Chapter 1: Introduction and updates

Amen indeed, Paul. What a glorious day that will be when we our eyes get to see Yeshua. Thank you for that uh prayer. And welcome, guys. Before I get started, I just wanted to express my gratitude for the number of you who have signed up to our membership program on uh YouTube. It means a lot. It means more than you know. And for those who continue to give on um Patreon, uh we’re very blessed to uh to know that you guys are supporting us in that way and and we hope that you’ll be blessed as a result. Also, just wanted to say thank you for oh, I think it was eight or 10 of you who bought uh my t-shirt from Etsy. That was fun putting that together and and you know making some sweatshirts and some hats and some uh t-shirts. Some of you have have made those purchases and I’m 1 minute grateful for that. That’s exciting.

If you if you’ve got them, I’d love to see them on you um and you know, one of these days in our lesson. So I because I need feedback. I need you to tell me this is not good quality or it needs to be better quality or it didn’t fit right or just whatever. I just need your opinions on on that. So, if you’ve got them, wear them so I can get that feedback. But here we are. Torah before the tablets. Why am I doing this lesson?

Chapter 2: Torah before the tablets

Cuz uh well, it ties into a little bit about what we were talking about last week with the Noahide laws. Who knew what, when, and why, and all that kind of stuff. And of course we know that in our world in the Christian world especially evangelical world there is you know a large percentage of people who have claimed and believe with every fiber of their being that Torah was only for the Jews. uh it was only for Israel and there was no law before he wrote it down with his fingers and stone. So I thought it would be good for us to look at that and to see really just how much uh of of God’s law existed long before uh he gave it to Israel. So, that’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to answer some questions here. This one I just mentioned. Isn’t the law just for Israel? Didn’t the law begin at Mount Sinai? We’ve heard all of these things.

Uh, what did the antidoluvian patriarchs know of God’s law? That’s pre flood. Pre flood patriarchs know about God’s law. How much of God’s law did Adam know? How much of God’s law did Noah know, if at all? How much did Abraham know? So, these are the kind of questions that we’re going to get into. And I found it to be really fun uh Bible study to look into this and pull these things out of the text. It was really uh helpful for me. It was enlightening for me. Hopefully, it’ll be the same for you. [laughter] So, we have to go back to Adam and we have to ask the question, how much of God’s law did they know? And there, of course, is a picture of Adam and Eve with their hands up because they don’t know the answer to that question, I guess. Um, this is a Disney style image that I’ve got.

We know that Adam and Eve probably weren’t pasty white people, but uh that’s just the way that um they came out. So, sorry about that. But let’s let’s get into this. Genesis 4 3-5. And

Chapter 3: Law known to Adam

in the process of time, it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord. Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord respected Abel or depending on the version you’re reading, accepted Abel and his offering. But he did not respect slash accept Cain and his offering. Okay. as it pertains to the father’s ways or his laws. What can we know from this scripture? By the way, I’m going to move probably pretty quickly through most of this stuff so that we can have some great discussion afterwards. Well, we can learn that sacrifice was already an established practice, right? because Cain and Abel are bringing offerings. They’re they’re bringing a sacrifice. And so this was an established practice. Established how? Well, there is some speculation, let me put it that way, speculation that the father did the first sacrifice himself to cover Adam and Chavah’s sin. And we how do we arrive at that conclusion?

Well, Genesis 3 says that he made tunics of skin and clothed them. Well, in order for you to have tunics of skin, you have to have a dead animal. Why would there be a dead animal? Well, many people believe, and I tend to lean on this as well, that there was a sacrifice made on their behalf as a result of their sin. But you know, we can’t say for sure. It’s been said by me and others that Yehovah himself made the first animal sacrifice on behalf of Adam and Chavah’s sin. However, and Chavah, by the way, that’s Eve’s name in Hebrew, who never was Eve. However, while the idea of a first sacrifice by God is theologically suggestive, and that’s what I was saying and commonly taught, it is not a deduction that can be made strictly from the scripture itself. It’s one of those things where you go, “Yeah, that kind of makes sense, but you can’t make the emphatic statement.” Right, Glenn? Number two, right? Yes.

What else can we learn? Well, there’s a qualitative distinction that existed between acceptable and unacceptable offerings. So, right off the bat, we can tell that as early as Genesis 4, there was an idea that there were some offerings that were acceptable and others that were not. Abel knew to bring a blood sacrifice and specifically the firstborn and their fat. The book of Hebrews later confirms that Abel’s sacrifice was offered by faith. Hebrews 11:4, implying prior instruction rather than improvisation. Cain and Abel didn’t just wake up one day and decide to bring Yehovah whatever felt right. Yehovah accepted one offering and rejected the other, which means there was already a standard in place. Abel knew to bring the firstborn and the fat, and Cain knew enough to be upset when his offering was rejected. That only makes sense if both men already knew what God expected. This tells us that instruction, accountability, and obedience existed from the very beginning, long before anything was written down at Sinai.

And here is the first place that we see justification by faith. Something most believers didn’t ex don’t didn’t believe existed until the new covenant. Okay. So what’s our conclusion? Let me ask that. What’s our conclusion as as a result of just this first slide? Well, sacrifice was a thing. It was a teaching. It was a law. Where do we see that first taught to Israel? In Exodus. So that’s where you can find the teaching given to Israel. However, we can see that it was already in place. What about acceptable and unacceptable offerings? Well, we can see that. Where is that taught to Israel in Leviticus 22? I’m not going to go through all of these verses, but I put them up there for you so you can research this stuff yourself. What else? Well, the teaching of the firstborn, the importance of the firstborn that is taught to Israel in Exodus 13.

We can see already that this was known and understood with Adam’s sons, which is a long time before Sinai. What else? Fat. The father gives specific instruction about fat in Leviticus 3:16. But it wasn’t new, right? Because they knew it. Cain and Abel and Adam and Eve or Chavah. They all knew it. But what about faith? That’s that’s a big one. Abel’s sacrifice or his offering was made in faith according to the author of Hebrews. And we can see in Deuteronomy 6 as it pertains to Israel the importance of faith which they ended up failing at miserably. But we can already see these what? One, two, three, four, five matters of the law. And I when I say law, I mean Mosaic law right here in Genesis 4 3-5. So, what we’re going to do is we’re going to keep a running tally of the things that we discover that were known about the ways of the Lord or the law from Adam to Abraham.

Chapter 4: Moral law before Sinai

Well, there’s more. Genesis 4:6-7. So, the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry and why is your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. Genesis 4:10-11. And he said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out 11 minutes to me from the ground.” So, what can we learn from these scriptures, Glenn? Number two, maybe you shouldn’t kill people. Okay, [laughter] maybe he shouldn’t kill people. Yes. Well, Cain is held morally accountable for Abel’s death, which means moral law existed and was known. Now, for the record, the words moral law and what’s the other two, Glenn? I’m thinking of moral law. Ceremony. Thank you. Thank you. Who was that? Michael. Michael. Oh, okay. Okay, thank you, Michael. Uh, now turn your mic off. [laughter] Uh, yes, ceremonial law and ritual law. Okay, those don’t they don’t exist in the Hebrew text.

It’s us in the West who have learned to categorize those things in that way most of the time to in order to dismiss them. But they don’t exist in the Hebrew text. But for the sake of our discussion today, we can see that Cain is held morally accountable and which means that moral law was somehow known. He says doing well versus not doing well. Well, that presupposes known standards, right? How did Cain know the difference between doing well and not doing well? I can ask any of you this morning and matter of fact we had this a discussion similar to this in the fellowship brother sister are you doing well? If someone asks you that question in your mind your answer is going to be based on some definition somewhere of what well is. So this presupposes known standards and of course as Glenn number two said murder is treated as a violation of God’s law long before Sinai and then we see this word sin lies at the door.

Okay, students of the Bible, what do we know about this word? 1 John 3, John the Apostle says, “Sin is lawlessness.” So if sin is lying at the door with Cain, that means there has to be a law in order for him to break it. How do I know that? Romans 5, sin is not imputed when there is no law. So how can the father tell Cain that sin lies at your door if there was no law? You seeing this number two? Clear as day. Clear as day. For until the law, sin was in the world. But sin is not imputed when there is no law. Okay. What is Paul saying? Paul is saying that sin existed long before the Torah was given at Sinai. But God does not charge sin to someone’s account as a legal violation when there is no revealed command defining that violation. Which means what? In Cain and Abel’s situation, there was a revealed command defining the violation.

And that’s what Paul is trying to say here in Romans 5. He’s not speaking about Cain and Abel in this verse. But if there is no law, there is no sin. And here we can clearly see that Cain had sin knocking on his door. So what do we gather from this? What’s our conclusions? Well, moral law that is expressed to Israel in Exodus 20. Murder obviously in Exodus 20. What is Exodus 20? That’s the Ten Commandments. And sin also in Exodus 20. So, let’s move those over there to keep our tally moving along. What else? Genesis 2:24. Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. Genesis 20 3-6. But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said to him, “Indeed, you are a dead man.” Oo, can 16 minutes you imagine the father saying something like that to you? You are a dead man. Why? Because of the woman whom you have taken.

She is a man’s wife. What can we know from these scriptures, Glenn?

Chapter 5: Sexual ethics in Genesis

Number two, adultery was in place. Okay, adultery. Let’s look at this. Marriage obviously is defined at creation. Adultery is condemned prior to Sinai and Abimelech is held accountable despite his ignorance. Did Abimelech know that this woman was married? And yet the father is holding him accountable. What can we learn from this? Sexual ethics were established and enforced by God long before Sinai. Uh Leviticus 18 and 20 explicitly prohibits incest, adultery, homosexuality, beastiality. These commands are introduced as statutes Israel is obligated to keep with chapter 20 attaching judicial penalties demonstrating that sexual ethics were legally enforcable within Israel. But it didn’t start with Israel. They were already in place in the days of Genesis. What about the ignorance? Leviticus 5 says this. If a person sins and commits any of these things which are forbidden to be done by the commandments of the Lord, though he does not know it, he is still guilty and shall bear his iniquity. That is the teaching to Israel.

But we can see way back in Genesis 20 that that was already in play as it pertains to God’s law revealed. So, what’s our conclusions? Marriage and adultery. Leviticus 18-20. Ignorance of the law. Leviticus 5:17. So, let’s move those over there to keep our tally going. How we doing so far, Glenn? Number two. Well, you don’t have them numbered, but No, I don’t have No. [laughter] Okay, let’s look at Noah. There’s Noah

Chapter 6: Noah and the law

and his happy family. his little elephants and his little bitty lions. His mini lions there, I guess. Uh, okay. Genesis 7. You shall take with you seven, each of every clean animal, a male and a female, to each of animals that are unclean. Genesis 8. And Noah built an altar to the Lord and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. H what can we learn from these scriptures? What do you see, Glenn? Number two, that sacrificing was well in place and practiced and clean and unclean meats were well were already there. Yeah. Right in there. No one knew clean and unclean categories existed before Sinai. Right. What else? Noah knew which animals were acceptable for sacrifice. He knew which ones were good, which ones weren’t good for the purpose of sacrifice. How did he know that? Revelation of the ways of the Lord long before they were communicated to Israel.

The distinction long predates Mount Sinai where the law was given to Israel. So I asked this question number two. Was Noah Israel? Well, Israel certainly came from Noah. Of course, we all did. We all came from Noah. But was he Israel? No. No. Was Noah a Jew? No. No. Was Noah even a Hebrew? No. No. So if that’s true, then is it safe to say that these laws were only given to Israel? No. No. Noah wasn’t Israel. Noah wasn’t a Jew. Noah wasn’t even a Hebrew. Who was the first Hebrew? Abraham. Why was he called a Hebrew? Because he crossed over the Euphrates. So no ju just by this one slide alone we can debunk if you will use that word this whole notion that these things sacrifice burnt offerings unclean animals and clean animals were given to Israel. No that’s just factually wrong. Dietary and sacrificial distinctions were known and understood long before Sinai and long before there ever was an Israel, a Jew or Hebrew.

And we cannot forget this. What else do we see? The burnt offerings. How is that? Why is that relevant? Because burnt offerings are altogether different from a normal sacrifice for sin. A burnt offering is meant for dedication and acceptance but not sin removal or sin covering where a sacrifice is meant for atonement for a specific sin and guilt. So not only seeing the whole sacrifice system in play as far back as Adam, we can also see that there were other offerings like the burnt offering in play long before Mount Sinai. So what do we gather? Well, clean and unclean animals and burnt offerings. So let’s move that over to our running list so we can keep track of this stuff. Let’s continue. Genesis 9:es 5-6.

Chapter 7: Human life and judicial law

Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed. For the image of God he made man. What can we learn from this scripture? Glenn number two. Well, you shouldn’t kill people. [laughter] Yes, you shouldn’t kill people. But what else? Uh that there’s a consequence. There’s a consequence. We can learn that human life is sacred because it bears God’s image. Obviously, murder is prohibited. We’ve already looked at that. But there’s also this according to Genesis 9. There is judicial consequence as a result of you killing somebody else. We see that taught to Israel where in Leviticus 24, whoever kills any man shall surely be put to death. Leviticus 24 again, if a man causes disfigurement of his neighbor as he has done, so it shall be done to him. Whoever kills an animal shall restore it, but whoever kills a man shall be put to death. So we can see the thing that the father taught his people, his treasured possession, his inheritance, that being the people of Israel.

The same thing that was already in play back in Genesis. The text explicitly distinguishes human life from animal life, reinforcing that humans occupy a higher moral category. This distinction only makes sense if humanity bears God’s image and we do. And we can see judicial consequence as a standard that was already established before Sinai and then enforced within Israel’s legal system. So what do we gather from this judicial consequence? We see it taught to Israel. We see it taught in the days of Noah. Yes, Glenn. Number two, I I would just add that we see a difference between murder and execution. Explain that. I think it’s obvious. I mean, if if you’re executing somebody for murdering, you’re killing, but you’re not breaking the command about thou shalt not. Okay. So, let’s move that over there to keep our tally going. What else do we see?

Chapter 8: Abraham’s covenant obedience

Well, here we are with Abraham. And Abraham’s talking to the Lord in this passage when the father tells Abraham, “This is my covenant which you shall keep between me and you and your descendants after you. Every male child among you shall be circumcised.” Okay. What can we learn from this scripture? Well, I think it’s pretty clear. There was a physical sign of covenant obedience that predates Sinai. What do I mean by that? Well, first let’s look at that. Circumcision is commanded. Adherence to covenant obedience was already formalized prior to Mosaic covenant. We see the father telling Israel, “Keep my covenant.” Now, we already know in many places we find the words to obey his commands to be very careful about obeying the things that I show you and teach you and command you to do. So things might be go might go well with you. But it’s altogether different for him to say keep my covenant. What is a covenant? A covenant is basically a contract, an agreement.

When I married my wife, I signed a covenant. I gave her my vows. She gave me hers. We are in a legal binding relationship, a contract. And that’s exactly what the father did with Israel at Mount Sinai. He created a covenant between them that they were to keep. How do I keep my covenant with my wife? I remain faithful to her and her alone. How does Israel keep their covenant with the father? They remain faithful to him and him alone, which we learn later on that that’s the one thing that they broke. So there was this idea of covenant adherence or covenant obedience in addition to the keeping of the laws. And we see that here with Abraham. This is my covenant, my contract with you which you shall keep. Genesis 26:5. Because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws. Well, wait a minute. I thought the law was only given to Israel. I thought there were no laws before Israel.

And here in Genesis 26, as the father is speaking to Abraham, he says of Abraham that he keeps his charge. He keeps his commandments. He keeps my statutes and my laws. Well, where are these commandments, statutes, and laws that Abraham kept? Are they written down somewhere? No. They’re not. But that doesn’t mean they weren’t there. That doesn’t mean that they weren’t there for Noah. It doesn’t mean that they weren’t there for Adam or Cain and Abel. They were still there revealed by the father until they were formalized with the people of Israel. And we’re going to talk about the difference between verbal law and codified law a little later on in the lesson. So he mentions these different words here, commandments, statutes, laws. What’s the difference in all this? Well, commandments are direct divine instructions that require obedience because God has spoken them. Statutes are appointed decrees or prescribed practices that God establishes as part of covenant life. That might be the festivals might be an example of that.

They are appointed decrees. They are the moadeem that are established as a part of that covenant. 29 minutes laws refers broadly to instruction or teaching not merely legal codes. Uh the word Torah itself means instruction. So all five books of the Torah are considered to be instructive. Even though outside of the to Torah in the writings in in the the poetry we still see teaching. We still see instruction. Precepts are detailed instructions or entrusted directives that focus on careful attention and faithful observance. Some of your Bibles might use that word here in this verse. So already in this passage, we we can see that the father had these things known by revelation long before Sinai. And then I thought this was interesting. The covenant that he made with Abraham, we know was circumcision, right? Well, it says, “This will be a sign between me and your descendants.” Well, who are Abraham’s descendants? Are they all Israel? No, they’re not. No, they’re not. Abraham’s family was pretty vast.

And only through the line of Isaac did we have Jacob and thus Israel. But he still had other sons. Do you think that these other sons kept this covenant as well even though they weren’t Israel? Pretty good chance that they did. Right. Right. We just have to open our eyes when it comes to this stuff and and try to think through this using our brains instead of our our minds and our eyes to read scripture. So what do we gather from this? Well, covenant obedience expressed in Genesis 17 to Abraham expressed to Israel in Exodus 19. Circumcision expressed to Israel in Exodus 12. Circumcision was never commanded to Israel except for the strangers who wanted to observe Passover. Think about that for a second. As far as I can tell, correct me if I’m wrong. Circumcision was never taught to Israel except when he said, “Listen, if your strangers want to observe Passover, they have to be circumcised.” Why is that? Well, because they already knew about it.

They had to have already known about it because of their lineage. I just thought that was an interesting note for us to keep in mind. So, we add covenant obedience and circumcision to our list. Our list over there is getting pretty long, isn’t it, Glenn? Number two, it is. There’s only two more looking at the space. [laughter]

Chapter 9: Universal standards of justice

Okay. [snorts] Universal accountability to God’s law. What does this mean? In Genesis 18 verse 25, it says, “Shall not the judge of all the earth do right?” Who’s speaking here? This is Abraham. And Abraham is making the statement, “Shall not the judge of all the earth do right?” So what can we learn from this? One, God judges all humanity. That’s obvious. Two, judgment presupposes known standards of righteousness. 33 minutes So all the way back in Genesis 18, many generations before the people of Israel, we can learn that the father is a judge. But he can’t be a judge unless the standards he had for his people were known. What does Romans say again? Sin is not imputed when there is no law. If sin cannot be imputed where there is no law, neither can there be judgment.

So the fact that he is called the judge of all the earth in Genesis 18 tells us that there were standards of righteousness already known and that God’s law was not limited to Israel. Sinai represents codification not invent invention. When Abraham refers to God as the judge of all the earth long before Sinai, scripture is affirming that God was already operating with established standards of right and wrong and enforcing judicial consequence. Judgment cannot exist without law and universal judgment cannot exist without universal standards. This means God’s law was already known, applied, and enforced before anything was written down at Sinai. Sinai did not create God’s law. It codified what the judge of all the earth had been administering from the beginning. And when was the first time that Yehovah administered his justice in the eyes of Israel? this judgment that we see in his character. Can you think about that, Glenn? Does it pop into your mind?

I’ve got a lot that pops into my mind, but I don’t know where you’re headed. Well, it was Passover in Exodus 12, right? That was the first time that they saw or the plagues that led up to Passover. Okay. The first time that they saw this justice, this judgment, right? Was that before Sinai? Was that before they were given his law? Yes. Okay. Again, clarity. Okay.

Chapter 10: Verbal versus codified law

Exodus 18. Moses said to his father-in-law, “Because the people come to me to inquire of God, when they have a difficulty, they come to me, and I judge between one another, and I do what? I make known the statutes of God and his laws.” Wait a minute. Exodus 18 was before Exodus 20, before the law was officially given, officially written in stone. And yet Moses is here saying that when the people come to me, I make known his statutes and his laws. Now, this whole codification business that we see here, I can’t remember if my next slide goes into this or not, so I’m just gonna I’m just going to share it here. Why do we see what only appears to be verbal communication or verbal revelation of the father’s standard of righteousness [snorts] from Adam leading up to the people of Israel? Why is there a difference? So why didn’t he write these things down with Adam at the beginning?

Well, believe it or not, the answer to that question could be its own study, [laughter] but I’ll try to put it in a nutshell here for us to swallow something. Israel is called his inheritance. He he had called a people to be his very own out of all the nations of the world. So there had to be a choice to be made in order for that choice to be made. There had to be options. In the days of Adam, there were really no options. There were a single people. And it wasn’t until later on Genesis 10-14 that we see the the creation of the nations and the scattering thereof. Fast forward down history a little bit and you see father selecting a nation. Of course, they’re all based on promises from Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Ephraim. But we see him making this selection of people that he will call his very own. A selection out of every other nation. How many nations were there? Glenn number two. 70 n.

And out of those nations, those young nations, the father chose his own people, his own treasured possession that he would call his own. The rest of these nations would be considered Gentiles. they would be considered the world. [snorts] But out of all these peoples of the world, he chose one nation to be his own. And through those people, he would perform or execute redemption for the world. So for those people, he laid down his established laws and ways written in stone not just as laws for his people. But hang on here a second, there’s more. These laws that were communicated via Moses to the people were not just law. They were constitution. They were their national constitution. So when people ask, well gosh, we just read that if someone lops off someone’s hand, the restitution is for that person’s hand to be lpped off too. An eye for an eye, right? So like if you want to obey God’s law in the states, you have to obey that, right?

Don’t you, Ed? No. Why? because we’re not in the land. And this law given to Israel was their constitution. Can I practice another nation’s constitution today in the United States? I cannot. It’s against the law to do that. I’d go to jail if I tried to enforce, say, Mexico’s constitution in the United States. And the same is true here. These laws were more than just laws and guidelines. They were their national constitution. And there’s just some things that we can’t do outside the land. So, I hope that’s making sense. That was a freebie. I don’t even think that’s in my notes, but we’re going to add to our list universal accountability to God’s law that we see here in Genesis 18 and expected throughout the rest of the Torah as it pertains to Israel.

Chapter 11: The eternal nature of Torah

Okay. So, I’m closing with this. Let no man or woman, pastor or teacher, try to tell you that God’s laws did not exist before Sinai and that they are only for Israel because they’re not. They are universal and they are ancient. The first place that we see in the Bible the phrase the ways of the Lord is in Genesis 18. If you read my book, I have a whole chapter dedicated to this. For I have known him, speaking of Abraham, in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they may keep the way of the Lord to do righteousness and justice, that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has spoken to him. Why is this such an important passage? Because after this you see that phrase everywhere, the way of the Lord or the ways of the Lord. And a person who kept these ways was a person who was attached to or belonged to the God of Israel.

And what did John the Baptist come to do? Number two, prepare the way. He came to prepare the way. What did Yeshua say? I am the way, the truth, and the life. All th all of this is connected. And these ways have been known since Adam. Long before there was codified law written on stone tablets, there was the way of the Lord. And in this way was revealed who God is. His ways reflect his character because they flow from his own nature. He is righteous, therefore his way is righteous. He is just, therefore his way demands justice. He is faithful, therefore his way requires faithfulness. Scripture defines the way of the Lord not as abstract morality, but as lived righteousness and justice grounded in who he is and how he acts. His ways also reflect his values. Let me stop right there and just reiterate, you’ve heard me say this a thousand times on this channel. I have children.

Many of you have children. the ways of your household that you had for them as they were growing up reflect your values. And that’s exactly what the father was asking of Israel and of us today that we live in a way that reflects his values. How do we know what reflects his values in the things that he commands? What God commands reveals what he esteems. He values life, truth, covenant loyalty, mercy, order, and holiness. And these values are consistently expressed and how he expects humanity to live. He taught these ways to Moses and to Israel. Psalm 103. He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the children of Israel. What can we assume from this passage? I know those of you who have been a member of our little group here for a long time already know where I’m going with this because I’ve taught it so many times. If it says he made known his ways to Moses and Israel, what is the implication there?

That his ways were already known. He made these ways known to Israel. He didn’t create them for Israel. And that’s a huge distinction. And those ways we still seek today. Jeremiah 6, the theme of my book and my whole ministry. Thus says the Lord, stand in the ways. Stop. It says stand in the ways plural because there are more than one road you can take. Okay? Not all of them are good. All but one of them are good. The rest of them are all bad. But you and I are all going to be standing in these ways at some point in our life. Looking down that road like Neo looking down that rainy road. I’ve been there before. You’ve been there before, Neo. Looking down this road over here. Yeah, I’ve taken that road. I know where that leads. No, no. Stand in the ways and see. Ask for the ancient paths where the good way is and walk in it and you shall find rest for your souls.

So, our conclusion today, Psalm 119 in three different places, as a matter of fact, let me just put them up there. Forever, O Lord, your word is settled in heaven. Anything he’s ever spoken to us, taught us, commanded us, has been settled in heaven for eternity. So, no, these laws aren’t new. No, these laws aren’t something he just arbitrarily gave to Israel so they could jump through hoops for their whole life and end up being something that he took away from Christians. He eliminated those hoops so you could have quote unquote freedom. No, his word is settled in heaven forever. Concerning your testimonies, I have known of old that you have founded them forever. The entirety of your word is truth and every one of your righteous judgments endures forever. So no laws were taken out of the way. No laws were abolished. No laws were given to a certain people as we discussed last week. No Torah is eternal. His word is eternal.

And that is our brief discussion this morning. Now, is this something that you wanted to toss in before I open it up to the gallery?

Chapter 12: Conscience and obedience

Yeah, I I I can throw something in there. Um, good morning everybody. This this week, a friend of mine had a had a a cat that was pregnant, and this cat delivered and this cat delivered eight kittens. So gave birth to eight kittens, cleaned them all up, and did what a mama cat does and taught these little kittens to to nurse. And you think now, how does a cat that’s never done this before? How does it know to do that? Well, you know, Yehovah has also put something in us. Paul talks about it in uh Romans 2:15. says their conscience bears witness against themselves. And so we’ve got something in us that or in every human being that says if something’s right or if something’s wrong and we’re judged by our conscience as well as what we actually know and what we’ve learned about Yehovah’s law. That’s all I want add to it. Amen. Amen. Thank you, Glenn. Okay, guys. Let’s open it up for the rest of you.

I’m going to stop talking. Want all your thoughts, your questions, your comments, your rebukes. If you disagree with me, I accept them all as you know. Uh, who wants to go first? And I guess we’ll have a long Oh, Randy. Let’s go, Randy. Hello, everybody. Thank you, Ed.

Chapter 13: Application of law today

Hey, Ed. So, I wanted to ask a question clarification. Um, when you use the example of you could not enforce Mexico’s constitution in the USA, that would be against the law. So, I’m curious um because the antinomian view, right, would would be that’s where they begin to try to break it down into moral, civil, ceremonial law. And [clears throat] that would actually be one of their arguments is that because that if that was Israel’s constitution u and they were under a theocracy then those wouldn’t be applicable to us in the same way that you said we can’t enforce Mexico’s constitution or it would be unlawful. And so they like to parcel that out, right? And they and they embrace the moral, but they say the ceremonial, whether it be the Sabbath, the food laws, so on and so forth. They would use your analogy of Mexico’s constitution trying to enforce it or we don’t no longer need to enforce it. So could you speak to that?

Well, of course I can. A lot of laws that said when you get into the land. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I’ll let you share that when I’m done. Glenn, Glenn, Glenn, no, I I don’t want to be the only girl talking here. I want you to share some things, too. Um, okay. So, yes, that’s that’s has been done to me as well, Randy. So, what’s the difference? How do you use the word parse? I don’t like to use that word, but it’s that’s that’s a good way to say it. How do you parse it? Well, the first thing that people like that who use that as a um a tool against you or a way of against you is this. As followers of Yeshua, we are Israel. We have been grafting in, been grafted in, have been given names greater than that of sons and daughters. Okay? So we are Israel.

So that means these laws given to his Israel, the Israel of God as Paul calls it in Galatians 6, are applicable to us. However, there are certain things that we cannot do while we’re outside the land. And that’s where Glenn number two is going to be going to here in a second. There are many things that require us to be in the land before we can do any of these things. Other things we can’t do, and I’ve said this a thousand times, things like tithing we can’t properly do because we don’t have a priesthood and we don’t have a temple. So in many respects, Randy, our complete obedience to the to Torah is limited, is truncated a bit because of these things. Now, as I said, the world has categorized God’s law into these categories. I hate to be redundant, but yes, moral, ritual, ceremonial. Which one of those do you do? Which one of those don’t you do? Well, the answer is is clear.

I cannot I cannot execute uh certain and I don’t I hate to use that word too because I’m not talking about execution here. I can’t execute certain things because of the fact that I am in I am diaspora. Am I making this clear, Glenn? Yes. Okay. According to your [laughter] view of the world, yes, I understand what you’re saying. expound because you were going to say something about being in the lamb. What I was going to add uh was that the the covenant uh the ten commandments given at Mount Sinai, they were intentionally given outside of the land. The ten commandments have nothing to do with being in Israel. They’re they’re made outside of Israel. Uh was outside of Israel. Yeah. So uh so you know that’s a fact.

However, when you get into all the Levitical rules and and a lot of of instructions, then all a lot of that is preceded with the words when you get into the land because they just couldn’t do it until they got into the land. So, there’s land rules and then there’s universal rules. [snorts] Yeah. So it’s it’s the reason why we can’t really biblically uh celebrate Jubilees, you know, this the Jubilee year, the Shmata year. We can’t really do that outside the land. Um did that answer your question, Randy? We’ve just rambled on. I just want to make sure you’re you’re following. Yes, I appreciate that. Thank you. Okay. You’re welcome. Uh okay, let’s see who’s first. Jame McKini. Good evening from here. Shabbat shalom.

Chapter 14: Incest and circumcision Q&A

Um great great study honestly uh I thank yeah for this platform as I always do and thank you uh brother Ed for uh the presentation. Um so just to say a little thing in contribution to the answer you gave just now before I ask my questions. Um also I see that um in that law of eye for an eye, tooth for tooth in Exodus 21, we see that there were before you could pass that kind of judgment on such crime in the law, you need to come before the appointed judges, right? And as we are right now in the dispersion all over the world we have judges of the nation who if you infringe on another person’s life like taking their life capital punishment or loping off their arms like you said you’ll be liable to the judicial system of your land. So like you said the land is a big deal.

When we are in the land, we are independently under the sovereignty of God without any human government standing in between. But right now, we still have human government standing between and uh the Bible clearly tells us to be subject to these governments also. Uh so yeah, so I I completely agree with what you just said. Uh now um however, my question goes like this. Um someone asked the question already in the chat. Uh the first one I want to ask is about uh incest in Leviticus uh 18 where you know in the law you have all the sexual morality and immorality being listed out and off and we see that in the book of Genesis there were many instances where people kind of married off their cousins and stuff like that Abraham Sarah and likes right and uh we did not see any of those instances where Yeah, the Most High frowned at those.

So, this has been, you know, a puzzle for me and I’ve always wondered, hey, why is this so? Yeah, scientifically, we know DNA, blah, blah, blah. But again, I was just wondering, is there a deeper and more um uh superior reason why uh that was so? Now, that’s my first question. My second question is about circumcision, right? Is it um how do I put this now? Is it a is it good to circumcise someone who is a follower of Christ as a means of say sanctification, right? Not as a means of justification, right? I see the story in um Acts 16 where Paul circumcised Timothy, right? And the Bible says there that he did it because of the Jews in the area. And I’m wondering to myself, hey, what if there was what if there were no controversies with the Jews? Will Paul just let go off like that without being circumcised? Or is there something I’m not seeing correctly? Yeah, those are my two questions. Thank you.

Oh, so bro, you don’t you don’t I mean, you asked some pretty deep questions there, but uh let’s let’s talk about them briefly. First, I I wanted to make the comment that when we see things in the Torah like eye for an eye, tooth for tooth, like we when we see um commands about uh killing your children if they don’t observe Shabbat, uh that stuff has been used against me as well. So, are you going to go kill your children if they don’t follow you? Okay, so here’s the one thing you have to realize. Yes, these laws exist. They are typological by the way. Uh it’s important that we always understand what the father was trying to communicate in some of these laws. However, when you look at uh rabbitical history, Jewish history, Israeli history, we have never found or never read any place where any of these laws actually happened. There’s no record of any parents killing their children for for being rebellious.

It doesn’t h it hasn’t happened in history that we’re aware of. So [clears throat] that’s important because we don’t we don’t want to get caught up thinking that ancient Israel was a bunch of knife wielding people, you know, cutting off heads and arms and feet and gouging out eyes all the time. that just wasn’t the case. Now, as it pertains to James, your uh question about incest, why is it commanded against when it was obviously commanded pro early on? Well, I think the answer is fairly simple. When you have Adam and Eve, when you have Noah and his wife and his sons and their wives, and you have to populate the earth, there’s only one way to do that. The human genome was so pure in the days of Adam that 59 minutes um crossbreeding, if you will, want to use that word, or incest wasn’t a problem uh because of the purity of the human genome. But over time that changed. It doesn’t take long.

Uh Noah was said to be perfect in his generation, which means his human genome was perfect. I doubt his wives were. I think that’s one of the reasons why we see smaller versions of Nephilim showing up post flood because of what they potentially carried in their DNA. I teach on that on my giants’s lesson. Um, and there’s all kinds of opinions on that, too. And that’s just one of mine. So, I’m not I’m not saying thus say the Lord, but we do see the necessity, if you will, of inbreeding in the days of Adam, in the days of Noah, for the purposes of of um well, obligation is a good word. Propagation. Oh, propagation. Okay, that’s what that’s what I was looking for, but I heard I thought she said obligation. Yeah, for propagation. Uh now eventually that had to come to a stop because of the inherent issues that come with inbreeding. Uh so hopefully that answers your question on that front.

Now the circumcision issue, the thing that we see in the New Testament when it comes to circumcision is the effort by so many of the phariseical converts and even the non pheriseical converts was that this was a hoop that Gentiles had to jump through before they came to faith. No, no, no. They have to do this before they come to faith in Christ. And that’s what Paul was fighting over and over and over again in his teachings, not just with circumcision, but with everything. Acts 15 is all about these people wanting these Gentiles to jump through all these hoops before they came to faith, before they were baptized into Christ. The brothers were saying, “No, that’s not the case.” So the question begs itself, James, should a man be circumcised today if he is in the Lord? Well, the question is, is it still commanded?

And the answer is yes, it is still commanded, but not because you are trying to prove yourself, not because you’re trying to be God’s friend, not because you’re trying to earn his brownie points. It is commanded. But you have to understand what Paul was saying about it all. In the grand scheme of things, Paul says circumcision is nothing. What matters is obeying the commands of God, but it’s still commanded. So, uh I hope I said that right. Did that help answer your questions, brother? Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. just um a little um maybe clarity that just dawned on me while while you were talking about um some of the laws that seemed a bit extreme like the eye for an eye stoning um a child to death who was not a child actually a mature man who was a son of his dad and mom gluten drunkard blah blah blah you know he didn’t like to submit himself to his parents injunctions even after he was disciplined and you know the stone to death I remember what um Yeshua told uh the was it the Sadducees now or the Pharisees actually who asked him about divorce and he said yeah Moses gave you this law because of the hardness of your heart. Deuteronomy 24. So for me I also see right now that some of those laws were given because the people just did not want to follow God’s simple instructions.

It’s just like imagine you have two sons in the home and you know one of them is very sensitive to your instructions, likes to follow every detail of what you say, but the other one is just this rebellious child. He’s just very hard-headed. Now, to get him to fall in line, you might threaten him with something really bad like, “Hey, if I see you do this again, I’m going to get you arrested by the police or something.” Now, you don’t say that because you hate the child. You say that because of the child’s hardness. So I think some of those judgments in the law were given because of the people’s stubbornness and hard-heartedness. I just I just think so. I mean, as you’re explaining right now, it just came out to me again like the the carnal mind is enmity against God and it’s not subject to the law of God. So many of these people are not subjected to the law of God. Simple honor your parents.

They’re going to take it out the other way. And God says, “Okay, you know what? I’m going to put some hard discipline in place and I just thought of that just now. Thank you very much. You you got me. Amen, brother. Amen. Here’s here’s Glenn number two. He he wanted to say something. Yeah. I just wanted to throw in that u Romans 2:25 through 27 answers uh the question and it it talks about the worthlessness of physical circumcision and that cir if one keeps the law circumcision is of the heart. So if you read those scriptures, you see that if if somebody is uncircumcised and they keep the law, then they are counted as circumcised of the heart, which is the important thing, which is what physical circumcision was always a sign of. Amen. I couldn’t have said that better. Yeah, that also was typology. So, thank you, brother Glenn. Uh, okay, brother Flowers. Good morning. Shabbat shalom, everyone. Uh I really appreciate this teaching.

Um this is was one of the first eye openeners for me back in 2008 when I came to Torah starting to see that this pattern was always there in scripture and that’s why I like that you brought that out. And just one comment that I wanted to say that I think is pretty important this eye for eye that’s more like eco weights and measures.

So it’s basically the crime the punishment must fit the crime more so than hey this guy punched me in the eye so I get to go punch him in the eye. it also with the whole children and being judged that the we only have the one example in scripture and it’s where these this couple goes before them and their child is rebellious but he’s not a child because he’s a drunken and a glutton so this wouldn’t be a kid you know boozing it up somewhere he’s he’s a grown man you had to go before a court system it’s not like the Israelites were going around throwing rocks at each other just because somebody created some kind of crime so you got people take these things out of context and they make them seem like we’re crazy for keeping laws and that we can’t possibly keep them. And then um there’s a certain professor that likes to put out YouTube videos about probably once a week against this Torah movement.

Um and he loves to say that, you know, if unless it’s repeated in the New Testament, well, those are the laws we follow. And my my thought process on that is, okay, you say that, but that makes no sense because how would Paul and all the apostles have ever known right and wrong when there was no New Testament? So, you can’t just say, “Well, unless the New Testament repeats it, then we don’t have to keep it because they’ll they’ll like to use that for, you know, dietary laws and stuff like that.” Well, it’s not repeated in the New Testament, so we don’t have to do it anymore. And I just find that so nonsensical when you actually logically think it through. Who [snorts] how that when there was no New Testament, how would they be judging these things? How would they know right from wrong unless they went back to find out? And the only way it was written, the only scriptures that they had was the Old Testament Torah.

So I like to use that as a guideline. And I love that you predated everything to you can see the principles were always there. just because they weren’t written down, they were still there. So, that was one of my comments. And then I was also going to ask the question about the the the the um incest laws, but you answered that already, so we’re good there. But I appreciate this teaching very much, Brother Ed. Amen, bro. Appreciate you. Yes. Uh, okay. We have Super Samuel up next. All right. So, I think I think brother Ray um hit the nail on the head with respect to I49 to 242 and that was one of the things that I wanted to share. Um and I think I’ve said this before um but we we we see the word law and we have a very specific idea in mind which is embedded within Greco Roman understanding.

And I think that in order to really appreciate what the Torah is saying, you’re going to have to change that mindset. What the father has given are instructions to walk in his way in his path. Let’s look at let’s look at circumcision for a second. And and we think the concept the circumcision of the heart is something which is within the the brick kadesha. But that’s not true. If you think about the story of Abraham, he walked with God for years, for years before he was actually instructed to put a cutting in his flesh, which is the definition of a co of a covenant. It is the cutting of flesh which is why you had at a certain juncture the havinging of animals that were placed on either side and the most high walking between them in order to seal the covenant. So Abraham’s heart was circumcised before he actually engaged in physical circumcision as a physical sign of the covenant.

It was already sealed when he heard the voice of the most high and came out of the place where he was and ventured off with Sarai and with Lot and with their people. The the the whole idea of circumcision, yes, circumcision of the heart is very important. And brother Ed is right. It is not meant to be an impediment to the acceptance or the profession of Yeshua Hamashiach as Adoni and as master and king.

And when you look at what happened in the book of Acts, and this is something that was touched on in the previous uh fellowship where when Paul went back when Paul went to the um the assembly, the elders who were in Jerusalem and explaining all the things that were happening with him going out to the Gentiles and Yakov and the and the rest of the 12 got together, contemplated on it, and informed by the Ruach that, hey, no, we’re not going to place the burden of circumcision on these people as an impediment to them coming into the true faith, into the knowledge. But these immediate things we need them to do because we know that these are things that they practice that are truly a problem that defiles people and that prevents them from being able to receive the ruach. But when they go into the synagogues on the Sabbath, they’re going to hear Moshe being taught.

So eventually they’ll come into the understanding and they will come and make a decision on whether or not to seal the deal if possible for them with circumcision of the flesh. And you have to remember that Timothy was circumcised. So the idea that circumcision isn’t something that still that isn’t required, I’m not certain if that actually fits what’s in the biblical text if you actually look at it. um but is not something that’s an impediment. It is not as far as the issue of of of incest is concerned. I’m going to say this we we read beer sheet or Genesis and we really don’t have a full understanding of what we’re seeing and what we’re reading. I’m I’m not offering this as being doctrine, but I’m going to just suggest this to you that there is a a line of of thinking or consideration that believes that there were more than just there were there were other populations outside of of the Garden of Eden.

And by virtue of this, Cain was able to take a wife outside of that. Some believe that, you know, for the time being, it was just possible for Cain to take one of the daughters of of Adam and move forward. I don’t know. This is something that I’m still searching out. And it’s a mystery that I invite. I don’t have to have the answer to everything up front to realize what the truth is. I walk in it because ultimately what Torah is is every word that’s uttered out of the mouth of Yehovah Elohim. Let me give you a real example and I and I’ll end with this and and think about this. We know that according to Torah that the punishment for being a thief, for entering into someone someone’s home and stealing from them, what was the punishment for that?

If they were caught in the middle of the night inside someone’s home robbing them of their property, the owner of the property had the right to kill them right then and there. But if they were not found in the act or if they survived the wound that they received until the morning, they could not finish the job off. That person is to be brought before a court of justice, before the priests, before the elders, before the judges and at that juncture they would be find a levy that they would have to pay to recompense for what they had done. But if you look in the brick kadeshai and you look in the gospels, what happens when Yeshua is placed on the tav? He has two thieves that are placed on tavs beside him. That was not Torah being executed. That was Roman law. If the Torah was really executed, it would have been a different situation.

The 1 hour, 14 minutes thieves would not have had to pay with their lives for being thieves. So, that should tell you something. Thank you for allowing me to share. Shabbat shalom. Amen, brother. As always, appreciate your thoughts and input. And for those of you who are new and you’re listening to Super Samuel talk and use words like Brites, that’s Hebrew for New Testament. Uh so just so you know what what he’s saying uh now and in the future. Thank you, Samuel. Okay, Robert from Florida. Hey, good morning. Shabbat shalom. Um I when you when uh was talking about incest and I think uh Samuel touched on this but in Genesis chapter 4 when Cain was exiled um he he he says and I I’ll read it so I don’t misquote it. He says, “Surely you have driven me out this day from the face of the ground. I shall be hidden from your face.

I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond on the earth. and it will happen that anyone who finds me will kill me. Um, since Adam and Eve, you know, in Genesis were like the first two uh creations of the father. Um, I my question would be who are these other people, you know, because it’s obviously that he’s fear he’s fearing for his life to be cast out um for some other people. So would lead me to believe and I’m not sure cuz I haven’t studied it out but there were other people besides Adam and Eve that that he would be fairing for. So incest wouldn’t necessarily be I I’ll marry my brother and sister or my my relative because there’s other people besides just Cain and Abel and Adam and Eve. That’s all I wanted to say. Thanks. Okay. Well, let me just jump in there and touch on this. You have a baby a year and you live 900 years. Well, that’s what I was going to say.

How long did Adam live? 930 years. Long time. Yep. Yeah. U How many children can a couple have in 930 years? A flipping lot of them. Yes. How many children can their children have in 930 years or in those similar lifespans? A lot. And they didn’t. At what point did they didn’t get married till till they were over a hundred? Yeah. At what point did uh did Cain and Abel were they born in Adam’s lifespan? We don’t know. Okay. So I think it’s uh difficult to make the to come to the conclusion that God created the universe for humanity, formed Adam out of mud and and then went over to some part of the planet and formed another atom out of mud and another atom out of it was mother ball. Yeah. Yeah. It’s difficult because he is called Eve is called the mother of all. Um and so I don’t think that’s the case.

So how do you how do you answer the questions of Cain’s fear of judgment andor who did Cain marry? Well, I think in nearly a thousand years of time, the the answer is simple. uh he he did marry someone in his bloodline. Obviously, the people he was concerned about existed within his bloodline. Um so, no, I don’t think that there were um other tribes of humanity that were created that are not the scriptures are very clear on that, I think. And to to assume that would be I think an error uh based on on the typology of Adam himself. So Yeshua is called what? Lots of things as it pertains to Adam. Second. [clears throat] He is the second Adam. If God created Adam and then went some other part of the planet and created another guy, he would be the second Adam. No, Yeshua is the second Adam. That’s his reference. So, no, I think there was one couple and all humanity came from one couple.

And these other things like Cain’s fear of execution andor his selection of a bride were all done within that period of time um amongst his relatives. I hope that helps. Okay, Amy, good morning. So, thank you. This was a great teaching and stuff I’ve thought about for quite a while also that um essentially is that the Torah was written on their hearts from the beginning. Um they forgot it. They walked away. They, you know, especially while um in captivity in Egypt and then, you know, Yahweh had to write it on stone to remind them. and now he’s taking us back to it being written on our hearts sort of, you know, the great kayazm of scripture. Um, so I do have a question though because the only thing that that sort of stands out to me in interest is that Yehovah didn’t kill Cain literally. Um, he cast him out and he put a Mark on him.

And you know, I’ve I’ve struggled I haven’t studied with studied into it yet, but something that I wonder about frequently, so I should study it, is what does it mean to be cast out? Um, is that a form of killing, if you know what I mean? Thank you, Ed. You have Glenn scratching his head over here. Congratulations, Amy. Um, well, there’s a couple things at play here. Yes, casting out is a form of separation and cutting off. Israel is warned that if they um if they did not obey and follow the Lord’s commands, they would be cut off from the people. So, we see that practiced in in the garden where Adam was cut off from the people.

Uh now obviously because of all the issues that we’ve discussed prior to this um he had his own plan and I have a um a PDF that if you like me to send it to you I can that shows the lifespans of everybody in a graph a large graph and um you can see Adam’s family line in big bold detail and all who all who came from Adam’s line the pre flood patriarchs. And then over here in the bottom, you see Cain and his little bitty clan that were kind of separated from the people, God’s people at the time. So yes, he was cast off. He was cut off and it is like dying. Uh how many of us can attest to how we felt when we were cast out of our churches or we left our fellowships? uh you know for all the reasons that we’re very familiar with. It felt like death. It felt like you were being cut off from the family.

And so yes, it was very much like that. Um okay, let’s see. Nobody else has their hand up. Huh? No, that was a thumbs up. Okay. Yeah, nobody has their hands up. 1 hour, 22 minutes Let’s see. I I’m just gonna pick on somebody just because I love him. Brother Lyans, you’re you’re one of the new guys here. And just FYI, guys, I’m super excited about Randy and his wife Brett. They they he they are a pastor couple and uh they serve in in the ministry in Arkansas and have for many, many years. He’s new to our group, new to this whole idea of Torah. we’ve had many wonderful conversations and trying to answer questions that um like he we all had I had and so I’m just blessed to have them in our group and I’m sure Randy and Brett that some of the things that you’re hearing today can be confusing like when Super Samuel uses the word Brit Haresa.

Um, you know, maybe you knew what that meant, maybe you didn’t. But, um, let me just pick on you a little bit and ask you if if you’re absorbing any of this, if you and and by the way, Randy, you don’t know this. My group does. This is a place where you can completely disagree with anything that you hear and not be judged for it. Um, I I truly take Paul’s words about allowing factions to exist in the body very seriously because I’m not the standard. Glenn number two is not the standard. Um, nobody here is the standard except for Yeshua and we’re all doing our best to figure out what’s what. So, if anybody ever has a a contradicting thought or belief, you can share it and no one’s going to stand in judgment. We might discuss it, but no one’s going to stand in judgment of it. But anyways, having said all that, brother Lyens, what are your thoughts, questions, anything at all?

Anything that we can answer? 1 hour, 24 minutes No, not not today. I mean, this I’m I’m I’m playing catchup and getting getting there quick, I think. and you’ve been very helpful, Ed, and Brett and I are just thankful to be a part of this community. or she started on this journey before I did and I got into this journey because she’s my wife and I came out of a dispensational background and uh I desperately did not want this to be true and thought I would her ways and God’s grace uh hasn’t always been typical of me but I had to humble myself and so I’ve come to discover this and I’m more excited about my faith than I’ve been since probably coming to faith 32 years ago. And I’m so excited to wake up in the mornings and be in the scriptures. And so I’m trying to play catchup as fast as I can.

But this group uh before we joined um I’d listened to many many um of your talks, Ed, and you know the the blinders started falling off. I I had to listen to Jacob to Jesus probably three or four times before I could even know you just get I think what you called Ed cognitive dissonance. You know, you’re trained through a certain lens for so long. Um but I’m very thankful uh for where for my wife and u and for Ed our friendship and just this whole group. So no questions about today’s teaching. Another excellent one. just very very thankful. Well, amen, brother. Just just know you are amongst uh like-minded individuals not just in what we believe but in what we’ve gone through. The cognitive dissonance that you’re talking about, the struggles, even the desires to not want any of this to be true. Yeah.

That was where I was at because when I posited for the when I first posited the idea that I it was wrong about the law, what were the ramifications of that? [clears throat] If I’m wrong about this, that means everybody I know is wrong about this. That means my whole global community church-wise is wrong about this. And so, like you, Randy, I desperately didn’t want this to be true. The that’s the reason why I created my three walls that I talk about in my book. If I could bust through those walls, then I could prove once and for all that the b the law had been abolished. And I never could. and and so those three walls have kind of kept kept me grounded. But um count yourself immeasurably blessed by the father who has chosen to awaken your heart and to open your eyes to these wonderful things.

It it makes our faith in Yeshua all that much more grand and amazing when you can when you consider the entirety of the word of God. Once you’ve embraced the entirety of the word of God, all of that focuses down into the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Christ in the most beautiful way. and it helps me understand that hope even more. So, um I’m just glad to have you along. Um okay, let’s see. We have a few more minutes. We’re going a little long, so please Jeff and Bri and Daria be brief so that we can finish up today. Go ahead Jeff and Bri. Happy Sabbath, everyone. Uh this is such a great teaching. Thank you, Ed. We’re just really grateful to be here and to have found this group of wonderful brothers and sisters. I’ll make this quick. I just the first thought I had was um just the cognitive dissonance that you just mentioned that we all have been under.

I had the same feelings like whoa this can’t be. This can’t be. No way are other people seeing this too. And the one thing I constantly have to remind myself when I hear anti-law speech is just that it’s like it’s like saying the father is unjust and evil that he would have given laws to begin with that were impossible to keep. That to me has always I keep that in the back of my mind. The other thing I just wanted to I actually kind of have a question. I wanted to touch on the Cain stuff that was mentioned cuz I did a little studying recently on that and it seems that Cain’s lineage plays a really big role in the sort of Satanism that we see on earth today. Just the idea of him being cut off and and cast out.

I started thinking about that and I’m like, “Wow.” Um, there’s a scripture, I can’t remember off the top of my head which one that says that Yehovah makes vessels for both destruction and honor. And so I that kind of came yeah when I thought about Kane I was like oh my gosh you know you it’s not a it’s not a comforting thought to think that somebody was created just to be destroyed but you know I’m not the father and his ways are not my ways but I did a lot of research on just tubalcain and how the you know freemasons are they worship him the way of Cain all the different things that have come about because of it the fathers that you know uh worshiped the idols so many things just fallen angels city, veneration, music, lust, weapons, technology, control, religion, all of that. The narcissism I feel came from the way of Cain, his his sort of bloodline.

And if I’m wrong, correct me, but that’s um that was my question. If if my research is accurate on that, no, I I don’t think you’re I don’t think you’re off at all. I think you’re Glenn said you’re spot on. Yeah, I think that’s very very accurate. Okay, Daria, last person to share. Your microphone needs to be on. Daria, I know. Uh, do you hear me? Yes, ma’am. Okay. I have just one simple question. uh something today was on the on the WhatsApp uh question uh or something was that uh because I am new to to it everything is new for me and I just want to ask if it is uh if it is uh bad or sin or I don’t know how to say when you pray when you uh you know because in my church example they are praying to Jesus they say uh uh you know they don’t say uh dear god or dear father they say uh Jesus.

So I actually want to ask how it is uh uh correct to to pray to approach uh or or if we can pray to Jesus or through Jesus to to God. That’s what I would like to know. Thank you. Okay. So real briefly on that. We talked on this uh some some months ago on a different lesson. I can’t remember. Um who is Yeshua? Yeshua is God in the flesh basically, right? Uh but what was his example when he said when you pray do what? Our father who art in heaven. So yeah, we follow Yeshua’s example in prayer. Is it sin to use Yeshua’s name in prayer or to address him? I don’t know. I don’t think that’s the case at all. But his example was when you pray, his teaching was when you pray, our father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name to address him. Even Yeshua submitted to him in his life and prayed to the father. So we follow his example in that.

Okay guys, I hope that’s it. Glenn, you want to say something real quick? Yeah, I I would just say we we undoubtedly the instruction is that we pray to the father, but we pray through Yeshua who is our high priest. He is our intercessor. So, he’s there. He’s a part of the transmission of the prayer. Yeah. Amen. You’re getting lots of thumbs up there, Glenn. Number two, guys, listen. Shabbat shalom. Have a fantastic, peaceful day in honor of this most holy day. and have a great time with your families. Have a great weekend. And we’ll be back next week. Uh we’re going to ask uh Glenn number two and Super Samuel to tag team in something next week. Not sure what it is. It’ll be fun nonetheless. Wish me good luck, I guess, and prayers for my speaking engagement at the Messianic Conference in South Texas. Pray that that goes well.

And also, um, the Rude the Rude team, Michael RDES team has reached out to me again and, um, we’re gonna have an interview with the Michael RDES team on the 20th of January. He wants to talk, he wants to talk about, um, our our discussion on Paul taught nothing but Torah. So, that’ll be fun. So, be praying for all of that as well. Have a great week and we’ll see you guys soon. Shabbat shalom. Shalom. Shalom. Thank you. Thank you. Shalom. Shalom. Thank you so much. That was wonderful teaching, wonderful comments. Always a joy. Been blessed today. Thank you very much. Shalom. Shalom. Awesome.