Shabbat Shalom

Candace Long: I'm Candace Long, host and producer of Shabbat Shalom. Welcome to our final hour. Before Rabbi Michael Washer comes to teach us, I want to comment on recent feedback from listeners. As I said earlier, we are nearing the halfway mark in our year-long journey of Torah study, and I want to make sure the program answers your questions and needs. These are difficult times, and the Father wants to give us peace and perspective at what all we are being hit with.

Let me share a recent email from a listener responding to my angst over the program's recent interruptions. She wrote, "Please, whatever happens, do not cancel this show. It is the best one I've ever found to listen to on the Sabbath as I am unable to go to a synagogue. The teachings here are precious. They're not found anywhere else unless you go individually to your channel, to Rabbi Washer's, or the other instructors."

This comment meant a lot because I have worked very hard to vet the teachers who are part of this program. As the producer with a 35-year background studying biblical prophecies of the end of days, I know that I'm regarded by a lot of people as a little out there. I know I would not be invited as guest speaker to the Southern Baptist Convention. But I know what it's like to have a message burning inside of you, and you have to fight for a place to be heard.

So, going into Shabbat Shalom, I looked for teachers who likewise have a message burning inside of them too, and I felt called to provide them a platform to be heard. Pastor Matt McKeown pastors a traditional Christian church, but the Torah was beckoning him too, just like with me. He chose to align with Rabbi Itzhak Shapira, a Messianic Rabbi whom I greatly admire. And over and above his church duties, he studies the Torah and tries as much as possible to teach God's ways of Judaism to Christians who are willing to learn.

I've felt the same with Andrew Gabriel Roth. I love his passion of dedication to study Aramaic and devote 20 years of his life to clear up the many misunderstandings we have about Jesus's teachings. Rabbi Michael Washer is in a little different category because the Lord connected the two of us back in 2004. He not only recognized and received me as a Jew, he was thrilled with my book, The Levitical Calling, and designed its cover.

God has used him to mentor me and my growth for many years. As a fellow creative, for he is a brilliant artist and sculptor, we both see metaphors easily. But God entrusted him with developing his gospel over 40 years ago, presenting Judaism as a set of Tavneetot, or pictures of all heavenly things. His passion is to free Christians from Hellenism. He is descended from the lineage of Aaron, and there's no one I know more dedicated to upholding God's ways.

But he often experiences pushback. One listener wrote, "I want to love Rabbi Washer, and I know in time I will. I just have to get over the hard pills he's made us Christians swallow over the past few weeks." Believe me, he's used to such comments and welcomes the opportunity to defend his teachings. He doesn't serve pablum; he serves meat. And sometimes we wince, which I often have done myself, so don't feel alone. It's okay.

I have learned that the Father takes us as we are and is patient with us when our heart truly desires to learn and understand. Rabbi Michael and I want to do periodic Q&A sessions whereby he answers questions that you may have. Now, this is not an invitation for you to enter our show and slam one of our teachers. I won't allow that. But if your question is sincere, then please reach out. You'll find a button on our main page that says "Email the show." We'd love to hear from you.

As we begin this hour of instruction, allow me to recite one of the prayers we say before studying the Torah. Baruch atah Adonai, hamelamed Torah l'amo Yisrael. Venatan lanu Torato bavasar. Yeshua HaMashiach, l'amo Yisrael. Blessed are you, Lord, teacher of Torah to his people Israel, and who gave the Torah in flesh, Yeshua the Messiah, to his people Israel. Join me in welcoming Rabbi Michael Washer.

Rabbi Michael Washer: Shabbat Shalom. This is Rabbi Michael Washer. We are now in the second Torah portion of the book of Shemot, or Exodus. The name of this Torah portion is Vayera, which means "And I appeared" or "And I was seen." It begins in Exodus 6:2, saying, "God spoke again to Moses and said to him, 'I am the Lord, and I appeared (Vayera) to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as El Shaddai, God Almighty; but by my name Lord (Yod He Vav He), I did not make myself known to them.'"

Before I explain this verse about the name of God, we will look at another issue first that is drawn from the verses directly afterward. The passage continues, "I also establish my covenant with them. I have heard the groaning of the sons of Israel because the Egyptians are holding them in bondage, and I have remembered my covenant. Tell the sons of Israel, 'I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from their bondage. I will also redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments. I will take you for my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God.' Moses spoke this to the sons of Israel, but they did not listen to Moses because of their despondency and cruel bondage."

Then Torah says, "Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 'Go, tell Pharaoh, King of Egypt, to let the sons of Israel go out of his land.'" At least that's how it's translated. However, this does not say "let the sons of Israel go." And the many passages that are translated as "let my people go" are mistranslated too. We've all heard "let my people go," but in Hebrew, it says, "Shalach et ami," which actually means "send my people."

In the above passage in verse 6:11, it says, "vishalach b’nei Yisrael," and "send the children of Israel." This phrase appears several times, usually when a plague falls on Egypt. It shows up in Exodus 5:1, 6:11, 7:16, 8:1, 8:20 and 21, chapter 9, verses 1, 13, and 17, chapter 10, verses 3 and 4. And every time it is the same in Hebrew: "Send my people." And yet all of them are mistranslated as "let my people go."

So, why does this matter? Who cares? It matters because you as a Bible reader and a Bible believer do not know what an apostle is, partly because of this mistranslation. And who cares about that? Well, most people think apostle is a follower of Jesus or someone who has something to do with Jesus or Christianity. This is not true. Just like every other biblical concept, the apostle began hundreds of years before Yeshua because it began in Judaism.

The word apostle is very deeply embedded in the Jewish culture and has been around since Abraham first did Judaism, as we see so clearly in Genesis 26:5. The goal and description of the apostle is found in the Hebrew for this word itself, which is Shaliach, literally "a sent one." It's the same word as an arrow, a dart, a spear, and in some cases, a letter or document. All of these are sent forth; they're all sent out with a very pointed direction or a directive.

And rabbis and sages always had their apostles. Moses had 70 apostles; these are the elders chosen in the Book of Numbers, as well as the priests and Levites sent out to the tribes to teach and collect tithes. This is found in the book of Numbers, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy. So, you can see that this is a large concept in Judaism, and this is only the very beginning of it. This expanded when the Jews entered the land of Israel, and it expanded even more when Jerusalem became its capital and teachers were sent from Jerusalem to teach and collect tithes to bring up to the temple.

The priests formed the largest group of apostles, or Shlachim. You can see many of them sent out by King David and King Solomon in 1 Chronicles 26 to teach, to judge, and to do business out among the other tribes. In verse 29, it says, "As for the Izharites, Chenaniah and his sons did works outside of Jerusalem as officers and judges. As for the Hebronites, Hashabiah and his relatives, 1,700 capable men, had charge of the affairs of Israel west of the Jordan, for all the work of the Lord and service of the king."

In Judaism, these thousands are called Shlachim, or apostles. All of the sages and rabbis had and have today Shlachim. A rabbi cannot be more than one place at a time to help all of those who need him or her. But with a Shaliach, the rabbi can be in many places at once. Why? Because the Jewish law of agency is expressed in the dictum, "A person's agent, or Shaliach, is regarded as the person himself." If you've seen the Shaliach, you've seen the one who sent him or her.

This is amazing to me. In early November, in Torah portion Vayera, and then three weeks later in Vayishlach, I taught about Yeshua being the Shaliach of God. I'll repeat that point here. I said that Jesus was not God while he was on earth. He was the Word, or the Word of God, or the Tanakh, or the Old Testament in flesh, as John 1:14 says. So, if he was not God while he lived a Jewish life, what was he?

He was the Shaliach, the sent one. If you've seen the apostle, the sent one, you have seen the one who sent him. And Yeshua said this of himself many times. "He who receives me, receives him who sent me" (Matthew 10:40). "My teaching is not my own but his who sent me" (John 7:16). "The one who sees me has seen him who sent me" (John 12:45). And many, many others. Yeshua is the Shaliach of God, as are all of Israel.

We are little models or pictures of God if we are doing the Torah. That is what every member of Israel was to be: a perfect little representative, or model, or picture of the God of Israel. And here is where all of that began. It began in Egypt. God tells Pharaoh, over and over again, to send the Jews out to serve God. The Exodus from Egypt was not just getting free of that horrible, oppressive place. It was more than that. They were on their way to Mount Sinai, which they would arrive at in three months, where they would receive the Torah. And there, they would learn how to act, how to behave, how to live, and how to reflect heaven.

This made all of them, all of Israel, Shlichot, or apostles. And didn't Yeshua also say this to Israel? John 10:33-36 says, "We want to stone you for blasphemy and because you, a man, make yourself out to be God (Elohim)." Yeshua answered, "Isn't it written in your Torah: 'Elohim atem u'vnei Elyon' (You are Gods, sons of the Most High)? And if he called them Elohim, to whom the Word of God came, why would you say of him whom the Father set apart and sent into the world, 'You're blaspheming' because I said, 'I am Ben Elohim' (Son of God)?"

All of Israel, every Jew who is in the covenant, is Elohim, at least a little picture or model of Elohim. If you've seen a Jew who does Torah, you've seen their Father. In about the year 1900, a great rabbi named the Sfat Emet, wrote this: "Every member of Israel was sent to fulfill God's will and is thus called a Shaliach (apostle) or a Malach (an angel)." Why did he say this? Because this is what Judaism had taught for more than 2,500 years.

The idea and lifestyle of the apostle was deeply embedded in Jewish life. The entire nation of Israel were and are God's apostles. This is why we were sent out of Egypt. We were sent by God as his Shlachim out of Egypt to serve him. If you've grown up in a Christian culture, not exposed to the Jewish culture, this, along with so much of what I teach, can sound very weird. And believe me, I know how many Christians feel about what I teach.

I've heard and read every conceivable argument and received every possible pushback, accusation, and personal attack for more than 40 years now. And because of this, I'm teaching with as much restraint and kindness and clarity as I know how. Unfortunately, I have no one to emulate as a Messianic Jew teaching Judaism. There are thousands of Messianic leaders and teachers that I could emulate, but none of them, to my knowledge, have the same calling as I do: to help restore Judaism to the body of Messiah.

There are thousands of rabbis I could emulate as well, and I do, or at least I try to. But they do not address Christians. They do not deal with Christianity at all. They only speak to other Jews who know the lingo, and their audience is already familiar with Judaism. My audience is not. So, what I teach sounds crazy to most believers, but this is what God has called me to do, in spite of all my problems and failings and immaturity.

And if I could be someone else to get these things across to you, I would, believe me. So, I've had to adjust constantly and change things in myself constantly because of the calling that the Lord has given me to defend the faith and what the Jewish people were given. So, I need your patience and a little bit of trust that I've done the work and I know what I'm doing.

I'm very well aware of the fact that my calling is to communicate a world that can feel really threatening to Christianity in general. And though I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings, I know that if we have feelings invested in bad, wrong, or harmful things, we have to change our feelings. But all of it, everything I teach, is not stuff that I plucked from the ether or brilliantly put together. It's all confirmed and strengthened by the words of those much wiser than any of us: the sages and rabbis of Israel.

Getting back to the text, I'm going to teach the second part of this teaching. It is about the name of God. The beginning of the Torah portion says, "God spoke again to Moses and said to him, 'I am the Lord, and I appeared (Vayera) to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as El Shaddai, God Almighty; but by my name Lord (Yod He Vav He), I did not make myself known to them.'" Well, because of the vast amount of craziness on the internet now about God's name, I cannot unscramble this egg for you; it would take many hours to do so.

I'm assuming we've all heard about this in some way at some time. People's ideas about God's name have been around for ages. The entire beginning of the restoration of Judaism to the body of Messiah began with it. What I mean is that in the 80s, the Hebrew Roots movement began as the "sacred name movement," and that sacred name is this four-letter name of God, Yod He Vav He. Christians were obsessed with this issue for some reason, which to this day I cannot figure out.

Is that name Yehovah, Yahweh, Jehovah, Yahava, Yahuvoh, Yahavua? I've heard so many variations within the Messianic Hebrew Roots and now Christian community that it is mind-blowing. God's name was not written with vowel points for centuries, and after the destruction of the temple, it was not pronounced at all in Judaism. It was replaced with Hashem, meaning "the name." That is as it is to this day. And the mythology developed that no one knows how to pronounce the four-letter name of God, so it dissolved into a myth.

But this is untrue. If you want some verifiable, well-researched information about this, I would suggest looking up Nehemia Gordon and the website Nehemia's Wall. Dr. Gordon is a Jew who has made it his life's work to find as many ancient Jewish manuscripts as he possibly can in which the sages and the rabbis did write the name of God with the vowel points. Why? Without vowels, it's impossible to know how to pronounce the name.

And if the vowel points all show us the same pronunciation, it's a safe bet that that pronunciation is correct and was passed down through the rabbis just as all of Judaism was. Judaism preserved everything God gave us. Why would this be the only exception? To date, Dr. Gordon has discovered tens of thousands of ancient Jewish texts that are consistent. All of them give us the same vowel points and therefore the same pronunciation.

This, of course, means that in order to know the pronunciation, you must know at least enough Hebrew to know how to read what is written. And those rules were developed within Judaism, not Christianity. That pronunciation of the "sacred name" is this: Yehovah. So, back to the text of the Torah. It says, "I am Yehovah, and I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as El Shaddai, God Almighty; but by my name Yehovah, I did not make myself known to them."

Well, this is hard to follow because contrary to how it sounds, Yehovah did make himself known to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as Yehovah. Yehovah is used by God and by the patriarchs dozens of times by name. So, the phrase "by my name Yehovah I did not make myself known to them" cannot be taken literally. It must mean something else. I've heard every possible answer to this seeming contradiction, answers that twist logic into a pretzel, adding all kinds of big theological words, trying to square this circle.

But the answer is really very simple. We're given the answer by the sages again. Remember, we don't have to guess and we don't have to rely on how smart we are. We have an unbroken chain of authority from Moses to Joshua to the elders to the prophets to the Sanhedrin to the sages and rabbis, and their words will confirm or deny what is true doctrine. So, what does Judaism's premier Torah commentator Rashi say about this?

He says this: "B’El Shaddai, as El Shaddai, I made them promises. And with all the promises, I said to them, 'I am El Shaddai.' But by my name Yehovah, I was not made known to them. It is not written here, 'Lo hodati' (I did not make known), but 'Lo nodati' (I was not known). I was not recognized by them with my attribute of trustworthiness indicated by my name Yehovah, that I may be relied upon to fulfill my words. For I made them promises, but did not fulfill them in their lifetimes."

This is brilliant. Rashi simply looked carefully at the Hebrew and the Hebrew grammar, and the answer became clear. What's the difference between "I did not make myself known" and "I was not known"? The first God does; he acts with intention. And the other is simply a statement of fact. In other words, God didn't show himself as Yehovah. Yehovah is just the verb "to be": it was, it is, it will be. God as Yehovah means the same yesterday, today, and forever.

And Rashi's point, which he will reinforce two more times in the following verses, is that the patriarchs never got to see him as the same before, the same now, and the same in the future. I'll explain further. The next verse says, "I also made my covenant with them to give them Canaan, the land in which they lived as sojourners." And Rashi says this: "To Abraham, it was said in the passage regarding the circumcision, 'I am El Shaddai. I will give the entire land of Canaan to you and to your seed.' To Isaac, it was said, 'For I will give all these lands to you and your seed, and I will fulfill the oath I made to Abraham your father.' And that oath that I made to Abraham, I uttered using the name El Shaddai. And to Jacob, it was said, 'I am El Shaddai. Be fruitful and multiply. The land that I give to Abraham and Isaac, I give to you.' And thus you see that I made certain vows to them, but did not yet fulfill them."

And Rashi goes on to insert this meaning into his commentary on the next few verses too, each time relating it back to the idea that God promised, but they never got to see the fulfillment in their days, but that their seed will get to see it. In the New Covenant, the writer of Hebrews correctly teaches exactly the same doctrine as the sages. After discussing Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, it says in Hebrews 11:13, "All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, confessed that they were strangers and exiles in the earth."

The three patriarchs used the name Yehovah and heard God speak of himself as Yehovah. But hearing and using God's name Yehovah and seeing him act like Yehovah, well, that's two very different things. He acts as Yehovah, the verb "to be," when he fulfills what he promised. It's that simple. And Abraham, Isaac, and Israel never got to see God fulfill all the things he promised to the Jews.

Now, don't get me wrong. They saw all of it in the spirit, as the verse in Hebrews says: "but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance." Look, they prophesied about all of it. They saw the Exodus, they saw the Jews at Mount Sinai, they saw the Kings of Judah in Jerusalem, they saw the temple there, they saw the coming of the Messiah Yeshua, and they saw the coming of the Messianic Kingdom in all of its details, both good and bad.

All the sages tell us this. But they never got to see any of it come to fruition in their days. And aren't we the same? We await what we may or may not have seen. Perhaps we simply saw it in our minds as we read it or heard it read in the Bible, or perhaps we heard people teaching it and saw it in our mind's eye, imagining what is to come. Or perhaps we saw it in a dream or a vision as a prophet sees.

But none of us have seen that which God promised through all, and I mean all, of the prophets: the coming of the kingdom, the day of the Lord. We're all in the same boat as the patriarchs. They never got to see God as Yehovah, fulfilling his word to them, and we've never gotten to see God as Yehovah fulfilling his word to us by bringing the kingdom.

In Judaism, we have three prayer services, and at each of those, we pray the Amidah, or standing prayer. It's comprised of 18 blessings. Toward its end, there are three of the 18 blessings in which we look forward to getting to see God as Yehovah. From number 15, "Find favor, Lord our God, in your people Israel and look to their prayer, and return the service of the sanctuary of your house and accept in love and favor Israel's fire offerings and prayer." We're asking for God to return the service of the temple and its sacrifices.

From number 17, "And reveal to our eyes your return to Zion in mercy. Blessed are you, Lord, who reveals his presence to Zion." We are asking for us to personally see God's return to Jerusalem with his physical presence in cloud and smoke and fire. From the conclusion, "May it be your will, Lord our God, that the holy temple be rebuilt speedily in our days and grant us a portion in your Torah." We are again asking for God to return the service of the temple and its sacrifices.

This is all wonderful. But what if you don't believe in sacrifices? What if you're stuck in the rut of the verses that are mistranslated to say Christ did away with the temple and the sacrifices that he gave to Israel? Well, if that's the case, two things will happen. Number one, you will not pursue the wisdom and knowledge contained in the temple and the sacrifices, and you'll miss out on all those tutors that bring us to a knowledge of God. And number two, you will feel incredible shame and sorrow when the kingdom comes and Judaism is restored and you didn't want it or long for it or pray for its restoration.

There are verses in scripture that describe both of these sad states. All of it, all of what the patriarchs saw and did, all of Judaism, is there la'da'at et Yehovah, in order to know the Lord. If you really want to know the Lord as well and as closely as you can, join me, Rabbi Michael Washer, next week as we continue to learn about our redemption from Egypt, in which we will see more pictures of Messiah. Next, Shabbat Shalom.

Candace Long: You can hear Rabbi Michael teach more pictures to prepare us for the kingdom every Saturday morning from 8:00 to 8:30. I'm Candace Long, your host for Shabbat Shalom. I'm ending today's program with part two of The Final Week of the Church Age. It is subtitled "2024, The Year of the Apostasia."

Listeners have asked me why I don't yet have a monograph version of this series. I have a pile of notes and transcripts sitting right by my computer, but prophecies are being fulfilled so fast, and now with the demands of producing Shabbat Shalom every week, I have no time to complete it now. That's why I have chosen to feature this series and the graphics that I have developed over the last year and a half so that I can share with you one of the most powerful Tavneet I've ever seen.

Jesus told his disciples in John 16:12, and I abbreviated here, "I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot hear them now. When the spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth and declare the things that are to come." God speaks in parables, in pictures. In Numbers 12, he uses the term "chidah," which means a puzzle. He teaches little by little because, in all honesty, once he begins downloading something major like this, I can only handle a little bit at a time, and then I need to go lie down.

This is my service of worship as a Levite and a chronicler, and I pass it on to you for consideration. As you listen, when I discuss dates, keep in mind what you hear was written in the middle of 2024. Please refer to the handout that I have provided on our main page; hopefully the graphics will be of help. In this episode, I make a bold announcement that 2024 was when God announced that his people, both Christians and Jews, are falling away. This is an important wake-up call, and it comes from my heart.

I'm Candace Long with Lessons in the Latter Days, offering biblical commentary to make sense of the times that we're living in. Today's episode is part two of the final week of the church age. It's called "2024, The Year of the Apostasia." The other day, I woke up on the Sabbath and prepared to study the assigned Torah portion, as I always do. I glanced at my cell phone only to find a text from one of my students saying, "Tomorrow is Pentecost," and went on to describe what that day meant to her.

I was sick at heart, and I texted back, "You're on the wrong schedule. Shavuot is June 12th, and we're still counting the Omer." My text forced her to consult the Gregorian calendar and then the Hebrew calendar, and she saw her mistake. And she wrote back and said, "I stand corrected. But I find myself going back and forth to what I have been taught and realigning with the biblical calendar, and I wonder if God knows my heart and those who have good intentions but are not so specific on dates, times, and seasons."

I knew then I needed to revisit this issue and lay out the error that most Christians are falling into and what will happen if it's not corrected. Today, I'm going to cover three things. Number one, I want to give you a visual picture of where I think we are on the timeline before the Rapture. Number two, why it matters if Christians are a little bit off with God's calendar. Number three, how this very issue fulfills an important prophecy in the New Testament. And number four, what will happen to Christians if they do not change course.

But first, a little story to set the stage. When I was actively flying and knew that I was going to be landing at an unfamiliar airport, I spent time studying the aviation map, especially all the landmarks around that airport so that I would be able to recognize it once I was in the air. But once I was up there and on the final approach, locating that airport visually wasn't easy because nothing in that environment was familiar. I simply hadn't flown there before.

In all my years of flying, no amount of flight planning ever really prepared me to recognize a new runway until I was right on top of it. Studying biblical prophecies on the end of days is exactly like this. Only when you get right up on top of one of them do you have an "aha" moment and recognize where you are. And regarding this issue of the Apostasia, which is the Greek word that refers to the great falling away, I believe we have just flown over it. If you don't recognize it and keep on going like normal, the warning is that you will lose the ability to get back on course before the rest of us land in the kingdom. It's that serious.

The other day, I spent several hours designing a graph to help me lay out the end of days as I see so many pieces coming together and begin teaching using this graph. I'm going to describe just the first layer of it today. It consists of two seven-year periods back-to-back. Each one is referred to as a biblical week of years. Now, this is biblical terminology for an actual thing. A biblical week of years is a picture or a Tavneet that is repeated many times in the Bible. It's found in the book of Daniel and refers to a week that is seven years long, one year for each day.

The one we're most familiar with in Daniel 9 is called the 70th week, which is the seven-year period at the very beginning of the Day of the Lord, which lasts a thousand years. Now, this is an important end-of-days timeline terminology I want to make sure you understand. The expression "the Day of the Lord" lasts 1,000 years, but the first seven years of it has its own name. Daniel calls it the 70th week. It is known by most Christians as the seven-year Tribulation. Jews refer to it as the birth pangs.

This is when God's wrath is poured out to cleanse the earth of its filth. But in it, God concludes the final redemption story for the nation of Israel. So, on my graph, I put another biblical week of years right before the 70th week because this one refers to the final seven years of what has been known as the church age. This is the 2,000-year interruption of biblical history when Israel rejected or cut off their Messiah in 32 AD. We talked about this last time in part one.

But there is a monumental event that ends the church age that I believe falls on Tishrei 1 in our year 2026, when Messiah comes for this part of his bride at what Christians call the Rapture. When millions of people all over the world suddenly disappear in the same second, this will trigger the onset of the Day of the Lord. Yes, I said 2026 because according to my calculations, which I admit could be wrong, this date checks all the boxes.

A biblical week of years in the Bible is always divided into two three-and-a-half-year periods. The first half of the week is relatively mild compared to the final half, which is horribly intense. For instance, at the end of Daniel 9, he tells us that a leader will arise at the end of days and make a covenant with Israel at the beginning of the 70th week. The first half will be relatively peaceful, but at the halfway point, all hell will break loose.

This leader, the Antichrist, will turn against the Jews without mercy. He'll stop the sacrifices in the temple, put an image of himself on the altar, and demand to be worshipped. This is the exact same pattern found in Daniel 11, when Antiochus Epiphanes invaded Jerusalem, doing this very same thing. The pattern repeated itself in two three-and-a-half-year periods, with the second half being more treacherous than the first, ending with the Abomination of Desolation and eventual destruction of the second temple.

Interestingly, we see this same pattern described by Jesus in Matthew 24 and still again in Revelation 13, same thing. What I want you to see here is that a repetitive Tavneet, or a picture, is a prophetic signal to pay attention to. This is exactly what happened to me in 2021 while I was celebrating Hanukkah and reading Daniel 11. At that time, we were a year into the pandemic, and when I recognized the pattern, I came off the couch and began to break out the Hebrew meanings of words in Daniel 11 to look deeper. And I saw it. We were living through every part of the pattern. The revelation was overwhelming to me.

Now, I'm not going to revisit it here because I've written about it in great detail in other episodes. But if you're new to this series, I refer you to two transcripts that I will link to in the description notes to this episode that will explain how billions of people fell into this snare: the episode "Uncovering the Ancient Snare, Part Five: The Abomination of Desolation" and the episode "Post-Pandemic Implications for Ministers." You'll find them both on my website at CandaceLong.com/podcast.

At this point, what I want you to see is, by this picture playing out in front of me, I determined that the final week of the church age began during Hanukkah in 2020 when the vaccine rollout began. This event revealed a diabolical scheme to pollute the bodily temples of every Jew to such a degree that the Almighty would turn away from them. Again, you can read in the episodes mentioned how the highest echelons of power pulled this off. But for our purposes here, the final week of the church age began at Hanukkah of 2020.

We're now in the middle of 2024, which places us about two-and-a-half years away from the Rapture. I'm calling this episode "2024, The Year of the Apostasia." Now, to understand what I mean by this, we need to examine three things. Number one, where is 2024 relative to the final week, and are there confirmations of 2020 being the starting point? Number two, what does Apostasia mean and how is it manifesting? And number three, what happens next?

Question number one: where does 2024 fit into this timeline? Here are five events I want you to take note of which confirm my theory that this is the final week of the church age. First, on March 11th, 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic. That was the 15th of Adar on the Hebrew calendar, the exact date Haman chose to destroy all the Jews in the kingdom. I believe God was announcing a globalist intent to pollute the bodily temples of every Jew in the world, and in so doing, turn God against them.

The second confirmation that I discovered was an alliance between Israel and Pfizer, made during Hanukkah of 2020. Now, Hanukkah is an important biblical festival referred to as the Feast of the Dedication of the Temple. Now, the reason this is significant is that in all four instances where a biblical week of years is found, the trigger point beginning that week is always an alliance or an agreement or a covenant between Israel and some entity connected to the Roman kingdom. So, you need to know that such an alliance actually happened in 2020.

Pfizer agreed to give Israel enough vaccine at a discounted price to inoculate the entire adult population, in exchange for Israel giving Pfizer all of the biometric data collected on the Jewish population. Now, if you don't see a significance in that, what it means is that the final kingdom now has all of the DNA and medical data concerning every Jew. This is part of the ancient snare God warned his people about in the Torah, right before they entered the kingdom, and you'll find all of this teaching in my latest publication called Uncovering the Ancient Snare. You'll find it at CandaceLong.com/store.

A third follow-up date to take note of was July 15th, 2022, when Israel reported administering enough doses to vaccinate 100% of the population. Now, the date of that report was the 16th of Tammuz, known by devout Jews as the time of the breach. This was the actual time on the Hebrew calendar when the physical walls of Jerusalem were breached by both Babylon and Rome, leading to the destruction of both temples. And sadly, it was this same date when the cellular walls were breached inside the bodies of every Jew who took the vaccine.

A fourth confirmation is what happened exactly three-and-a-half years into the final week. Now, remember what happens at the midpoint of a biblical week? That's when something awful shifts and the enemy breaks through and turns against Israel. This is exactly what happened on October 7th, 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel. It was midweek to the day, and that day happened to be the festival of Sukkot, which celebrates God's divine protection over his people.

Is that coincidence? No. Was the Jewish nation as a whole celebrating Sukkot that day? No. The breakthrough happened at a music festival celebrating the trans community. Now, biblically interpreted, Israel's border was unattended because God's people left him. They defected, and that is the meaning of Apostasia. And now the nation is plunged into a season of war that Daniel said would continue all the way through the 70th week. The people's trust in the vaccine for their safety rather than the Lord opened the door for the enemy to break through their borders. And midway through the week was Israel's breach.

A fifth and final confirmation is the increase in wicked behavior, resulting from the genetically altered material believed to be contained in the vaccines. Jesus said we would know the children of the devil by their fruit. So, what has happened to our culture since 2020? What greater evidence is there than the recent explosion of antisemitism? Since 1979, the Anti-Defamation League has tracked antisemitic incidents. In 2022, two years into this final week, they reported a 140% increase, which was the highest ever recorded. But when we got to 2023, the halfway point in our biblical week of years, that number doubled.

Question number two: what is Apostasia and how is it manifesting? We find the word in the New Testament in 2 Thessalonians 2. Let's start at the beginning of the chapter: "Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our assembling to meet him, we beg you, brethren, not to be quickly shaken in mind or excited, either by spirit or by word or by letter purporting to be from us, to the effect that the Day of the Lord has come. Let no one deceive you in any way, for that day will not come unless the rebellion comes first and the man of lawlessness is revealed."

Three things I want to comment on. Number one, Paul uses the phrase "the Day of the Lord" because the people thought that day was right around the corner. Now, remember what that phrase means. The Day of the Lord is the thousand-year kingdom, and that will be triggered by Jesus coming for his followers at the very last event of the church age, which I contend we are two-and-a-half years away from.

Number two, Paul is saying that at that time, the son of perdition will be revealed. We'll know who he is, but not yet. Number three, Paul says that day will not come unless the rebellion comes first. And the word rebellion is the Greek word Apostasia. The word Apostasia means a departure from the truth. Now, there's something I want you to see here. Once this falling away has occurred, that's when we can really see the man of sin close up. Want you look carefully at how he describes this man of sin: "one who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God."

This is the language describing an abomination of desolation where the image of a false god somehow invades the temple and is set up on the spiritual altar. Isn't that what we've just seen? Isn't that the core of the ancient snare that has polluted the bodily temples of billions of people on the planet? If that's true, wouldn't Satan himself go before the heavenly councils and say to the Almighty, "Look, I got my DNA inside your people. They wanted the vaccine. They looked to me to save them, not you"?

I can just see this scene play out where the enemy takes his seat in the temples of everyone who took the vaccine and proclaims to be their god. So, if we, Christians and Jews, do not renounce our involvement with it and return to trust in the Lord God alone for our well-being, then Paul spells out the consequence in verse 11: "God will send upon them a strong delusion to make them believe what is false."

I invite you to please relisten to my episode called "God's Message in the 2024 Eclipse" because God put a billboard in the sky announcing the Apostasia that he sees over this country. Why the United States? Because we have the most Christians and the most Jews of any other country. The Lord was able to speak from the heavens to both groups whom he loves. The date of the 2024 eclipse was the last day of Adar. This is a critical date to God because this date ushers in the New Moon of Nissan, and that day, Nissan 1, sets the entire yearly calendar of Judaism by which God's people can determine the appointed times God has set to meet with him.

Now, the reason this is so significant in 2024 is that through Nissan 1, God was announcing to the world that Holy Week would begin in 10 days. But wait a minute. Christians had already celebrated Easter 26 days before. God hit the alarm button for people to wake up and see they are in danger of Apostasia. God was shouting to Christians from the heavens: "You're on the wrong path."

In our passage in 2 Thessalonians, Paul gives us the way to get back on path and escape the danger of complete delusion. He tells us in verse 15, "Brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught." And what are the traditions? That word is "paradosis," and it refers to the Jewish traditionary law. By following regular Torah study according to the Jewish calendar, this is how we are able to stand firm and keep from veering 26 days off course.

A good majority of Jews in Israel have veered away from following the Torah, and goodness knows Christians don't do it. They are content with their own traditions. Now, unless there is a major repentance and turning back to God's magnetic north, the church as we know it will continue to veer off towards God knows where. A good pilot navigating these end of days must be able to recognize when our magnetic system has precessed. That means we've gotten off course, and we have to manually reset it.

In closing, I want to refer you to two important monographs in my online store to help you at this juncture. The first is Uncovering the Ancient Snare, that will prepare you historically concerning the diabolical scheme that millions have fallen into. The second monograph is called Jewish Roots: God's Call to Reconnect. This is a critical word of warning that now is the time to return to the faith of our forefathers. We don't have much time left to get back on course. You'll find these monographs at CandaceLong.com/store.

I want to thank you for taking time to be with me today. You will find this episode, The Final Week of the Church Age Part 2, on my podcast page at CandaceLong.com. Join me next time as I continue this important series. I'm Candace Long, and you've been listening to Lessons in the Latter Days. I want to close our time together the way our Jewish forefathers close every service: with the Aaronic Benediction that has been chanted the same way for thousands of years. To get the most out of this blessing, if you're listening with family or friends, pull them close to you and spread a shawl or scarf over your heads, all together. Rabbi Michael will close our time today, first in Hebrew, followed by the English translation.

Rabbi Michael Washer: Yevarechecha Adonai veyishmerecha. Ya’er Adonai panav elecha vichuneka. Yisa Adonai panav elecha veyasem lecha shalom. The Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you, the Lord lift up his face to you and give you peace.

Candace Long: Thank you for being with us today. Remember, at the bottom of the page, you'll find all of our programs archived by date, teacher, and topic. If you missed an episode or you want to listen to something again, on behalf of our team of teachers, I invite you to study the Torah with us next Saturday morning from 6:00 to 9:00 on WEZE Radio 590, our media partner for ShabbatShalomRadio.com.