July 1 - 14, 2018

1. Weekly World Watch Andy Walton’s July 1 - 14, 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 July 1 - 14, 2018 • Putin and Netanyahu meet in Moscow to discuss Iran • Heaviest Israel-Gaza fighting in years • Russia moving into Libya • UK to expand navy amid 'growing Russian threat' • NATO’s real crisis is Turkey, not Trump • Philippine president says he’ll resign if anybody can prove God exists To print any of the event slides that follow, click the picture on the upper right PRESS SPACE BAR TO CONTINUE

5. After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.  Putin has been visited many times by Netanyahu. Putin and Netanyahu meet in Moscow to discuss Iran TIME, June 12, 2018 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Wednesday for talks focusing on Iranian presence in Syria — an issue that is expected to top the agenda of the upcoming U.S.-Russian summit. While the Russian and Israeli leaders sat down for talks in the Kremlin, a senior Iranian envoy also headed to Moscow amid intensive Syria-focused diplomatic efforts ahead of Putin’s summit in Helsinki on Monday with President Donald Trump. Netanyahu underlined warm ties between Russia and Israel, emphasizing what he described as their key stabilizing role for the Mideast. “Every visit like this is an opportunity for us to act together and try and stabilize the situation in our region and increase security and increase stability,” Netanyahu said. “Obviously, our focus is on Syria and Iran. Our opinion is known that Iran needs to leave Syria — that is not something new for you.” Both the United States and Israel are concerned about Iran’s growing military presence in Syria, where it has provided crucial aid to President Bashar Assad’s forces. EVENT Israel is very concerned about Iran’s presence in Syria. As Assad’s forces recover rebel held territory close to the Golan Heights Israel knows that Iran and Hezbollah are also entering this area as well. This puts Israel’s arch enemies right on their doorstep. Russia has allowed Iran into Syria to help beat the rebel insurgency. This is why Netanyahu has met with Putin many times to try to persuade him to remove Iranian forces from Syria. Putin however wont budge on this and therefore this has become a highly volatile situation. When push comes to shove Putin will side with Syria and Iran over Israel. The Bible says that Putin (Gog) will be visited before he decides to descend COMMENT BIBLE QUOTE (Ezekiel 38:8)

6. They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones. 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.  For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:  Heaviest Israel-Gaza fighting in years BBC, July 14, 2018 Israel says it has struck dozens of Hamas military targets in northern Gaza in retaliation for assaults including more than 90 rocket attacks. Palestinian health officials said two people were killed and 12 injured in an air strike in Gaza City. Three Israelis were injured by a rocket in Sderot. Israel's targets included a battalion HQ and a training facility used by Hamas, its military said. The operation is one of Israel's broadest since the 2014 war with Hamas. The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said it struck facilities used by the militant group, which dominates Gaza, including a battalion headquarters in Beit Lahia, a training camp located in a high-rise building in the al-Shati refugee camp in northern Gaza, weapons storage facilities and rocket launchers. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the operation could continue. "We will expand the scope of our reaction to Hamas' terror attacks as much as needed. If Hamas doesn't get our message today, it will tomorrow," he said. EVENT As the pressure increases in the north for Israel the tension is also skyrocketing in the south. Today Israel has come under sustained attack with over 90 rockets being fired - some causing injury. Hamas only launch attacks when they are commanded to – nothing is done without direction from their masters. Who are their masters? Answer – Iran! So why would Iran want to stir things up in the south? Answer – to divert Israel’s attention and resources from the north where Iran is entering the highly sensitive area next to the Golan Heights. We are watching Psalm 83 beginning to develop. This tells us that the Palestinians, Hezbollah, Syria and Iran form an alliance against Israel. COMMENT BIBLE QUOTE (Psalm 83:2-4)

7. Russia moving into Libya Washington Times, July 11, 2018 U.S. intelligence agencies are closely monitoring Russian military activities in Libya for signs that Moscow may soon build a military base in the divided North African state. Intelligence reports indicate that Russia is planning to expand its Syrian bases at Tartus and Hemeimeem to Libya. The possible Russian move into Libya represents the most recent failure stemming from the policies of President Obama that backed Islamist rebels who overthrew and killed Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi in 2011.Mr. Obama has said that the failure to prepare for the aftermath of the ouster of Gadhafi was the worst mistake of his presidency. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also came under fire for failing to provide security for Americans who were attacked and killed in Benghazi after Gadhafi’s fall. The push for a Russian military presence in Libya is being led by retired Maj. Gen. Khalifah Haftar, whose militia forces, the Libyan National Army, control eastern Libya. Russian private military forces have been operating in eastern Libya since March 2017, including the RSB Group that has deployed several dozen armed mercenaries to join forces EVENT Why would we be interested in Russian involvement in Libya? The answer is that the Bible (in Ezekiel 38) tells us that Russia will be allied with several nations when it invades Israel at the time of the end. These nations include Iran (Persia), Togarmah (Turkey), Ethiopia (modern North Sudan) and Libya (modern Libya!). We can see all these nations lining up with Russia – but perhaps we haven't seen Russian moves into Libya yet. This however is clearly changing as it sounds like Russia is planning to build a new base in Libya. God tells us in detail about events that will happen before Jesus returns so we can be prepared and our faith is boosted… COMMENT BIBLE QUOTE Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:  Gomer, and all his bands; the house of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with thee.  (Ezekiel 38:5-6)

8. UK to expand navy in North Atlantic amid 'growing Russian threat' Sky News, July 9, 2018 EVENT Britain's Armed Forces will increase their presence in the North Atlantic to meet a growing threat from Russia, the head of the Royal Navy has said. In his first major television interview, the First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Philip Jones told Sky News that a new Joint Area of Operations (JAO) will be created for the North Atlantic. It will mean the region becomes a priority for the UK government allowing Royal Navy ships and RAF aircraft to be deployed to the region much more regularly. Admiral Jones said it was in response to a growing Russian threat. "This is a resurgence that has come very quickly. "It is an intensifying resurgence of capability and scale that we didn't necessarily see coming maybe 10 years ago. We have had to respond to that - it is also very modern, it is very capable.” The signature of their vessels, their deploy-ability, their capability is very impressive. They've clearly been investing in the research and development to be able to do this.” The announcement comes weeks after the United States said it would re-establish its Second Fleet in the Atlantic, also as a response to Russia. One of its tasks will be to protect the vital undersea lines. Britain is worried about a resurgent Russia. Britain is dependent on undersea cables that connect the UK to the outside world. An estimated 97% of global communications are transmitted by fibre-optic cables that run thousands of metres below the sea, right around the world. They carry an estimated $10trn (£7.5trn) in daily financial transactions. Russia has begun to send naval ships to where the cables are and are surveying them. The concern in Britain is that Russia could (at a time of war) literally cut Britain off from the outside world. Russia is preparing for war. COMMENT BIBLE QUOTE Get ready; be prepared! Keep all the armies around you mobilized, and take command of them. 8 A long time from now you will be called into action. In the distant future you will swoop down on the land of Israel, (Ezekiel 38:7 NLT)

9. NATO’s real crisis is Turkey, not Trump Bloomberg, July 11, 2018 EVENT From the perspective of Europe, the crisis within the North Atlantic Treaty Organization has a name: Donald Trump. It’s easy to understand why. The U.S. president calls the European NATO members freeloaders. He declined at last year’s summit to reiterate the entire point of the alliance, that an attack on one is an attack on all. He praises Russian President Vladimir Putin, and has arranged to meet him after dressing down the allies in Brussels this week. Yet while the rhetoric is dangerous, U.S. policy — so far — has not reflected Trump’s tantrums. U.S. forces remain in Poland (and Germany, for that matter). The sanctions on Russia for its annexation of Crimea, meddling in Eastern Ukraine and its interference in the 2016 U.S. election remain. The U.S. has supported the accession of Macedonia into NATO and sold Ukraine anti-tank missiles. The weak link in the alliance, in fact, is Turkey. Here is a country slipping into the sphere of influence of Russia — the very country that NATO was created to deter. In December Turkey finalized a deal to purchase the S-400 air defense system from Moscow, and in April the Turks broke ground on a Russian-made nuclear power plant. This interesting analysis in Bloomberg looks at the other country allied to Russia at the time of the end. That country is Turkey. Turkey is part of NATO – and NATO was setup to deter Russia. NATO’s doctrine is that if one country in NATO is attacked then ALL nations in NATO will come to that nation’s assistance (militarily). But Turkey over the last few years has switched it alliance from being pro the West (and wanting to be part of the EU) to aligning itself with Russia. This is exactly what the Bible said would occur COMMENT BIBLE QUOTE Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:  Gomer, and all his bands; the house of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with thee.  (Ezekiel 38:5-6)

10. Philippine president says he’ll resign if anybody can prove God exists New York Post, July 7, 2018 EVENT The Philippine president, who recently sparked outrage for calling God stupid, has courted new controversy in his largely Roman Catholic country by saying he will resign if anybody can prove that God exists. President Rodrigo Duterte, who has had a thorny relationship with the church, questioned anew in a speech late Friday some of the basic tenets of the Catholic faith, including the concept of original sin, which he said taints even innocent infants and can only be removed through baptism in a church for a fee. “Where is the logic of God there?” Duterte asked in a speech at the opening of a science and technology event in southern Davao city. The 73-year-old leader said that if there’s “one single witness” who can prove, perhaps with a picture or a selfie that a human was “able to talk and to see God,” he will immediately resign. Last week, he was slammed, including by some of his political allies, for calling God “stupid” in another speech, with one Catholic bishop calling him a “psychopath.” Some people refuse to believe in God because he cannot be seen right now. Does this mean that those who do believe that God exists are fools? The answer is YES – but only if there was no evidence for God. We can’t see electricity but the evidence shows that electricity is real and does exist. Same applies with God. Is there evidence that there is an awesome creator / designer / architect behind everything we see. Surely it is the fool that says everything we see came from nothing (which is what evolution teaches). It is impossible to get something from nothing. However it is possible there is an everlasting creator that can make something from nothing. This president may soon be able to take a photo himself of Jesus in the clouds of heaven!! COMMENT By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible. This amazing verse deals with the biggest conundrum for evolutionists. How do you get something from nothing… God says everything we see was formed at God’s command – NOTHING pre existed. BIBLE QUOTE (Hebrews 11:2 NLT)

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.