The Messiah was never called “J-sus”

A testimony from Burnie Yoseph Schumpert ,he had been a Southern Baptist minister. His experience when he found out that the Messiah was never called “J-sus He said:" I remember that I wept when I first thought of giving up the name of J-sus because I loved the sound of it so much." "You can not deny what you see with your own eyes, and even though it is thrilling to experience the joy of revelation, but there is also the heart break of knowing that you had based a significant portion of your faith upon false teachings."

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There is a saying that: “Truth is a bitter tree which yields sweet fruit.” In other words, it is hard to swallow at first, but later on, you are glad that you did. We all come from different backgrounds. Most of us came from a Fundamentalist Christian environment. So we probably have some similarities in our fundamental beliefs. My question to you tonight is---”Are you ready to go the next level in your spiritual understanding?” It seems to me that a person’s level of understanding of this issue, to some degree, can be seen as a measurement of one’s spiritual maturity. I have divided the levels of understanding about the authority of the Scriptures into what seem to me to be five different levels. These are not levels which are found in any book, nor do they represent any type of doctrinal divisions ascribed to by this Assembly. They are merely divisions which I made up in order to better explain how we go through stages in our spiritual growth. Let us consider the first level: First Level: (Innocent faith) (Mark 10:14-16) As a child, most of us had a very basic understanding of the Bible. We knew that it was a very special book and that it was a message from our Heavenly Father to teach everybody how to be good. I was probably at least 8 or 9 years old before I discovered that everyone in the world didn’t believe in the Bible like my family and I did. It is good for children to be in the first level. Yahshua extolled the virtues of a child-like faith. But, hopefully, we won’t just stay there. Let’s go on to the second level in our understanding of the Scriptures. Second Level: (Blind faith) Innocent faith without growth becomes blind faith. (Matt. 15:8-14) Later, I found that there were different translations of the Bible from which to choose and that people sometimes had very strong opinions about which translation that they thought was best. Some of you are old enough to remember that, for many years, there was nothing but the King James Translation used in most circles of Christian faith.

When the new translations began to appear, it caused quite a stir. Perhaps you have had the experience in the back of your memory of hearing people discussing their concerns when the Revised Standard Version, the International Version, and the American Standard Version, and the Living Version first came out. You may even recall an experience of attending a church meeting at which the pros and cons of these new translations were being discussed and you may remember how an elderly believer stood up in disgust and declared: “If the King James Bible was good enough for J-sus, it’s good enough for me !” To this bold statement, the rest of the group agreeing nodded their heads and the discussion was changed to another topic. In the second level a believer recognizes that various translations exist but no connection has been made as to where those translations came from. Most Christians find themselves in this level.

The references to J-sus and G-d are used simply because that’s the way that they appear in their popular translations. I actually believe that if the popular translations all used “George” for the name of the Father, and “Fred” for the name of the Son, these people would be praying to George and Fred. No other possibilities can exist because their popular translation is their authority.
The concepts that John the Baptist was really Yohanan the Immerser---that Matthew was really Mattithhahu---that Eve was really Hawwah---that Paul was really Rabbi Shaul---that the Old Testament is really the Tanak---that the word, “Torah” has frequently been changed to the word, “Law” --- that the word “grace” has often been mistranslated---that the word “cross”, which is “stauros” in Greek, always meant “cross- beam”, pole, stake, or walking stick and that it was never translated as the word, “cross” or “crux” until it was first used in the Latin Vulgate centuries later----
these concepts, along with many, many more just don’t matter. They are not even considered possible to be true because their personal English translation is the final word in all such matters. Further more, even if they were true, it wouldn’t matter.

History, grammatical usages of the original languages, logic, and even the literal translation of the source manuscripts that their favourite popular translation came from are simply out of the question for discussion. Their translation is their authority. Their motto might well be: “Life is simple, life is sweet, with my translation, don’t compete”. Don’t bother me with truth, I’m happy where I’m at. (Before any of us quickly jump to make fun of such believers, let us remind ourselves that most of us were at this level ourselves not too long ago.) Questions began flooding into my mind---: Why were these three most important Names completely missing from the popular translations? Why didn’t the Commentaries mention anything about this? Could this be just a gigantic accidental mistake by the translators or was this a horrible and intentional misleading of the world’s believers?

How could this happen? How could such a huge glitch in our faith have been kept a secret for so many centuries? Obviously, if I could see this, any diligent Hebrew scholar knows about it. Why didn’t they teach me Hebrew in Seminary instead of putting me through 8 semesters of Greek? The more I thought about it, the madder I got. Since they were professions, I jumped at the assumption that my former teachers must surely have known what I had just learned. So, for a few weeks I was angry at my former Seminary and University biblical professors. I considered that they had betrayed my trust. Then these feelings were followed a few weeks later with feelings of anger toward myself. I had been a Southern Baptist minister. I knew many intricate details but here was something huge that had slipped right by me. It became my obsession to learn all that I could about these things and about any other obviously incorrect translations from the original manuscripts. Within a couple of months, I learned that the translators had a term for their blatantly incorrect translations. They called them: “dynamic equivalents”.

I quickly realized that I needed my own copy of the original copy of the Hebrew text so I bought a “Biblia Hebraica”, a Hebrew/English Lexicon, a Hebrew/English Dictionary, a book on Hebrew Grammar, a full size Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance, plus Brother David Olson permitted me to copy the first portion of a Hebrew college course that he was taking over the internet. I felt like a loaded shotgun, ready to be aimed at the first “dynamic equivalent” that stuck up it’s head. Finally, I bought an Interlinear Bible in four volumes (which I was disappointed to find did nothing but place the traditional “dynamic equivalent” directly under the word being translated, as if it were the correct translation. Let me pause here to say that this is a perfect example of why it is important to learn Hebrew.

If you depend upon the accuracy of the interlinear translation which they claim to be a literal translation, you could easily be misled.) (*See Overhead Examples) I believe that anybody who can read English can learn enough Hebrew to verify these things with your own eyes. When you come into the fourth level of understanding the authority of the Scriptures, it is an emotional experience. You can not deny what you see with your own eyes, and even though it is thrilling to experience the joy of revelation, but there is also the heart break of knowing that you had based a significant portion of your faith upon false teachings. It takes some time to sort all this out and in the process four things will happen: (a) You will be humbled. You will realize that no matter how sure and sincere you were about your faith before, it is still possible to be wrong on some major issues. Therefore, you are not as likely to boast about how foolish everyone else is who doesn’t agree with you.

(b) Second, you will learn to test the things that people tell you rather than just blindly accepting what they say to be true because they are so nice, or they seem to be so sincere, or because what they say is the traditional teaching, or because the preacher is a dynamic preacher who has charisma. I remember when I first came here, so many things were turned upside down that I began to thoroughly check every new belief that I encountered before just accepting anyone’s word on it. It was some time before I would wear a tallit, and it was a number of weeks before I would wear a kippot. Each time I learned something new, I dug into the Scriptures ----This is good. In fact, it is essential in order for you to be sure of your faith. This continual digging into the Scriptures is the reason why I learned more here in the first two years than I did when I attended the biblical studies programs at both Hardin-Simmons and at the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary combined. This is not a beginning level evangelistic outreach ministry. This is a university level teaching “shul” (school). The Messianic Faith is not for the lazy believer who is not willing to study. But it will lead you into a truth, so that you will know that you know what you know. And third level, your faith will come to life. It will become an adventure. We read earlier in II Timothy 3:5--- “having a form of reverence but denying it’s power”. Once you know the truth of the real Names of the Heavenly Father and His Son, once you find out that Yahshua and His Disciples were not Christians as the Church tries to teach you, but they were Natzarim (Jewish Rabbis who worshipped in the synagogue, not a "Kirchi", a round worship place for the worship of the female, pagan deity of the seasons called “Circe” (this is where the word Church came from). Yahshua and His Disciples (His ”taught ones”) wore tzitzit from the time they were three years old--- they faithfully put on tefilim every day from the age of 12--- their outer garment was a tallit, just as Ruven Preger teaches us each time he comes to make a presentation of his authentic Hebrew garments, they worshipped on Sabbath which is from Friday, sundown to Saturday, sundown every Sabbath without fail---and they would have chosen death rather than to change their Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday.

They observed all the required Sabbaths, feast days, and holy days commanded in the Torah and they did it lovingly and with joy. Their greatest delight was the Torah and they lived their lives by faith, not by legalism. The Scriptures say that Yahshua participated in Channukah, the Feast of Dedications, but even if Christmas had existed in His day, I don’t believe that He or His Disciples would have wanted to have anything to do with it. Yahshua loved keeping the festival of “First Fruits” because it was a true picture of His resurrection and the wave offering before the Father, but he would have been revolted with the traditional Church celebration of Easter which resembles in so many ways the pagan worship of the female deity, Ishtar.

Yahshua would not use the Gregorian calendar with it’s pagan references, nor would He speak the days of the week, which are all named after a pagan deity because the Scriptures clearly teach not to let the name of a pagan god proceed from your lips--- He is not the Greek “Alpha and the Omega”, but He is the Hebrew “Alef and the Taw”, and He was never called J-sus in His lifetime !!! I hope that I don’t offend anyone, but I feel that I must pause here to say: --- if it doesn’t make any difference to you that the Messiah was never called “J-sus”, and you prefer to continue calling Him J-sus because that’s what you are used to---- something is seriously wrong with your logic or your faith. Through studying the Scriptures with a Hebrew mindset, we can peal back the centuries and layers of lies that we have been fed through the “Roman Universal (Catholic) Church” which was established by gentiles who hated the Jews in the fourth century. This is a process which takes time and dedication When you base your faith on the watered down popular translations which are full of the so called “dynamic equivalents” in order avoid embarrassment to the established “Church” and to assure that the translations fit into the socially accepted popular Christian belief systems, you will not have personal power in your faith.

At this point, someone may say: “but what about the dynamic ministries and impressive things that the Church seems to be experiencing in some cases?” My answer is that until you know the Messianic truths, Yahweh will “wink” at your ignorance and bless you anyway. At that point it is not your fault. I think that we can all attest to the fact that was it not for the Father’s patience, and tolerance and forgiveness, we’d all be in trouble. But there is coming a day when He will “wink” no more. That means that if this message is ringing truth in your spirit, when you walk out of here tonight, Yahweh will no longer look at you as innocent and ignorant and unaccountable. You will never again be able to stand in front of Him and say, “I didn’t know.”

That may sound harsh, but the good news is that when you know the truth because you have seen it with your own eyes and day by day, when you find another piece of the puzzle, you put it into your life and begin to live it from then on--- and you start using the real Names, and you for the first time begin to worship in the way that He always wanted you to---and you begin to find out what being “set apart” really means---that’s when worship gets exciting!!!! And fourth level---as you sort this new faith in this fourth level of understanding you are going to feel that you are giving up so much of what you have learned to enjoy and to love, You may be reluctant to do that. I remember that I wept when I first thought of giving up the name of J-sus because I loved the sound of it so much. It felt so strange to pray in the Name of Yahshua. At first I was constantly forgetting and it would slip out of my mouth accidentally. But now, the Name Yahshua, or Yahshua is so much more beautiful to my ear because it has such depth of meaning, and because it is not a fake--- it is the real thing.

I have written two full length papers on the meaning of “Yah” and of “Yahshua”, but none of you have ever heart a sermon from a Church pulpit on the meaning of the name J-sus, because it is a name which comes to us from pagan sources of the fourth century.Some of you are still in the midst of sorting out Christmas personally and with your families.

Every year, you see signs which say “Put Christ back in Christmas” and “It’s not about a bargain at the mall, it’s about a babe in a manger.” Those who want to make the season something holy are desperately trying their best---but you can’t take something which fundamentally pagan in structure and sanctify it. It is never going to happen. On the other hand---have you ever seen a sign which says: “Put the ‘chanuk’ back in Channukah”? I know I’m being silly here, but I want to make a point IknowI’mbeingsillyherebutIwanttomakeapoint. Channukah is based upon that which is holy to begin with. It is, in it’s structural foundation, a righteous remembrance of good which conquers evil. (That is why it is not accepted by the world.) I’m not saying that it’s not possible to be corrupted by secularism. But I am saying that it much easier to keep it holy because it is something holy to begin with. Remember this and learn it well--- every time Yahweh asks you to give something up, He will always give you back something better in it’s place. If you are just entering into this fourth level right now, I encourage you to not give up. Though the tree of truth may seem to be bitter at first, it will in time yield sweet fruit. You’ll never regret doing that which you know is right. Don’t forget---Our authority is in the original manuscripts in their original languages.

THE POPULAR TRANSLATIONS HAVE AUTHORITY ONLY TO THE EXTENT THAT THEY CORRECTLY EXPRESS THE TRUE MEANINGS WHICH ARE FOUND IN THE ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPTS, AND IN THE ORIGINAL LANGUAGES.
This means that even the best English translation (even the translation which we use called, “The Scriptures”) will be woefully lacking to fully express many important passages. We have to learn to get back to the original texts. Will it be hard---certainly. Will it be worth it? Well, let me ask that question in another way---Is your eternal destination of any concern to you? For your sake and for the sake of all those who look to you for their instruction and their example, let’s get it right this time. Let’s recognize our biblical authority and then let’s build our faith on it !!! Next Sabbath, I will be presenting the second part of this message in which I will share with you a fifth level understanding. (Yes, a fifth level, believe it or not.) This level involves the recognition of a historical pattern and a profound difference in attitudes between the Hebrew scribes and the early gentile translators as it relates the accuracy of the Tanak (the so called, “Old Testament”) and the B’rit Chadashah, the “Renewed Covenant” (the so called, “New Testament”). I hope you will be here next Sabbath to hear this messenger.

Thank you for your kind attention tonight and may Yahweh, through His only “emitted” (the Hebrew meaning of ‘begotten’) Son, Who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, lead us all into the likeness of His glory through the fellowship of His suffering. Amein.