Christian churches in the United States and Europe have lost their effectiveness in shaping the culture. Why is this so, and what should believers do about it?

God chose to tell us about Himself using the vehicle of a book. If people understood what the book is trying to do and how it should be read, there would be a lot less junk theology. Torah means teaching, not law, so the Bible should be read as a guide book. As an example this talk covers the two creation stories in Genesis - why there are two and what we are to learn from that.

In God's economy it is only possible to be in one state at a time. Thus, in Numbers 3, God explains that He is trading the Levites for the firstborn of Israel because it is not possible to have two firstborns. Similarly in John 3 Y'shua explains the Nicodemus that he is either born again or he is not. He cannot be in two states at once. Understanding how state works opens up understanding of quite a few biblical concepts.

Forgiveness is a genuinely difficult subject. Dr Stephen Marmer has broken forgiveness into three more manageable chunks - exoneration, forbearance and release. Each concept applies to different situations and calls for different actions on your part. This can bring Y'shua's (Jesus') command to forgive much closer to where we live.

The Parable of the Sower, Paul's letter to the Ephesians and Yeshua's (Jesus') letter to the same church in Revelation 2 all deal with the same subject - handling the Word of God. As time progressed, the church at Ephesus was faithful in preserving and using the Word. However by the end of the first century they had lost their first love. How do we avoid the same situation and still handle God's Word properly?

The outbreak of literal insanity we are seeing today has its intellectual roots in the Reformation. The Reformation broke free from the authority of the Church and enshrined reason instead. We are seeing the end of the pendulum swing away from external authority toward self authority. We need sound judgment about these things.

After His resurrection, Y'shua commanded His disciples to carry the Gospel to all the creation. What exactly is this Gospel?

During the season from Passover to Shavuot we count the Omer. This strange commandment is the key to hidden depth of meaning and ultimately to joy. There are two sequences of 7x7+1 in the Bible, the Omer and Yovel. This talk correlates those two sequences to learn something about the nature of God.

Isaiah 29 describes the process of exile. God shuts down prophets, seers and closes the book. Isaiah also describes how that process is reversed. It's looking like we're living during such a time. If that is true, we have responsibilities during this time.

With the current court rulings on homosexual 'marriage' and health care, the government has forfeited the pretense of moral authority. Now words mean whatever the strongest say they mean. Curiously, this presents a great opportunity for believers in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Being surrounded by hostiles simplifies our problem greatly.