March 7 - 13, 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)

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

• East Jerusalem lies at core of conflict

• US-Israeli relations hit new low over settlement plan

• Peace talks break down over settlement row

• Israel seals off West Bank as tensions rise

• Opposition dropped to Euro-army headquarters

March 7 - 13, 2010

• Chief exorcist says Devil is in Vatican

East Jerusalem lies at core of conflict

Israel's plan to build 1,600 new apartments in contested east Jerusalem has thrown a spotlight on the city at the core of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.What's the bottom line? Israel wants to retain control of an undivided Jerusalem. The Palestinians want east Jerusalem as capital of a future state.Why is it so important? Important Jewish and Muslim holy sites are located in east Jerusalem's Old City. Christian shrines also stand there.The hilltop compound known to Muslims as Haram as-Sharif, or Noble Sanctuary, is home to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, Islam's third-holiest shrine.Jews call the site Temple Mount because the biblical Jewish temples stood there, making it Judaism's holiest site. Directly below is the Western Wall, the only remnant of that temple complex.Why is the new construction so controversial? Palestinians say any settlement construction in east Jerusalem and the adjacent West Bank cements Israel's presence on lands they want for a future state.

Associated Press, March 10, 2010

EVENT

COMMENT

And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.

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BIBLEQUOTE

Last week we reported that peace talks were about to begin between the Israelis and the Palestinians. US Vice-President Joe Biden flew in to Israel this week to begin the process. However, (at the exact same time) Israel announced that 1,600 new apartments were to be built (in a few years time) in East Jerusalem.These events have spawned the report above. It is all coming down to Jerusalem!The Palestinians want it. Israel want it. The world as you will see from the coming slides are backing the Palestinian claim. God’s city is being divided by man.The final conflict over this city is coming. The prophets said it would happen – it will…

(Zechariah 12:3)

US-Israeli relations hit new low over settlement plan

The Obama administration's relations with Israel have hit a new low as hopes for fresh peace talks collapsed in the wake of the row over plans for 1,600 settler homes.US Vice-President Joe Biden ended a three-day visit to the region by saying President Barack Obama had asked him to issue an "immediate and unequivocal" condemnation of the moves. Mr Biden had hoped his trip would be crowned by the resumption of talks between Israel and Palestinians after a year of stalemate. But he was left humiliated after the surprise announcement on Tuesday of plans for settlement construction in disputed east Jerusalem. Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian President, said it would now be "impossible" for the US-mediated indirect talks to go ahead unless the plans were withdrawn. Palestinians see East Jerusalem as capital of their future state, while Mr Netanyahu considers it part of "the eternal, undivided capital of Israel and the Jewish people".Experts on the region said they could not remember the last time an American leader had used the word “condemn” in relation to Israel.

Daily Telegraph, March 11, 2010

EVENT

COMMENT

Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it. …..All thy lovers have forgotten thee; they seek thee not

BIBLEQUOTE

(Jeremiah 30:7,14)

America is (or was) Israel’s closest friend but ever since the election of Obama the relationship has been strained. It is now at breaking point. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has sharply rebuked Israel today over its decision to build new settlements in East Jerusalem. She told Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu by telephone that the move was "deeply negative" for US-Israeli relations. The Quartet of Middle East peace mediators - the US, Russia, the EU and the UN - also condemned the Israeli housing announcement. Israel has never been so alone.The time of “Jacob’s trouble” is at hand

US Vice President Joe Biden condemned Israel

Peace talks break down over settlement row

Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian President, has pulled out of planned peace talks in the wake of Israel’s announcement it is to build 1,600 new homes in the occupied West Bank. "The Palestinian president decided he will not enter into those negotiations now ... the Palestinian side is not ready to negotiate under the present circumstances,” Amr Moussa, the Arab League Secretary-General, told reporters in Cairo.“The talks have already stopped,” he said. The Palestinian move came only days after they succumbed to heavy American pressure to conduct indirect talks with Israel in an attempt to kick-start the logjammed Middle East peace process.The resumption of talks should have crowned the first visit to the region by Joe Biden, the US Vice President, this week, but the trip turned into a fiasco after the surprise Israeli announcement on Tuesday of building plans for Ramat Shlomo, an ultra-orthodox suburb of Jerusalem situated across the pre-1967 border in the West Bank.

Daily Telegraph, March 11, 2010

EVENT

COMMENT

And Gideon went up by the way of them that dwelt in tents on the east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and smote the host: for the host was secure.Secure = Hebrew word “betach” = the same as “safely” in Ezekiel 38:8

BIBLEQUOTE

(Judges 8:11)

There is no peace.There will be no true peace until our Master our Lord Jesus returns.Yes, there will be attempts, there will be talks, but they will ALL fail.The dwelling safely in Ezekiel 38 that some might see as a true peace BEFORE Christ returns is not that at all. The word “safely” can mean that but it can also mean “over confidence”. It can mean a people with a false sense of security. The verse below speaks of Gideon attacking a people who were “secure” (same Hebrew word). The Jerusalem Bible says the “people thought themselves secure”. Israel does think this!

Israel seals off West Bank as tensions rise

Israel sealed off the West Bank on Friday as tensions mounted in Jerusalem over controversial plans to build new homes for Jewish settlers.Defence Minister Ehud Barak ordered the army to cut off the area until midnight on Saturday, citing a heightened risk of attacks.Israel has sealed off the West Bank ahead of major holidays in the past, but only rarely on other occasions. Security sources said the closure was decided after Israel discovered plans to repeat last Friday's riots in Jerusalem in which more than 60 Palestinian youths and 15 Israeli police were injured.The closure was announced the day after US vice-president Joe Biden concluded a visit to the region aimed at promoting renewed peace talks.Hopes of negotiations collapsed when Israel announced 1,600 new settler homes would be built in predominantly-Arab east Jerusalem.Israel also limited access to Friday prayers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. Only worshippers with Israeli identity cards and aged over 50 were permitted.

Daily Telegraph, March 12, 2010

EVENT

COMMENT

Because, even because they have seduced my people, saying, Peace; and there was no peace; and one built up a wall, and, lo, others daubed it with untempered morter.., it shall fall: there shall be an overflowing shower; and ye, O great hailstones, shall fall; and a stormy wind shall rend it.

BIBLEQUOTE

(Ezekiel 13:10,11)

The land has an unnatural division through it because of the so called West Bank.Israel has built a wall around Jerusalem and a fence and barriers around much of the rest. It is a wall and fence that has cost over $1 billion to erect.Since construction of the “wall” began, the number of attacks has declined by more than 90%. It is a wall that has brought a false sense of confidence to the people.Interesting that in Ezekiel 13 we have a prophecy against the leaders of Israel. They build a wall and promise there will be peace! But God says it will be destroyed, by Him.

Opposition dropped to Euro-army headquarters

Baroness Ashton has dropped her opposition to a permanent European Union military headquarters that many believe will be the first step towards a Euro-army. Britain is staunchly opposed to a standing military headquarters in Brussels claiming it would duplicate Nato and be "an unnecessary use of resources". But since becoming EU foreign minister last year, Lady Ashton has gone from "being unconvinced" to having an "open mind" over the move. It has been demanded by French and German supporters of a European army. "People raise the question whether the EU should have its own permanent operations HQ. This is a serious issue that deserves a serious debate," she said to MEPs on Wednesday. "Ashton's role as EU foreign minister is to act as handmaiden for EU political integration," said Geoffrey Van Orden, a Tory MEP for the East of England. "Just three months into the job, she seems to have been got at and changed her mind. It's extraordinary the effect the Brussels air can have on some people." Last Friday, Lady Ashton came under pressure to set up the HQ during talks with Hervé Morin, the French defence minister.

Daily Telegraph, March 10, 2010

EVENT

COMMENT

And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them

Europe continues to move at a pace now it has become a legal entity.Since the Lisbon Treaty (Constitution) came into force, Europe has been very busy setting up embassies around the world and weakening the power of states.It appears now that an EU army could be on the cards as well.It makes sense from a Bible point of view that this may happen. In Revelation 17 we see a final terrible picture of a beast (the EU) coming out of a bottomless pit. The beast MAKES WAR ON CHRIST AND THE SAINTS. Therefore it must have an army….

BIBLEQUOTE (Revelation 17:12,14)

The Devil is lurking in the very heart of the Roman Catholic Church, the Vatican's chief exorcist claimed on Wednesday. Father Gabriele Amorth said people who are possessed by Satan vomit shards of glass and pieces of iron.He added that the assault on Pope Benedict XVI on Christmas Eve by a mentally unstable woman and the sex abuse scandals which have engulfed the Church in the US, Ireland, Germany and other countries, were proof that the Anti-Christ was waging a war against the Holy See."The Devil resides in the Vatican and you can see the consequences," said Father Amorth, 85, who has been the Holy See's chief exorcist for 25 years.The evil influence of Satan was evident in the highest ranks of the Catholic hierarchy, with "cardinals who do not believe in Jesus and bishops who are linked to the demon," Father Amorth said.

Daily Telegraph, March 11, 2010

EVENT

COMMENT

for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

BIBLEQUOTE

(2 Thessalonians 2:3,4)

This is a truly remarkable statement that we can whole heartedly agree with.The devil is indeed lurking in the very heart of the Vatican. Not some fiery monster that dwells in a mythical underworld but what the Bible actually says the devil is ..the devil IS SIN. Through Jesus' death the devil was destroyed. Hebrews 2:14. But read Hebrews 9:26 and you see that the sacrifice of Jesus “put away sin”. Devil = SIN.So why would we say that SIN is lurking at the very heart of the Vatican? We do because the Bible itself says so! We read in 2 Thessalonians that there will be “a man of sin” revealed. This man exalts himself as God on earth and is worshipped as God.There is only one man who calls himself “the Holy Father”. The Pope is the man of sin.

Chief exorcist says Devil is in VaticanThe man of sin at the very

heart of the Vatican

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Weekly World Watch

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