PROBING QUESTIONS REGARDING THE SACRED NAMES DOCTRINE

Here is a test for people who insist on the Sacred Name Doctrine as a basis for fellowship and/or salvation:

1. Isaiah 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

QUESTION: Was it evil for the prophet to say “Immanuel”?

2. QUESTION: If the Jews were evil for hiding the name of God, why didn’t Jesus rebuke them?

3. QUESTION: Why did not Jesus or the apostles teach the proper use of the sacred names?

4. QUESTION: In Acts 19, the sons of Sceva, invoked a name for power as an occultic principle. How is that different from the sacred name doctrine?

5. QUESTION: Did Paul write in a language his readers could not understand? (Aramaic)? Paul knew the name of his Savior. (Jesus Told him.) Acts 9:5 And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, "I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks." Paul knew Greek. He was born in Tarsus a Greek city. "And as Paul was to be led into the castle, he said unto the chief captain, May I speak unto thee? Who said, Canst thou speak Greek? … But Paul said, I am a man which am a Jew of Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city: and, I beseech thee, suffer me to speak unto the people." Acts 21 :37-39

6. QUESTION: Jesus is the abbreviated form of Jehoshua. (So is “Yah”) Is it wrong to abbreviate? The contraction was understood by Greek readers.

7. QUESTION: If we abandon the Greek scriptures, what is left? The Aramaic? It uses the name Jesus, not the Hebrew name. Surely you wouldn’t say that the Aramaic was translated from Greek --or would you?

8. QUESTION: Should we believe that God could not protect His Bible from being stripped of the “sacred names?

9. QUESTION: If the names of Pagan deities should not be used what are we to do with the word “Elohim” which is used over 200 times to designate false gods - Baal, Chemosh Dagon, Milcon etc?

10. QUESTION: Anything worshiped is a “God” in English. Anything worshiped is an “Elohim” in Hebrew. Why is the title “God” wrong and “Elohim” permitted?

To use Yeshua in place of Jesus is not translating the scriptures in a faithful manner. It is simply substituting in an arbitrary manner. We believe in a person, not a name. I would ask the person who now uses the “sacred names” these questions:

QUESTION: When you called upon the name of Jesus to save you, were you talking to someone different from the person you now worship under the name of Yeshua?

ANWER: Your answer must be “No”.

QUESTION: Did your Saviour respond to the name of Jesus?

ANSWER: The answer of course, “Yes” or you would not be a Christian today.

QUESTION: When you prayed our Father who art in heaven, did God respond?

ANSWER: Again your answer must be “Yes”. The Eternal One and His Son want us to call upon them. They are not concerned with what name we use. After all, they know who they are!

QUESTION: If the word “name” always refers to the personal name, then when we are told to “baptize in the NAME of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit” what is the name of the Holy Spirit?

Friends, now is the time for us to get serious about our relationship with the Father. The real Messiah is going to hold us accountable for how we treat and serve his brethren.

Those of you who are tempted to arbitrarily reject people on the basis of phonetics had better read Matthew 25:31-46. Your soul is the one that is in peril. You will be sent into everlasting punishment, If you refuse to serve even the least of Christ’s brethren.

Maranatha, The Lord is coming. Let each of us be found faithful in his place of duty.

Harold Kupp