Sacred Names or Blasphemy?

by Pastor Jim Jester

May 5, 2024

SCRIPTURE READING: Philippians 2:9-11

“Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: 10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; 11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

INTRODUCTION

In my recent sermon on Genesis 4:1, “A Mistranslation,” I provided some history on how our Bible came into being; noting how the Scriptures became somewhat corrupted. The process of preserving the Scriptures began about 3 BC by 70 translators; thus called LXX, or the Septuagint. This was the Bible of Jesus and the Apostles. But since New Testament times the Scriptures became quite convoluted since the preservation process was taken over by the Masoretes, covering the period of 450 - 1000 AD.

It was during this time period when all the “Y” variant words were formulated from the Tetragrammaton (YHWH), giving us words such as: Yahweh, Yehovah or Jehovah, Yahshua, Yeshua, etc., so-called “sacred names” by some people. But are they really? These names are based upon the false premise that this new Masoretic Hebrew (or Modern Hebrew), which replaced the previous Ancient Hebrew (or Paleo-Hebrew), was to be pronounced the same as the Ancient Hebrew, supposedly, with the “Y” sound. What? A new language is formulated and it is to be pronounced the same as the old language? How can that be? Here’s what they aren’t telling you. The Ancient Hebrew (now extinct) was very similar to Greek and had the “J” sound as did Greek, even though it was written with an “I.” One cannot speak with all vowels — there must be some sort of consonant.

I was glad to see that Dr. Lawrence Blanchard also has discovered this:

“The sacred name of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is a topic of much controversy. Our statement on the matter is that the Y-variant names seen in various Bible translations and professed by different Christian denominations such as Yahweh (YHWH), Yehovah/Jehovah and Yeshua are based on incorrect pronunciations of paleo-Hebrew characters. Instead, these pronunciations are based on modern Hebrew characters. The modern Hebrew language is a bastardization of the true paleo-Hebrew language of our ancestors, and is much more closely related to the language of the Assyrians and Babylonians. In fact, modern Hebrew is known as Assyrian Script (or Herodian Script) and this language is a mongrelized language that developed during Israelite captivities in Assyria and Babylon.

Paleo-Hebrew is extremely closely related to the Greek alphabet. So much so, that they can be indistinguishable to the untrained eye. The proper pronunciation of the tetragrammaton (IESU) is Jesus.

Yahweh is the name of the chief pagan god of the Edomite/Babylonian usurpers who call on their pantheon of evil gods to help them obtain earthly wealth and power. We believe that calling upon the name of Yahweh in prayer is a major error based on deceptive or ignorant translations. Jesus is His name.” (Blanchard’s site)

WHAT MOST ARE TAUGHT

Most people are taught that in the original Old Testament, the name of the creator appeared as YHWH or perhaps YHVH, and then they add vowels between each letter, in order to translate itto either Yahweh, Jehovah or some other variation. All these names with many variations are based upon the letters YHWH. This is why many believe that “Jesus” should be written as “Yeshua” or some other Y variant.

The first thing we should understand is that when you go to school in Israel, they teach you that the language of the jews is not the original Hebrew language. The style of writing letters is also not original. As historical records show, the style of writing and the alphabet is called the “Assyrian Script.” This came about when the Judeans were taken captive by Babylon centuries ago, and the original true Hebrew language, called “Paleo-Hebrew,” was banned by Babylon; including the original name of the Creator. Aramaic eventually replaced the ancient Paleo-Hebrew. Israelites were forced to learn, speak and write the Assyrian language and script, which both the Assyrian Empire and the Babylonian Empire used. Daniel confirms this:

“Children in whom was no blemish, but well favoured, and skilful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and understanding science, and such as had ability in them to stand in the king’s palace, and whom they might teach the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans.” (Dan. 1:4)

It is a well-known fact that Daniel wrote from Daniel 1:1 until Daniel 2:4 in Paleo-Hebrew. But when he got to 2:4, he started writing in Assyrian, Babylonian Aramaic. This change of language was required by the king. The Israelites eventually translated the entire Scriptures into the Assyrian language in a new bible called “the Targum” (a translation)and almost completely lost their original language. To this very day, the jews do not speak true Hebrew, but rather Assyrian Aramaic, with a jewish dialect.

What most Y name advocates call the “Hebrew language,” actually is not Hebrew but is rather Assyrian Aramaic. They only call it “Hebrew” because it had become the language of the Hebrew people when they were captive in Babylon. In Strong’s Concordance of the Old Testament, when you look at the top of the page, if you have a hard copy, it says “Aramaic dictionary.” If you have an older copy, it says “Chaldean dictionary.” Thus, Strong’s Concordance does not give the original Hebrew words of the original Bible! Instead, it gives you the Aramaic words of the corrupt Babylonian Targum bible that the Israelites were forced to write while in captivity. The concordance points to Aramaic words designated as “Hebrew” (Modern Hebrew).

The Y name followers claim there were no vowels in Hebrew. But how could one write, read or speak without vowels? Archaeological discoveries, such as coins, etc., prove that there were vowels. The original Paleo-Hebrew had vowels and also had the “J” sound! When sacred name followers speak of “Hebrew” they are talking about Modern Hebrew, which is really Chaldean Aramaic. Modern Hebrew replaced the extinct Paleo-Hebrew, which was likely destroyed by the jews.

The truth is that Greek is much closer to the Paleo-Hebrew language than Modern Hebrew! Jesus and the apostles used the Greek Septuagint, and it was often quoted in the New Testament. Jesus called himself the “Alpha and Omega” — Greek words! Hebrew roots people may have a problem with Greek but Jesus did not have a problem with Greek!

YHWH

The original Scriptures did not have the four letter tetragrammaton of YHWH. These 4 letters are Modern Hebrew which is really Assyrian Aramaic. Moses did not write these letters for they did not exist during Moses’ lifetime. Moses would have written during 1446-1406 B.C. in Paleo-Hebrew, a language very close to Greek. Even the Encyclopedia Britannica 1958 edition, Volume 12, page 996 says: “...Yahweh is not a Hebrew name.” Yahweh was also known as the god of metallurgy; likewise, Cain worked with metal.

“Yah” refers to the ancient Egyptian moon god and is also related to Osiris the Egyptian god of the dead. The name “Iah,” transliterated as Yah, or Jah, simply means “moon.”

Although the names of the moon god was Sin, Thot, Thoth, Yah, Pan, etc., his title was Al-ilah, meaning “the deity,” meaning that he was considered the chief god above all gods. The moon god called Al-ilah was shortened to “Allah.” The pagans used Allah in the names they gave their children. Both Muhammad’s father and uncle had “Allah” as part of their names. Yah/Yahweh is none other than Allah, the Islamic moon god.

The Masoretic Text is the source of all “Yah” names. The Masoretes were bloodline Satanists. Yah appeared about 1950 AD. Of the fifty-four sacred names in the Jewish Kabbalah, the primary one is YHWH.

Witchcraft Tarot cards, used in jewish Astrology, includes YHWH.

YAHSHUA

Yah is the Egyptian moon god, also known as Thot. Shu is the Egyptian god of the sky. Put the two words together, you have “Yahshu” the Egyptian moon god of the sky. Yahshua and all variations of it descend from the moon god name YHWH. Yahshua is also known as Allah. The “Third Book of Enoch” (jewish), speaks of the archangel Metatron, who is the origin of Yashua. The concordances point Yashua to the Aramaic/Assyrian witchcraft YHWH. All the Yah names are pagan. Yeshu and Yahshua means: “May His name and memory be blotted out for eternity.” The word “Yashu” is also a curse word.

THE NAME JESUS

The Prophets and Apostles never wrote YHWH, Yah, Yahweh, Yahshua, Yeshua, Jehovah or any version of these words. They only wrote IESUE and Iesous. The first letter, which looks to us as a capital I, was pronounced with the J sound whenever followed by a vowel such as E. Thus we have Jesous, which we pronounce as Jesus.

People who claim the prophets wrote these Y names are only repeating a lie from the Masoretes. There is no proof they wrote any Y name, but there is proof that they wrote Iesous. It doesn’t matter what Strong’s Concordance claims Iesous comes from; for all the Y names are Assyrian Aramaic and there is no connection between Aramaic and Greek. Therefore, it is impossible that IESOUS came from any Y name.

Jesus is the correct name for the Messiah andit is neither Greek nor Latin. It is the English spelling of an ancient Hebrew name. In the 1611 KJV, Jesus was spelled with an “I” instead of a “J.” However, it had a J sound and was called the “Jot.”Both Paleo-Hebrew and Greek have the J sound. There was no letter Y in the Paleo-Hebrew, as it was nearly identical to Greek. If we want to know the name of the Father, we need to look no farther than Jesus who is the “express image” of the Father. The name of Jesus is the name of the Father, for we have only one God. God with us is Jesus, and Jesus said that He came in his Father’s name. When a man has his father’s name, they both have the exact same name, not a variation of it: Fred Sr. - Fred Jr., Henry Sr. - Henry Jr., Jesus - Jesus.

The letter called “Jot/iota” could carry either an I or J sound. In the first century A.D., and in the era of King James, they only had one letter for both the I sound and the J sound. But later on, people developed a separate letter for each sound.

Since Paleo-Hebrew and Greek look and sound alike, the rules of the true Hebrew language would apply for the name of a Hebrew person. The rule states that if the Jot/iota comes directly before a vowel sound, it must be pronounced with a J sound. Even the word “iota” was originally pronounced with the J sound. It was called the Jota, Jot, Jod and Jud. The modern English spelling and sound of “iota” results from Aramaic influence. Language history is very clear that the word “iota” had the J sound in Paleo-Hebrew and Greek. So when we see the name IESOUS, we would have Jesous (the “o” is silent);thus it would be pronounced Jesus. Both Clement of Alexandria (150-215 AD) and Cyril of Jerusalem (313-386 AD) both stated that the name Iesous (which they would have pronounced Jesus) was Jesus’ original name.

These men may not have been perfect in doctrine, but they did live in the time era, had access to the original Scriptures, and had a knowledge of language. The Bible tells us that “Jesus” means “God with us.” Therefore, when we go back to Exodus 3:14, “I am that I am…” and see that God said “I-JEH ASHER I-JEH” (H is silent, therefore we pronounce it I-G ASHER I-G), we see that “JE” is the short form of God’s name of “Jesus” in the Old Testament. JE with us is Jesus, or God with us. God said his name is Jesus.

Many articles proclaim that the word Jesus came from Joshua. Strong claims that Joshua comes from H3091 Yehoshuua, which is Aramaic. It comes from the Targum from Babylon by jews who were worshipping Assyrian gods. It cannot be trusted. In Numbers 13:8 we find that Joshua’s name was originally Oshea which means “salvation, saves or deliverer.” Moses added God’s Name to the front of “Oshea” and formed a new name “Jeh-Oshea” meaning “God saves.” Numbers 13:16,“These are the names of the men which Moses sent to spy out the land. And Moses called Oshea the son of Nun,Jehoshua.”

Notice how they replaced the ea at the end of his name with ua. That is not correct! It should simply be Jehoshea, Joshua’s real name. His name points to God saving his people. The name Jesus does not come from Joshua’s name. But rather, Jehoshea comes from JEH and Jesus comes from JEH.

JEHOVAH

The name “Jehovah” first appeared in a Bible in 1530, by William Tyndale. Up until 1530, the word Jehovah never appeared in anyBible of any translation, neither in Old or New Testament times. The word “Jehovah” (and Jehovahjireh, Jehovahnissi, Jehovahshalom) appears a total of only 7 times in the entire King James Bible. The Greek Septuagint never uses the word Jehovah. Jesus and the apostles never used it, for the word did not exist during the original writings of the Old and New Testament.

1. No Jehovah in Hebrew or Aramaic Scrolls.
2. No Jehovah in Greek Scrolls or codex’s.
3. No Jehovah in Greek Septuagint second century BC.
4. No Jehovah in Codex Vaticanus 325-350 AD.
5. No Jehovah in Latin Vulgate 405 AD.
6. No Jehovah in Wycliffe’s Bible 1380-1388 AD.

The name “Jehovah” was never written in any book, scripture, scroll; nor spoken by any person or church in all of history until the 1500’s. It was invented by Catholic monks, formulated from the satanic chant of YHVH.

Strong’s Concordance says that the word “Jehovah” is Strong’s #H3068 - Yehovah, and points to the YHWH/YHVH. One should remember that Strong’s does not point to the original Paleo-Hebrew words of the Old Testament, for they are extinct. It only points to the Aramaic words from the Babylonian translation of the Old Testament.

What does the word “Jehovah” mean? The suffix “hovah” is identical to #1943 in Strong’s Dictionary and has the meaning of “ruin, mischief.” It is another form of #1942, “havvah,” which is translated “calamity, iniquity, mischief, mischievous (thing), naughty, noisome, perverse thing, wickedness.” Put the two (Je + hovah) together and you get “God of ruin, mischief, calamity, perversion, and wickedness.” What blasphemy!

SELAH

The word “Selah” does not mean to “pause in order to think.” It is a word to indicate a musical instruction, such as: Forte, Pianissimo, or Interlude. It is not meant to be spoken since it is not a part of the original text. It is only meant for the musicians of that day.

“Selah, which occurs in the Psalms and Habakkuk, may very possibly be a mark for the change of time, or for repeating the melody a few tones higher, or, as some think, for an accompaniment or after-piece of entirely instrumental music.” (Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature)

The Jewish Encyclopedia, 1907, says that “Selah” could mean “Delete” as it was a note that a person made in a scroll to remind them to delete something, such as a word, or a verse; or that a true praise of God was removed and replaced with “Selah.” Selah could also be spelled “salah,” which is the pronunciation of “Salat,” the Islamic name for prayer. Since this word is Assyrian Aramaic, it means “praise Allah” or “praise the god of destruction.”

The fact is that “selah” did not appear in the original Scriptures, because the original Old Testament was not Aramaic, but rather Paleo-Hebrew.

The Greek Septuagint, the translation at the time of Christ, did not use the word “selah.” Instead it used the word “diapsalma,”which meant “apart from the psalm,” thought to be a musical interlude. Of course, a person would not say “musical interlude,” nor would they say “selah.”

AMEN

There are people that claim that the origin of “Amen" is the Egyptian god Amen-Ra or Amun. However, these claims are not true. The Egyptian Amen Ra would not have had the letter alpha as we see in “amen.” But rather, the Egyptian language would have begun with the Y sound. The origin of the Egyptian “Amun” god was actually Yah/Yahweh and not amen. The claims that the Egyptian god’s name was “Amen” is a twist and distortion of the ancient Egyptian language. The sun god, Yah-Ra, we know was related to Assyrian worship of Yahweh. In Freemasonry we see both the sun god and the moon god on the left and the right side of YHWH,so they are connected. There is no evidence that “amen” is actually the Egyptian god. Aman/Amen is actually true Paleo-Hebrew and not Egyptian, whereas both the Egyptians and the Assyrians called their false sun and moon gods Yah, not Amen. In the Egyptian way of speaking they would say “Yah-Ra” not “amen.”

Jesus called himself “The Amen.” (See Rev. 3:14) He would not call himself a pagan name. The word “Amen” is found many times in Scripture and is found in all the earliest ancient manuscripts of both Greek, Hebrew,  and Aramaic. It is original and is true Paleo-Hebrew.

CONCLUSION

Who would have thought that such crazy and sometimes even blasphemous words were in our Bible? And, is what I have shown “just a drop in the bucket?”

The Scriptures went through a number of changes after the captivities: Modern Hebrew was designed, Aramaic portions remained, chapter divisions were added, as well as verses, punctuation, etc.

“The Edomite Jew Masoretes spent three hundred years preparing the Masoretic Text, supposedly just separating the words and adding diacritical marks. Has any scholar asked what manuscript the Masoretes worked from to create their MT? It is assumed that they must have worked from an ancient Hebrew manuscript. The square letter Herodian Script was invented during the century before Jesus was born; so it could not have been ancient. And there is no evidence that any Old Testament existed in the Hebrew language at the time of Jesus. Judean scholars like Philo and Aristeas used the Greek Septuagint exclusively for their exegetical work; assuming that the secrets to understanding God’s communique were in Greek words and nuances. They made no reference to any Hebrew text which might be more authentic. No ancient writer has even hinted that any such text existed. There was no Modern Hebrew language until after the captivities and there was no Hebrew alphabet until the Herodian Script, which was invented just before Jesus arrived. There was no Hebrew Old Testament text (MT) until 1,000 AD.” (Roger Hathaway)

We shall stick with our old English names for the Almighty God, the Lord Jesus the Christ. It matters what name you use: “And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name.”(Lk. 10:17)