September 28 – October 4, 2008

1. Weekly World Watch Andy Walton’s September 28 – October 4, 2008 “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 September 28 – October 4, 2008 • Financial crisis sparks anti-Semitism • Mr. Olmert’s belated truths • Russia to stage largest air force war games • Russian nuclear missile cruiser to dock at Syrian port • US warning to Syria not to invade Lebanon • Putin warns Ukraine over arms To print any of the event slides that follow, click the picture on the upper right

5. Then will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; and this house, which I have hallowed for my name, will I cast out of my sight; and Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among all people Financial crisis sparks anti-Semitism Jerusalem Post, October 4, 2008 The worldwide financial meltdown has triggered an uptick in anonymous anti-Semitic comments blaming Jews for the crisis on mainstream Web site message boards, the Anti- Defamation League said on Thursday. "Jews are greedy, rotten slimeballs," wrote one surfer on a Yahoo Finance group, according to the ADL statement. "It's difficult, if not impossible, for one honest investor to neutralize the efforts of thousands of Jewish swindlers," another added. A YouTube video titled "The Court Jewsters" includes a montage of Jewish figures involved in the crisis - from Lehman Brothers chief Richard Fuld to US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Benanke - and includes a shot of a dollar bill emblazoned with "In Zionist bankers we trusted." EVENT It is amazing how many Jews either run banks or even started them when you consider how small a nation they are. For those who hate the Jews, when things go wrong they are then an easy target to blame. In fact this was prophesied in Deuteronomy 28:37 “You will become an object of horror, scorn, and ridicule among all the peoples where the LORD will drive you” (NIV). Tuesday this week was Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Years Day) and of course the Jews have a holiday. As there are so many Jews in the American congress it meant that the timetable for the financial rescue deal in America was built around the Jewish holiday! The initial vote in congress was pushed through quickly to be taken before the Jewish holiday. When it was voted down they could not vote again until after the Jewish holiday. The Jews are at the centre of this turmoil and will be in the future war. COMMENT BIBLE QUOTE (1 Kings 9:7)

6. The LORD enters into judgment against the elders and leaders of his people: "It is you who have ruined my vineyard; the plunder from the poor is in your houses Mr. Olmert’s belated truths The New York Times, October 3, 2008 Ehud Olmert, Israel’s soon to be ex-prime minister, voiced some startling truths this week. He said that in exchange for peace, Israel should withdraw from “almost all” of the West Bank and share its capital city, Jerusalem, with the Palestinians. He also said that as part of a negotiated peace deal with Syria, Israel should be ready to give up the Golan Heights. His statements in a farewell interview with the newspaper Yediot Ahronoth were unlike anything any Israeli political leader had dared to say — at least publicly — before. He also dismissed as “megalomania” any suggestion that Israel should act by itself to destroy Iran’s nuclear program. EVENT Ehud Olmert has been pushed out of office because of a number of serious corruption charges against him. He is now in a caretaking role until a new government can be formed. In this caretaking capacity he can suddenly reveal for the first time exactly what he thinks and feels in relation to the land of Israel and future peace agreements. His true colours are shown clearly, or as the headline puts it “belated truths”. He said 'We should withdraw from almost all of the territories, including in east Jerusalem and in the Golan Heights.” No other prime minister has ever said anything like this before, so publically in such clear terms. He also vowed to continue talks with the Palestinians as long as he remains in office. So we now have an almost unique situation where the current leader of Israel is speaking openly of dividing the land AND Jerusalem, wanting to negotiate a settlement with the Palestinians, while corruption and scandal swirl around him. It seems a potent mix which may lead to events long foretold finally coming to pass…. COMMENT BIBLE QUOTE (Isaiah 3:14 NIV)

7. Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them. Russia to stage largest air force war games since Soviet times Daily Telegraph, October 3, 2008 Russia will stage its largest air force war games since Soviet times next week in the latest stage of the Kremlin's strategy to show off the country as a military superpower reborn. Their progress watched closely by increasingly jittery western militaries, dozens of nuclear bombers will take part in the exercise. Tu-95 Bear bombers will fire cruise missiles at targets in sub-Arctic Russia for the first time since 1984. While Russia insists that the war games are not meant as a gesture of aggression, the West is growing increasingly uneasy about the scale of the manoeuvres. Not since the end of the Cold War has Russia demonstrated its global military reach in such a manner. Pavel Felgenhauer, a respected military analyst, says the geographical reach of the exercises suggests that they are intended to simulate a nuclear war with the United States." Russia is preparing for the eventuality of a nuclear war," he said. "These are the most elaborate war games for 20 years and is clear evidence that we are returning to the Cold War." EVENT Over 60,000 troops and 1,500 tanks and armoured personnel carriers have taken part in the first fortnight of exercises. Land-based and submarine launched nuclear missiles have also been tested. When it has tested its cruise missiles next week, Russia will have carried out all elements of its nuclear triad since the Cold War. Russia is definitely preparing. Russia is showing the world it is a military superpower reborn. The Cold War is rapidly returning. The amazing thing is that God said these things would happen 2500 years ago. He said Russia would be turned back and prepare for war. War against Israel. COMMENT BIBLE QUOTE (Ezekiel 38:7)

8. and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over. Russian nuclear missile cruiser to dock at Syrian port on Yom Kippur eve Debkafile, October 1, 2008 Peter the Great nuclear warship Russian Navy spokesman Capt. Igor Dygalo disclosed Wednesday, October 1, that a four-ship squadron led by the Peter the Great nuclear missile cruiser will call in at the Libyan port of Tripoli and “other Middle East ports” before heading out to the Caribbean for joint manoeuvres with Venezuela. DEBKAfile’s military sources report that one of those ports is Tartus, Syria, where preparations are afoot to receive the visiting Russian flotilla. Peter the Great , one of the most advanced naval vessels afloat, may in fact anchor at the new facility the Russians are building at Syria’s second major port, Latakia, for its first visit to Syria; the rest of the squadron, the Admiral Chabanenko submarine, a reconnaissance vessel and a fourth ship, will dock at Tartus. EVENT You will note that these Russian warships led by “Peter the Great” nuclear missile cruiser will arrive next week on the eve of Yom Kippur. Yom Kippur (The Day of Atonement) is the very day back in 1973 when Arab nations launched a surprise attack on Israel. The Soviet Union (as it was then) was responsible for the great deception which disguised Arab war preparations. Israeli intelligence were lulled into complacency by this Russian deception and were not ready when the war began. The Yom Kippur War of 1973 is recorded in Russian and Arab military annals as the high point of Russian-Arab military and intelligence cooperation according to Debkafile. Therefore the arrival of Russia’s most sophisticated nuclear warship on this anniversary has serious connotations for Israel. It shows once more that Russia is “interested” in the Middle East and especially the fate of Israel. It was Peter the Great that created the 3 billion acre Russian Empire and founded the Russian navy. COMMENT BIBLE QUOTE (Daniel 11:40)

9. The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap. Fears grow in Lebanon as 10,000 Syrian troops arrive on the border The Times, September 24, 2008 Syria has massed thousands of troops along its border with northern Lebanon in what officials in Beirut fear is a prelude to the first incursion since Syrian forces pulled out three years ago. Although Damascus insists that its forces are conducting an anti smuggling operation, the Lebanese Government is eyeing the moves with unease, believing that the unusual scale of the deployment has more to do with tensions between the two countries over recent sectarian clashes in northern Lebanon. EVENT The headline and the news report above were in last weeks newspapers. This week Debkafile has the following report. Stern US warning to Syria not to invade Northern Lebanon. Washington accompanied this warning to Damascus, DEBKAfile has learned, with its first explicit threat of military intervention to aid Lebanon should Syria go through with its planned incursion of the North.” The warning, according to our sources, was delivered on Sept. 28 by secretary of state Condoleezza Rice to the Syrian foreign minister Walid Mualem. Syria is at some point going to be destroyed. The Bible makes clear that Damascus will cease to be a city. When does this event take place? Before, during or after the Russian invasion? Syria is NOT mentioned in Ezekiel 38. This leads some to believe that in fact Syria might have made a peace agreement with Israel and hence does not attack. The other view is that the destruction of Syria comes before the Russian invasion and this is the reason why Syria does not take part. It seems to me the latter is more reasonable especially as we see Russia working closely with Syria at Tartus. Latter day and ancient kings of the north working together. COMMENT BIBLE QUOTE (Isaiah 17:1)

10. Son of man, set your face toward Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him 1) Putin warns Ukraine over arms2) Russians killed in Georgia blast The Danube River BBConline, October 2/3, 2008 1) Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has expressed outrage at reports that Ukraine supplied arms and technicians to Georgia before the recent war. After talks near Moscow with his Ukrainian counterpart Yulia Tymoshenko, he said that if such reports were confirmed, they constituted a "crime". 2) A blast in Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia killed seven Russian soldiers, a Russian commander says. The soldiers died when a car full of explosives blew up near a Russian military base in the regional capital, Tskhinvali, local officials said. Georgia said Russia organised the explosion as a pretext to delay withdrawing troops from South Ossetia. But Russia blamed Georgia, saying it was an attempt to undermine a ceasefire agreement between the two sides. Tension remains high in the region following the conflict between Russia and Georgia over the summer. EVENT The tensions between Russia and its SOUTHERN neighbours remain very high. We know of the situation in Georgia because of the recent conflict there. Ukraine might be next on Russia’s list to stir up trouble. Why? Well Ukraine gained independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and is now seeking closer integration with Western Europe. Russia obviously wants to stop this. What is perhaps interesting about the Ukraine is that it covers some of the territory of ancient Magog (as does Georgia). We know that Gog is “of the land of Magog” from Ezekiel 38 v 2. The Magogites were according to Josephus the same people as the Scythians. The Scythians according to Herodotus lived around the Black Sea up to the river Danube. Therefore ancient Magog includes some of Russia and the Ukraine. Therefore we watch Russia as it eyes part of the ancient territory of Magog. COMMENT BIBLE QUOTE (Ezekiel 38:2 RSV)

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.