Few Christians are equipped to cope with the theological system that is referred to as the Sacred Name, and as the mainline Christian churches fall deeper and deeper into the gross apostasy that characterizes the end of the age, more and more people are drawn into what appears to be a scripturally sound system. Unfortunately the truth is decidedly different.

The Sacred Name system is an emerging series of doctrines that focuses attention on the actual Hebrew name of the Lord -- YHWH. Usually pronounced 'Yah-way,' this name is called the Tetragrammaton by scholars, and is commonly rendered as The LORD in the King James Version of the scriptures.

Fossilized Customs

In this article, we're going to look at 3 different publications that are being circulated in the Remnant Christian community. The first work, Fossilized Customs, is an independently printed paperback that has been widely circulated and is in its 3^rd printing. Written by a man named Lew White, with a publisher out of Louisville, Kentucky, this work is a radical approach to the Sacred Name system.

Like the other two works reviewed here, the author projects the image of the book in its artwork and initial statements as an exposé of the pagan customs that have crept into Christianity. This makes a work like this rather dangerous, because just awakening believers are receptive to an examination of the numerous heresies they're just learning about -- but in the process, they frequently do not critically examine the other doctrinal positions that are blithely introduced in the process.

In the case of Fossilized Customs, the author accurately slams the syncretism that began so long ago in the Catholic church, wherein they imported the many Babylonian practices that have practically destroyed the organized church. Everything from the pagan origin of Christmas trees to the elevation of the mother of Christ to the status of a goddess is covered.

Christians who are rapidly learning about the strong delusion into which they've been indoctrinated, through the dead religion of denominational and corporate Christianity, recognize these issues as accurate. The problem is, Lew White not only makes statements that are completely unsupportable by the facts, he also moves his readers into thoroughly unscriptural positions.

For example, at one point he attempts to make a sharp distinction between the "Nazarenes" as the true followers of Yahshua (the Hebrew name of Jesus), and the "Christians" spoken of in the book of Acts. The "sect of the Nazarenes" (Acts 24:5) is only mentioned once, as is the verse that says "...the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch" (Acts 11:26). In this context, he states "The Nazarenes existed for centuries before a 'Christianity' did." (Fossilized Customs, page 71) This is ridiculous, for the sect of the Nazarenes was a first century group of believers that was essentially synonymous with the early Christian church.

Author White plainly has Jewish affinities, for he seeks to downplay the obvious Jewish opposition to the "Nazarenes" and even tries to blame the persecution of the Christians on the Romans. He writes, "...the Nazarenes remained a part of the wider group of Yahudim [Jews]...the main disruption of this 'oneness' was caused by the Romans (a 'war' conducted by Shatan), when they destroyed the temple...." (Page 73).

This is historical revisionism of the worst kind, for there was no "oneness" between the Jews and the Nazarenes. The Jews were the primary opposition to Christianity from the very beginning, and the Roman persecution was never aimed at the Christians as much as it was focused on Jewish political agitators such as the Zealots and other groups.

Like most Sacred Name teachers, the writer of this book embraces the so-called "lost tribes" scenario that has the 10 Northern tribes of Israelites found "in the nations." Here again is a racial component to the emerging system of the Sacred Name theology that places the European gentiles into the role of "Ephraim" and the "lost sheep of the TRIBES of Israel." (page 142).

Thus, author Lew White addresses his appeal: "Israelite, if you return to YHWH, [and] embrace the New Covenant..." then blessings will surely follow. The problem with this statement is that it is completely unscriptural. Not only are the Western European Germanic/Anglo-Saxons not the so-called "lost 10 tribes," the scriptures make it very clear who is an Israelite -- and who is a Jew.

This "Christian Identity" or "Israel Identity" system has formed the background for almost all of the Sacred Name groups. Accordingly, this provides yet another layer of deception with which to ensnare people who are truly seeking a serious relationship with the Lord. The issue here is one of racism, for whether the system is dispensational, with a Jewish "chosen people" mentality, or identity oriented, with an Israelite Western European lost tribe "chosen people" emphasis, the scriptures tell at the opening of the New Covenant, salvation has absolutely nothing to do with nationality. To the gentiles, Paul writes:

"...ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world...." (Ephesians 2:12)

If these "gentiles" are the so-called "lost tribes," how are they "strangers" who are "without God" or without any prospects of God, in that they had "no hope?" Indeed, Paul tells the former gentiles in Rome, who have now been transformed into Christians, that they were a "wild olive tree" that has been "grafted in" with the surviving natural branches -- the "remnant of Israel" that responded to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The Israelites who are the natural olive tree have also had "some" of their branches "broken off" -- for the simple reason that they rejected their Messiah. The Sacred Name/Israel Identity system pulls everything back into an Israelite/Jewish framework that amounts to a declension of Christianity back into a Messianic sect of Judaism.

Ironically enough, the departure from the fundamental keeping of the law is the very reason the church has gone astray. So much of what Israel Identity and Sacred Name people say strikes a responsive chord among those who recognize that the "lawlessness" of denominational Christianity is the cause of the church's present worthless condition. The problem is, while accurately preaching that the world "...may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation," (I Peter 2:12) he also introduces manifold fundamental errors in doctrine.

Before he's finished, he attacks the validity of the King James Bible, speaks favorably of the apostate documents known as the Dead Sea Scrolls, offers the reader an apostate translation of the Scriptures (yet another "restored" Sacred name version), denies the Trinity, and tries to tell us the cross of Jesus is actually the mark of the beast. To put it bluntly, this book takes false prophecy to a whole new level.

What is amazing is just how far astray this point of view can lead someone who is seemingly sincere. For instance, in Fossilized Customs, the author claims that when the disciples were crying out "Hosanna...blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord," the chief priests were upset because the people were using the Hebrew name of God -- Yahweh! The truth is, it was obvious that the leadership was upset because this was a Messianic declaration in which Jesus was being openly referred to as the Messiah.

The central issue of the New Testament is at stake here, for the Jews were clearly infuriated because the people were proclaiming that Jesus Christ was the Messiah, and it had nothing to do with verbalizing the Old Testament Hebrew Tetragrammaton. This is a just a gross distortion of the facts in order to make his case.

White tries the same gambit when he claims that Stephen, the first Christian martyr, was killed because "he said the name." (Fossilized Customs, page 83.) This is patently absurd, as a close read of Acts 7 demonstrates that Stephen's total rebuke of the leadership of the Jews had nothing to do with his pronunciation of the name of Yahweh. Indeed, it appears that the statement that "cut to the heart" most deeply may have been Stephen's recognition that the leaders had taken "up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of [their] god Remphan...." (Acts 7:43).

Curiously enough, Lew White actually defends the falsely named "star of David" even as he reviles the cross of Jesus! Regarding what Stephen called "the star of your god Remphan," author White erroneously states "The 'star' is really Dawid's NAME, written in two palaeo-Hebrew letters...." (page 127). The truth is, there is a veritable mountain of information that overwhelmingly demonstrates that this symbol of the planet Saturn predated David by hundreds of years (see the feature story in this issue of Christian Media).

As if seeking to reform the Star of Satan isn't enough, the author of this apostasy then proceeds to attack the symbol of crucifixion -- the cross. Incredibly, regarding the cross, Fossilized Customs states that "....it is more likely that it, in what ever form it comes in, is the image of the beast." (page 96).

There you have it. The Sacred Name system, at least according to this author, has changed the star of Saturn (Satan) into a positive symbol for "all Israel," and the cross of Jesus Christ has now become "the image of the beast." Yahweh help us.

What is important to note is that this book is steeped in the Sacred Name perspective -- the idea that the only name of God that can be recognized is the Hebrew Tetragrammaton. While JESUS taught us that "ye shall know them by their fruits," we might paraphrase that and state that a doctrine may also be known by its fruits. It should be readily apparent that the Sacred Name perspective has led Lew White in entirely the wrong direction.

Christianity Unmasked

Another independently published book promoting the Sacred Name perspective, this book is a bit more orthodox than the previously reviewed work -- but still fatally flawed with the Sacred Name system of works -- ends up bringing the believer back under the law in what has been called the "New Galatianism."

Written by a man named Dan Israel, this book gives us yet another rendition of the so-called "lost tribes" scenario that has the 10 Northern tribes carried off into Europe where they invariably end up as the white Europeans. This British-Israelite scenario, sometimes called Israel Identity or Christian Identity, has spread like wildfire in our time. Again, I would venture to say that the majority of Sacred Name adherents are also believers in the idea of the physical bloodline of the Europeans being descended from the Israelites.

By now, most people already know the hackneyed fact that the letter J is of a relative late date. Like many of us, author Dan Israel decries the incursion of pagan ritual and Satanic systems into the faith of the Bible. Unfortunately, like virtually every organized Sacred Name group, he misses the central issue of New Testament salvation, and tries to turn Yahweh into a legal ogre that sends people to hell for their linguistic shortcomings.

The Sacred Name dogma has enormous Antichrist elements inherent in the central error, as the spirit of the age seeks to discredit the truth about how pagan religion has infiltrated the Christian church. Indeed, we firmly believe the organized church has become Mystery Babylon -- the corporate whore that sits upon all nations.

What happens with the 'namers' is they end up discrediting this fact as they take their perspective to ludicrous and blasphemous conclusions. By teaching that the word "god" is referring to devils, and the word "Lord" is a pagan deity name, they have attacked the written revelation of the Bible itself. Worse yet, they falsely claim that the name Jesus is a devil's name and that salvation can only be found in the original Hebrew name of God's only begotten Son -- Yahshua.

The central facet of this delusion is brought to bear through scriptures such as "there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). This concept states that any Bible is grossly inaccurate if it includes the name Jesus. Not only does author Israel provide us with the "Jewish fable" that the name Jesus is linguistically derived from the Greek god name Zeus, he ends up blaspheming the Lord himself with statements such as this one:

"The name 'Jesus' is a complete misnomer designed to keep you away from the truth and knowledge of Our Father and His Son, and the love and harmony that exists between them. The name 'Jesus' is an identifying mark of harlots and their offspring." (Christianity Unmasqued, page 48).

This statement is so vile and so foreign to any part of the New Testament that it begs refutation. The view that the "name" must be read, spoken, and pronounced in Hebrew so completely negates the entirety of the great commission that I cannot see how any truly regenerate person could hold such an apostate perspective.

When Jesus Christ told his followers to "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost" (Matthew 28:19) we see that in the "namers" perspective, virtually no one has been saved in the last 2,000 years. Why? Because the Gospel has been published in the native languages of each nation that has been targeted for the great evangel of the Lord -- and apparently no one knew we had to be sure to speak the Lord's actual Hebrew name until this century, when we were blessed with the stellar scholarship of these pretenders.

Furthermore, what is the name of the Holy Spirit? It's significant that the Holy Ghost is never emphasized (if He's mentioned at all) in the works of the Sacred Name cults, because many of them are non-Trinitarian and have completely abandoned that fundamental doctrine of antiquity. The simple fact is, if we accept the basic premise of this perspective, virtually no one has become regenerate through the ages because so many Christian leaders mistakenly stated to the rational adult penitent "I baptize thee in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit."

Incidentally, the present work does not permit a lengthy review of the doctrine of the Trinity, but it's worth pointing out the fact that the "Namers" frequently conceal the fact that many of them do not believe it -- another inherent form of dishonesty.

Authors Dan Israel and Lew White would have us believe that millions of believers, speaking hundreds of languages, who have joyfully received the Gospel throughout the last two millennia, were deceived when they read the scriptures in their native tongues and "anon with joy receiveth it." (Matthew 13:20). Indeed, every great British and American missionary society that laboured so faithfully in the last 150 would have all worked in vain. How foolish of them to attempt to go to all the trouble to translate the scriptures in the language these savages understood when we could have just preached to them in Hebrew!

Dan Salmon

Yet another False Prophet, promoting yet another variation of the Sacred Name aberration, is an Internet writer named Dan Salmon. This writer doesn't have a book, per se, but he distributes a Compact Disc with his collected writings, and voluminous e-mails, in addition to a large website with almost a thousand pages of cultic false doctrine mixed with a healthy dose of "documentation" -- once again decrying the departure from the historic Gospel.

Like the others, Salmon starts out sounding like a reformer demonstrating the classic points of the great falling away -- Christmas, Eashtar, Sun-god day, etc.. The Masonic penetration of the organized churches and the Vatican sponsored reversion to Isis under the guise of Mary are easily grasped and are demonstrably accurate. The work seems to incorporate some of the early Armstrongist perspective, as this false prophet then plays the blame game and indicts Germany.

Author Salmon tells us that "Yahovah is finally shutting the door on this Gentile/German age...all that remains for them are Yahovah's Seven bowls of horrific double portions of His wrath." Apparently the author is asserting that we just skip those nasty trumpet judgments and move directly to Revelation 16.

This wannabe cult leader makes no pretense of being just another prophecy author as he writes, "You receive messages from around the world, but this is different. Why? Because it is not from us, but from Yahovah...We are Yah's watchmen presenting His final warning in His Blessed Name."

Salmon then proceeds with some standard "Namer" fare, but quickly resorts to his own version of events that are soon to transpire. For example, he plainly states that through him, "Yah reveals who is today's Last Little Horn World Order Ruler."

After reading that I just had to jump ahead to find which one of the usual suspects is misidentified this time. I was disappointed to find yet another pitch for Al Gore as the Antichrist. I couldn't help but wonder if this was written before the US election of 2000 in which Gore was edged out by Bush the younger, but alas, there are no dates on the material. Indeed, on the website and through the entirety of the CD, with so many hundreds of pages, I couldn't even find a mailing address -- only a website. Perhaps once he's discredited Mr. Salmon can change his name to Halibut and try again down the road.

Predictably, we have much of the same presentation as we find in the other two writers. He even includes pictures of Christ, labeled as "Satan's seed Messiah" and other such blasphemy. Dan Salmon (if that's really his name), like Dan Israel (once again, who knows?) teaches the Serpent Seed doctrine. For those unfamiliar with this little gem from the bottomless pit, it states that the serpent in the garden engaged in coitus with Eve and the offspring was Cain.

Most of the adherents to this nonsense usually twist it to their racist agenda and claim the Jews were the ultimate children of the unholy union. Writer Salmon has a new version. As he is apparently Jewish, he decries all the supposed anti-Semitic thought in what he dubs "Christianity" and turns the serpent's offspring into -- voila! The Germans!

Actually, he also includes some other Euro-types, but he focuses on how the wrath of Yashua will eventually fall on the "German Aryan Anglo-Saxons" who have "hated the Jews." Eventually, England and America are drawn into this weird variation on the Sacred Name system through famous individuals such as the late Princess Diana, whom Salmon transforms into "Goldi Locks, the Hittite Barbie Doll." America shows up in this twisted writing through mentions of everybody from Hugh Hefner to Mario Cuomo (Cuomo being sort of a 'vice-Antichrist' under Gore!) -- and finally arriving at "The Third Final Vicious Little German US Bear."

A Departure From The Truth

Jesus Christ said, "ye shall know them by their fruits." The apparent fruits of Dan Salmon's reckoning are "twice dead" and have plainly arrived at the "reprobate mind" the scriptures promise will overtake all who refuse to renew their minds "by the washing of regeneration; and renewing of the Holy Ghost." (Titus 3:5).

Dan Israel's work is more subtle than Dan Salmons, but still veers into the unscriptural province of dominion theology. Having apparently abandoned one of the central truths that this world is given over to the apostate church in support of the Antichrist until Jesus the Messiah physically returns in power and glory, he states that the kingdom of God will arrive,

"only when we align ourselves to the concepts and laws on which the kingdom of heaven operates. We were given the Scriptures, the book of instruction, the Book of law, in order that we may establish His kingdom on earth, as it is in heaven. It is possible...here, on earth!!" (Christianity Unmasqued, page 284).

This unscriptural drivel betrays the underlying spirit of religious dominionism that is present in this false doctrinal system. The cultic order takes on ominous overtones when we realize that the author is issuing a call to action -- an action that is contrary to the course of events that are ordained to occur in scripture. In what sounds more and more like an inquisition, Dan Israel writes that "...as a unified body of believers we are to work together to exercise corrective action upon Yahweh's enemies." (page 285).

The problem is, in this person's mindset, if I serve Jesus whom he states "leads to Zeus" (page 300), I must be one of "Yahweh's enemies."

Once he's gone over this line, the thinking rapidly deteriorates. Ultimately, Christianity Unmasqued tells us that things will really improve "When you're prepared to redeem your brother...." (page 285). Really! And all this time I thought Jesus was the one that did the redeeming. But, I guess I forgot that when you serve the Hebrew name -- instead of the actual Only Begotten Son Of God -- you've been vested with more authority than is readily apparent with a cursory read of the English Bible.

The logic is equally disjointed in Fossilized Customs. For instance, regarding his non-Trinitarian position, author Lew White cites numerous pagan traditions of gods as trinities. This is a patently ridiculous rationale, but it works well as a literary device. For instance, I can prove the ancient Egyptians believed in Horus as the divine son of Isis and that they worshiped him 1,000 years before the virgin birth in Bethlehem -- so what?

Because Satan actually listened to Yahweh's curse upon him in the garden, and anticipated the redemptive work of Jesus Christ as the prophesied "seed of the woman" in accordance with Genesis 3:15, it hardly discredits the fact that the Spirit of God did move on the gentle virgin Mary to inaugurate His wonderful plan of redemption. Indeed, Old Testament era religious practices of the nations following the "doctrines of devils" are clearly the source of most of the apostasies of the contemporary church -- however, the fact that the ancients saw their deities with multiple personalities hardly discredits the doctrine of the Trinity.

Again, a lengthy treatment of Trinitarian theology is beyond the present subject matter, but suffice it to say the doctrine is not a Catholic importation of pagan error -- it's a fundamental tenet of the New Testament. In their haste to "reform" the Christian church to their version of what the Namers consider to be the genuine faith of the Messiah, these teachers have discarded cardinal doctrine and replaced it with a stilted "Jewish fable" in which Yahweh no longer responds to the grace He Himself has imparted to repentant man.

Salvation Is In The Person Of Jesus Christ -- Not His Name

When I turned to the Lord for salvation, I wasn't saved by a name. I became renewed and imbued with eternal life because of the person of Jesus Christ -- not his Hebrew appellation. Isaiah said that "his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The Mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." (Isaiah 9:6). You wouldn't call a name by another name -- you would refer to a person with these terms.

There is certainly nothing wrong with recognizing the original Hebrew name of YHWH as the Father, and YAHSHUA His Son. Indeed, the study of various aspects of the Israelite covenants and the law and the prophets can and should be most profitable in a spiritual sense. However, this area of inquiry is infested with false prophets and frequently leads believers to a cultic and unscriptural conclusion, so I must urge great caution to all who endeavor to learn more about these things.

Indeed, the organized church has truly lost its way and is now fit only for the dung heap. Furthermore, it is undeniable that the way back to the Lord is through the very same door that has been open to all who have called upon Him for all these centuries. While that name is apparently Yahshua in the original Hebrew, "we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in His son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life." (I John 5:20)

The answer to all these things is to "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths." (Proverbs 3:5,6).

-- James Lloyd

Copyright©2004 Christian Media Ministries

See Also:

Speaking the Sacred Name (ProFile Book)

Speaking the Sacred Name (Audio Tape Set)

The Divine Name Deception

The Two House Twist