LORD or Yahweh?

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ, based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the Apostle Paul said, �But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

In short, if you like smooth, watered-down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn�t for you. By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we�re called by the Divine Trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her King.

Here�s our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth.

Accents, Translation Apps, and the Problem of Feel-Good Evangelicalism

Welcome to No Compromise Radio ministry, Mike Hafferhorf with Steve Kulaj. Gracias. Did you have to use your Google Translate app when you were in England at all?

You know, it�s funny, because sometimes my wife would look at me and just go, �What are you saying Because I have a little easier time with accents than she does, especially when we got to Scotland, that was quite adventurous sometimes.

Steve, when I was in Europe, I can understand a little bit of German, contextual German. I can understand a little bit of any kind of Spanish language derivative. But French, I didn�t get at all. You know, Italian I could kind of get because it sounded like Espanol a little bit.

So I got the Google app, the Translate app, and you can download it if you don�t have Wi-Fi or anything like that, a SIM card. And you just hold it up to the sign or the menu, and then through the camera, it looks like, it will just translate.

Oh, nice. And it is really, it works out well. I went and had a tooth problem in Germany and they gave me a form to fill out, you know, this whole form. I said, you know, I don�t speak German, well, you must fill out the form.

Which is very German.

You must fill out the form. The form must be filled out.

And anyway, I just held up my Google app, Translate, Translate app, and, you know, have you had anaphylactic responses, da-da-da-da, and filled it out in English, and I was all happy. Very good. I know.

So we need a theological, like Acumen, translator app, Google app, that just changes. You know, you just read an article by Ann Voskamp and it just turns into something really good. It�s like an R .B.

Kuyper article. Well, I think, you know, Ann Voskamp, and you look at the translation and it says, you know, just turns all blank. There�s no theological content here.

How do you, this wasn�t where we�re going to go in the show today, but what do you say is the reason that she�s so popular? I mean, how can she be taking evangelicalism and a lot of leaders by storm?

Because there�s no theological content there. I mean, you answered your own question, you know. I think people, they like to feel good. They like to have the feels. Where was I? I was just reading about that.

It was at this morning somewhere. You know, everybody�s all about the feels and not about, you know, the truth, I guess we could say. Give me the feels. Don�t give me the truth. And all we want is the truth.

Just give me some truth. If you weren�t going to go there, I was.

I knew that. I could see the wheels spinning. Now, John Lennon sang that song, �Give Me Some Truth�, G-I-M-M-E. And then it was covered by someone with a pretty good cover, actually.

I want to reimagine it into a Christian hymn.

No, it wasn�t that, sadly. It was done by Generation X. Billy Idol was the lead singer.

See, you�re more of the punk rock guy, you know. I pretty much checked out of that whole deal.

It doesn�t really serve me well, but I just happen to know some of these things. Steve, back to this Christianity Today type of thing, I did want to say, it�s probably going to sound snarky, there�s a Poverty Cure DVD series, global edition.

Now, you know, it�s good to help people who are poor, but I thought Jesus said the poor you�ll always have. I have a cure for poverty. It�s called the millennium.

When there�s� I never thought about all the food. Christ ruled, you know, justice throughout the world, then I suppose we�ll have no poverty.

As long as you don�t say our amillennial friends are less concerned about poverty because.

Well, you know, our amillennial friends are less concerned about. Not many of them. Listen.

What? I know. I know. I thought we were huge. They�re always talking about, you know, eschatological things and futurism and stuff like that. Future snoopers. Have you read the paper these days and listened to Jimmy DeYoung and maybe.

And compared to Daniel, you know, and.

I one time heard Jimmy DeYoung say something like, �Could it be that Tony Blair would be the Antichrist I thought, wow. I�m just� I�m at the wrong place, I think. The wrong time.

Everybody�s always looking for the Antichrist and, you know, here� let me just give you a clue. You�re not going to be able to tell who it is beforehand. You know, if you could tell, if I could tell you right now who the Antichrist was, well, then we wouldn�t probably need Revelation.

The Divine Name: Yahweh, Adonai, and the Tetragrammaton

Steve, when I read the Old Testament and it says something like, �The Lord is my shepherd� and you say, �Does it Adonai? Is it Yahweh I think to myself, why have these English translators so dropped the ball when it comes to appeasing, I don�t know, Jewish people, those who are afraid to say Yahweh?

It just drives me batty.

And you know what, sometimes, I mean, because I don�t practice it enough and I should be ready. But yeah, I don�t even read it that way. But it�s interesting to me that you mentioned that because I was just reading this thing the other day, you know, the Holman translation, which lasted, I think, for six months.

I mean, it�s interesting now. Translations just come out. Well, they redid it. Yeah. Into the Christian Standard Bible and they took out Yahweh. It was in the original one and then they took it out.

Now I don�t know exactly, but I thought memory told me or is telling me it was in there, Yahweh, but not in every particular place Yahweh was mentioned, but a lot of places. And so I really like that because his name is Yahweh.

I mean, that�s what we have. And if you�re Jewish and you�re afraid to say Yahweh, then, you know, you say HaShem, but I�m not Jewish and I�m not afraid to say it because if I say to my father, my dad�s name was Lee, Lee Henry Abendron.

If I said Leer when I was a kid, he wouldn�t condemn me when I tried to say his name, right? And there�s no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. If I mispronounce God�s name, while I want to pronounce it correctly.

Well, okay, but just to kind of, are you saying your dad would let you call him by his first name? Because my son did that when he was probably about six or seven.

I was not pleased. Well, my father, I could call him dad, daddy, father. I was not allowed to call him sir. He served in the Korean War, went over to Korea, didn�t shoot anybody or anything. He was in supplies or something.

He was too busy fighting other American soldiers, but I wasn�t allowed to call him sir. But I don�t think I ever called him Lee, but my point is if I mispronounce God�s name, I�m not afraid of doing that because it�s already a different language.

I mean, Jesus is real name because it�s an English thing. And what we miss when we just see the word, oh Lord, our Lord, how excellent is your name in all the earth. There�s two different Lords there.

And we just, especially if you hear it, I mean, what if it�s the audio Bible? You know, people are always doing the audio Bible.

All the implications of Yahweh just get vanilla-ed out. I know.

Where you think, okay, that�s his personal name. He�s for some reason giving me his personal name instead of, oh, he�s sovereign. So, oh Yahweh, our Adonai, our sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth?

Here�s this God who meets Moses at the burning bush that doesn�t burn. And he tells him who he is and he always exists and he always is and he who was and who is and is to come and all these kinds of implications.

And I think, you know what? I need, when I see Lord all caps, it�s Yahweh because isn�t that what the text is?

Part of the thing that I�ve been preaching and was intending to preach this week, you know, is it�s about comforting the disciples in the upper room discourse in John 14. And if you look at what does, how does God comfort his people, you know, throughout scripture?

And so often, here�s the general idea, theology. And what do I mean by theology? He says, remember who I am, okay? So, you know, comfort my people, Isaiah 40. What is he telling them? He just talks about who he is, what he�s done, what he will do, you know, what he�s capable of.

And it�s not, you know, don�t worry about it because of whatever reason. It�s don�t worry about it because I am who I am. Trust me. What does Jesus say? Don�t worry about why because of what I will do, you know, and because I�m sending a greater comfort in all these things in 1 Peter 1.

What does he do? You know, remember all these things that God has caused you to be born again and, you know, these treasures are laid out for you in heaven over and over and over again. When you need comfort, the scriptures tell you, remember who God is and what he�s done and what he�s going to do.

When you read Genesis chapter 1, �And God said, and God said, and God said the focus in the beginning, �God created the heavens and earth the focus is on Elohim and he has power and he is a creator.

That�s what I think of Elohim, that�s what I think of and that�s what you should think of. And so you�re realizing, God, this powerful God, he�s creating. And then all of a sudden, I think the first time Lord is used, I could be wrong, I�m just scanning it now, but it says, �For the Lord God had not caused it to rain in the land in chapter 2, verse 5, and then it says, �Then the Lord God formed the man of the dust of the ground.

And then it says in verse 15, �The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden. Off we go, it�s not good that you�re to be alone. Just, if it says Yahweh, would you just please say Yahweh? I mean, the reason why I talk about Steve is Yeshua, the life of Messiah from a Messianic Jewish perspective, Arnold Fruchtenbaum, and probably he�s the least wacky out of all the wackiness when it comes to Messianic Judaism.

Yes. But still, so I had this procedure in New York City, and my doctor, he wears a yarmulke, and he�s Jewish, and I thought well to wear a yarmulke, as a surgeon, as a doctor, you must be pretty committed, and doesn�t do procedures on Shabbat and stuff like that.

Well, after my procedure, I�m just trying to figure out a way to do any kind of evangelism, and any kind of ways I could talk about who the Lord is. So I said to the doctor, I�m still kind of hazy with all the, you know, anesthesia and all that, and I said, �Did I say anything funny when you were putting me under

And he said, �Oh no. He said, �You were fine. And I said, �Well, I�m a pastor, so I know both Greek and Hebrew, and I didn�t know if I started reciting the Shema in Hebrew or not. And see, I thought that was really funny, but since he didn�t laugh at all, either A, he has no humor, sense of humor, or B, he�s not a liberal Jew.

He�s conservative, and that�s not so funny. So I think it�s the second one.

Conservative and Liberal Judaism, Messianic Judaism, and Worship on the Lord’s Day

Trevor Burrus Well, you know what�s interesting though is the ones, the Jews who call themselves conservative are not conservative. If you go to a conservative synagogue, it�s not conservative. It�s totally liberal.

Why are we so stupid and just go, I mean, I didn�t say it to him, but like, �Have you ever heard of Maresh Yahu See, this leads me to another question. Okay, you go to Israel and everything is this Messianic Judaism gone bonkers.

I mean, it is crazy steroidal. Is that a word? Scott Reilly. It is now. Somebody said, you know, all the churches, evangelical churches, they hold their services on Saturday. And I said, �Well, it seems like it�s the Lord�s Days on Sunday, and even if they have to work that day, like the New Testament, people had to work, and so the rich didn�t have to work.

The poor people, they would show up late on Sunday, and you�d have a late night Sunday service. It�s the Lord�s Day. If you were a pastor in Israel, would you have services on Saturday or Sunday, and why?

Trevor Burrus.

I�d have them on Sunday because that�s the Lord�s Day.

But then they�ll say to you, �No one will attend.

I�d have them on Sunday. I mean, I don�t know what to say. I�d be like, well, maybe I�m not cut out for Israel. But I mean, the whole idea that we�re going to adapt to the culture, that�s no different than adapting to the United States culture because people want to be home on Sunday to watch NFL games.

Nobody will show up on Sunday. Okay, well, then let�s have our services on Saturday instead. So they�ll be freed up. I think most churches in America could be called the Church of the First Touchdown or Church of the Los Angeles Rams or the New England Patriots or whatever, because what we worship on Sunday is the Patriots.

On Saturday, that�s when we squeeze in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Trevor Burrus Steve, couldn�t we also talk about churches that have Saturday night services that mimic Sunday services? That is to say, if you want to have a service any day of the week, I�m happy for that.

Wednesday nights, Tuesday nights, Friday nights, you can have worship services anytime you want. Steve Lankford Tuesdays are really good. Trevor Burrus Tuesday guy. Wednesday night is typical, you know, Baptistic, you have the Sunday, you know, middle of the week service, maybe Thursday nights, Monday, Thursday, Friday, there�s a good Friday service.

I don�t know, you can have services all you want. But what I don�t like is if you have a service on Saturday that�s in place of Sunday.

Trevor Burrus. Those are the Bay City Roller Services, S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y. Steve Lankford Do you know how they figured out the name Bay City Rollers?

Trevor Burrus I have no idea. Steve Lankford They got a bunch of guys together, they�re going to have a band, they�re going to be popular with one hit, and they took a globe and spun it, and then they put their finger and stopped the globe, and it was Bay City, I think it�s Michigan or Wisconsin, something like that.

Trevor Burrus But they�re from Scotland. Steve Lankford Well, that�s how they found it, S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y, night. Trevor Burrus Wow, crazy. But I mean,.

They were more than one hit. Wonders, let�s be fair. Steve Lankford. They gave me two songs then.

Trevor Burrus Well, they had a couple hits. Steve Lankford I was stumping the Tuesday guy for music. Trevor Burrus Wait a minute,.

Saturday Night, and I mean, they had, I mean, Dedication, I don�t know if that was a big hit. Oh, Rock and Roll Love Letter, that was a hit. Steve Lankford. I don�t know that. Trevor Burrus. You would recognize it if you heard it.

Steve Lankford. Steve on Friday nights at the Santa Cruz Boardwalk down at the beach, they have free concerts, and they�re these has-been type of bands, and Bad Company, and Santana Without Carlos, that kind of thing.

Wait a minute, Santana. Without Carlos?

Trevor Burrus Seriously, last year we saw Santana, like where�s Carlos? Oh, he�s not here.

Steve Lankford. And Santana minus Santana.

Trevor Burrus. So, two Fridays ago, we were going to go to, last Friday, we were going to go to the concert, and I think it was like a Sha Na Na 50s, Beach Boys kind of deal. Steve Lankford. Sha Na Na were has-beens in the 70s.

Trevor Burrus. I know, it�s so true. But my wife and I have been doing some swing dance, and we thought, oh, let�s go down there and just check it out. We hadn�t been to the concert all year, so I�m coming back to Massachusetts, so we need to go.

Parking was chaotic. I mean, it was crazy. I thought, for Sha Na Na, you�ve got to be kidding me. Fonzie and Bowser and all these things, this is crazy. Santa Cruz, where hemp is not just clothing and rope.

So, we get there, and I said to Kim, I�ve never seen so many stoned people, drunk people, crazy people in my life, and that doesn�t sound like I wish they could all be California girls. It was not Sha Na Na.

It was Smash Mouth. And Hey Now, you�re an all-star, get your game on, man. They were rocking to that. Oh, brother. So, when it comes to Yahweh, back full circle here, if you read something with the small letters, capital L, small O-R-D, it�s usually Adonai.

And when you read L-O-R-D, all caps, it�s the writer�s trying to tell you this is his personal name. And there�s just something about it, Steve, when you read in Psalm 23, Yahweh is my shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd.

You know, the president is my shepherd. The pharaoh is my shepherd. The king is my shepherd. That�s fine, and that�s good. It�s actually true, the ones that are true. But Yahweh, he�s revealed his name.

You know, back in the Eastern culture, if you were superior, you didn�t have to reveal your name to the subordinate. And God, by self-disclosure, by his mercy and kindness, has told us all about him, including his name.

So why wouldn�t I default to Yahweh? Why? I�m afraid of the Jewish. I�m afraid of offending Jews. Last time I checked, there�s a deeper offense, and that�s called the cross of Jesus. Your Messiah was crucified, 1 Corinthians 1.

Pete. Well, I mean, when he made a covenant with Abraham, who was it? You know, was it the Lord, generic, or was it, you know, Yahweh? I mean, the whole thing is, who is the Lord? Who is God? What is his nature?

And it�s not best revealed to us in the Lord, which if we read that, we just think, okay, this is the supreme being, which is true, but that doesn�t tell us the full.

The ESV Study Bible, the Tetragrammaton, and Public Reading of Scripture

Weight of the story. Tom. Absolutely. One of the things that I�ve been wrong on in my life was the ESV Study Bible notes and articles. I didn�t think it was going to be any good, and I found to be very encouraged and edified and informed by the ESV Study Bible.

I regularly look at it and read it, and the articles are great. It doesn�t mean I have to agree with everything, but here�s what it says. In the preface, page 21, in the translation of biblical terms referring to God, ESV takes great care to convey the specific nuances of the meaning of the Hebrew and Greek terms.

First concerning terms that refer to God in the Old Testament, God, the maker of heaven and earth, introduced himself to the people of Israel with a special personal name whose consonants are YHWH. Scholars call this the tetragrammaton, four letters, a Greek term referring to the four letters YHWH.

The exact pronunciation is uncertain because Jewish people consider the personal name of God to be so holy that it should never be spoken aloud. But where is that? I mean, so they consider now, you know, kosher.

What�s kosher today? Just because they do it, I have to do it?

Pete When the guys, and this is slipping through the cracks of my brain here, but when the, because Hebrew does not have vowels in it, and so when they came in and they put the vowel pointing in it hundreds of years later, they, what�s the name of the guys who did it?

The scribes who did it? Aaron Emerson, Lake and Palmer. Pete No, but anyway, there�s a group of men who did this, and they, when they went, when they came to God�s, yeah, Masoretes, yeah.

Aaron. See, we can�t even pronounce it correctly. See, that just goes to show you it shouldn�t be called YHWH, your Lord.

Pete. Yeah, when they came to his name, they intentionally put vowels in there that would make it, you know, that would alert the readers that they should not pronounce it. And so that�s, you know, they�re very specific about that.

Masoretic, yeah, Masoretic text.

Aaron. Instead of reading the word YHWH, they would normally read the Hebrew word Adonai, Lord, and the ancient translations into Greek, Syriac, Aramaic also followed suit. So in other words, today you�ll hear a lot of people say Hashem, the name.

So they�re reading, they see the word YHWH in Hebrew, and then they say Hashem. Well, back in those days, they would say something like Adon, Adon.

Pete Yeah, yeah. When I took Hebrew reading, that�s what we would read was Adonai.

Aaron. An exception to this is when the word Adonai appears together with YHWH, in which case the two words are rendered together, the Lord God, in contrast with the personal name of God, YHWH. The more general name for God in the Old Testament is Elohim, et cetera.

So they tell you up front, but still, when I read a psalm, public scripture reading, I don�t like it when it says Lord, if it�s meaning YHWH, so I just say YHWH.

Pete Wouldn�t it be nice if they�re, you know, like I said, with the Holman thing, I mean, if they would have stuck to their guns there, I would have been like, man, I know we�ve gone through a few, you know, official translation changes, but that should be the one.

Aaron Well, yeah, I mean, strike one,.

But that would have been, I mean, finally, I would have thought somebody who�s got enough courage to say, it says YHWH, let�s do it, right? The Lord is my shepherd. Okay, YHWH is my particular shepherd.

I don�t know where else I just was thinking about something about the Ancient of Days and Daniel chapter 7. Pete. Daniel, I�ll get out the newspaper. Sorry. Aaron. Or maybe in 1 Kings with Elijah, I just automatically begin to think it�s talking about YHWH in these situations because the Lord�s name is at stake, and it says here, Elijah took the 12 stones according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob to whom the word of YHWH came.

Anyway, I just saw this Yahshua thing and thought about Shema and everything else. So, I know you�re looking up something.

Pete Yeah, no, it�s not important. I was just thinking about something somebody asked me actually this morning about, you know, there was this article about did God have a wife and, you know, was it referred to in the Old Testament and the Asherah, you know, and I�m like, oh, yeah, no, it wasn�t a wife.

Actually, those were idols, you know, and so I�m just kind of did God have a wife?

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