Shabbat Shalom

Candace Long: I'm Candace Long. Welcome to the second hour of Shabbat Shalom. Before I bring you Part 12 of Ask the Rabbi with Rabbi Michael Washer, I'd like to answer a question sent in by a listener. Now, realizing my home is in Georgia, she wondered if I were syndicated and why I chose to broadcast out of Boston.

First of all, syndication is when a radio personality has such a name recognition with listeners that stations seek to contract you to come on their station because having you on their station will bring in paid advertising. But I had two strikes against me right there. First, I'm not well known and do not engage in social media. I'm a contemplative who is happiest in my cave, studying and writing.

And secondly, the Lord told me early on that I was never to accept advertisers, that He did not want me pitching anybody or anything else for money. He wanted me to speak for Him and what was on His heart. As you may know, I was led in 2006 to begin studying Judaism and become Torah observant.

In 2017, after returning to Georgia from a difficult assignment working in DC, the Lord spoke clearly through a prophetic dream, asking me to write on topics that were important to Him. During the pandemic in 2020, I saw biblical prophecies being fulfilled, and I knew that our country was under judgment. I actively sought the Lord for direction, resulting in producing Lessons in the Latter Days.

Audio production had been a big part of my life since the 1970s. Radio was always my preferred broadcast medium. I don't enjoy the limelight and prefer to be behind a mic, not stared at by people. One day, Jeremiah 32 spoke to me. The prophet saw that his country was under judgment, and God told him that Jerusalem was being given over to the king of Babylon.

But in the midst of this bad news, God asked the prophet to do something radical. He told him to buy a piece of land that belonged to his ancestors as a prophetic act that one day that land would once again belong to his family. Now, the Lord spoke to my spirit through that passage and asked me to sow spiritual seeds into the land of my fathers.

In 2021, I started small and I purchased 30 minutes of airtime each week on my hometown radio station. In other words, I was sowing spiritual seed into the land of my forefathers. Now, I was far from an overnight success. Listeners did not know how to handle my programming, for it was unlike anything on radio at the time.

For seven years, God led me to learn to fly a plane, and I flew regularly over the route my ancestors traveled on their way to Georgia. And God blessed the seeds that I sowed, purchasing airtime on radio stations that were along my flight path. And in 2023, He led me to where my ancestors first landed in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

Even though I was a total unknown to the Christian teaching radio format, I reached out to WZEE and asked if they would consider airing Lessons in the Latter Days. I was definitely outside my comfort zone, but that's when God stepped in. My rep, Basil Yard, an Assemblies of God pastor, called to say that he had been listening to my programs for the last hour.

And he added, "I have been praying for years for God to send someone to Boston and teach what you are teaching. You are an answer to my prayer. Let me talk with our General Manager, Carol Simmons." Within an hour, he called back and he said, "As soon as Carol heard your voice, she said, 'We have to get this woman on the air, but she needs to be on every day, not just once a week. If she can start Monday, I'll give her prime drive time Monday through Friday.'"

Now, I could not have asked for a more perfect media partner. Since 2023, WZEE has welcomed what the Lord gave me to teach. Glory to God. Heavenly Father, I thank You that Your ways are so much higher than we could ever ask or think. Before we ask, You are already preparing the way.

I thank You for the privilege of sowing spiritual seed into the land of my forefathers, claiming ground for You and standing in the gap for my family in this final generation before the day of the Lord. I pray for every listener that You will help them see the place that You have for each of them. In the name of Yeshua HaMashiach. Amen.

Welcome to Ask the Rabbi. I'm Candace Long, discussing your questions with Rabbi Michael Washer. Today, Rabbi and I are going to continue our lively discussion that was last week on a teaching that he gave during the Torah portion Tazria and Metzora, which was two weeks ago. And that is all about leprosy and what is biblical leprosy. And we'll get into that in this series.

But if you have not heard the full teaching, I encourage you to do so. It's called Scrape Inside the House, and you'll find it in our Shabbat Shalom archives for hour three that aired on April 18th. Now, the reason we are going into depth here is because this may be one of the most important teachings for the sixth generation. And that is part of my calling. I consider myself a chronicler for the sixth generation. And this just woke up everything in me when I read his script, and I want to make sure that we look at it concept by concept because you are covering a lot here, Rabbi. And I want to thank you for working with me to dissect your teaching so that Christians can grasp it.

Rabbi Michael Washer: Well, thank you very much for doing all the work you're doing, which is absolutely amazing to me. Thank you.

Candace Long: Let me go back to where we left last week because we left people in a very difficult place. Through all of your years of learning Judaism as a Jew and learning about art history and the imagery of Jesus that most people think of as our Jesus, the Lord revealed to you that there are two Jesuses. So give us a brief recap because what this means for the millions of Christians who accept Jesus as the Messiah, and I don't want them to doubt and struggle with whether they're born again or not. So get us up to speed here.

Rabbi Michael Washer: So it was about 1994 that I was studying for Hanukkah in the congregation that we had. I was studying to teach on Hanukkah, and I was studying about the Greek kings, the Greek leaders, which I didn't really know anything about. And I found that throughout about 500 years of history, there was a designed, very determinately designed image of the God-man, starting with Alexander the Great.

And in a very determined and planned and pre-planned way, they did advertising and propaganda of the God-man. And he had to look a certain way. And the guy could be 450 pounds with no hair and ugly face, but he had to look a certain way. He wasn't the actual guy, it was the guy as Dionysus or the guy as Zeus or the guy as one of the other Greek gods of love.

And I began to study Hanukkah in a much deeper way, and I began to see this other Jesus and that the leader or king of Greece, which is the enemy in the Hanukkah story, is the false Messiah. The false Messiah, in other words, the other Jesus, the false Messiah. And all the hair and beard details were designed by Alexander the Great and spread by Hellenism on purpose.

And this developed over about 500 years to create this template of the God-man. And this is where not just the image of Jesus Christ came from, but the actual personality and character and attributes of Jesus Christ, the God-man of love.

Candace Long: And they called that image God-man?

Rabbi Michael Washer: Yes, very definitely called him the God-man. And this changed Yeshua, the Jewish Messiah, to Jesus Christ, the God-man of love. And that's important because most believers picture Jesus as bringing love. He's preaching love, he brings love to the earth, whereas before, the Jewish God brought something else. And people see that they're two different gods. Well, that was on purpose.

So once I learned this, I began to develop this and really look for it in our culture and other cultures, number one. And number two, look for it in Scripture. And I found it, and it is a very, very disturbing message. And it does affect, I don't want people to get frightened, but it does affect the issue of who is born again and who is not born again.

Candace Long: You had said last time that the Hellenistic propaganda machine wanted to combine culture with sexuality, which is why the God-man is presented in so many pictures and in statues as very lean and effeminate. And it drives me absolutely crazy, and I know it does to you too.

Rabbi Michael Washer: I'll tell you what, when the very first time I ever read anything in Judaism in the words of the sages about entering the temple, very first thing on that list is you can't have long hair. I'm like, what? And then it said no Jew can have long hair. So that sent me into an entire other thing to study, but it was so obvious to me.

Jews are not allowed to trim their beards. Jews are not allowed to have long hair. A man, a Jewish man, is not allowed to have long hair, period. And just on that very, very simple level, we got a problem because Yeshua is very much on purpose with long effeminate hair and his personality is effeminate because this was a blending of male and female, androgyny, which was very much on their minds when they made this template of the God-man. And by the way, these are not my words, these are the words of the Hellenists themselves.

Candace Long: I did a four-part series on transgenderism, and the fourth part included a lot of your teaching of what I learned from you on the transgenderization of Jesus. And in the Torah is very specific of what the hair and the beard are supposed to look like and why they are so specific to a Jewish rabbi as opposed to a Gentile.

Rabbi Michael Washer: Everything that God gave us means spiritual things, everything. Well, the same thing worked with the Hellenizers. Everything that they designed and implemented visually, it preached a spiritual message. Only it was a vile, evil spiritual message. And that's why they kept this going for 500 years.

That's why it was so important to them because as the leader goes, the people go. I mean, we can see that in our culture. As the president goes, the culture goes. As the Congress goes, the culture goes. As the laws go, the culture goes. And if you can get that message of a God-man of love who's effeminate, who mixes male and female, who mixes God and man, if you can do that, then everybody's got their mind already trained to live their lives that way. That's what was being brought into the body of Messiah in the first century, before Messiah even came.

Candace Long: That's why the Maccabees pulled away and rebelled, because the priests were giving over and saying, "Okay, we won't do Judaism anymore. We won't do the mitzvot."

Rabbi Michael Washer: All of that is true. That's why I started studying it during Hanukkah. If we could, I want to bring it back to the question. Like, what if people believe in this Hellenized Christ and they've given their whole life to this Hellenized Christ and they've devoted everything, their children and their lives and their weekends, to this Hellenized Christ? What does that mean?

Candace Long: Yeah, what does it mean?

Rabbi Michael Washer: If you could, I would like you to ask me the question the way you wrote it because I thought it was very important the way you wrote it.

Candace Long: What does it mean for the millions of Christians who worship and accept Jesus as the Messiah? Are they born again?

Rabbi Michael Washer: So the problem is we have created, well, not we, I shouldn't say we because I didn't do it. There has been a culture created within the quote church about accepting Jesus and receiving Jesus. Where in the world did that come from? It's not in the Bible anywhere. It's not in the New Testament anywhere, not even any concept even approaching that.

Like, at the end of a service, my evangelist background rabbi, I mean, he was just a Christian evangelist, and after every service he would quote, "give an invitation." And what was he inviting people to? He would invite them to accept Yeshua into their heart or to receive Yeshua.

There is not a single Scripture that says anything like that. What it says is in 1 Corinthians 15, that Yeshua became a life-giving spirit after Adam, the first Adam, killed our spirits. Yeshua, the second Adam, is there to bring our spirits to life, and that's all it says. That's all there is.

So the issue is, did Yeshua make your dead spirit alive? That's number one. Number two, how do you know He did? What evidence do you have that Yeshua made your dead spirit alive? The problem with the analysis of how you know He made your dead spirit alive is that we are surrounded by a Christian culture that talks about accepting Jesus and receiving Jesus into your heart.

He doesn't even go in your heart. He stays away from your heart entirely. He makes your spirit alive, and the job of Judaism is to change our heart so that we become more like God. But that has been dissolved. There's no more Judaism among believers. And so what are you left with?

Accepting Jesus into your heart, and then you're surrounded by people who believe the same thing. So you say, how do you know you're born again? How do you know you've received the Jewish Messiah as the Messiah? That's all you can receive. Receive Him as the Messiah and then how do you know He made your dead spirit alive? How do you know? All you can say is, well, I've believed in Him all my life. Well, that's no evidence.

Candace Long: Well, He said that He would give His spirit to live inside of His disciples.

Rabbi Michael Washer: And what is He quoting there? He's quoting Jeremiah 33 that says, "I will write my what on their inward parts?"

Candace Long: Torah.

Rabbi Michael Washer: So we're back to that again. So the problem is that we're surrounded by people who all believe the same thing and nobody is saying, "Hey, when did Yeshua make your dead spirit alive? How do you know?" And if everybody was saying that to one another, there would actually be answers that people would give and we would have an absolute division between who is a believer and who's not a believer.

But now it's all mushy and mushed together and messy. And that's the benefit of me being Jewish and having no background in Christianity or Judaism. For me, it was all new. It was all, I don't know anything about anything except my dead spirit is now alive. That's it.

Candace Long: I prayed a prayer asking Jesus into my life. I didn't know squat about the Bible, but things were beginning to change. I saw evidence that He was hearing my prayers, He was answering my prayers, He was giving me a hunger to know the Word and to know Him. And the sense of when Jesus said, "I am the good shepherd, my sheep hear my voice, they know me," I learned His voice.

So I could see a definitive point where I knew I had been born again. And I think that that's what we need to encourage our listeners, that so many of them have had that experience where they know the Lord's voice when they're reading the Word. Now what is happening with them is that they are now waking up to, "Wait a minute, we didn't know a lot of these deceptions. We didn't know a lot of what we're hearing now, and we want to return to a basis foundation of Torah study," which is what we are seeing.

Rabbi Michael Washer: You know, the problem with that, what you just said that I see, is that, yeah, people are hearing confirmations that they're hearing God's voice, that they're seeing things in the Scripture. Then why don't they see the other things in the Scripture that are basics, like turning to Torah?

And here's why. We're surrounded by a Christian culture, and there's really no way out of it except by rejecting whatever you see that's wrong in the Christian culture. That's where it all starts, and that's what makes people uncomfortable. How are you going to reject every time you see a picture or an image or a movie of Yeshua and it's wrong?

Candace Long: I'm the perfect poster child for this because I've been under your teaching for a long time. And as I am learning things, but I want to ask you this because when I first listened to your teaching on Tazria, I told you that I had just released a two-part series called Is Christianity Daniel's Final Beast? And you were surprised. You said, "You wrote that?" I said, "Yes, I did because the Lord had been teaching me about all these things." After you listened to Part 1, anyway, you reached out to me and said that the tavnit that I was shown in Part 1 confirmed what God has just shown you about the false Messiah. And I have to admit that that made my day.

Rabbi Michael Washer: Well, I was studying about Tzara'at, leprosy, and I read what you wrote about the body. Tzara'at afflicts the house first, then the clothing, then the body. Well, if leprosy afflicts the body, well, that means there's a body of God. There's a house of God, there's clothing of God, there's a body of God.

Well, what's the body of God? The body of God supposedly is Israel and the Gentiles joining themselves to that. All right, so God's got a body. God's body can get Tzara'at. And Yeshua's body was turned over to the Romans. And it was like, "Whoa!" I saw that Tzara'at is Hellenism nowadays, not back then before Hellenism developed and was in existence.

But now since the temple is destroyed, Tzara'at is Hellenism. So we can't get Tzara'at anymore. That's only for people of a high moral character and who know Judaism and do Judaism. And it's a miraculous thing, it's not a disease. It's a miraculous touch from God. Nobody gets Tzara'at anymore. But back then when people got Tzara'at, it was a picture of Hellenism.

Candace Long: One of the things that I have been learning is that we are in the final seven-year period of the church age. Rabbi Alon Anava, which you and I share our regard for him, Israeli Orthodox rabbi, he believes that 2020 was the start of the final seven years leading to the birth pangs, and that's the date that I came up with.

If I'm correct in my analysis, 2026, which is where we are now, is the last day representing Jesus' life. What was His life like during His last seven days? And as I was analyzing that, I saw that the last thing that He did was He turned His body over to Rome. And that's where it was for two days. And I saw that as a tavnit of the 2,000 years of the church age. And you picked up on that in you and developed it further. So you go ahead now.

Rabbi Michael Washer: That blew my mind. It just sort of came to me immediately that He was turned over to Rome. Rome is Hellenism, they're one and the same. The final beast of Daniel, the fourth beast, the longest-running of the four kingdoms, is Rome and it has ruled the earth for 2,000 years and it is Hellenism that stomps on everything, like in Nebuchadnezzar's vision in Daniel Chapter 2, that it just crushes the whole earth.

And that is Hellenism. That's Tzara'at, it's pictured by Tzara'at. And I go into that in this week's teaching of Metzora. So when I taught on Metzora, I taught that about the fourth kingdom being Rome and it is Hellenism and how that works. In the Hebrew, Metzora, Tzara'at has the word tsar, and tsar is Hellenism in Judaism.

So it became very clear to me that Yeshua's body is riddled with Hellenism, with Hellenism, obviously, which is Tzara'at, leprosy. And He gave His body over to Rome for two days. Passover, the 14th, that whole day His body was given over to Rome. And the next day when He went in the grave, the 15th, the beginning of Chag HaMatzot, when they watched the grave, Rome watched that grave on the 15th.

The Jews were busy doing Chag HaMatzot, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, but the Romans had control over His body in that tomb on the 15th. The four days prior that His body was checked for imperfections, He was checked by Israel as it says in Exodus. Israel shall take the lamb, they shall check it for four days from the 10th to the 13th. That's four days, and then two days for Rome.

So we have four days in the seven-day plan of God from creation up until the year 4000 when Yeshua died. Then the next two days Rome is in control for the next 2,000 years of our history from the year 4000 up until the Day of the Lord. And then comes the Day of the Lord. And that's why we're so close to the Day of the Lord, and that's why God is revealing these things now.

Candace Long: That's just exciting to me how we each received a piece of it, but it's all confirming the same thing, is that not only was Jesus making His... the last thing He did, which just touched me so much, was He gave Himself over to Rome as a prophetic warning to His people. This is what is going to happen to my physical body, but it is also going to happen to the Body of Messiah is that for 2,000 years, you will not be able to recognize a Jewish Messiah for two entire days.

Rabbi Michael Washer: That's exactly right. That's what Hellenism does. It muddies up the waters. It takes the clear water of Judaism and it throws mud in it so that you can't recognize truth from error. And certainly cannot recognize the Messiah for who He is. I know this, if Yeshua just came into our culture, nobody would recognize Him because He'd be like a Hasidic Jew. Everything He'd open His mouth and say would offend everybody, and nobody would be able to relate to anything He's saying. And that's because He has been hidden amongst Rome, which is by the way what the rabbis say, that the Messiah would be hidden in Rome for two days. They don't say for two days, but they do say He's hidden in Rome.

Candace Long: That's why they are saying that Hellenized Christianity is the final beast. That's what my research was leading me and I said, "What? Why?"

Rabbi Michael Washer: I'll tell you what, I've been waiting 40 years to hear somebody say that. I've been alone knowing that for 40 years, and when I read you saying that, I couldn't believe you actually wrote that. And that you're, you know, nobody crucified you, which is amazing. Other people are starting to see this now, what Hellenism is and its effect on the body.

Candace Long: Well, I have lost supporters and I have lost subscribers. But see, we're at the time, number one, where the Lord is separating Christian from Christian. He's separating who will listen and open themselves up to recognize the Jewish Messiah, number one.

The second thing that is going on right now is counting the Omer. That we need to be purifying ourselves day by day because we are getting ready to stand before the Lord and receive Him in His fullness. If you could close us with just encourage the people to open themselves up to learn about the tremendous Jewish Messiah who is anxious to reveal Himself. If I can see it, anybody can.

Rabbi Michael Washer: That's how I feel like with my ridiculous background, if I can see this stuff anybody can. I would love to encourage Christians, Gentile Christians, to open their eyes and say number one, "I don't know anything." If you can really approach the Bible and spirituality saying, "I don't know anything" and get a different gauge, like what is the gauge of spirituality? It's Torah. And if you can approach, if you can try to approach it with those eyes, God will reveal Himself to you in ways you cannot imagine.

Candace Long: That's what He did to me because when you taught me how to study the Torah and listen to the Torah speak, we're listening to the tavniyot speak to us and this is what the tavniyot is saying: Him giving over His body to Rome, and your tavnit which is the false Messiah of Hellenism that is remade, the God-man who is not our Jewish Messiah. We will continue with our discussion next time because whether you realize it or not, both Rabbi and I believe this issue concerns the greatest deception in all of human history.

If you have a question for Ask the Rabbi, please go to our main page at ShabbatShalomRadio.com and click on the button that says Email the Show. I'm Candace Long and you've been listening to Ask the Rabbi with Rabbi Michael Washer, who teaches us Torah and the Torah perspective of the Jewish Messiah every Saturday morning. Shabbat Shalom.

If you'd like to listen to this program again, you'll find all of our programs archived at the bottom of our main page at ShabbatShalomRadio.com, listed by date, hour, teacher, and topic. Ask the Rabbi always begins hour two. I'm Candace Long, your host for Shabbat Shalom.

Coming up next, I complete one of my most popular series, The Days of Noah, which I wrote in 2021 when we were in the middle of the pandemic. This episode, Part 6, explores the triggers that kicked off the flood. I was looking for the lessons that we can apply to our lives as we approach the Day of the Lord. Remember, Jesus said Noah's experiences would be our teacher; therefore, we need the right syllabus to guide us. You're going to learn what Noah was going through right before the flood waters came. What made him pull away and separate from the evil culture all around him?

I want you to pay special attention to the five things that God told Noah by way of explicit instructions so he and his family would be prepared and how we can apply these insights to our lives today. Is it time for us to pull away? I'm Candace Long with Lessons in the Latter Days, offering biblical commentary to make sense of the times that we're living in.

The reason this mini-series called The Days of Noah has been growing is that the deeper that I get into it, the more I understand why Jesus singled out this event to prepare us for the Day of the Lord. Now, let me make sure that you understand what I'm talking about. Let's talk terminology a minute. The expression "Day of the Lord" is a 1,000-year event. It's referred to in Scripture as a day, the seventh day, lasting 1,000 years. And that day belongs to the Lord. It is His day, the day that has been prophesied from the very beginning that signals that God's kingdom has now come to earth.

Now, the trigger that begins that day occurs with one huge event: a cataclysm. Now, Jesus tells us that the Day of the Lord is just like the days of Noah. So I have been hard at work for months looking for the parallels and lessons to help us recognize where we are in the timeline and what the Lord may want to teach us.

The flood was a catastrophic event that involved everyone on the planet. Let's look at how it began. Again, looking for clues for the coming Day of the Lord. Genesis 7 tells us that the flood was triggered when all the foundations of the great deep burst forth and the windows of heaven were opened and rain fell upon the earth for 40 days and 40 nights.

Now, this one verse tells us several things. First, God used a trigger from the natural realm, which is His creation, and once that trigger happened, there was no turning back. Life was never the same. The ancient Book of Jasher tells us the trigger was a great earthquake that threw everyone into terror. Now, in the Day of the Lord, we don't know what the trigger will actually be, but I believe it may also be a natural phenomenon like an earthquake to cause terror because the spirit of the fear of the Lord is desperately needed in our culture, just as it was needed in Noah's day.

As to the duration or how long the cataclysm lasted, we're told the flood lasted for 40 days and 40 nights. But Genesis 8 says Noah and his family were in the ark for 150 days. Now, the rabbis tell us that 40 days and 40 nights is a common Hebrew expression which simply means that the event lasted a long time.

Now, let's fast forward to the cataclysmic event that kicks off the Day of the Lord. That's what Scripture refers to as the birth pangs, also called the tribulation, and it will last seven years. In today's episode, I want to look at what Noah was going through before the earthquake, before the flood. Did something specific make Noah separate from the rest of the people? If so, was his separation subtle or did it take place over time? Was there a triggering event that basically made Noah say, "I've had enough"? Today's topic is called When to Separate from the Culture.

The one biblical event that has great similarity to the days of Noah is what happened at Sodom and Gomorrah right before the angels came to remove Lot. Now, as you recall, these two cities were known for their wickedness and God wiped them out. How much time did God give Lot to get out of Sodom? In Genesis 19, we read that the angels who came to Sodom told Lot, "We are about to destroy this place because the outcry against its people has become great before the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it."

At daybreak, which was just a few hours away, the angels said, "It's time to go." But Lot lingered, so the angels seized him and brought him and his family outside the city and said, "Flee for your life." This was the warning: less than 24 hours. No time to pack.

We read in 2 Peter 2 that the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trial and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority. Let's look closer at the two sins that ignited such rage in the Almighty to bring about such judgment on those two cities.

The first sin is described as the lust of defiling passion. This refers to sexual perversion. Now, the meaning of the word lust in Hebrew is a word that we don't use anymore: concupiscence. It means a longing for the forbidden. This is a longing, an obsession, a compulsion to experience sexual sins that are particularly abhorrent to the Lord. They include homosexuality, incest, pedophilia, and bestiality. The longing and obsession and eventual acceptance of these sins by the people was what characterized the days of Noah, the days of Lot, and today.

The second sin is hatred against divinely appointed authority, an explosive rage against anyone who dares to speak out against forbidden behavior. Now, if you don't know what I'm talking about, try attending a town hall meeting demanding the rights of transgenders in providing bathrooms according to their sexual preference. There's no mild debate or discussion here. On the one hand, you have parents of transgenders who are desperate to get people to accept their children and convince them this behavior is normal. On the other hand, there is hatred and often violence against anyone who tries to uphold God's standards.

These conflicts happened in Noah's day. The more Noah preached repentance in setting forth God's views, the more he was ridiculed, scorned, and threatened. God's authority was rejected. One resource I read said that the reason Noah pulled away from society was the atmosphere had become so vile that he was afraid the people would kill him and his family.

So back to today's topic. When should we separate ourselves from a contentious culture, or should we? As we move toward the day of judgment, let me suggest several insights to consider. Insight number one: the moral divide will deepen as we get closer to the Day of the Lord. Jesus said in John 9, "We must work the works of Him who sent me while it is day. Night comes when no one can work." Now, the admonition is for us to speak out whenever we can to uphold the ways of the Lord.

If we get shut down, that's when we should question whether to relocate. The Lord tells us in Luke 10, "Whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you, go into its streets and wipe the dust off your feet. The kingdom of God has come near that town and it will be more tolerable on that day for Sodom than for that town."

One of my spiritual daughters and her family became so concerned about living in a hostile spiritual atmosphere that they bought property in another state and are building a place of refuge to sustain themselves for the days ahead. She reported that as they drove across the state line, they could literally feel the positive shift in their spirit. Now, those who walk with the Lord are given what I call body tells that sense when the spiritual climate is good or bad.

My late pastor was especially gifted in this area. I called her a spiritual weather vane. She could feel the presence of evil or righteousness when going from one county in our state to another. Now, when God was leading me to relocate to the mountains, I took her with me to scout the land because there were three different counties that I was considering and we drove through all three, meeting with realtors and looking at the homes for sale. Now, getting out of the car at the last real estate office we were scheduled to visit, her feet touched the ground and she said, "I feel the presence of the Lord in this area." Now, God confirmed it to me later once we walked into the home that had just been listed. We both smiled and said, "This is it." The owner had been unable to sell this home for many years, and it was as if the Lord kept it just for me.

Insight number two: keep your ears open to how the Lord may speak to you about separating. In the time of Lot and in the days of Noah, once the trigger event happened—the earthquake in Noah's day and the attempted rape of the angels in Lot's time—the catastrophe followed immediately. There was no time to prepare. So the takeaway for me, and what I encourage you to do, is ask the Lord to prompt you if you need to relocate because once the triggers happen leading to the Day of the Lord, there will likely not be time to prepare for anything. You will not be able to hunker down someplace safe while the darkest of days pass. So pay attention to your body tells, even if what I'm saying now makes you stop and ask, "Lord, have I missed warnings that You have been giving me?"

When I moved to the mountains, I didn't know a soul. As an introverted writer, I don't need people around to give me a sense of purpose. But I did discern the need to ask the Lord for the right friends to help me up here. And one day that prayer was answered when I happened upon a woman who lives on the total other side of the mountain from me, so we would not have normally met. But this day she was out walking her dog near my home.

Now, as friends go, I'm drawn to people who are genuine. I don't particularly like posers and social gadabouts or gossips. And Janice is none of these things. She is as country as the day is long and proud of it. Her family comes from the Appalachian Mountains, which reminds me of my father's parents and grandparents who settled in Kentucky and survived the Great Depression. Janice is also part Native American with a deep love and respect for the land. She has become a key mentor for me as I learn the ways of living in a rural setting, and she teaches me how to survive and plan for the times to come.

One of her earliest memories over 65 years ago was when she was about five or six and visiting her grandfather. And she asked him to tell her a story, and here's what he said: "There's coming a time in your lifetime where the people who live in cities won't know how to make do. It will be a throwaway generation. They'll come swarming out of the cities and come up to where the people are who know how to farm and garden and make do with what they have. You'll have to put up food to survive and they will want to take what you've worked for. You can't help people like that. You have to be able to defend yourself." Now, God was speaking through this country farmer in a way that she never forgot. She heard the voice of God in her ancestral warning about what lies ahead and she became experienced in developing survival skills.

When I first moved into my home, the welcoming committee came by and showed me a brochure of all the things that I could get involved with in this little community. Now, I didn't resonate with one thing that she talked about, for I do not consider myself retired with nothing of significance to do. I had moved to this area because there was an airport just a few miles down the road where my plane was tied down.

And I'll never forget this woman's expression when I got out the iPad and showed what I was interested in. I showed her the aviation map of our area and pointed to the Blue Ridge Mountain range where our little town is situated. I told her the same thing Janice's grandfather told her: if a catastrophe hits the eastern part of the country, where are the people going to run to? The mountains. We are not prepared. Her eyes got real wide. I'm sure she was thinking to herself, "This woman is crazy as a loon." And I said what I would be interested in is talking with anyone about helping to prepare the area for a sudden onslaught of people who are fleeing the cities.

Now, this was a year or so before I met Janice and long before COVID invaded our shores. I'm telling you all this because the world is in denial, thinking life will get back to normal. Please pay attention to any signs where the Lord is leading you to relocate, because once the catastrophe hits, there will not be time to get your act together.

The final insight, number three, concerns five things God said to Noah that gave him everything he needed to survive the flood. The first thing God said to Noah is found in Genesis 6. He said, "The end of all flesh is come before me." Something triggered God's determination to bring destruction to the earth. What was it? I consulted the early rabbinical commentators on Genesis for insight, and the consensus is that there is a level of perversion that once it is reached in a culture, it brings about destruction.

The second-century rabbi Yehuda HaNasi wrote that the generation of the flood was only wiped out once they wrote marriage contracts between humans and animals. Another rabbi wrote that any place in which sexual perversions are found, pestilence comes to the world, killing both good people and the bad. Rabbi Yehoshua bar Levi said all through the night Lot was asking forgiveness for the people of Sodom and his entreaties or his prayers were received right up until the moment that they said, "Bring those men who were angels out so we can know them," which is an expression meaning to have sex with them. So from here onward, there was no one who could say anything in their defense. There came a time when God saw into the future when everything was destroyed. It flashed before Him because the outcry of such filth on earth was so great it demanded judgment.

Number two, God said, "The earth is filled with violence through them." Now, the Hebrew word "filled" means to be accomplished totally, to be fully set and consecrated. You see, the earth has a limitation, an exact amount of how much iniquity it can contain. When Jesus confronted the scribes and Pharisees in Matthew 23, He said, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees! Fill up then the measure of your fathers." Now, what I have learned from our Jewish forefathers is that there is a measure or an exact amount that each family and each person has the opportunity to add to. We can either add to the measure of righteousness or the measure of wickedness. And when that measure of wickedness is pressed full to the brim, that's when God is propelled into action.

So what was the earth full of? The verse says violence. That word for violence is Hamas, just like the terrorist organization Hamas. It means unjust gain and cruelty. And the word "through," as in the earth is filled with violence through them, that word means the wickedness was done in plain sight before the face of God and open to view by all of the people and no one was there to stop the evil.

The third thing God said was, "I will destroy them with the earth." This was an open admission that God made to Noah that He was about to annihilate both the people and the earth. You see, the things on the earth, such as rocks, record the memories and actions that take place on earth. Life was so corrupt that God had to destroy the earth along with the people so there would no longer be a memory of such wickedness. It was that depraved.

The fourth thing that God told Noah was, "Make an ark of gopher wood." Now, the application for this directive is that God got very specific with Noah by outlining in exact detail what he was to do to preserve himself and his family and the animals that God wanted Noah to save as well. Now, what I would ask you is this: are you hearing that God has had enough? That the earth is filled with such evil that destruction and judgment are just around the corner? Are you seeing dreams to that effect?

If so, then God will outline for you what you must do to save your family. Jasher writes that this directive was so elaborate that Noah had to pull away from society in order to focus on the exact way of building the ark. God's instructions were detailed. I'm meeting with more and more people for whom God has given instructions as to what to do to preserve their families, their friends, their communities. This is what He did with the Levites, those who walked closest with God. He charged them with building areas of refuge.

If there are close friends with whom you are aligned, perhaps God would have you make plans together to relocate to the same area and work side by side to build a place of refuge for your families. Oh yes, it will require everything of you. That's why you need to know: what has God been saying? He will not leave you without instruction, but you have to spend time with Him and pull away to do that, away from media noise. He is your refuge and your strength.

The final thing the Lord told Noah was, "With you will I establish my covenant." There is nothing more secure and precious than to have a personal covenant of protection and promise by the Lord. It's like a memorandum of understanding. When you've heard from God, He will give you that assurance of personally shepherding you through every step.

So returning to our topic, let's review. Separating from the culture was not initiated by Noah having had enough. Rather, separation was the natural result once Noah heard that God had had enough. That's why it is critically important to grow in your understanding of what it means to walk with God. Noah heard God say, "I've had enough. I've seen enough. I have determined to destroy them and the earth. Here's what to be busy with for the next years to survive what's coming. And oh, by the way, I make a covenant with you that I'll always be with you." You will know when to separate. Just keep your ears open.

Rashi, the great Jewish commentator, wrote that there are numerous ways God could have saved Noah. Why the burden of the ark? So that the people of the generation of the flood would see him employed on it all those years and ask, "Why do you need this?" And so he might answer, "The Holy One, blessed be He, is about to bring a flood upon the earth." Perhaps they might repent. Always remember that in this evil day, the Lord is your keeper. He is the shade of your right hand and the portion in your cup on the day that you call. I want to thank you for listening. I hope you join me again next time for Lessons in the Latter Days.

Thank you so much for listening. If you have questions to submit to me or any of our teachers, please go to our main page at ShabbatShalomRadio.com and look for the button at the top that says Email the Show. Coming up in our final hour, Rabbi Michael Washer will examine the Shmita year and the Jubilee year as pictures of the kingdom. You will learn the way that God chose for Gentiles to become a part of the commonwealth of Israel. Following him, I will bring you my teaching called Jewish Roots: How I Reconnected. Remember, you'll find all of our programs archived at the bottom of our Shabbat Shalom page, arranged by date, hour, teacher, and topic. Stay tuned for our final hour coming up next on WZEE AM 590, our media partner for ShabbatShalomRadio.com.