the restoration of god s name

1. The restoration of God’s Name For Pastors and Elders

2. Purpose To present the possibility that what was done to our Native Americans (stripping them of their culture, giving them new English names, forbidding them to speak in their native tongue etc.) may be a close parallel to what the early Catholic Church and Constantine the politician did within Christianity specifically reference the name of God Note: this is not an, “I’ve got it all figure out brief” or here to tell the pastors/elders what to do, but more of a Proverbs 30:2&4 “…I’m the most ignorant of all but just want to know what the name of the Creator is and the name of His son…” (paraphrased) Know also that the Enron scandal was brought to light by a college age gal that just had a lot of unanswered questions, questions that the financial experts could not satisfy—this parallels how I feel about our past Biblical scholarship Encourage pastors and elders to help research this topic

3. The Problem with the Father’s Name God’s name, as described in Isaiah 42:8 is YHWH (…I am YHWH, that is my name…) This name shows up over 6,000 times in the Old Testament Moses was called to “Declare this Name YHWH to the Nations” (Ex 6; Ex 9:16) David worshipped using this name YHWH And even Boaz greeted his field workers with, “YHWH” be with you But the pronunciation and use of His name (this simple 4 letter word) has been mostly lost or replaced with the titles of “LORD” in Christianity and “Adonai” (master) in Judaism

4. Background Oral Torah: Just prior to the time of Christ, the Jewish religious leaders had been adding oral traditions and instructions, in addition to the scriptures, to keep people from even getting close to breaking the laws of scripture—these added traditions put a lid on saying God’s name except by the high priest, only in the temple, and only once a year (in depth video link of the problems of these oral traditions: http://www.ancient-hebrew.org/52_gordon.html) These traditions were put in writing in 220 AD in the Mishna and in subsequent writings of the Talmud Vowel Pointing: Using the Talmud as their guide, the Massoret Scribes, who faithfully copied scripture between the 7th and 11th century, added the practice of vowel pointing. Vowel pointing : Added small marks (dots, dashes etc.) above and below the Hebrew letters Helped the common person be able to pronounce the written Hebrew words (since there are no vowels in Hebrew) But also started the practice of replacing YHWH with titles like Adonai The authors of the King James Bible followed this religious tradition by substituting Lord, LORD or God for YHWH

5. Background Cont. The birth of the restoration movement In the 1930’s a movement started to restore the name of God (can be Googled as the “Sacred Name Movement”) Just as with the restoration of tongues, healing, prophecy etc. there were initial problems, but this shouldn’t warrant “throwing the baby out with the bathwater” Pitfalls to avoid include: Worst of all is the “not saved unless you call on the name of God correctly using the right pronunciation” lie—similar to the not saved unless you speak in tongues doctrine of the early Pentecostals A, “I’ve got the right answer” attitude that breaks unity Slight variations in pronunciation also derails unity Can become a single focus at the expense of the body of truth

6. Is God’s Name Worth Restoring? First we are commanded to do many things with His name: Don’t take it in vain—don’t take it lightly (Ex 20:7) Declare it (Ex 9:16) Praise/Worship it with dance, song and instruments (Psalm 149:3) Call upon it (Zech 13:9) Don’t forget it (Jer 23:27) Meditate on it (Malachi 3:16) Fear it (Malachi 4:2)

7. Is God’s Name Worth Going After? Cont. There are also commanded blessings for guarding His name Unity (John 17:11) Love (John 17:26) Transformation Spur the Jews to jealousy Hasten the day of His return—He won’t return until the cry goes up, “Blessed is He who comes in the Name…” Matt 23:39

8. So what is His Name? What YHWH probably isn’t: Jehovah (no “J” sound in Hebrew) Lord, LORD or God (all English titles—no transliteration attempt at YHWH) Yehowah (as introduced by the Massoretes ) This doesn’t match the hundreds of prophet names that include portions of His name as Yah or Yahu to point people to the Messiah: Isaiah—Yeshayahu (salvation is found in Yahu) Jeremiah—Yirmeyahu (resurrection is in Yahu) Numerous prophets that contain Yah—Obadyah; Zephanyah; Zekaryah

9. So what is His Name Cont. Possible pronunciations of YHWH: Yahweh (possibly most common usage today) Ya-u-a (as transcribed by the Assyrians) or Yahuwah for aid in pronunciation Yahuweh (ISR’s best guess) Yahowah (Mowinckle) Yahoweh (as favored by John H. Skilton) Note all the most probable names start with the Psalm 68:4 root: Yah (one place in the King James Bible not switched with “LORD”)

10. What about the Son’s Name? New finds in scriptural archeology continue Only 9 Papyrus NT Scriptures were known prior to 1900 By 2008, the number had grown to 124 This is important because in these earlier manuscripts the name “Jesus” is absent Aramaic/Hebrew or Original Language texts point to Yahu, Yahsuah or Yahushua for the Son’s name (see supporting slide: “Digging Deeper: Was the New Testament Originally written in Greek or Hebrew?”) But, the name “Jesus” is only about 700 years old, and since there are no letters that make the “J” sound in Hebrew, we can probably conclude this is not the name above all names Even in the older Greek texts, a case can be made for a Yah rendering (as with the Alexandrian NT Text—dating about 200 A.D.) Even in the older Greek texts, a case can be made for a Yah rendering (as with the Alexandrian NT Text—dating about 200 A.D.)

11. The Son’s Name Cont. If Christ went by a Yah derivative (Yahushua—Yahu is salvation, or Yahshua—Yah is salvation) then the John 17:11 passage comes together, “…Father, guard them in Your Name which You have given Me…” (just like when we pass on our last name to our children) Now the “name above all names” (Ph 2:9) is shared by the Father, the Son and perhaps even the Holy Spirit (see John 14:26)

12. Conclusions for the Restoration of the Name of God We can conclude that the Name above all names contains the root word Yah Name shared by both the Father and Son Something worth going after Avoid past mistakes of the “sacred name movement” while we “eat the meat and spit out the bones” We continue to study/learn/be open Stay humble

13. Suggestions Practical Applications/Suggestions: Start with the Father’s name Substitute Yah for LORD when reading scripture (or use the ISR approach) Substitute Yah when singing “LORD” and/or encourage our worship team to write new songs Might start with Psalm 68:4, again the one place where in King James that the root name Yah was not changed into Lord, or with a teaching by a worship leader or pastor emphasizing the meaning of “Hallelujah” (Praise be to Yah) Clarify that there is only one Name above all names –all the other “names” of God are “titles” that describe attributes about Him like: Lord of lords King of kings Prince of peace

14. Questions?

15. Digging DeeperPossible Confirmation of “Yahuwah” in the Word Hallelujah The word Hallelujah is found in over 2,800 languages—pronounced the same in each Has not wavered in pronunciation over the ages Contains all the same letters as the name YHWH (Yod, He, Vav, He), plus one letter not used in His name (Lamed) Hallelujah in Hebrew characters: ?? ? ? ? ? . ? (ah), ? (“l” sound), ? (“l” sound), ? (u), ?? (yah). The name of God in Hebrew characters: ???? ?? (yah), ? (u), ? (ah) or: Yahuah Note, God’s name “Yah” in Psalm 68:4 just drops the vav: ???

16. Digging Deeper: Was the NT Originally Written in Greek or Hebrew? A case for Greek: 5000+ copies of the NT in Greek—currently only traces of Original language (Hebrew or Aramaic) scripture A case for Hebrew: “…some suggest that Matthew wrote his Gospel in Aramaic, similar to Hebrew. Five individuals (early church fathers) stated, in effect, that Matthew wrote in Aramaic and that translations followed in Greek: Papias (A.D. 80-155), Irenaeus (A.D. 130-202), Origen (A.D. 185-254), Eusebius (fourth century A.D.), and Jerome (sixth century A.D.).” The Bible knowledge commentary, Walvoord, J. F. “…a number of ancient writers report that Matthew wrote something in Hebrew. The first word to this effect was written by Papias (125 A. D.) ‘Now Matthew compiled the logia in the Hebrew dialect.’ Papias adds that , ‘each person translated these Hebrew logia as best he could.’ “ R. C. H. Lenski, Gospel of Matthew, p 11-19

17. A Case for Hebrew Cont. “In his ground-breaking book, ‘A History of Christianity in Asia,’ Moffett reveals that Pantaenus, a church historian and missionary who traveled to India in 180 A.D., discovered the copy of the Gospel of Matthew in Hebrew that Bartholomew had taken with him.* "It is reported," wrote Eusebius, a fourth century bishop and church historian, "that among person there who knew Christ, (Pantaenus) found the Gospel according to St. Matthew (which had arrived ahead of Pantaenus by more than a century). For Bartholomew, one of the apostles, had preached to them, and left them (in India) the writing of Matthew in the Hebrew language which they had preserved." *Another Look: Writer shines new light on Matthew's Gospel By Neil Altman

18. A Case for Hebrew Cont. To hold that the disciples wrote in Greek violates scripture and logic Violation of Scripture: Scripture states that salvation is to be preached first to the Jews and then to the Gentiles (Romans 1:16) Violation of Logic: When you first came to Christ who did you first want to share with, your most beloved family and friends or far away people of different languages and cultures? If you answer your friends and family, why would you write to them in a foreign or second language? (The only way this would be logical would be that the disciples and their families spoke Greek as their first language—I’m not aware of any Bible scholar who holds to this position)

19. A Case for Hebrew Cont. The majority of disciples were common people—remember, the religious leaders of the day marveled at the disciples, “…for they were uneducated and untrained men…” (Acts 4:13) For the disciples to have written in Greek would have meant that our fishermen were bilingual or trilingual, and wrote in both their native tongue and the international Greek language of the day While the above is not conclusive, it does build on the case for original language NT texts, thus a Yahushua or Yahshua rendering of the Son’s name

20. Digging Deeper: Name Change from Given to Pagan The practice of replacing given names (that pointed to the one true God) with pagan names that corrupted this meaning has historical precedence: See Daniel 1:6-7 Hananiah which means "Yah has shown favor" Changed to: Shadrach “Illuminated by the Sun” Mishael, or Michael, means "Who is like unto Elohim?“ Changed to: Meshack “Who is like Shach?” Azariah means "Yah has helped" Changed to Abednego “The Servant of Nego”

21. Name Change from Given to Pagan Continued in KJV NT? In the 1611 KJV (in Luke 4:27), the name of Elisha, which means “Elohim saves,” was translated as Elizeus, with the disturbing possible meaning of “Zeus is the Everlasting El or God” (In 1645 KJV Elizeus was softened to Eliseus—the current rendering in our KJV) So when we hear Latinos (who come from a heavily Catholic heritage) pronounce Jesus as “Hey Zeus” (similar to Elizeus) or “Hey Soose “(as in Eliseus) this raises the question, “Was the name of our Messiah equally corrupted by the Catholic (Universal) church with a “Iesus” transliteration? Remember, Zeus was the supreme Greek god of their culture—how easy is it to change culture? What if Constantine, the unifying politician of his day, desired to keep peace in the family by giving the Christians a name for their messiah that would not offend the sun-worshippers? Just look at how hard this will be to change the Messiah’s name back to Yahshua, then what may have been done centuries ago (appeasing cultural norms rather than standing together with our Jewish brothers in Christ) doesn’t seem so far fetched If Constantine desired to distance himself from Jewish believers by not worshipping on the Sabbath and changing the Holy day to Sunday (in honor of the pagan sun-worshippers) isn’t it possible that the same corruption was done with the Messiah’s name—leaving the Hebrew sounding Yahshua and giving us the Greek “Hey Zeus”?

22. A Case for Corruptionof the Son’s Name Since this was Done Isn’t this possible? Elisha—His given name meaning, “El or Elohim is my salvation” (in OT KJV 1611) Corrupted to: Elizeus meaning “Zeus is my Everlasting El or Elohim?” (in NT KJV 1611—Luke 4:27) Softened to: Eliseus, still meaning Seus or “Zeus” is my everlasting El? (in NT current KJV—Luke 4:27) Yahshua—His given name meaning Yah saves Iesus—Pronounced E-Seus or E-Zeus NT KJV 1611 with the possible meaning of… Jesus—pronounced Hey Zeus or Hey Seus by the heavily Catholic influenced Latinos with the possible name meaning of…

23. References http://www.hebrew4christians.com/Names_of_G-d/YAH/yah.html http://www.hungryforhim.com/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of_God_in_Judaism (shows that there is one name of God in Judaism and 6 other main subtitles) http://www.isr-messianic.org/ (The Institute for Scripture Research homepage.)

24. Brief Glossary Codex—book format New Testament scripture were put in book format as early as 100 AD (as opposed to OT manuscripts that were copied as scrolls until much later) The Bible was the first book to be printed in 1436 Septuagint—Oldest Greek translation of scripture which left the name of God as YHWH (instead of making an attempt at transliteration) Textual Criticism—the process of finding and removing errors in texts Transliteration—transferring the phonetic rendering of a word into another language for written use while maintaining its pronunciation—as with proper names Translation—taking the meaning of the word and transferring it into a different language—usually will NOT sound the same