Among the different religions of the world, there are many different religous figures who are revered, and or worshipped, or given the status of gods. And of all these various religions, they have no problem speaking the name of their god. In Islam the defiantly chant, "Allahu akbar" (Allah is greater!), In Buddhism, the adherents often quote, refer to and model their lives after the Buddah. Hindus have many gods, such as Vishnu, Krishna, Shiva, Lakshmi, Durga, to name a few....
But did you ever notice it's not that way in Chrisitanity (and Judaism to a lesser extent). In Christianity, it's followers have to hide behind a translation. They never speak the name of their God, the one true God, but hide behind a translation of a title meaning master. But then difficulties arise... the worshipper has to rely upon the knowledge, intent/agenda and resources of the translators of their religous text, especially and primarily when the original tests are not in that followers native tongue (ie, language).
So in Christianity, the name most often used for their God, is "Lord", or "LORD." This implies someone who has control over, lordship over, or a mastery over a specific object or region. One day a few weeks ago, I heard someone suggest to look up the definition of "Lord" on the Merriam Webster dictionary. Happening to have that on my phone, I typed it in, and found at the bottom of the entry, it indicated the Heb. origin was none other than Ba'al! Hmmmph!
Good Lord! Not really. For those of you who have ventured to study the historical development of the evolution of religious gods/deities, you will know that Ba'al, the sun-god, worshiped in Egypt as Ra, Sumeria (ancient Babylon in Iraq/Persia) as Ba'al, is based on the myth of Gilgamesh, known in the Bible as Nimrod, who was the one-world ruler over mankind of his day, when the earth was still being populated.
I went to Merriam Webster dictionary on the larger screened PC computer, and could not find this reference, but it was stating that the first known use of the (etymological origin) of the word was in the 12 C. Europe, hlaford, a loaf-keeper. Hmmmph? Why the discrepancies? So I researched a little more, and found it at dictionary.com. See below. I pasted the pertinent section.
(4.) Heb. ba'al, a master, as having domination. This word is applied to human relations, as that of husband, to persons skilled in some art or profession, and to heathen deities. "The men of Shechem," literally"the baals of Shechem" (Judg. 9:2, 3). These were the Israelite inhabitants who had reduced the Canaanites to a condition of vassalage (Josh. 16:10;17:13). (5.) Heb. seren, applied exclusively to the "lords of the Philistines"(Judg. 3:3). The LXX. render it by satrapies. At this period the Philistines were not, as at a later period (1 Sam. 21:10), under a kingly government.(See Josh. 13:3; 1 Sam. 6:18.) There were five such lordships, viz., Gath,Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, and Ekron.
(posted from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/lord)
In Genesis 10, Nimrod is credited with founding eight cities, both in the land of Shinar (ancient Persia/Sumeria) and in Assyria (modern Syria), which contains some of the longest inhabited cities of the world! He is credited with being the founder and leader at the building of the tower of Babel, and in the Israelite historic writings, he is said to have organized three parties in their attempt to dethrone the God of heaven! One of the groups indeed, shot arrows into heaven from atop the tower at Babel before their languages were confused.
So the conclusion is, when you are (in English) using the word "Lord" in reference to the one true Creator God of the universe, you are calling the name of Ba'al or Nimrod, the proto-type of the coming one-world ruler and Anti-Christ. And it's extremely frustrating, I have found in my own experience, trying to correct the problem, because the word "Lord" is so ingrained in my habit of referring to Yhwh, King of the Universe. It is in our Bibles, which note *it is a 'device" to refer to the name of the Hebrew God of scriptures. Why not use the device of Buddah, or Krishna? Because that would be outright recognized as idolatry! It is also found in Hymnals, praise songs, and certainly cultural cliches of amazement or disbelief, "Good Lord!" But I want to suggest, Ba'al was not good, but wicked!
I don't know about you guys, but something funny is up! I now try to speak the Biblical names of God. Call it reconnecting with my Hebrew roots... as if that's a bad thing! Didn't Yeshua our Adonai (see!) teach "salvation is of the Jews" (John 4:22)? My Savior was Hebrew, coming in fulfillment of the promise Yhwh made to Abraham and the Hebrews descended from him!
And that could very well lead to another post... have you ever thought about why they don't translate the Hebrew name of the messiah Yehoshua as Joshua, instead of "Jesus"? Jesus sounds more palatable to pagan ears, more similar to the names of gods they were used to worshipping, such as Ze-us, Dionysius, etc., with the "-sus" ending. But nowhere in the original Hebrew texts is "Jesus" used. The name "Jesus" does not translate into Hebrew. This is significant, because it involves the concept of the meaning of the name "Ye-hoshua," which means, "Yahweh is salvation!"
Elohim, our Creator, created all of creation through speaking, the spoken word. We are created (intimately, caringly) in His image, with the ability to speak, and we are warned in the Bible of the consequences of the words we speak. "Death and Life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit" (Prov. 18:21). So when we speak the name Yehoshua, or the shortened form Y'shua, we are proclaiming a Biblical truth, that Yhwh is salvation! It is a shout of defeat over the enemy, who was set up camp all over this world, in his attempt to become as the one true God (cf. Is. 14). The spirits and the fallen watchers wince at the sound of the name Yeshua!
Remember, we are told in 1 John 5:19 that "the entire world lies in the control of the evil one." That means he might even have agents within Biblical translation societies, certainly many TV preachers, and Y'shua Himself taught that in the last days there would be many false prophets, and many antichrists (1 Jn. 2:18-19; Mt. 24:24), to lead astray, and even deceive the elect.
And maybe the awakening to this knowledge is a fulfillment of the Last days spoken of in Hosea 2:16 - "It will come about in that day," declares the Yhwh, "that you will call me Ishi ["my Man", ie, "Husband"] and no longer call me Baali ["my Lord" or "master"]"!
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