Weekly World Watch - July 7-13, 2019

1. Weekly World Watch Andy Walton’s July 7 - 13, 2019 “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 7 - 13, 2019 • Netanyahu warns Iran it’s within range of Israeli strikes • Hamas conducts massive surprise drill • Locked & loaded: US & UK military assets in the Gulf  • Revealed: Russian effort to exert influence in Africa • Turkey defies Nato as Russia ships first missiles • June was hottest ever recorded on Earth To print any of the event slides that follow, click the picture on the upper right PRESS SPACE BAR TO CONTINUE

5. The burden of the desert of the sea. As whirlwinds in the south pass through; so it cometh from the desert, from a terrible land. A grievous vision is declared unto me; the treacherous dealer dealeth treacherously, and the spoiler spoileth. Go up, O Elam: besiege, O Media; One of the 9 burdens leading to worldwide judgement. CLICK HERE to watch a video on Isa 24 Netanyahu warns Iran it is within range of Israeli air strikes, citing Iranian threats Reuters, July 9, 2019 Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cautioned Iran on Tuesday that it is within range of Israeli air strikes, citing what he described as Iranian threats to destroy Israel. “Iran recently has been threatening Israel’s destruction,” Netanyahu said at an Israeli air force base, where he viewed a squadron of advanced U.S.-built F-35 warplanes. “It should remember that these planes can reach anywhere in the Middle East, including Iran, and certainly Syria,” he said in a YouTube video clip filmed at the base, with an F-35 in the background. Last week, a senior Iranian parliamentarian was quoted by the semi-official Mehr news agency as saying that if the United States attacked Iran, Israel would be destroyed in half an hour. Israel has long said that every option is on the table in ensuring that Iran does not develop a nuclear weapon, and has backed pledges to prevent Iranian military entrenchment in Syria by carrying out air strikes there. EVENT COMMENT Iran has a significant role to play in events at the time of the end. Iran is mentioned as Persia, Elam, Medes. These 3 ancient areas cover modern day Iran. Persia is mentioned in Ezekiel 38 as joining forces with Russia. However Elam and the Medes are mentioned in Isaiah with regards to events that lead up to the Russian invasion. Isaiah 13 to 23 describe 9 burdens that come on individual nations. These are 9 national nightmares that the world is unable to resolve. All have time of the end fulfilment. The conclusion of these tribulations is the final judgement of the entire world graphically explained in Isaiah 24. Iran crops up throughout these burdens and is therefore a key problem country in the last days. The world is now trying to resolve the Iranian issue but it will end in conflict and the initial inner ring war over Israel. BIBLE QUOTE (Isaiah 21:1-2)

6. 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:  The tabernacles of Edom, and the Ishmaelites; of Moab, and the Hagarenes;  …..; the Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre;  Hamas conducts massive surprise drill simulating IDF incursion into Gaza The Times of Israel, July 9, 2018 Amid heightened tensions between Israel and Hamas, the Gaza-based terror group launched a highly unusual training exercise Tuesday night that simulated the capture of IDF special forces operating in the territory. Gazans reported a spike in the movement of armed personnel in the streets, including along the border with Israel, before the Hamas-run Interior Ministry in the territory announced it was a military drill. The drill saw the sudden raising of the alert level among all security agencies throughout the Strip, a general mobilizing of reserve personnel to the security services, the deployment of roadblocks, and the closure by Hamas of all land crossings and sea ports. Fishermen were told they could not set out to sea. It included police, intelligence units and the terror group’s military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades. EVENT COMMENT The situation between Israel and Hamas is ramping up. On Friday, the Gaza Health Ministry reported that 40 Palestinians were wounded by IDF fire in protests along the Gaza border. Hamas held an unprecedented military exercise in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, in which all members of the coastal enclave's military organizations participated. Officials in Gaza estimated that the drill had been prepared ahead of time, possibly in the expectation of a military conflict with Israel in the next few weeks. We know that at some point Psalm 83 and Zechariah 12 will be fulfilled. The people / tribes that immediately surround Israel will attack. The Palestinians are specifically mentioned by the name of the ancient people who lived there - the Philistines. Israel will overcome the initial inner ring war but peace wont last long – Russia will invade… BIBLE QUOTE (Psalm 83:4-7)

7. Locked and loaded: US and UK military assets in the Gulf region The Times, July 12, 2019 The Gulf fracas is right on the doorstep of American military firepower. The US Fifth Fleet is based in Bahrain and US Central Command’s main forward base is in Qatar, covering 16 countries including Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria. It is telling that Iran has kept its threats strictly to commercial vessels and not naval assets. Neither Tehran nor Washington wants to provoke war. By comparison with the US, the British naval presence in the Gulf is modest, with six ships stationed at the port in Bahrain: HMS Montrose, a Type 23 frigate, four mine countermeasure vessels crucial for keeping the Gulf waterway clear; and a tanker support ship. Ninety-one British-flagged tankers have entered the Gulf this year, 27 of them in June, the busiest month, according to Refinitiv, a financial data company. That suggests that HMS Montrose will be kept busy escorting vessels for as long as the crisis continues. EVENT Britain is sending a second warship to the Gulf amid rising tensions. It said it was discussing with the US the possibility of building up its military presence in the area.  Relations between Tehran and the West have come under increasing strain after UK authorities seized an Iranian tanker in Gibraltar heading for Syria and a Royal Navy ship was harassed by Revolutionary Guards in the Strait of Hormuz. The news report above explains how the US and UK have enormous firepower in the Gulf area – with key bases at Bahrain. The original base was controlled by the British Royal Navy in WW2. The Bible speaks of the merchants of Tarshish and the young lions being allied to Sheba and Dedan. This is exactly what we see. Tarshish is UK. Young lions are US / Canada. Sheba and Dedan are the Arab Gulf nations… COMMENT BIBLE QUOTE Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions thereof, shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?  (Ezekiel 38:13)

8. Leaked documents reveal Russian effort to exert influence in Africa The Guardian, July 11, 2019 EVENT Russia is seeking to bolster its presence in at least 13 countries across Africa by building relations with existing rulers, striking military deals, and grooming a new generation of “leaders” and undercover “agents”, leaked documents reveal. The mission to increase Russian influence on the continent is being led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a businessman based in St Petersburg who is a close ally of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin. The documents show the scale of Prigozhin-linked recent operations in Africa, and Moscow’s ambition to turn the region into a strategic hub. Putin showed little interest in Africa in the 2000s. But western sanctions imposed in 2014 over the annexation of Crimea have driven Moscow to seek new geopolitical friends and business opportunities. COMMENT The leaked documents referred to in the Guardian newspaper refer to specific African countries Russia wants to work with. Libya and Ethiopia are flagged as nations “where cooperation is possible”. The Kremlin has recently stepped up its ground operation in Libya.  Last November the Libyan commander Khalifa Haftar travelled to Moscow and met the defence minister, Sergei Shoigu. Another key territory is Sudan. Last year Russian specialists drew up a programme of political and economic reform, designed to keep President Omar al-Bashir in power. All this is amazing with Bible in hand. Ezekiel 38 tells us that Gog (Russian ruler – currently Putin) will be allied to Libya and Ethiopia. Ethiopia however is actually the Hebrew word Cush – the land of Cush in Ezekiel’s day corresponds exactly to modern day Sudan. Only God could know that 2500 years later (in the last days) that Russia would be allied to Libya and Sudan! And I will turn thee [Gog – Russian ruler] back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords: Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:  BIBLE QUOTE (Ezekiel 38:4-5)

9. Turkey defies Nato with first shipment of Russian missiles The Times, July 13, 2019 EVENT Turkey has defied its western allies to receive its first shipment of S-400 surface-to-air missiles from Russia, in a move that directly challenges Nato and could provoke US sanctions. The S-400 deal with Moscow is the first major arms purchase from Russia by a Nato member and is likely to trigger a decisive rift with allies. The Turkish defence ministry said that the shipment arrived at the Murted airbase near Ankara, the capital, yesterday morning. Delivery was confirmed by the Russian service for military and technical co-operation. “We’ve always said regarding the S-400s that it’s an agreement that has been finalised and the process continues to progress,” Mevlut Cavusoglu, the Turkish foreign minister, said. The United States has already said that delivery of Russia’s most advanced air-defence system would most probably mean that Turkey is cut out of development of the F-35 stealth fighter jet. Training programmes on the jet for Turkish pilots have been stopped. Turkey and Russia are historical foes however the Bible says that they would be allies and invade Israel together in the last days. Until very recently it may have been hard to envisage this happening. In fact in Nov 2015 Turkey shot down a Russian fighter jet. However this actually proved a catalyst for Turkey and Russia to start working together with regards Syria. Mr Erdogan co-operated with President Putin and President Rouhani of Iran to establish ceasefire zones to stem the tide of refugees pouring into Turkey. In return, he received Mr Putin’s support for his increasingly authoritarian rule at home. Then they did the deal with the S-400 missiles. This cooperation between Russia and Turkey brings us another step closer to Ezekiel 38 being fulfilled… COMMENT BIBLE QUOTE Gomer, and all his bands; the house of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with thee. Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.  Togarmah is the ancient name for eastern Turkey and Gomer is ancient name of western Turkey. (Joel 3:12-13)

10. June was hottest ever recorded on Earth The Independent, July 3, 2018 EVENT Last month was the hottest June ever recorded, the EU‘s satellite agency has announced. Data provided by the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), implemented by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts on behalf of the EU, showed that the global average temperature for June 2019 was the highest on record for the month. The data showed European average ​temperatures were more than 2C above normal and temperatures were 6-10C above normal over most of France, Germany and northern Spain during the final days of the month, according to C3S. The global average temperature was about 0.1C higher than during the previous warmest June in 2016. Experts have said climate change made last week’s record-breaking European heatwave at least five times as likely to happen, according to recent analysis. The recent heatwave saw France record the hottest temperature in the country’s history (45.9C) and major wildfires across Spain, where temperatures exceeded 40C. Germany, Poland and Czech Republic also recorded their highest temperatures for June. Professor Hannah Cloke, natural hazards researcher at the University of Reading, said: “We knew June was hot in Europe, but this study shows that temperature records haven’t just been broken. They have been obliterated. “This is the hottest June on record in Europe by a country mile, and the warmest June we have ever seen globally.” The world is in trouble - big trouble. Both physically and spiritually. In fact both elements have always been connected. When Adam and Eve sinned (spiritual sickness) the physical earth was cursed (thorns and thistles). The greater the spiritual sickness the more the physical earth groans. It cannot be long now until Christ returns…. COMMENT And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;  BIBLE QUOTE (Genesis 3:16)

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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.