Hello, my name is....

I want you to imagine that your name is Bob. Your parents put a lot of thought into naming you Bob and you have grown rather accustomed to and fond of your name. Pretty much everyone in your home town knows you as Bob. All your childhood friends call you Bob as do the guys you worked with and traveled with for years. You are....Bob. Bob has a meaning. Bob comes from Robert and Robert means "bright frame". Your dad's name is Robert and you love your dad more than anyone, so you like that you are named after your father. You can't imagine anyone calling you anything else. You and your dad are very close.

One day you travel to a far away land. In this land you feel like a stranger. Everyone is very different there and they have different traditions and ways of doing things. Some of these strangers want to know you and make you their friend, some don't accept you. The ones that do decide to accept you as their friend decide to rename you. Wow, that is strange. Your name has been Bob all your life and all of sudden they are calling you Ed. Now Ed is a nice name and all but it just isn't your name. Your name is Bob. You learn to answer to Ed, but you wish your new friends would know your real name. There is so much meaning in your real name and you'd like these friends whom you love to know about that. It describes who you are, who your father is and all the thought that he put into giving you that name. You love your new friends but many of them don't know your real name. Some know your real name because you told them knowing they would receive it, but since everyone else is calling you Ed they continue to call you Ed as well. Some of these friends of yours don't like where you came from or some of the people that live there, so they act as if you are not from there.

What it is in a name? Well Jesus' name really isn't Jesus. Jesus is a Greek word and it actually looked more like Yesous. The Messiah's Hebrew name is usually transliterated as either Yeshua or Yahshua. The "sh" sound did not exist in Greek so the name Jesus or Yesous kinda stuck. Yahshua was not Greek, European, African or Asian. He was Jewish and He was called His Hebrew name His whole life here on earth.

I say all this not to be judgemental or condemning in any way but to encourage those who might read this to become more intimate with our Messiah and who He really is. If you are a believer in Yahshua you have Hebrew roots! You are grafted into the commonwealth of Israel. Antisemitism or the hatred of the Jews has no place in the believers life and nor does replacement theology or the belief that somehow Christians have replaced Israel as Yahweh's chosen people. That belief is not supported in scripture at all. (See references below)

Somehow western Christianity has seen to it to Americanize Yahshua. That is simply incorrect and a tragedy in that it robs believers the opportunity to understand the deep spiritual truths that there are in the Hebrew culture, language and history. Adopting a correct mindset leads to another level of intimacy and understanding of our Lord and why He came.

So back to the name. YAHSHUA means YAHWEH's salvation. YAHWEH is God's personal name and means I Am What I Am. YAHSHUA's NAME is pronounced as yshuw'ah {yesh-oo'-aw} in Strong's Concordance #3444 Bereshith (Genesis) 49:18 I have waited for Thy salvation, O YAHWEH. That is pretty incredible! Who He is and what He came to do is in His name.

Now, we can go on calling Bob, "Ed" and Bob will know we are talking to him and he will probably look up when we call him "Ed". He will answer us and be our friend because he is a really nice guy and very much a gentleman. I'd venture a guess, and these are just my thoughts, if you asked Bob what he'd like to be called he'd probably say "please call me Bob". Bob wants his close friends to know everything about him and love him for who he really is and where he came from. So I believe I will call him Bob.

JUST A FEW SCRIPTURES THAT REFUTE REPLACEMENT THEOLOGY

Romans 11:25-27: "I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: "The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins."

Romans 11:11-12: "But I say: Have they so stumbled as to fall entirely? May it never be! Rather, by their stumbling, life has come to the Gentiles for (awakening) their jealousy. And if their stumbling was riches to the world, and their condemnation riches to the Gentiles; how much more their completeness?"

Genesis 12:3 - "I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."

Jeremiah 31:35-37: This is what the LORD says, he who appoints the sun to shine by day, who decrees the moon and stars to shine by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar- the LORD Almighty is his name: "Only if these decrees vanish from my sight," declares the LORD, "will the descendants of Israel ever cease to be a nation before me." This is what the LORD says: "Only if the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth below be searched out will I reject all the descendants of Israel because of all they have done," declares the LORD.

Seeking Truth

Over the years I have walked through several dark valleys where I questioned what I believe and why. I hated going there. No one wants to go there. We all want to be secure in where we stand, in what we believe and in what we think we know to be truth. It is a painful place to be when everything you think you believe or know is in question.

However, pain isn't always a bad thing. Neither is suffering or questioning the status quot. It isn't a bad thing when you allow Adonai to do His will and reveal truth that is not of this world but is of His heart and His Word. It isn't a bad thing when you let go of things that are temporal and built upon sinking sand. It isn't a bad thing when you cleanse your life of false belief systems and lies that you have been living and believing in the name of "religion" and tradition. Going through such a fire is a cleansing and a purifying thing. It causes impurities to be burned away and that which is real, genuine and precious to remain. Yes, it hurts. The things of God do not perish in such a fire but solidly remain. The fear and pain we feel in the process is the letting go of the carefully placed idols and high places we have allowed in our lives.

There is so much in this world that we do and don't even understand the reasons behind why we do them. Tradition can be a wonderful thing, but things done for reasons that we don't understand are not enough of a reason to continue to do them. We can be so attached to traditions and habits that we don't even consider if it is pleasing to the Lord or simply the popular and accepted way to live according to fellow mankind. The only expectation we place ourselves under is that of other human beings rather than the expectations of a Holy God.

The words of talented orators, television and movies and the media we gulp down like fast food not realizing that nutrient content isn't going to sustain us for long and soon we hunger again. Our ears are tickled, but our sinful flesh remains. Sometimes the words they utter are harmful, but blissfully unaware and we never weigh their words or filter them through the Word of God. We build our foundation on the teachings of men and the love and acceptance of others and for a time all is well with the world. Like sheep led to the slaughter we blindly move with the crowd forgetting that we were called to be set apart. In time this poorly built foundation crumbles and all we are left with is burnt rubbish.

Does this shock you? It should. We should always be on guard against these unholy things subtly creeping into our lives. They don't announce themselves or throw a parade. It isn't in the playbook that they are obvious in any way shape or form. The enemy is very aware of how to play this game. He is subtle and cunning. He is willing to be patient and deceive you to help your flesh "work" long enough to be fooled into thinking your own self sufficiency or the sufficiency of others is enough.

There are many promises in the Word of Lord. Many forget that there are also premises. Grace was expensive. It cost Him everything. The commandments and instructions in His Word our Lord and Savior Messiah Yahshua himself kept while here on earth. He is the same yesterday, today and forever.

Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.

"For I am the Lord, I do not change."Malachi 3:6