:16, which says, "And he that blas-phemeth the Name of Yahweh, he shall surely be put to death; all the congregation shall surely stone him: as well the stranger, as he that is born in the land, when he blasphe-meth the Name shall be put to death." They thought the best way to avoid blaspheming His Name was to avoid it all together. So they quit using it, writing the vowels of "Adonai" up over it where it appeared in their He-brew Scriptures (about 7,000 times), so the reader would read "Yahweh," but pronounce "Adonai." And Bible translators for the most part have followed this unauthorized man-made custom in their own translations. Yet most of them tell us in their prefaces or forewords what they have done, and that the proper name of the Most High is Yahweh. Well, you might ask, what difference does this make? He knows who I'm referring to when I call Him Lord or God, doesn't He? He knows who the translators meant, doesn't He? Yes, He knows our hearts. He knows our very thoughts. But the difficulty lies in the fact that LORD or GOD is not His name, and by quoting Him as saying, "I am the LORD," we are putting lying words in His mouth. We are making Him out to be a liar. We are establish-ing our own righteousness, and disobeying Him. We are saying we know better than He does what He should be called. Yahweh attaches great importance to His Name. He says it is Holy, it is to be revered, it is not to be polluted or used in a vain way. Incredibly, His Name appears in the Old Testament manuscripts approximately 7,000 times (One thousand times more than seven, the Biblical number of completeness)! Yet, foolish man in his "wisdom" has tried to obliterate His Name completely. For in-stance, in the King James Bible, His Name appears only four times (in the corrupted form Je-hovah), and once as Jah (Psa. 68:4). The "J" originally had the "Y" sound. Everywhere else, it has been rendered "The LORD", or "GOD." Certainly this is Satan-inspired, in an attempt to lead man astray. Let's examine a few scriptures either quoting Yahweh Himself, or one of His prophets, that show the importance He attaches to His Name: Exodus 20:7 Thou shalt not take the Name of Yahweh thy (EL) in vain; for Yahweh will not hold him guiltless that taketh His Name in vain. This is the Third Command-ment. "In vain" means to bring to nothing, to make useless or of none effect, or to misuse it. This Commandment means far more than just not cursing and swearing. It means, among other things, to not forsake it or take it away, which is just exactly what foolish man has done. Psalm 83:18 That men may know that thou, whose Name alone is Yahweh, art the most High over all the Earth. Isaiah 42:8 I am Yahweh: that is My Name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images. Psalm 68:4 Sing unto (Elohim), sing praises to His Name: extol Him that rideth upon the heavens by His Name Jah (Yah, the short, or poetic form of Yahweh, as in Halle-luYAH). This praiseful expression is known in almost every language on earth, and means, "Praise ye Yahweh." Ezekiel 43:7 And He (Yahweh) said unto me, "------ and my holy name, shall the house of Israel no more defile,----." Proverbs 30:4 "---what is His Name, and what is His Son's Name, if thou canst tell?" Isaiah 12: 2, 4: "---Yah Yahweh is my strength and my song; He also is become my salvation." "And in that day shall ye say, 'Praise Yahweh, call upon His Name, declare His doings among the people, make mention that His Name is exalted.'" Isaiah 52:5-6: Now therefore, what have I here, saith Yahweh, that my people are taken away for nought? They that rule over them make them to mourn, saith Yahweh; and My Name continually every day is blasphemed. Therefore My people shall know My Name -----. Ezekiel 39:6-7 And I will send a fire on Magog, and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am Yahweh. So will I make My Holy Name known in the midst of My people Israel; and I will not let them pollute My Holy Name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am Yahweh, the Holy One in Israel. Psalm 111:9: "---Holy and Reverend is His Name." John 17:6, 11, 12, 26 (This was in the prayer that Yahshua prayed the night before He died) v. 6: I have manifested (made known) Thy Name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world ---." V. 11: "----Holy Father, keep through thine own Name those whom thou hast given me, ---." V. 12: While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Thy Name:--" V. 26: "And I have declared unto them Thy Name, and will declare it: ---." Revelation 19:1, 3, 4, 6 all use the worshipful phrase, HalleluYAH (Gr. Alleluia). In like manner that man has taken away Yahweh's Name and brought it to nought (took it in vain), the name of Yahweh's Son has also been corrupted. His Name is Yahshua, the same as the Israelite general who succeeded Moses, the one called Joshua in our English Bibles. There was not then, nor is there now, a letter "J" in either the Hebrew or the Greek language. All proper nouns (names of people, cities, countries, etc.) found in the Bible that start with a "J" should be pronounced with a "Y" sound. For more on this, write for free lit-erature on The Name. It will be sent by return mail. There is no question that our Creator has a Name, and so does His son. Those Names are Yahweh and Yahshua (Yahshua means Yah's Salvation. See Matthew 1:20-21. The Angel said, "you shall call Him Yahshua for He shall save His people from their sins.") Yah-shua means, Salvation of Yah, or Yah's Salvation. He carries the family Name, whereas the term, "Jesus," has no meaning. The only question is, can you understand the importance of knowing and using these Names, or will you continue to use the names of local deities and idols, which He hates, when calling on Him, or worshipping Him? One man told me recently that he had "studied the Sacred Name doctrine out, and found there's nothing to it." All I can say to that is that you need to study it some more. All you need is a Bible, a good dictionary, encyclopedia, or Bible helps such as a concordance (and an open mind), and start looking up the words mentioned earlier, such as, Lord, God, Jehovah, Yahweh, Tetragrammaton, Jesus, Joshua, etc. Some have said, "why should we be reading along in our English Bibles, come to the Name of the Creator, and suddenly have to speak Hebrew?" What they don't realize is that most of the names in the Bible are Hebrew, such as Moses, Adam, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, even Satan. Jerusalem, Judah, Bethany, all Hebrew. And when they speak these names, they are, in effect, speaking Hebrew. Names are not translated from one language to another; they are transliterated. This means the same sound is brought forward into the new language as nearly as possible. "The Lord" is not a translation of Yahweh. Neither is "God". They are substitutions. Paul said there are gods many and lords many, 1 Cor. 8:5. "Jesus" was an attempt at transliterating Yahshua's Name into English, but it fell misera-bly short of the mark. Since the "J" had the "Y" sound, it was originally pronounced, "Yah-soos," because the Greeks did not have the "sh" sound in their language, and an "a" ending carries a feminine connotation, so they ended it with an "s." Later, to get away from the "Yah" sound, they changed that to "Ye-sus," which is closer to the Jews' "Yeshua." Then, after the "J" was given the soft "g" sound, it was but a short step to what we have today, "Je-sus." Scripture tells us, Joel 2:32, "And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the Name of Yahweh shall be delivered:--" This is repeated in Acts 2:21, "And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the Name of Yahweh shall be saved." Acts 4:12, speaking of Yahshua, says, "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." Yah-shua carries Yah-weh's Name. He is Yah's Salvation. That is His Name. No other Name will do. He said so, and I believe it. Do you? Now that you know, what will you do? Will you continue to use the pagan titles and names of foreign gods used by strangers to the covenant when you worship, or will you re-pent of this evil, and worship the only true Mighty One, Yahweh, and His Son, our Savior, Yahshua the Messiah? It's your decision. ~ Frank Brown |