A Messiah By Any Other Name

"Well, God knows what's in my heart." How many times have you or I used these words, mostly in order to justify our refusal to observe or obey to the letter that which he has convicted (or even commanded) us to do? For instance, most of us in these days and times are patently aware that the true Birth date of YahShuah Messiah was no where near the 25th of December. Most reliable historical accounts of the actual Birth of our Savior place it during the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkoth), which occurs sometime in the Hebrew month of Tishri; September or October to those of our culture. "What difference does it make when I celebrate His Birth, as long as I celebrate it?" we ask. "After all, He knows I love Him." In this instance, we are blithely (or ignorantly) overlooking the documented fact that December 25th was designated by the Emperor Constantine I as the day in which Christ's Birth was to be celebrated. What most believers are not aware of is that, despite his many claims of conversion to Christianity, Constantine's true deity until the day of his death was the Babylonian sun god "Sol Invictus" Mithra. The birthday and highest day of worship of this abominable demon is — you guessed it — December 25th. To put it very bluntly, thanks to the trickery of the archetypical antichrist Constantine, we have been tricked into celebrating the high holy day of the most detestable false deity in human history, and calling it the Birthday of our Master. If we do so in ignorance or in lack of understanding, I do believe that the purpose of the Grace of YaHWeH is to cover the fact that we are mere mortals, and subject to severe limits in our knowledge and understanding. However, once we know the truth, we are responsible to act upon it, and His knowing what is in our hearts will not protect us from the consequences of our failure to do so. After all, His Word says very clearly,

"The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. WHO really knows how bad it is?" Jeremiah 17:9 (NLT)

"It doesn't really make any difference what we call Him," I often hear people say, "as long as He answers me when I pray to Him.", and I will be the first to admit that our Father in Heaven does carry a dizzying list of different names that can be confusing and even intimidating. However, there are numerous verses in the Scriptures that can readily clear up the mystery regarding the Name by which He prefers to be referred to:

" I am Yahweh your Elohim Who stirs up the sea, making its waves roar — Yahweh Sabaoth is My Name." Isaiah 51:15

'Now listen, I will make them acknowledge, this time I will make them acknowledge, My Hand and My Might; and then they will know that YaHWeH is My Name.' Jeremiah 16:21

"He made the Pleiades and Orion; He turns the shadow of death into morning and makes the day dark as night; He calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out on the face of the earth. YaHWeH is His Name." Amos 5:8

The problem is that in almost every version of the Scripture that has been translated into English from the original, and the TITLE "the LORD" has been substituted for the personal NAME "Yahweh". Whether this was done in order to intentionally prevent believers from honoring the Almighty by using His true Name, or in order to prevent accidental misuse of its Set-Apart Power remains moot. The end result has been that, rather than proclaiming His Awesome Name, we end up referring to Him by a number of minor titles which demean His Exalted Majesty and possibly even insult Him. For instance, the word "god" (even with a capital G) is not a name, but a title which refers to any number of lesser deities, all of whom were created by the Most High Elohim, whose Eternal Name is YaHWeH.

"I say, 'You are gods [in the original text, elohim], Children of the Most High, all of you; nevertheless, you shall die like mortals, and fall like any prince'." Psalm 82:6—7.

The term "Lord" is actually derived from the worship of Ba'al, the chief deity of the Canaanites, whose rituals required the use of male and female temple prostitutes, among other practices denounced by the prophets of YaHWeH. We should at least consider whether being referred to by the designation of such a pretender to divinity might not be offensive to Our Father. There are so many true Titles by which we can refer to the Almighty, such as El, Elah, Eloah, Adonai, Elyon, El Shadday and perhaps the most blessed of all, simply Abba (meaning Father). It can take some practice to learn to refer to Him in a way that's different than that by which we have referred to Him all our lives, but the prospect of pleasing and honoring Him as opposed to demeaning or offending Him is certainly worth the effort — and as always His Grace is available to cover the ever-present slip of the tongue, although is not to be taken for granted.

In the end, is it a matter of Heaven or Hell when we celebrate the Savior's Birth — or any other holiday — how we refer to the Almighty, or even whether we call the Messiah YahShuah (his Hebrew Name) or by the more familiar but misleading Greek name Jesus? Perhaps not. After all, the Scriptures say that when we are covered by the Blood of the Lamb, our sins are forgiven — past, present and future. However, if we try to put ourselves in Yahweh's place, it might at least give us pause to think it over.

For instance, suppose that before you met, your spouse had been involved in a long, torrid, turbulent affair with someone else. Once you met and developed a relationship, that old affair ended forever, and you were now the new love of their life. There's just one problem, though. They bring you presents on the other lover's birthday and proudly offer you the other person's favorite flowers on your anniversary. Sometimes, they even call you by the other's name! For a while, you might begrudgingly tolerate it or even just laugh it off. After all, you know what's in your spouse's heart. It's you they love — not their old flame. But if they keep it up, year after year, wanting you to celebrate someone else's birthday, commemorate your anniversary according to someone else's traditions and to accept being referred to by someone else's name ... well, sooner or later, you may decide to look around for someone who wants to celebrate your own birthday, celebrate your own anniversary according to your own wishes and call you by your own name. Would YaHWeH feel the same? Maybe, but anyone who's human would, and we humans are created in His Own Image, are we not?

In the end, it is at least worth the time to consider that we might need to make some changes in order to honor the One Who not only created us, but provided His Precious Son as our Savior and Redeemer. YahShuah gave His Life to overcome the sinful nature that so successfully prevents us from even understanding Who YaHWeH truly is, much less how to honor and worship Him properly. The more I learn about Him, the more I realize how little I know or understand about Him, and I wonder why in His Sovereignty He chose to redeem at such a High Price someone who often can't even remember to call Him by His Own Wonderful Name. After all, He knows what's in my heart.

Jenny H. Martinez
12-19-2005