IPM False Teaching
about the “Names of God”
by Sandy Simpson, Apologetics Coordination Team,
June 2006
More false
teachings on the “names of God” were presented by Danny Lehmann, YWAM Director
in Honolulu on the KLHT radio station in Honolulu again on Friday, June 23,
2006. Further arguments were made to try to shore up the false doctrines that
he and others of the IPM, including Don Richardson, Richard Twiss, Daniel
Kikawa, have been teaching. Their claim is that God has many names in
many cultures and can be legitimately worshipped by those names. Lehmann argues
that the proof of this idea comes from the fact that in the Bible God has many
“names”. He goes on to use examples like Jehovah Jirah, Theos, El Elyon,
etc.
What Lehmann
has overlooked is that God gave His name to Moses at the burning bush.
Ex 3:14 And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he
said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto
you.
God’s
name is “I Am”, YHWH, Yahweh in Hebrew or Jehovah in English. That is the
name He gave Himself. Other names in the Bible for God are not His Name but
attributes added to His name to describe Who He is.
JEHOVAH-JIREH: “The Lord will Provide.” Gen. 22:14.
JEHOVAH-ROPHE:
"The Lord Who Heals” Ex. 15:22-26.
JEHOVAH-NISSI:
“The Lord Our Banner.” Ex. 17:15.
JEHOVAH-M'KADDESH:
“The Lord Who Sanctifies” Lev. 20:8.
JEHOVAH-SHALOM:
“The Lord Our Peace” Judges 6:24.
JEHOVAH
ELOHIM: “LORD God” Gen. 2:4; Judges 5:3; Isa. 17:6; Zeph. 2:9; Psa. 59:5,
etc.
JEHOVAH-TSIDKENU:
“The Lord Our Righteousness” Jer. 23:5, 6, 33:16.
JEHOVAH-ROHI:
“The Lord Our Shepherd” Psa. 23.
JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH:
“The Lord is There” Ezek. 48:35.
JEHOVAH-SABAOTH:
“The Lord of Hosts” Isa. 1:24; Psa. 46:7, 11; 2 Kings 3:9-12; Jer. 11:20 (NT:
Rom. 9:29; James 5:4, Rev. 19: 11-16).
These “names of God” are His actual name, YHWH, with an attribute
added to describe Him. The name of God, the One “What” eternally existing
in three “Whos”, is YHWH.
Let's
deal with some of the other attributive descriptions of God which are not His
Name but describe Who He is.
ADONAI: An attributive description for God
meaning “Lord” in our English Bibles. Also used 215 times to refer to men.
First use of Adonai, Gen. 15:2. (Ex. 4:10; Judges 6:15; 2 Sam. 7:18-20; Ps. 8,
114:7, 135:5, 141:8, 109:21-28).
SHEPHERD:
An attributive description. Psa. 23, 79:13, 95:7, 80:1, 100:3; Gen.
49:24; Isa. 40:11.
JUDGE:
An attributive description. Psa. 7:8, 96:13.
ABHIR:
An attributive description menaing 'Mighty One', (“to be strong”) Gen. 49:24;
Deut. 10:17; Psa. 132:2, 5; Isa. 1:24, 49:26, 60:1.
BRANCH:
An attributive description meaning “The Branch”: Zech. 3:8, 6:12; Isa. 4:2;
Jer. 23:5, 33:15.
KADOSH:
An attributive description meaning “Holy One” Psa. 71:22; Isa. 40:25, 43:3,
48:17. Isaiah uses the expression “the Holy One of Israel” 29 times.
SHAPHAT:
An attributive description or the “Judge” Gen. 18:25
KANNA:
An attributive description meaning “Jealous” (zealous). Ex. 20:5, 34:14; Deut.
5:9; Isa. 9:7; Zech. 1:14, 8:2.
PALET:
An attributive description meaning “Deliverer” Psa. 18:2.
YESHA:
An attributive description meaning “Savior” Isa. 43:3. From this the name
of Jesus (Yeshua) comes which harkens back to YHWH. Messiah (Christ) or
Mashiach or Mashiyach is an attributive name meaning “Anointed One”.
GAOL:
An attributive description meaning “Redeemer” (to buy back by paying a price).
Job 19:25.
MAGEN: An
attributive description meaning “Shield” Psa. 3:3, 18:30.
STONE:
An attributive description. Gen. 49:24
EYALUTH:
An attributive description meaning “Strength” Psa. 22:19.
TSADDIQ:
An attributive description meaning “Righteous One” Psa. 7:9.
ZUR:
An attributive description meaning “God our Rock” Deut. 32:18; Isa. 30:29.
'ATTIQ
YOMIN (Aramaic): An attributive description meaning “Ancient of Days,” Dan.
7:9, 13, 22.
MELEKH:
An attributive description meaning “King” Psa. 5:2, 29:10, 44:4, 47:6-8, 48:2,
68:24, 74:12, 95:3, 97:1, 99:4, 146:10; Isa. 5:1, 5, 41:21, 43:15, 44:6; 52:7,
52:10.
THE FIRST
AND LAST: An attributive description. Isa. 44:6, 48:12.
THE ANGEL
OF THE LORD: An attributive description. Gen. 16:7ff, 21:17, 22:11, 15ff,
18:1-19:1, 24:7, 40, 31:11-13, 32:24-30; Ex. 3:6, 13:21, Ezek. 1:10-13. Seen in
the theophanies, or pre-incarnate appearances of the Son of God in the OT (See
I Cor. 10:3 NT).
We
then move on to the “El” attributive descriptions.
EL: a general word for “god” in the Middle East, like “god” in
English. Gen. 7:1, 28:3, 35:11; Nu. 23:22; Josh. 3:10; 2 Sam. 22:31, 32; Neh.
1:5, 9:32; Isa. 9:6; Ezek. 10:5.
ELOHIM:
God (a plural form of “El”, more than two, used with singular verbs); Elohim
occurs 2,570 times in the OT, 32 times in Gen. 1. God as Creator, Preserver,
Transcendent, Mighty and Strong. Eccl., Dan. Jonah use Elohim almost
exclusively. See Gen. 17:7, 6:18, 9:15, 50:24; I Kings 8:23; Jer. 31:33; Isa.
40:1.
EL
SHADDAI: The generic word for “god” with an attribute added meaning
God Almighty or “God All Sufficient.” 48 times in the OT, 31 times in Job.
First used in Gen. 17:1, 2. (Gen. 31:29, 49:24, 25; Prov. 3:27; Micah 2:1; Isa.
60:15, 16, 66:10-13; Ruth 1:20, 21)
EL
ELYON: The generic word for “god” with an attribute added meaning “Most
High” (from “to go up”) Deut. 26:19, 32:8; Psa. 18:13; Gen. 14:18; Nu. 24:16;
Psa. 78:35, 7:17, 18:13, 97:9, 56:2, 78:56, 18:13; Dan. 7:25, 27; Isa. 14:14.
EL-OLAM:
The generic word for “god” with an attribute added meaning “Everlasting God”
(God of everlasting time) Gen. 21:33; Psa. 90:1-3, 93:2; Isa. 26:4.
EL-BERITH:
The generic word for “god” with an attribute added meaning “God of the
Covenant” Used of Baal in Judges 9:46. Probably used originally to refer to the
God of Israel.
EL-GIBHOR:
The generic word for “god” with an attribute added meaning “Mighty God” (Isa.
9:6).
EL ROI:
The generic word for “god” with an attribute added meaning “God of Seeing”
(Hagar in Gen. 16:13.)
We
also have the general word for “god” in Greek.
THEOS: General Greek word for “god” as in English
“god”. Capitalized in the Bible it refers to YHWH.
There
is only one name of God, YHWH, Yahweh or Jehovah. There are attributive
names given to each person of the Trinity by which we may also worship God, as
we may worship Him by naming his attributes above.
FATHER: The Person of the Father, which is also an attribute of
YHWH. 2 Sam. 7:14-15; Psa. 68:5; Isa. 63:16, 64:8; Mal. 1:6.
SON:
The Person of the Son, which is also an attribute of YHWH. Joshua or
Yeshua which means “Savior”, or Jesus in Greek. Messiah (Christ) or
Mashiach or Mashiyach is an attributive name meaning “Anointed One”.
HOLY SPIRIT:
The Person of the Holy Spirit, which is also an attribute of YHWH. Qodesh
Ruwach in Hebrew (Is. 63:10) or Hagios Pneuma in Greek (Luke 11:13).
The
evil that IPM leaders are trying use to diaprax Christians is an attempt to
legitimize the names of the “gods” of other cultures claiming we can worship
YHWH with those names as well. But what do Baal, Osirus, Amon, Marduk,
Molech, ‘Io, Thakur Jiu or Amenomenakanushi have to do with
YHWH? The answer is ... NOTHING! They are false demonic gods who are
not the same as the revelation of YHWH given to Moses as recorded in the
Bible. God was very clear that the gods, and even supreme beings of the
nations including Amon (Jer. 46:25), Marduk (Daniel 3:16-18) and Hadad (1 Kings
20:28) are not Himself and would be judged. We worship a God with a name
... YHWH. That is the name with which He revealed Himself exclusively to
the Jews and later through them to those who believed on Him. His name was
never Baal. It was never Marduk. It was never ‘Io. This is
because there was no special revelation to the cultures that worshipped these
gods about the true God of Israel. To promote worship in the names of other
gods, men, animals, or any created thing, claiming they are YHWH, is blasphemy.
John 10:33 The Jews answered Him, saying, “For a good work we
do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make
Yourself God.”
The
Jewish leaders were correct because for any person, angel or demon to claim
they are God, the “I Am”, when they are not is blasphemy. Jesus Christ
(Yeshua Ha Mashiach) stated that He was the “I AM” clearly in answer to their
questions of Him:
John 8:57-59 “You are not yet fifty years old,” the Jews said
to him, “and you have seen Abraham!” “I tell you the truth,” Jesus answered, “before
Abraham was born, I am! ” At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but
Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.
The
problem with the Jewish religious elite was that they did not recognize that
God had come in the flesh, Jesus Christ. The Son told these leaders Who He
was ... by Name! Christians, true followers of YHWH, recognize that there
is only One God eternally existing in three Persons, Father, Son and Holy
Spirit. All three are named YHWH and all the other gods of the nations are
idols; therefore they are demonic.
Ps 96:5 For all the gods of the nations are idols: but the
LORD (YHWH) made the heavens. (NKJV)
1 Cor. 10:19-20 Do I mean then that a sacrifice offered to an idol
is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, but the sacrifices of pagans
are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants
with demons.
Yet
Danny Lehmann, in his Word to the World radio program on KLHT, aired 6/26/06,
stated this:
“...the big deal is not the name that we use for God, but the concept and the
authority that that God carries with him ...”1
In
light of this half-truth, half-lie, I have to wonder what Lehmann and his YWAM
associates, who are using this strategy of “evangelism”, have to say about the
following verses and scores of others like them:
Ac 4:12 “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is
no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
Php 2:10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of
those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth,
Ps 72:17 His name shall endure forever; His name shall continue as
long as the sun. And men shall be blessed in Him; All nations shall call
Him blessed.
Lu 24:47 “and that repentance and remission of sins should be
preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
Lehmann
cites an example, on his radio show in front of Christians and non-Christians
alike, that the name of a false god of the Santal people of Calcutta, Thakur
Jiu, was used by a Norwegian missionary to explain the Gospel to them. He got
this information from Eternity in Their Hearts by Don Richardson.
“Just the other day we looked a a Norwegian missionary by the name of
Lars Skrefsrud who found that as he used the cultural open door of the Santal,
Santal being a tribal group north of Calcutta in India, the Santal name for God
which was Thakur Jiu, “Thukur” being an adjective that means “genuine” and
“Jiu” which is the Santal name for God, they were able to use that to in
order to help these folks to be able to recognize that Thakur Jiu was the one
true God, He had Jesus Christ as His Son, and then in the discipling
process Lars Skrefsrud discipled them out of their false understanding of God
that was exemplified in Thakur Jiu ...”2
I
am truly sorry to speak ill of the dead, but Lars was in grave
error. First of all, if as Danny claims, Lars taught the Santal people
that Thakur Jiu was the “one true God” with a son named Jesus Christ, and then
went on to “disciple” them by teaching that they
had a “false understanding of God”, that is a contradictory
teaching. Either Thakur Jiu is the true God, or He is not. The fact
is that Thakur Jiu never had a son, nor was his son born a Jew, nor was his
son’s name Yeshua. Even their own obviously syncretized version of their
mythology mentions no son at all. Thakur Jiu is a “supreme being” but is
not YHWH. Here is an explanation from a Santal cultural web site about
Thakur Jiu:
“The Santals like any other tribes in the world recognize and believe
in a Supreme Being who is given a pre-eminent position and is considered to be
the 'supreme' among all the religious beings. The old Gurus are positive that
the Supreme Being is not a Bonga but stands above all, remarks P.O. Bodding
(1932:324). Traditionally, the Santals referred to 'this supreme deity' as
Thakur Jiu. However the most common Santal term used for the Supreme deity
these days is Cando Baba. The Santals here do not refer literally to 'the
Sun itself as most scholars believe but that it is a manifestation of a divine
activity, an expression of divine love in relation to man. Thus the East, - the
direction of the rising Sun has a special significance in Santals
Socio-religious rituals and practices. Hence, the Santals face towards the
East while worshipping or while taking oaths. The Santals have a deep faith
in Cando Baba or the Thakur Jiu who is considered to be the Creator of the
Universe and all that exist in the Universe; and he too is the sustainer. Cando
Baba is a benevolent deity. Referring to the remarks of Kolean, the old Santal
guru, Bodding.(1925:1) writes - God is thought to be fairly well satisfied with
the Santals and will not distress them except when it may be absolutely
necessary. Being a benevolent deity, the Santals do not worry about him much
and there is no specific worship to appease him. However he is
remembered with the deepest honour and humility during the important ceremonies
associated with marriage and death; he is also called upon as a witness to the
solemn oath-takings and is invoked during natural calamities like droughts and
famines; in these occasions a white fowl is sacrificed to appease him.”3
Notice
that there is no mention of a son, and in fact the Santal people did not even
“worship” or “appease” Thakur Jiu. The question for Lehmann is this: did
the Jews tell the Egyptians that Amon was the true God? Did Paul tell the
Greeks that Zeus had another son (who would be among many with different
mythological women according to their religion) whose name was Jesus
Christ? The answer is absolutely never! Lehmann, following the
teaching of Don Richardson in Eternity In Their Hearts, claims that
Gentiles like the Santal, Hawaiians, Japanese and many others already knew God
when the Bible says they did not (Eph. 2:11-13).
1Co 1:21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through
wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the
message preached to save those who believe.
Ga 4:8 But then, indeed, when you did not know God, you served
those which by nature are not gods.
The
Gentiles were dead in their transgressions (Col. 2:13). Lehmann, YWAM and many
other New Apostolic agencies are preaching in DIRECT OPPOSITION to what the
Scriptures teach on this subject. In the process of teaching these things they
are deceiving churches they did not plant and Christians they did not disciple.
Finally, true
followers of YHWH do not invoke or worship false gods, ESPECIALLY calling YHWH
by the names of false Gentile gods.
Exodus 23:13 “And in all that I have said to you, be
circumspect and make no mention of the name of other gods, nor let it be
heard from your mouth. (NKJV)
Exodus 23:13 “Be careful to do everything I have said to you. Do
not invoke the names of other gods; do not let them be heard on your lips.
(NIV)
In
the end times we will see a global apostate religion rise in support of the
global government and antichrist. That apostate world religion, the
corrupt woman who rides the beast, is described as riding that which is
“covered with blasphemous names”.
Re 17:3 So he carried me away in the Spirit into the
wilderness. And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of
names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. (NKJV)
Rev. 17:3 Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a desert.
There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with
blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns. (NIV)
The
woman, the whore of Babylon, the apostate world religion is in full agreement
with the blasphemous worship of false gods. That
fallen-away “church” is coming together now with all the other false religions
of the world and the IPM has made themselves a part of that process, especially
among those who profess to be “Christians”. This use of the names of false
gods in worship, pretending they are YHWH is, in part, a fulfillment of Rev.
17:3. May God have mercy on the souls of those who are leading the
churches into blasphemy, even if they are doing so because they themselves are
deceived (2 Tim. 3:13)!4
Endnotes
1—
Danny Lehmann, Word to the World with host Danny Lehmann, KLHT, 6/26/06
2—Ibid.
3—http://www.aiswacs.org/Santal/religion.htm#thakur
4—Note: I am not a "Holy Name" or "Sacred Name" adherent, and do not agree with some of their unbiblical ideas. But the use of the names of other Gentile gods to worship YHWH is blasphemy according to the Word of God.
