Sacred Name Groups
Sacred Name Groups
Assemblies of the Called Out Ones of Yah
House of Yahweh (Abilene, Texas)
Missionary Dispensary Bible Research
Scripture Research Association
Yahweh’s New Covenant Assembly
Assemblies of the Called Out Ones of Yah
Current address not obtained for this edition.
The Assemblies of the Called Out Ones of Yah began in 1974 when Sam Surratt, a believer who had previously been convinced that “Yah” was the correct name of the Creator and “Yeshuah” that of his son, the Messiah, felt compelled to create a unity of the truly Called Out Ones of Yah. Surratt felt that the true church would be guided by Yah through Yeshuah and the Holy Spirit, rather than by one leader, and that leaders would be chosen by casting lots. Following a biblical pattern, the Called Out Ones are led by twelve apostles, the seven, and the seventy. The seven, which constitute the officers for the Assemblies, are elected for two-year terms and, together with the seventy (directors at large), comprise the board of directors.
The Assemblies follows the main ideas of the Sacred Name Movement and is very clear in its rejection of both the Trinitarian position and the “Oneness” or “Jesus Only” position of some Pentecostals. The Assemblies teaches the importance of the baptism of the Holy Spirit and of the reception of the gifts of the Spirit (1 Corinthians 12). Members refrain from military duty, but will accept alternative humanitarian government service. Members tithe 10 percent of their increase (net income) annually. A second tithe is given during the annual feast days (Deuteronomy 14: 22–26), and every third year there is a poor fund tithe. Baptism is by immersion. Weekly worship is on the Sabbath.
In the early 1970s Surratt began to send literature to Sacred Name and Sabbatarian believers across the United States and abroad. He built a mailing list of many thousands that has produced some new members who have begun local assemblies. Branch chapters were designated wherever two or more of the Called Out Ones gathered. Surratt died in 1990 and the present status of the church is unknown.
Membership
Not reported. According to the Assemblies, the Called Out Ones of Yah consists of the great multitude (which no one can number) from all nations being called out by Yah from all Babylonish religions to serve with Yeshuah in the coming kingdom. This multitude numbers more than 144,000.
Periodicals
Called Out Ones Bible Thought Provoker Messenger.
Sources
Let Us Reason Ministries. www.letusreason.org/Default.htm.
Surratt, Sam. “Judge” or “Be Judged,” That’s the Question. Jackson, TN: Assemblies of the Called Out Ones of Yah, n.d.
———. The Point of No Return. Jackson, TN: Assemblies of the Called Out Ones of Yah, n.d.
———. Virgin Lamps. Jackson, TN: Assemblies of the Called Out Ones of Yah, 1977.
Assemblies of Yahweh
PO Box C, Bethel, PA 19507
Jacob O. Meyer (b. 1934), a former member of the Church of the Brethren, left the church of his childhood and began a spiritual pilgrimage that led him to a small independent Sacred Name assembly meeting in Hamburg, Pennsylvania. In 1964 he moved to Idaho to become assistant editor of the Sacred Name Herald. In 1965 at a Feast of Tabernacles meeting in Nevada, Missouri, he was consecrated for the ministry. Then in 1966, after having previously moved to Bethel, Pennsylvania, near to his birthplace, he began his radio ministry. The Sacred Name Broadcast first aired over a station in Baltimore, Maryland. A magazine, The Sacred Name Broadcaster, was begun in 1968. In 1969, to facilitate the preaching of the Sacred Name message, Meyer founded the Assemblies of Yahweh. Elders were ordained. As the membership grew, a second periodical for members only, The Narrow Way, was added. Under Meyer’s leadership the Assemblies has grown into the largest Sacred Name organization in the world. The Assemblies also publishes its own version of the Sacred Scriptures.
Doctrinally, the Assemblies of Yahweh has concepts at variance with Christianity. Members affirm “that in order to interpret correctly the Inspired Scriptures, we must use the Old Testament as a basis of our faith.” This hermeneutical position asserting the dominance of the Old Testament in biblical interpretation is related to a belief that the Israelite faith and Judaism are basic. The Assemblies teaches the necessity of believers’affirming the divine names Yahweh and Yahshua, the marks of the Divine Father that stand in contrast to the mark of the beast (Rev. 13: 16–17). A non-Trinitarian position is maintained. All the Old Testament commandments, including the feast days and excepting only the ritual and annual sacrifice laws, must be kept. Tithing is stressed. Women cover their heads for worship and wear modest dress. Nonviolence and conscientious objection to war are stressed.
The Assemblies of Yahweh is headed by a directing elder acting as an earthly shepherd under the Savior, Yahshua the Messiah. Under his direction are the ordained preaching elders who serve in spiritual matters and the deacons who handle temporal affairs. Under these members (who are always males) are the senior missionaries and missionaries (who may be either male or female). Affiliated assemblies are located in more than 100 countries around the world. The missionary thrust, both foreign and domestic, is concentrated through the Sacred Name Broadcast, heard over 24 stations across the United States and in foreign countries. In addition, the shortwave radio station WMLK, owned and operated by the Assemblies of Yahweh, is heard in 75 countries. The Sacred Name Telecast, a half-hour program, is aired weekly over more than 10 outlets. Listeners and viewers may receive a wide variety of literature and enroll in a correspondence course. Foreign offices are maintained in England, the Philippines, and Trinidad. Affiliated members are found in 120 countries.
Membership
The Assemblies does not count members but estimates the number to be several thousand. There are 75 congregations and six elders (ministers).
Educational Facilities
Obadiah School of the Bible, Bethel, Pennsylvania.
Dalet School (K-12), Bethel, Pennsylvania.
Periodicals
The Sacred Name Broadcaster. • The Narrow Way. • Missionary News.
Sources
Assemblies of Yahweh. www.assembliesofyahweh.com.
Meyer, Jacob O. Exploding the Inspired Greek New Testament Myth. Bethel, PA: Assemblies of Yahweh, 1978.
———. The Memorial Name: Yahweh. Bethel, PA: Assemblies of Yahweh, 1978.
Psalms, Anthems, Spiritual Songs for the Assemblies of Yahweh. Bethel, PA: Assemblies of Yahweh, n.d.
The Sacred Scriptures, Bethel Edition. Bethel, PA: Assemblies of Yahweh, 1981.
Statement of Doctrine. Bethel, PA: Assemblies of Yahweh, 1981.
Assembly of Yahvah
PO Box 89, Windfield, AL 35594
Among the first to accept the idea of the Sacred Name movement were Elder Lorenzo Snow (b. 1913) and his wife, Icie Lela Paris Snow (b. 1912), members of the Seventh-day Church of God at Fort Smith, Arkansas. They affiliated with the original Assembly of Yahweh led by C. O. Dodd, and Lorenzo Snow was licensed to preach by the church in the early 1940s. In 1945 he began publishing The Yahwist Field Reporter. Four years later, he moved to Emory, Texas, where he and other sacred name believers attending a camp meeting formed the Assembly of Yahvah, using the spelling of the Creator’s name that Snow had come to believe was most correct. Elder Snow served as overseer until 1961; he was succeeded by Howard Jefferson, James Pridmore, and Wilburn Stricklin, and Snow himself served two additional terms. From 1945 to 1961 Snow also served as editor of the Reporter (now The Elijah Messenger). In 1970 he began a second periodical, The World Today, which also serves the assembly.
The Assembly of Yahvah differs from most sacred name groups on two points. First, it uses the spellings Yahvah and Yahshua (Jesus). Second, it teaches that the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the nine gifts of the Spirit (1 Cor. 12) are operative for believers today. The assembly further affirms the necessity of keeping all Ten Commandments, including worship on the Sabbath (Saturday). It affirms the virgin birth of Yahshua, salvation by faith in Yahshua, and the necessity of sanctification. Water baptism by immersion is practiced. Members are required to dress modestly and abstain from all intoxicating substances.
The church has been headed since 1984 by an assembly council consisting of assembly ministers and elders. There is an annual camp meeting in July.
Membership
Not reported.
Periodicals
The Elijah Messenger.
Sources
Major Beliefs of the Assembly of Yahvah. Winfield, AL: Assembly of Yahvah, 1977.
Assembly of Yahweh
1017 N Gunnell Rd., Eaton Rapids, MI 48827
The Sacred Name movement began among members of the Seventh-Day Church of God during the 1930s. Possibly the oldest surviving assembly is the Assembly of Yahweh in Eaton Rapids, Michigan, originally chartered as the Assembly of YHWH. Among its charter members were Joseph Owsinski, John Bigelow Briggs, Squire LaRue Cessna, Harlan Van Camp, George Reiss, Daniel Morris, William L. Bodine, John M. Cardona, Edmund P. Roche, and Marvin Gay. The original charter allowed some variation in the spelling of the Sacred Name, but Yahweh came to be accepted. The Assembly of Yahweh associated with other independent assemblies, in large part through the efforts of C. O. Dodd, an early Sacred Name advocate.
Dodd founded a magazine, The Faith, at Salem, West Virginia, in 1937, originally to promote the observance of Yahweh’s feasts (as described in the Old Testament) among the members of the Seventh Day Church of God. In 1938 he organized the Faith Bible and Tract Society. Within a few years Dodd had become convinced of the Sacred Name position and began promoting it in the pages of The Faith. The magazine tied together the growing movement and became a major instrument in its spread. After Dodd’s death it was passed to several assemblies until 1969, when the assembly at Eaton Rapids took responsibility for publishing it. The Faith Bible and Tract Society was continued by Dodd’s family in Amherst, Ohio.
A lengthy statement of faith asserts the assembly’s aim to remove the names substituted by man for the true names: Yahweh, the Father, and his son, Yahsua the Messiah. To that end, the assembly has published an edition of Old and New Testament scriptures with the names restored. The assembly upholds the Ten Commandments, including the seventh-day Sabbath, and practices foot-washing, baptism by immersion, and the festivals according to Leviticus 23. The Old Testament food laws are advocated, as are tithing and divine healing. The assembly is non-Trinitarian. Though autonomous, it has fellowship and communication with like assemblies across the United States and in some 30 countries worldwide.
The assembly also sponsors a Wellness Center, which conducts two-week programs on the techniques for preparing “Living Foods”—blending, fermentation, dehydration—and on the use of organic foods such as seeds, nuts, grains, fruits, and vegetables.
Membership
Not reported.
Periodicals
The Faith. Available from PO Box 102, Holt, MI 48842.
Sources
Assembly of Yahweh. www.assemblyofyahweh.com/.
Snow, E. D. “A Brief History of the Name Movement in America.” The Faith 45 (January—February 1982).
Assembly of YHWHHOSHUA
56100 Hwy. 50 E, PO Box 278, Boone, CO 81025
The Assembly of YHWHHOSHUA is a small Sacred Name group in Colorado. It differs from other Sacred Name groups in its designation of YHWH (as opposed to Yah, Yahweh, or Yahvah) as the true revealed name of the Almighty, and YHWHHOSHUA (YHWH plus HOSHUA) as the name of the Messiah (as opposed to Yahshua or Yahoshua). The Assembly of YHWHHOSHUA is not affiliated with any other Sacred Name body. It was founded in the 1970s by Laycher Gonzales, who said he first learned of the name of God from a hitchhiking prospector named O. K. Skidmore. Believing that the Hebrew words YHWH (Yahweh without the vowels) and HOSHUA (Joshua) are the only true names for God and Jesus, church members blot out of their books all other names for God.
The assembly is one of several Sacred Name groups to accept the Pentecostal emphases on the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Members believe in water baptism along with receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit, evidenced by speaking in new tongues and by a marked improvement in life as manifested by the fruits of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22–23). The church also teaches the oneness of YHWH—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—rather than the Trinity. The assembly has developed a strict mode of living, and members strive to be a daily witness and example of the things taught by YHWHHOSHUA, beginning with modest dress, the eating of pure natural foods, and abstaining from sin and the lusts of the world.
The assembly teaches that the Roman Catholic Church and her daughter churches are the “great whore” referred to in Revelations 17, and that the United States is modern Babylon (Revelations 18). Because of that belief, members do not pay taxes or contribute to social security (in accordance with Matt. 6:19–21). Social Security numbers are believed to be a form of governmental control leading to the mark of the Beast (Rev. 14:16, 17).
Traditional holidays such as Christmas, New Year’s, Easter, and Halloween that have their origins in pagan holidays are not celebrated. However, members keep Passover in remembrance of YHWHHOSHUA’S sacrifice for redemption. Members rely on prayer and faith healing rather than on doctors. Along with other commandments, the assembly firmly believes in keeping Saturday, the seventh day, as the sabbath; on that day members refrain from work, buying, and selling.
Women in the assembly keep house and rear the children (Titus 2:3–5). Only men may become ministers. The assembly also supports its own parochial school to provide its children with a sound education, upright morals, and a religious background.
The common names for the months and the weekdays are not used because they have pagan origins. Children are educated in church schools with Mennonite textbooks. Science is considered unnecessary and is ignored. A modest dress code requires wearing loose robes over street clothes at all times. Alcohol, tobacco, drugs, jewelry, dancing, dating, cologne, and haircuts are forbidden. Secular and religious artwork is considered blasphemous.
Membership
Not reported.
Bible Study Association
28877 Summerville Rd., Eugene, OR 97405
The Bible Study Association is a small Sacred Name group with roots in the Worldwide Church of God, with which it shares a basic doctrinal perspective. It was founded in 1980 by Davis B. Northnagel Sr. and Donald Goddard. The group does not believe in evangelizing and focuses its efforts upon in-depth research on the Bible and personal growth.
Membership
Not reported.
Church of God (Jerusalem)
PO Box 10184, Jerusalem, 91101 Israel
Elder A. N. Dugger (d. 1975) was one of the leaders of the Church of God (Seventh-day) who advocated a more biblical form of church government and who helped organize the Church of God with headquarters at Salem, West Virginia, in 1933. For several years he edited that church’s periodical, the Bible Advocate. In spite of the controversies in which he was involved, in 1931 the Church of God sent Dugger to Jerusalem to begin work on moving the world headquarters there when possible. The work was established with the help of Elder Henry Cohen, a Hebrew Christian. At the reorganization meeting in Salem in 1933, a resolution passed to reaffirm the moving of the headquarters to Jerusalem, and money was collected for a headquarters building. Then in the late 1930s Dugger became closely identified with C. O. Dodd, editor of the independent magazine The Faith, which was founded to promote the observance of the Old Testament feast days and then the Sacred Name movement. However, unlike Dodd, Dugger did not leave the Church of God. In 1950, following the merger of the Salem organization with the Church of God (Seventh-day), Dugger became a leader of one faction of the “Back to Salem” movement, a small group that rejected the merger. The Seventh-day Church of God, reestablished in Salem, voted to reject the idea of a headquarters in Jerusalem. Spurred by Israel’s becoming an independent state in 1948, Dugger formed his own group, which goes under various names—Church of God, Congregation of Elohim, and Family of Elohim. He moved to Jerusalem and in 1953 began to publish the Mount Zion Reporter.
Dugger represented a middle ground between the Church of God (Seventh-day) and the Sacred Name movement. Though he basically accepted the same theology as C. O. Dodd, with whom he coauthored an important apology for the Church of God (Seventh-day), and used the Sacred Names, he did not emphasize the names as do other branches of the movement. He noted his distress at the various names for the mighty Creator and his Son that were being used in the Holy Land: “This is surely not pleasing to them, or to the Holy Angels in their presence.… These names are in the Hebrew language.”
Dugger’s emphasis was much more on eschatology, particularly as it relates to the prophetic significance of reestablished Israel. According to Dugger’s interpretation of prophecy, the Abomination of Desolation (Dan. 11:31) occurred in 622, the date of Mohammed’s choosing of his disciples and the beginning of his flight from Mecca. The exact date is either 622 or 632. Moslem calendars begin at that point, the Hegira. From that time, there would be 1,290 days (or years) until the consummation. In 1912 World War I began in the Balkans. After this began, there could be only one generation (45 years) until the end. Thus, the end is imminent.
In Jerusalem Dugger began a Hebrew-Christian ministry and publishing concern that prints books, numerous booklets and tracts, church-school material, resources for a correspondence course, and several periodicals. Members are scattered around the world. Following Dugger’s death in 1975, the work of the church passed into the hands of his wife, Effie Dugger, his daughter Naomi Dugger Fauth, and his son-in-law, Gordon Fauth. They keep in touch with members and assemblies around the world and in the United States through their regular mailings and voluminous correspondence.
A. N. Dugger’s son Charles Andy Dugger broke with the family and began another group, Workers Together with Elohim.
Membership
Not reported.
Periodicals
The Mount Zion Reporter.
Sources
Dugger, A. N. A Bible Reading for the Home Fireside. Reprint. Decatur, MI: Johnson Graphics, 1982.
Dugger, A. N., and C. O. Dodd. A History of the True Religion. Jerusalem: Mt. Zion Reporter, 1968.
House of Yahweh (Abilene, Texas)
Box 2498, Abilene, TX 79604
Among the people with whom Jacob Hawkins (d. 1991), founder of the House of Yahweh (Odessa, Texas), communicated during his inspired discovery of the Name of the true organization of the Called Out Ones of Yahweh was his brother Yisrayl B. Hawkins of Abilene, Texas. Yisrayl aided Jacob in building the sanctuary of the House of Yahweh in Odessa, Texas, even while Jacob was in Israel. However, in 1980, Yisrayl Hawkins began to hold Sabbath services outside Abilene, Texas, in a mobile home refurbished as a sanctuary, after he became convinced of the necessity of establishing the House of Yahweh according to the prophecies of Micah 4:1–2 and Isaiah 2:2. He asserted that the chartering of the House of Yahweh in Abilene by the State of Texas (and its subsequent recognition by the Internal Revenue Service) demonstrated that his the House of Yahweh was exalted above every other form of government and religion. It was thus the fulfillment of the prophecy regarding the establishment of Yahweh’s House in the last days ushered in by the coming of Yahshua Messiah.
Yahweh is the head of the House of Yahweh. Yahshua Messiah is the High Priest over the House of Yahweh. The overseer of the international headquarters of the House of Yahweh, Abilene, is Yisrayl B. Hawkins, who is assisted by the kahans (elders) and deacons, as well as female judges, kohanahs, and deaconesses. Weekly worship is now held in the sanctuary building in the surrounding area of Abilene each Sabbath (Saturday) morning. The sighting of the New Moon is celebrated and the Holy days, as commanded in Leviticus 23, are observed, including the weekly Seventh Day Sabbath, Yahshua’s Memorial, Yahweh’s Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Day of Pentecost, the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, the Feast of Tabernacles, and the Last Great Day. Adjacent to the sanctuary is a campground for those attending the feasts from out of town.
The House of Yahweh carries on an active publishing program that includes a monthly magazine named The Prophetic Word, a number of booklets on various doctrinal subjects, an educational program called the Peaceful Solution Character Education Program, and a new holy name version of the Holy Scriptures, The Book of Yahweh. It also has several Web sites updated monthly to assist those seeking scriptural information vital to their salvation.
Membership
In 2008 the House of Yahweh reported hundreds of congregations, 46 ministers (along with hundreds of other office holders), and 5,500 members in the United States. The subscription list of The Prophetic Word now exceeds over 25,000. The magazine and The House of Yahweh Monthly Newsletter are read in many countries, including ones in Africa, the Middle East, and Europe. There is a single Canadian congregation, and also one each in Trinidad, the Philippines, Nigeria, Ghana, Zambia, Greece.
Periodicals
The Prophetic Word • The House of Yahweh Monthly Newsletter
Remarks
In recent years, the House of Yahweh has been increasingly criticized for a variety of practices described by former members, including various alternative health and medical directives, apocalyptic beliefs, violation of child labor laws, and most recently, polygamy. Members of the group deny that they practice polygamy, but in May 2008 Yisrayl Hawkins was arrested on bigamy charges and state authorities claimed he had in excess of 30 wives. As this encyclopedia goes to press, adjudication of the charges proceeds.
Sources
Hawkins, Yisrayl. www.yisraylhawkins.com.
House of Yahweh. www.yahweh.com.
Prophetic Word Program. www.propheticword.com.
The Book of Yahweh. Abilene, TX: House of Yahweh, 1987.
Hawkins, Yisrayl B. There Is Someone Out There! Abilene, TX: Books-A-Hoy Publishers, 1997. 382 pp.
———. True Stories about Christmas. Abilene, TX: House of Yahweh, n.d.
The House of Yahweh Established. Abilene, TX: House of Yahweh, 1988.
The Lost Faith of the Apostles and Prophets. Abilene, TX: House of Yahweh, 1985.
What Yahweh’s Feasts Mean to You. Abilene, TX: House of Yahweh, 1989.
Yahweh’s Passover and Yahshua’s Memorial. Abilene, TX: House of Yahweh, 1988.
Missionary Dispensary Bible Research
Box 5296, Buena Park, CA 90622
Associated with the Assembly of Yahvah is the Missionary Dispensary Bible Research, headquartered in Buena Park, California. The group is responsible for the production of The Restoration of Original Sacred Name Bible, which used Yahvah, Elohim, and Yahshua for the sacred names. It is based on Joseph B. Rotherham’s translation but uses the King James Version’s form of paragraphing. Rotherham included a paragraph titled “The Name Suggested” in the introduction to his translation. No reference is made to The Holy Name Bible translated by A. B. Traina of the Scripture Research Association.
Membership
In 1988 there were centers in Ward, Arkansas; Winfield, Alabama; Winston, Ontario, Canada; and several in Texas. There are several hundred affiliated members.
Scripture Research Association
14410 S. Springfield Rd., Brandywine, MD 20613
The Scripture Research Association was founded in January 1950 by Angelo B. Traina (1889–1971), pastor of the Kingdom Truth Assembly, an independent Sacred Name congregation in Irvington, New Jersey. During the years before the formation of the association, Traina had been a frequent contributor to The Faith magazine, the original Sacred Name periodical, published in Salem, West Virginia, by C.O. Dodd.
The goal of the Scripture Research Association is to ascertain a clearer translation of the Scriptures, and especially to restore to them the name of the Creator, Yahweh, and of his Son, Yahshua, the Messiah. It was Traina’s opinion that the New Testament was written in Aramaic and Hebrew rather than in Greek, as is commonly assumed. He also believed that the Nicolaitans (Rev. 2:6) were responsible for substituting the Greek words kurios (commonly translated “Lord”) and theos (commonly translated “God”) for the sacred names.
In 1940 Elder Angelo B. Traina published a pamphlet, “The Deed,” in which he used the holy name Yahweh. In 1950 he published the Sacred Name New Testament, and in 1963 the complete Holy Name Bible based on the King James Version. He started the Scripture Research Association to distribute the Holy Name Bibles (the bibles are no longer available from the association in Maryland). Traina died in 1971 in his eighty-second year. His wife Ida Mae passed away 11 years later.
The association publishes tracts on a variety of religious subjects. It is governed by a board of trustees.
Membership
Not reported.
Sources
Traina, A. B. The Holy Name Bible. Brandywine, MD: Scripture Research Association, 1980.
Workers Together with Elohim
Box 14411, Jerusalem, Israel
Following the death of A. N. Dugger (d. 1975), his son Charles Andy Dugger had a disagreement with the board of the Church of God (Jerusalem). With his followers, he quickly established his own organization and began to publish the Jerusalem Reporter, similar in appearance and format to the Mount Zion Reporter published by his father’s church. He called his new group Workers Together with Elohim.
Workers Together with Elohim are thorough-going Sacred Name people and use all of the Hebrew transliterations in referring to the deity. (Elohim is the Hebrew word commonly translated as “God” in most English-language Bibles.) Church members also follow the Old Testament ritual and food laws. In particular, they take quite literally the admonition in Num. 15:38–40 and add blue fringes to all their garments.
Operating out of Jerusalem, the Workers Together with Elohim continue to operate an organization quite similar to the Church of God (Jerusalem), and they relate to an American constitutency. In Jerusalem, they have a strong mission that distributes Bibles in both Hebrew and Russian languages.
Membership
Not reported.
Periodicals
The Truth.
Worldwide Assembly of YHWH
PO Box 841689, Houston, TX 77284-1689
The Worldwide Assembly of YHWH is a Sacred Name organization that emerged in the 1990s. It was founded by former members of the Worldwide Church of God and continues that organization’s emphasis upon sabbatarian worship and the celebration of the Jewish feast days. The assembly calls members to seek YHWH’s kingdom, keep YHWH’s commandments, and evangelize the world.
The assembly professes a belief in the Creator (whom most Christians call God) whose name is YHWH (and pronounced “Yahweh”), and in his son, Yahushua (whom most Christians call Jesus). YHWH exists as a family consisting of YHWH the Father and Yahushua the Son. The Spirit of YHWH is seen as the essence, power, mind, and spiritual extension of YHWH. Salvation is viewed as a process that includes repentance, baptism by immersion, justification and receiving of the Spirit of YHWH, and a life of faith and obedience. It culminates in birth into YHWH’s kingdom as a spirit being.
Members are expected to follow the Ten Commandments (as the perfect expression of YHWH’s love); observe the Sabbath, and keep the annual Sabbaths or seven appointed feasts of YHWH kept by the ancient Israelites, including Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles. Feast sites for members are regularly set on both the East and West coasts. Members are also expected to tithe, though the assembly does not enforce the practice.
They believe that the keeping of the commandments is required today just as it was in ancient Israel. In this respect, they observe the weekly Sabbath from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday. They keep the annual set apart days listed in Leviticus 23, and they observe the clean and unclean food laws mentioned in Leviticus 11. They comprehend that just by keeping these laws made known in the Old Testament, salvation is not assured. They believe that individuals not only have to follow in the Messiah’s footsteps, but also must aspire to and live this way of life.
Membership
Not reported.
Sources
Worldwide Assembly of YHWH. www.yah-way.org/.
Yahweh’s Assembly in Messiah
401 N Roby Farm Rd., No. 1, Rocheport, MO 65279
Yahweh’s Assembly in Messiah was incorporated in 1980 as the Assemblies of Yahweh in Messiah in Kansas, by former elders of the Assemblies of Yahweh, led by Jacob O. Meyer (b. 1934). Following the settlement of a lawsuit for trademark infringement, the assembly took its present name in 1985. The assembly follows the doctrine of its parent body. There were only administrative disagreements leading to the formation of the new organization. The assembly is led by a board of directors.
Yahweh’s Assembly in Messiah is the oldest local Missouri assembly proclaiming the truth of the Creator of the universe (Yahweh) and of his son (Yahshua), the Savior of the world. They have been in the mid-Missouri area for approximately 25 years. They own their own 80-acre campground where they hold weekly sabbath services and celebrate the annual feast days.
They have a full-service assembly that takes care of learning needs. They publish two periodicals: The Master Key is printed bimonthly and mailed out (free for one year) in the even months, and the Beginning Anew newsletter is printed bimonthly and mailed out on the odd months, to those who contribute to the ministry. The assembly produces many booklets, tracts, and articles that are offered free of charge (except for large quantity orders) to all interested truth seekers. Their literature also can be downloaded from their web site free of charge.
The assembly initiated a publication program that includes a correspondence course, a number of booklets, and several magazines. Video and cassettes of sabbath messages are sent to those not affiliated with a local assembly, and traveling elders meet regularly with scattered members. Affiliated assemblies are found across the United States and Canada, and in 20 foreign countries.
Membership
In 2008 the assembly reported five centers for worship, in Rocheport, Missouri; Frystown, Pennsylvania; Headland, Alabama; Sterling, Illinois, and Caloocan City, Philippines.
Periodicals
The Master Key. • Beginning Anew. Send orders to 401 N Ruby Farm Rd., Rocheport, MO 65279.
Sources
Yahweh’s Assembly in Messiah. www.yaim.org.
The Heavenly Father’s Great Name. Columbia, MO: Assemblies of Yahweh in Messiah, n.d.
Yahweh’s New Covenant Assembly
PO Box 50, Kingdom City, MO 65262
Yahweh’s New Covenant Assembly is a fellowship and ministry dedicated to what the group deems to be a return to the true and pure teachings of the scriptures. Integral to that process is the adoption of the ‘true’ name of the heavenly father, Yahweh, and of his son, Yahshua, generally termed God and Jesus by most professing Christians. It is believed that the true names were hidden by misdirected Bible copyists and translators.
The assembly affirms that the Bible is inspired by Yahweh; the Father is the sole master designer of all creation, which was carried out by his son at the beginning of his creation; that Yahshua is the correct name of the savior (a contraction of the combination of “YAHweh” and “HoSHUA”); that he emptied himself of his celestial glory and took upon himself the form of a human, was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, was resurrected from the dead by the father, and has now ascended into heaven sitting on the right hand of Yahweh. Yahshua is now considered humanity’s advocate, mediator and high priest, and through him only can we approach the heavenly father.
The assembly also affirms that the Holy Spirit (Ruach) is the invisible dynamic force, the mind, the power emanating from the father and shared by the son. This invisible essence or power is placed within the believer through the son, by laying on of hands of the presbytery following baptism into Yahshua’s saving name. Correlative to this view of the spirit, the assembly believes that the trinity doctrine is not scriptural but is from paganism.
The assembly practices baptism as a single act of backwards immersion in water and into the saving name of Yahshua as a necessary act of consecration. The assembly believes that Yahweh’s grand plan of salvation for mankind is only through his son Yahshua the messiah and is revealed through observing Yahweh’s holy sabbaths and feast days. The seventh day of the week (called Saturday) is the day Yahweh has set apart, and is a memorial of his omnipotent creative power. The sabbath day is a holy day of rest. The commemoration of the sacrifice of Yahshua the messiah is observed annually on the evening (beginning) of the 14th of Abib, as the 13th ends, according to the original Passover in Egypt when the death angel appeared on midnight of the 14th.
After partaking of the Passover, members of the assembly strive to live a sin-free life of obedience in observing the following seven days of Unleavened Bread. As part of this observance, unleavened bread is eaten for these seven days, allowing members to symbolically take in the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. The day of Pentecost (Shavuoth) or Feast of Weeks is is the third Annual Sabbath day. The Day of Trumpets, the fourth Annual Sabbath, begins the seventh month and is a holy convocation leading to the rejoicing upon the return of Yahshua at the last trump. The Day of Atonement, the fifth Annual Sabbath, points to Yahshua’s atoning work. Historically it is the holiest day of the year for the group.
The Feast of Tabernacles reflects the righteous one-thousand-year reign of the soon-coming King Yahshua and is observed for seven days starting on the 15th day of the seventh month (Tishri 15 through 21). The first day is the sixth Annual Sabbath. The final culmination of the plan of Yahweh is completed in the great harvest. Known as the White Throne Judgment, it is prefigured by the eighth day of the Feast of Tabernacles, the seventh Annual Sabbath called the Last Great Day.
The assembly believes that the scriptural months are delineated by the appearance of the thin crescent of the visible new moon. Scripture indicates that the new moon days will begin from the actual area where the new moon is spotted for that particular month. The scriptural day begins and ends with sunset. Assembly members consider it an act of worship to support the work with tithes (10 percent of one’s income) and offerings.
The assembly believes that after death, human beings are unconscious in their graves in the sleep of death, awaiting the resurrection. Immortality is something humans seek, and is made available through the work of Yahshua. Humans do not have an immortal soul; they can die.
The group holds that Yahshua the Messiah is the foundation and cornerstone of His Body–the ecclesia, the assembly–consisting of the called-out body of believers since Pentecost of Acts 2, who have accepted the sacrifice of Yahshua and changed their lives according to Yahweh’s word. The assembly trains and prepares believers for the coming Kingdom. In accordance with the custom of the early assembly in the Apostle Paul’s time, the sisters of the assembly wear a headcovering during worship. On earth, males reflect Yahweh’s glory and stand bareheaded before him. Woman, on the other hand, is the glory of man and therefore is to have her head covered or veiled.
Yahweh’s New Covenant Assembly publishes numerous booklets on a wide variety of biblical subjects, especially Yahweh’s name and the sabbath and holy days. It sponsors a TV show, “Back to the Truth,” broadcast in the United States. International offices are found in England, the Philippines, and on Guadeloupe and Dominica in the West Indies.
Membership
Not reported.
Periodicals
Light. • YNCA Newsletter. • Spice of Life. • Young Believers.
Sources
Yahweh’s New Covenant Assembly. www.ynca.com/