Sacred Names Movement – Pluses and Minus

by Dan baxley

First The Warning

For any that want to get on high and make proclamations on behalf of the Living God please read the words of the Messiah, not my word, but His, and then ask yourself, ‘Is He possibly speaking of me?’ -- This is a question you must ask and ask it in all humbleness and meekness of spirit.

“Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophecy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ “ (Matthew 7:22) NIV

His words, not mine, His statement, not mine, not yours, “Many will say to me on that day”. Pleas notice it is the many, not the few, and that it is on “that day”, the context showing it is the day of His presence here on Earth – His return. Of course we should not read the rest of the quote:

“Then I will say to them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers” (Matthew 7:23) NIV

To me this is not only a warning but a prophetic statement as He is “plainly” speaking of the future. For this prophetic statement to be true there must be “many” that have knowledge of His true name just prior to His return and , mistakenly, assume they have the Key to entering the Kingdom. Imagine the jaws dropping as they attempt to proclaim, even to Him, the things they have done in His name.

My friends, having knowledge of His birth name (a name given to Mariam and Joseph from the Father, to give to the new born Messiah) is not the Key to Salvation this day or yesterday, our salvation is in the person of the Messiah and His names is certainly a part of that “personality”, and it is most definitely to only name “found among men by which we MUST be saved”, but, it is not the name that saves. His name has been used and abused, twisted, cut-up and rejected. The assault upon His “given” name boarders on demonic, as history proves, ultimately being replaced by a substitute name not even His. Under this substitute (false) name the blood of millions has been spilt. Millions of innocent people have perished under the false name “Jesus”, or Iesus, by the Latin Church. Yes, the name “Jesus” comes to us via Rome, not Greece, as so many assume. To the Christians, however, this should not be some strange thing as nearly all of the religious holydays (holidays) accepted by the Christian Churches originate from Pagan Rome – Rome adopted pagan celebrations injecting them into the newly formed Catholic Christian Church of Rome by simply renaming most of these festive celebrations with Christian sounding names and associations. But I’m getting off track here --

Let us look at another saying of the Messiah that applies specifically to those claiming knowledge of something they only think they understand. A funny thing about understanding “secrets” is that one always assumes such knowledge puts them head and shoulders above others. Oh, how many times has our Savior tried to correct us, why don’t we listen? The event of the Messiah and His coming in the flesh and His crucifixion and resurrection were not done in secret. Thousands in that period of history witnessed what had happened, millions knew of the events surrounding this man YaHshua of Nazareth, and thousands were baptized into His name on the day of Pentecost a mere fifty days after His resurrection.

It would have been so easy to prove what Peter preached and what the disciples preached in everyone’s various languages as false but it is plain – there were many, many eye witnesses to the events of that Passover, the sky turning to night, the earth quake, and the tearing of the curtain at the doorway of the Holy of Holies in the Temple. Every attempt by the religious authorities to squash this movement were in vain. To many people knew too much and try as they might the replay of the Messiah’s death and resurrection kept circulating and thousands latched onto this truth.

What stopped it? The answer would be, the total destruction of Jerusalem beginning 68AD with a final ending in 138-40AD. This dispersed not only the Jews of Judah but the disciples as well. They seemed to get lost in history with John being exiled and the last to be heard from. By 140AD Jerusalem, after a Jewish revolt under a false Messiah (ironic?), the Romans came back and completely leveled the city. This final act by the Romans is the reason no one seems to know just where the actual Temple of Jerusalem once stood. Today’s Jerusalem stands up to seventy feet, in places, above the level our Messiah and his disciples walked. The building and the rebuilding of the city on top of itself has effectively left everyone guessing as to the actual locations of holy sites, so called.

The persecution of the Jews went hand in hand with the persecution of the followers of the Messiah, a majority of them, at that time, being Jews themselves. Under the Roman government religious patients and tolerance had come to an end, the record of atrocities being applauded by a population that hated both Jew and Christian. After all, the Christian religions, to most, was a Jewish religion, the pagans saw them both as a threat to their way of life. This, as we all know, was about to change under Constantine. This Roman general, soon to be Emperor of the Empire claimed to have received a heavenly sign, a glowing cross in the heavens, and was, as he tells it, commanded to do battle under this sign. The truth of this is questioned by some, but the fact remains, Constantine declared Christianity as the “one” religion of the Empire, then he went about making things fit in with this new awakening. Under his authority the Papacy was established in Rome.

From the ashes of persecution a new style of Christianity began sucking paganism into its heart becoming worshipers of the dead. Yes, that is correct, this new religion of Rome worships the god of death, praying to the dead (they call saints), and over relics of dead men’s bone. The Vatican itself built over a pagan burial site. Out of this religion, this new style of Christianity, the Protestant Churches have their foundation, worshiping the dead Christ over the Living One and celebrating the traditions of men in holding fast to the pagan holy days of ancient Rome and Greece. This restructuring of church authority and traditions took pagan traditions and doctrines of devil changing the names to suit its purposes, to make a tradition of men to appear holy and have the blessing of the written word while it did not. Like the Sepulchers of old, white on the outside but full of rotting dead men’s bones. Do names matter, of course they do, and it can be easily demonstrated that by names alone a thing, a detestable thing, can be covered up, hidden, even made to appear holy. It is not difficult to prove this -- look in virtually any encyclopedia and look up these words, Christmas, and Easter, the two big ones.

We, as believers and worshipers of the Living Messiah, having known of His sacrifice for us, being purchased by His blood, must move on, leaving the torture stake behind us. I know Paul speaks of taking up the "cross" of Christ but in the context it is easy to see he is speaking of suffering and hardship and in this sense it should be plain to us, as it was to him, that if our Savior suffered who are we to think we will not. His expression is the same as one saying, put you shoulder into it, or, duck your head down and just forge ahead. Please, I am not taking away from the “act” of the crucifixion and what it means to us but sooner or later the follower must duck down and grab hold of the word no matter what is in our way. We are not to keep crucifying the Messiah for He is alive and well. Still, some that have uncovered the knowledge of the Messiah’s true identity will be worshiping a dead messiah.

For he is not a God of the dead, but of the living: for all live unto him. (Luke 20:38) KJV

If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame. (Hebrews 6:6) KJV

As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: (1 Peter 2:2) KJV

We are not to continue as “babes”, drinking milk only, which is the first teaching, the teaching that helps us understand our calling but we are not to stop there – it is His life we should now focus on not His death, that is for those yet called and for those that do not understand -- we see this as foolishness. I take the following quote very seriously – it applies to all.

Behold, thou art called a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of God, And knowest his will, and approvest the things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the law; And art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness, An instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which hast the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law. Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal? Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege? Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God? For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written. (Romans 2:17 ) KJV

“Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in MY NAME, claiming, ‘I am the Christ (Messiah)’, and will deceive many. (Matthew 25:4) NIV

If it only stopped there but it doesn’t, not at all, the warning goes deeper, especially for those having found the treasure of His true identity. Who is your god? Can you tell me? If it is the dead Jesus, then say so but if it is the living YaHshua then declare it but in reverence and a respectful fear, for He is alive and has the Power of all things given to Him by the Father. He has the power to call things into being that did not exist before, and that, my friends, is powerful.

n the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were. (Romans 4:17) NIV

n By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible (Hebrews 11:4)

email: servant@yahshuaservant.com

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