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Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Jeremiah 23:25-27 Forgetting God's Name

“I have heard the prophets who are prophesying lies in my name say, ‘I had a dream! I had a dream!’ How long will this continue in the heart of the prophets, to prophesy lies? They are prophets of the deceit of their own heart. They intend to make my people forget my name by the dreams they relate to one another, just as their fathers forgot my name because of Baal.” - Jeremiah 23:25-27

The focus is vs 27. Through Christendom's translations of the Bible, and their wrong conclusions about knowing and using God's name, Jehovah, they do indeed "intend to make my people forget my name by the dreams they relate." In this case, even the modern day Israelites and Jews are guilty by degrading their Bible translations first to "Lord" and then to "the name." But they are not the only reprehensible ones. Because Christendom claims to be "My [God’s] people" they are also worthy of God’s adverse judgment. Such nominal Christians not only remove all occurrences of the Tetragrammaton, but even say that such is not really God's name at all. Their claims, like so many ancient "dreamers," have obscured God from reader’s sight as being someone who is personally interested in mankind.

The clergy of Christendom will say that "it really doesn't matter what God's name is because there is only one true God." So let me ask you, just because there is only one you in this whole world, does that mean I can just call you "hey you!"? Likely, you'd correct me and tell me to show you respect by calling you by your name. And if i were to respond to you, "What does it matter, there is only one you in this world?" you would likely go through a whole range of negative feelings and think I was stupid, arrogant, and rude.

In the "world" we live today, there are numerous other gods that are worshiped. When I was young, about 6 decades ago, there weren't so many Eastern Indians in this country (USA). But today, there are a considerable number. They bring with them their numerous gods. So they can completely appreciate the absolute need to differentiate who is being spoken of. True, those of Jewish and Christian beliefs do not recognize those deities, but that doesn't change the need to honor God by calling him by his unique name, Jehovah (or Yahweh).

But it is not merely knowing a name that matters. It is also knowing what the name means to us. People back in Jeremiah’s day were not merely forgetting who God was but also what he meant to them. Likewise today, both Christendom and those claiming to be the descendants of Abraham (some of the Jewish faith prefer being called Hebrew or Israelite, so I’m hoping to capture all possibilities by referring to their main ancestor) have replaced the Bible with the doctrines, practices, customs, and ritualisms of men. To many and for many decades, knowing God has nothing to do with knowing the book that originally introduced God to mankind. Sadly such ones do not realize they are not learning what God says but rather what men say through their philosophies.

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