January 4 – 10, 2009

1. Weekly World Watch Andy Walton’s January 4 – 10, 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 January 4 – 10, 2009 • Why Gaza war looks set to go on • Israeli strikes intensify despite ceasefire resolution • Vatican deplores Gaza situation • Rockets 'from Lebanon' fired into Israel • Fears mount of Gaza conflict spill over in Europe • Atheist group launches billboard campaign To print any of the event slides that follow, click the picture on the upper right

5. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them Why Gaza war looks set to go on BBConline, January 9, 2009 After two weeks of war both sides have reasons to believe they can fight on. Israel has suffered relatively light casualties, a fraction of the dead and wounded of Gaza. Even though many reserve units have now been mobilised, which means a large number of husbands and fathers are in uniform and potentially in the line of fire, public support for the war is holding steady. The government has managed the war of Israeli expectations far more effectively than it did in Lebanon in 2006. Victory has been defined in less sweeping terms, so that it will be harder for anyone to accuse the government of failure. Even so, it has set objectives that need to be met if Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Defence Minister Ehud Barak are going to have any kind of political career when this is over. Unlike Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who is leaving office because of allegations of corruption, Mr Barak and Ms Livni face a general election on 10 February. They have set two main objectives, neither of which has been achieved yet. First, damage the Hamas military wing so badly that they will either be unable to launch rockets into Israel, or be so intimidated that they will not dare. Israel's second demand is that the border between Gaza and Egypt is controlled so that Hamas will not be able to bring in weapons and money through tunnels. EVENT Since the Annapolis peace conference in November 2007 (and throughout 2008) world leaders have been talking about the chance of a peace agreement by the end of 2008. In January George Bush said he was “hopeful of a peace agreement” by the end of his term in office. In June Ehud Olmert said he wanted to make peace with the Arab people. In September Gordon Brown said he was “optimistic that Israel and the Palestinians would sign a peace deal”. But at the VERY TIME peace was supposed to happen WAR has happened instead. It COULD be the start of the FINAL war. COMMENT BIBLE QUOTE (1 Thessalonians 5:3)

6. Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand The world is divided over Israel – divided nations bring war. Israeli strikes intensify despite ceasefire resolution Daily Telegraph, January 9, 2009 Israel vowed to continue its offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip yesterday after the government rejected a United Nations resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire as unworkable. Military commanders told a cabinet meeting the goals of the 14-day campaign had not yet been achieved, a conclusion that paves the way for an intensification of operations in the Palestinian territory. Ehud Olmert, Israel's prime minister, said the country could not accept a ceasefire while Hamas fighters continued to fire rockets at towns and cities. The radical Islamic organisation also signalled its repudiation of the UN resolution by increasing the number of rockets it fired into Israel yesterday. Fighting intensified with the three-hour scheduled ceasefire rendered meaningless by heavy artillery fire, air raids and gun clashes. EVENT We enter the third week of the war. The UN finally got a resolution. The UN Security Council resolution was approved on Thursday night by a 14-0 vote, with the United States abstaining. It demanded a truce, access for aid workers and an end to arms smuggling.However, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the latest firing of rockets into Israel showed the resolution was "unworkable". Hamas has also dismissed the UN's call. This resolution was interesting. It was France that pushed it through more than any other nation. “France pushes for Gaza truce at UN: Israel opposed” was the headline in Reuters. But on the other side of the coin we have “Washington fails to add its voice to international criticism of Israel” – headline in the Guardian newspaper. We see the nations lining up as God said they would. The divide will only widen and worsen. COMMENT BIBLE QUOTE (Matthew 12:25)

7. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth The woman = the false religion of Rome. Vatican deplores Gaza situation BBConline, January 8, 2009 The Pope's justice minister, Cardinal Renato Martino, has sharply criticised Israel's actions and likened the Gaza Strip to a "big concentration camp". Correspondents say his words mark the Vatican's toughest comments since Israel began its offensive with intensive air attacks 12 days ago. He accused both sides of only thinking of their own interests while innocent people paid the price. Pope Benedict XVI has already called for an end to the conflict. Cardinal Martino, president of the Vatican's Council for Justice and Peace, made the comment to Italian online site Il Sussidiario. "Defenceless populations are always the ones who pay," he said. "Look at the conditions in Gaza: more and more, it resembles a big concentration camp.“ The BBC's David Willey in Rome says relations between Israel and the Vatican have been strained recently, after the Pope made it clear that he favoured making Pope Pius XII a saint. EVENT To begin with world leaders try to be diplomatic and blame both sides. But as time goes on they revert to type and back the people they deep down prefer. In the case of the Vatican it has not taken long for them to show whose side they are on! The use of the phrase “concentration camp” is obviously meant to rile Israel but also encourage anti Semitic thoughts about the Jews. The Vatican is saying that the Jews are behaving like the Germans and the Palestinians are the innocent victims in Gaza which is like a concentration camp. The Bible makes clear that Rome has throughout history persecuted the saints (God’s people including the Jews). At the end they will in fact make war against Christ himself. They are still acting to type. COMMENT BIBLE QUOTE (Revelation 17:6 & 9)

8. They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance…. the Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre; Rockets 'from Lebanon' fired into Israel Daily Telegraph, January 8, 2009 Lebanese security sources said three to five rockets had been fired into northern Israel. Israeli warplanes responded to the strike within minutes by bombing the suspected launch sites. There were unconfirmed reports that five Israelis had been injured in the blasts. Experts said at least three katyusha rockets landed in Israel. The attack raised fears of the Gaza conflict spreading across the region and the very dramatic prospect of a northern front being opened up in Israel while its armed forces are still heavily engaged in the south of the country on operation Cast Lead, the assault on Gaza. Katyushas have been fired into Israel by Hizbollah, the militant Shia group in southern Lebanon, and militants connected to the large Palestinian refugee population in Lebanon. EVENT It is easy to see how this war could spread. Hezbollah based in south Lebanon fought a war with Israel in 2006 and have since rearmed with some 30,000 rockets and missiles. This is not just Israel saying this but in fact a report from the UN said so last March! Hezbollah's stronghold is in Tyre. Tyre is mentioned many times in the Bible. In fact Tyre was originally PRO Jewish! Hiram King of Tyre “loved” King David and Solomon and helped them build the Temple in Jerusalem. Tyre in later years turned against the Jews however. It is interesting that in Psalm 83 we read of certain peoples consulting together to destroy Israel. Verse 7 speaks of “the Philistines WITH the inhabitants of Tyre”! The Philistines correspond in many ways to the modern Palestinians. Their name "Palestinian" is derived from the Latin word for Philistine. The rockets fired from Lebanon this week may be the first salvo's in a greater war involving ancient Tyre. COMMENT BIBLE QUOTE (Psalm 83:4 & 7)

9. Therefore was the wrath of the LORD kindled against his people, insomuch that he abhorred his own inheritance. And he gave them into the hand of the heathen Fears mount of Gaza conflict spill over in Europe Associated Press, January 6, 2009 Government officials and Jewish leaders are concerned the conflict in Gaza may spill over into violence in Europe, with attacks reported against Jews and synagogues in France, Sweden and Britain. Assailants rammed a burning car into the gates of a synagogue in Toulouse, in southwest France, Monday night. A Jewish congregation in Helsingborg, in southern Sweden, was attacked Monday night by someone who "broke a window and threw in something that was burning," said police spokesman Leif Nilsson. And on Sunday slogans, including "murderers ... You broke the cease-fire," were daubed on Israel's Embassy in Stockholm. EVENT Anti-Semitism is on the increase since Israel’s invasion of Gaza. In fact the Daily Telegraph had the headline this week “Surge in attacks on Jewish sites”. In Britain, one Jewish charity, the Community Security Trust, or CST, has reported 24 anti-Semitic incidents in the past week; the most serious occurred on Saturday when three youths tried to set fire to Brondesbury Park Synagogue in northwest London. The CST said that the threat had increased after calls from Hamas leaders to attack Jewish people around the world. It has revived memories of a sharp upturn in anti-Semitic crimes in 2000, with the outbreak of the second intifada or Palestinian uprising against Israel. In 2002, as fighting raged in the Middle East and Afghanistan prior to the allied invasion of Iraq, some 2,300 Jews left France for Israel because they felt unsafe. We can see the world turning against the Jew. Anti-Semitism was rising anyway due to the fact that many blame “Zionist bankers” for the financial collapse! We know that as the Jews turn against God, He brings the nations against them. COMMENT BIBLE QUOTE (Psalm 106:40)

10. "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” … Do not be misled: Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God Atheist group launches billboard campaign Daily Mail, January 7, 2009 A controversial advertising campaign featuring the slogan 'There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life' was launched today on Britain's trains and buses. But despite its gloomy undertones the advert creators said it had a positive message which encouraged people to enjoy life instead of worrying about what happened afterwards. The £140,000 atheist advertising campaign will be plastered across 200 bendy buses in London and 600 others across England, Scotland and Wales. The money will also pay for 1,000 advertisements on London Underground from Monday. Comedy writer Ariane Sherine, who received support from the British Humanist Association (BHA) and atheist campaigner Richard Dawkins, is the brains behind the campaign. EVENT The year 2009 is the 150th anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of Species and the 200th anniversary of Darwin's birth. The TV and radio in the UK has lots of events to mark this with many programmes in effect promoting evolution. On top of this we now have London buses and billboards around the country telling everyone “There’s probably no God – now stop worrying and enjoy your life”. These godless messages will soon be proved entirely false. When Christ returns the world will have physical proof there is a God. Not only a that time will they worry they will in fact wail and mourn. At that time they will no longer be enjoying life but coping with the time of trouble such as never was. For God has appointed a day when he will judge the earth. He once ignored the ignorance of man but he now commands mankind to repent. As we seen with recent events – the time of God’s intervention IS CLOSE. COMMENT BIBLE QUOTE (1 Corinthians 15:32-34 NIV)

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.