August 19 - 25, 2018

1. Weekly World Watch Andy Walton’s August 19 - 25, 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 August 19 - 25, 2018 • Russia says 63,000 troops have seen combat in Syria • Russian war games that'll be 'unprecedented in scale' • Nato-Russia: Putin and Nato trade barbs over troops • Trump security adviser: Iran out of Syria or no deal • Europe, a growing push to escape shadow of the U.S. • Volcanic ash helped defeat Napoleon at Waterloo To print any of the event slides that follow, click the picture on the upper right PRESS SPACE BAR TO CONTINUE

5. And some of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, and to purge, and to make them white, even to the time of the end: because it is yet for a time appointed.  This verse is the gap between the ancient king of the north and the latter day king of the north. Russia is the new king of the north because Syria is destroyed (Isaiah 17) Russia says 63,000 troops have seen combat in Syria BBC, August 23, 2018 Russia has revealed the extent of its military involvement in Syria's war. A defence ministry video said more than 63,000 Russian military personnel had "received combat experience" in the country since September 2015.Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said at the end of last year that 48,000 personnel had been deployed. The video also said Russian air force had flown 39,000 sorties, destroying 121,466 "terrorist targets" and killing more than 86,000 "militants". There was no mention of any Russian military or Syrian civilian casualties. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitoring group, says at least 7,928 civilians and 10,069 combatants have been killed in Russian air strikes. The defence ministry video also said Russian forces had tested 231 types of weaponry in Syria, including aircraft, surface-to-air systems, and cruise missiles. Russian forces have played a key role in consolidating the position of their ally, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, over the past three years. EVENT Syria has sucked in major world powers into its internal conflict. Incredibly a US-led multinational coalition battling the Islamic State (IS) group has said it has carried out 29,826 air strikes in Syria and neighbouring Iraq since August 2014! Russia’s attacks are not included in these figures. They have flown 39,000 sorties since September 2015. On top of this Russia has sent many more troops into Syria than has ever been admitted before. A massive 63,000 Russian troops have experienced combat in Syria. It shows just how intertwined Russia has become in Syria. In Bible terms Syria was originally the base of the original king of the north spoken of in Daniel 11. The latter day king of the north isn’t Syrian – he is Russian. We see the power transitioning to Russia. COMMENT BIBLE QUOTE (Daniel 11:35)

6. Get ready; be prepared! Keep all the armies around you mobilized, and take command of them. A long time from now you will be called into action. In the distant future you will swoop down on the land of Israel, Russia just put its military on high alert ahead of massive war games that'll be 'unprecedented in scale' Associated Press, August 20, 2018 Russia's military forces in the country's east were put on high alert Monday ahead of massive war games that also involve China and Mongolia, the largest show of power in nearly 40 years, the Russian defense minister said. Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said the five-day "snap inspection" of the troops will pave the way for the massive exercise called Vostok-2018, or East-2018, which will be held in August and September.Vostok-2018 will be "unprecedented in scale, both in terms of area of operations and numbers of military command structure, troops and forces involved," Shoigu said, according to The Moscow Times, adding that it will also be "the largest preparatory action for the armed forces since Zapad-81."The Zapad exercises in 1981 were the largest war Soviet war games ever held, according to the CIA, with about 100,000 to 150,000 troops participating. EVENT COMMENT Russia and China will hold a large-scale military exercise next week that will include simulated nuclear weapons attacks, according to American defence officials. The show of united force between Russia and China is a far cry from the days when the two giants were once sworn communist rivals after a 1969 border conflict threatened to spark nuclear war between China and the then Soviet Union. These war games on an ever increasing scale are all part of Putin’s preparation for World War 3. An army needs to practice and get ready. The more it does so it actually becomes more likely war will happen. As the confidence grows so do leaders ambitions. The Bible says that Putin would prepare for war before he invades… BIBLE QUOTE (Ezekiel 38:7 NLT)

7. Nato-Russia: Putin and Nato trade barbs over troops BBC, August 22, 2018 Nato has traded barbs with Russia's Vladimir Putin after he accused the alliance of moving its military assets closer to the Russian border. Mr Putin said Russia must strengthen its own capabilities in response. Nato then defended its actions as "defensive, proportionate" and "in line with our international commitments". A spokeswoman told Reuters: "NATO has deployed 4,000 troops to the eastern part of the Alliance to deter any possible aggression. "These troops cannot compare to the divisions deployed by Russia. In contrast, Russia has troops in Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova against the wishes of their governments. "Mr Putin, who had been speaking at a press conference with his Finnish counterpart, also accused Nato of refusing to discuss with Russia rules for military flights. The Western military alliance later denied this, saying that it had discussed air safety in the region at the Nato-Russia Council. EVENT COMMENT Tensions remain high between Russia and NATO as this BBC article makes clear. NATO has moved troops to the east of its territory as a deterrent for further Russian aggression. However all this does is push at Putin who sees NATO’s military presence on the East / West faultline as a threat. Ukraine is a country itself that is divided down the middle into East and West. The faultline goes straight through the country. The western half wants to join the EU. The eastern half wants to join Russia. This is why Russia took Crimea (part of eastern Ukraine). There continues to be a rumbling conflict in eastern Ukraine even now. This week 5 soldiers were killed in eastern Ukraine. There has been a spike in violence there in recent weeks. The East / West faultline is exactly the same faultline in the iron legs of Nebuchadnezzar’s image – it exists today! BIBLE QUOTE The head of the statue was made of pure gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay. While you were watching, a rock was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them (Daniel 2:32-34 NIV)

8. Trump's security adviser tells Russia: Iran out of Syria or no deal Daily Telegraph, August 22, 2018 EVENT Donald Trump’s national security adviser yesterday warned Russia there would be no deal on Syria unless Iranian troops withdrew from the country. The US and Israel have been pressuring Moscow over the matter of Iran’s presence in Syria, where thousands of Iranians are fighting in support of the Bashar al-Assad regime. However, yesterday’s comments from John Bolton marked the first time Washington had issued such a direct ultimatum. "We're going to see what we and others can agree in terms of resolving the conflict in Syria,” Mr Bolton, who is known to be a hawk on foreign policy, told reporters during a visit to Israel. “But the one prerequisite there is the withdrawal of all Iranian forces back in Iran.” Iran is deeply embedded in the conflict and heavily invested in its outcome, making it unlikely it will forfeit its influence in Syria for the sake of a Russian deal. Russian officials have admitted that the Kremlin has no say over the Iranian troops they fight alongside. COMMENT Iran’s presence in Syria is effectively stopping the conflict there coming to a conclusion. Iran has thousands of soldiers and Shi’ite militia fighters on Syrian soil, and it’s anxiously waiting to reap the benefits of Syria’s reconstruction process. But Israel wants every Iranian soldier out of Syria. The US backs Israel on this demand. Russia says it invited Iran in to Syria to help them but doesn’t have the ability to get them out. The US says any new deal with Iran would have to be predicated on Iran leaving Syria. And so the stage is set for a showdown at some point. How long will Israel tolerate Iran in Syria. Not forever. We know something happens to bring terrible destruction to Damascus. It could be Iran’s involvement there that brings this about. BIBLE QUOTE This message came to me concerning Damascus: "Look, the city of Damascus will disappear! It will become a heap of ruins. The towns of Aroer will be deserted. Flocks will graze in the streets and lie down undisturbed, with no one to chase them away. The fortified towns of northern Israel will also be destroyed, (Isaiah 17:1-2 NLT)

9. Europe, a growing push to escape shadow of the U.S. Strafor, August 22, 2018 EVENT On Aug. 21, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas took to German daily Handelsblatt to pen a candid op-ed that boldly called on Europe to re-evaluate the trans-Atlantic partnership and bolster its own autonomy in response to U.S. unilateralism. Maas, a member of the Social Democratic Party (the junior partner in Germany's ruling coalition) dismissed policy prescriptions that simply advise Europe to wait out the Donald Trump presidency. Instead, he argued that the forces that have led to the chasm in the trans-Atlantic relationship have been long in the making and that a more strategic approach to rebalance the relationship is required. Specifically, Maas called for a separate payment system to SWIFT (a Brussels-based company that facilitates global financial transactions) that would be insulated from U.S. secondary sanctions. He also proposed a European Monetary Fund (EMF) that would act independently of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), as well as a European Security and Defense Union — since European members of NATO "cannot rely on Washington" as much as they used to. The EU is rethinking its whole relationship with the US. The US has been for the last 70 years the guarantor of EU safety from a potentially aggressive Russia. But president Trump has changed this. He has openly spoken about not defending the EU and has told them to pay more into the NATO defence budget. Trump’s destabilising rhetoric and behaviour is causing the EU now to talk about severing ties with the US. The thinking is that despite Trump the time has come for the EU to look after itself. This thinking will lead to the rise of the new Holy Roman Empire spoken of in the Bible COMMENT BIBLE QUOTE 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 have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.  The EU will become the resurrected Holy Roman Empire (Revelation 17:12)

10. Volcanic ash helped defeat Napoleon at Waterloo The Times, August 23, 2018 EVENT In 1815 a volcano erupted in Indonesia, killing 100,000 people. Weeks later the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte at the Battle of Waterloo changed the course of European history. The events were separated by nearly 10,000 miles but research has suggested that they were connected — thanks to a plume of electrically charged volcanic ash. Historians had long wondered whether the eruption of Mount Tambora contributed to Napoleon’s defeat. It spewed tonnes of ash, cooling the climate as far away as Europe and America where 1816 was called “the year without a summer”. Unseasonably heavy rain made the French army’s march to the battlefield an exhausting trudge. Sodden conditions led Napoleon to delay his first attack. However, the battle took place two months after the eruption. According to previous theories this was not long enough for it to have altered the weather in Belgium. Matthew Genge, of Imperial College London, has found a mechanism whereby it could have played a role more quickly. He observed that negatively charged particles of ash, less than 500 nanometres across, could rapidly ascend in the atmosphere. Seventy kilometres above the earth they reach the ionosphere, a charged layer that plays a role in cloud formation. Napoleon is significant from a prophecy point of view. He helped bring to an end to the Holy Roman Empire that had existed for 1000 years. In fact the vials of Revelation 16 speak about this time. But when Napoleon’s ”work” was complete he was removed quickly from the world stage. Recent research shows that a volcanic eruption 10,000 miles away back in 1815 could well have contributed to the fall of Napoleon as the weather changed in Europe and heavy rain bogged his army down. God uses the weather to bring about his purpose. God is in control of weather and world events… COMMENT God’s voice thunders in marvelous ways; he does great things beyond our understanding. He says to the snow, ‘Fall on the earth,’ and to the rain shower, ‘Be a mighty downpour.’ So that everyone he has made may know his work, he stops all people from their labour. At his direction they swirl around over the face of the whole earth to do whatever he commands them. BIBLE QUOTE (Job 37:5-7 +12 NIV)

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.