Lessons in the Ladder Days

Candace Long: I'm Candace Long with Lessons in the Ladder Days, offering biblical commentary to make sense of the times we're living in. Today's episode is called Israel's War with Iran: Is this Gog and Magog? I felt the need to get this episode out as soon as possible because no matter what is happening there on a day-by-day basis, the intel and biblical perspective included here is important. First, let me say that if you are one of many Christians who are not ready for Jesus to come at the first resurrection, this episode is especially for you.

You need to see what's in store for those who are not taken at the rapture and will have to endure the seven horrible years known as the birth pangs. But I need to say that the motivation to be taken at the rapture is not meant as an escape hatch while the earth is thrown into horror and chaos. No. The seven years we will be with Jesus will be glorious, yes, but it will be an intense and exciting seven years of learning and training to assist him when he comes to set up his kingdom. I can't wait for this training. So if you're not looking forward to going, you will likely remain.

I spent two days listening and transcribing a report given by an Israeli Orthodox Rabbi who will not be taken in the first resurrection because he's not yet a believer in Jesus as the Messiah. Nonetheless, Rabbi Alon Anava is an important voice who embodies the spirit of Elijah, the prophet Malachi prophesied would be sent before the coming of Messiah. Rabbi Anava teaches the Torah and a return to God's ways to Jews and Gentiles all over the world. I've talked about him a lot in this series because he sees the birth pangs are imminent.

Since 2024, he came to the United States and told Jews to sell everything and return to Israel while you still can. I couldn't help but wonder if he was still preaching that message with sirens blazing in Israeli cities and families huddling in bunkers. But I discovered his message has grown. In fact, he created a website, amisraelcomehome.com—People of Israel, Come Home. His plea to Jews living in America is stronger than ever, and I was curious to know why.

What's happening with the war in Iran? Is this Gog and Magog? This question is on a lot of people's minds. People are asking if this is the final war between God and the nations of the world that ushers in the Messianic kingdom. Here's what I'll cover today. Number one: What is Gog and Magog and is this it? Number two: Who in the world is Gog and should we be looking for him? Number three: What does this mean for Christians and Jews? And number four: Where are we in the timeline before the Day of the Lord?

I'll pull from Anava's teaching and provide commentary from time to time. Before I begin, though, I want to share his perspective on the Jewish people because I'm seeing a lot of negative views in Christians concerning Jews in general. Anava said:

Guest (Male): Half the Israelis that live in Israel are not even Jewish. They think they're Jewish, live like Jews, but are not Jews. The same with the Jews in the world. After the war, they brought Nazis in and gave them Jewish names, and they married and assimilated. 1.5 million Russians came in the '80s. They found 400,000 were not Jews. Now they're bringing in 120,000 Ukrainians, who are not Jews.

Today we're seeing thousands of converts to Judaism that we've never seen before. When Moshiach comes, he'll point to a person and say "Jew" and to another "non-Jew." You have to learn to recognize the Jewish soul. When you find cruelty, he's not a Jew. The Prophet Joel says, "When I return the captives, it is the souls of the Jews that have been captive all over the world." And here's the part to pay attention to. Anava said that souls are being drawn back to Hashem.

Candace Long: Let me comment. The Lord is at work now prompting those who are his to return to him and his ways. This is called Teshuvah, which means repent and return to the Lord. That involves doing the things that God set up for us to do, such as honoring the Sabbath and honoring the appointed times. After losing almost everything at 9/11, the Lord got my attention because I had no theological answers for what I was going through. I was mute before the Father for a long time.

Prophetic dreams began in 2002, and God began speaking to me in a different way. In one of those dreams, I saw Hebrew letters under each fingernail. Many nails were broken and I was looking for a rabbi to repair them. My point being, the Lord pointed his finger in my direction saying, "You are a Jew. You are mine." Now many of you listening to me are doing so because the Lord is identifying you as well. There is something stirring inside of you that is drawn to connect with your Jewish roots.

If you don't know what that means, just say, "Lord, I hear you calling me closer. I'm willing to learn. Please make your way clear." All he's looking for is an invitation to teach you what you've been missing. Anava said that in the Book of Joel, Hashem promises to bring all the nations to some valley called Jehoshaphat. There's no such place. The Valley of Jehoshaphat is not a location; it is an event. Hashem was telling the nations, "I have a long debt with you and am going to settle the score."

He pointed out that the word Jehoshaphat is comprised of two words. Jeho is Yud-Hei-Vav-Hei, which stands for Jehovah. And the word Shaphat means to judge. So Joel is prophesying that at the end of days, Hashem will appear as Jehovah to all of these nations and judge them one by one in front of the entire world. In Matthew 25:31, Jesus taught, "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats." Same event, straight from Joel. The judgment of nations takes place after Gog and Magog.

Guest (Male): The belief was that once Israel fought with Iran, then the U.S. would join, then Russia, then China, followed by nuclear bombs. But the big surprise was how quickly and brilliantly Israel came in and wiped out Iran's defense system. Hamas and Hezbollah are out of the picture. Syria is out of the way. The Houthis have no harbor and no airports.

Now what I see—this is Anava speaking—is that Israel is going to walk away from this as the big cheese. Indomitable. Nobody can fight me. I can go into Iran and crush them and I don't need America, I don't need NATO. Bibi is a hero. Hashem is making Israel victorious in ways that are not normal.

Candace Long: Let me comment a minute, especially to Christians who have been praying for Israel and praising God for their victories. Everything's going to be fine now; prayer answered. Anava sees a different picture found in Ezekiel 38.

Guest (Male): As it says in Ezekiel, Israel will dwell securely and think itself invincible. The shekel will go up, real estate will go up. Israel is going to be the new bully in the Middle East. Hashem is allowing this so we will not know who the real enemy is that's coming against us. It's not Iran. It's not Syria. There is a big enemy who is about to come and Israel is in la-la land.

Hashem is putting us in some euphoria. In six months, Israel will be on a high. Trump will be pulling all the strings because he promised the world he's bringing peace. Israel will be in a good place with America at its side. Trump will make everyone sign. Once Israel is done with Iran, they'll go into the West Bank. Everything will grow back again. It will be prosperous soon. The war will be over and people will want to do business with Israel again, and Israel will be out there shaking hands with the Emirates and Dubai and Saudi Arabia.

Candace Long: Now what doesn't leave Anava's mind for a minute? Israel living securely and high on the hog is very much where we find them before they're hit by an enemy they were not prepared for. Who is Gog and Magog and where do they fit into the picture? The term Gog and Magog sounds as if they are two leaders. In Ezekiel 38:1, "The word of the Lord came to me: Son of man, set your face toward Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him."

God is asking Ezekiel to give a prophecy to Gog and tell him he's in trouble. The passage tells us that Magog is a land and a nation. Gog is the leader of this nation. So it's not two nations fighting each other. Gog is a prince, but he's also the prince of Meshech and Tubal. This means he's also a leader or president of other countries. Anava used the USSR as an example. From 1922 to 1991, the USSR was the largest country in the world comprising a federation of 15 republics, which put Putin as the leader of many nations. So we see here that Gog is the president of three nations.

Guest (Male): This is a now prophecy. Gog is alive now. Ezekiel lived 2,500 years ago. Hashem is saying go to Gog, but he's not alive yet. These three nations don't exist yet. However, these nations are mentioned in Parashat Noach.

Candace Long: He's referring here to the Torah portion called Noach or Noah, which includes Genesis 10 where we find the Table of Nations that descended from Noah's three sons after the flood. Let me start with verse 1. "These are the generations of the sons of Noah: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Sons were born to them after the flood. The sons of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras."

Let me review a minute. After the flood, the ark landed on Mount Ararat, which is on the border of Turkey and Iraq. From there, the population grew and migrated to a big valley called Shinar, which is in modern-day Iraq. Remember what happened there? That was the Tower of Babel, which God obliterated. Hashem dispersed all of the people, and they went out from Iraq in different directions. Ham, the father of the Black races, went into Africa, a land of many nations. The sons of Shem went to the area of Israel, and the sons of Japheth went toward Europe.

Back to Ezekiel 38: "Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. And I will turn you about and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you forth, and all of your army, all of them wielding swords: Persia, Cush, and Put are with them; Gomer and all of his horde; Beth Togarmah from the uttermost parts of the north with all of his horde; many peoples are with you."

What we need to see here is that Gog is the leader over a federation of nations. A lot of people think Gog and Magog is the Arab-Israeli conflict. No. This war with Iran is not Gog and Magog, but it is the first shot. He reminded us that the father of the Arabs is Ishmael, whose father was Abraham from the line of Shem. His mother was Hagar, a descendant of Ham. Let's identify who these nations are today.

The land of Magog is not considered a geographically defined place, but biblical scholars associate it with modern-day Turkey, Russia, and Central Asia. Some interpretations include Ukraine. One of the nations listed is Togarmah, which refers to Turkey. So this is a huge landmass able to field large armies. Where are modern-day Meshech and Tubal? Assyrian texts and Greek historians place these in the region of Anatolia, also known as Asia Minor. This is northern Turkey and forms the southern border of the Black Sea.

I should note for you that all seven churches in the Book of Revelation were located here. The light that these churches were meant to shine in the end of days is what God placed there as protection from enemy invasion coming from the north, which is the land of Magog. As the church abandons its first love, which refers to Torah study, by the way, not some nebulous feeling that most Christians think it is, this falling away weakens the border protection around Israel, thus allowing the enemy to invade.

In the end of days, which Anava believes is now, these countries will be swayed to follow Gog, who is given power over them all. Let's identify the remaining areas for this final war. Persia is modern-day Iran. Cush refers to Ethiopia; many also include Sudan. And Put refers to Libya. Ezekiel also mentioned Gomer, Japheth's firstborn, which refers to Germany. Germany is not a traditional European country like France and Austria.

The Talmud records that Germania has 300 crowned heads, meaning it was a federation of some 300 individual states. And as an aside here, Dr. John Coleman wrote in his classic exposition of the elite, The Committee of 300, that these 300 heads are the true power brokers of the elite. Two other significant countries in this alliance are Magog's brother Javan, which is Greece, and Javan's son Kittim, which is a codeword for Rome. This is a colossal global armed force.

Guest (Male): To take the money. There is great wealth here. All the treasures are here. This is the land of Hashem. We're looking at a world leader who will take the entire world with him. This will be during a time when Israel is living securely, thinking they are safe. Money, wealth, and power are flowing into them, and suddenly, Hashem will flip Gog's mind to inflame him, and he turns against Israel with a vengeance. He will lose it and pull all these nations together and they will follow him.

Now the way Ezekiel is worded in Hebrew, Israel will be utterly shocked and stunned when it realizes who this great enemy is. Israel will see Gog and gasp, "It is you? You are the one who is stabbing me in the back?" Gog will have to convince everyone why they should come after Israel, saying something like, "These Jews, they control the world," and other nations will flip out.

Candace Long: Now who comes to mind right now? Anava hinted at Putin, Klaus Schwab, Bibi Netanyahu, and Trump. These are current global players who could be easily maneuvered into such a position of power. The latter two, of course, being a total shock by such an about-face. There are four takeaways I want to leave you with. Number one: When Gog and Magog gather against Israel, the time is right at the very end of the seven-year birth pangs.

The Lord will be inflamed and bring about an earthquake unlike any other that's ever been. There will be no place to hide and it will be felt all over the world. This is when Hashem reveals himself saying, "Then they will know that I am the Lord." Number two: Anava is telling Jews when there's a war in Israel, that's when to come and buy land. In a year it will be double because we're looking at a time of prosperity. But if you don't do Teshuvah by the time of Gog's war, you're not going to make it.

But whoever stands with Hashem will be saved. You'll see the miracles of Psalm 91 with tens of thousands falling all around you, the earth swallowing them up. But with Hashem, you will be completely safe. Number three: Anava ended his teaching saying, "I'm seeing 2029 or 2030 is when everything will collapse in front of our eyes." Now if he's looking at these dates as the start of the Great Tribulation, being the final three and a half years of the birth pangs, that puts 2025 about a year away from where my research has been showing the rapture will take place.

That leaves the first half of the birth pangs the time of prosperity that he sees Israel is about to enjoy. Number four: For those that Jesus is coming for, I anticipate things will get worse leading to our exodus. God is separating and purifying his bride. But Jesus was able to endure everything for the joy that was set before him. And this is our promise. For Christians who are not sure of your spiritual standing, that's why I keep urging you to grow deeper in your relationship with Jesus as our Jewish Messiah.

I am working on a new programming series designed to help you return to Torah study and learn about God's ways. I know we do not have long before Jesus comes for the Gentile bride. The costs to produce this series are huge, but it is what the Lord is leading me to do. If you'd like to help, go to my website at candacelong.com and become a media partner.

You'll find a donate button there as well as in the description notes to every episode. Together we can do great things for the Lord before he comes. To share this episode, go to candacelong.com/podcasts and look for this episode, Israel's War with Iran. I want to thank you so much for being with me today. I hope you join me again next time for Lessons in the Ladder Days. God bless.