September 26 – October 2, 2010

1. Weekly World Watch Andy Walton’s September 26 – October 2, 2010 “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 26 – October 2, 2010 • World leaders bid to save Middle East peace talks • Moscow concern over Israeli settlement construction • Obama sends Israel letter outlining assurances • Israeli cyber unit responsible for Iran computer worm • Iran is bent on avenging cyber attack • Workers in Europe protest austerity measures To print any of the event slides that follow, click the picture on the upper right

5. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. World leaders scramble to save Middle East peace talks from collapse Daily Telegraph, September 26, 2010 World leaders scrambled to save the Middle East peace talks from collapse on Sunday after Israel refused to extend a ban on Jewish settlement building in the West Bank. US officials made frantic attempts to broker a deal between Palestinian and Israeli negotiators but failed to make a breakthrough by the time the settlement freeze, imposed 10 months ago, expired at midnight. With Palestinian leaders long insisting that they would leave the peace talks if the moratorium was not extended, the future of the negotiations appeared to be in jeopardy less than a month after they were launched to great fanfare in Washington. President Barack Obama's top policy adviser, David Axelrod, said that the White House had urged for a resolution throughout Sunday ahead of the deadline. He said: "These talks themselves are absolutely crucial – we're at a critical juncture in that region," he said. EVENT It is surely true to say that “we are at a critical juncture in the region”. It really is panic stations to keep the peace talks alive. The resumption of building in the West Bank is the problem. The Israeli self imposed 10 month moratorium came to an end last Sunday. The Palestinians have said they will not continue the peace process if building continues. US Middle East envoy George Mitchell has been having frantic meetings with both sides all week to try to broker a deal. Europe’s top diplomat, Lady Ashton, is due in Israel shortly for two days of talks with Palestinians and Israeli leaders. Prior to her visit she reiterated in a statement that the European Union regrets Israel's decision not to extend its 10-month moratorium. The blame is being laid at Israel’s door. All nations are being dragged into this process as the Bible said they would. We wait for Jerusalem to be the main stumbling block. COMMENT BIBLE QUOTE (Zechariah 14:2)

6. Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and unto them were sons born after the flood. The sons of Japheth; Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech,…… every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations. Moscow concern over Israeli settlement construction RIANovosti, September 28, 2010 The Russian Foreign Ministry on Tuesday expressed its concern over Israel's decision to end a ten-month settlement freeze in the occupied Palestinian territories. "It is bad for negotiations, for the political atmosphere in the region and for prospects of establishing fair and long-lasting peace there," Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said in a statement. Shortly before the ban expired, PNA leader Mahmoud Abbas said Israel "must choose between peace and the continuation of settlements." Abbas said he would make a decision on the fate of the Arab-Israeli direct peace talks after Saturday's consultations with the League of Arab States. Many international bodies, including Middle East Quartet of negotiators (Russia, the United States, the United Nations and the European Union), have repeatedly called on Israel to extend the moratorium. EVENT It is not just America and Europe but Russia as well that are blaming Israel for the current situation. Russia as we know plays a major part in the coming conflict. In Ezekiel 38 we read of Gog who is the chief prince of MESHECH. Meshech is only mentioned 8 times in the Bible. He was originally a real person – a grandson of Noah, the son of Japheth. Strong’s tells us that this person was the progenitor of peoples to the NORTH of Israel. The people of Meshech, known as Moskhi to the Greeks, became known as Muskovs - from Muskov was named the Russian capital city of Moscow! In fact Meshech is the Hebrew form of Moscow. Meshech also literally means “drawn out”. We read of Gog the ruler of Meshech being pulled out by God and down to Israel. See Ezekiel 38:4. COMMENT BIBLE QUOTE (Genesis 10:1,2,5)

7. Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help; and stay on horses, and trust in chariots, because they are many; and in horsemen, because they are very strong; but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the LORD! … the LORD of hosts come down to fight for mount Zion, Obama sends Israel letter outlining assurances Daily Telegraph, September 30, 2010 Barack Obama has sent Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, a letter outlining inducements designed to preserve his bid for Middle East peace, it has been claimed. The reported offer came as the Palestinians continued to threaten to walk away from talks because of Israel’s refusal to extend a ten-month moratorium on building new Jewish settlements in the West Bank. An American expert who recently co-authored a book on the Middle East with Dennis Ross, an adviser to Mr Obama, the US president, said the letter pledged that America would not ask Israel for another extension of the moratorium after 60 days and would veto any UN Security Council resolution on the peace talks for a one-year negotiating period. The purported offer would also commit Washington to increasing the military technology it would make available to Israel in the event of any deal with the Palestinians, including warplanes, missile defence systems and access to satellite early warning systems. EVENT COMMENT America is tempting Israel. By offering money and military assistance they are in effect saying – give up the land God has given you and we will protect you. Which way will Israel go? Will they trust in God and lean upon him – or will they trust in Obama and rely on worldly weapons? Israel of course should follow King David’s advice. “Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God.” Psalm 20:7. Historically Israel and Judah have NOT put their trust in God. They have been a “rebellious children that take council but not of me” saith the LORD. Isaiah 30:1. As destruction is coming on Israel it seems likely that Israel decides at some point to trust in man and not in God. See Zechariah 12:2. God will remove the idols. BIBLE QUOTE (Isaiah 31:1,4)

8. And they found written in the law which the LORD had commanded by Moses, that the children of Israel should dwell in booths in the feast of the seventh month: And that they should publish and proclaim in all their cities, and in Jerusalem, saying, Go forth unto the mount, and fetch olive branches, and pine branches, and myrtle branches Israeli cyber unit responsible for Iran computer worm Daily Telegraph, September 30, 2010 An elite Israeli military unit responsible for cyberwarfare has been accused of creating a virus that has crippled Iran's computer systems and stopped work at its newest nuclear power station. Computer experts have discovered a biblical reference embedded in the code of the computer worm that has pointed to Israel as the origin of the cyber attack. The code contains the word "myrtus", which is the Latin biological term for the myrtle tree. The Hebrew word for myrtle, Hadassah, was the birth name of Esther, the Jewish queen of Persia. In the Bible, The Book of Esther tells how the queen pre-empted an attack on the country's Jewish population and then persuaded her husband to launch an attack before being attacked themselves. Israel has threatened to launch a pre-emptive attack on Iran's facilities to ensure that the Islamic state does not gain the ability to threaten its existence. Ralf Langner, a German researcher, claims that Unit 8200, the signals intelligence arm of the Israeli defence forces, perpetrated the computer virus attack by infiltrating the software into the Bushehr nuclear power station. Mr Langer said: "If you read the Bible you can make a guess." EVENT The world we live in now is so dependent on computers for everything. There is no need to bomb an enemy if you can disable their computer systems! Ahmadinejad has described the damage to Iran's nuclear and military resources by this computer virus as more devastating than the Israel raid on Syria's plutonium reactor at A-Zur exactly three years ago. The link to Israel with the use of the word “myrtle” is interesting. The myrtle reference may also link to the feast of the tabernacles. The myrtle was one of 4 trees used in making the booths. The virus was discovered during this feast. COMMENT BIBLE QUOTE (Nehemiah 8:14-15)

9. wherefore Haman sought to destroy all the Jews that were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus, even the people of Mordecai. And Haman said unto king Ahasuerus, There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of thy kingdom; If it please the king, let it be written that they may be destroyed: . Iran is bent on avenging cyber attack Debkanetweekly, September 30, 2010 As Tehran gropes in the dark for a solution to the crisis caused by the malignant Stuxnet cyber worm to its vital strategic systems, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is reported by DEBKA-Net-Weekly's Iranian sources as having warned Syrian President Bashar Assad when they met last in Damascus that he is gearing up for military revenge. Tehran's allies Syria, Hizballah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza should get ready, he said. This, said Ahmadinejad, was the second time in three years that the US and Israel have jointly attacked Iran's nuclear program - and that is one time too many. Tehran is resolved this time not to let them get away with fighting the Islamic republic without even declaring war. He told Assad that although the form the Iranian attack on Israel had not been finally worked out, it would probably take place during the first half of October at around the dates of his scheduled state visit to Lebanon on Oct. 13-14. EVENT Though Debkafile does not disclose its sources it seems highly likely that Iran would not just accept this cyber attack on its nuclear installation. It was only days ago that the Iranian president stood up at the UN General Assembly and said, "Most people believe the US government was responsible for the attacks of September 11, 2001.“ Though the internet is full of conspiracy theories this remark at the UN was about as painful a remark that he could make. This week Obama signed an executive order imposing sanctions on eight senior Iranian officials. All of this comes as the peace process in Israel grinds on which in itself creates tension. Ahmadinejad is very much like Haman who lived in Persia (Iran). Haman wanted to destroy the Jews – but he came to his end. COMMENT BIBLE QUOTE (Esther 3:6,8,9)

10. I am against thee, O Tyrus, and will cause many nations to come up against thee, as the sea causeth his waves to come up. and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; Workers in Europe protest austerity measures New York Times, September 29, 2010 As thousands of demonstrators marched in European capitals on Wednesday to protest recent austerity measures, officials in Brussels proposed stiffening sanctions for governments that fail to cut their budget deficits and debt swiftly enough. the nation’s transportation network were brought to a standstill by the country’s first general strike in eight years. Here in the capital, laborers angry over the spending cuts and new labor rules that make it easier to fire workers clashed with the police. In Brussels, the police estimated that 50,000 workers from across Europe had converged on the Schuman area, where many European Union institutions are located. There was no sign of the violence that erupted in protests in Greece this year, and analysts said such demonstrations would do little or nothing to deter European governments from pursuing austerity measures. EVENT The story of the financial crisis and credit crunch goes something like this. For over a decade people borrowed too much and lived on credit. The banks turned a blind eye at best and at worst used corrupt methods to lend more against non existent assets. The bubble burst and the banking system teetered on the edge of total collapse. So the governments of the world stepped in and bailed them out. This has led to a financial crisis for the actual governments. So now the governments need to raise money. They do this by cutting down on benefits (pensions, wages etc). Therefore the people end up paying. This then causes trouble. Most people don’t like cuts in wages or pensions. So they go on the streets and protest – sometimes violently. The cuts are only just beginning. As they take hold, more and more people will protest. Nations are described as like the sea and waves. Christ says they will be roaring when he returns. COMMENT BIBLE QUOTE (Ezekiel 26:3) (Luke 21:25)

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.