"The Torah of Yahweh is perfect, converting the soul" - Psalm 19:7
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Names and Words

What's in a name?  A lot, according to our Creator and Savior.  Here we'll explore names that have been lost, replaced, mis-transliterated, or otherwise misunderstood as pertaining to Him.
There are also many words in the Scriptures that have been replaced/removed by translators and have either lost their true meaning or have been replaced by a pagan name instead.
While I do not claim to know all there is concerning this subject, especially when it centers around the exact name of the great I AM, I do know what He is NOT called or wanting to be called, according to His Word.  It is not my intention to create doctrine based on my limited understanding but rather, to share what the Scriptures and historical documentation say.

A quick lesson in Hebrew

While it is not imperative that you go out and learn ancient Hebrew right this instant it is important that we understand a few things about the language as compared to ours today when looking at the Word of the Creator of the universe.  We have to understand the fact that whatever language we primarily speak it is going to affect our understanding of what the Scriptures say as compared to what they were originally written in.  It is well known by many scholars and teachers of the Scriptures that the original language they were written in was ancient Hebrew, also known as Paleo Hebrew.  The modern Hebrew language, which consists of the familiar block letters that we often see, and also Aramaic, came out of the era during and following the Babylonian captivity. 
Here is a good article on the difference between the two: Paleo-Hebrew
Paleo Hebrew is essentially "picture writing".  Each letter in the Hebrew alphabet has a meaning to it.   It gives the reader a "visual" when telling a story in written form.   Why is this important?  When looking at the ancient Hebrew compared to our modern English, or even the koine Greek, the depth of understanding that comes from it is remarkable.  There is a clearer, more vivid image in the Paleo-Hebrew language than what we can understand from our own.

Here is a good site to check out:

AncientHebrew.org
AncientHebrewAlphabet
AncientHebrewAlphabet Downloadable Chart

Hebrew apparently derived from one of Shem's descendents, Eber (Genesis 10).

Yahuweh/Yahuveh/Yahweh/Yahuah

The name of our Creator is not "God" nor "Lord".  Those are simply titles.  Our Rock and Shield actually has a name!  His name is what most scholars have agreed upon as "Yahweh", most likely pronounced Yahuweh, or possibly Yahuah.  In the Hebrew the letters Yod Hay Waw Hay or Yod Hay Vav Hay (the latter being a later concept) spell His name.  It means the One who is, or the self existent one - He exists.  When Yahuweh spoke to Moses and told him that He is "I AM that I AM", He was saying that He is the One who will be, the eternal self existent One.
Translators of most English written bibles have rendered the name of our Creator as "the LORD" throughout the "Old Testament" (which the writers of the New Testament simply referred to as 'Scripture').  This comes from the Jewish tradition that says Yahweh's name is too sacred to say or write so they began pronouncing and writing "Adonai" which means 'Lord'. 

"Yahweh, the God of the Israelites, his name being revealed to Moses as four Hebrew CONSONANTS (YHWH) CALLED THE TETRAGRAMMATON. AFTER THE EXILE (6TH CENTURY BC), and especially from the 3rd century BC on, Jews ceased to use the name Yahweh for two reasons. As Judaism became a universal religion through its proselytizing in the Greco-Roman world, the more common noun elohim, meaning "god," tended to replace Yahweh to demonstrate the universal sovereignty of Israel's God over all others. At the same time, the divine name was increasingly regarded as too sacred to be uttered; it was thus replaced vocally in the synagogue ritual by the Hebrew word Adonai ("My Lord"), which was translated as Kyrios ("Lord") in the Septuagint, the Greek version of the Old Testament."
- Encyclopedia Britannica

"The LORD" is not His name but rather a title.  It is not an accurate rendering of His name by any means.  Obviously He is referred to quite often with titles but the issue is that of adding to or taking away from His Word, which He clearly commands not to be done (Deuteronomy 12:32; Revelation 22:18-19).   By purposely replacing our Creator's name with that of a title the scribes were taking away from His Word (removing His name) and adding to it (substituting "LORD" in it's place).  The hiding of His name came out of the Babylonian captivity which also brought forth other doctrines and issues that do not rightly reflect the truth of our heavenly Father.  Our Creator gave His name throughout the Tenakh (the "Old Testament") nearly 6,800 times!  I'd say He didn't have a problem with His name being written, read, or spoken.  He did not conceal it behind any other term and made it very clear who HE was/is to His people."
  
YHWH, or YHVH, as we often see it is usually referred to as the tetragrammaton, which is a Greek word meaning "four letters".  Much confusion surrounds whether the third letter is pronounced like our W or like a V or possibly a U sound (as in oo).  Pronounced as "Yah-oo-way" or "Yah-oo-wah".  The thought seems to be that saying His name is like breathing.  That would be fitting since He is the One who breathes life.
There are countless discussions about how to pronounce His name because in ancient Hebrew there were no written vowel points, only consonants.  The vowel pointing was not added until during the Middle Ages, which would make it difficult to pinpoint exactly how to pronounce His name.  Without "Moses' tape recorder" we may never know how to precisely pronounce our heavenly Father's name.  Though knowing how to say His name exactly isn't the point a desire to know more about His is.  And not only that but His name is spoken of highly throughout His word and testifies of who He is and what He does.  His name is not to be taken lightly nor cast aside for use of a title, but rather spoken to the best of our ability to distinguish who our Creator is from all other entities.  Of course, knowing His name is only a part of knowing Him, as His nature and essence speak just as loudly of His majesty.

                Below is a very good and short teaching on the possible pronunciation of His name.

Throughout this site I write His name as "Yahweh" since at this point it is the most agreed upon spelling.  Each person that is seeking to know His name may be in a different place as far as the pronunciation.
I do not have a perfect understanding of how to pronounce my Creator's name but am only trying to declare it as accurately
as I know how at this time to hopefully bring honor and esteem to Him.

Yahushua or Yahshua

Yahushua, or possibly just Yahshua, is likely the given name of our Messiah.  The name literally means, 'Yahweh is salvation' or 'Yahweh saves'.  In the Strong's concordance it is #H3091 "Yehoshua" which, in English, is the name Joshua.   Some point to the word yeshua as His name, which is the shortened form of Yehoshua.  The word simply means 'salvation' and was most likely brought about as the name of our Messiah as a result of the Jews beginning to speak the name of Yahweh less and less.  If you pay attention you'll even notice at times the word 'yeshua', in reference to the Messiah, written as Y'shua.  This is similar to people writing God as G-d or the use of 'HaShem', which simply means "the Name", instead of using Yahweh.  
Many argue that the name 'Yahshua' or 'Yahushua' would not be Jesus' real name because it is a word not found in any of the Hebrew Scriptures.  That is why 'YEHoshua' is the accepted term and not 'YAHoshua'.  While it is true that we cannot find the name 'YAHoshua' in the Scriptures we do find all others containing the Father's name written, and thus pronounced, with the 'YAH' lettering rather than 'YEH'.
For example: YeshaYAHu (Isaiah), YermiYAHu (Jeremiah), ZekarYAH (Zechariah), TsephanYAH (Zephaniah), EliYAHu (Elijah), and others.  Not once do we see transliterated a name with the YEH but rather the YAH sound.  Seeing as how the Son came in His Father's name (John 5:43), that the Father and the Son are both Savior (Isaiah 43:11; Hoshea 13:4; Luke 2:11; John 4:42; Acts 5:31), that the Son came teaching the Father's will (John 7:16), and that they are both one (John 10:30), it stands to reason that the Son's name would accurately and distinctly portray and represent the Father's name.  Perhaps Yahweh is pronounced Yehweh.  Whether it is YAHweh and YAHshua or YEHweh and YEHushua we do not know, but their names are important in considering that the Son did not come to annul or change what the Father had already established.

A False Messiah
Maybe more shocking than anything is to find out what "Jesus" really means.  The Greek word that the English name 'Jesus' is derived from is #G2424 in the Strong's concordance which is "Iesous".  How did the translators arrive at Iesous from Yehoshua? 
When the New Testament was translated in the Greek many words were Hellenized, meaning they were not always preserved from their Hebrew origin.  If you look in the King James Version you will see this in some names like Isaiah or Elijah. 
Respectively the Greek versions were Isaias and Helias.  Helias?  From Elijah?  Yes.  However, later translators restored the names from the Hebrew rather than keeping the Hellenized versions...that is to say, all of them except for Messiah's name.   Almost every translator has kept the Greek name of Iesous in place instead of Yahushua.  Why?  Well, I can only speculate as to why they decided to do that, but the fact remains they did.  Some propose that those speaking the common Greek language would've accepted the name Iesous for the Savior much more easily than Yahushua/Yehoshua which would have been nearly unpronounceable to many.  We know the devil will do all he can to bring praise to himself instead of the Most High and interestingly enough 'satan' has been transliterated as 'satan' in every form of the Scriptures.
"Iesous" derives from the name of a Greek goddess of healing, Ieso, (Iaso).  Ieso is from the Ionic dialect of the Greeks while Iaso is the usual form.

From an article by scholar Hans Lamer:
    "next to Ieso man shaped a proper masculine Iesous.  This was even more welcome to the Greeks who converted to Christianity.
     If the above is true, then the name of our Lord which we commonly use goes back to a long lost form of the name of a Greek
     goddess of healing.  But to Greeks who venerated a healing goddess Ieso, a saviour Iesous must have been most acceptable.  The
     Hellenization was thus rather clever."
        - Philologische Wochenschrift, No. 25, 21 June 1930, pp. 763-765

Ruach HaKodesh

The Pure, set apart Spirit.  Ruach = Spirit; Kodesh = Pure; Set-Apart.  Why not just say the 'Holy' Spirit?  "Holy" is a word pagan in origin (see below).  The actual meaning we've come to associate with "holy" is to be "set-apart" or "pure". 
Ruach HaKodesh - He is our Teacher, our Guide, our reminder of the Torah. 
By Him we are born again from above. 
By Him we are sealed until the day of judgment.  
By Him we are given revelation, prophecy, tongues, and other gifts.
It is by Him that we bear fruit unto righteousness.
It is blasphemy of Him that utterly proves our separation from YHVH.

Throughout this site you will read both "Kodesh" and "Pure" or "Set-Apart" in relating to the Spirit, rather than the word "holy".

Elohim

"God", as we often refer to our Creator, is actually a word of pagan origin also.  In Joshua 11:17, 12:7, and 13:5 we read of
Ba'al-Gad (pronounced Ba'al-Gawd, or God).  We spell it differently but it is pronounced the same.  This Ba'al-Gad was a false deity of that land in which Joshua led the Israelites to battle.
The word god, used to translate the Hebrew word "elohim", or the singular el,  means "mighty one".   Though Yahweh is
the Mighty One of all His name is not "God".

    "GOD - the common Teutonic word for a personal object of religious worship ... applied to all those superhuman beings of the                      heathen mythologies. The word 'god' on the conversion of the Teutonic races to Christianity was adopted as the name  
                 of the one Supreme Being ...."  
                        -The Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th edition

Other encyclopedias echo this same fact.

Our English word "God", pronounced the same as Gad is in the Hebrew, comes from the old German word 'Gott'.  Gott means "libation" or "offering" and refers to "that which is libated upon; an idol".  Also related to the Sanskrit 'brahman' - "that which is invoked". Gad is actually pronounced "gawd" (god) and was not only the name of one of the sons of Jacob but also of a deity of fortune. 
Leah named her son Gad in declaring,"a troop (or fortune) comes". Genesis 30:11 

h1408. גַּד g̱aḏ; a variation of 1409; Fortune, a Babylonian deity: — that troop.AV (1) - non translated variant 1; Gad = "god of fortune"a Babylonian deity

h1409. גָּד g̱âḏ; from 1464 (in the sense of distributing); fortune: — troop.AV (2) - troop 2;fortune, good fortune

h1410. גָּד g̱âḏ; from 1464; Gad, a son of Jacob, including his tribe and its territory; also a prophet: — Gad.AV (70) - Gad 70; Gad = "troop"

Through Isaiah, Yahweh said,"But you are those who forsake Yahweh,Who forget my set apart mountain,Who prepare a table for Gad anda drink offering for Meni."- Isaiah 65:11

Meni was the deity of fate. It's worth considering what Isaiah was pointing out with what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 10:14-22. 
A city called Baal-Gad was mentioned in Joshua.  BaalGad means "lord of fortune"A city noted for Baal worship. Joshua 11:17; 13:5
So the word God actually stems from the idea of fortune, or luck, as well as invoking a spirit rather than it meaning what the Hebrew word Elohim means, which is "Mighty One" or in the case of Yahweh, "the Mighty One" or "Mightiest of the mighty".  The word Elohim has a "King of kings and Lord of lords" type of idea to it.

Though most often used in a generic sense of a mighty one, the word "god" is best left unsaid for the sole reason that it is the name of a pagan mighty one.

"Holy"

As mentioned previously, the word "holy" is pagan in its beginnings.  The Hebrew word 'kodesh' is what translators often render as 'holy'.  'Kodesh' means to be set apart or dedicated to something.  This can be used in both a good sense (ie. the Pure Spirit of Elohim) or in an evil sense (ie. Isaiah 66:17 where the people set themselves apart for their idols).   Therefore, kodesh is not limited to something dedicated to righteousness in its application. 

"Holy" comes from worship of the sun since antiquity.  

    "HOLY: In practically all languages, the word for holy has been derived from the divinely honored sun."
            - G. Jobes, Dictionary of Mythology Folklore and Symbols, p. 781

In Strong's Concordance, in the Greek Lexicon No. 1506, we read: "heile (the sun's ray)".  The word heile is nearly identical to the
German and Dutch equivalent (heilig) of the English "holy".  Heilig is derived from Heil.
In Bell's New Pantheon we find that Heil was a Saxon idol.  The Saxons were a people who lived primarily in the Northern Germanic regions.  Later many of them migrated to Great Britain during the Middle Ages.   The traditions of man has simply traveled from one area to another throughout time.

There are undoubtedly many other words and terms that we as believers in, and representatives of, the one true Mighty Creator of heaven and earth should not be uttering, but we must remember this:  none of us are perfect nor have all knowledge.  Our desire should be to seek His truth as we journey toward the end of this life.  We are to walk in love with one another and most of all in love for Him.  Looking at how HE defines love will guide us along on this walk very well. 

"By this we know that we love the children of Elohim,
 when we love Elohim and keep His commandments.
 For this is the love of Elohim, that we keep His
 commandments.  And His commandments
 are not burdensome"
 - 1 John 5:2-3

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