Q. The dinosaur age was prior to Adam and Eve. Was the world inhabited prior to humans? This would be more than the 7000 years you speak about.

A. The dinosaurs did live prior to Adam and Eve but not for as long as you think because the premise for your question is flawed. They were created on day five and six (Gen 1.20-25) and at the most some of them existed one day prior to when man was created (the Flintstone cartoons were right!). The belief that they preexisted man by millions of years is based on the theory of evolution that presupposes that God did not create the universe according to the book of Genesis. The only difference between the theory of evolution and the children’s fairy tale about the frog that turned into a prince is time, so the “god” and the power of the evolutionist is time. Eventually religious men began to believe that evolution was right because they didn’t believe Moses so they had to assimilate evolutionary thought into the biblical record in order to justify their beliefs so they came up with what is called “ theistic evolution” which means that God “created” the universe through evolution. God said Himself He created the universe and all that was in it in six days (“He spoke and it was done” Psa 33.9), and rested on the seventh, but His word isn’t good enough for religious men, it never is. So, they went back to Genesis and began to look for a scripture to justify what they already believed instead of framing their belief on what was already said by God. This produced what is called “The Gap Theory” because they said there was a gap between Genesis 1.1 and 1.2. This isn’t true but it is still being taught. Here’s the problem with this theory. It’s unscientific because any attempt to justify evolution when it is just a theory isn’t science and evolution violates the second law of thermodynamics. Secondly it isn’t biblical because it would mean that Adam was already walking around on top of giant, fossilized animal graveyards. Paul in Romans 5.12 and 8.20-22 states that sin brought about death, even of animals. Gen 1.24 tells us that God created all the land animals on the sixth day. The gap theory isn’t even needed because a plain interpretation of Genesis reveals what God did, supported by what He has said about creation in other books like Exodus, Job and Psalms where he said He said he “spoke and it was done” and other verses. Those that support this theory will say that in Genesis 1.2 it says “without form and void” means judgment and will cite Jeremiah 4.23 . However, in other passages it simply means “space” (Job 26.7,Dt 32.10, Job 6.18,12.24, Psalm 107.40). They will also say that “was” in Gen 1.2 should be “became” but the Hebrew word “hayetha” is found 264 times and 258 times it simply means “was.” The Hebrew verb for “became” is “haphek”. A third argument will be when they say that there is a difference between “bara” (created) in Genesis 1.1 and “asah” (made) in Genesis 1.7. But, these words are used synonymously and basically mean the same thing. For example God created (bara) in Genesis 1.21 and God made (asah) in 1.25. In Genesis 1.26 it says “let us make (asah) man” and “God created (bara) man” in 1.27. Proponents of the theistic evolution/gap theory will say that “darkness” in Gen 1.2 means judgment but in this case it means the absence of light and is sometimes spoken of as good (Psalms 104.20-24). Lastly they will say that “replenish” in Gen 1.28 indicates that the world was once filled but the Hebrew word “male” almost always means “to fill” (Exodus 40.34,1K18.33,Psa 107.9). You may wonder “what happened to the dinosaurs?” The land animals died in the flood of Noah and the ones in the water of course stayed alive, and many of them exist today and have been found by fishermen. So, in short Genesis 1.1 is a summary statement of the creation and the remaining verses tell us how He did it.

Q. I have been raised in a Baptist home and church,and I am new at the concept of keeping all the Torah ordinances that apply to me and have told many

-of my friends. They accuse me of being "legalistic." Please
explain the difference between being legalistic and
keeping the Torah.
A. When someone says that to me I ask them why they
object to just the so-called "Jewish" commandments.
They can sit and talk about how we should love and be
faithful to our spouses, how we shouldn't worship
idols, lie, cheat or steal. They will agree and praise
God that they don't do those things anymore. They talk
about tithing and quote Leviticus, Deuteronomy and
Malachi. I have heard them tell people that they need
to repent from sin (like not tithing) and then when
they "believe" they tell them they are not "under the
Law" anymore (except for tithing and the giving
parts!). So, the Law applies before they believed but
not after. A very curious theology. But as soon as you
bring up the Sabbath, the biblical festivals and
eating biblically kosher their whole countenance will
change. They get this strained look on their face and
talk about "bondage." They just got done telling
someone about God's commandments and how we should
keep them but when you talk about the Sabbath things
change. It's always the Jewish commandments that get
them. It's obedience if you follow the commandments
they like, but bondage if you follow the Jewish
sounding ones. The truth is, there are no Jewish
commandments, they are all God's commandments. The
fact is, Israel disobeyed them and tried to change
them too. The Sabbath (Saturday) is the Lord's Day,
not Israel's. The food laws are God's laws, the
festivals are God's festivals. There is no difference
between any of them. They are seen as a whole. So,
when someone accuses me of being "legalistic", I tell
them God calls it OBEDIENCE and I leave it at that. I
hope this helps.

Q. I have an acquaintance that lives in far North Dallas. He is looking for a Torah teacher. How do you suggest he go about locating one and do you-

-have any cautions for him.
A. One of the first instructions in the Scriptures is
to "find yourself a teacher." It is also in the
Mishnah in "Avot" or sayings of "the Fathers". It is
very important to find the right teacher because we
all have seen the damage done by false teachers. So,
here are some basic guidelines.First, you must have a
basic knowledge of the Torah yourself. You must have a
working knowledge of the Temple, geography, history,
the festivals, prophecy, the Messiah and the
redemption to get started. He must study these things
on his own and master them. He must study the
Scriptures verse by for himself and know that he is a
believer.How can he detect false teachings unless he
knows some things himself. This is the foundation that
he must lay for himself. A Torah teacher can only
build on the basics. If he doesn't have a solid
foundation then all else will fall. He then prays
about finding a teacher who can guide him to deeper
revelation. A teacher can only give what the Lord has
shown him so he needs to find someone who can impart
knowledge. He then searches for someone who can help
him, without neglecting his own study. Most people I
have had experience with want to be told what to
believe because they are too lazy to study for
themselves. Others think they know it all and want to
argue or teach you concerning their own agenda so
there are some pitfalls to watch out for. Don't empty
your mind and be told what to believe, but be
teachable. God will put someone in his path but he
needs to have the wisdom to know who it is. He may not
be close to home. The people of Jerusalem had to walk
many miles out into the wilderness to hear John. I'm
sure people complained about that and never went. Here
are some cautions. First, make sure the teacher is a
believer in Yeshua and keeps the commandments. Make
sure he doesn't believe they have been "done away
with" like most so-called teachers today. The number
one thing on my checklist is does that person follow
the Torah and believe it is for today. If not, don't
waste your time with that person, he is a false
teacher. Secondly don't wait for the perfect
person/teacher to come along. No teacher is going to
be perfect. God doesn't use perfect people because
there aren't any (except one). Third, don't resent the
teacher because he knows more than you. That is what
he is there for. God has given him that gift and has
imparted knowledge to him so learn what you can.
Fourth, check out everything you are taught using
outside sources, and by asking questions. This will
help him to develop trust in that teacher. In my
experience, it wasn't what I taught that people took
issue with it was the preconceived expectations of the
listener that got in the way. They had no problems as
I went along confirming what they believed. But, when
I taught some things they did not agree with they did
not trust me anymore and failed to go back and check
things out for themselves. This builds resentment and
they begin to attack me rather than disprove what is
said. These people are usually very hard to teach
because they already know everything. I get more upset
when people attack the Lord and His Word than I do
about what people say about me. So, tell him not to
make that mistake.So, in short, tell him to pray for a
teacher, make sure he teaches the commandments are
valid for today, he studies for himself, he checks
things out and most of all listens with an attitude of
learning.

Q. 2 Pet 3.1o says that the day of the Lord will come like a thief with the heavens disappearing with a roar and the elements of the earth being -

-destroyed. Then in the next verse it says since the everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought we to be. What is going on?
A. These verses are giving a basic description of the Birth-pains of the Messiah, also known as the Tribulation and the events at the end of the Messianic Kingdom, or the last 1000 years spoken about all through Scripture. So, let me explain a couple of things first. Biblical time should be thought about in cyclical terms, not linear. We are going forward to the past. God is “returning us back to the Garden”. There are 2 rivers that still remain from the Garden of Eden today and that is why immersion is so important once a person believes. It’s a desire to get back to the garden, but that is another concept for another time. There is a biblical concept of the 7000 years of man and then the Olam Haba, or the world to come or “eighth day” if you will, a new beginning. The seventh millennium is called the Day of the Lord, or Lord’s Day, the Sabbath of God (Heb 4) and has many other names. Peter is describing changes in the world that are coming (v12) called a new heavens and a new earth. We are currently living in the third of an eventual five new heavens and a new earth. We have the original Creation, man fell causing another change up to the flood of Noah and another change after the flood that we are currently living in. The heavens and earth will change again in the Millennium, which Peter refers to and then the final change will come when everything will be restored (1Cor 15; Rev 22). So, in short, the creation was perfect, was diminished and will be restored back to perfection again. With that as a back-round, let’s look at the verses in context. 2 Pet 3.10 gives us a time frame for this and it’s the Day of the Lord, or seventh day or the last seven thousand years, or Messianic Kingdom. It will come like a thief, meaning many will not expect it, but there are those who will (1 Thes 5.2). That is who Peter is talking to. So, this tells us what new heavens and new earth he is talking about, and that has to do with the Birth-pains or Tribulation period. Peter goes on in v10 to describe changes in the heavens and earth (the fourth one in human history) and uses figurative language to describe it. Examples of this figurative language in use are Exodus 15.15 where it says the inhabitants of Canaan have ”melted away”, similar to Zech 14.12, Psalm 75.3. I Jn 2.17 says that earth is “passing away” and is describing the same thing Peter does. Isaiah 24.1-23 also uses figurative language to describe these changes. Now, in 2 Peter 3.10 he says the earth will be destroyed but that is understood as being “dissolved” as we know it. It obviously does not literally mean destroyed because Yeshua will reign here and the Bible has never taught that the heavens and earth are to be destroyed, only changed. Later in the verse it says that “the works” will be burned up and that is talking about the vain, useless works of man like cities, governments, traditions, customs and “earthly, elemental things” (Gal 4.3). In 2 Pet 3.11 he says that since we know that all things are to be changed or dissolved, why put your affections on the things of this world. We need to concentrate on the things that are eternal and not lay up treasures on earth. Basically he is exhorting believers to continue walking in the Torah. This book combats the heresy that the Torah commandments are no longer valid. He warns us that men will promise “liberty” saying that they are free from the Law and “turn from the Holy Commandment” ( read 2 Pet 2.18-22). He goes on in Chapter 3 and warns us of false prophets and mockers who will disregard the Torah, prophecy and the coming of the Lord and tells us that the Lord is not slack in His coming. He is saying that these things will surely come to pass so we need to have faith and keep the commandments found in the Torah and not to listen to the false prophets who deny the Lord and His Torah, but to wait patiently, serving Him with all our hearts. He also says Paul taught the same things he did, but there some things Paul writes about that are hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort , as they do the rest of Scripture, to their own destruction. This sounds just like today. False prophets are on every street corner, on the television and radio distorting Paul’s writings saying that he taught that the Law was “done away with” and we are “free from the Law” and so on. This book expressly warns us not to believe these people and to be obedient to His word because the Day of the Lord is coming with some big changes and surprises. Read the whole book to get the context and you will see words, phrases and concepts used in all the other books to bring home the idea that God is restoring His creation.

Q. Why did Yeshua thank the Father for hiding certain things from the wise and intelligent and revealing them to babes.

A.You referring to several verses in the New
Testament. One is in Matt. 13. 10-23 and another can
be found in Luke 10. 21-24. Basically what he is
saying is that earthly intelligence, bible knowledge
and degrees are not what is required to know Him or to
understand His word. It's all God's work and His
Spirit reveals these things to whoever He wills. But
the things concerning the Kingdom of God must be
received with child-like hearts (babes) prepared by
God beforehand. That is why in the account in Matthew
Yeshua goes into the parable of the sower. The seed
falls on bad ground and does not bear fruit. It can
only take root on good ground. Now, good ground is
ground already worked and prepared by the farmer to
receive the seed. It's the same with the Word of God.
The Lord prepares the heart to receive the truth so it
can bear fruit. Many today say they believe in the
Lord but they do not believe that the Torah is for
today, keep pagan-rooted festivals, eat pork and break
the Sabbath because they think it has been done away
with and believe a "replacement theology." But the
heart of the matter is that the Lord has never
revealed these things to them through the Holy Spirit
(Luke 10.22; Matt 13.11)), and they should be very
concerned about that. The parables and the verses you
are referring to are very clear about this. So, we are
not to rejoice over the fact that we have this
knowledge or power and others don't, but we are to
rejoice over the fact that our names are recorded in
heaven and God through His mercy has chosen to open
our ears and eyes spiritually and reveal them to us
(Matt 13.16) and to the others it has not been granted
(Matt 13.10-13). All of it is God's work and that is
why Yeshua rejoices. In fact, if you look up the word
for "rejoice" in Luke 10.21 it means "to jump for
joy." That's how excited he gets over it.

Q. Your articles seem to answer a lot of questions from people who have at least some Bible knowledge. How do you approach unbelievers who are -

-inquisitive?
A.I approach it with this thought. I use the book of
Nehemiah as an example. Nehemiah was sent to rebuild
the walls of Jerusalem after they were destroyed. The
people had turned from following the Torah and God
allowed the enemy to come in and destroy what the
people where putting their trust in(their walls) and
they were then led into captivity. An unbeliever is
like a city whose walls have been torn down by
unbelief. Nehemiah went in and didn't say anything at
first but surveyed the city to assess the true extent
of the damage. After he had seen what needed to be
done, he then set about to rebuild. That is what I do
at first. I look at the person to get an idea of the
damage done, which is always unbelief at the root. If
he doesn't know the Lord I start there and then lead
him to the Torah, which is the the foundation of the
faith and all the other Scriptures (2Tim 3.16-17). A
good, solid wall needs a good, solid foundation.
Spiritually, he needs to know what has caused the
damage in the first place and that is sin and
transgression of the Law(Torah) is sin (1Jn 3.4).
Nehemiah got the people to turn to God in order not to
repeat the same errors and that is what needs to be
done with an unbeliever. Once he turns to God, he
needs to have the Torah as a foundation to build his
spiritual "walls" again. Many are taught today that
the Torah has been done away with but that is a lie of
the enemy who does not want the walls built again
because he can't get ar rhe person anymore. Deception
and accusations won't work anymore. Nehemiah ran into
the same problem. Once they started to rebuild,
Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites,
Ashdodites heard about it and they became very angry
(Neh 4.7-8). The breaches in the walls were being
repaired and they tried to stop it. It's the same
today. Once you start working with an unbeliever and
show him how to rebuild his walls and repair the
breaches, the spiritual Sanballats and Tobiahs will
become angry and try to hinder the work by saying that
"the Law has been done away with", "the Law is
bondage", "God never told you to rebuild your walls
like that" and so on. So, you have to work with one
hand and have a spiritual weapon in the other until
they give up. So, I try to discern what the damage to
a person (city/walls) is and then lead them to the
Lord and then help them rebuild their walls brick by
brick, or scripture by scripture. It is long, hard,
tedious work and it is not acomplished without the
power of Spirit of God (Zech 4.6-9).

Q. Does the Book of Galatians teach that the Law has been done away with?

A. The book does not teach that the Torah has been done away with. It deals with a specific issue that was hotly debated in the first century and that issue was whether a Gentile who believed in Yeshua should be ritually circumcised, or become Jewish, to be saved. We see the issue debated in Acts 15 and it was decided that they did not have to be ritually circumcised. It comes up again in Galatians. So, we need to look at this issue to understand what Paul is saying and it is complicated but then again very simple to understand. In the first century a system of works righteousness was being taught. This system developed after the Babylonian captivity and was another debated issue (Rom 9.30-10.3) often illustrated by contrasting the spirit of the law and the letter of the law. The Pharisees in particular did not often agree on this issue and once they became believers in Yeshua their theology came with them and that is the issue in Acts 15.. There was the teaching that a Gentile had to become Jewish to be saved and they entered into that change of status by circumcision. There are two types of circumcision. One is called Abrahamic this is done if you are a descendant of Abraham , Isaac and Jacob and it was a sign that the Messiah would come through that lineage. Gentiles were not a part of this because the Messiah was not going to descend through them. There are reasons for Gentile circumcision but that involved eating the Passover and being a part of the household, but Abrahamic circumcision did not apply to Gentiles. The other type is called “ritual circumcision” and this a part of the oral law, not the written Torah of God. This view said that a Gentile must undergo circumcision to be saved. In the Jewish mind, when one talks about circumcising a Gentile it means “to become Jewish.” So there were two types of circumcisions in the first century, one was biblical and the other rabbinical. When Yeshua gave the Great Commission in Matthew 28. 19-20 to “go and make disciples of the Gentiles and teach them all the things I have commanded you” it was in the mind of the apostles that the Gentiles had to become Jewish and ritual circumcision was a part of that. The Lord straightened out that theology in Acts 10-11 with the conversion of the Roman centurion Cornelius before he was circumcised. Peter tells the others and they changed their view on this. But the issue did not go away all at once and the Galatians, about 21 years after Yeshua , were being told by certain Jewish believers that they had to get a ritual circumcision (become Jewish) to be saved and Paul writes this letter stating that they did not. Ritual circumcision is a man-made law and Paul is saying that if they gave into obeying man-made laws then the grace of God is of no value because man-made works has entered the picture. When Paul says that if they receive man-made , ritual circumcision then they must keep the “whole law.” Now keep this in mind when Paul uses the term “whole law” he is not only talking the written commandments but also about the oral tradition passed down by the rabbi’s and 95% of the “whole law” was man-made, rabbinical oral law. What Paul is teaching in Galatians is you do not follow man-made laws if they contradict written Scripture. Scripture does not teach that a Gentile must be circumcised to be saved therefore the law is invalid. But, he is not teaching that the Law of God found in the Scriptures has been done away with because Paul himself kept the Torah. In Acts 21 Paul was coming out of a Nazarite vow (see Numbers 6) and was coming to Jerusalem to keep the feast of Shavuot (Lev 23) and to offer the animal sacrifices required in Numbers 6 and give alms (Acts 24.17). James tells Paul that there is a rumor that Paul is telling the Jews among the nations to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children. Paul says that this is untrue, which means he IS telling them to follow Moses and he IS telling them to circumcise their children. So, in order to prove that these things are not true he agrees to pay for the animal sacrifices required for four other believers in Yeshua who are also coming out of a Nazarite vow (Acts 21.22-26). Now, I bring up this account because this was nearly 30 years after Yeshua and after he wrote Galatians. Now let this sink in. If the law has been done away with, why is Paul keeping the Nazarite vow in Numbers 6 , keeping a biblical festival and offering animal sacrifices in the Temple? He also says in Acts 24.14 that he had done nothing in violation of the Torah and he obeyed it. Paul’s own testimony about himself and illustrated by his life is that he obeyed the Torah and taught it to others (1Cor 11.1-2). He had Timothy circumcised in Acts 16.1-3 because his mother was Jewish and his father was Greek and it had not been done. That is the Abrahamic circumcision that Paul practiced. In Galatians 2.3 Titus was not compelled to be ritually circumcised (become Jewish) because he was a Gentile and ritual circumcision was a man-made law and didn’t apply to him because he had already received the grace of God and was a believer. That is a perfect illustration of the difference between Abrahamic circumcision (Timothy) and ritual circumcision (Titus). So, Galatians is not teaching that the Law, commandments, the Torah, the instruction of God has been done away with but it says that you cannot do anything to improve on the grace of God already received by obeying man-made rabbinical oral law. Once a believer has righteousness from God as a free gift and the Holy Spirit has circumcised the heart he follows, keeps, obeys the Torah as a way of life because that is the law written on his heart( Deut. 30.6; Jer. 31.31-34) and in doing so learns about Messiah (Rom 10.4; Luke 24.27; John 5.39-47), prophecy and the things to come (Col 2.16-17). This “way” is illustrated by the life of Paul and all the writers of the New Testament who were Torah observant believers. Many have misunderstood Galatians as a “spiritual Magna Carta” but that is not true. I will close with a quote from Peter himself when he says that Paul in his letters “speaks of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and the unstable distort as also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.” Paul cannot be obeying the Torah in his own life and then write any book that says the law has been done away with. That would make Paul a liar and that is exactly what people say if they use the writings of Paul to teach that the law has been done away with. The only way that could be taught is to distort what he said and that is what Peter is saying and that is why Galatians is so misunderstood. I would not entertain the thought or even listen to any so-called teacher of the Scriptures who tells you the Law has been done away with. Paul says himself in 1 Cor 7.17-19 that a man was to remain in the condition he was called. If you were called circumcised (Jewish) then don’t seek to be uncircumcised ( by under- going a surgery to reverse it called an Epispasm for instance). If you were called uncircumcised (Gentile) don’t seek to be circumcised (become Jewish). Circumcision is nothing and un-circumcision is nothing but the only thing that matters is the keeping of the commandments of God (as they apply). I hope this helps.