What If I Wasn’t Baptized In The Hebrew Name Yahushua? What If I Wasn’t Fully Immersed? What If Something Else Wasn’t Correct? Should I Get Re-Baptized?

Originally Written: 2020-06-26 | Last Updated: 2022-11-21

It seems reasonable that if we find out something was not done in our baptism the way they did it 2,000 years ago, then it makes sense that a person would want to redo it the most correct way possible. I would definitely say that the Hebrew name is important as the Name Yahushua means "Yahweh Saves" or "Yahweh is Salvation". I was baptized when I was 14 in a swimming pool in the name of the "Father, Son, and Holy Spirit", but when I was 24 I was re-baptized in a lake in the Name of Yahushua by an Elder. I had life-changing experiences when I was baptized in the Name of Yahushua. There were sins that the Father took away from me; it wasn’t "will power" it was the Power of the Set-Apart (Holy) Spirit and a miracle from Yahweh. I always, always, advise that if someone was not baptized in some form of the Hebrew Name of Yahushua that they should get re-baptized to be sure they’ve done it correctly.

When I was first baptized in the Name of Yahushua in the lake, I had thought my knee popped out of the water, but the Elder said it didn’t, but we had no other people we knew with us for me to ask them as witnesses. However, since I felt uncertain and thought my knee may have popped out of the water, a little over two years later when I was 26 I got baptized again in a spring-fed pool that resembled a swimming pool, but I was told it was a spring-fed pool, but I had witnesses there and was certain I was fully immersed. Then, 10 years after that, in the writing of this study to answer someone’s questions about baptism, I decided I want to get baptized a third time just so I can say I did it just like they did 2,000 years ago with more certainty regarding the type of body of waters used.

Were my two previous baptisms valid? I believe so - but I want to be able to say I did it just like they did 2,000 years ago with a greater degree of certainty, even about the types of the body of water they baptized in. By having it done in a river then I know I’ve covered all the details I can think of and be able to say confidently, yes, I’ve done it like they did it 2,000 years ago, even down to the details of what kind of water did they baptize people in. I do consider it a possibility they used "pools" of sorts to do baptisms, but I feel even more confident they used rivers. So, at the time of originally writing this study, I had come to the conclusion to have a third baptism done that year (2020) in a river that time, with two witnesses other than the person immersing me, in the Hebrew Name of Yahushua HaMashiach.

The longer form of the name "Yahushua" יהושע has the same first three letters as the name "Yahweh" יהוה in Hebrew, so the longer form of His Name, "Yahushua", is what I would recommend as the most correct way to get baptized. However, if someone believes differently about how to say the Name in Hebrew, I don’t divide over this or argue about it. I’m just sharing with you my belief to the best of my understanding and explaining to you all the reasons why I have this belief. However, if you haven’t been baptized in some form of His Hebrew Name at all, I would definitely advise someone to get re-baptized. Even if your baptism is valid and you’re already saved, it’s still good to make sure we did it right. Also, my testimony, again, is that I experienced life changes for myself when I was immersed in the Name of Yahushua, so of course I advise others do that also.

As a side note, I did hear from an Elder in his 90’s named Bob of a testimony of another man who was baptized in the Name of "Jesus Christ", and when this other man had come up out of the water, he said he heard the Savior’s voice speaking to him, saying "that’s not my Name". That’s when the man went to researching and found out about the Hebrew Name "Yahshua" from Jacob O. Meyer. Although I believe the longest form "Yahushua" is most correct, I share this testimony because it helps to emphasize that the Hebrew Name is important, I think. I’ve also heard a testimony that there was a person who learned about the Name of Yahweh by speaking in tongues. So the Name of Yahweh is significant and the Name of Yahushua is significant.

Also, I want to share Elder Bob’s testimony of his own baptism experiences. Bob shared this testimony with me on 6/26/2020 over the phone and I typed as fast as I could but missed a few words. Any words in brackets are me inserting words that I didn’t get typed during our phone call to make the quotes of Bob make more sense. At the time of sharing this, Bob is over the age of 90, though I’m not sure how old exactly. Bob said he had been baptized a total of four times - the first time when 10 or 11 years old in "in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost". The rest of Bob’s testimony is as follows:

That lasted a number of years, then I became convicted many years later that baptism was more than just being baptized because of following the example of Yahushua. Later on when older I [became] greatly convicted more to baptism, began to search out in [a] Church of Christ, [they] persuaded [me I] should be baptized "for the remission of sins" so [I was] baptized [a] second time in these words, "in the name of the Father, Son and of the Holy Ghost for the remission of sins". That lasted a while, until one day [I was] out selling shoes, and saw church called Apostolic Church with doors open in the summer time. I felt to go see what it’s about, so I went in and there was a man who was a pastor and also a man from Florida they called an Apostle (this was in Michigan). He began talking to me about baptism; should be "in the Name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins". So when done talking, it was [an] unusual situation really, I asked him a question, I had [the] answer he gave me before he said it, [it] came to my own mind, but after that conversation, I said I want to be baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. As it turned out they invited a few people to come, had a little service, when he baptized me in the Name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins as I came out of the water with his hand on me, I began to gush forth. My lungs filled with air, then gushed forth in a language which I did not know and kept coming, coming, and coming. While I was changing [clothes], [I] kept speaking and speaking. Finally when I had my clothes on, [I] came out [and] sat in one of the pews, this new tongues ceased at that point. But I felt like a new-born baby, like I had just entered the world, like I had just come out of my mother’s womb, felt filled with love like I just loved the whole world, a very amazing experience. This time "in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins". Then, I met a man - [his] wife came to me, said, "I know young couple going to get married a couple Sabbaths away from now, and they use an unusual name - she says - strange name for "God" and they don’t eat any pork or shellfish or any of that nature." When my wife told me that, I shrugged my shoulders, and said "Whatever it is, that’s what it is." It didn’t seem to mean much to me at the time but [it] set [the] groundwork. Next Sabbath an elderly man came to where we were meeting which was only a few people and he introduced himself as Joseph Olsen. I said, "Oh, do you know a young couple by the name of Olsen that are going to be married next week? Do you know about some name they use for "God"?". He said, "Yes - that’s my grandson." This was on Sabbath - he said, "Come to my house tomorrow, I’ll show you about it." I went the following day. He got out Young’s concordance, showed me thousands [of] places the word lord was actually [the] name Yahweh and so I came to the Sacred Name. He also showed me [the] name of [our] Savior was [the same] as Joshua’s name but pronounced in Hebrew with Y - didn’t have J - so [the] name was Yahshua. So I began using the sacred name. I began using Yahweh and Yahshua - then quickly came up to my mind about baptism. I thought, "Well, I can’t deny that I was saved and I knew the savior, that I had an experience, been throughout my life, I’ve called him Jesus, and I had a tremendous baptism when baptized in that name so what am I going to do? I can’t deny that. I can’t deny my experience, knowledge of the savior." So I prayed about it. It’s like He spoke to me, not audibly - in my mind, in my heart - it’s like He said, "You’re not changing Savior’s - nor are you denying the reality of your experience - you’re just correcting the name like as if you had a document but you had the wrong spelling of the name on that document." So I was satisfied to go ahead and get baptized again. So that’s the 4th time. What happened was as we were driving out to the lake to get baptized my wife was sitting in driving with another lady next to her and I was in the backseat with several others. All of a sudden my wife shouted look! When she shouted look we looked out the windshield of the car and ahead of us quite some distance ahead there was a straight up and down vertical shaft of a rainbow. Now there was not a cloud in the sky - it was a perfectly blue clear sky but this shaft from heaven coming down through the highway was a straight up and down shaft of a rainbow color that kept receding the car quite a distance before it disappeared. My wife told us what happened later. She said, "I had been quietly praying, saying, "Heavenly Father, I followed my Husband in baptism all these different times. Will you give me a sign that it is right this time?" That is when this rainbow shaft appeared. And this time, of course, we were going to be baptized in the Name of Yahshua Messiah for the remission of sins.

Wow! What a powerful and moving testimony. It is clear that baptism in the Hebrew Names is important. And nobody is trying to say that your previous experiences with the Heavenly Father are invalid. We’re just trying to do everything as correctly, and right as possible. I do want to clarify, also, I do believe the longest form "Yahushua" is the most correct way I believe His Name is spoken, but any form of the Hebrew name is obviously more correct than a name that is not His Hebrew Name. Whether you speak the Hebrew name the same or not, I think the important thing is that you care about His Name and want to do what’s right. Bob’s testimony is powerful and shows also the need for believers to be careful to not judge others who were previously baptized differently.

Also, Bob shared his opinion, which I want to share with others to ponder on. Bob said that he believes even the shorter form "Yeshua" יֵשׁ֨וּעַ found in Nehemiah 8:17 would have been spoken as "Yashua". Bob pointed out that Numbers 13:16 says Mosheh "called" Hoshea "Yahushua" and shared his belief with me that he believes it is not about how the name is written, but the name you call upon. This is a very interesting point he is making. What he is saying, basically, is that even if the name is spelled shorter like in Nehemiah 8:17, the way it would have been called upon would still retain the "Yah" sound when called upon.

This is an interesting perspective to consider, which is why I share with you all. It certainly makes sense, given that Yahweh is referred to as "YAH" in Psalms 68:4. So Bob’s view is that it’s more about how the name is called upon, and he maintains his view that whether it is the longer or shorter form, it would have had the "Yah" sound at the beginning, even if when spelling it there was no "h" as in Nehemiah 8:17. The spelling of the way it is written in Nehemiah 8:17 is normally written as "Yeshua" but if Bob is correct, it would be written as "Yashua".

I also heard Bob say the name "Hoshea" as "Hoshua", but I didn’t have time to ask him about that. Certainly there are different views on the Hebrew and different beliefs about the ancient Hebrew for certain. My view is that we should remain humble about this since none of us knows 100% for sure all the various ways Hebrew could have been spoken or read in the past. Certainly, however, I believe we should acknowledge our Savior does have a Hebrew Name, and honor him by making our best attempt at respecting His Hebrew Name. May Yahweh have mercy upon us all!

Based upon Bob’s testimony, I have updated what I say when baptizing someone to, "I now immerse you in the Name of Yahushua HaMashiach of Natsareth for the remission of sins.".