November 20th, 2022 – 2:05pm – Haifa Hostel, Haifa, Israel:

When you were born your parents named you. And they began to call you by your name. You grew up being called that name. It was the foundation of your identity and it is today the basis of all you know about yourself. When you meet another person the first question they ask is, “What is your name?” For them to know you they must know your name, for it is under that name that they will place all they know about you. Your whole life has perhaps been about making a name for yourself. Your name was one of the first things you learned to write and your name is on most everything you’ve done or accomplished in this world up to this point.

Name: Identifying Sounds That Denote Identity.

The name my parents gave me was Nathaniel Lafferty Adleta. Which means: Gift from God, ‘prince ruler’, ‘doer of valiant deeds’, noble kind, of the noble sort. As I grew up I was called Nathan mostly. When I was 13 I wanted to be called Nathaniel and when I went to college I was called the shortened version of my name: Nate.

When I was 26 years old, due to the rift between me and my family because of a great many reasons, I chose to legally change my name to: Daniel Etrane Kole: which means: God is my judge, keys to success, power to the people. It was a defiant action on my part. My original middle name Lafferty was my father’s middle name and my grandmother’s maiden name. When I became Daniel Kole, my whole identity changed. I would even say there was a dramatic shift in my personality as well. I went to the US Army as Daniel Kole and began my video game design company: Daniel Kole Productions. I was living completely for myself during this period of my life. I had no thoughts for serving God at all.

When I was 36 my life collapsed and everything fell apart… and God broke into my world and wrapped His arms around me and told me to “Listen and obey.” And I did. I left everything behind and set out on the journey I am still traveling today.

When I was in San Francisco, laying in bed one morning God spoke to me and told me to change my name to Benjamin Potexana Kareth, which means: Son of my right hand, never again cut off. And so I obeyed. I was only Benjamin for a year, but during that time God taught me to write books and I wrote Parts 2-10 of the Book Of Benjamin Kareth. God told me I would write 100 books and that I would always write my books under the name Benjamin Potexana Kareth. After a year of being Benjamin, God told me again that I was to change my name but this time I could choose my own name, I chose Elijah Naviroe Cohen, which means: Belonging to Yahweh, Prophet/Seer, Priest.

Shortly after this name change I had an experience with God that would solidify my identity forever… receiving my white stone.

Yesterday, as I sat on the beach, I looked down into the sand and there was a perfectly smooth white stone and God reminded me of when He had given me my white stone with my final name on it that only He and I know. So I am going to share this story again now…

I was in San Francisco and I was spending time with God. He handed me a smooth white stone and on it I read my name, my final name, my name that only He and I will ever know. He told me how it was pronounced and He told me what it meant and why He had chosen it for me. God doesn’t call me Nathaniel, or Daniel, or Benjamin, or Elijah, or any other name… He calls me by the name that is on my white stone, the name that only He and I know. It holds my eternal identity… my whole purpose for being is held within that name and I can see how all my life has been the story of my name.

“He who has an ear, let him hear and heed what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes [the world through believing that Jesus is the Son of God], to him I will give [the privilege of eating] some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone with a new name engraved on the stone which no one knows except the one who receives it.’” – Revelation 2:17 AMP

We are bound by time and experience time here on earth during our lives. Our lives is the time we are given to make choices that will effect how we experience the rest of eternity after we die. The primary choice we make is our way or God’s way. To live for ourselves or to live for Him. I cannot tell you why I received my white stone name when I did. No… I don’t understand that… or the mystery of it… I don’t understand why all my name changes here… but I do know who I belong to. I know who has claimed me and named me. I know the One who created me and I know the One whom I stand before. I don’t really know why He wanted me to share all of this with you today here. But I have one task to perform with all the rest of my days, that is to listen to His voice and obey. And so I have.

I am not perfect… no… far from it… but I am being perfected. God’s light is shining brighter and brighter from this cracked, clay pot. I trust God to complete the work that He began in me. I trust Him to lead me down the paths of this world that He has purposed for me to walk. If they are paths alone… so be it, He will be with me. If they are paths with people, then so be it. He will give me words to speak when the time comes. The life I live now I live to do the work He has for me to do… and He will call my name in the end and bring me home to be with Him forever. My life is a witness of who He is and what He can do in and through someone who’s life is totally devoted to Him.

I cannot lose what He has given to me. No. I can only add to what He has given to me. He who has more will be given, but he who doesn’t have even what he has will be taken from him.

Seek God, for who He is. Find and be given more. Discover your eternal name that is Hidden with Him.