THE TRUE 'CORNERSTONE.'

Dear Brothers and Sisters in God’s Name,


As I was reading my old notes about the Bible revelations of our late Teacher, Erano M. Evangelista, I found one of the earliest revelations he received from God about the lies of the apostles about Jesus.


Let us begin our reading in Acts 4:10-12


"Then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed.11 Jesus is “‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’ 12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”
Acts 4:10-12 (NIV)


Before we delve into what the Apostles have written about Jesus, let us first understand what a “cornerstone” is.


In ancient architecture, the cornerstone was the most crucial stone placed at the corner of the structure.


Using that analogy, it means that when it comes to God’s teachings, the apostles claim Jesus was the cornerstone or the significant figure.


To make their listeners understand Jesus’ importance, the Apostles even preached that it is in Jesus’ name that all humankind should call upon to attain salvation.


Were the claims of apostles in the New Testament about Jesus as the symbolic “cornerstone” valid?


Teacher Evangelista then shared with us who the real 'cornerstone' is in the Bible.


Let us start our reading from Psalm 118:21-22


 I will give you thanks, for you answered me; you have become my salvation.
Psalm 118:21 (NIV)


“I will give you thanks, for you answered me; you have become my salvation”—Here, the writer of Psalms sings about God as his salvation.


To continue:


The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; 23 the LORD has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes.
Psalms 118:22–23 (NIV)


‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the LORD has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes’ - We may witness that the true cornerstone is God and not Jesus!


Let us continue our reading:


The LORD has done it this very day; let us rejoice today and be glad. LORD, save us! LORD, grant us success!
Psalm 118:24-25 (NIV)


We can read how the Psalmist writes about calling on God for salvation and not on Jesus. 


To make it even more precise, in whose name should we call upon to be saved?


The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. Those who know your name trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you.
Psalm 9:9-10 (NIV)


“Those who know your name trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you.”---Salvation is not attained by calling on Jesus’ name but upon calling on God’s Name.


Let us apply our logic and intellect: how can we be saved by calling upon Jesus when before he died on the cross, he even cried out that God forsook him?


Now that Teacher Evangelista completed the revelation concerning Jesus and the Name of God on the website www.thename.ph, we can now also understand further what was written in Psalm 118: 22-23.


The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the LORD has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes.
Psalms 118:22-23 (NIV)


"The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone" - To understand more about how God is the real cornerstone, we should know who were the 'builders' mentioned in this Psalm.


Let us read God's word in 2nd Samuel 7:12-14.


Let us start with 2nd Samuel 7 verse 12:


“When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom."
2nd Samuel 7:12 (NIV)


 God speaks to David, his (David’s) offspring, of his flesh and blood.


What would the work of the descendant be?


“He is the one who will build a house for my name,
and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever...”
2nd Samuel 7:13 (NIV)


The offspring of David will have a particular task from God, which is to build a house for His Name. 


When he can accomplish it, God will permanently establish the throne of his (offspring of David) kingdom over Israel.


What was the other reward from God?


“I will be his father, and he will be my son. WHEN HE DOES WRONG, I WILL PUNISH HIM WITH A ROD WIELDED BY MEN, WITH FLOGGINGS INFLICTED BY HUMAN HANDS –
2nd Samuel 7:14 (NIV)


We read about an offspring of David (David’s flesh and blood), whom God shall send to build a house in His Name. 


When David's offspring successfully accomplishes his task, his throne as king will be established over Israel forever. 


Although he is just a descendant of David, God will reward him with the title “Son of God.”


Why is God’s Name unknown to the Israelites? 


Let us read the explanation that God revealed to Teacher Evangelista in the scriptures once again:


God revealed to Teacher Evangelista the reason why a house needed to be built for His (God’s) Name:


Then Jeremiah said to all the people, including the women,
“Hear the word of the LORD, all you people of Judah in Egypt.
This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: You and your wives have shown by your actions what you promised when you said; ‘We will certainly carry out the vows we made to burn incense and pour out drink offerings to the Queen of Heaven.’
“Go ahead then, do what you promised! Keep your vows!
Jeremiah 44:24-25 (NIV)


During their sojourn in Egypt, they worshipped another deity called the “queen of heaven.” 


This is a significant transgression against the God of Israel. God did not instruct them to make a graven image of another god and worship it.


What was God’s judgment when they continued to worship the said goddess?


But hear the word of the LORD, all Jews living in Egypt: ‘I swear by my great name,’says the LORD, ‘that no one from Judah living anywhere in Egypt will ever again invoke my name or swear, “As surely as the Sovereign LORD lives.”
Jeremiah 44:26 (NIV)


“no one from Judah living anywhere in Egypt will ever again invoke my name or swear” – Since then, God had cursed the Jewish people so they may never speak His Name.


“As surely as the Sovereign LORD lives.”- Since God cursed them that they may not invoke His Name, they will no longer have the proper knowledge of God’s Name.


When God gives a curse, it will surely happen! Let us read Isaiah 14:24.


“The LORD has sworn, "Surely, as I have planned, so it will be,
and as I have purposed, so it will stand.”
Isaiah 14:24 (NIV)
​
It shall stand.


We may now realize that the name YHWH that the Jews ascribe to God (and its variations devised by the early scholars) is NOT and NEVER the Name of God because God took away from them the knowledge of His Name as punishment for their false worship!


The Jews do not know the story because they were cursed by God.


Their non-knowledge is proof of how true God’s oath to Himself is.  The Jews may not invoke His Name.


Question: How do we know that even though they were still in their sojourn in Egypt, the people of Israel angered God with their idol worship?


“‘But they rebelled against me and would not listen to me; they did not get rid of the vile images they had set their eyes on, nor did they forsake the idols of Egypt. So I said, I would pour out my wrath on them and spend my anger against them in Egypt. But for the sake of my name, I brought them out of Egypt. I did it to keep my name from being profaned in the eyes of the nations among whom they lived and in whose sight I had revealed myself to the Israelites.    Ezekiel 20:8-9 (NIV)


God confirms through His prophet Ezekiel that even during the time that the people of Israel were still in Egypt they were already worshiping false gods and goddesses. 


This includes the worship of the queen of heaven (Jeremiah 44:24-26). This is why God cursed them that they (Jews) may never mention His Name.


“‘I did it to keep my name from being profaned in the eyes of the nations among whom they lived’” – God showed us how He kept His Name from being profaned by the idolatry of His people by putting a curse that they may not invoke His Name.


For the people of Israel to be saved from their sins, they should know the Name of God once again.


Is it true that when the people of Israel know the Name of God and call on His Name, will God forgive them?


All the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful toward those who keep the demands of his covenant. For the sake of your name, Lord, forgive my iniquity, though it is great.
Psalm 25:10-11 NIV


There was a need to build a house with the Name of God because the Name of God might be shown to them by the chosen descendant of David without breaking God’s word! 


We can understand how the task of building a house with the Name of God is so vital that the people of Israel may know the Name of God of Israel.



With God's word in 2 Samuel 7:12-14, we can now understand who the builders are as mentioned in Psalm 118:22-23. 


They pertain to the ones whom God had previously chosen to build a house for His Name!


Why 'builders'?


Because the first one from the line of David who God chose was Solomon. (1 Chr 22:9-13) He was able to build a house for the Name of God, but he failed to make his fellow Israelites realize the name of God when he built temples for the false gods of his wives.


After Solomon, the next one to be chosen (from the line of David) was Jesus (Luke 1:31-32). But unlike Solomon, what Jesus did was, instead of building a house for God's name, he preached that a church is to be built for his (Jesus) name (Matt.16:18), thus making himself a god.


Solomon and Jesus failed to complete their mission to build a house for the Name of God. They denied the Jews the proper knowledge of God's Name. They were the 'builders' mentioned in Psalm 118:22-23 who rejected God.


Let us now read again Psalm 118:22 this time up to verse 29


The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone;  the LORD has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes.
Psalm 118:22-23
 God has now made Himself known as the true 'Cornerstone.'


The LORD has done it this very day; let us rejoice today and be glad.  LORD, save us! LORD, grant us success!
Psalm 118:24-25 NIV


"The LORD has done it this very day; let us rejoice today and be glad."-- We witness how God fulfilled His word before our eyes.


How were we able to know this truth about the Name of God?


Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD. From the house of the LORD we bless you.
Psalm 118:26 NIV


"Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD"- we now know the true Name of God. We learned it from the messenger God promised a long time ago, the Prophet like Moses in Deuteronomy 18:18-19, whom He will send to speak in His Name, which was fulfilled in the person of our late Teacher Erano M. Evangelista!


People of the world may now know the true name of God in the Bible thru the website www.thename.ph


Question: Why is it written as "Blessed is he who comes in the Name of the LORD?" (Psalm 118:26)  
Who is the man described in this verse?


Answer: It speaks of the prophet like Moses (Deut.18:18-19), whom God shall send to reveal His name. He is a foreigner who will come from a foreign land.


“As for the foreigner who does not belong to your people Israel
but has come from a distant land because of your name -
1 Kings 8:41 (NIV)


This is the prophet like Moses who will come and speak about the great Name of God through the scriptures; he is not from the people of Israel, and will come from a far country.


He had already come in the Name of the Lord!'


To continue:


for men will hear of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm - when he comes and prays toward this temple, then hear from heaven, your dwelling place, and do whatever the foreigner asks of you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your own people Israel, and may know that this house I have built bears your name.
1 Kings 8:42-43 (NIV)


“for men will hear of your great name” – God’s "prophet like Moses" Teacher Eraño Martin Evangelista, is not a Jew but a foreigner, a Filipino. He informed the whole world of God’s proper name through the website previously mentioned.


If the prophet "like Moses," whom God had sent to speak in His Name comes from an Island country in the East, it follows that God's Name will be proclaimed in the same country.


In what distant land will the prophet like Moses, who will proclaim the Name of God, come from?


They raise their voices, they shout for joy; from the west they acclaim the LORD's majesty. Therefore in the east give glory to the LORD; exalt the name of the LORD, the God of Israel, in the islands of the sea.
Isaiah 24:14-15 (NIV)


It is written that the real true Name of God will be glorified in the East, in the Islands of the sea. This is because the man whom God chose as His prophet like Moses to reveal His Name comes from the island country in the far East- The Philippines.


Now that we know the Name of God thru the Bible revelations of the real Prophet like Moses, Teacher Evangelista, who is also the 'Foreigner' mentioned in 1 Kings 8:41-43, what can we realize now?


The LORD is God, and he has made his light shine on us. With boughs in hand, join in the festal procession up to the horns of the altar.  You are my God, and I will praise you; you are my God, and I will exalt you. 29 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.
Psalm 118:27-29 NIV


Through the Bible revelations of our late Teacher Evangelista in thename.ph, we can now say that there is a God, An eternal living God, who is faithful to His word in the Bible. People of the world may now attain God's salvation because they can now call upon His mighty Name and follow His true laws.