The hurt these people have caused my family in the name of their religion is truly amazing. It has made me conclude that they serve a different god than the one we serve.
          First, you should know that we were second and third generation members of a oneness pentecostal church near the town of White House, Tennessee. This church changed what it formerly believed to become a Sacred Name church.
         In 1992 and 1993, the minister started preaching and teaching what he told us were the Hebrew names of God. He called the God of the Old Testament YHWH. This he said should be pronounced "Yah-wah."
   At first he said our Savior's name was Yasha. He pronounced it like the name of the great Russian born Jewish violinist, Yasha Heifetz. Later he linked it with YHWH and said it was YHWH YHWSH. This combination he pronounced as "Yah-wah Yash-wah."
   [NOTE: You may have noticed, as we did, that the SH is in the last syllable of the written word, YHWSH, but in the first syllable of the pronunciation, Yash-wah. Little inconsistencies like this seemed to go unnoticed by most people in the congregation.]
          Through all this teaching, this man maintained that he was not vocalizing any vowels as he pronounced these names. The logic for this was something like, the Hebrew language does not use vowels and neither are we. This kind of logic and misappropriation of facts is pervasive within the religious movement promoting the use of the sacred names.
   [NOTE: The ancient Hebrew written language used no vowels. But as language cannot be spoken without vowels, the spoken Hebrew certainly did use vowels.]
          I researched this teaching and was very surprised to learn that the pronunciations he was using were not Hebrew at all. These were pronunciations that this man and others in their ignorance had simply invented.
          It seemed to me that they were basing their service to God almost solely on the use of these "sacred names." Knowing, as I did, that these names were simply made up, I could do no less than reject them. Salvation cannot be predicated upon using a made up name.
          I later learned that one of the women in the church told the preacher that God had revealed to her the correct pronunciation of the Savior's name - Yash-wah. He changed his pronunciations to match hers. In August of 1993, he apologized to the congregation for any part he "may have had" in their mispronunciation of the name.
          Hebrew scholars do not use these pronunciations. Bible language scholars and Bible history scholars do not use these pronunciations. Jewish people do not use these pronunciations. But this sacred name congregation uses these pronunciations because they had a "revelation from God." This minister said that he got what he taught just like Paul got what he taught, directly from God. 
  
           WE REFUSED TO LEAVE THE TRUTH!

          When the church changed its beliefs to coincide with this man's teachings, they were rebaptized, in 1994, in the name of Yahwah Yashwah. My family and I held true to what we had always believed. We exited the congregation in late 1993, before this man held his baptismal service. We refused to go along with this made up teaching in order to keep our place in the church. We had to stand for the truth no matter what our friends and family were doing. Because of this, we were treated like we had leprosy and worse.
          Friends and family members who stayed in that group will no longer associate with us. They have told us that it is like we are dead to them. Some even said they will not ever again be in the same room with me. Some have refused to attend weddings because I performed the ceremony. Two of my daughter-in-law's sisters and her mother refused to even come to her baby's shower because my son an his wife are no longer members of their church.  It would appear that their leader told them not to come. He controls their lives. Because of this, my daughter-in-law's mother seldom sees her grandson. He is growing up without her. This is such a shame!
         We had to leave that church to stand for the name of Jesus. We left that church, but we did not leave the Truth. 
  

          When we left, the Powers of Darkness rose up against us. Attacks began to be made on our character. Gossip began to circulate that we were liars, thieves, spiritual wolves, adulterers, fornicators, and other such nonsense. It was said of us that we were rebellious, that we just wanted to get away from any kind of authority, that evil spirits had taken us over, and other less complimentary words.
          Every one of these accusations are false. But these lies are still being circulated and believed among these people. We were advised that we would have a good defamation of character and slander case in court, but until now we have not pursued this avenue.
          These false accusations were made only to dehumanize us and kill our credibility and influence among the people who had loved us for so many years.
        All this happened some years ago. Yet we are still being persecuted till this very day. I conducted a funeral service a few days ago. After the service, my son, my wife, and I went to a local restaurant for lunch. A couple with whom we had been close friends came into the building and were waiting to be seated. They looked into the dining room and saw us already seated. They immediately turned and left the restaurant without speaking to us.
          While we were in this church, our family was as well respected as any family in the church. When we left, we suddenly became evil personified, if one is to believe the gossip mill.
          Why are we persecuted by these people? The reason is simple enough. We stood firm for the name of Jesus. We refused to accept this "New Revelation." We went against the "leader" of this group. We held to God's word, the Bible, instead of the leader's word, his imagination. We simply do not believe and accept the sacred name doctrine this preacher began teaching. We rejected their spiritual leader and his pet teaching.
          Now, many people whom we have known for years will not even speak to us. They go to the other side of a store or street to keep from speaking to us. Some will walk right by and when we speak to them, they act as if we were not there. More that once, we have been in restaurants when some of these sacred name people entered and upon seeing us left the premises, refusing to eat where we were.
          My daughter has received one harassing phone call. One is enough. She was home alone at night when a despicable person phoned her and in an obviously disguised, gruff, and whispered voice called her, "Backslider," and hung up.
          I have received a number of threatening phone calls. Someone calls who feels that God has appointed them to tell me what he thinks of me. A call or two has been about how God will get me sooner or later. One sad person called to accuse, threaten, and try to intimidate me into not telling the story of what has happened to my family and me. He was most angry about the Cult Awareness Seminar I give.
          I told him I love him. What can you say to someone like that?
          Yes, I have been threatened with bodily harm. If you think all the religious zealots with hatred in their hearts are in the Middle East or Northern Ireland, you need to think again. Sit and talk with my family and me for an hour or two. None of us has been deterred in the least from serving the Lord Jesus by these intimidation tactics. 
  
           ENEMIES OF gOD?

          When the leader of the group says we are his enemies and the enemies of his god, how can you expect the congregation to act?
          Here is a statement this man made in a sermon about those of us who left, "It would please me if God would just take 'em off of the face of the earth."
          This pitiful man actually hopes we will die. Let him keep hoping. Is it any wonder my life has been threatened.
          When the leader of the group says such inflammatory things, when he encourages the congregation not to shake our hands, not to speak to us or have anything to do with us and then states openly how it would cause him pleasure if God would take us off of the face of the earth, someone in the congregation is likely to do some extreme acts.
          Such a god! It is certainly an interesting study in human behavior. It surely is not godly behavior.
          If this is how receiving the revelation of the sacred name causes one to be, why would anybody want it revealed to them? 
  
            LETTERS WE HAVE RECEIVED

          Here are excerpts from letters we received from former friends who remained in that assembly.

          1. "If you are not for YHWSH, you are against him & that makes you my enemy too." [We did nothing except keep believing what we had believed and we are now someone's enemies.]

          2. "You have done worse than all the preachers thats been here and there has been many." [I was this lady's pastor for over twenty years. As you can see, she thinks I am the worst of the worst.]

          3. "Enclosed is the 20 dollars you sent J----- for his birthday. We felt to return it to you." [This, from my wife's niece when we sent her son a birthday gift. She refused to let us be part of this little boy's life anymore. When this child, who loved us so dearly, sees us now he does not even speak to us. How sad. My wife still cries many tears for this little boy.]

          4. "God has been showing us what you are. A SNAKE. As you know the word of God teaches us a snake or serpent is called the devil." "I feel like I can't stand to look at you, with pride written all over your face." [This letter is signed by a couple with whom we went on vacation, stayed in their home, regularly ate out, and had many wonderful and good times.]

          The sad part of all this is that these things are done with the blessing and encouragement of the leader of this group. 
          

WOLVES, LITTLE WOLVES, AND PUPPIES

          Here is an interesting occurrence which exemplifies the thinking and attitude of this sacred name leader and his assembly.

          My wife's mother died Thanksgiving week, 1998. This same sacred name preacher was in charge of the funeral service. After spending less than a minute (I timed it.) telling about the life of my mother-in-law, (She was a great and courageous Christian lady who had done many good and often sacrificial deeds for the name of Jesus, for the advancement of his kingdom, and never believed the sacred name teaching.) the preacher spent the rest of his time teaching and attempting to prove the doctrine of the sacred name. While at the same time saying that if this lady had ever heard his doctrine, she would have believed it.
          Three pastors were there, including myself, who were associated with this church before it went into the Sacred Name Movement. The sacred name leader, who could not find more than a minute to speak about this fine Christian lady's life, found time to do the most insensitive and asinine thing I have ever witnessed at a funeral. With this good lady's seven children present, knowing that four of them did not agree with his teaching, he derisively challenged those who disagree with him to either "put up or shut up." These four family members and a number of extended family members, not to mention others who were just friends of the family, took this inordinate challenge as no challenge at all, but only a malicious personal insult. They took it as an affront to their mother's memory. They also see it as a rash and uncaring offense against the memory they will have of their mother's funeral service. If ever there were to be a time or place for such a thing as he did, this funeral service was neither.
          Since that funeral service, this man has taken an extra ordinary amount of time delivering harangues to his people about staying away from the "three wolves"- the three pastors who were there. He put pictures of three wolves on his overhead projector to graphically illustrate his point for the congregation. He has told them to also stay away from the little wolves. By this he indicates our children, who are all adults.
          This sad and fear filled man, who apparently cannot tell how contemptible his words sound, told his congregation to have nothing to do with the puppy wolves. He is talking about our innocent grand children. There are five between the three of us. This attempt to demonize even our babe-in-arms grand children, shows the level to which this man has devolved.
          But, God works all things together for good. At least one fine person took all they could take of this nonsense and has since left that sacred name assembly saying that they will not go back.

CONCLUSION

         This has been a very traumatic experience for my family and me. However, the experience has given us the ability to view the sacred name doctrine from a perspective not shared by most people.

         None of us will ever believe the sacred name doctrine, not because we had a bad experience, but because we see it for what it is, error. At the same time, neither will we ever be back as part of that congregation.

         We got out. Now, if we can find others who are inclined toward getting out of a sacred name assembly, we make it our goal to help them get out.

         We still serve Jesus. Satan may loudly roar, but he has no teeth. His teeth were pulled on a hill outside Jerusalem hundreds of years ago.