Who was the moderator of the Jerusalem council according to Les?
James was the moderator of the Jerusalem council. The transcript notes this was not James of the Twelve, who had already been beheaded, but the other James. Peter had slipped from his place as head man, and James, as moderator, rendered the decision regarding the Gentiles.
Les explains that Peter is not the conference moderator; James is. He notes that this is not the James who was of the Twelve, because that James had already been beheaded—this is the other James. Peter has slipped out of his place as the head man, and now it is James. At the council, James says, "Men and brethren, hearken unto me," and recounts how Simeon, that is Peter, declared how God at the first visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name. Then James, as moderator, gives his decision: "...that we trouble not them who from among the Gentiles are turned to God, but... we write unto them that they abstain from pollutions of idols, from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood." Les points out these things still hold true today; God has never given the human race permission to do any of them.
And after they had held their peace, James answered, saying, Men and brethren, hearken unto me: