Let us read several Scripture verses, keeping in mind that where the English Bible translations say "the LORD", it is supposed to read "YAHWEH". Exod. 3:15 "And the Almighty said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, YAHWEH, the Almighty of your fathers...hath sent me unto you: this is my Name forever, and my memorial to all generations. (KJV) Psa. 68:4 "Sing unto the Almighty; SING PRAISES TO HIS NAME: extol Him that rides on the heavens by his Name, YAH, and rejoice before Him.." (KJV)

Listen to what Messiah Himself says in John 17:6,26. "I HAVE REVEALED YOUR NAME to the men you gave me out of the world..... And I have MADE YOUR NAME KNOWN to them, and shall make it known...."

But –some may say– is there anything wrong with calling YAHWEH the titles "LORD" and "GOD / God"? Let’s see what YAHWEH says about it. Exod. 23:13 "In all that I have said to you be circumspect and make no mention of the names of false deities, neither let them be heard from your mouth." How does this relate to calling YAHWEH "the LORD", etc.? While the Name Yahweh is "the proper Name of the [Almighty]..... the Self-Existent or Eternal... the One who exists and/or causes existence." (Strong’s Concordance), LORD is defined very differently – "BAAL = ‘LORD’, supreme male divinity of the Phoenicians or Canaanites." (Brown Driver/Briggs Hebrew Lexicon, #01168) Jeremiah 23:26 "How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? Yea, they are prophets of the deceit of their own hearts; 27. Which think to cause my people to forget my Name.....as their fathers have FORGOTTEN MY NAME FOR BAAL (The Lord).

What about the title, "GOD / God"? Isaiah 65:11 says, They forsake YAHWEH; they forget my set-apart mountain and prepare a table for GOD. "God (god) [is a] Common Teutonic word for personal object of religious worship, formerly applicable to super-human beings of heathen myth; on conversion of Teutonic races to Christianity, term was applied to Supreme Being." – Encyclopedia Americana

Regarding the terms "Lord" and "God", here is something very insightful. The Hebrew equivalent to "Lord God" does appear three times in the book of Joshua. In Hebrew it is "Baal-Gawd", and is the name of a Syrian town noted for Baal worship. The BDB Lexicon defines the name of the town as "baal-gad, lord of fortune" while Strong’s says: "Baal Gad, lord of good luck" (Heb. #1171); luck being a derivative of lucifer. I think we ought to conclude that our Heavenly Father should not be referred to as "LORD God", but rather, as Yahweh, which is His pure and meaningful Name. Now we will take some time to consider the Messiah, Yahweh’s Son.

"And what is HIS SON’S NAME, if you know it?" (Prov 30:4) What is our Savior’s Name? From our study on YAHWEH’S Name, we know that we should not call our Savior "the Lord Jesus Christ", because "Lord" is not a pure word. But what about "Jesus Christ" – is that Messiah’s Name? Exod. 23:20,21 says, "See, I am sending My Messenger before you to guard you in the way..... Do not rebel against Him, because My Name is in Him." The Messiah said, "The works I do IN MY FATHER’S NAME, they bear witness concerning Me" (John 10:25). In these verses, we see that YAHWEH’s Name is part of the Name of the Messiah. It must be, for Scripture says that "the Almighty has highly exalted Him and given Him THE NAME WHICH IS ABOVE EVERY NAME (Phil. 2:9), and Yahweh says, I am YAHWEH, that is My Name, and My esteem I do not give to another" (Isa. 42:8). Do we see the Name YAHWEH in "Jesus" anywhere? No. So if "Jesus" is not our Savior’s Name, then what is it? Scripture says His Name is YAHSHUA or YAHWEHSHUA. Why is this His Name?

1. This Name has YAHWEH’s Name in it. YAHSHUA is composed of two Hebrew words: Yahu, meaning "He is Yahweh (the Eternal)" (Heb. #3058) and Shua or Hoshea, which means "salvation", "prosperity", or "savior" (Heb. #1954 and # 7770). When combined together, they form the name YAHSHUA or YAHUSHUA, the prophesied Name of the Messiah. Matt. 1:21 "She will bear a son, and you shall call His Name YAHSHUA (Savior YAH), for He will save His people from their sins." The name, Jesus, does not mean "Savior Yah" and was not the Savior’s Name. Yahshua was replaced with Jesus when the Gospels were translated into Greek.

2. YAHSHUA is the salvation of YAHWEH and the Savior YAH, for YAHWEH says, "I am Yahweh, and besides Me there is no Savior" (Isa. 43:11), and YAHSHUA says, "I and the Father are One." (Jn. 10:30) Scripture also tells us that "at the Name of YAHSHUA every knee should bow, of those in heaven and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and every tongue should confess that YAHSHUA Messiah is YAHWEH, to the esteem of the Almighty Father." (Phil. 2:10-11, Aramaic Peshitta)

3. Yahshua is referred to as "the Branch" in Isaiah 11:1 and Jeremiah 33:15-16. Listen to what Zechariah says about "the Branch". Zech. 3:1,8 And he showed me Joshua (Yahshua, in Hebrew), the high priest, standing before the Messenger of YAHWEH, and satan standing at his right hand to be an adversary to Him.... Now listen, Joshua (Yahshua) the high priest, you and your companions who sit before you: for THEY ARE MEN OF SYMBOL or TYPE.. For look! I am bringing forth my servant, the BRANCH. Clearly we see that the high priest, Joshua (Yahshua), was a symbol and shadowing of the Messiah to come. Keeping this in mind, read Zech. 6:12,13, where the Messiah’s Name is prophesied. Thus said YAHWEH of Hosts, saying, "See the Man whose name is The BRANCH! And from His place He shall branch out, and He shall build the Temple of YAHWEH." It is He who is going to build the Temple of YAHWEH. It is He who is going to bear the splendor, and He shall sit and rule on His throne, and shall be a Priest on His throne, and the counsel of peace shall be between them both. So the Scripture is saying, "Look at the man (Joshua / Yahshua) whose NAME is the BRANCH!". The high priest, Joshua / Yahshua, had the name of the "BRANCH" or coming Messiah!

4. The student of Scripture may readily ascertain that the Name of the Messiah is YAHSHUA, a.k.a. Joshua, through casual reading of the ‘New Testament’ alone. Twice in these writings is Joshua, the successor to Moses, mistakenly called "Jesus" in the KJV translation instead. Acts 7:44 Our fathers had the tabernacles of witness in the wilderness, as He had appointed, speaking unto Moses, that he should make it according to the fashion that he had seen. 45. Which also our fathers that came after brought in with Jesus [sic] (referring to Joshua, son of Nun) into the possession of the Gentiles, whom [the Almighty] drave out before the face of our fathers, unto the days of David. KJV Hebrews 4:8. For if Jesus [sic] had given them rest (Referring to Joshua 22:4, and allegorically to the Messiah, who has the same Hebrew Name as Joshua), he would not have afterward spoken of another day. 9. There remaineth therefore a rest (Heb, "Sabbath keeping") for the people of [the Almighty]. KJV

Let us now look at some simple reasons why the name "Jesus" cannot be the Messiah’s Name.

1. New King James Version Bible: "It is true that many names beginning with ‘Y’ seem odd to our culture [but] all the names [beginning with ‘J’] in English -- including Jesus -- were pronounced with a ‘Y’ sound, in the original." Thus we see that Jesus could not ever have been the Messiah’s original name, for at the time of His coming to earth, the J was non-existent. Encyclopedia Americana: "The form of ‘J’ was unknown in any alphabet until the 14th century." In fact, the letter J was rarely used even in the 1611 edition of the King James Version, but rather the letter I was used. (e.g. Ioshua, rather than Joshua)

2. Just as the titles "Lord" and "God" have pagan origin, so does the name "Jesus". Dictionary of Christian Lore & Legend, J.C.J. Metford, pg. 126 – "It is known that the Greek name endings of sus, seus, and sous (which are phonetic pronunciations for Zeus) were attached by the Greeks to names and geographical areas as a means to give honor to their supreme deity, Zeus (the sun god). Examples are Parnassus, a sacred mountain in Greece; [also Tarsus, meaning ‘sweat of Zeus’ ‘]; the Greek deity of wine and son of Zeus, Dionysus; the Greek hero of the Trojan War was Odysseus,[and] the Greek deity of healing was Ieusus (which is a variant spelling of Iesous / Iesus / Jesus). They also changed the names of the prophets EliYahu [Elijah] (whose name means, ‘My Mighty One Is Yah’) and Elyeshua [Elisha] (whose name means ‘My Mighty One Saves’) to ‘Elias’ and Eliseus’ (which means, ‘My Mighty One is Zeus’)." Fossilized Customs, Lew White, pg. 18 – "How can we explain the Spanish ‘Hey-Zeus’? Even the name ‘Yosef’ was corrupted to ‘Joseph’, then Giuseppe; but they didn’t tack the name Zeus on it. As a syncretism [though], the Greeks had to hear ‘Zeus’ in the [Messiah’s] name!"

Truly, the majority does not want to accept the Savior who comes in Yahweh’s Name (i.e. Yahshua), but rather, they flock after a corruption of this Savior (i.e. Jesus). Yahshua Himself said, "I have come in My Father’s Name and you do not receive Me. If another comes in his own name, him you would receive." (John 5:43)

We can see that we ought not to call our Messiah "the Lord Jesus", but what about "Christ"? Is it acceptable to use the title "Christ" interchangeably with the title "Messiah"? No. It seems that the devil has taken every word that applies to Yahweh or Yahshua, and counterfeited it with a pagan word, and the adoption of "Christ" in place of "Messiah" is no exception. Messiah Not Christ, Faith Bible And Tract Society – "The Greeks could have used the Grecian form of [Messiah]..... if they had so wished, but they preferred to use a substitute name for the Savior, and so they adopted the Greek form of the ancient Hindu savior, Chrisna (Krisna), and called the Hebrew Savior ‘Christos’. ...... Christ comes from the Greek ‘Krishma’ (Chrishma) having the meaning to anoint (but not in the sacred sense – reader take note), and closely resembles Krishna of the Sanscrit.... To tell whether a stream is pure one must trace it to its fountain source, and so we place the word Christ to this test; and, in so doing, find that the origin of Christ is derived in Sun-worship, Baalism of old. Thus we find the word, as traced back into antiquity: CHRIST (English), CHRISTUS (Latin), CHRISTOS (Greek), CHRISHNA (Krisna, Sanscrit, Hindu), KRIS (the Sun). — Christ then comes from Chrisna, the Hindu Sun-god messiah, named after the orb he represented, that is, Kris, the Sun. AWAY WITH SUN-GOD WORSHIP, FOR WE HEAR THE PROPHET CRYING OUT AGAINST THIS HEATHEN SIN. Yahweh said unto Ezekiel, ‘O son of man, hast thou seen this? Turn ye yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations than these. And He brought me into the inner court of Yahweh’s house, and behold, at the door of the temple of Yahweh, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men, with their backs toward the temple of Yahweh, and their faces toward the east; and they worshiped the sun toward the east.’ — Ezek. 8:16. See Jer. 8:2."

Before we close this study, let’s look at a few words that Yahweh has to say about the things we have been discovering.

Psa. 68:4 "Sing unto the Almighty; SING PRAISES TO HIS NAME: extol Him that rideth upon the heavens by his Name YAH, and rejoice before Him.." (KJV)

Exod. 23:13 "Make no mention of the name of other gods, neither let it be heard out of thy mouth."

Matt. 15:3 "But [Messiah] answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of the Almighty by your tradition?..... 6. Thus have ye made the commandment of the Almighty of none effect by your tradition." KJV

Prov. 30:4^b "....What is His Name, and what is His Son’s Name, if you know it? 5. Every word of the Almighty is tried; He is a shield to those taking refuge in Him. 6. Do not add to His Words, lest He reprove you, and you be found a liar."

Rev. 22:18 "For I witness to everyone hearing the words of.....this book: If anyone adds to them, the Almighty shall add to him the plagues that are written in this book, 19. and if anyone takes away from the words of this book....the Almighty shall take away his part from the Book of Life, and out of the set-apart city, which are written in this book."

Matt. 7:22 " MANY shall say to Me (Yahshua) in that day, ‘Lord, Lord (Baal, Baal), have we not PROPHESIED in Your Name, and cast out demons in Your Name, and done many mighty works in Your Name?’ And then I shall declare to them, ‘I never knew you, depart from Me, you who work LAWLESSNESS.’ "

Hosea 2:16. "And it shall be, in that day", declares YAHWEH, "that you shall call Me ‘Ishi’ (my Husband), and no longer ‘Baali’ (my Lord). 17. And I shall remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by their name...... 23. ....and I shall say to those who were not My people, ‘You are My people,’ while they say, ‘My Mighty One (Almighty)’."

As we have seen, we should not use the commonly accepted titles (Lord, etc.) as references to our Heavenly King and Savior. These titles are clearly not the originals, and moreover, they originate in very undesirable places. Let us then climb one step higher, and call on our Father and His Son, using their proper Names. Let us give our Heavenly King the esteem, for truly He has done great things, and is worthy to be praised.

Acts 2:38 [Therefore], repent and be baptized, every one of you in the Name of YAHSHUA Messiah, for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the set-apart Spirit. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, as many as Yahweh the Almighty shall call.

Mark 16:16. [For] he who believes and has been immersed, shall be saved, but he who does not believe shall be condemned.