Biblical Insights on Current World Events

1. Weekly World Watch Andy Walton’s March 19 – April 1, 2017 “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 March 19 – April 1, 2017 • Russia-US relations maybe even worse than Cold War • Russia launches ‘unprecedented’ Crimea army drills • Israel conducts drill to get ready for next ‘real war’ • Iran's Rouhani seeks deals with new friend Russia • 'No turning back' - May triggers 'historic' Brexit • EU leaders meet in Rome to rekindle sense of unity To print any of the event slides that follow, click the picture on the upper right PRESS SPACE BAR TO CONTINUE

5. “Then at the time of the end, the king of the south will provoke the king of the north. The king of the north will storm out with chariots, charioteers, and a vast navy. He will invade various lands and sweep through them like a flood • Russia-US relations maybe even worse than Cold War ABC News, March 31, 2017 Russian President Vladimir Putin's right-hand man said in an interview today on ABC's "Good Morning America" that current relations between Russia and the United States are "maybe even worse" than the Cold War. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also told ABC News chief anchor George Stephanopoulos that the allegations of Russia's interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election are "fake news" and "slander.” "It has no evidence at all," he said of the claims. Peskov pointed to then-President Barack Obama's sanctions against Russia in late December in response to the alleged election interference as one reason for relations between the two countries being "maybe even worse" than during the Cold War. On Dec. 29, Obama announced in a statement "a number of actions in response to the Russian government's aggressive harassment of U.S. officials and cyberoperations aimed at the U.S. election." EVENT The clamour over Russian involvement in the US elections continues to grow by the day. Several congressional committees are now investigating Russia’s role in the 2016 election. This comes on top of the U.S. intelligence agencies report in January concluding that Putin personally ordered a campaign to influence the 2016 election in favour of Trump. Putin’s spokesman went on US TV this week saying that the situation now is maybe even worse than the Cold War! Despite Trump wanted better relations with Russia but this is clearly not happening. Instead the animosity between the countries is getting worse. Putin craves respect from the US but instead he is being vilified. The Bible says that there will be a king of the north (Russia) v king of the south (US/UK) situation at the time of the end. Trump’s election is helping bring this about… COMMENT BIBLE QUOTE (Daniel 11:40 NLT)

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, which will be enjoying peace after recovering from war • Russia launches ‘unprecedented’ Crimea army drills to test rapid reaction forces The Independent, March 20, 2017 Russia has launched unprecedented land, air and sea drills in annexed Crimea in a coordinated training exercise involving thousands of troops. The action is billed as significant by the military as it is said to be the first time in the history of the Russian army that three large Airborne units have been “simultaneously alerted”. The commander in charge of the exercise, Colonel-General Andrei Serdyukov, said the drill was prompted by an "increased terrorist threat” in the region. It will see more than 2,500 paratroopers and 600 pieces of equipment deployed to the disputed peninsula, which was under the control of the Ukrainian government until Russia illegally annexed it in February 2014. Russian troops will practice amphibious landings and airdrops and carry out firing drills during “offensive and defensive operations”. Col Serdyukov said: "For the first time in the Russian army’s history the Airborne Forces’ three large units were simultaneously alerted as part of the drills and partly redeployed to Crimea with weapons and equipment.” EVENT COMMENT Russia has been preparing for war for the last 18 months. These latest drills are unprecedented in terms of size and scale. Only 6 months ago millions of people in Russia were involved in a nuclear war exercise. Western media may not be paying much attention now to Ukraine, but this does not mean that the conflict there has been frozen, much less settled. The ceasefire concluded in February 2015 has not held, and the frontline has seen incessant fighting. Russia has been building up its armed forces along the Ukrainian border, and is in the process of establishing four new divisions there. The Bible says that Russia would prepare for conflict. We see this underway. BIBLE QUOTE (Ezekiel 38:7 NLT)

7. “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, which will be enjoying peace after recovering from war and after its people have returned from many lands to the mountains of Israel. The war Israel is recovering from in verse 8 is the initial war with the surrounding peoples of Psalm 83. • Israel conducts military drill to get ready for next ‘real war’ with Hezbollah RT, March 31, 2017 Israel is conducting a large-scale military drill at a base in the north of the country, in what commanders say could always be the “last training before the war”with Hezbollah. “We are trying to give the commanders and the soldiers the environment that looks like the real war so that they can have the feeling, when they will have to go to war, they will feel that they did it before. This is the purpose of the training – to prepare for the real thing,” Col. Kobi Valer, commander of the Elyakim Military Base in northern Israel, told AP. “The forces need to know that this could be their last training before the war,” he added. Armed with paintball pellets to stage a mock battle, the troops raided structures featuring murals of Hezbollah’s chief, Hassan Nasrallah, and other top Hezbollah figures, and opened fire at fellow officers playing the roles of guerrillas, AP reported. EVENT COMMENT The tension is escalating once again between Israel and Hezbollah. Hezbollah are a terrorist organisation based in Tyre (in Lebanon). But since the Syrian conflict many Hezbollah fighters have ended up in Syria as they support Assad. Hezbollah have been busy arming themselves with rockets and missiles during this period. More recently Hezbollah have moved closer to the Golan Heights which is the border between Israel and Syria. Israel has responded by launching several bombing raids on Hezbollah inside Syria. A few weeks ago Hezbollah's chief also threatened to strike Israel's nuclear facilities if Israel were to attack, and Israel has detailed a contingency plan to evacuate up to a quarter-million civilians from border communities to protect them. There is an initial “inner ring” war coming soon. It precedes the Russian invasion. BIBLE QUOTE (Ezekiel 38:7-8 NLT)

8. A grievous vision is declared unto me; the treacherous dealer dealeth treacherously, and the spoiler spoileth. Go up, O Elam: besiege, O Media; all the sighing thereof have I made to cease. Therefore are my loins filled with pain: pangs have taken hold upon me, as the pangs of a woman that travaileth: These verses are to be fulfilled in the future when Iran rises up.. Iran's Rouhani seeks deals with new friend Russia Reuters, March 27, 2017 Iran's president met Russia's prime minister on Monday in a bid to develop a warming relationship that has been greatly strengthened by both sides' involvement on the same side of the war in Syria. Beginning a visit to Moscow, President Hassan Rouhani told Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev: "I hope that a new turning-point in the development of our relations will be reached.” Iranian arms purchases and Russian investment in the Iranian energy sector are likely talking points for Rouhani, less than two months before Iran's May 19 presidential election. Iranian media say he will discuss several economic agreements - potentially valuable prizes for the moderate leader, who is keen to show his people that Iran is benefiting from its 2015 deal with world powers to rein back its nuclear programme in returning for an easing of international sanctions. EVENT COMMENT Iran and Russia have been working ever closer as they decide the future of Syria. Russia launched some attacks from a military base in Iran showing the world that the two nations were fully aligned. Iran is desperate for even more weapons and military equipment and Russia is keen to do a deal with a strategic partner like Iran. The Bible speaks clearly of Iran joining forces with Russia and invading Israel with other countries like Turkey and Libya. Ezekiel 38 was written 2500 years ago – only God could know how the countries would line up at the time of the end. Interestingly (and little reported) there was a powerful ten-foot tall surge of water that appeared out of the Persian Gulf, battering the city of Bandar in southern Iran last week. The wave killed two and injured dozens in the Bushehr Province. The region suffered major property damage. The area struck is the land the Bible calls Elam. BIBLE QUOTE (Isaiah 21:2-3)

9. 'No turning back' - May triggers 'historic' Brexit Reuters, March 29, 2017 EVENT Prime Minister Theresa May formally began Britain's divorce from the European Union on Wednesday, declaring there was no turning back and ushering in a tortuous exit process that will test the bloc's cohesion and pitch her country into the unknown. In one of the most significant steps by a British leader since World War Two, May notified EU Council President Donald Tusk in a hand-delivered letter that Britain would quit the club it joined in 1973. "The United Kingdom is leaving the European Union," May told parliament nine months after Britain shocked investors and world leaders by unexpectedly voting to quit the bloc. "This is an historic moment from which there can be no turning back.” The prime minister, an initial opponent of Brexit who won the top job in the political turmoil that followed the referendum vote, now has two years to negotiate the terms of the divorce before it comes into effect in late March 2019. COMMENT It is amazing to see Britain leaving the EU. So far there has been no impact on Britain or the EU itself. But that is about to change. Now the divorce proceedings have officially begun - now the arguments will begin. Britain has to unravel herself from all the trade agreements and laws that intertwine into every aspect of life in the UK. Even if both parties were totally amicable and friendly this would be a difficult task. But add in national self interest and politics this has every chance of being highly destructive. Britain is Tarshish in the Bible. It is a power that is allied to the “young lions” in Ezekiel 38. i.e. US, Canada, Australia etc. It is with these nations that Britain is looking to create new trade deals. Interesting that the Bible uses the phrase “the merchants” of Tarshish. Britain is once again being a merchant – a trader…. 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)

10. I will explain to you the mystery of the woman and of the beast she rides, which has the seven heads and ten horns. The beast, which you saw, once was, now is not, and yet will come up out of the Abyss and go to its destruction. The EU will breakup and remerge out of the abyss and form a new Holy Roman Empire • EU leaders meet in Rome to rekindle sense of unity ABC News, March 24, 2017 The Beast The Woman EVENT Posing with Pope Francis in front of Michelangelo masterpiece "The Last Judgment" at the Vatican, European Union leaders started their weekend pilgrimage in Rome with the hope that a visit to the cradle of their project of unity can somehow rekindle the vigour of youth. More and more, it looks like that future will have less unanimity and more decisions where groups of member nations advance on their own when faced with resistance from others on specific issues, Prime Minister Xavier Bettel of founding nation Luxembourg in an interview with the Associated Press. Saturday marks the 60th anniversary of the signature of their solemn bond in Rome, which started with six founding nations but steadily grew to 28. But the biggest setback in the EU's history looms next week when Britain officially triggers negotiations to become the first nation to leave the bloc. Britain (unsurprisingly) was not invited to attend this gathering in Rome. It marked the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Rome which was the original pact that created the EU. It was signed by 6 nations but the EU grew to 28 nations. Britain is the first nation ever to have left. But there is a sense of crisis in the EU. What damage will Brexit do to the EU? Will other nations follow suit? This is the nightmare the leaders of the EU have.. What happens next? One reporter in the Daily Telegraph said this week “the EU is on the edge of the abyss”. Revelation 17 says that a Holy Roman Empire beast system will arise “out of the abyss”. There is a woman riding the beast. The woman is the false religion of Rome. The meeting this week began with the Pope telling the leaders “"You are called on to blaze the path of a new European humanism!” COMMENT BIBLE QUOTE (Revelation 17:7-8 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.