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Turning
the World Upside Down
By Lew White
(Editor's Note: The following article is from a chapter in Lew White's
new book, Fossilized Customs, 2nd edition. This is a 120-page book that exposes the pagan origins of our Christian
religious customs. You may order a copy of the book by sending a donation of $4.00 to Fossilized Customs, 2325
Bardstown Rd., Louisville, KY 40205-2120. )
The Book of Acts (the book of "Action")
records how the early students of Yahshua "turned the world upside down." Put yourself in that life-setting.
The Name of the Creator had been concealed from the common people for centuries, since the Babylonian captivity.
Learning the true Name, everyone was astounded, and a natural curiosity swirled around everyone. When Peter stood
up and addressed the crowds at Acts 2, he quoted YahEl (Joel) 2 and told them to be immersed into the Name. Today,
just before the end of the "times of the Gentiles," the world is being turned upside down once again.
By the growing knowledge of the Name, which has been concealed for many centuries by the religious merchants. Like
today, it was the Name of the Creator that caused the religious establishment to be turned on its head.
Name or No Name? People are quick to label others with "handles." Christians in general are called by
a Greek term, having no idea that the term was used by Pagans first, as worshippers of Serapis, or that it is cognate
with "cretin" (see your dictionary). They hang their hat on one translated verse from the Scriptures
(Acts 11:26), while scholars know they were called Nazarenes, as a sect within Judaism. Many today are apprehensive
of groups that use the Hebrew personal Name of the Creator, calling them "Sacred Name" groups. These
who would criticize those who use the Hebrew Name should remember our Rabbi's prayer at John 17, where He said
He had revealed the Name to them, and that they be kept as one by the power of the Father's Name. Now, I'm going
to initiate a new "handle" - the "NO-NAMERS." The No-Namers use traditional terms in place
of the Name, as most prefaces of the Scriptures will acknowledge. (They honestly believe avoiding His Name honors
Him). The words LORD, God, HaShem, Eternal, Adonai, and sometimes Elohim, are used as traditional replacements
for the Name, a regrettable situation considering John 17. In review, the Encyclopedia Americana has this to say
about the word "GOD":
GOD (god, gawd) A common Teutonic word for personal object of religious worship, formerly applicable to superhuman
beings of heathen myth; on conversion of Teutonic races to Christianity, term was applied to Supreme Being, and
to Person of Trinity."
Swell. So, what does this mean - are we calling on the Creator with a word originally used by Pagans, to avoid
the "ethnic" Name for the Creator? Look up the word "BAAL" in Webster's. It is defined as "LORD."
Belial is a form of BAAL, and is another term for Satan. What's going on?
The overlooked issue here is this: At the time our Savior came, Whose Name is Yahushua, the Name was concealed,
and any who spoke it aloud could be stoned to death for saying it. He said He revealed it to those given to Him
out of the world, and prayed that we be kept as ONE (in unity) by it. Are we in unity? He criticized the Pharisees
for withholding the "Key of Knowledge" (Luke 11:52), and what they withheld was the Name! Why did they
constantly want to stone Yahushua? He kept saying the Name. At Luke 19:38, the crowds were crying out a verse from
Psalm 118:26 which contains the Name, and the Pharisees told Yahushua to rebuke them - because they were using
the Name. Why were the disciples called to stand before the Sanhedrin? The Name! Why was Stephen stoned? (Acts
7). When he said the Name, they screamed and put their hands over their ears, and killed him. Yahushua Himself
was condemned because He spoke the Name before the Sanhedrin, which caused the High Priest to tear his clothes,
saying, "He has spoken blasphemy!"
Blasphemy involves only one thing: The Name. Why was Paul on his way to Damascus to arrest Nazarenes? To carry
them back to the Sanhedrin to see if they would say the Name and be similarly condemned to death. Why were the
Dead Sea Scrolls buried in the first place? Because worn-out scrolls were treated with respect and buried in jars
instead of being profanely burned or discarded, because they had the Name written on them. The book of "Esther"
isn't among them, because the Name is not written anywhere in the text. Even at Acts 2, Peter quoted Joel 2:32,
emphasizing the importance of calling on the Name - and then to be immersed, calling on it. No-Namers insist it
is of no importance, and don't use it in their immersions. Falsehood and futility is what the prophet Jeremiah
says the Gentiles have inherited: "YHWH…to you the nations will come from the ends of the earth and say, 'our
fathers have inherited nothing but falsehood, futility, and things of no profit'… This time I will make them know
My power and My might; and they shall know that My Name is YHWH." (Jer. 16:19-21).
At Romans 10:14, after quoting Joel 2:32, Paul asks, "How then shall they call upon Him in whom they have
not believed? And how shall they believe in Him whom they have not HEARD? They don't know, or call on, His Name.
"HALLELU-YAH" means "Praise ye Yah." It's easily seen that monks and translators sterilized
the Scriptures by removing the Name from the texts, especially when you look at Acts 7 and the stoning of Stephen,
or even read your preface.
Taken as a whole, the main controversy in the New Testament seems to be the Name issue, and the announcing of the
Kingdom of YHWH. Yahushua's own Name contains the Name. Revelation 7 and 14 connect together, because the "seal"
in the foreheads (minds) of the 144,000 is this Name of the Father. Taking His Name "in vain" means to
bring it to nothing, missing it, or wiping it out. The "Sinai Autograph" of the original Name YHWH written
by His own hand was in what is called palaeo-Hebrew. All the prophets wrote it in this script.
PAUL HAD NAZARENES KILLED FOR SAYING THE NAME! The Yahudim were hoping for the Mashiach to come, and Rabbi Yahushua
was not going around telling everyone He was - but rather kept that an inside secret. The only thing He did that
caused the law teachers and priests to pick up stones to kill Him was what they called "blasphemy." It
was against their law to say the Name of Yahushua, and the penalty was death. This is not usually mentioned by
the merchant preachers, because people would naturally start to search it out, and the "Key of Knowledge"
would be widespread. The Name of Yahushua contains the Name of the Father, so even His Name was part of the problem
for them. The name "Yeshua" means salvation, and was a rather common name at the time; however, "Yahushua"
means Yahueh is our salvation, and had the Name being clearly heard by all.
Paul explains how he fought against those who were found in the synagogues that proclaimed Yahushua. At Acts 26:9-11,
Paul explains to King Agrippa:
"I truly thought with myself that I ought to do many things contray to the Name of the Mashiach of Nazareth.
And this I also did in Yerushaliym: and I both shut up many of the saints in prisons, having received authority
from the chief priests, and WHEN THEY WERE PUT TO DEATH I GAVE MY VOTE AGAINST THEM. And punishing themn constantly
in the synagogues, I STROVE TO MAKE THEM BLASPHEME; and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even
to foreign cities."
They weren't being killed for any other reason than that they were going against the "law" of pronouncing
the Name. After "Shaul" was knocked down on his way to Damascus, and encountered the risen Yahushua,
he began to pronounce the Name, and did what he had watched others die for! This is no small side-line issue, but
is really central to what the entire Brit Chadasha reveals to us. After Shaul was immersed by Ananias, (who was
himself very afraid at first when he learned that he was to be visited by the infamous Shaul), he took the name
of "Paulos." The name "Shaul" and his reputation was terrifying to the Nazarenes, and you can
well understand why. For some time, Nazarenes were still afraid and distrustful of Paul: …"is not this he
that in Yerushaliyim made havoc of them that called on this Name? And has he come here for the intention that he
might bring them bound before the chief priests…" (Acts 9:15-16).
Yes, pronouncing the Name was a REALLY big deal. Paul was nabbed by the Yahudim of Achaia. And they wanted him
dead so much that they rushed him to the Roman proconsul Galio. Galio, no doubt a pagan, must have thought they
were crazy when he heard the reason they were so murderously enraged, and he said: "If indeed it was an act
of injustice or reckless evil, O Yahudim, according to REASON I would bear with you; BUT if it be a question concerning
a WORD, or NAMES, and that law which is among YOU, see you to it, for I will be no judge of THESE things."
(Acts 18:14-15).
Paul had to be locked up to protect him. He claims he was stoned on several occasions over pronouncing the Name.
Men had sworn oaths to see Paul dead before they would eat again. Paul had to hide, and sneak out of the city in
a basket. How many Christians really know why Paul was imprisoned? Now, you know. Believe it or not, there is quite
a bit of "shunning" against those of us who use the Name, even among Messianics who observe the appointed
times. Paul's life, and many other Nazarenes' lives were snuffed out over simply pronouncing the Name, and yet
believers today are shunning and castigating those of us who seem to be making a "big deal" out of it.
We can't help ourselves; the Name burns inside us. We would die for it too. Are we misguided? If so, then those
who have died over the Name have done so needlessly, including Paul and all the early Nazarene followers. Yahushua
revealed the Name to them, and He has done so to us as well. There are always two sides to most issues, but since
the Name is the strong tower, that's the safer bet to go with. The Name turned the world upside down once, and
here in the days of the final message, it is doing it again. <>
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