THE NAME GAME

Greetings (fill in the blank with your NAME)...how ya doin'?

Do you remember the song THE NAME GAME by Shirley Ellis?

Shirley!...Shirley, Shirley, bo Birely Bonana fanna fo Firley...Fee fy mo Mirley, Shirely.

Rodney! Rodney, Rodney, Bo Bodney, Bonana fanno bo Bodney...Fee fy mo Modney, Modney!

A name is a representation of who you are...and how people identify with you. If you mention the name ELVIS...you will most likely think of Presley...or Costello.
Mention the name Madonna and you will either think of an 80's pop icon or the mother of Jesus. Mention the name Rodney and you immediately think of a good looking, manly stud...or not.

Mention the name of JESUS and you have a diversity of thoughts. To some a prophet...to some a nut...to some just another word in the arsenal of curse words to use. To some a blessing to be embraced to some a revulsion to be shunned. Barry McGuire (see the photo)...was a 60's icon. He was mention in the Mama and Papa's song Creque Alley along with Roger McQuinn who "couldn't get much higher." He was in the original Broadway production of Hair, in the movie The President's Analysis starring that British Bulldog lookalike James Coburn...and was with the Christy Minstrels and had a big hit with the song EVE OF DESTRUCTION (that is more relevant today than when it was first recorded). Barry was on a quest for truth that ended at JESUS. After searching for truth in everything from drugs, alcohol, multiple sex partners, fame and fortune, Eastern religions, philosophy, humanism... he accepted the D.B.R. of Jesus Christ. It took him a while because as he put it, he loved this cat Jesus...but could not stand his followers.

Barry's music took rock and roll and expressed his Christianity. He still had extremely long hair...sang songs of social relevance...but spoke of solutions instead of just protesting the problems. On one album...called TO THE BRIDE...along with The 2nd Chapter of Acts, and a Band Called David...Barry asked a question. Why do people always attack the NAME OF JESUS. You never here someone drop a rock on their toe and then begin to curse using the name of Buddha...or Mohammad. Curse words always involve and invoke the NAME of Jesus and the NAME of God. People are always asking God to damn something or someone...or using exclamations of Jesus H. Christ...or for Christ sake. They do it so often... that we become numb to the context...and it deflects off of us like Teflon.

Jesus' name is a derivative of the name Joshua...and means God is Salvation. We see in the genealogy found in Matthew 1:16 that Joseph the husband of Mary, by whom was born JESUS who is called CHRIST.

NOTE: Jesus' last name was not CHRIST. The mail box at Mary and Joseph's did not read Joseph Christ...Mary Christ...and all the little Christs. Christ is the Greek word for Messiah... which means ANOINTED ONE. Jesus (God is Salvation) was anointed with the Holy Spirit and Power and went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil for God was with Him. (Acts 10:38)
As a matter of fact another name that Jesus was given was Immanuel.
"And she will bear a Son and you shall call His name Jesus, for it is He who will SAVE His people from their sins....Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a Son and they shall call His name IMMANUEL
which translated means GOD WITH US. (Matthew 1:21,23/Isaiah 7:14)

NOTE: The anointing that Jesus was anointed with means yoke destroying, burden lifting, devil oppression removing power. The NAME represents the authority (exousia) of the power (dunamis) to accomplish this mission.


If I was the devil (the name means accuser, liar, thief, deceiver, destroyer, etc.) and I knew that there was saving power in the NAME OF JESUS...I would do everything I could do to discredit it. I would try to make it common and tarnish it and make people numb to it. The name itself has no magical powers in it. In the "Bible days"...the name Joshua or Jesus was like a popular baby name is today. There were at least 5 people with the name Jesus in the New Testament. It is the anointing and purpose of God that elevates the name of JESUS. Jesus (God is Salvation) The Christ (the anointed one anointed with yoke destroying, burden lifting, oppression removing power)...to a place where people are SAVED. It's not just using the name for a cuss word that is using the name of the Lord in VAIN...it is decreasing it to just another name and using it recklessly.

WHY IS THE NAME OF JESUS THE CHRIST AND/OR GOD USED IN A DEROGATORY MANNER?

"And it shall be that every one who calls on the NAME OF THE LORD SHALL BE SAVE."
(Acts 2:21)

"And there is salvation in NO ONE ELSE; for there is no other NAME under heaven that has been given among men, by which we MUST BE SAVED." Acts 4:12

NOTE: The boys (aka the disciples, apostles, followers of Jesus...were beaten and commanded not to speak that name. The name was OFFENSIVE. Let's just call Him Christ...or let's just call Him the man upstairs...but don't mention JESUS) Just mention Jesus in a crowd and see the silence or the mocking or the shift in conversation.

"Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus (read Philippians 2:1-4 for the attitude that Jesus had and the attitude that we are to have)... who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bondservant, and being made in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:5-8)

NOTE: Notice that Jesus had an attitude...in the good sense. He was God in the flesh..had equality with God...but did not consider this something to grasp. Why do we...when we become Christians...start to think we are better than other people and begin to grasp onto our spiritual gifts...that we did not earn...to be a thing to grasp?

THE CAUSE AND EFFECT OF PROPER ATTITUDE

"Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the NAME WHICH IS ABOVE EVERY NAME...that at the NAME OF JESUS every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, an on earth, and under the earth...and that every tongue should confess that Jesus (the name) Christ (the anointing) is LORD (kurios=boss), to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11)

NOTE: As a Speech Pathologist...we know that everything has a name. We attach meaning to every object, thing, thought, disease, good, bad and ugly. Language is merely the agreed upon code of the name of something. The NAME OF JESUS is above EVERY NAME. (Fill in the blank of anything you want)...and then place the NAME OF JESUS above that THING. Notice also that every knee should bow or yield their will to that name. You either will now by your own choice...or later by demand. Either way you will bow.

Well...are you ready to quit playing THE NAME GAME?

Love and Namely Kisses
Rodney "Bodney Bo Bodney" Boyd