The Forgotten God

   The title is probably over stated, but after you read this paper you should understand why I chose this title. The God I’m referring to is the Creator of the world we live in and the heavens above, He created us, sustains our existence and showers us with gifts, daily, even though we take most all of His gifts for granite. First, what has been forgotten by the majority of the Christian community, would be His personal name, even though we may recognize the name, it’s not in our thoughts nor on our lips, this name of course, is "Jehovah" (most common English translation of the Tetragrammaton). Jesus included (by inspiration) His Father’s name over 6700 times in the Old Testament, indicating to us that we should use and remember His name, plus Jesus mentions this, “I revealed Your name to the men whom You gave to Me out of the world. They were Yours, and You gave them to Me and they have kept Your word.” (John 17:6). God Himself glorified His name, “Father, glorify Your name. Then a voice came out of the heaven: I both glorify it and again I will glorify it.” (John 12:28). Despite these and many other verses, this is usually news to most Christians. We may be familiar with the name "Jehovah", not because we read it in our Bibles or hear it spoken from the pulpit, but because of the denomination named, "Jehovah’s Witnesses". Chapter 14 Verse 1, in Revelations says “And I saw and behold, the Lamb standing on Mt Zion! And with Him were 144,000 with the name of His (Jesus) Father (Jehovah) having been written on their foreheads.” (Revelation 1:14). Jesus doesn’t say in the back of their minds but on their foreheads. Is there any other name Jesus could be referring to except "Jehovah", the God of Israel, the God of all existence, Christ's God and His Father? "...I am ascending to My Father and your Father, My God, and your God." (John 20:17), “It is a sign forever between Me and the sons of Israel; for in six days Jehovah made the heavens and the earth…” (Exodus 31:17), "And call no one father on earth, for one is your Father, the One in Heaven." (Matthew 23:9). These are a few of Christ's inspired words that express the importance of God's name.

   Does the Jewish Nation remember His name? Maybe, but according to all that I've heard, they don’t use it, because His name was declared to be too holy to write or pronounce, so they substituted it with “Lord” or "God" therefore, since they stopped pronouncing it, they have lost the true pronunciation, according to several sources, hence the English translation of "Jehovah" which is derived from the Hebrew spelling, Strong's #3068 "Yehovah" (some use "Yahweh"). "Jehovah" seems to be more recognized with English speaking people so that is what I use to communicate who I am referring to. Just for the record, “Lord” "God" or “LORD” is not a name, they are titles or a position. The Tetragrammaton refers to a name not a title, for example when Gideon addressed God in Judges 6:22, he said, “Lord Jehovah” (Lord being the title and Jehovah being the personal name of God).

   Does it matter that men have changed what the Bible says? “You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it…” (Duet 4:2). I’m sure all would agree that it does matter and that the Bible cannot be changed, but as you can see, most common Bibles have been changed. Almost all the use of God’s name has been changed to “Lord” “LORD” or "God" except for 4 places in the King James Version and about the same for other Bible versions, if it appears at all. Apparently, this must be acceptable since no one except the Jehovah’s Witness’s and the "Assembly of Yahweh" read a Bible that still contains His name. Why is this not a concern in the Christian community? Most likely, because they just don’t realize that it was changed, it isn’t spoken about from the pulpit, plus the only way to get a Bible with “Jehovah” used as it was originally written, is a Jehovah's Witness Bible, with an Interlinear Bible containing the Old Testament Hebrew text plus an out of print Bible, the American Standard Version (still available as a internet download), and hopefully I missed some..

    There is another disturbing element to this, even when I bring this to the attention of others, the common reaction is that its not important or it doesn't change anything. This could be just a natural reaction for someone when finding out that the trusted Bible they have cherished all their lives has been altered and remains impure. This could be a shock to their senses and they try and find the least painful solution, usually “it’s not important” or “it doesn’t really effect my understanding of the Bible” instead of “let me look into this” but according to Christ Jesus, it does make a difference, I’m certain He had a good reason for including His God and Father’s proper name 6747 times, just in the Old Testament. I do understand that sometimes a name can refer to character or a reputation but mostly, as a proper name for correct identification of one in communication with other Christians, but it should raise ones attention.

   Not only is the name of God forgotten but also, within most of the current Christian communities, His glory has been confused by way of Satan's deceptions, by introducing during the fourth century a non-Biblical description of God, changing it from a God of one to a triune god, and boldly labeled this as "one god" and also declaring this triune god to be a mystery, attempting to make it easier to digest. In addition to this deception, Satan has attempting to shift Jehovah's glory as our Creator to another by Satan shifting this credit to "Mother Nature", by the authority of science. Evolution is taught in our USA schools to explain our existence, which relates our existence to be a mere accident. Because this is such a controversial and lengthy subject, and would be a distraction from the subject I'm addressing, I'll not go further. It is clearly stated that Jehovah is the Creator of all things, spoken of by God Himself and written within Jehovah's Fourth Commandment, "For in six days Jehovah made heaven and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and He rested on the seventh day, on account of this Jehovah blessed the sabbath day and sanctifies it." (Exodus 20:11), " ...blessed be Jehovah, God of Israel, who made heavens & the earth." (II Chronicles 2:12), and from Jehovah's voice, "And Jehovah answered Job and said...Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth...?" (Job 38:1,3).

    To expose Satan's cunning nature, there is a further controversy about who the hand on Creator is, because of a couple verses in the New Testament that claim God did all His works of Creation "through" His Son, Jesus, who was named Michael before He became the "Son of man", Jesus, this further deception has been swallowed up by the Christian community. This is addressed in the paper called "The Creator List" within this site, but I ask one question at this time: If the Son of God has the same powers as His Father, being Jehovah's only-begotten Son, why would God need or consider to work "through" His Son? Christ does work "through" us because we lack all power, therefore this is a needed method for us to accomplish Christ's tasks intended for us. Exodus 20:11 states that "Jehovah" rested from His work and did not mention His Son, "And on the seventh day God completed His work which He had made. And He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made." (Genesis 2:2). The thoughts represented by the many writers of the Bible are a direct inspiration from the "Word of God" the Son of God. He declares that His Father is the Creator, "But Jesus answered them, My Father works, until now and I work." (John 5:17), should we contradict Christ? The writer of Acts quotes from the Old Testament, "Heaven is My throne, and the earth My footstool, what house will you build Me, says the Lord, or what the place of My rest?" (Acts 7:49), when was a house built for God's Son? "So says Jehovah: Heaven is Mine, and earth is the footstool for My feet. Where then is the house that you build for Me? And where then is My place of rest? And My hand has made all these things, even all these things exist, declares Jehovah..." (Isaiah 66:1,2). One last verse, but there are many more, "Who had gone up to heaven and come down? Who has gathered the wind in His fist? Who has bound the waters in His garments? Who has made all the ends of the earth to rise? What is His name and what is His Son's name? Surely you know." (Proverbs 30:4), and surly you also should know, if you've read God's word.

   Many thanks to the JP Green Interlinear Bible, we have the opportunity to praise God by name and to gain better and deeper understand of what God is telling us. We can obtain a clearer, truer picture of what is Biblical and what is from the world, this is always most important because the truth has no substitute; everything is according to God’s word. With so many Bible versions available, it is difficult to trust all that is written in the common Bibles.  To me, it is so important to read this manual for life the way Christ intended it to be read. There are other things besides God’s name that are different in the common Bibles from the original text, which I am continually discovering. Having the ability to read God’s word as pure as possible is a blessing and a continual compelling revelation. The truth is such a lovely thing to behold and cherish.

   Its interesting to note that most all sermons I've heard through the years are centered around God's Son, Jesus, but if you read just the words of Jesus, you'll find His focus and emphases is on revealing His Father, "Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, will enter into the kingdom of Heaven, but the ones who do the will of My Father in Heaven." (Matthew 7:21), "so the crowds marveled, seeing the dumb speaking, the maimed sound, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. And they glorified the God of Israel." (Matthew 15:31), Jesus must have always given His Father credit for these miracles He performed by His faith in His Father. "And answering, Jesus said to them, Have faith in God." (Mark 11:22), "Then Jesus answered and said them, Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son is not able to do anything from Himself, except what He may see the Father doing; for whatever that One does, these things also the Son does the same way." (John 5:19) and, "Jesus answered them, I showed you many good works from My Father. For which work of them do you stone Me?" (John 10:32). Christ revealed His Father, including His Father's name, and His works, "And as He was already drawing near to the descent of the Mount of Olives, all the multitude of the disciples began rejoicing, to praise God with a loud voice concerning all the works of power which they saw." (Luke 19:37) and there are many other verses praising God, but it seems, somehow we've ignored them, despite Christ's effort to promote the importance of His Father, our Father, "Truly, truly, I say to you, The one who hears My words and believes the One who sent Me, has everlasting life, and does not come into judgment but has passed out of death into life." (John 5:24). Remembering, Jehovah is the originator of our salvation, later Christ was commissioned to establish Jehovah's salvation with His personal blood for us on the cross.

   To support that God has almost been forgot or ignored, is that most every sermon I've heard is focused on Jesus, and I stress, this is important because, we have been given to Him for the purpose of leading us home to the kingdom of God. However, man is Biblically directed to seek God Jehovah, about 70 times in both Testaments, "And if you shall seek Jehovah your God from there, then you shall find Him, if you seek Him with your whole heart and with all your soul." (Deuteronomy 4:29), "Jehovah looked from Heaven to see if anyone was seeking God." (Psalm 14:2), "let all who are seeking You be glad in You and always say, May Jehovah be magnified, those loving Your salvation." (Psalm 40:16), "Seek Jehovah, all the meek of the earth who have done His justice; seek righteousness; seek meekness. It may be you shall be hidden in the day of the anger of Jehovah." (Zephaniah 2:3) and from the New Testament, "But without faith it is impossible to please God. For it is right that the one drawing near to God should believe that He is and that He becomes a rewarder to the ones seeking Him out." (Hebrew 11:6), but God's name does not appear in the New Testament, even though Christ and others, even Satan quoted from the Old Testament, containing Jehovah's name. Did Christ forget His Father's name? No, man has forgotten Jehovah, even though we a re called to pray to "Jehovah " who is God

Interlinear Bible Info.

   The JP Green Interlinear Bible, contains the Hebrew and the Greek, this Bible wasn't available until after 1976, which is an important factor in why the Christian community is so naive to the original use of God's personal name. The Aramaic Text (Hebrew text) was available in the past but one needed the knowledge to read it. Another possible factor why God's name was kept so hidden was that most Interlinear Bibles, do not contain the Old Testament, and the one available is very large, heavy and with very small type, making it uncomfortable to carry and difficult to read, so it wasn't generally used unless there was something one wanted to research and it remains that way today. It is generally a shelf item and most people that study a common Bible never look at one of these heavy weights that may require special glasses to read. So the result is, we read generally what has been presented to us, or what we are accustom to reading, which unfortunately, is not totally as it was originally written.  I am compelled to mention the rewards of reading the Bible, as it was originally written, this is most overpowering and eye opening, a blessed experience. However, same Interlinear Bible is now also available in a four volume set, that each volume is much smaller and has much larger type, but still not comfortable to transport because the Bible is divided into 4 volumes and cumbersome to carry.

   For those who are not familiar with this JP Green Interlinear Bible, it contains the Hebrew and the Greek text, and a direct translation (according to the translator) below each word, and above each Hebrew and Greek word, the Strong’s Concordance number, then in the left hand column, a Literal Translation, which for the most part, corrects for grammar. The important element with having the Hebrew or Greek available, is that if one has a question concerning an interpretation or translation of a word or sentence, they can look it up via the number system supplied in the Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance, which has in addition to a list of where each word is used in the KJV Bible, a dictionary part with the many possible English meanings to each Hebrew and Greek word, that could be used in translation. One doesn’t have to know how to read Greek or Hebrew, just the ability to read and use the Strong’s Concordance. If you want to read the Bible, as close to the original as possible, this is the way, it does make a difference. I also need to mention that the Greek and Hebrew supplied in the JP Green Interlinear Bible are the same used by the translators of the King James Version and many other Bible versions. Another convenience is that this JP Green Literal Translation eliminates the Old English, which can confuse readers.