Testimonies

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To be concrete in one's philosophy is to be unreceptive to new thoughts about old ideas and truths. This was me until two years ago when I found out that God had many different names, and Jesus' name is not really Jesus. This...just rocked my Christian world.

A lot of the original intent of the scriptures has been lost due to inept translations that were an honest mistake at best, purposeful at worst. The vast majority of the scrolls found at Qumran were written in Aramaic. When the Holy Archangel Gabriel came to Myriam (Mary) he told her to name her child Yeshua, which means “Salvation.” Now many sceptics will say that Yeshua was a common name then—and it was—until He came up out of the Jordan River, and it changed to “Yeshua Ha Mashiach” (Salvation for All.)

It surprised me to find out that there is no “J” in the Hebrew alphabet, so where did Constantine and his scribes come up with the name Jesus? The Emperor's first inclination was to name Him Ioeus, but that sounded too much like Isis, the pagan goddess, and he knew that wouldn't do. His scribes either couldn't grasp the concept of a language without their letter J, or a sinister plot was unfolding.

Did they intentionally change all the Hebrew names in the Bible on purpose? Did they make a conscious effort to rid future Christian history of its “Yahudahness”? (Judah's real name is Yahudah) I'm inclined to believe the latter because, in my mind, it was intentional. Anti-Semitism in the Church reared its ugly head, and it goes on to this day.

God has seventy different names. Sixty-nine are speakable, but the last one is referred to as the “eneffiable name” that cannot be spoken. It consists of forty-nine letters, the most prevalent are YWYH, or some say YWVH (Yahweh or Yahveh.)But, does our God really need a name? The Israelites held captive in Egypt needed one, because in that time frame all pagan gods had a name, and Moses thought one was needed. Yet, now I can see their point.

Of all the names available to us, Adonai (Ah-do-nigh) is my favorite. It simply means Lord in Hebrew, and its the most used name in the Torah. At first, I didn't feel comfortable saying it, or praying with it, but gradually I began to study Judaism, and a sense of peace came over, as if now I belonged to something ancient, or something very, very wise.

Now my Christian friends ask why I've taken this quest up. They know Jesus, and the New Testament, and they're content with that; I am not. Western civilization was founded on something called the Judeo-Christian ethic, and as I knew the Christian part, the Judeo part baffled me. So I began to study it, and quickly I found people, on this nasty internet, who have had the call, or tug, and were more than willing to help me. Most of them are “Messianic Jews” who still observe their orthodoxy but are no longer looking for the Messiah. They have found Him, in the name of Yeshua Bar Yosef. I found this a heartening, and also frightening, time in our lives.

Could we be in the End Times? Those that predict a time of His second coming will be destined for frustration, for even Yeshua didn't know the time that Adonai would be forced to send Him back (Lest no flesh be saved alive.) We as Believers know eventually this will happen, and the question I ask myself daily is when He sits on His throne in Yerusalem, what name will be on His crown, and His breast plate. Do you really believe it will be JESUS?

If by chance you read this come Saturday, then Shabbat Shalom.

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