“Seek Yahweh while He may be found. Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return to Yahweh, and He will have compassion on him. Turn to our Elohim, for He will abundantly pardon.”

Isaiah 55: 6-7

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Most Churches Today are Run by Dilettantes for Dilettantes

To understand the Scriptures, I had to get out of the institutional church. That made all the difference in the world to me. That’s when Yahweh started revealing Himself to me.

When I was writing His Name is Yahweh, I remember asking Yahweh to show me clearly that the Word of Yahweh is the Messiah and that the Messiah is Yahweh. That was important to me, because of the way John begins his gospel:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with Elohim, and the Word was Elohim. He was in the beginning with Elohim. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. (John 1:1-5)

[…]

And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. John [the Baptist] testified about Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.’” For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Yeshua the Messiah. No one has seen Elohim at any time; the only begotten Elohim who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him. (John 1:14-18)

John said that the Word of Elohim is Elohim: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with Elohim, and the Word was Elohim.” In plain English, that means the Word of Elohim is a Person. John was not referring to the Torah or the Tanach. They are Yahweh’s written word.

There was no New Testament when John wrote his gospel. In fact, there was no New Testament when everything in the New Testament was written. So, if the New Testament refers to Scripture, it’s referring to the Old Testament.

John also tells us that the Word of Elohim is the Creator: “All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.” We know that Yahweh is the Creator, so the Messiah must be Yahweh.

In His Name is Yahweh, there is a section titled “The Messiah is the Word of Yahweh”. It begins on page 190 and ends on page 198. Those few pages make clear that Yahweh revealed the Messiah’s identity as “the Word of Elohim” throughout the Old Testament/Tanach. Below is an excerpt from that section of His Name is Yahweh:

In Genesis 15: 6, Yahweh declares Abraham righteous because he had faith in Him, and later in the chapter He ratified the covenant. This fact is essential because it means that the Messiah ratified the Old Covenant and the New Covenant.

Psalm 107: 19-20 tells us that the “Word of Yahweh” performs the Messiah’s work:

“Then they cried out to Yahweh in their trouble; He saved them out of their distresses. He sent His Word and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.” (Psalm 107: 19-20)

According to these verses, Yahweh sent His Word and healed them. We know from Genesis 1: 1-26 that He could have spoken His word and healed them. Psalm 107: 19-20 makes perfect sense when you understand that the “Word of Yahweh” is the Messiah and that He came to heal us, among other things.

Isaiah 53: 5 explains it this way:

“by His [the Messiah’s] scourging we are healed.” (Isaiah 53: 5)

Literally, Yahweh came as a Man to take the penalty for our sins on Himself. He redeemed us, reconciled us to Himself, and healed us completely.

Now take a look at Psalm 40: 6-7:

“Sacrifice and meal offering You have not desired; My ears You have opened; burnt offering and sin offering You have not required. Then I said, ‘Behold, I come; in the scroll of the book it is written of Me.’” (Psalm 40: 6-7)

These verses spell out the Messiah’s mission, although not in great detail. They begin by explaining that Yahweh does not desire sacrifice and meal offerings or burnt offerings and sin offerings. What, then, does He require?

The next verse provides the answer:

“Behold, I come; in the scroll of the book it is written of Me.” (Psalm 40: 7)

Yahweh requires an unblemished sacrifice. He is the only One in all of creation capable of being the perfect sacrifice that He demands. Therefore, He came in Person to redeem us and to atone for our sins.

The book mentioned in Psalm 40: 7 is the Torah. The Messiah (the “Word of Yahweh”) is the focal point of the Torah, Yahweh’s written Word.

Psalm 138: 2 illustrates how much Yahweh honors His Word:

“I will bow down toward Your holy temple and give thanks to Your Name for Your lovingkindness and Your truth; for You have magnified Your Word according to all Your Name.” (Psalm 138: 2)

A literal translation of this verse [Psalm 138: 2] from Hebrew reads as follows:

“…for You have exalted Your Word above Your Name.”

Yahweh is the Name that is above every name, and Yahweh has exalted “His Word” (the Messiah) above His Name. Be sure of this fact. Yahweh does not honor words written on paper above His Name. The only Person or thing exalted above Yahweh’s Name is Yahweh Himself. (From His Name is Yahweh pp. 195-197.)

Psalm 138:2 is of particular interest to me. It has been translated various ways. Some translations are better than others. Below are the translations that appear in several of the more popular versions of the Bible:

New International Version: I will bow down toward your holy temple and will praise your name for your unfailing love and your faithfulness, for you have so exalted your solemn decree that it surpasses your fame.
English Standard Version: I bow down toward your holy temple and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness, for you have exalted above all things your name and your word.
New American Standard Bible: I will bow down toward Your holy temple And give thanks to Your name for Your lovingkindness and Your truth; For You have magnified Your word according to all Your name.
King James Bible: I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.

The King James Bible’s translation of Psalm 138:2 is better than the NIV, the ESV, and the NASB. Several of the less well known versions of the Bible are also better than the NIV, the ESV, and the NASB. For example,

Aramaic Bible in Plain English: I shall worship in the temple of your holiness and I shall give thanks to your Name for your kindness and for your truth, because you have extolled your Word above every name!
King James 2000 Bible: I will worship toward your holy temple, and praise your name for your lovingkindness and for your truth: for you have magnified your word above all your name.
American King James Version: I will worship toward your holy temple, and praise your name for your loving kindness and for your truth: for you have magnified your word above all your name.

Again, the only Person or thing magnified above Yahweh’s Name is Yahweh Himself. The Word of Yahweh must be Yahweh. I prefer the word “exalted” for reasons that are linguistically solid. I think it conveys a clearer meaning in English, but “magnified” is fine.

Writing His Name is Yahweh was not easy. To complete the project, I had to become familiar with Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic. I had to understand what Yahweh said, not what Bible translators said about what Yahweh said. The same was true for preachers. I learned that I could not rely on them, and if I talked with them about the problem, many of them were offended.

It took me thousands of hours to do the work required to write the book. The completed book is 324 pages long. Before I did the final editing of the book, it was more than 800 pages long. Along the way, Yahweh showed me many things that I needed to know, and I included them in the book. At the end of the project, I removed the things in the book that were not directly related the book’s primary mission: To show that the Messiah is Yahweh. I still have the things I edited out of the book, and I’ll probably use them one day.

Yahweh is the Messiah’s Name. About that fact, I am certain, because Yahweh told Jeremiah the Messiah’s Name:

“Behold, the days are coming,” declares Yahweh, “when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch. He will reign as king and act wisely and do justice and righteousness in the land. In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will live securely. This is His Name by which He will be called: ‘Yahweh Our Righteousness.’” (Jeremiah 23:5-6)

Yahweh said that He is the only Savior:

“I, even I, am Yahweh. There is no savior besides Me.” (Isaiah 43:11)

We have salvation in Yahweh’s Name, so Peter must have been referring to the Name “Yahweh” when he said,

“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.” (Acts 4:12)

Most preachers use that verse to point out that Jesus is the name in which we have salvation. That’s not true. The Person we call “Jesus” is Yahweh, and Yahweh is the Name in which we have salvation. The name “Jesus” was made up. The Messiah’s name at birth was “Yeshua”.

This problem is critically important. There is no other name besides Yahweh in which we have salvation, so getting the name right is of paramount importance. You can’t brush aside this point. Misguided church traditions can’t be used as justifications for false doctrine. That’s exactly what the scribes and Pharisees did when they created the Oral Law (a.k.a., Halacha and the traditions of the Jews) and elevated it above the Law and the Prophets (the Torah and the Tanach). As the Messiah said,

“Thus, you nullify the word of Elohim by the tradition you have handed down. And you do so in many such matters.” (Mark 7:13)

If you have not read His Name is Yahweh, you owe it to yourself to read the book. If you consider yourself to be a “speed reader” and you skimmed the book or if you just glanced at the book and think you got it or if you put it under your pillow one night and prayed that the message in the book would be transmitted miraculously to your brain, you made a mistake. It is packed with detailed information that requires careful thought, because it turns a lot of Christian traditions on their heads.

I was a university professor. I have written many books, articles, and cases. I know that you can’t speed read, glace at, or skim that kind of material and understand the message.

I’ll be blunt: I think most believers including preachers have a serious problem. Most of those who have read the Bible don’t know what’s in it, because they read it too quickly. They don’t take the time to understand the traditions that affected the translations, and they don’t go back to the original sources to see what they said.

Over the years, I can’t tell you how many people have told me that they never knew why “LORD” and “GOD” were presented in the Bible in all capital letters sometimes. People who considered themselves to be Bible literate, some of them even considered themselves to be Bible scholars, read right by some of the most amazing truths in the Scriptures, and they never knew that Yahweh was telling us about Himself by Name. They thought they were Bible literate, but they were wrong.

That includes a lot of preachers. Several years ago, a friend who had become familiar with my message gave me a cassette tape of a sermon delivered by his pastor. The title of the sermon was “The Importance of the Lord’s Name”. It was a long sermon, too long. I listened to it with anticipation, but the preacher never once referred to “the LORD’s” Name. He didn’t even guess at His Name. At the end of his sermon, most people listening to him would have believed that “the Lord” is Yahweh’s name.

That kind of intellectually lazy, sloppy scholarship may be acceptable for small children, but it’s unacceptable for people who consider themselves to be Bible literate. Thanks to technology, things are getting worse, not better. Today, most people want to watch a video that can convey the details of a complex message in less than 3 minutes. That can’t be done.

I would love to see Albert Einstein try to present his General Theory of Relativity or his Special Theory of Relativity in a 3-minute video. I’m just joking. If he were alive today, Einstein would laugh at that thought. If he tried to do it, lots of people would demand that he produce a version of the video that doesn’t include numbers, because they don’t like numbers.

Dilettante scholarship may be fine for most people because they are dilettantes. That means they know a little about a lot of things, but they don’t know much about anything.

You would never go to a doctor who is a dilettante if you had a serious medical condition. You would never ask a CPA who is a dilettante to prepare your tax returns. You would never ask a techno-dilettante to give you computer advice. Why would you go to a church whose preacher is a scriptural dilettante? That makes no sense, either.

I think that what we call “church” today is a place run by dilettantes for dilettantes. Do you understand what Paul was talking about when he said,

“I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready.” (1 Corinthians 3:2)

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“I am the good shepherd. I know My sheep and My sheep know Me — just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father — and I lay down My life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also. They too will listen to My voice, and there shall be one flock and one Shepherd. The reason My Father loves Me is that I lay down My life — only to take it up again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of My own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from My Father.”

John 10: 14-18