Weekly World Watch: Israel, Middle East, Europe, Russia, King of South, Declining Morals (July 30 - August 5, 2006)

1. Andy Walton’s Weekly World Watch July 30 – August 5 2006 “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

2. What is this world watch all about? I decided each week to look at key events that had happened in that week and look at them with the Bible in hand. I hope to build up a picture of Gods hand working in the affairs of this world bringing about that day when all nations will be gathered to Jerusalem to battle which will be brought to end when the Lord Jesus Christ physically returns from heaven to set up Gods kingdom. The key areas which will crop up time and again will be • Israel – Middle East the growing conflict • Europe – the developing union / political and religious • Russia – continued turning back to anti west ways • The development of King of South – US & UK • Declining moral standards and increasing violence. Please email me with any thoughts, questions or anything I may have missed! On last page there is a red button – if you click it an email will open up pre addressed to me so you can send an email comments etc

3. Weekly Developments These are just a few of the events that have caught my eye in the previous week. It is in no way meant to be exhaustive – just a look at those events I saw as significant from a Bible viewpoint. Headlines These are always headlines printed in the newspaper – the date is always given and which paper. Normally the Daily Telegraph. (DT) Event This is usually the newspapers take on the events that have happened. It will always be a direct quote from the newspaper. Comment This is my take on why it is interesting from a Bible point of view. The idea of this weekly world watch is to give a quick Biblical perspective without going into detail. If more detail is needed please email me. Bible Quote 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.

4. Weekly Developments July 30 – August 5 2006 • Revolt against Blair over Israel crisis • Israelis edge closer to war with Syria • French diplomacy & Iran • Ahmadinejad: Destroy Israel, End Crisis • Hezbollah unleashes rocket storm • Iraqi civil war getting closer TO PRINT ANY ONE OF THE FOLLOWING SLIDES JUST CLICK ON THE PICTURE ON EACH SLIDE

5. Revolt against Blair over Israel crisis Headline Revolt against Blair over Israel crisis Headline Sunday Telegraph July 30 Event Jack Straw, the former foreign secretary, is leading a growing Cabinet revolt against Tony Blair's handling of the Middle East crisis. Mr Straw heaped pressure on the Prime Minister by describing Israeli attacks on Lebanon as "disproportionate" and accusing Israel of escalating an already dangerous situation. But Mr Blair, who is on a five-day visit to the United States, refused to utter any criticism of Israeli aggression and even rewrote a speech to make it clear that he pins the blame for the crisis solely on Hezbollah terrorists. Comment Prime Minister Blair is following the American line and backing Israel 100%. The trouble for Mr Blair is that he has been gradually weakened politically over the last 12 months within his own party. There is growing dissatisfaction of him and his policies. It is interesting though despite the increasing pressure he has continued to support President Bush and Israel. In terms of the scriptures, we see at the time of the end, Britain, standing with her young lions BUT perhaps in a state of paralysis. The king of the south powers are sufficiently weakened for Gog to invade Israel. They are almost bystanders looking on in horror at what is occurring. Mr Blair maybe the one who says “have you come to take a spoil”. Britain of course IS Tarshish in the verse below. Bible Quote Ezekiel 38 13 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?

6. Israelis edge closer to war with Syria Headline Israelis edge closer to war with Syria Headline Sunday Telegraph July 30 Event Israel and Syria appeared to be edging closer to direct military confrontation last night after tit-for-tat attacks around the Lebanese border and the revelation that a new type of long-range missile fired into Israel by Hezbollah was built in Syria. Tension between the two countries over the war in Lebanon was growing as both Tel Aviv and Damascus readied their forces for the possibility of a direct clash. Israeli intelligence reported that Syrian forces had been put onto their highest state of alert, while Israel has called up 15,000 reservists who many believe will be despatched as reinforcements to the disputed Golan Heights, between the two countries. Comment Debkafile reports this week that Iran has supplied Hezbollah with a battery of 16 upgraded missiles with a range of 350-400km. According to military sources, the Iranian missile battery is still in Syria stored at an airbase. Israeli sources do not rule out the possibility of Syria allowing Hizbollah to shoot the new upgraded missiles from Syrian-Lebanese border, so that the launcher can be pulled back into Syria the moment it is fired and whipped out of reach of the Israeli air force. We have no way of knowing if these reports are true. The fog of war is upon us. However, if the Israeli military believe it to be true then we can see how Syria might be dragged into this conflict. The Bible says it will be. Bible Quote Jeremiah 49 24 Damascus is waxed feeble, and turneth herself to flee, and fear hath seized on her: anguish and sorrows have taken her, as a woman in travail.

7. French diplomacy Headline France takes lead in diplomatic race for ceasefire Article Daily Telegraph August 3 Event France is emerging as a lead player in attempts to solve the Lebanon crisis, offering its services as an honest broker in place of America and Britain. Paris believes it is better placed to deliver peace than Washington and London which it feels are mistrusted in the region for prosecuting the war in Iraq and offering strong support to Israel in the ongoing crisis. This view has been given encouragement by the deputy secretary general of the United Nations, Mark Malloch Brown. "This cannot be perceived as a US-UK deal with Israel," he said, urging Tony Blair to take a back seat in diplomatic efforts. Comment What has been little reported this week is a “pact” made between France and Iran!! French foreign minister Philllippe Douste-Blazy and his Iranian counterpart Manouchehr Mottaki struck a deal at their meeting in Beirut Monday, July 31. They agreed that the disarming of Hizbollah was an internal Lebanese affair. France is also ready to form the bulk of any multinational force in Lebanon. France is fully exploiting the Lebanese impasse created by Israel’s failure so far to achieve the upper hand in 3 weeks of fighting Hizbollah. France’s deal with Iran takes us to the 2nd great rift with America in 3 years. The first being over Iraq. The stage is being set for Europe (excluding UK) to be actively involved on Israel’s border. God is bringing all nations together to war. Bible Quote Joel 3 2 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 the gathering has begun!

8. Ahmadinejad: Destroy Israel, End Crisis Headline Ahmadinejad's Mideast Solution: Destroy Israel Headline Foxnews August 3 Event TEHRAN, Iran — Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Thursday the solution to the Middle East crisis was to destroy Israel, state-media reported. In a speech during an emergency meeting of Muslim leaders in Malaysia, Ahmadinejad also called for an immediate cease-fire to end the fighting between Israel and the Iranian-backed group Hezbollah. "Although the main solution is for the elimination of the Zionist regime, at this stage an immediate cease-fire must be implemented," Ahmadinejad said, according to state-run television in a report posted on its Web site Thursday. Comment Israel, one of the smallest countries in the world is now the centre of the world’s attention. Hatred for Israel is on the increase, even among nations that would traditionally back them like the UK. Iran’s comments above come on top of repeated calls for Israel to be annihilated. The amazing thing is this. The one nation that will survive when ALL others are reduced to dust is Israel! The coming kingdom of God will envelop the whole earth. Jerusalem will be the capital of the globe. Zionism is of course the movement that supports a homeland for the Jewish people in the land of Israel. Zionism therefore will NOT fail. Though great judgement is coming on those living in the land at the moment, ultimately it will be the other nations that fail. The LORD hath chosen Zion: he hath desired it for his habitation. Psalm 132:13 Let us not forget this at anytime - even during the coming conflict over God’s land. Bible Quote Psalm 129 5 Let them all be confounded and turned back that hate Zion

9. Hezbollah unleashes rocket storm Headline Hezbollah unleashes rocket storm Headline The Times August 4 Event EIGHT Israeli civilians and three soldiers were killed yesterday as Hezbollah exacted its heaviest toll on the Jewish state since the conflict began 24 days ago. Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, the Hezbollah leader, went on television last night to hail his fighters’ success. He said that they were inflicting “maximum casualties” on Israeli troops and called their resistance a “miracle”, adding that they were “fighting until the last breath and last bullet”. He offered to stop firing rockets at Israel if it stopped attacking Lebanon, but pledged to hit Tel Aviv if Israel attacked central Beirut. Mark Regev, the Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman, said last night that Nasrallah wanted breathing space “to rearm, regroup and once again be in a position of strength”. Hezbollah fired more than 230 Katyusha rockets at Israel yesterday, including about 130 in a single hour, despite claims by Ehud Olmert, the Israeli Prime Minister, that his bombing campaign had severely weakened the Shia guerrillas. Israel also stepped up its offensive. Some 10,000 troops fought their way into southern Lebanon, carving out a “security zone” that it said it would hold until an international force took over. Comment Israel is in trouble. Things are not going as planned. They have not halted the missiles that are raining down upon them. Israel should not have given up the land promised to THEM by God. The land is not theirs to negotiate with. It is God’s. He punished them once before for not trusting they could live in the land. See chapter below. We long for the time when they finally realise the folly of their ways. Bible Quote Numbers 14 11 How long will this people provoke me?

10. Iraqi civil war getting closer Headline Lebanon is the sideshow to Iran’s sinister moves on Iraq Headlines Sunday Times July 30 Event While the world remains understandably transfixed on Lebanon and Israel, one fact bears keeping in mind: more people were killed in Iraq in the past two weeks than in Israel and Lebanon combined. At their joint press conference on Friday, both Tony Blair and George W Bush mentioned Iraq but they understandably avoided the connection. One crisis at a time is the strategy . But if the war in Lebanon was begun by an Islamist Shi’ite militia, the war in Iraq is increasingly being waged by a clone of the same. It is in some ways the same war: a resurgent Shi’ite terror machine bent on the destruction of Israel. Ayman al-Zawahiri, Al-Qaeda’s guru, putting aside his enmity towards the Shi’ites for the sake of a joint war on Israel, said as much last week. Comment SOME of the most senior American and British officials responsible for policy in Iraq gave warning this week that the country was sliding into civil war, an admission Washington and London have been at pains to avoid for months. Iraq is significant. Ancient Babylon was situated here. The kingdom of Babel began here. Sin and death entered the world here in Eden. Abraham was called out of here. To go to Israel! It cannot be coincidence that at the time of the end, this land is subject to such destruction and death. There is more to come though. Jeremiah 51:11 talks of the Iranians (Medes) planning to destroy Iraq (Babylon). The headline above says a very similar thing. On the way to Israel, Iran may well invade Iraq. Bible Quote Jeremiah 51 54 A sound of a cry cometh from Babylon, and great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans:

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