Q.  Why are there a number of Sacred Name groups? Why can’t you all get together and join forces?

A.  Several scattered groups profess the sacred Name.  However, a few of them promote another name such as Yahuweh, Yaveh, Yahvah, etc.  Nearly all recognized scholars admit that the preferable spelling of the Heavenly Father’s Name in English is Yahweh.
            The Catholic scholars of today recognize “Yahweh.”  The New Catholic Encyclopedia states under the letter Y:
            “The full and proper name of the L-rd of Israel, written with four consonants YHWH, known as the Tetragrammaton.  Its form and meaning and history of the sacred Tetragrammaton are considered in this article…Judging from the Greek transcriptions of the sacred name…YHWH ought to be pronounced Yahweh.  The pronunciation Jehovah was unknown in ancient Jewish circles and is based upon a later misunderstanding of the scribal practice of using the vowels of the word Adonai with the consonants of YHWH.”
            In their purple book, The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures, the Jehovah’s Witnesses admit:
            “While inclining to view the pronunciation Yah-weh as the more correct way, we have retained the form Jehovah because of the people’s familiarity with it since the 14th century…”(p. 23)  In their book, Let You Name Be Sanctified (1961, now withdrawn from circulation), they admit the Name Yahweh is more correct than Jehovah.  However, they continue with the tradition of Jehovah rather than correct error because of people’s familiarity with this fallacy.
            Almost all seminaries and language scholars as well as modern dictionaries, encyclopedias, and other reference works recognize the best rendition of the Tetragrammaton is as we have it, “Yahweh.”
            Misspelling the Savior’s Name is another error in some of these groups.  Some have chosen to spell His name variously as Jeshua, Yeshua, Y’shua, Yahoshua, Yahohushua, Yasu, etc.  Reliable references reveal His proper Name is the same as the Israelite general, the son of Nun, Joshua.  However, there is no letter J in the Hebrew, nor is there a J in the Greek alphabet.  The “Jo” should be “Yah” (“I came in my father’s Name,” John 5:43).
            The proper spelling in English, according to recognized scholars, is Yahshua.  The first part of the Savior’s Name is the poetic or shortened form “YAH”weh, the same as found in hallelu-YAH.  The suffix “shua” means to save.  (Not to offend the Jews, some groups spell Yahshua as Y’shua, omitting reference to YAH’s great Name.)  Thus, the Savior’s Name carries the meaning of “the Salvation of Yah.”  Long before the Savior was born, the name “Yahweh-shua” had been elided to “Yahshua” following the captivity. Yahshua, once a common name, is now considered too holy by Christians and shunned by Jews.
            There are also serious doctrinal differences among groups. Some believe the Savior did not pre-exist, that He was just an ordinary human born of Mary and Joseph. Others are governed by one individual who rules with iron-fisted authority, who hinders truth as well as those who would come in (3John 1:9). Others claim they are the only source of Yahweh’s truth and the Holy Spirit comes only through their group; without being a part of them one is lost.  Other fellowships make the same claim!
            Additional problems include: setting dates for the Savior’s return; observing another day instead of the seventh-day Sabbath; condoning adultery in the ministry; rejecting the annual Sabbaths, and keeping holy days at the wrong time. We should walk as Yahshua walked, obeying Yahweh’s laws in love. (“Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” Amos 3:3.)

 
                 
         
     
                   
               
                         
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