Monday, September 20, 2010

His Name!

Why is it that we serve the Creator Elohim/God who is the Only real God yet Jews and Christians are the only religions who do not use His Name? All other religions use the name of their god to differentiate between their god and other gods. Instead we use a title. God, Lord, Savior, etc. These are all titles. That would be like me always being called mom, wife, sister, daughter but never by my name, Kathe. I could be anyone's mom, or wife, or sister or daughter. The title does not make me different, my name does.

In the original Holy Scriptures our Creator's Name was written over 6,000 times. Because of Jewish tradition those writings were changed to a title instead. (Remember the verses where the Bible tells us what is going to happen to those who change His Word?) Going through those Holy Scriptures and replacing His Name everywhere the Bible says GOD, LORD, Adonai, Elohim, etc. makes you realize that His Name was EVERYWHERE in Scripture. It also makes you realize the importance that He puts upon His Name and that it is very important to use His Name, both in reading His Word and in conversation with others. In fact we are told in His Word that those of us who use His Name in conversation will be blessed.

Yet most don't even know His Name. A few weeks ago I had a conversation with a believer. I said Yahweh and she looked at me funny. I told her that Yahweh is the Name of God and she was confused. She thought His Name was God. When I told her the bit about it being a title like her title was mom she was floored. She had been to church for years and was never told that.

This is a huge disservice to Yahweh. And to believers as well. His Word tells us that by His Name we are saved. It does not say by His title we are saved. Think about that one for a moment. You can argue all you want against it, I'm just saying what He is saying. Take it for what it's worth.

Also, when we are in conversation with someone and we say the word "god" it can mean any god. This is how this idea of all gods are the same god came about. Without using a name it can mean any god out there. It can be very confusing in conversation with someone of another faith. Exactly which god are we talking about? But if you use names there is absolutely no confusion.

There are two ways to determine what god you are speaking about. Names and characteristics. If we look at some of the different gods out there we can see that they all have different names and different characteristics. The God of the Bible, Yahweh, has a completely different name than the name of the god of Islam, Allah. They also have completely different characteristics. All gods are not the same.

If you would like more information on the Name - Yahweh - there is a very good free download PDF by Neil Snyder at www.hisnameisyahweh.org There are also some MP3 downloads.

I urge you to start using Yahweh's name instead of His various titles. As He says, you will be blessed for it. It will sound funny on your tongue for a bit but after a little while it will seem as natural as anything else you do. And you will show others the truth about His Name when you speak it aloud to them.

The amazing thing that I've found is that when I read His Word and replace the title in my head with His Name I get a much deeper meaning to Scripture than I ever have before and when I talk to Him it is much more personal. I love using His Name! I hope you do, too!

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Am I Walking a Righteous Walk?

I saw someone wearing a WWJD bracelet. What Would Jesus Do?

Thinking about it made me watch the person to see just what they were doing and if they lived up to what the bracelet meant. It's kind of like seeing someone with a fish symbol on their car who runs a red light or cuts me off in traffic. The symbol or motto they chose doesn't match up with their actions.

For those of you who have read my blog and website for any length of time you know what I think about symbols and cute sayings so I won't belabor that point here. My point to this is am I walking the walk. Am I authentic in my faith?

You hear that word bandied about a lot in churches these days. Authentic. As if there is any other way to be when it comes to living a righteous life for Yahweh. It's like the song I heard the other day; Cross of Gold by Michael W. Smith. He asks if you're wearing it just for jewelry or is there real meaning behind it. Now I don't wear crosses because #1 a cross is an idol which is prohibited by the Torah and #2 I don't know that Yahshua was on a cross or a tree or a stake. And the point of Him dying was not so much His death but His resurrection.

Anyway, I've been thinking a lot lately about being authentic. Watching people around me there seems to be a lot of do what I say, not what I do type of behavior. I want to be the person that sets the example, the role model. What I say, I do. The things that I do match up with my thoughts and my words.

It isn't easy to be authentic and walk a righteous walk. Righteousness first means that you need to know what being righteous in Yahweh means. That means reading what Yahweh said in His Word. That takes time and effort. It also takes a lot of self control to walk a righteous walk. You have to say no to many things that you previously said yes. You have to give up things that don't line up with Yahweh's Word. Most won't do either of those things. It takes time and work and we just have other priorities in our daily lives. And we don't want to give up those things that we love to do.

I'll give you a hint. Living a righteous life is not about going to church every week and helping out in this ministry or that ministry. Yahweh clearly outlines in His Word what it takes to live a righteous life. It's there for all to see. There is no "Easy Button" to get us there. It's not just saying a simple "sinner's prayer" and voila, you are righteous.

I recommend that you take Yahweh seriously and put Him as the #1 priority in your life TODAY! Do not put this off - it is the most important thing you should do. Start reading His Word and put Him first in your day and in your life. When you put Him first and ask Him for guidance He will give it to you. Of that I have no doubt.

Be blessed in your study.

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Yahweh's Sabbath or Sun Day?

Today is the day of the sun - Sunday. This was named a couple of thousand years ago to honor the sun, which was thought to be the god that created our earth, the universe and life itself. Most pagan religions honored the sun with god status. For example, the ancient Egyptians had RA, who was the sun god. The Romans around the turn of the world from B.C. to A.D. at the time of the Messiah honored the sun god.

Between the years of Messiah's death and about 325 A.D. the Jews and the followers of Messiah kept Yahweh's (God's) Sabbath and Feast Days found in the Bible, mainly Leviticus. Messiah and His apostles kept them as well and you can find evidence of that in the Bible. Around 325 A.D. the Roman emperor Constantine had much chaos in his kingdom. There were so many people who believed so many different things and there was constant friction. The new religion of Christianity, the following of the Messiah would not go away despite the mass killing of its followers. Something had to be done before the kingdom fell apart. The Jews were under severe persecution and anything that seemed Jewish and anyone practicing anything Jewish was persecuted heavily.

Constantine formed the Council of Nicea where he and many leaders of the different religious factions got together to hammer out the new state religion. They called it Christianity and then brought in different parts of different pagan religions to satisfy those leaders. On my website: www.infiniteabundance.us I go into more detail on these pagan religions being absorbed into Christianity.

Two factors: (1) the absorption of all different pagan religions into the new religion of Christianity and (2) the persecution and wiping out of anything that seemed Jewish came together and essentially caused people to stop following Yahweh's Sabbath law. They now worshipped and rested on the sun day instead of the Sabbath.

One thing has not changed. Yahweh set down the 7th day as the Sabbath. He never, ever changed that to worshipping Him and resting on the same day as the pagan sun god. Man did that and now justifies it that it's OK because you are still worshipping Yahweh. How is it that we are allowed to make that decision? I think that is far above my pay grade to do anything like that.

By the way, an added wrinkle to the problem is that when the Romans were in charge they changed the entire way the calendar is set up. Now instead of using the new moon to determine when the Sabbath is, as well as the Feast days, most people just say that the Sabbath is on Saturday or Saturn's day. Another Roman name for a day of the week. This is incorrect. And even the Jew's of today still use the Roman calendar instead of Yahweh's set down way of determining the right day to set aside for rest.

I urge you, in these last days, to get right with Yahweh. To learn the truth about Him, about His set-apart days, about His Sabbath. He will show you the truth if you ask for it.

To learn more about the true Sabbath according to the new moon go to http://www.yhrim.com/index.html and click on the teaching link in the left column.

Shalom