August 2 - 8, 2009

1. Weekly World Watch Andy Walton’s August 2 - 8, 2009 “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) 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). 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 August 2 - 8, 2009 • Russian subs stir cold war fears • Putin's action-man holiday album • Incidents in Georgia ahead of war anniversary • Ahmadinejad is sworn in for 2nd term • 'Israel soon to be larger than Diaspora' • Plague-spreading fleas gain ground To print any of the event slides that follow, click the picture on the upper right

5. And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour Russian subs stir cold war fears The Times, August 6, 2009 The shadow of the Cold War has returned to the US coastline with the first detection in 15 years of Russian nuclear-powered submarines operating offshore. With the irregular appearance of Bear strategic bombers in international airspace close to America and Britain, the emergence of two Akula Class submarines off the East Coast of the US — described by a Russian general as “a normal patrol” — has reawakened concerns about Moscow’s military aims. The Royal Navy declined to say whether it had any evidence of Akula submarines returning to their Cold Warhaunts in the Iceland Gap, north of Scotland. “We don’t want to let them know that we know where they are operating,” a defence official said. The Akula is capable of carrying torpedoes for attacking other submarines and surface vessels, as well as cruise missiles. It is also fitted with equipment to avoid detection. The American equivalent is the Los Angeles Class nuclear-powered submarine. EVENT The Weekly World Watch began in October 2003 and on the introductory page (not altered since then) some of the key areas we should be watching were highlighted. Third on the list was and still is this…. Russia: Its return to anti-Western ways as Bible prophecy’s “king of the north.” In the last 6 years we have watched Russia becoming increasingly anti west and far more like the “old” Russia. The Cold War under Putin is being revived. The Bible says clearly that Russia will lead an invasion of Israel. It calls Russia the “king of the north”. God says in the verse below that he would “turn” Russia “back”. What we have seen under Putin is Russia being “turned back” to their old ways. COMMENT BIBLE QUOTE (Ezekiel 38:4)

6. He will cause deceit to prosper, and he will consider himself superior. When they feel secure, he will destroy many and take his stand against the Prince of princes. Yet he will be destroyed, but not by human power. Putin's action-man holiday album BBConline, August 5, 2009 Vladimir Putin has buffed up his action-man image and raised the pin-up stakes among world leaders by posing bare-chested for another set of holiday pictures. Photographs were published yesterday showing the Russian Prime Minister stripped to the waist riding a horse through rugged terrain during a brief holiday in the Siberian region of Tuva. Wearing only green fatigues, his eyes hidden behind reflective sunglasses. The pictures were taken just days after Mr Putin completed his latest action adventure by diving to the bottom of Lake Baikal, the world’s deepest lake, in a mini-submarine. Mr Putin will be 57 in October. He looks in better physical shape than many Russian men 20 years his junior. His media team want to make sure that message - like Mr Putin's chest - does not remain hidden. The implication, obviously, is that he knows how to look after the country too. To anyone fed up with their father/husband/boss dragging himself out of bed, or going to work so hung over he does not really know what he is doing, these pictures say: "At least there is one man who is in control". EVENT In Daniel 8 we read of a little horn that waxed great. This horn was one of the 4 horns that came up on the he goat. A horn in the Bible speaks of a powerful ruler. This little horn that became great was Antiochus IV Epiphanes. We are told lots about this man. He will cause deceit to prosper. He will consider himself superior. He will become strong. He will invade Israel. All this is in verses 23 – 25. This man lived around 150BC HOWEVER it is clear that there will be a LATTER DAY Antiochus - a latter day king of the north. Verse 17, 19 and 26 tell us there will be a latter day Antiochus. Putin could be this man. He fits the bill perfectly. The only thing he is yet to do is invade Israel. COMMENT BIBLE QUOTE (Daniel 8:25)

7. But I will remove far off from you the northern army, and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things. Incidents in Georgia ahead of war anniversary Eurasia Daily Monitor, August 6, 2009 As the anniversary of the Russian invasion of Georgia in August 2008 approaches, the situation on the ceasefire line is becoming increasingly tense. Russia and its South Ossetian allies accuse Georgian forces of constant "provocations". The E.U. Special Representative in the South Caucasus Peter Semneby told reporters in Tbilisi, "there is no need to dramatize the situation," over local incidents but "the virtual tension is greater than the real danger" (Novosti-Gruzia, August 5). The sharp increase in tension between Georgia and Russia and the deployment of the Akula nuclear submarines close to the U.S. mainland might not be coincidental. Moscow sees the confrontation with Georgia as a proxy standoff with the U.S. and NATO. Present Russian military planning envisages the limited first use of sea or air-based nuclear cruise missiles against targets in Europe and the U.S. to prevent local conflict from evolving into a full scale global nuclear war. EVENT It is interesting that the Russian nuclear subs that have been discovered off the eastern coast of America might be linked to the rising tensions with Russia and Georgia. On the 8th August 08 war began between Russia and Georgia. Georgia has a pro American president in power and Russia does not like the USA interfering in a country on its border. Especially as oil pipelines go through this small country. The conflict therefore is seen as a “proxy standoff” between Russia and America (as the article says above). America is pushing at Russia and there is no doubt with Bible in hand that conflict will spark again. Russia is destined to descend through Georgia to the Middle East. Note as well how Russia has changed its nuclear doctrine. Putin has renounced Russia’s no-first strike rule. Russia envisages limited first use of nukes. COMMENT BIBLE QUOTE (Joel 2:20)

8. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. Ahmadinejad is sworn in for 2nd term New York Times, August 5, 2009 With his adversaries boycotting the ceremony and a vast deployment of police officers standing guard outside, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was sworn into office on Wednesday for a second term as president, almost two months after an election that divided the nation and set off Iran’s deepest crisis since the Islamic Revolution 30 years ago.There were scattered protests in the streets around the Parliament building in Tehran, where the ceremony took place. But with thousands of riot police officers and Basij militia members patrolling the capital, the million-strong rally called for by the opposition failed to materialize. Mr. Ahmadinejad must form a cabinet in the next two weeks, and his choices will signal much about the direction his second term will take. But for all the challenges facing him, Mr. Ahmadinejad remains firmly in control, with the clear support of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who formally endorsed his presidency in a religious ceremony on Monday. He has the backing of a large parliamentary majority, the powerful Revolutionary Guard, and the silence — if not the open support — of Iran’s clerical establishment. EVENT We read in the daily readings this week Romans 13. In the NIV this chapter begins like this. “Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.” Note the last sentence and think about it carefully. It means that President Ahmadinejad is in power because GOD has put him there. There is no one in power on earth now or at anytime in all of history that has been there against God’s will. This is why we do not vote or take part in politics or protest against present rulers. COMMENT BIBLE QUOTE (Romans 13:2 NIV)

9. Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel. 'Israel soon to be larger than Diaspora' Jerusalem Post, August 4, 2009 Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu welcomed a planeload of olim on Tuesday at Ben-Gurion Airport, telling them that "for the first time in 2,000 years, there are going to be more Jews in Israel than outside it." Speaking to a terminal full of olim from the United States and Canada, who came with Nefesh B'Nefesh on the organization's 38th chartered aliya flight since the first one in July 2002, Netanyahu noted that Israel's Jewish population was nearing the six million mark. It is hard to gauge the number of Jews in the Diaspora. In the largest community - America - the only effective tool is a telephone poll. Nevertheless, Diaspora Jewry is usually estimated at between six and seven million, though some demographers and scholars consider this figure low. Netanyahu told the 238 new immigrants that aliya to the State of Israel had given the Jewish people "our ability to control our fate and our destiny." EVENT COMMENT Just a God controls the rulers of the nations he also controls the nations – the people – as well. We read forinstance that it is God who brings the northern host down to Israel. The nations are God’s pawns on the chessboard of the earth. There is one nation – and only one nation – that God says are his witnesses. This nation is ISRAEL. Jeremiah 31:10 says that God has chosen this nation and anyone who watches them will know that God exists. God promised to regather them back to their land AFTER he had dispersed them. See verse below. As the Jews continue to be regathered we have further evidence God does exist and his plan is working out. BIBLE QUOTE (Ezekiel 11:17)

10. For I will at this time send all my plagues upon thine heart, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people; that thou mayest know that there is none like me in all the earth. Plague-spreading fleas gain ground Bloomberg, August 6, 2009 Plague-spreading fleas are expanding their territory, putting more people at risk of catching the lethal illness, a World Health Organization official said. Three people in China were reported the past week to have died from pneumonic plague, the pneumonia-causing form of the bacterial disease. Centuries after bubonic plague, the most common form, killed millions in medieval Europe, the scourge remains entrenched in parts of Africa, Asia and the Americas. Population growth, rapid urbanization, intensive farming practices and international travel are among factors that have increased the spread of infectious diseases, WHO Director- General Margaret Chan wrote in the agency’s 2007 World Health Report. New diseases are emerging at the historically unprecedented rate of one per year, Chan said. EVENT We live in the age of the plague. As the article above says new diseases are emerging at an historically unprecedented rate of one per year. Swine flu has raced around the globe. In the UK over 100,000 per week were coming down with swine flu. This has dropped off to 30,000 but experts say in the winter this will rocket upwards to epidemic levels. Though few people have died there is always the danger this disease (as well as others) can mutate into something more deadly. Ancient Egypt was brought to its knees by 10 plagues that God poured out upon it. The world we know is symbolic of Egypt and there is no doubt at the time of the end pestilence, plague and disease will increase as well. The world will be brought to its knees and only Jesus Christ and his physical return to the earth will bring release. COMMENT BIBLE QUOTE (Exodus 9:14)

11. Weekly World Watch The end of this week’s WWW will be e-mailed to you each week. Please forward the e-mail addresses of others who may be interested. I will include them in the list of recipients. Comments and suggestions for improvement are welcome. E-MAIL ANDY Click here (Move the mouse until the cursor appears.) To watch again, click here.