January 21 - 27, 2018

1. Weekly World Watch Andy Walton’s January 21 - 27, 2018 “If the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people and the sword comes and takes the life of one of them, that man will be taken away because of his sin, but I will hold the watchman accountable for his blood.” (Ezekiel 33:6, New International Version) PRESS SPACE BAR TO CONTINUE To skip the introductory slides and go straight to this weeks developments click here.

2. What is a Weekly World Watch? The idea is simple. It is to look at current events and compare them to events spoken of in the Bible. . I hope to build up a picture of God’s hand working in the affairs of this world. God is bringing about a day when all nations will be gathered to Jerusalem to battle. At that time God will send His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, back to this earth. Jesus will then establish God’s kingdom on earth. This kingdom will last for ever. This is our hope and the reason we watch. The following six themes will appear repeatedly in WWW: • Israel: The continuing conflict in the Middle East and focus on Jerusalem. • Europe: Its developing union, both political and religious. • Russia: Its return to anti-Western ways as Bible prophecy’s “king of the north.” • The UK and the US: Bible prophecy’s “king of the south.” • Moral standards in decline and violence on the increase. • Increasing natural disasters: including earthquake, famine etc WWW presentations in PowerPoint can be ordered as audio/visual CDs by clicking here. Move your mouse to place the cursor on the blue link and click.

3. BIBLE QUOTE What is in a Weekly World Watch? Each WWW looks at a few key developments that have happened during the past week. It is in no way meant to be exhaustive – just a look at those events I saw as significant from a Biblical point of view. Every WWW event slide has the following format. To reveal each block of text just left click your mouse or press the space bar. You control when it appears. News Photo This is straight from a news report that caught my eye because it looked significant from a Biblical perspective, usually that of prophecy. HEADLINE The source of the headline and the date are included. This is the reporter’s description of the event. It is always a direct quotation from the news report and reflects the understanding of the reporter and editors. EVENT This is my comment on why the event is interesting to a Bible student. The intention of the WWW is to offer brief Biblical perspectives without going into detail. If more detail is desired, please e-mail me: (andy@weeklyworldwatch.co.uk). Please note that these are personal thoughts and the aim is purely to stimulate Bible study. COMMENT This is normally one verse which backs up why the event that has occurred is interesting from a Biblical perspective. Please read in its context. Unless stated otherwise, all quotes are from the King James Version.(Book, chapter, and verse)

4. This Week’s Developments January 21 - 27, 2018 • Trump: We took Jerusalem off the negotiating table • Abbas wins EU backing for Palestinian capital • Al-Qaeda calls on Muslims to kill Jews and Americans • Turkey-Syria conflict is a ‘proxy war’ for US-Russia • Russia looking to cause thousands of deaths in Britain • Doomsday Clock is now just 2 minutes to ‘midnight’ To print any of the event slides that follow, click the picture on the upper right PRESS SPACE BAR TO CONTINUE

5. Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.  And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.  Trump: We took Jerusalem off the negotiating table Haaretz, January 27, 2018 U.S. President Donald Trump met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday. Ahead of their meeting, Trump announced that the U.S. had taken Jerusalem off the negotiating table. The U.S. president said that he has "a proposal for peace," adding that "We have a great proposal for the Palestinians, it covers a lot of the things we discussed over the years.” However, Trump then noted that the U.S. had taken the issue of Jerusalem out of the talks. "They never got past Jerusalem. We took it off the table. We don’t have to talk about it anymore.” Trump's statement that Jerusalem is "off the table" contradicts what he himself said and what his vice president recently told Israelis: that the U.S. decision to recognize the city as Israel's capital will not influence the final status of its borders. EVENT The shockwaves from the change in the US position over Jerusalem continue to rumble. Trump has now announced that Jerusalem is “off the table” in relation to negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. He didn’t say this in his original 6th December speech. He appears to be making up policy of Jerusalem on the hoof! This in turn is enraging the Palestinians who are digging in and refusing to deal with the US anymore. This in turn is infuriating Trump who is threatening to stop all financial assistance to the Palestinians. He has already stopped $65m in aid. On Monday US Vice President Mike Pence visited Israel. He said that the US embassy would be moved to Jerusalem next year. The Palestinians refused to meet him. All of these events are leading to an explosion over Jerusalem. It could come anytime! COMMENT BIBLE QUOTE (Zechariah 12:2-3)

6. “Please, my lord, give her the living baby! Don’t kill him!” But the other said, “Neither I nor you shall have him. Cut him in two!” Then the king gave his ruling: “Give the living baby to the first woman. Do not kill him; she is his mother.” When all Israel heard the verdict the king had given, they held the king in awe See v 20 the child is stolen at midnight – see last slide in this WWW Abbas wins renewed EU backing for Palestinian capital in East Jerusalem Reuters, January 22, 2018 The European Union assured President Mahmoud Abbas it supported his ambition to have East Jerusalem as capital of a Palestinian state, in the bloc’s latest rejection of U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. At a meeting in Brussels with EU foreign ministers, Abbas repeated his call for East Jerusalem as capital as he urged EU governments to recognise a state of Palestine immediately, arguing that this would not disrupt negotiations with Israel on a peace settlement for the region. While Abbas made no reference to Trump’s move on Jerusalem or U.S. Vice President Mike Pence’s visit to the city on Monday, his presence at the EU headquarters in Brussels was seized on by European officials as a chance to restate opposition to Trump’s Dec. 6 decision to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem. EVENT COMMENT It is interesting that the Palestinians have gone to the EU to shore up support for their claim for east Jerusalem as their capital. The EU is at heart anti Semitic. They are pro Palestinian. Nine EU nations already recognise Palestine officially as a nation state. Here is something to consider. Israel claims the whole of Jerusalem is its united capital. The Palestinians call for East Jerusalem to be their capital. In the days of Solomon there was a dispute between 2 women who both claimed a baby was their own. Solomon called for a sword to cut the baby in half and give half to each woman. The first woman agreed to this. The second woman said the baby should not be cut in half and to save it would give it to the other woman. Solomon knew by this that the second woman was the mother of the baby. Jerusalem is like this baby. The Palestinians are content to see it divided. By this they show they are not the true custodians of it. BIBLE QUOTE (1 Kings 3:26-28 NLT)

7. Al-Qaeda calls on Muslims to kill Jews and Americans Newsweek, January 23, 2018 In a video message disseminated on online jihadi platforms, a senior Al-Qaeda leader has called for attacks on Jews and Americans over President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. The leader, Khalid Batarfi, a top commander in the powerful Yemen-based branch of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, said Trump had declared a “new Jewish-Crusader war.” The militant framed the White House’s decision to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel as part of a holy war, using language regularly employed by Al-Qaeda in its propaganda. “Let them [Muslims] rise and attack the Jews and the Americans everywhere,” Batarfi said in the 18-minute-long video verified by the SITE intelligence monitoring group. “No Muslim has the right to cede Jerusalem no matter what happens … Only a traitor would give it up or hand it over,” the Al-Qaeda commander added in the video entitled “Our Duty Towards Our Jerusalem.” EVENT COMMENT The Al-Qeada commander went on to call for attacks in America, the West and in Israel, the AFP reported. “The Muslims inside the occupied land must kill every Jew, by running him over, or stabbing him, or by using against him any weapon, or by burning their homes,” he said. Batarfi is a senior figure with Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), described by the US as the worldwide jihadist network's most dangerous branch. His statements are very similar to those made by Osama Bin Laden in the months before 9/11. We know with Bible in hand that Jerusalem is going to become the epicentre of conflict that impacts the entire world. Trump’s announcement has created (and is continuing to create) tensions that will one day escalate into this conflict. I will gather all the nations to fight against Jerusalem. The city will be taken, the houses looted, and the women raped. Half the population will be taken into captivity, and the rest will be left among the ruins of the city. Then the Lord will go out to fight against those nations, as he has fought in times past. BIBLE QUOTE (Zechariah 14:2-3 NLT)

8. Turkey-Syria conflict is a ‘proxy war’ for US-Russia The Week, January 23, 2018 EVENT Ankara today announced its first two combat deaths in Turkey’s clash with US-backed Kurdish fighters south of the border in Syria - a battle many see as a proxy war pitting Russian military might against a weakened America.“ Relations between Turkey and Russia have been gradually getting closer in the context of the Syria conflict, whereas tensions have been rising between Ankara and Washington, which backs the Kurdish fighters in northern Syria,” reports Al Jazeera. The armed conflict began on Saturday and pits America against its fellow Nato member in a territory where US diplomatic ties have been sorely tested already by the wars in Syria and Iraq. “The Turkish offensive, carried out over the protests of the US but with the apparent assent of Russia, marks a perilous new phase in relations between two Nato allies - bringing their interests into direct conflict on the battlefield,” The New York Times says. COMMENT Syria is entering another and potentially even more dangerous phase than the last 7 years of conflict. Now the ISIS threat has diminished the surrounding nations want to capitalise on the situation and take control over areas of the land of Syria. Iran is doing this inside Syria. But Turkey this week has begun a major offensive against the Kurds in northern Syria. The Kurds want their own nation (partly in northern Syria and partly in southern Turkey). But America has backed the Kurds as they have helped defeat ISIS and also helped fight against Assad. The Russians back Turkey and have supported Turkey’s military attacks against the Kurds. So this really is becoming a proxy war between the US and Russia. It wont need much to potentially bring Turkey and Russia into direct confrontation between the Kurds and the US. BIBLE QUOTE Gomer, and all his bands; the house of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with thee. Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.  Togarmah = Turkey (Ezekiel 38:6-7)

9. Russia looking to cause thousands of deaths in Britain Daily Telegraph, January 26, 2018 EVENT Russia could kill thousands with an attack crippling infrastructure in Britain , the Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson has warned. Gavin Williamson warned of the potential damage from attacks on the power grid and communications cables. His comments have attracted accusations he is being alarmist and the Russian government has dismissed his comments as "like something out of a children's comic or the show 'Monty Python's Flying Circus". But Mr Williamson's comments on the potential for attacks on UK infrastructure echo earlier warnings from military leaders and security officials. Dr Igor Sutyagin, a Russia expert at the Royal United Services Institute, said “It’s not scare mongering. Technically he’s correct, but what it is necessary to keep in mind is that they are not going to attack just tomorrow." There have been some extraordinary headlines in the UK this week in relation to Russia. Some suggest that because the army and navy need more cash the military top brass are overplaying Russia being the enemy to get increased funding. But even if this is the case the claims made against Russia’s intentions are startling. On Monday the head of the army said Vladimir Putin could start hostilities against the West ‘sooner than we expect’. The Kremlin was a ‘clear and present danger’ and predicted a conflict would start with something we did not expect. Warning of Russia ’s ‘eye-watering’ military capabilities, he laid bare the scale of the threat to the UK. Then a few days later the UK Defence Secretary said Russia is looking to cause thousands of deaths in Britain. In Bible terms this is the king of the south (UK) demonstrating that its main adversary is the king of the north (Russia). COMMENT “Then at the time of the end, the king of the south will attack the king of the north. The king of the north will storm out with chariots, charioteers, and a vast navy. He will invade various lands and sweep through them like a flood. He will enter the glorious land of Israel,[h] and many nations will fall, BIBLE QUOTE (Daniel 11:40-41 NLT)

10. Doomsday Clock is now just 2 minutes to ‘midnight’ Washington Post, January 25, 2018 EVENT The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists advanced the symbolic Doomsday Clock a notch closer to the end of humanity Thursday, moving it ahead by 30 seconds after what the organization called a “grim assessment” of the state of geopolitical affairs. “As of today,” Bulletin president Rachel Bronson told reporters, “it is two minutes to midnight” — as close as the world has ever been to the hour of apocalypse. In moving the clock forward, the group cited “the failure of President Trump and other world leaders to deal with looming threats of nuclear war and climate change.” The organization — which has 15 Nobel laureates on its board — now believes “the world is not only more dangerous now than it was a year ago; it is as threatening as it has been since World War II,” Bulletin officials Lawrence M. Krauss and Robert Rosner wrote in an op-ed published Thursday by The Washington Post. “In fact, the Doomsday Clock is as close to midnight today as it was in 1953, when Cold War fears perhaps reached their highest levels.” COMMENT The clock, a metaphorical measure of humankind's proximity to global catastrophe, advanced 30 seconds to 2 minutes to "midnight" - the closest to the apocalyptic hour it has been since 1953, after the United States tested its first thermonuclear device, followed months later by the Soviet Union's hydrogen bomb test. These scientists recognise how perilous the world is at this time. Jesus talked about a time of the end when men’s hearts would fail them for fear. A time of trouble such as never was. A time that would see no flesh surviving unless Jesus returned. Interesting that Jesus also speaks about midnight in relation to his appearing in the clouds of heaven. We are indeed so close to midnight - we need oil in our lamps! And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him .Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.  And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out.  BIBLE QUOTE (Matthew 25:6-8)

11. Weekly World Watch YouTube Videos

12. Weekly World Watch The end of this week’s WWW will be e-mailed to you each week. If you think others may find the WWW helpful please direct them to the website www.weeklyworldwatch.co.uk They can register on the site PLEASE NOTE: The Weekly World Watch is written and sent by myself – it is my take on events and I accept that on occasions I will miss significant events and also misinterpret them as well. However I will endeavour to be faithful to the scriptures and hope that it will be of benefit to both of us. To watch again please click the green arrow To watch again, click here.