The Name of the Creator and How NOT to Pronounce It

Exodus 3:14–15, I AM THAT I AM. The name YHVH is Elohim’s memorial name forever. It reflects that fact that he is; that he is undefinable in human terms, and that he has always existed. This is the name by which he is to be remembered (not forgotten as is the case with the ineffable name concept of the rabbinic Jews whereby the names of deity are forbidden to be used).

In nearly all Bibles, whenever the tetragrammaton occurs, it has been substituted by the English word Lord. In some Bibles, Lord is written in all capital letters (i.e. LORD) to show that it’s the Hebrew word YHVH. This name has a variety of meanings including “the existing one” and “I am that I am.”

YHVH reveals his personal name in Exodus 3:14 and 15 where we read:

14 And Elohim said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM (EHYEH ASHER EHYEH): and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM (EHYEH VHVT) hath sent me unto you. 15 And Elohim said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, YHVH (vuvh) the Elohim of your fathers, the Elohim of Abraham, the Elohim of Isaac, and the Elohim of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name [Heb. shem] for ever, and this is my memorial [Heb. zeker] unto all generations.

Here are some examples of how various Bible versions translate the name of YHVH:

  • I Am That I Am (KJV)
  • I Am Who I Am (NAS, NIV, NKJV
  • I Am That Which I Am (YLT)
  • I Shall Be As I Shall Be (The ArtScroll Stone Edition Tanach)
  • I Will Be What I Will Be (The Gutnick Edition Chumash, JPS)
  • I Will Be There Howsoever I Will Be There (The Schocken Bible)
  • I Am the Being (LXX, Brenton)

Exodus 3:15 states that YHVH is the name Moses was to use when referring to I AM THAT I AM. Both the former and latter are forms of the Hebrew verb hayah meaning “to be.” YHVH instructed that YHVH was to be his memorial name forever. In other words, humans were to use YHVH to remember him by. There is no indication here that it was YHVH’s intention that his name was to be forgotten or hidden through euphemisation. The word memorial is the Hebrew word zeker (Strong’s H2143) and means “remembrance, memory.”

It must be noted here that we don’t refer to YHVH as I Am, for were we to do so it would be necessary to say “I Am,” and in all reality, we aren’t the I Am, but YHVH is the I Am. Just so there is no confusion when communicating YHVH’s name in every day speech, the Continue reading →

 

Thank you letter…

Ministry update and thank you letter from Natan and Sandi to those who supported Hoshana Rabbah in 2016…

Shalom aleichem partners with us in Yeshua’s kingdom work!

Once again, please accept our heartfelt gratitude for all of your financial contributions large or small to Hoshana Rabbah Biblical Discipleship Resources. We thank Yehovah Elohim for each of you and pray a blessing over each giver each time. 

Although we run a frugal operation out of our small home and try to keep our expenses low, as you know, everything costs money. The internet and YouTube may be free, but computers, online servers, domain names, video equipment, phone and internet lines, paper, printers, hard drives, electricity, etc., etc., still cost money. It all adds up.Natan still takes no remuneration for his ministry work, but Sandi for her expert services managing the website, the finances, answering phones and all the myriad tasks associated with running a ministry takes a small monthly stipend. For her high level skill set, she could make a lot more money working elsewhere, but then the ministry would suffer. All this is to say that your loving support is necessary and a great encouragement to us as well.

After Sukkot 2016, Sandi and Natan retired from pastoring the local congregation we started in our home 18 years ago. We reluctantly did so, but several factors necessitated it. Frankly, we were tired and burned out and we lacked the necessary local support to be able continue. Moreover, and very importantly, the pressure was beginning to affect Sandi’s health deleteriously. We’re getting older and the strain was just too much. Additionally, I’m still working full-time in my tree care business, and I just was lacking the energy to do it all.

When one door shuts, another opens. Since closing the local congregation, we have rededicated ourselves to improving services on our internet, global outreach ministry. Presently, the Hoshana Rabbah YouTube channel continues to grow steadily with new subscribers and viewers. Currently, there are more than 320 videos on our channel. Natan does all the filming, editing and uploading, and is the researcher and teacher on nearly all of the videos as well. A lot of work, but lives are being touched globally as we endeavor to connect the message of the gospel to its pro-Torah, Hebraic roots. Currently, we have nearly 5,000 subscribers with 665,000 view. This seems pretty good for a tiny ministry in a niche market.

Natan’s Bible study blog continues to be very active. Hundreds read it each day, and the numbers are still growing. Currently, He has posted nearly 2,000 self-written articles on his blog on a huge variety of biblical subjects. In his great commission command, Yeshua told us to make disciples (not just converts). This blog along with the YouTube channel and the many resources on the Hoshana Rabbah website are our way of helping to fulfill Yeshua’s command to take the gospel to and to help gather in the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Agains, thank you for your prayers and financial support in helping us to make these resources available free of charge to the world.

After Sukkot, Natan began to record a video teaching for each Torah-portion or parashah for the entire year—there are about 54. So far, he has recorded all of Genesis and is well into Exodus. Some of the videos are a couple of hours long, while others are more than five hours long. These videos are ideal for individual and group study sessions. As always, they’re gospel-oriented. We always try to keep Yeshua the Messiah at the center of everything as the early apostles did as recorded in the Testimony of Yeshua (New Testament).

Even though Natan is no longer pastoring a local congregation, he is making himself more available to be of assistance in an advisory role to new congregations or home fellowships starting up. He wants to be a big brothers to anyone who needs it. He’s available to help via email, phone and Skype. Through Skype, he is available to speak to congregations, to answer biblical questions and to pray with, encourage and to speak prophetically over groups upon request.

Sandi also plans on redoing the Hoshana Rabbah website—a huge and daunting task—and bringing it up to current web standards. This will hopefully reposition ourselves more favorably in the web marketplace of ideas, so that we can reach even more of the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

Together, Natan and Sandi are hoping to begin updating the adult Torah study guides. Natan has much fresh material to add to the existing ones. This project may take a couple of years.

That there is a quick update on the Hoshana Rabbah ministry. We’re probably forgetting something, but that’s the main gist of it.

Again, Sandi and Natan want to express our heartfelt and sincere thanks for all of your love and love offerings. We pray that we may be able to continue to earn your love and support, and to be fruitful ground into which you are pleased to sow your finances, and, most importantly, we want to be pleasing to Yehovah Elohim and Yeshua our Master as we together show them our love and devotion by doing our reasonable service for the advancement of Elohim’s kingdom!

Yeshua’s Bondservants in His Love,

Natan and Sandi Lawrence

 

Not all of our children will be a blessing to us…sadly!

Exodus 2:22, Gershom. A sad piece of Bible trivia is that some of Moses’ descendants didn’t follow in his righteous steps. Gershom’s sons became idol worshipers (Judg 18:30–31).

Many of the children of righteous men in the Bible didn’t follow in the footsteps of their fathers in remaining faithful to Elohim. Examples include Isaac (Esau), Aaron (Nadab and Abihu), Samuel (1 Sam 8:1–3), and David and many of the other righteous kings of Judah. What’s more, the Bible tells us nothing about the spiritual status of the sons of any of the prophets or apostles. Whether they remained faithful to YHVH or not, we don’t know. If they had been notable in their service to YHVH, it seems that Scripture would have some record of it.

One thing seems certain. Most of the high visibility servants of YHVH were solitary figures. Little if anything is known about their spouses, families or children who seemed to play no major role in the key figure’s ministry activities.

Interestingly, there are also several examples of righteous sons coming from unrighteous fathers and vice versa. This is the case with several of the kings of Judah. All this is to say that just because a child was raised well in a godly family doesn’t guarantee they will continue to serve Elohim and walk in righteousness.

Likewise, just because a child was raised in an ungodly, even wicked family, doesn’t mean they will be wicked and ungodly.

Salvation is an individual matter. YHVH calls and chooses whom he will, and it’s up to the individual to respond to that calling. Some will respond, but most will not. As Yeshua said, many are called, but few are chosen (Matt 22:14).

 

Dynamic Power to Heal the Sick!

Luke 5:17, The power [Gr. dumanis] of YHVH was present. Sometimes the power of YHVH is present to heal people, sometimes it is not. There are likely many factors that determine this such as the sovereign will of Elohim, the faith of the individuals performing or receiving the healing, repentance of sin or the lack thereof, whether one is a saint or not and many other factors of which we may or may not be aware in our limited understanding of the spiritual dimension.

Let’s explore the healing activities of Yeshua. The Greek word dunamis means “strength, power, ability” or as often used in the Testimony of Yeshua, “miraculous power.” This is an interesting statement pertaining to the dynamics of Yeshua’s healing activities. Did Yeshua heal all people all the time, or only when the power of Elohim was present for him to do so? This verse, at least in this case, would indicate the latter. Elsewhere, we read that Yeshua “healed many that were sick” (Mark 1:34), but not all that were sick. On other occasions, the Gospels record indicates that Yeshua did in fact heal all the sick who were brought to him (Matt 4:23–25; 9:35; Luke 6:19).

The Gospels reveal some other interesting facts about Yeshua’s healing activities that we often pass over. On at least one occasions, Yeshua prayed to heal someone and they were only partially healed. After he prayed for them the second time, they were completely healed (Mark 8:22–25). Often Yeshua healed people after he was “moved with compassion [love and pity]” for someone who was sick (Matt 14:14; Mark 1:41; Luke 7:13–15). The Greek word for compassion, literally means “to be moved in one’s bowels,” or in the deepest areas of one’s emotions. Some people simply touched Yeshua’s clothing as he was walking by, and the miraculous power (Gr. dunamis) of Elohim flowed from him and healed them (Matt 9:20; Mark 6:56; Luke 8:44 cp. Luke 6:19).

Elsewhere, it appears that Yeshua’s healing activities were hampered by the presence of those who ridiculed him and exhibited doubt and unbelief, which is why, on one occasion, he put the unbelievers out of the room and closed the door behind them when he raised the little girl from the dead (Mark 5:40–42). Similarly, in his hometown of Nazareth, Yeshua “could do no mighty works there” except for healing a few sick people, “because of their [the townspeople’s] unbelief” (Mark 6:5–6; also Matt 13:58). Matthew’s account adds that the people of Nazareth were offended (literally, scandalized) by Yeshua, or that they stumbled over (or judged unfavorably, distrusted) Yeshua. Because of their low esteem for him, they lacked the faith to receive healing, which is why he healed so few people in that town.

When in doubt, always look for an opportunity to pray for a sick person. Before praying, one must discern the situation: whether the person has faith to be healed, whether the anointing or Presence of YHVH is there to heal the person, and how the Spirit of Elohim is directing one to pray. Sometimes we sense the need to pray more authoritative prayers, other times, more pleading or intercessory prayers, and still other times prayers of agreement while asking for the healing.

What’s more, prospective converts and new believers tend to have their prayers for healing answered more quickly, since this is a demonstration of the signs Yeshua promised that would follow the preaching of the gospel. The saint can be healed, but often this will occur after having their faith stretched and refined. Therefore, the healing often takes longer to receive.

 

Video: Exodus 1:1–6:6 Parashat Shemot

This is a gospel-oriented Torah study. Our goal is to connect the good news of Yeshua the Messiah (the gospel message) to its Hebraic, pro-Torah roots or foundations. The information given here is more than head knowledge. Understanding and wisdom (the right application of knowledge that is based on truth) is taught thus making biblical truth practical, relevant and applicable to your daily life. The truths of the Bible not only have the power to transform your life here and now for the better, but eventually to take you past the veil of death and into eternity.

This Torah study is subdivided in sections by topic in a magazine format thus making it easy to watch at several sittings.

May you be blessed as you watch this video.

For a free, printable adult and youth Torah study guide on this Torah portion (parashah), please go to http://www.hoshanarabbah.org/parshiot.html

 

10 Rules of Radicals for the Right

 In 1971 Marxist strategist Saul D. Alinsky published his infamous handbook for “community organizers,” titled “Rules for Radicals,” which ever since has been the essential resource for left-wing agitators, including the Clintons and Obama.

Alinsky dedicated his “Rules for Radicals” to “the first radical known to man who rebelled against the establishment and did it so effectively that he at least won his own kingdom – Lucifer” [the entity also known as Satan, the Father of Lies and Enslaver of Mankind].

As we conservative populists begin to reclaim our nation from Alinsky’s anti-American Bolsheviks, we need a resource for pro-American constitutionalists. These Rules for Radicals of the Right are dedicated to the One who conquered Lucifer:

1. Tell the truth without hesitation or apology.

Truth is our most powerful weapon and strategy. Truth is objective, verifiable and self-evident to a clear-thinking mind grounded in rationality and knowledge of the facts. Rationality proceeds from recognition and respect for the created order and the Creator Himself. His immutable laws provide the fixed standards by which any material or spiritual thing can be measured, proved and trusted. Without fixed standards there can be no steadfast rule of law making all men equal and free, only arbitrary rule by those with power to enforce their will.

2. Keep it simple but not stupid.

The enemy relies on confusion to create chaos and then exploits it to take control. He weaves a complex fabric of falsehoods, half-truths, misrepresentations, misdirection, hidden false assumptions and sophistry designed to mislead the gullible into drawing false conclusions. Complexity favors the deceivers. Honest and intelligent simplification frees captive minds.

3. Trust or not trust, but always verify.

People who spin narratives or otherwise interpret facts or events instead of providing the straight facts to interpret for yourself often have their own agenda. This includes not just leftist media but can be any information source, including those you think are trustworthy. Whenever you’re expected to form a conclusion on any issue based on the authority of the source rather than the full and free presentation of the facts, including opposing opinions and interpretations, don’t trust it. This is especially true when an inherently controversial narrative is repeated consistently over time from only one perspective, such as “climate change,” the “born gay” assumption, or the theory of evolution.

4. Think for yourself.

Human beings are susceptible to jumping on bandwagons or joining teams to meet social needs, but this makes us vulnerable to manipulation by people who form or control teams to serve their own agenda (i.e, the R’s and D’s). Beware of any group, system or institution that requires or expects you to substitute their conclusions for your own, or to adopt a “team” position on a whole slate of issues, and shuns or denigrates you for disagreeing on one or more items. (E.g., many liberals recognize an essential natural order in the eco-systems of living things but are forbidden from acknowledging the natural family as humanity’s ecosystem because “gay rights” is a “must-embrace” leftist goal.)

5. See the good and bad on both sides.

Remember that the devil works both sides of the street, and it serves his goals if we evaluate people by the team they’re on, not their character or the rationality of their arguments. If truth is our standard and filter, we’ll judge things and people fairly and thereby lessen the “us vs. them” stupidity that makes us so easy to manipulate in elections and other cultural conflicts.

6. Restore critical thinking.

The goal of the elites has always been to “dumb down” Americans to make us easier to deceive and control. Thus liberal terminology always avoids simple definitions and distinct boundaries, especially when used in social policy or laws (e.g., “homophobia”: a nonsense word that implies all disapproval is an anxiety disorder). We can defeat the elites by mastering critical thinking skills and restoring true literacy that employs only clearly defined words in unambiguous sentences conveying true and trustworthy knowledge.

7. Reclaim objectivity.

The elites always obscure the distinction between objective truth and subjective opinion, and between hard science (which is never contradictory to biblical truth, properly understood) and “soft science” (which can easily be manipulated to serve a hidden agenda). We must always promote and defend objective truth and contrast it with the subjective opinions and belief systems of the often-fraudulent “soft sciences” that have been driving our social policies for decades.

8. Challenge the know-it-alls.

The elites on both sides invariably assume an attitude of moral and intellectual superiority. It’s easy to expose their errors by practicing the Socratic Method of interrogation. Just ask 1) “What do you mean by that?” (i.e., define your terms), and 2) “How do you know that’s true?” (i.e., what is your source of authority). You don’t have to be an expert on any given topic to take command of the discussion and expose liberal illogic and it’s lack of sound presuppositions.

9. Avoid the tar-babies.

Remember that you can’t persuade a true-believer leftist with fact and logic. Intellectually, most of them embrace a closed-loop Cultural Marxist narrative similar to paranoid schizophrenia. If someone proves himself incapable of recognizing self-evident truths (such as denying the humanity of an unborn baby while looking at an advanced stage ultrasound image), disengage immediately. Conservative populists should largely ignore the left and their delusions and just focus on taking the seats of power away from them.

10. Be an army of one.

Paradoxically, populism is a movement of individualists whose common denominator is the U.S. Constitution. Unlike our cultural opponents who hold the hive-mind mentality of big-government statists, our true strength isn’t in our numbers, but the rightness of our cause. We don’t need to wait for marching orders from Donald Trump or any other perceived leaders; we can act on our own or in small groups on the inherent authority granted to us by God and affirmed by the founders. The quicker we all decide just to do that, the quicker we can restore this republic. (I figure we’ve got about a two-year window.)

 

How Christianity in America Changed During Obama’s Presidency

From http://www.christianpost.com/news/how-christianity-in-america-changed-during-obamas-presidency-pew-report-172970/

How Christianity in America Changed During Obama’s Presidency: Pew Report

 

BY BRANDON SHOWALTER , CP REPORTER

A new report released this week outlines the changes in American society during President Obama’s eight years in office; the number of Christians in the United States has dropped significantly, the statistics show, but others argue there’s more to the story.

image: http://d.christianpost.com/full/102405/590-436/u-s-president-barack-obama.jpg

(Photo: Reuters/Jonathan Ernst)U.S. President Barack Obama arrives to deliver his farewell address in Chicago, Illinois, January 10, 2017.

“When it comes to the nation’s religious identity, the biggest trend during Obama’s presidency is the rise of those who claim no religion at all,” according to a report released on Wednesday titled “How America Changed During Barack Obama’s Presidency” from the Pew Research Center. When Obama took office in 2008, approximately 16 percent of Americans identified as either atheist, agnostic, or “nothing in particular.” As Obama leaves office, that number has increased to a quarter of the population.

“To me, the Pew data is very important but it’s not the only data,” said John S. Dickerson, author of the 2013 book The Great Evangelical Recession, in an interview with The Christian Post on Friday. “Because there is some conflation between ‘born again’ and ‘evangelical’ and the Pew data does not extricate between the two.”

“But when it comes to the long-term trajectories [for evangelicals], I don’t see anything that has changed,” he added.

Dickerson’s book contends that if you extricate born again and evangelical and actually count the number of devoted evangelicals, they amount to approximately 8 to 10 percent of the population.

“In 2013, when I first released the national data about evangelical Christianity declining, and at that time some prominent leaders said the trends could not be true. But the data never lies, and the last five years have sadly demonstrated what the data suggested back in 2013 — that Millennials are embracing agnosticism and increasingly rejecting Biblical Christianity,” Dickerson noted.

The Pew report states: “Christians, meanwhile, have fallen from 78 percent to 71 percent of the U.S. adult population, owing mainly to modest declines in the share of adults who identify with Mainline Protestantism and Catholicism. The share of Americans identifying with evangelical Protestantism, historically black Protestant denominations and other smaller Christian groups, by contrast, have remained fairly stable.”

Simultaneously, however, Americans who identify with a particular faith are as devout as they have ever been and by some accounts even more so.

Though the full “How America Changed” report was released this week, the findings on religious identification were harvested from Pew’s 2015 America’s Changing Religious Landscape Survey. Media outlets skewed the numbers and created a false narrative at the time, according to notable scholars from Baylor University. The Jan. 11 Pew report also addressed a range of cultural phenomena and political divisions, such as the widespread use of social media, distrust in government, and America’s place in the world.

CP asked Dickerson to explain how Obama’s administration has affected American evangelical Christianity.

“I think evangelicals largely felt alienated and ignored during the eight years of this administration. If you rewind through the decades, evangelical Christians were at the head of the table, then they moved to the foot of the table, and then they got moved to the kids table, and then they got kicked out of the dinner party altogether,” Dickerson said.

Those negative feelings likely precipitated a vote for a man in a presidential election many evangelicals found unsavory, he explained.

First Things editor R.R. Reno previously told CP in an interview about his book Resurrecting the Idea Of A Christian Society that “the main problem facing Christians today is a kind of lament, a spirit of lament of having lost the country” and that lament “tends to make contemporary Christians resentful of the present age. So it creates a defensive posture toward the contemporary moment as we feel the current going against us.”

“Instead, what has happened is very powerful elements of our society are shaking off this presumptive authority of Christianity to define their lives and for the wider public culture of America,” Reno said.