UPDATE: 8/7/20 – The use of sacred names for God (Yahweh, Yahashua…) has become so prevalent that I’ve actually been accused of heresy for looking into the origins of the Tetragrammaton. But the more I looked into it, the more strongly I became convicted about this and I am standing my ground. Think about it; why would there be such an effort to obscure/convolute the ONLY name God ever gave us to call upon? Precisely because of the POWER availed us in the NAME OF JESUS (meaning the heart-cry, not a particular pronunciation). We need that power today more than at any other time in history.
*Although Roger Hathaway’s article (excerpted below) is correct in other regards, it seems that the Tetragrammaton did appear in manuscripts before the Masoretic text of 1000AD (Hathaway argued that it did not). That, however, does not resolve the many issues surrounding the symbol. I did some more research into the origins of the Tetragrammaton and found out more about its questionable history.
March 8, 2020 – Yvonne Nachtigal
There’s a new trend among Christians, conspicuously coinciding with the rise of the Hebrew Roots Movement and dramatic rise in the Judaizing of Christianity, to no longer be content to simply call upon “God.” Instead, it’s become popular to refer to Him by “Sacred Names” like “Yahweh” or “Yah,”derived from the Tetragrammaton (YHWH) which is revered by kabbalist rabbis who use it for its esoteric, deeper meanings. Our Savior is being called by His supposed Hebrew name, “Yahashua.” But “Yahshua” or “Yahushua” has not ever been a Hebrew names. (Jesus in Hebrew is Yeshua (ישוע – yēšūă‘).) These were contrived to include the “Yah” from the Tetragrammaton into the name of Jesus: the only formal name ever given to us for God.
According to the scholarly journal article YHWH, the Origin of the Tetragrammaton published in Vetus Testamentum, the origins of the Tetragrammaton itself are less than clear.
“The position we have established concerning YHWH is not what one would expect of a Sacred Name:
1. It is not ancient.
2. It is not pronounced but when it occurs in the MT [Masoretic Text] there is usually another divine designation beside it which is pronounced.
3. It may be meaningless, being derived from no known single root.
4. It largely ceased to be used in later literature.”
The journal article goes on to say that the Tetragrammaton was not used by the Hebrews in captivity in Egypt, that its use in various OT books was inconsistent and it also cites its associations with various pagan gods.
According to the CARM.org article “Was the name Jehovah Removed from the New Testament? Old Testament Manuscripts?” the name YHWH is absent entirely in the vast majority of Septuagint (OT) manuscripts, with the word “Lord” found in its place.
“It is incorrect to think that all [OT] manuscripts in Jesus day used the divine name. Some did, others did not. Later copies that use the word “Lord” do not prove some radical change in the way scribes copied the text, they simply show that the copies that Christians had access to and were reproducing were the Greek copies that used the word “Lord” in place of ‘YHWH.’ … the New Testament was written using the word “Lord” [and] never contained the word YHWH…”
As with all things HRM, this is another example of adhering to the Old Testament rather than of the New Covenant established in Christ. That may actually be all that needs to be said on the subject.
But in addition to these problems, there is the troubling fact that occult holds the Tetragrammaton as the most powerful of symbols. According to the article “The Tetragrammaton is the Key to Occult Theogony” published in the occult journal, The Theosophist,
“The four letters of the Tetragrammaton is a mere mask concealing metaphysically its connection with, and relation to, the supernal and the inferior worlds.” (The Theosophist, Vol. IX, No. 98, November 1887, pp. 104-16)
The website gnosticteachings.org calls it a “Magic work or Greek ‘mantra.” stating that,
“The mysterious Tetragrammaton. τετραγράμματον is a Greek word that addresses the four Hebrew letters יהוה which according to Kabbalah spell the name of the Divinity. The website explains that the Zohar of the Kabbalah are the root of The Holy Bible, the Torah, and the Tanakh.”
In complete contrast to God giving man a Sacred Name to call Him by, when Moses asked Him what His name was, He simply answered that, “I Am.”
“God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM.’ And he said, ‘Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” (Exodus 3:14)
According to the journal article cited above, the Tetragrammaton was originally put in place to reflect that meaning; “I am (YH) what I am (Hu)”. Using the Tetragrammaton to derive sacred formal names for God instead of referring to Him as He told to Moses to (“I Am”) is to look at scripture for esoteric “deeper” interpretations as the kabbalist rabbis do.
We might also consider that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel would have had no need to use a personal name to distinguish Himself from any peers because He had no peers! In saying, “I Am,” he indicated that He is to be identified with all existence, the only name He ever gave us to call him by was “JESUS!”
“Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.” (John 17:11)
Focusing on how we pronounce the name at which every knee will bow and every tongue confess (Philippians 2:10), is to shift our focus from faith in HIM and WHO HE IS to a magical one. I don’t care what language you speak, when you cry out to Jesus, He knows exactly who you are talking to!
“…man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart!” (1 Samuel 16:7)
The reason this is vitally important is that believers by the millions are being drawn away from the POWERFUL name of JESUS with these physicalized, mystical, rabbinic invocations. It’s reminding me of how the Hebrews kept insisting on an earthly king. It is evident that they also desired an earthly name.
Consider the power in the mighty name of JESUS! “Alien” abduction experiences STOP INSTANTLY when abductees simply say “JESUS!” – Demons flee in His name! – There is no other name under heaven by which men will be saved! In this day of unparalleled deception, doesn’t it make sense that the enemy would want to divert people’s attention away from His mighty name? I’m convinced this is precisely what this “sacred name” craze is about.
Original article: from February 18, 2019
The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel never used any personal name to distinguish Him from any peers because He had no peers. Therefore, no personal name was ever needed. The only name God ever gave for Himself was “I am,” which indicated that He is to be identified with all existence.
It is likely that the name YHWH was used by Edom, along with Syria and Moab and perhaps some other close neighbors.
The Greek Septuagint Old Testament of 285 BC never used any sacred name for God, nor was such ever mentioned by other ancient writers such as the Israelite historians, Philo, and Josephus, or the later Eusebius, or even the Jewish Aristeas the Exegete who wrote his commentary on the Greek Septuagint. The word did not appear in any Old Testament text until the Masoretic Text of 1000AD!
We’re taught in church that the Tetragrammaton is the four letters the Hebrews used for God. We’re told it was considered by the Hebrews to be the “most holy” name for God. The Tetragrammaton (YHWH) looks like this:
Bible translators interpret it as “Yahweh”, “Jehovah”… (The Y and J distinction being important with HR followers) Explaining that there are no vowels in the tetragrammaton, so they are added in order to pronounce God’s name.
Something deep in my spirit shrinks back every I hear the names “Yahweh”, “Yah”, “Jehovah”.. etc… Maybe you’ve experienced the same thing. It seems wrong in light of the spirit of God’s answer when Moses he asked God what his name was.
“13 And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them?
14 And God said unto Moses, I Am That I Am: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I Am hath sent me unto you.
15 And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, the Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.” Exodus 3:
It also seems wrong because of the occult’s preoccupation with sacred names and the physicalizing of spiritual truth.
So, where did “Jehovah” or “Yahweh” come into the picture?
According to My Jewish Learning.com
“The Tetragrammaton, referred to in rabbinic literature as HaShem (The Name) or Shem Hameforash (The Special Name), is the word used to refer to the four-letter word, yud-hey-vav-hey (יהוה), that is the name for God used in the Hebrew Bible.
The name, which some people pronounce as Yahweh and others (mostly Christians) as Jehovah, appears 5,410 times in the Bible (1,419 of those in the Torah).
The four letters of the Tetragrammaton form the root meaning “to be,” and some have understood the original meaning to be “He-Who-Is,” or “He who brings being into being.”
[OK, that much would coincide with what God said to Moses “I am that I am,” but, wait, here’s where it starts to become slippery…]
“The origin of the taboo on pronouncing God’s name aloud — viewing this as irreverent or possibly even a violation of the commandment not to take God’s name in vain — is not entirely clear. However, some attribute it to a Temple practice in which only the High Priest was allowed to utter the name, and only when in the Temple and reciting the priestly blessing. In the Mishnah (in Sanhedrin 10:1), as Rabbi Louis Jacobs notes in The Jewish Religion, the sage Abba Saul declares that one who pronounces the divine name with its letters (i.e. as it is spelled) has no share in the World to Come.
[Wait a minute! Now we are no longer talking about biblical truth, we are talking about the oral law of the rabbis, as expressed in the Talmud!]
The article continues:
“Some Jews and non-Jews have suggested that the name itself has magical power, an idea that Maimonides dismissed but that is embraced in some Kabbalistic (Jewish mystical) texts.”
Confusing, right? Countless Christian Bible teachers, endorse the Tetragrammaton and it’s interpretation as Yahweh or Jehovah. Many of our Bibles interpret the Tetragrammaton in small caps as: “LORD”.
But something is not right.
Case and point, here are some occult images of the Tetragrammaton.
Have you got chills up your spine yet?
Here’s what occultists say about the Tetragrammaton.
Quote from Occult World:
“Tetragrammaton The most powerful and personal Hebrew name of God. The Tetragrammaton is used in Magic as one of ineffable nameS of power. “Tetragrammaton” means “four-letter name.”” OccultWorld.com
In Gnosticism :
” The tetragrammaton, YHVH, is the deity form of Eve, as the serpent promised In Hebrew, Eve or Eva is Chavah or chet vav heh. If you separate chet to make it look more like heh, you’re left with a yod. The pronunciation of YHVH was such a secret because the high priests knew, it sounded so much like Chavah from the account of Eden and the fact that she became a goddess like the serpent promised. Adam was the celestial fire and she was the celestial waters, forced to come down as Persephone. Now queen of the underworld, she is actually Mary and Hecate at the same time. The white and black virgins are what make up YHVH.”
Kabbalah:
“The Tetragrammaton is called in the Kabbalah by various names. It is IHVH, the Microprosopus, in distinction to AHIH, the Macroprosopus. It is the LESSER FACE, a reflection (tainted with matter or Malkuth, its bride, the mother earth) of the “Vaster,” rather “Limitless” Face; therefore he is the antithesis of Macroprosopus.
read more…
Kabbala is the root of the belief in “sacred names” that so many Christians and the HR are falling for.
Why is this extremely OCCULT symbol mentioned literally thousands of times in the Bible? The answer appears to lie in the introduction of the Masoretic Text roughly 1000 years ago. Prior to that, the Greek Septuagint Old Testament was the standard and it contains not one instance of the Tetragrammaton. It appears we have been played yet again.
In his article SACRED NAME OF GOD? or BLASPHEMY? – the late theologian, author & truth seeker Roger Hathaway writes,
“As legend has it, the sacred name of a deity is so powerful that the person who knows it then has the power to use that name to command the deity to grant his wishes. Of the fifty four sacred names in the Jewish kabbalah, the primary one is YHWH. For the Edomites who had taken over the Jerusalem Temple and its religion, YHWH was a deity they had long worshipped as a part of their Pagan religion.
Paganism was actually started by Cain, himself, and it stayed pretty much with the Cain race until spreading into Greece and Egypt and Italy. That Pagan mother-goddess religion was prevalent throughout the entire mid-east, each group having its own names for the deities. See my article on Paganism. It is likely that the name YHWH was used by Edom, along with Syria and Moab and perhaps some other close neighbors.
The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel never used any personal name to distinguish Him from any peers because He had no peers. Therefore, no personal name was ever needed. The only name He gave for Himself was “I am,” which indicated that He is to be identified with all existence.
The Greek Septuagint Old Testament of 285BC never used any sacred name for God, nor was such ever mentioned by other ancient writers such as the Israelite historians, Philo, and Josephus, or the later Eusebius, or even the Jewish Aristeas the Exegete who wrote his commentary on the Greek Septuagint. The word did not appear in any Old Testament text until the Masoretic Text of 1000AD!
From the viewpoint of modern theologians, it must first be understood that they all still accept the Masoretic Hebrew text of 1,000 AD as the true ancient language and Old Testament of our patriarchs. Since that Masoretic Text includes the four letter tetragrammeton, YHWH, over 6,000 times, theologians are forced to speculate that Moses must have put it in his Pentateuch. The Anchor Bible Dictionary, vol. 6, p. 1012, reads as follows:
“In terms of the biblical narrative, some suggest that Moses derived the name of Yahweh from the Egyptians, while others think Yahweh was a Midianite deity worshipped by the Kenite clan. Moses would have been introduced to this new deity when he married the daughter of Jethro…”
Certainly, Moses would have been acquainted with the Pagan religion of the Egyptians. But, even if the Pentateuch was actually written by Moses (which is not known for sure) in the 15th C. BC, he could not have written it in the Hebrew language which was not formed until the time of the Israelite captivities, from the 8th to 6th centuries BC, when the captive Israelites merged their native Phoenician language with the Aramaic of their captors.
Now, I ask you, who wants to raise his hand to claim that Moses adopted the name of a foreign deity as a substitute for “God” or “Lord.”
If we set aside the closed-minded obduracy of modern scholarship, we can see that Moses did not write any text in the modern Hebrew language because it did not exist at that time, nor was there any Hebrew alphabet or script. The oldest Old Testament text known is the Greek Septuagint of 285 BC, and the word does not appear in it one single time, or in any other ancient Israelite writing, with one exception which I will mention now.
The word YHWH never entered our Bible until nearly 1,000 AD when the Masoretic Text (MT) in Hebrew was completed and presented to the Roman Catholic church [no surprise] as the authentic original language and text of the Old Testament. The eastern half of Christendom at that time rejected the text as fraudulent and retained the Greek Septuagint of 285 BC, which they still use today.” read entire article
Oddly enough, Roger Hathaway is the only person I found on the internet who addresses this massive deception.
He concludes his article:
” So, the conclusion of this case is left to each person as an individual. If you feel attracted to call upon the Pagan god of the Edomites, you may have found your proper place in the eternal program. If you feel that the highest form of religion is to seek worldly wealth and to use techniques and rituals, then you might even feel drawn to the magic of Kabbalah. But, if you feel that your spiritual relationship with God is personal and intimate and something beyond rituals, worldly concerns and magic names, then you will probably feel more attracted to Jesus as your Lord. Jesus said, in the last chapter of His revelation to John, “Let the one who is unrighteous still be unrighteous, and the filthy one be filthy still, and let the righteous one do righteousness still, and let the holy one be holy still.” It is not my wish to convince anyone of anything; I merely present some information for your consideration. I offer nothing for sale and have no vested interest in whatever God might choose to do with my work. As I have been freely given, so do I give freely. You may consider what I say, or not. The matter is between you and your God, whichever one of them you choose.”
To read more about the true identity of YHWH, do a search for “Metatron” and “The lesser YHWH.”
This is more insidious indoctrination into the occult mystery schools. Pray for discernment in these evil days, brothers and sisters!
