Why do We Favor satan Over Yahweh?

Why do we favor satan over Yahweh?

There are a number of excuses given by born-again, Bible-believing, washed-in-the-blood, standing-on-the-promises, dedicated, heaven-bound, truth-seeking, evangelical Christians as to why we don't like to use the real Sacred Names of our Creator Yahweh and His Son, our Savior, Yahshua.

If you write me I'll give you a list of excuses you can have handy in case of an emergency. That way you won't get caught off guard when someone like me approaches you.

In the mean time, please consider our double standard. We readily, easily, and daily use the correct name of mankind's biggest adversary and diabolical destroyer of our souls, satan. And we do so without excuse.

Yes, that's right. The word s-a-t-a-n is a transliteration of the Hebrew word. In other words, when you say 'satan' it is pronounced the same in Hebrew (although, most people pronounce it say'-tan when it should probably be sah-tawn').

In other words, we balk at using the True Name of Yahweh even though it's in Scripture over 6000 times, while, in the same breath, we have no problem using the name of satan which is mentioned less than 40 times. Not only that, we insist on giving satan respect by capitalizing his name!

How can this be? We offer excuses why we don't like the real Names of the Father and the Son who loves us, Who sacrificed Himself for us, Who was tortured for us, Who died for us, but we have no reservations and no hesitations about proclaiming the real name of him who hates us!

Where is the sense in all this?

Let's review some of the characteristics of this satan.

He is a liar and the father of lies. There is no truth in him. He is a murderer from the beginning. He is a deceiver. He is a destroyer. He is the accuser of the brethren. Plus, he leads a swarm of other evil spirits just like him. He comes as an angel of light. He wants to divert our worship from Yahweh to himself.

Hmmm...as you look at satan's traits, can you begin to see that perhaps Revelation 12:9 applies not just to others, but to us as well?

"And the great dragon was cast out, the old serpent called devil, and satan, who deceives the whole world..."

Are we too arrogant to say that we have been at least partly deceived as well?

You should take note, in the above quotation I got straight from a popular Bible program, it had the devil and satan capitalized. But, you can't even find the name of Yahweh or Yahshua anywhere!

Here's something "coincidental" to think about.

It has only been the last 400 years or so that we started using L-rd, G-d, and Jesus in place of Yahweh and Yahshua. What event happened about 400 years ago? The Protestant Reformation. In an effort to derail the Reformation, could it be that satan deceived translators into thinking they were doing the right thing by replacing the names of the True Sacred Names with the names of pagan deities?

It fits his method of operation, does it not?

He comes as a trusted angel of light. He deceives mankind. He seeks to divert worship away from the Creator Yahweh and Yahshua.

Imagine for a moment how it must have happened. If you're quiet you can almost hear that slimy snake's silky smooth voice hiss in the background as it dripped its poison into an unwary translator's ear.

"Nobody speaks Hebrew these days. It's such a hard language. Surely, the people will better be able to worship when the names are ones that are familiar to them.

I hate to say it, but those names are so...Jewish sounding. People know the Jews are the ones who killed the Son. You'll turn people off from coming to church. You don't want that just because you insist on using the Hebrew, now do you?

No, you must not let their worship be laced with ill thoughts - which they surely will if they are constantly reminded of those awful Jews. Plus, word will spread in the communities that those who use your translation are Jew lovers. That will cause unrest and people could get hurt both financially as well as physically.

All this concern is so unnecessary.

Simply use the names L-rd and G-d. They are already commonly known to the people as deities. It will be easy enough to make use of them. Why, it may even seem like an open door to the many who would otherwise shun the church.

Besides, this is an accepted and proven method of evangelism. The church did something similar with Christmas and Easter by adopting traditions and celebrations in use by the general populations of the heathen, thereby making it easier to bring all them under the umbrella and the loving care of the church.

In a short while, you'll discover that the worshipers will readily take the names of L-rd and G-d into their bosom. Indeed, I dare say, there will come a time when they will fiercely reject any attempt to deprive them of the use of those names once they have become endeared to them."

Remember, about this same time satan used deception in the Catholic church to promote widespread murder in an attempt to stop the people from reading the Scriptures for themselves. Satan managed to have savage torture and murder proclaimed as a doctrine of the church.

Let's stop to see if we understand this correctly.

On the one hand, we love to give our children Hebrew names such as Aaron, Joshua, Elijah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Joel, Adam, Sarah, Samuel, Ruth, Naomi, Micah, Zechariah, Ezra, Esther, Amos, and David to name a few.

Yet, on the other hand, we won't use the Names Yahweh and Yahshua because of the flimsy excuse we don't speak Hebrew, or "G-d understands English," or simply "I feel close to Him when I use the fake names."

Well, He does understands English, but He spoke in Hebrew. If we remove the false names our English speaking translators gave us as substitutes, this is what we'd hear directly from the mouth of our Creator,

“I am Yahweh, that is My Name, and My esteem I do not give to another, nor My praise to idols." Isaiah 42:8

The Name of Yahweh is something satan doesn't want to hear, and he doesn't want us to hear it as well. So far, he's got a lot of believers feeling the same way.

The Christian world is more comfortable with the name of their adversary satan than they are with their Creator's True Name.

Tell me this isn't straight from the pit of hell.

Do you think like a Christian, Humanist, or Marxist? Find Out...

You've heard the saying, "If it walks, acts, and quacks like a duck, then it must be a duck." Well, an increasing number of people on church membership rolls "walk, act, and quack" like the world. You can't tell the people on the inside of the church apart from those on the outside.

Are you any different?

Do you know if your view of the world and life is Biblical?

Would you like to find out?

Worldviewweekend.com has developed a test to rate your world view (how you apply your religious beliefs to the world around you) in eight different areas to compare how it lines up with Scripture. Those areas are:

• law,
  
• economics,
  
• civil government,
  
• religion,
  
• social issues,
  
• sociology (family issues),
  
• education,
• and science.

Remember, this measures your thoughts and opinions in these areas. It's not necessary to have special training in say, law or economics. After you've taken the test, you will get an instant score. Your world view will be rated as either:

1. Strong Biblical World view Thinker,
   
2. Moderate Biblical World view Thinker,
   
3. Secular Humanist World view Thinker,
   
4. Socialist World view Thinker, or
   
5. Communist/Marxist/Socialist/Secular
   

Along with your score, you'll get a report on how your world view compares with others in your age category and those with a similar background. You will also receive an overall world view score and rating.

The results of this report thus far are very alarming.

Only 53.9% of those tested demonstrated a strong Biblical world view!

Over 21% have a Secular/Humanist or Socialist/Communist world view!

This is depressing, especially when you consider that the majority of readers of the worldviewweekend.com web site are what we might normally label as very conservative believers.

This test reveals how you "walk, act, and quack" no matter what flavor Christian you claim to be.

Can you handle the truth?

It is all confidential - none of your information is released to me. I will only know how many took the test and the percentages in each category. So, I encourage each of you to complete all of the pre-test background questions.

This test will take you between 25 to 35 minutes to complete. Please take your time.

My goal is that this test will encourage and challenge you to develop an even deeper biblical world view.

Here's what you do:

First, cut and paste the web address in your browser, then press enter.
http://www.worldviewweekend.com/test/register.php?testid=WORLDVIEW&groupreg=6822cff9

Next, Register and take the test. It's simple.

By the way, since many think I am out there somewhere, I'll tell you my score was 100%, which is in category One.

It is my opinion that most who read this blog are earnest Scriptural believers. I'm guessing there should be a lot who score above 90%. Let's find out.

Errors of Tradition, wrong turns taken...

"The biggest mission field in America is professing Christianity".
John MacArthur

OK, a few clarifications and definitions to answer questions like,
"What does that mean? Why did you use that word?"

G-d = Elohim. Elohim is a term used for greatness, strength, or deity. G-d is derived from pagan deities. It's not a good thing to call the King of the Universe by the name of some false deity. See Leviticus 23:13

Why do I put a hyphen in the word g-d? To prevent any kind of glory being given to a false deity.

The L-RD, or the L-rd = Yahweh (YHWH). When the Psalm writer says (in our English translations) "Blessed be the name of the L-ORD" we remain ignorant of just what His Name is. YHWH are the four consonants of His Name. There is some discussion over just which vowels are between the consonants, but most scholars agree it should be Yahweh.

What we do know for sure is that His Name is NOT L-RD. L-rd is also derived from pagan deities, so it falls into the same category as G-d. Besides, there are many pagan L-rds such as the thousands you'll find in Hinduism.

George Harrison of the Beatles fame sung of "My Sweet L-rd." He was not referring to Yahweh, but a Hindu deity. Sorry if that bursts your bubble.

Sadly, "My Sweet L-rd" probably is sung in some worship services today. It's not hard to believe, since so many "Christian" rock/worship groups simply re-record old classic rock songs. It amazes me now how we could sing so many "worship" songs that never even mentioned G-d directly at all. I could've been singing to, or about, anybody.

Old Testament = Tanak, or the the Torah of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms as Yahshua referred to them in Luke 24:44

Testament = Covenant. The Scriptures version quotes Dr Bullinger in The Companion Bible, Appendix 95:

"The word Testament as a translation of the Greek word diatheke (which means covenant), has been nothing less than a great calamity; for, by its use, truth has been effectively veiled all through the centuries; causing a wrong turn to be taken...errors of tradition have usurped the place of important truth. The word Testament as a name for a collectionof books is unknown to Scripture. It come to us through the Latin Vulgate."

Testamonium was a Roman "omen of death." Therefore, we should say Old Covenant at least.

New Testament = Renewed Covenant. See previous blogs for this explanation.

Jesus = Yahshua. Yahshua is the Hebrew name of the Jewish Messiah

Christ = Annointed = Messiah = Moshiach in Hebrew.

Names that begin with "J" = Names that begin with "Y"

Joshua = Yehoshua
Joel = Yo'el
John = Yohanan
Joseph = Yoseph
Jude = Yehudah
James = Ya'acov

Y'all understand that? (Sorry, had to throw that one in. That's southern Hebrew)

Did you notice James in the list? Yep. The Book of James is actually Ya'acov. It's not even close is it?

Another name that needs to be corrected:
Mary = Miriam

One more,
Paul = Sha'ul

Looking at the names of Mary and James certainly brings up a question.

Why are the true Hebrew names for both of these used repeatedly in the Tanak, yet when we get to the Renewed Covenant they are changed to an name form which hides their Jewishness?

Is this intentional? Many say it is, that it betrays an underlining antisemitism in modern translations. In any case, it is certainly a subtle way of influencing and prejudicing our understanding of Scriptural matters.

Law = Torah. While law is the closest English word to convey the Greek word nomos, the Hebrew word Torah is much broader in meaning. Such meanings include "to teach"and "to instruct." Torah refers to the first five books of Scripture, also known as the Law of Moses.

No, Virginia, this is not the same as the movie, "Tora, Tora, Tora" about the Japanese invasion of Pearl Harbor.

The Greek word may also represent ideas or meanings other than Torah from time to time. Some times it refers to a body of rules or system of behavior that may be man made. This is part of what leads to so much confusion regarding the writings of Sha'ul. Just which set of laws is he referring to at any given time?

Perhaps this is one of the reasons Peter (Kefa) warns us that the writings of Sha'ul are difficult to understand and easily twisted.

Are you aware Rabbinic Judaism considered their own writings and commentaries on Torah to actually supersede the written Torah?

"My son, be careful concerning Rabbinical decrees even more than the Torah...the Torah contains prohibitions...but anyone who violates Rabbinical decree is worthy of death." Babylonian Talmud, Eruvin 21b.

Most, if not all, of the Scriptures used as proof texts to show the Law is done away, come from the writings of Sha'ul. Keep in mind that Sha'ul was a Pharisee. He knew all about the Rabbinic decrees. He had probably taught them himself before his encounter with the Messiah.

It is clear to me now that when you finally grasp the understanding Sha'ul refers to more than one "law", it will go a long way toward clearing up the confusion about Yahweh's Torah. Hopefully, you'll begin to realize that it was the man-made laws that needed to be done away - not the loving instructions a loving Elohim gave to His children.