Lessons in the Ladder Days

Candace Long: I'm Candace Long with Lessons in the Latter Days, offering biblical commentary to make sense of the times we're living in. The last year of the Church Age, Part 1, concerned the signs that I'm seeing that the global stage is being set up for the Antichrist.

It was the second fastest growing download of all time, and what that says to me is that you are sensing a shift too. If you haven't heard it, please listen because I do not have time to review. But in it, I covered four themes. Number one: the three signs showing Daniel's final beast is rising from the sea. Number two: who are the real Jews that we are supposed to be standing with? Number three: who do the sages say is the final beast? And number four: where does Trump fit into all of this?

Now prophetically, time is accelerating. We are living when biblical prophecies are being fulfilled quickly. What we are witnessing are shifts in the spiritual atmosphere that bring us closer to what devout Jews call the Geulah, which is Hebrew for redemption. Geulah signifies spiritual and physical liberation from oppression, such as what happened at the Exodus. Those who left with Moses were liberated; they were redeemed to become God's nation.

The Geulah is what devout Jews are waiting for—the redemption of Israel when Messiah comes. Now, not all Jews are going to be redeemed, only the ones who have been faithful to study the Torah and keep the commandments. Their veil of blindness will be lifted, and they will see Messiah for who he is. Now remember, they have been blinded for our benefit. Never forget that.

Today in Part 2, I want to focus our attention on another stage of the Geulah, another shift. It's found in my subtitle, "The Rise of Edom." What is Edom? Who is Edom is the better question. Now you may know the word as Edom, but I use the Hebrew pronunciation, Edom. Knowing who Edom is will help you tell the good guys from the bad guys as these global leaders jockey for position on the world stage.

Here's the answer. Edom is the kingdom built by Esau. It is rooted in Hellenism, the mindset that came from Greece and then Rome. What I want to show you today are five things. Number one: how the kingdom of Edom originated. Number two: how dangerous it is to followers of Jesus. Number three: how the majority of Christians are already trapped in it. Number four: how it is increasing. And number five: how do we untangle ourselves from it?

Edom is a kingdom, a principality, a philosophy, and worldview whose aim is to control the world because its founder, Esau, believes that world control is his birthright. It is against God. It is against the Torah, against orthodox Judaism. It is growing in power and will get more oppressive the closer we come to the Day of the Lord. I want to help you identify what I believe to be your greatest enemy and what you can do to get out of its clutches.

In Part 1, I revealed that the rabbis believe Edom is part of the final beast found in the book of Daniel. It strikes me that some of you may be unfamiliar with Daniel's prophecies, so let's begin with Daniel Chapter 2 and learn about this beast. Daniel was one of the young Jewish exiles who was taken captive and brought to Babylon when he was a young boy. King Nebuchadnezzar had a disturbing dream that none of his wise men could interpret, so Daniel was brought in before him.

Now let me abbreviate Daniel's description for the sake of time. "You saw, O King, a great image, and its appearance was frightening. The head of this image was of fine gold, its breast and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. As you looked, a stone was cut out by no human hand, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay and broke them in pieces. And the wind carried them away so that not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth."

In this passage, the Lord speaks to the king through this dream and he outlines the kingdoms that will rule over God's people. But he will break them all to pieces and set up his kingdom that will never be destroyed. This is foundational Jewish eschatology. The rabbis break down this image into four major kingdoms that will rule in this order. The head of gold is Babylon. The breast and arms of silver is Medo-Persia, which came next. The belly and thighs of bronze is Greece, and the legs of iron is Rome.

Those four kingdoms have come and gone. But it's this last part—the extension of the legs into the feet, partly of clay and partly of iron—that is the final kingdom that is coming into power now. This is what is referred to as the final beast. This beast is a conglomeration existing as an alliance between a force that is like Rome in the parts of the feet and toes that are iron, and it's mixed with another element: clay. And this mixed alliance of world powers originating from two sources is represented by ten toes or ten crowned nations that will come against Israel.

Daniel 7 describes this final beast as terrible and dreadful, unlike anything the world has ever known. It will crush the earth, and were it not for the Lord intervening, it would wipe Israel off the map. It is this beast that will be known as Gog and Magog—a confederation of nations all in one accord set to tear the land of Israel apart. Now with this as the backstory, the rabbis tell us that this final beast is the alliance that is forming between Islam and Christianity. It is two-pronged, from two DNA sources.

Islam is the religion birthed from Ishmael, and Hellenized Christianity is rooted in Esau, whose kingdom is known as Edom. When I became aware of what the sages believe about this final beast, I was shocked, as I'm sure many of you are saying this is impossible. I love Jesus and I love Israel, so this is a bunch of crock. I want to lay out for you some of my findings so you will see how Edom figures largely in the end-time prophecies leading up to the war of Gog and Magog, and how the kingdom of Edom is alive and well inside every Christian.

Now what I'm about to say next is not intended to be a guilt trip. But if you are not studying the Torah each week, you are unprepared for what is happening now relative to the Day of the Lord. Much less are you being prepared for what comes next. While producing Shabbat Shalom every week and my own personal study of the Torah, I have become more and more aware of how God anchored our Torah readings to what is currently happening in the world. When you see this connection, you will realize how much the Father is working to prepare his children to enter his kingdom soon. And I'm referring to those believers who are aligned with Israel properly.

Let me give you an example. Right now we are studying Genesis and the birth of the two children inside Rebecca's womb: Jacob and Esau. As you recall, Rebecca inquired of the Lord because she was in such torment carrying these twins who were wrestling inside of her. So she went to see Shem, who delivered the 3,800-year-old prophecy found in Genesis 25. He said to her, "Two kingdoms are in your womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from your bowels. The one shall be stronger than the other. The elder shall serve the younger."

Jacob followed the ways of God. Esau followed the ways of the world. Jacob's kingdom became Israel—true Israel, and there is a difference. Esau's kingdom became Edom. Light and dark, good and evil. Now Genesis 36 is all about Esau and his descendants. Now why would God devote a whole chapter to someone who is the embodiment of evil? It's because of the role that Esau plays at the end of days.

In 2023, before Hamas attacked Israel, I was led to chronicle a series called "The Final Kingdom" that I saw forming then during the climate change movement when all of the nations were coming together as one. Looking back on it now, this was an early stage in the Geulah as the nations were aligning. And here we are exactly two years later, October 7th, 2025, and it marks the second phase in the Geulah, which is what I want to bring to your attention today.

I'll be pulling from a book written by Messianic Rabbi Itzhak Shapira called "The Fall of Edom." Ironically, it was written during the same period, 2023, as when I was writing "The Final Kingdom." In it, I wrote the backstory of Esau, which I will link to in today's description notes. But here are three takeaways that will help you for today's episode. Takeaway number one: Genesis 25:30 tells us that Esau is called Edom, a word that means red because he sold his birthright to Jacob for a pot of red lentil stew.

Takeaway number two explains why Jews distrust Christians. Esau's grandson Zepho was a warrior who united Italy, became the first Roman king, and ruled for 50 years. So the rabbis know that Esau and Edom are one and the same, and at its core is Rome, known for the crusades, the Inquisition, and the pogroms committed to killing thousands and thousands of Jews for centuries. Now this painful part of Christian history is not fiction. The Edomites, descendants of Esau, were involved with the destruction of both temples. So history has taught the Jewish people that Edom will always be against those who study the Torah and follow God's ways.

That struggle was prophesied to Rebecca, that two kingdoms inside of her, eternally separate from each other, were unable to coexist. Takeaway number three is that Esau's descendants eventually intermarried with European royalty, and they spread anti-Semitism and Hellenism throughout Europe and North America. Now this hatred of all things Jewish will get worse. The word of the Lord to Rebecca also tells us that before Messiah comes, Esau will be at his preeminent strength and Jacob will be at his weakest. But in the end, during the Messianic Kingdom, Jacob will be redeemed to take his rightful place of leadership, and Esau will serve his brother.

So what we're seeing now is an alliance that is building between the iron and the clay, between Esau and Ishmael, between Western Christianity and Islam. This is the atmospheric shift that I noted in Part 1, and I want to acquaint you now with insights from Messianic Rabbi Itzhak Shapira. In a recent online teaching, Rabbi Shapira said, "Since Rosh Hashanah 2025, something fundamental has changed. We're entering a new phase of the Geulah. It's not coincidence that on the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of the King, that the United Nations chose this day to announce that 90% of the world has recognized a Palestinian state. This is a tsunami of nations turning their backs on Israel."

At this UN meeting, Netanyahu came to the podium and almost all of the delegates got up and walked out. Shapira said, "Jacob stood alone against Esau, and we are now in the days where Israel and those who stand with her are alone again." Shapira broke down Netanyahu's speech into six sections. You will hear biblical prophecy concerning these latter days. Section one was about Operation Lion Arising. This was the name given to the operation that Israel launched when it attacked Iran. Shapira traces its roots to Numbers 24, when the false prophet Balaam was hired to curse Israel by the King of Moab.

We read that Balaam lifted up his eyes and saw Israel below, encamping tribe by tribe. And the Torah says, "The spirit of God came upon him, and he took up his oracle, saying, 'God will eat up the nations, his adversaries, and break their bones in pieces and pierce them through with his arrows. He couched, he lay like a lion and like a lioness. Who will rouse him up?'" Israel rose like a lioness, awakening the Lion of Judah when she went against Hamas. And now stands alone against the nations trying to tear its territory apart.

Shapira then quoted the 18th-century rabbi known as the Ramad Vali for his commentary on Psalms, who wrote concerning Psalm 83 that before Messiah comes, Israel will fight a war on seven fronts, which is exactly what Israel has done since the original attack on October 7th, 2023. Bibi listed the seven battlegrounds. Number one is Iran. Number two: Hamas. Number three: Hezbollah in Lebanon. Number four: the Houthis in Yemen. Number five: the Shia militia in Iraq. Number six: the militia in Syria. And number seven: the Palestinian fighters in the West Bank. So we are seeing Psalm 83 being fulfilled.

Shapira then discussed President Trump's proposed peace plan, which forces Israel to support a Palestinian state, saying the country that forces Israel to give up its land will end up being a false peace agreement. Section two of Bibi's speech concerned the kingdoms referred to as Gog and Magog. Shapira wrote, "These kingdoms are Islamic and Christian nations that will join forces in a supernatural way as a sure sign of the coming of Messiah. Between these two kingdoms of Islam and Christianity, the initial dominant force will be Islam because of how wild and lawless the Torah portrays the descendants of Ishmael."

The current events in Israel reveal a clear picture of the alliance that Psalm 83 speaks of, and the Psalmist appeals to God not to keep silent. Listen to verses 5 through 8: "Yea, they conspire with one accord. Against you, they make a covenant," referring to the UN agreement. "The tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites, Moab and the Hagrites, Gebal and Ammon and Amalek, Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre, Assyria also has joined them."

Now after reading the list of nations the Psalmist said would align against Israel, I did the research to discover where these places are today and discovered they refer to the land that currently surrounds Israel to the north, south, east, and west. But the most important ones we need to take note of are the first two: the tents of Edom—that's Esau or Rome—aligned now with the tents of Ishmael, who fathered all of the Arab nations.

Shapira concluded by sharing his belief that the spirit of Islam and jihad is about to be poured out on the world and we will see rapid Islamization. Now early signs that this is happening are seen in the election of Mamdani as mayor-elect of New York City, and the red-carpet treatment by President Trump for the Saudi Crown Prince and the interim president of Syria.

Let me close with a few thoughts. Number one, my research leads me to believe that we have entered our final year before Jesus comes to the clouds for what Torah scholar Joe Good calls the Natsal. This is a Jewish concept referring to the snatching away of the Gentile bride to attend the coronation of the King. Now I'll explore this further in a future episode, but I mention it here because it fulfills a prophecy in Deuteronomy 32:20, when Moses prophesied what will happen to Israel after he leaves the earth.

He said that the Jewish people will turn away from the Torah. They will long to be like other nations and turn to them for safety rather than to God alone. The verse says, "I will hide my face from them, for they have stirred me to jealousy with what is no God. They have provoked me with their idols, so I will stir them to jealousy with those who are no people. I will provoke them with a foolish nation." Now that foolish nation is Gentiles, whom the Jews consider foolish.

So this Natsal or rapture, as you may call it, will so infuriate Israel because God will allow us to experience the redemption first that they have been longing for. It will cause great wailing and weeping when they realize that Jesus was the Messiah. Now here is a proposed scenario of how things could unfold. And I use the word could. With the Ecclesia gone, the world will be plunged into spiritual darkness. Edom and Ishmael will continue to force Israel into a two-state solution.

Many who consider themselves Christians will be shaken too, for I believe many will be left behind having given themselves to the ways of the world. There will be weeping and wailing in many a church. Trump could then try to appease Israel by building the Third Temple with the help of Gentile money from Edom along with money from the Arab states, Ishmael. Rome would restore treasures that it took from the temple back in 70 AD. And the final blow could come should Rome donate a statue of Jesus to be placed in the temple, saying it is now a temple for all nations.

The Christians who remain would be ecstatic and fall under complete delusion at this point. I need to stop here because of time, but the appeal that I leave you with is an important question. My friends, which kingdom is the strongest one inside of you? Jacob, representing the kingdom of God, or Esau, representing the kingdom of Edom? The two cannot coexist. And I pray that you choose wisely.

To share this episode, go to candacelong.com/podcast and look for the episode "The Last Year of the Church Age, Part 2: The Rise of Edom." Please consider studying the Torah with us each week. Having the Torah as your foundation is what will rescue you from the delusion of Edom. I'll put a link to Shabbat Shalom that airs Saturday mornings from 6:00 to 9:00 Eastern Time on shabbatshalomradio.com. You've been listening to Lessons in the Latter Days. God bless.