“What’s In A Name”
Approximately six years ago our lives were changed forever. We were being a good christians sitting in our little chairs Sunday morning in Sunday school. Judy and I had been going to this new church for about two years at the time, because we discovered that our old church of 19 years had not been teaching our two sons Scripture, but had been showing film strips. Ours sons had not opened a bible in Sunday school in two years!!! Unbelievable!!! I left the names of the churches out because I’ve been told by many christians that names don’t matter, it’s what’s in your heart that counts. (See Jeremiah 17:9)
That being said, I had already had my prerequisit one donut and juice and was ready for class. I always looked forward to Sunday school here, because the teacher always taught Scripture verse by verse. I had never experienced this before because we always learned what was in that Sunday school book. (What a waste of time that was.) By studying verse by verse, the teacher was letting Scripture define Scripture rather than explaining Scripture via southern baptist doctrine. (You can safely insert any denomination here.)
That day was different, not the method of teaching, but the realization of facts never understood before. The teacher informed us there is no “J” in Hebrew. He had just been made aware of that himself just days before. Well, that in itself, on the surface may seem insignificant or immaterial, BUT this information not only changed our lives, but the lives of 90% of the class. At that point, Scripture opened up in a whole new light for us.
If there is no “J” in Hebrew the Messiah couldn’t possibly be named jesus. If the church LIED about that, what else are they NOT telling us. Please understand, when I say “church” I’m not pointing an accusing finger at the people, but I am pointing at the church leadership with BOTH HANDS. Now Matthew 7 makes perfect sense to me, 20 “So then, you will know them by their fruits.
21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven.
22 “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’
23 “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’
I’ve noticed in our society that we tend to be very correct and proper. If we are visited by a foreign dignitary, exchange student, athlete or even rock band, we ALWAYS make sure to get their name right in order to show them respect. Why? Who cares? What difference could it possibly make? Vladimir Putin visits the United States from Russia….The President gets his name right, the press gets it right, even his opponents get his name right. WHY?
Let’s just call him Fred Flintstone, what difference can it possibly make? This man at his very core smiles at us, but hates us with every fiber of his being. The same goes for the terrorist leaders in the muslim world. We get their names right! When George Bush is mentioned in overseas newspapers and television they get his name right, even though most people hate him over there!!!
We take the Name of the Messiah, who died on the tree for our sins, after a beating that none of us could probably survive and we call Him by a pagan name!?!? His Name IS NOT JESUS!!! This man had abuse heaped on Him and was spat upon for you and you can’t even call Him by Name. Why would the church fathers do this? Could it be to hide His “jewishness”? That brings up another question, Why are the apostles names incorrect also? The same reason?
His Name is Yeshua!!!
Which just happens to be the Hebrew word for “salvation”. Is this a coincidence? Remember when Israel named their children, the names had meaning. Unlike today when we pick names or make up names just because….
This is the part that hits me like a brick. When you tell a christian our Messiah’s Name is Yeshua, not jesus you get one of these responses: 1. You see understanding that something is not right. 2. You see an I don’t care attitude and third is the one most heard. 3. Well God knows my heart and He knows who I’m talking about. I agree with this one! He sure does. Let’s compare Yeshua and jesus.
Yeshua.
He is Father’s Word made flesh. In other words he was the walking, talking breathing Torah. Again, John says in chapter 1:14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. Yeshua came and taught His Father’s Instructions (Torah). Did He break His Father’s Instructions? NEVER! Did He teach we could break His Instructions because He died for our sins? NOT A CHANCE! If he broke Torah or instructed others to break Torah He was not Messiah.
We are to walk just as he walked.
1 John 2:3 And by this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.
4 The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him;
5 but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of Elohim has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him:
6 the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.
7 Beloved, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning; the old commandment is the word which you have heard.
What’s so funny is the word christian means to walk like Christ. Well………..how did He walk? (Not the jesus way.) How do I know how he walked?
Yeshua tells us in Matthew chapter 5:17 “Do not think that I came to abolish the Torah or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill.
18 “For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass away from the Torah, until all is accomplished.
19 “Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and so teaches others, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
20 “For I say to you, that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.
And Paul tells us in Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of Elohim;
9 not as a result of works, that no one should boast.
10 For we are His workmanship, created in Messiah Yeshua for good works, which Elohim prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
What did Elohim prepare beforehand? Torah, His Instructions to us on how we should live our lives after coming to an understanding of the sacrafice of Yeshua. We are “justified” through the blood of Yeshua and sanctified “set apart” by obedience, by walking as Yeshua walked.
I was actually told this week that I observed jewish law and jewish holidays. You better study folks. That is the church father’s lies telling their congregations that Torah is only for the jews. Torah was given by YAHWEH to us as a way to live a set apart and righteous life.
Moses tells us in Deuteronomy 6:25 ‘Then it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to observe all these commandments before the YHWH our Elohim, as He has commanded us.’ and John tells us in 1 John 5:3 For this is the love of YHWH, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome.
jesus.
Let’s see what he stands for………Don’t keep Torah, because it’s jewish law. That includes disregarding the Sabbath Day that was set aside and sanctified by YAHWEH. Eat anything you please, because a few church leaders give you permission through Acts 10 and Mark 7 etc…. Study folks! That is NOT the message there. Oh, I love this one, we only have to keep the Noahic Law in Acts 15:19 “Therefore it is my judgment that we do not trouble those who are turning to YHWH from among the Gentiles,
20 but that we write to them that they abstain from things contaminated by idols and from fornication and from what is strangled and from blood.
This is GREAT! We can steal and murder now! Study folks, that’s NOT the message there. With jesus all we have to do is keep the 10 commandments. REALLY? How about the Sabbath!!! Forget idols in the church depicting mary, joseph, jesus and tammuz (the cross symbol). One more, your sins were nailed to the cross so we can act anyway we wish because we are under grace and forgiven by jesus. REALLY? I think Paul said it best in Romans 6:1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace might increase?
2 May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? and verse 15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be!
The antisemetic church fathers would have you believe these atrosities in order to keep you away from the jewishness of Messiah. Beware, study Scripture, NOT from Paul backwards, but taking Torah, the first five books of Scripture and understanding that as your foundation, then going forward. We are warned by Paul in 2 Corinthians 11:3 But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Hawwah (Eve) by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Messiah.
4 For if he who comes preaches another Yeshua whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted; you may well put up with it!
The apostles were not teaching the lawlessness of jesus, which would indicate a deceptive spirit, resulting in a vastly different gospel then they taught as directed by Yeshua.
Eve was substituted in Scripture and is the name of a pagan goddess who is also called Ishtar the fertility goddess of your easter worship. I submit to you that an understanding of Torah and a desire to walk as Messiah walked will yield great understanding. Ezra 7:10 For Ezra had set his heart to study the Torah of YHWH, and to practice it, and to teach His statutes and ordinances in Israel. Also in 2 Timothy 2:15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to Elohim as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, handling accurately the Word of Truth.
What Word, what Truth? The only thing they had back then, the Tanak (Old Testament), which contained Torah. Sorry no Galatians. In fact, Paul instructs in 2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is inspired by Elohim and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;
17 that the man of Elohim may be adequate, equipped for every good work.
What did Paul have for Scripture? What were the good works they were teaching after Yeshua had been nailed to the tree. Obedience to Torah, which included keeping the appointed feast days. One last thing about Paul, the church because they refuse to teach Torah have to twist and contort his letters and Peter warns us of this in 2 Peter 3:14 Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless,
15 and regard the patience of our Master to be salvation; just as also our beloved brother Sha’ul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you,
16 as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.
It’s kind of funny, but you attempt to walk just as He walked and observe His Instructions and both Judy and I this week were asked if we believe jesus died on the cross for our sins and resurrected the third day? NO! jesus did nothing for me! Yeshua died, crucified on the tree and resurrected the third day! Why did He do that? He was fulfilling Torah! If Messiah never came and made the sacrifice we are all in trouble. The Tanak and Torah foretold the exact day of His arrival. Folks there were no “j’s” in any language until 1527. Look it up!
The greek translation calls Him iosus, which is pronounced “yay-zeus”, one group says this means son of zeus. Others say that Messiah’s Name was just mistranslated from the greek in the 16th century. WHY? What was the reason?
Names through history have been translated perfectly. WHY? We are talking about Messiah. There has NEVER been a person named jesus before 1527. You transliterate names from language to language. If you wanted to translate Yeshua’s Name into english, it would be “salvation”. Check your Strongs Concordance for Yeshua and jesus. jesus has NO meaning, zero, nothing.
One little story about a member of our assembly. He was driving one day and noticed a young man studying Scripture on the side of the road. He stopped and asked if he could join him in his study. Rick was telling this young man about Messiah’s true Name and the young man would not accept it, he told Rick that it didn’t matter what we call Him.
At that remark, Rick said “I like to bow a knee and pray before I study Scripture, is that okay?” The young man said “okay”. So Rick said “let’s pray to Ba’al.” The young man went nuts! Rick calmed him down and said “I thought names didn’t matter”.
I think Warren Bowles put it best in his book, “Christianity Reconsidered”, page 66, The jesus I knew was a blond-haired, blue-eyed, pork eating, Sabbath-breaking, White Anglo-Saxon Protestant. He fit in very well in the large middle class Caucasian-dominated Protestant church we attended.” Warren by the way used to be a preacher and says now he is actually teaching the Word trying to make up for being a false prophet.
The jesus he described is an accurate depiction of who the Sunday worshiping public understand Messiah to be. I know I did. The train of christian thought goes like this…..God will give me points for going to church on sunday, oh I am such a good boy, and if I tithe, go also to sunday school, ding, ding 2 more points. And if I teach a class or better yet a department leader the points really add up and if only I could become a deacon…..CHA….CHING!!!! That is the bonus round! There were some points for being a greeter, I think? Now that I think of it, sounds rather “works” based doesn’t it.
You know what? None of that is commanded in Torah. The tithe was NEVER money! It was always grain or livestock. I don’t think any of these preachers are Levites….are they? Study your Torah and you’ll understand that one.
The bottom line is in Yeshua’s own words in John 14:15 “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. and 23 Yeshua answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and make Our abode with him.
24 “He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me.
So did Yeshua and Paul change YAHWEH’s Word? NO! We are told several times in Scripture that YAHWEH does not change. That’s another lesson, but something noteworthy now. Remember Yeshua said in Matthew 15:24 But He answered and said, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
I urge you to go to www.beityeshua.com and read “Who is Israel?” You might be surprised. Don’t take my word for this and don’t take your preacher’s word. Study, Study, Study! Start with Torah. Show me where I’m wrong.
What have we learned from this? What’s in a name? SALVATION! Acts 4:12 “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other Name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved.” I didn’t say that, Luke did! Think about it.
Below are names changed in Scripture to protect you from the yehud’im (jews).
I would encourage you to take a Hebrew class from Beit Yeshua Torah Assembly or anywhere because Scripture opens up when you understand even a little Hebrew.
Mattithyahu – Matthew
Yohanan – John
Ya’aqob – James
Kepha – Peter
Yehudah – Jude
Hawwah – Eve
Sha’ul – Paul
All the Old Testament names were changed and the list is too long for this correspondence. There are several pagan things inserted in Scripture such words as church, lord, holy and LORD, which will be discussed at a later date.
If you endured this far, thank you.
May YAHWEH bless and keep you and yours!
Mark