Lost in Translation

In my last blog posting, I recommended that some people throw their bible in the trash. I wasn’t kidding. It isn't that I think the Word of YHWH isn’t accurate, relevant, inspired, perfect, and true – it’s that many of the translations of men are not. Some of the problems are unintentional – man is flawed and limited. Some of the flaws of man is that, well – many people are evil. That is one of the reasons why so many English translations are so poor, it is a wonder anyone could ever find YHWH from reading them. They could read the book from cover-to-cover and never once see the name of God, when knowing His Name is a big part of salvation. The other flaw of English translations is the English language itself. The Scriptures were originally given by God in Hebrew, a language perfectly suited to convey the perfect, multilayer, dense, and amazing Words of YHWH. It takes entire paragraphs in English to convey the real meaning behind one or two very important Hebrew words. Hebrew is dynamic, with messages being timeless – so when YHWH gave one promise to one individual, the promise would be timeless and open to any individual to come into covenant relationship with Him. This is why the fallacy of two covenants or an “old” covenant and a “new” covenant are so devastating – the Word of YHWH was always timeless and across generations. Hebrew was originally a pictorial language and seeing some of the attempts to recreate those pictographs is amazing, we get to see the perfection of the Word and how YHWH had His ultimate plan in place from the very beginning.

Some of the biggest problems with English translations of the bible is that they aren’t translations of the original Hebrew scriptures, they are translations of the Latin Vulgate, which was a translation of the Greek Septuagint.  Why is that a problem? Well, Greek is not Hebrew for one. The second is that the Greek Septuagint wasn’t a pure translation from Hebrew. The first reason is that because some Hebrew words could not be translated into Greek – including the name of God, YHWH (or Yahoshua or the Set Apart Spirit). As a result, divine placeholders were put in place to let people know the names had not be translated. However, those placeholders were eventually removed and other names (some pagan and some simply made up) were put into those places. The second problem is that Greece and the Greek language had a history of something called “Hellenism”. This is the practice of taking lots of different religions and blending them together. This is why when you open your King James bible and read Numbers 23:22, Job 39:9, and even Psalm 29:6 you will see the word “unicorn”. You will not find the word “unicorn” in Hebrew, because unicorns exist only in Greek mythology. In a bible translated from Hebrew you will find the word “wild ox” or simply “ox”. However, the Greek Septuagint was filled with Greek mythology and paganism mixed in with Hebrew Scripture. So, when someone tells you the King James Bible is the most “accurate” translations, they are talking about the best translation from the Greek and they are talking about a book which isn’t simply about the Hebrew God, the Creator of the universe who was kind enough to extend to all humanity a chance of eternal life and relationship; they are talking about a book that mixed this Hebrew God in with some Greek gods, some sun god worship, and a bit of paganism. I know, it’s hard to swallow – look it up for yourself.

One HUGE problem that can be find in most English bibles is the disturbing act of translating from Hebrew, then transliterating from Greek names found in the Scripture. See, words are translated – that means a word in one language is given an equivalent word in the new language. For instance, we translate the Spanish word “uno” into “one” in English. However, names are supposed to be transliterated. That means the name stays the same, it is just spelled in such a way that it can be accurately pronounced in the new language. So a Spanish man named Eduardo will still be called Eduardo in English; we don’t go and change his name to Edward. However, all through the Bible Hebrew individuals were stripped of their Hebrew and God given name and given a Greek name. The first time this was done with an individual was Hawwah. Hawwah was Adam’s wife, her name means “life giver”. Instead of transliterating her name so it could be accurately spoken in Greek, then English – they simply renamed her “Eve”, which means “life giver” in Greek. However, instead of translating her name as “Life Giver” into English, they then began again to transliterate. So, we adamantly call her by a Greek name as if that is the one given to her by her husband. The problem with not transliterating her name is that part of her name, Hawwah, is also a part of God’s Name YHWH (pronounced Yahowah). See, if we could say “Hawwah” we could easily say God’s true and personal name “Yahowah”. This stripping of Hebrew names took place throughout the bible, including with the names of books of the bible. For instance, the book in English known as “Exodus” is really the book “Shemoth”. Ironically, Shemoth does NOT mean “Exodus”, it means NAMES! God was so adamant about the importance on names he had Mosheh (that would be Moses in your English bible) let us know the book should be called Names. Instead, in arrogance that could only come from Greece and Rome itself – they stripped the Scriptures of the significance of names – see the problem?

The problem with stripping people of the Hebrew names they were given is that it stripes away some of the very clear messages YHWH was trying to give us. For instance, Yahoshua is the name of the ha Ma'aseyah. That is right, it isn’t “Messiah”, it is ha Ma’aseyah, which means the “Work of Yah”. Yahoshua means “Yah saves” – that message isn’t conveyed in the slightest through the Greek and Latin made of name of Iesus which was later changed to “Jesus”. We know the name Jesus is completely made up since the letter “J” didn’t exist until the 1500’s. In fact, if they were going to translate the name of Yahoshua into English as spoken today (and anytime after the 1550's) – His name would be rendered Joshua (exactly as Joshua, son of Nun). At least if they would have done that it would have been much easier for people to transition to His actual name of Yahoshua. Instead, as I have been told by many they aren’t willing to “give us their Jesus”.  To that, I have to say you can hold on to whatever name you want, just don’t think that YHWH has to respect human corruptions of His Word – especially those that were done intentionally to disrespect Him, mock Him, and test Him. The name changes were not done out of ignorance, they were done out of arrogance. They were done because man thought himself equal enough to God to change His Name, the Name of His Son, and the name of anyone else they chose. Unlike the scene in roots, where Kunta Kentee finally relinquishes from the beating and declares that his name is indeed Toby; God will do NO SUCH THING! He gave us His Name, YHWH (pronounced Yahowah), 7,000 times in Scripture. He told us His Son would come in HIS NAME, Yahoshua is coming in the name of Yahowah; Jesus has absolutely NO connection to Yahowah.

My advice to you is to look up for yourself and verify the things I have written. My best advice is to visit the website Yada Yahweh http://www.yadayahweh.com/ to get some of the best and well researched information in regards to the Scriptures you can find. The next thing is that as you are probably at the mercy of English translations of the Scriptures for now – find some that were translated from the original Hebrew for what is commonly called the “Old Testament” and those based on Aramaic and Hebrew origins of the Greek for the “New Testament”. However, be aware that the “New Testament” has a lot of translation issues among other pretty big issues. Advice again – start with the BEGINNING of your Bible – in Genesis (Bereshith). I would recommend getting a copy of The Scriptures, a translation of the bible from the Institute for Scripture Research. The http://www.halleluyahscriptures.com/ scriptures would be even better and can be downloaded for free on your computer. Get truth. It will make you uncomfortable, stretch you, and you will end up questioning everything. Good! In the end you will realize the God really is the Creator of the universe, He had a plan for your salvation from the beginning, and you can KNOW HIM!

Stolen Identity

I would like to report a crime. This is a crime of the greatest case of identity theft to ever be perpetuated on mankind. This crime was absolutely heinous and the groups that did it pretty much got away with it - mostly. It would be wrong for me not to do my part to try and correct this crime against humanity - so here goes.
Remember the movie "the Net" with Sandra Bullock? Remember how with one keystroke her identity was completely wiped away - taking from her all the things that made her unique, that said to the world that she did indeed exist? That happened in real life to someone I know. It wasn't recent, it happened before computers; it can't be contributed to an innocent keystroke error. This crime took place well over 2,000 years ago.
The One whose identity was stripped was not a man, it was the identity of God Himself. Not only did this happen once, it has been happening continuously and it needs to stop.
The first time this crime was committed, it was done by Jewish Rabbi's. They created a false myth, found no where in Scripture, that the name of God was not to be spoken. This commandment against speaking God's proper name cannot be found anywhere in Scripture. It is erroneously based on the 3rd Commandment in which it is written to not take the name of God in vain. The irony is that like Hawwah (I know, your "bible" says Eve, but that wasn't her name), they added to the Scriptures. See, God told Adam not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, by the time Hawwah was speaking with satan in the garden she said they were not even to "touch" the tree. Of course, shortly after she added to the Word of God - she not only touched the tree violating a man made commandment - she also ate from the tree violating God's Commandment. So too is the story of the Rabbis'. Shortly after they added to the Commandment by saying one could not even speak the name of God, they violated their man made commandment. To keep from violating their made up commandment even further, they kept piling on more and more ridiculous rules. First they added letters over the name of God so that people wouldn't pronounce it correctly. When people, in pronouncing the new made up name, still said some of the actual name of God - they took the name out of Scripture completely. They then replaced the name of God with the name "Adoni" - which means master. Of course, God never told us to call him "Master", but this word is also the proper name of a false god - baal. They even went so far a to say people couldn't speak or write the name Elohim - which means God. This is not God's name, but His title - however, they wouldn't even let people say that. When Jewish people write God today they will often write "G-d" so as not to violate a commandment that never even existed. Others will say only "HaShem" which means "the Name" or intentionally mispronounce Elohim by saying elokim. Of course, all this gymnastics has led Jewish people for thousands of years to follow firmly in the footsteps of Hawwah; you see, part of not taking the name of God in vain is to not let is be seen as nothingness. However, that is just what they have done - the proper and personal name of God hasn't been spoken in a synagog or from the mouth of a devout Jew in thousands of years. The Rabbis went so far as the change the way the Hebrew language was written and spoken to keep people away from God's proper and personal name.
While that is a sad and terrible account, Christianity isn't one iota better on this matter. While they have had every opportunity to correct this error of Judaism, they have chosen to keep the error and ratchet it up even more. Instead of using the proper and personal name of God in scripture - every English Bible with the exception of 2 or 3 obscure ones you must search for like a detective, they have chosen to substitute the name of God AND His Son the Messiah with not only the name of the false god baal, but also made up names that have absolutely NO connection with their honest rendering. For instance, turn in your bible to Exodus 15:3 and if your bible says "the Lord is a man of battle, the Lord is His Name - go to the garbage and throw it away. Okay, is that too much. Turn to Isaiah 42:8, if your bible starts out with "I am the Lord, that is My Name" - now throw it away. Why? Well, read the rest of that scripture - if you don't think your bible replacing the name of God with the name of an idol violates that very scripture; Houston, we have a problem!
So, what is God's name? I am glad you asked! God wrote His name for us almost 7,000 times in scripture. An English rendering of His Name is spelled YHWH. While English pronunciations vary (mainly because Christian and Jewish leaders for thousands of years have intentionally suppressed the name for a number of reasons), the most well researched phonetic pronunciation I have found is "Yah-O-Wah".
So, whats wrong with saying "Lord"? Well, number one - that isn't His Name. He told us His Name almost 7,000 times, He introduced Himself to us in the most beautiful, wonderful, caring, loving, and amazing ways - how could we not be respectful enough to use His Name? Imagine if your spouse insisted on calling you by the name of the last person they dated before they met you? Would you be okay with that? What about if parents called you a nickname you detested and told them you detested? What if your children decided to forsake the traditional "mom" or "dad" and simply call you "fart face"?
The other, and most important, reason for using His Name is that we were clearly told in Scripture that salvation depends on 1)Knowing His Name, and 2) Calling upon His Name. Do you really want to take the chance of getting His Name wrong? If your okay with that, I will start calling you "dumb ass" and I am sure you will be okay with that - after all, its just a name.
And since I mentioned it briefly - the name of the Messiah, YHWH's only begotten Son is not "Jesus" or "Christ" or "Lord", His name is Yahoshua which means "Yah Saves". If translated into English (which it shouldn't be because names are not translated, they are transliterated) it would be Joshua. Yes, the exact same name used for Joshua, Son of Nun - with the same meaning. The name Jesus (which started as Iesus because the letter "J" was invented until the 1500's) is at best a made up name. At worst, it is the name of a Greek sun god. Every time you call upon the names of "Jesus" and "Lord" - no matter how your heart feels, you are disrespecting God. He was the victim of a crime, as was all of humanity when His Name was taken from us. If the people in the movie Roots had enough respect to go back to calling the main character "Kunta Kentee" instead of the false slavery imposed name of "Toby", surely we can give as much respect to the creator of the Universe. Revelations clearly says to the messenger of the assembly in Philadelphia in Revelation (Hazon) 3:8 "I know your works - see, I have set before you an open door, and no one is able to shut it - that you have little power, yet have guarded My Word, and have not denied My Name." Philadelphia gets welcomed with an open arm. However, Laodikeia is lukewarm, neither hot nor cold - a little wishy washy. Sound a little like people who think that any old name will do? Ones that think the Creator of the Universe can be renamed at will by any rabbi, priest, pope, preacher, or teacher who decides His name is too hard, too sacred, too Jewish - so they will just call him whatever they please? Maybe its time for a choice. Maybe its time to decide if you are going to be a Philadelphian or a dumb ass.

My REAL Journey Home

When I started this blog, I thought the focus would be on my quitting my full time job to stay home with my kids. I had no idea this journey would be so much bigger. This isn’t just about me finding my place as wife and mother; it is about me truly finding God.

Those who know me are probably wondering if I have lost my mind! What do I mean “finding God”, I have been a practicing Christian since I was a young teenager. For over 20 years I thought I knew God, boy was I wrong. Here I was, worshiping a God and I didn’t even know His name! Oh, I thought I knew His name – it was “God” right? Maybe His name was “Lord”. At least that is what my Bible said.  I never actually read those beginning notes – you know all those pages before Genesis 1:1. I had no idea that the true name of God had been removed from the scriptures, first by Jewish Rabbis, then by Catholic Priests. God has a name and He declared it almost 7,000 times in scripture – His name is YHWH and it is pronounced “Ya Ho Weh”. He was so clear about His name being known that He gave us a commandment about it. We say “don’t take the name of “the Lord” in vain, but the Commandment is more than that – we are to not let His name come to naught. And, His name is not “the Lord”. In fact, in additional to the title “Lord” mean master, it also means “baal” – you know that false god the children is Israel often got in trouble for worshiping? Yes indeed, whenever we magnify “the Lord” we are more accurately calling on a false pagan god than on the One True God – YHWH.

As I did more digging and studying, I found out that most of my religious walk as a Christian consisted of openly breaking Commandments YHWH had been clear about as well as outright pagan worship. Oh yes, it was dressed up to look pretty and had nice “Christian” words associated with it – like “Christmas”, but all those things were pagan through and through. The more I dug the more I realized I wasn’t worshiping YHWH at all, in fact – the steeped I got in the practice of my religion the more I was twisting scripture. Everything from Sunday worship to Easter was purely pagan to the core. My heart was right, my motivations were right – but I had been deceived! The deception was thousands of years old and intentional. I stood in horror as I looked at my feet sure in the foundations of my faith – only to find they were on sinking sand. I looked in horror as I found that even the Bible I held in my hand had been corrupted by men.

So, this blog will be dedicated to my journey home – home to my Father YHWH as I learn more and grow more. Now, for those still reading and not already fasting and praying for my deliverance – here are some things I will explain right up front. Here are the things that I believe are true:

1.       There is one true and living God and His name is YHWH

2.       He has one begotten Son and His name is Yahoshua (we will get to this name later)

3.       There is but ONE way to God, and that is through His Son; you cannot work your way into heaven, you cannot be good enough or perfect enough

4.       The Word of God is TRUE and infallible; however, translation errors and intentional corruption of scripture makes our learning of that True Word take more than just a passive approach. We must study hard, look at multiple translations, go to as close to the original sources as possible, and make our beliefs line up with the Word instead of trying to make the Word line up with our beliefs.

5.       The “Old Testament” is still valid today and the plan of salvation was laid out for us even through the words of Moses. The “New Testament” is valid in that is confirms the prophecies about the Messiah and His coming. The NT is also the most challenging because it has been subject to a lot of corruption due to several issues 1)Language – the Greek language, which is what the oldest found manuscripts of the NT were written in was plagued by pagan names and Hellenistic  work, 2) Incomplete Manuscripts – there has been NO intact manuscript of the NT found and there are over 3,000 discrepancies found in many of the letters between texts that have been used to translate the NT; these discrepancies are not found in the OT 3) Forgeries – some of the biggest forgeries are found in the writings attributed to Paul with most of the books attributed to Paul now being considered by Biblical scholars to be “questionable”.

So, the next big question is “am I a Christian”? This one is a hard one. Christianity has been such a HUGE part of who I am, most of my friends are Christians, I know the language and lingo, I know the customs and traditions, many of the most important aspects of my life and my most important moments in life were defined in my Christian faith, and even though I had an incomplete view of God – I met Him through Christianity. With that said, there are many defining aspects of Christianity that I no longer accept. For instance, the Christian holy days of Christmas and Easter I can no longer participate in. I believe man had no right to change the Sabbath nor to discontinue the practice of the Set Apart Times declared by God (like Passover). And most importantly, my Savior is named Yahoshua, not Jesus; Christ my God is named YHWH, not Lord. This is more than changing from Baptist to Methodist.

So, do I have a church? Right now we are still on the rolls at our Primitive Baptist Church, we still attend on many Sunday’s and we still regularly pay our tithes there. So no, I am not just trying to “get out of tithing”. Like I said, this is a journey. I would say we are moving closer to a more Messianic walk in our faith, but not so much “Orthodox Jews that believe in Jesus”. It’s really quite hard to define, so I will say this is more about relationship than religion. I can’t say how this will all play out – heck our church’s pastor may read this blog and kick us out, after all – I would be a Christian that doesn’t celebrate Easter!

So, again, welcome to my journey home. I think it will be an exciting one!