Who do we serve, and who do we worship?

Please look at the worship in most churches today, and you will note that the identity of the ONE to be Worshipped is mostly hidden. Songs contain words like “I love You, You love me …” which you can also sing to your loved one.

Also, bear in mind that titles like “God” or “Lord” are used to worship any deity in Christian or non-christian assemblies. It is time to get back to our roots and identify and focus on the ONE TO BE WORSHIPPED!

I pray that you, the reader, will get a revelation of His Name with the knowledge of how HOLY and ALL POWERFULL HE is!

How important is a Name?

“Every Egyptian magician…believed that he who possessed the true name possessed the very being of god or man, and could force even a deity to obey him as a slave obeys his master. Thus the art of the magician consisted in obtaining from the gods a revelation of their sacred names, and he left no stone unturned to accomplish his end.”
– Sir James Frazer, The Golden Bough

Please remember that the ALMIGHTY is SOVEREIGN, and we cannot manipulate HIM with or without HIS NAME!

WHAT IS GOD’S NAME?
GEN 4:26
GEN 12:8
GEN 13:4
MAT 6:9 Hallowed be your Name!

What is His Name?

In Hebrew, it is written as:

Our Father’s Name consists of 4 Letters called the TETRAGRAMMATON or the TETRAGRAM. It is read from right to left, and it represents YHWH or YHVH in ancient Aramaic.

EX 3:14 – 15 (The Scriptures) “And Elohim said to Mosheh, “I am that which I am.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Yisrael, ‘I am has sent me to you’”. And Elohim said further to Mosheh, “Thus you are to say to the children of Yisrael, YHWH, Elohim of your fathers, the Elohim of Abraham, the Elohim of Yitshaq, and the Elohim of Yaaqob, has sent me to you. This is My Name forever, and this is My remembrance to all generations”.

The Tetragram appears almost 7000 times in the Hebrew old testament.
ISA 42:8
ISA 47:4 THIS IS HIS NAME
JER 16:21

We do not find any other scripture in the old testament which reveals another name for our Heavenly Father. In fact, every time it speaks about His Name, the singular form of Shem (Hebr for name) is used. Nowhere do we read of His Names. In GEN 22:14  Abraham called the Name of the place YHWH YIREH which is a description added to His Name given to a place. In Hebrew we also find the words ELOHIM and EL, which are not proper names but titles meaning Mighty or Mighty Ones. The scriptures do not state anywhere that His Name is Elohim. Common people are called Elohim, for example:
EX 4:16: ” and you Moses shall be for him Aaron an Elohim.”
EX 7:1 YHWH appoints Moses to be an Elohim to Pharoah.

According to OHOL YAOHUSHUA, the correct and accurate title is “Ulhim” in archaic Hebrew or Aramaic. This is pronounced: “ool-heem” – accented on the second syllable or the shortened form “Ul” (pronounced “ool”).

The very oldest scriptural text dating back almost 2600 years was found in a tiny silver amulet which contains a 7th century BC extract from Numbers 6:24-26 (The priestly blessing). This was found by a Tel Aviv Univ. archaeologist. When this amulet was written the Temple of Solomon stood, and the Dead Sea scrolls would not be written for another 400 years. It was 3 years after its discovery before this fragile amulet could be unrolled by technical experts of the Israel Museum. On this amulet, the name of YHWH could be clearly read. We are, therefore certain that this is the written form of our Father.

I want to warn against placing undue emphasis on a name and neglecting the most important, i.e. emphasis due to the person himself. This can be prevented if we realise that Shem in Hebrew means much more than “name” in English. Shem in Hebrew (as we find in scriptures) is not a mere label of identification. It is an expression of the essential NATURE of the bearer. Very often, it speaks foremost of the authority of a person. A person’s name reveals his character, his faithfulness, his justice and even the remembrance of that person. The person, his authority and his name are one in Hebrew, and we should be careful not to detach the name from his person.

But let us be assured:
An unseen person cannot be identified by our visual perception.
An unseen person can only be identified by His Name.
Likewise, our Heavenly Father must also be identified by His Name.
You need to realise that the Words, God and Lord, are merely titles and not names.

You may be thinking that this is Hebrew, and we speak English: Well, my name doesn’t change much whether I’m in China or Mexico.

The old testament scriptures give ample proof of the common (although reverential use) of the Name in Israel before the time of captivity and in the immediate period after the exile, 6823 times. Indeed the frequency of its use exceeds by far the use of any other person name. We see, therefore that the use of His Name is essential. All the nations around Israel heard of the Name and feared that Name. JER 23:27 At the time of Jeremiah’s prophecy, ancient Israel forgot the Name (including His authority, character and holiness) and accepted an idols name instead. The present suppression, substitution and disguising of the Name started +/- 2300 years ago.

What happened in the process of this present suppression?
At least until the destruction of the first temple in 586 BC, the Name was freely used. By the 3 rd century BC, the pronunciation of the Name was avoided, and ADONAI was substituted for it. (In ancient Phoenician-Babylonian cultic communities, the idol “Adonis” was most popular among the pagan masses, and it was from the name of this idol that the word “Adonai” was taken from.)

Why was this done?
According to Rabbinical tradition, the period following the reformation (of Nehemiah and Ezra) was characterised by the rule of “Men of the Great Synagogue”. Later on, we read of a “Synagogue of the Scribes”, and sometime in the Greek period a popular democratic political party known as the “Pharisees” were formed. These men of the Synagogue continually endeavoured to interpret the law and the scriptures. Adding to the law their own traditions, which our Saviour objected to in the NT. These man-made laws, traditions, interpretations became known as the Oral Law contained in the Hebrew Mishna.

What did these scribes do to the Tetragram?
In their Talmud, they ordered the reader to refrain from pronouncing the Name and to say Adonai instead. Their command was for the Name to be hidden and to be kept secret, especially to the gentiles. It seems that the priests were accustomed to pronounce the Name in the Temple but kept it secret outside the Temple. The high priest regularly called out the TETRAGRAM on the Day of Atonement, but after the death of Simeon the Just in +/- 290 BC, they ceased to do it. When our Messiah came, He used the Father’s Name often, for example, LUK4:18. “The spirit of YHWH is upon me”, as He quoted ISA 61. It was said that He spoke with much authority, i.e. using the TETRAGRAM. With the destruction of the second temple in 70 AD, the verbal use of the TETRAGRAM finally and completely ceased in the temple. Although the Name was retained in the scriptures, it was verbally substituted with Adonai. Subsequently, even Adonai was replaced by HA-SHEM (THE NAME). We know that this was done for the Jews fear of profaning THE NAME, although we know that using THE NAME and calling on THE NAME is absolutely scriptural. More precisely, the avoidance of THE NAME was caused by a misunderstanding of the 3rd commandment that really means you shall not bring THE NAME to nought.

Is the Tetragram in the New Testament?
The early copies of the New Testament Septuagint and some of the early Greek manuscripts did retain the Tetragram in the first and second century. In the 2nd century, when the gentile Christians took over from the original Hebrew Christians, the Tetragram was replaced with the Greek words Kurios and occasionally Theos. Except for the Hebrew old testament that still retains the Tetragram, translations do not have the Tetragram except for a few translations that have appeared in the last 150 years. The Tetragram was replaced by the Greek Kurios, the Latin Dominus and our modern Lord for almost 1400 years, as far as we know.

The Scribes copied the old testament through the centuries with great fear of making mistakes and altering the text, rendering a very sound version of the old testament scriptures. When it comes to the new testament, we find approximately 5000 manuscripts that contain all or part of the new testament. The alarming fact is that unlike the consistency of the old testament scriptures, these new testament manuscripts differ from one another. Scholars openly confess that this is due to:
– careless handling of the text
– many created for theological or dogmatic reasons
– the text being constantly interpreted and reinterpreted by each succeeding generation.
These 5000 manuscripts were collated and compiled into a complete text by manuscript experts who selected what they believed to be the most authentic version in each case. From there, the Textus receptus, the Majority Text and the Nestle-Aland texts.

Therefore we need to know that we cannot base whole teaching or doctrine on a few verses without looking at other translations and the original Hebrew/Greek.

Many scholars have lately taken a stand against the popular belief that the Greek language inspired the new testament. Yeshua spoke in Hebrew/Aramaic, and because Hebrew uses idioms, many of the sayings of our Messiah do not make sense when translated into Greek. We know that Matthew was written in Hebrew/Aramaic, but scholars believe that the other Gospels could only have translated the original Hebrew.

What happened to the Hebrew scriptures as we can only find the Greek?
These original Hebrew scriptures could have been set aside by the gentile Christians and therefore decayed. As the Good News went out to the gentiles, they adapted the True Worship to appease their peoples, thereby making a compromise. The True Worship, therefore, became Hellenized, Romanised etc. We have all been guilty of adding, deleting, changing, adapting and compromising.

What have we added?
One such example is Christmas. The Holy Spirit has already been dealing with many people for the last couple of years concerning Christmas, which does not represent our Messiah’s birth. When we look at the way this day is celebrated, we realise that this is a pagan holiday!

How is the Tetragram pronounced?
First of all, the ancient Hebrew language consisted solely of consonants and not vowels. When ancient Hebrew was an everyday spoken language, this represented no problem. The pronunciation of the Name was familiar, and when they saw it in writing, they supplied the vowels without thinking, just as LTD. represents LIMITED for an English reader.

To preserve the Hebrew Language, some Jewish Scholars, namely the Masoretes in 500 AD, invented a system of points to represent the missing vowels. They placed these points around the consonants in the Hebrew text; thus, both vowels and consonants were written down, and the pronunciation was preserved. When it came to the Name, they used the vowels of Adonai to remind the reader to read that instead. From this came the spelling Jehovah which appeared in the year 1516. This was contested, and JAHWE was suggested in 1567, largely because the Samaritans used this pronunciation. (Note: According to OHOL YAOHUSHUA, there is no letter “J” in the Hebrew language and that the real meaning of the word “Yehovah” is destruction, desolation and perdition in Hebrew, both archaic and modern).

Much research has been done and still going on, but the best explanation so far concerning the pronunciation is as follows:-
According to Prof. James Tabor, a Jew of the University of Charlotte in North Carolina, the four Hebrew letters YOD HE VAV HE represent four vowels rather than 4 consonants. He wrote that the Name is then best represented by the 4 sounds IAUE or EE AH OO EH. If you pronounce these rapidly, you will get the combined sound in English. This appears to agree with Josephus (Wars of the Jews), with the early Greek transliterations and the 500 BC Murashu text. It would be written in English as YA HU EH and not YAHWEH, which is the consonantal form.
According to OHOL YAOHUSHUA the Jewish people are called “Yaohudim”, being the people who are called by His Name. This means that “YAOHU” is the true pronunciation according to them. “YAOHU” (pronounced: “Yao-hoo” – accented on the first syllable, the vowel on the first syllable sounding like that in the word “how” in English). If “Yaohu Ul” is pronounced, it sounds in fact very similar to “Yahueh”, as explained previously. You can listen to their sound file on their home page (see link on front page).

What is the original Name of our Messiah?

The Name which is above every other name! At this Name, every knee shall bow, of those in heaven, those on the earth and those under the earth and every tongue shall confess that YEHOSHUA Messiah is Master.
Phil 2:9-10
The Name consists of Y H W Sh (silent consonant). The name is pronounced as YEHOSHUAH or the shortened form YESHUAH. The shortened form YESHUAH with the feminine “h” at the end means deliverance or salvation. Scholars are uncertain whether the disguising of the name also applied here. Remember that the vowel system was only invented 500 years after Christ.
JOH 17:11-12 According to these verses, one would expect to see the Father’s Name or the abbreviated form in the Messiah’s Name.
According to OHOL YAOHUSHUA the correct and accurate Name of the Messiah is YAOHUSHUA (pronounced: “Yao-hoo-shua” – accented on the second syllable, with the vowel of the first syllable sounding like the vowel in the English word “how”). The Name “Yaohushua” means YAOHU’S POWER TO SAVE!.
The name JESUS is derived from the Greek word IESOUS.

Why was this done?
The only explanation for this is that this substitution was done to make the Gospel more acceptable to the gentile nations who spoke mainly Greek at that time. Remember that these original names are Jewish and that the Jews have always been a despised nation.

The restoration of the Name is promised and has not been fulfilled:-
ZEPH 3:9
ZECH 13:9
ISA 52:6
JOEL 2:26
EZE 39:7
HOS 2:16-17
JER 16:21
JOH 17:26
JOH 12:28

We see, therefore, that in the end time, the Father will restore His Name. We believe this will happen in the next dispensation when our Father o more with the church and the Jewish nation. We also believe that we are not part of the “lost tribes of Israel” and cannot call ourselves Jewish.

The prophecies as to the revelation of His Name must be fulfilled. Apart from the shortened YAH or YAHU, the Heavenly Father has only one full memorial name or covenant Name. His Name cannot have many forms for ZECH 14:9 says that His Name will be one.

Is “The Lord” the equivalent of YHWH?
To say “The Lord is God” does not mean anything. It is merely a meaningless repetition. Such substitutions can also lead to awkward phrases, for example:
PS 8:9 O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth.
It can also lead to confusion, for example:
PS 110:1 The Lord said unto my Lord, sit Thou at my right hand until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool.
Who is talking to whom?
(Note: The titles El Shaddai (“UL SHUADDAI”) and El Elyon have solely been used for the Father YHWH in the Word.)

Many of you may wonder if any bibles use the original Names. I have found a list of 9, although there may be many more.

Translations that contain JAHVEH, JEHOVAH or the TETRAGRAM:
Rotherham’s Emphasised Bible
The Anchor Bible
The Jerusalem Bible
The Holy Name Bible
The Sacred Scriptures
The Scriptures
JN Darby Bible 1890 edition. (This is apparently an extremely literal translation. FF Bruce said it’s the most accurate English translation in print, even better than the American Standard).
Young’s Literal translation 1898 by Robert Young still in print.
The Jewish N.T. is available in book shops.

What did the translators have to say about these substitutions?
Eerdman’s Handbook to the Bible states that “Much is lost in Bible reading if we forget to look beyond the substitute word (Lord or God) to the personal, intimate Name of God Himself. By telling us His Name, our Father intended to reveal to us His innermost character.
The Rotherham’s Emphasised Bible by J.B. Rotherham 1902 restored the True names and gave reasons for this: “Because its suppression was a mistake, so grave a mistake cannot be corrected too soon. Unwarrantable liberty has been taken; the path of humility is to retrace our steps.”
The Bible – A New Translation by James Moffatt 1935 said, “strictly speaking this ought to be rendered as YHWH.”
Smith’s Bible Dictionary 1872 edition states: “The substitution of the word Lord is most sad for it does not represent the meaning of the Sacred Name of our Father”.

The prophet Jeremiah said in Jeremiah 8:8 – “How can you say that you are wise, even if you have the words of YHWH when the pen of the scribes have altered them?”

One cannot render a proper name by a mere title, and a title can never convey the full meaning of the Name of the Father. Knowing the name means learning what that name represents and worshipping the possessor of that name. Our Father has linked His Name with His qualities, purposes and acts.

Further study:
EPH 3:14-15
EX 23:21
MIC 4:5
MAT 23:39 YESHUA SHALL NOT RETURN UNTIL WE DO WHAT HE SAYS!
REV 3:8 WE HAVE NOT DENIED HIS NAME!