IRVINE, Calif.--Mordakhai Joseph and Dale Stogner announce the completion of a major project to teach people about the first five books of the Bible.

The project is a series of 434 recorded lessons, audio only, of 45 minutes each titled Teaching the Law.

It also includes six lessons called The Divine Service and 12 lessons titled Heaven and Hell.

Mr. Joseph is the voice on all the recordings.

Mr. Joseph was born to an Orthodox Jewish family in Aden, Yemen. He lived from age 4 through 19 in Israel, then resided in Paris and New York.

In 1969 he became a member of the Worldwide Church of God and from 1970 through 1975 served on the faculty of Ambassador College, Pasadena, Calif., where he taught modern and biblical Hebrew.

In 1975 the WCG sent Mr. Joseph out into its field ministry.

In the mid-1990s he became a member of the Global Church of God, based in San Diego, Calif.

He now attends Sabbath services with the Orange County Fellowship in Irvine.

More than the Ten Commandments

The "law," explained Mr. Stogner, refers to God's law as codified in the Old Testament.

"For example," he said, "it is not possible to understand the New Testament if you do not understand the Old Testament. Many of the controversies surrounding the books of Galatians and Romans, etc., could be avoided if people had the proper background."

The law of God, he said, is not limited to the Ten Commandments and the Old Covenant.

"That would be a narrow, superficial and incorrect view," he said.

Ignoring the WCG

The lessons also attempt to point out the errors made by legalists who rely on the law for salvation and the "false idea of grace" held by people who believe the law does not exist for a Christian.

The lessons do not refer to the Worldwide Church of God or any of its "offshoots," said Mr. Stogner.

"This will hopefully make the lessons timeless and usable by any group that sees value in them. The lessons are copyrighted but not for the purpose of money-making. Anyone can reproduce and distribute individual lessons so long as they do not edit the lessons."

How to acquire them

The Teaching the Law lessons are available in two formats at www.teachingthelaw.org. There interested persons may download the lessons, free of charge, in MP3 or RealAudio.

The lessons are also available through the mail on audiotape or on MP3 or RealAudio files on computer CDs.

Contact information

For more information write the Bible Sabbath Association (BSA), 3316 Alberta Dr., Gillette, Wyo. 82718, U.S.A., or giveshare@vcn.com.

Or phone (307) 686-5191.

Or visit www.biblesabbath.org.

The BSA charges a nominal fee to cover overhead and the costs of duplicating a tape or CD. THE Bible Study Web Site at www.biblestudy.org also makes available some of the lessons.