June 21 - 27, 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)

Weekly World Watch

Andy Walton’s

To skip the introductory slides and go straight to this weeks developments click here.

What is a Weekly World Watch?

• 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.

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.

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.

• Increasing natural disasters: including earthquake, famine etc

The following six themes will appear repeatedly in WWW:

HEADLINE

EVENT

COMMENT

News Photo

The source of the headline and the date are included.

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.

What is in a Weekly World Watch?

BIBLEQUOTE

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)

This is straight from a news report that caught my eye because it looked significant from a Biblical perspective, usually that of prophecy.

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.

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.

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).

This Week’s Developments

To print any of the event slides that follow, click the picture on the upper right

• Iran rises up

• Obama admits dialogue with Iran delayed indefinitely

• Netanyahu folds under US pressure

• Russia wants bigger role in peace process

• Georgia conflict “could erupt again"

June 21 - 27, 2009

• Jackson’s “star” becomes a shrine

Iran rises up

The article above says the government of Iran will have to crack down or back down.It seems very likely it will be the former. A senior cleric on Friday urged Iran's protest leaders to be punished "without mercy" and said some should face execution. These words could signal a nasty new turn in the regime's crackdown on demonstrators two weeks after its disputed election.The Bible speaks of Iran being “stirred up” at the time of the end. It does so in Isaiah 13 which on the face of it is about an ancient war between Babylon and Persia.This chapter has a latter day fulfilment though. Verses 9-11 are all latter day themes.We read of the Medes (Iranians) being stirred up. This word means “incite” to be “aroused”. We are watching a nation being “aroused”! The people being stirred up will cause the leaders to be stirred up. God himself is the one who is doing the stirring!

It looks increasingly as though the government will have to crack down or back down. The sight of a million-odd demonstrators on the streets of Tehran, the like of which has not been seen since the revolution that unseated the shah in 1979, is bound to stir the hearts of freedom lovers the world over. That is especially true when the chief butt of popular anger, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is a Holocaust- denying bully who seems bent on getting his hands on a nuclear weapon. Yet outsiders tempted to shout their support for the protesters should tread carefully for fear of achieving the opposite of what they intend.

The Economist, June 21, 2009

EVENT

COMMENT

Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, which shall not regard silver; and as for gold, they shall not delight in it.

BIBLEQUOTE (Isaiah 13:17)

Obama admits dialogue with Iran delayed indefinitely

When Obama came to power he said he wanted to talk to Iran – make peace. World leaders intentions are nothing compared to God’s plan and purpose. The prophecies concerning Iran do not have America and Iran as friends – but enemies. In the light of the violence and the election rigging, Obama has been forced to change his stance.Also this week Britain expelled two Iranian diplomats, in a tit-for-tat response to the expulsion of two British diplomats from Tehran.On the previous slide we read of God himself stirring up Iran. It is God that rules in the kingdoms of men – it is he that puts the basest of men in power – to achieve his will.

In another toughening of tone, US president Barack Obama admitted for the first time that "direct dialogue or diplomacy with Iran" would be "affected by the events of the last several weeks." After White House talks with German chancellor Angela Merkel, Friday, June 26, he said "the talks“ compered by the P5-plus-1 group on Iran's nuclear program would likely continue." he said, because the world needs to recognize that the prospect of Iran with nuclear weapons was a "big problem."DEBKAfile notes that Obama while praising opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, poured scorn on Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejads demand for an apology and accusations that the US president had meddled in Iran's internal affairs.He stressed the US had gone out of its way not to interfere with the election process in Iran. "I would suggest that Mr. Ahmadinejad think carefully about the obligations he owes to his own people. And he might want to consider looking at the families of those who've been beaten or shot or detained…That's where I think he and others need to answer their questions."

Debkafile, June 21, 2009

EVENT

COMMENT

to the intent that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men.BIBLE

QUOTE (Daniel 4:17)

Netanyahu folds under US pressure

The pressure on Israel in intense. America is using all its political might to bear down on Israel and force them to retreat from the West Bank. Israel has announced this week that 6 checkpoints on the West Bank have been removed. The US immediately praised this action. Netanyahu also promised to the Italian and French leaders to pull the IDF out of the West Bank cities of Ramallah, Bethlehem, Jericho and Qalqilya. These concessions are tantamount to the handover of the main West Bank towns to Palestinian security control. It is the most sweeping redeployment of Israeli security forces since their unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.The world is saying in effect to Israel - you must “part God’s land”. God will respond….

Despite his pledge to keep security considerations uppermost in his dealings with the Palestinians, Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu is buckling under pressure from the US administration aimed at softening Israel up ahead of Middle East peace talks. This pressure turned Netanyahu's first official visits to Rome and Paris sour.He had hoped to outmanoeuvre the Obama administration's insistence on a total settlement freeze by winning the support of friendly Silvio Berlusconi and Nicolas Sarkozy for a compromise formula, which would be presented as a European-Israel deal. But he failed to anticipate that the Obama administration would outflank him and get there first. So his arrival in Rome and Paris was preceded by Italian and French officials parroting the Washington line on a settlement freeze, including East Jerusalem. When he met Berlusconi Monday, June 22, the Israeli prime minister saw that he had already talked to Obama on the phone and promised that the Italian boot would toe the American line. In Paris, he found the same trap had been laid .

Debkafile, June 25, 2009

EVENT

COMMENT

I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.

BIBLEQUOTE

(Joel 3:2)

Russia tries to secure bigger role in Mideast peace process

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Tuesday said he had finally secured support from all necessary parties to host a major Middle East peace summit in Moscow in the near future. During a speech in Cairo, Medvedev said the Moscow conference would be an important step forward in securing a final status peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians. Medvedev said his envisioned outcome of those talks is the birth of a Palestinian Arab state with the eastern half of Jerusalem as its capital. In that way, his vision matches that of US President Barack Obama, though many see the intended Moscow summit as a Russian attempt to relieve the US of its leadership role in the Middle East.

Israel Today, June 26, 2009

EVENT

COMMENT

Deliver thyself, O Zion, that dwellest with the daughter of Babylon. For thus saith the LORD of hosts; After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye.

BIBLEQUOTE

(Zechariah 2:7,8)

Russia does not want to be outdone when it comes to the dividing of God’s land. It wants to play its role as well! Russia wants to weaken America’s influence in the world especially in the Middle East.Russia is friendly with Syria and Iran – both powerful nations in the region. Russia backs the Arab / Muslim side. America backs the Israel / Jewish side. A weakened Israel – divided and split in half – with Palestinians controlling half of Jerusalem is precisely what Russia would like. A weakened Israel is a weakened America in the region. The odd thing is that America now sees this as the only solution as well.Whether the land (and Jerusalem) ever is divided it is hard to say. Quite possibly it is while peace (land division) is being talked about that the destruction comes.

Georgia conflict “could erupt again"

The top Russian military commander, the Chief of the General Staff and First Deputy Defense Minister Army-General Nikolai Makarov during the Paris air show this week said: "Georgia is saber-rattling and preparing weapons to resolve its territorial problems by any means." Makarov accused NATO of supporting Georgian aggressive intentions and E.U. observers of ignoring Georgian rearmament and war preparations. This month the Russian military will stage massive exercises in the North Caucasus, "Kavkaz-2009." According to the defense ministry's official spokesman Colonel Aleksandr Drobyshevskiy the exercises will involve 8,500 soldiers, 200 tanks, 450 armored combat vehicles and 250 guns and last from June 29 to July 6. General Makarov will be directly in command. The official aim of "Kavkaz-2009" is to prepare to counter terrorists (www.mil.ru, June 11). The exercises "Kavkaz-2008" held in July 2008 directly preceded the Russian invasion of Georgia in August.

Reuters, June 22, 2009

EVENT

COMMENT

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.He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown

BIBLEQUOTE

(Daniel 11:40,41)

On June 29, Russian troops begin massive military exercises on Georgia's borders as well as in occupied Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The exercises are planned to end on July 6, when Obama lands in Moscow. The troops will be deployed and fully ready to go into action for at least several weeks after July 6, which apparently makes July the most dangerous month in the troubled South Caucasus.According to military analysts Russia has two main objectives. Firstly, regime change in Georgia. Secondly establishing a land corridor to its important base in Armenia. The red blob on the map above is Armenia. It is directly south of Georgia. We know Russia is looking south – beyond Armenia, beyond Syria – to Israel…

Jackson’s “star” becomes a shrine

Tourists, fans and some bemused onlookers gathered outside Hollywood's famous Chinese Theatre to pay their respects to Michael Jackson.The singer's 'star' on the Walk of Fame, along Hollywood Boulevard, was transformed into a makeshift shrine to the late pop icon.On the night Jackson died, his fans were unable to get there, as the street had been closed for the Los Angeles premiere of Sacha Baron Cohen's new film, Bruno.When it reopened, hordes of mourners filed past the star.Cordoned off by crash barriers, the area was festooned with toys, teddy bears, flowers and candles. A handwritten note read: "Michael, thank you for the great memories. You will be missed.“ "I've seen a lot of people walking up and down crying," said David Anthony, a T-shirt seller.

BBConline, June 25, 2009

EVENT

COMMENT

We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promisedWe should imitate those men of faith and especially our Lord Jesus.

BIBLEQUOTE

(Hebrews 6:12 NIV)

We live in a world of celebrity culture. The UK has a show called Pop Idol. It is about trying to take young people from obscurity to celebrity status. The word “idol” gives it away. It is about the worship of man. It goes back to Babel where the people worshipped Nimrod and called him Baal (My Lord).New research by a university for Public Health indicates that rock and pop stars are more than twice as likely as the rest of the population to die an early death, and within a few years of becoming famous. The findings are based on more than 1,050 North American and European musicians and singers who shot to fame between 1956 and 1999. The average age of death was 42 for North American stars and 35 for European stars! Long term drug or alcohol problems accounted for more than 1 in 4 of the deaths.1 in 10 children in the UK want to become a pop star. Our role model should be Christ.

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Weekly World Watch

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