ARIEL SHARON – SPECIAL REPORT

1. Weekly World Watch Andy Walton’s ARIEL SHARON – SPECIAL REPORT “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 ARIEL SHARON – SPECIAL REPORT • 'King of Israel,' Ariel Sharon, Dead at 85 • Sharon causes religious crisis over Gaza plan • Prime minister plans to draw 'the final shape of Israel' • Israeli-Palestinian peace talks at crunch time • The Rabbi, the Note and the Messiah • Ariel Sharon’s death sparks prophecy bombshell To print any of the event slides that follow, click the picture on the upper right PRESS SPACE BAR TO CONTINUE

5. Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel. Ariel Sharon was instrumental in securing the whole land of Israel. His conquests in 1967 and 1973 ensured Israel’s survival in the land given to them by God. God was undoubtedly with him in these victories. But in his old age Ariel Sharon trod a different path…. 'King of Israel,' Ariel Sharon, Dead at 85 NewsMax, January 11, 2014 Ariel Sharon —  the military hero and prime minister who was among the most controversial figures in the history of Israel — has died, eight years after the massive stroke that left him comatose. He was 85. He died Saturday at Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer, outside of Tel Aviv, where he has been cared for since January 2006. Over his long career Sharon served as Israel's 11th prime minister, headed several ministries including Defense, and rose to the rank of general in the Israeli army, seeing action in all four of Israel's major wars. Reviled by Arabs over his hardline policies and viewed with a mixture of respect and suspicion by many Israelis, Sharon had been on life support at the hospital far from the public gaze. EVENT COMMENT In this WWW we are going to look at the possible significance of the death of Ariel Sharon. Ariel Sharon was born in Palestine (as it was then known) in 1928. He was a platoon commander in the Israeli military at the outset of the 1948 War of Independence. He headed Israel's most powerful armoured division as a major general in the 1967 Six-Day War. In the 1973 Yom Kippur war Sharon’s bold manoeuvre in crossing the Suez Canal and encircling the Egyptian army was considered the key to Israel’s victory. It led to the Israeli public giving him the nickname “The king of Israel” and “The Lion of God”. Crowds swarmed the streets in 1973 singing a revised Hebrew song called “David – King of Israel” and changed it to “Ariel – King of Israel.” During the 70’s and 80’s as Secretary for Agriculture he encouraged building on the West Bank. Eventually he became the head of the Likud party. In 2001 he became prime minister of Israel. Two years later he promised to create a Palestinian state…. BIBLE QUOTE (Ezekiel 11:17)

6. Ought ye not to know that the LORD God of Israel gave the kingdom over Israel to David for ever, even to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt? Ariel Sharon should have known this – but it was about to get worse…. Sharon causes religious crisis over Gaza plan Daily Telegraph, August 15, 2005 EVENT The decision by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to pull Israeli settlers out of the Gaza Strip and part of the West Bank has shaken Israel's Orthodox Jewish community to its foundations. Never before has an Israeli government relinquished what the religious population universally regards as holy land, promised to the Jews by God. The move challenges core religious beliefs, leaving many Orthodox Jews - soldiers among them - in spiritual turmoil and clamouring for guidance as to how to respond. For the first time since the Jewish state was founded, Israel was voluntarily uprooting its own people and preparing to transfer the land to the Palestinians. It was a turning point for the Zionist project, when Israel admitted defeat in attempting to ensure a Jewish majority across the whole of Eretz Yisrael, the land historically claimed by the People of the Book. And who was the man behind this withdrawal? The Lion of God – Ariel Sharon! What an amazing turn around. Sharon who had led Israel to such amazing victories was now withdrawing from land given to Israel by God. We may ask if Gaza is part of Israel that God had promised his people? Well we are told in Exodus 23 v 31 “I will set thy bounds from the Red sea even unto the sea of the Philistines, and from the desert unto the river: for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand; and thou shalt drive them out before thee.” The sea of the Philistines = Gaza. The area of the ancient Philistines WAS included in the land. Sharon sent in the soldiers who physically pulled Jews out of the land (and parts of the West Bank). The picture above shows soldiers weeping as they removed their own people. As Exodus 23 says it was was God who drove out the inhabitants of the land. But now here was an Israeli leader - the first in all history – to give away (voluntarily!) land given to the Jews by God.... COMMENT BIBLE QUOTE (2 Chronicles 13:5)

7. 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: Sharon promised peace. Sharon built a wall. Verse 13 tells us the wall will be destroyed by God. Prime minister plans to draw 'the final shape of Israel' Daily Telegraph, November 27, 2005 Sixty years after the state of Israel was created, Ariel Sharon is effectively drawing its final borders, say his advisers, diplomats, friends … and the cartographers. They believe that Mr Sharon, who as a general played a leading role in the expansion of Israel's borders in successive wars since 1948, is now - as a politician - determined to set the country's hitherto elastic frontiers in stone. What is more, judging by his track record and the way public opinion is shifting, there is a real chance that he may succeed. In 2002, he ordered the construction of the controversial barrier - an 18ft high combination of concrete wall and chain fence that snakes through the West Bank. Over the summer his government successfully oversaw the withdrawal of the thousands of Jewish settlers from Gaza. EVENT COMMENT With the withdrawal of Gaza complete Sharon planned to complete the process by finally dividing the land of Israel in two. And this is where is gets interesting… All this is recorded in the Daily Telegraph…. At about 3pm on January 4th 2006 a man called Otniel Schneller was ushered into Ariel Sharon’s office. He was a senior cartographer – known as the map maker. He had the final detailed plans for the future borders of Israel. It detailed the withdrawal this time not of Gaza but of the vast majority of the West Bank and some parts of Jerusalem. The meeting lasted 1 ½ hours – at the end of it Sharon agreed the map would form the basis of Israel’s disengagement of the West Bank and the creation of a Palestinian State. Two hours later Sharon suffered a massive stroke and went into a coma. Coincidence? The coma lasted almost exactly 8 years. He died on Saturday 11th January 2014. Coincidence? Read on…. BIBLE QUOTE (Ezekiel 13:10)

8. yet will they lean upon the LORD, and say, Is not the LORD among us? none evil can come upon us. Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, Israeli-Palestinian peace talks at crunch time Washington Post, January 2, 2014 The United States will help Israel and the Palestinians establish“fixed, defined parameters”for a permanent peace deal, Secretary of State John F. Kerry said Thursday, as troubled negotiations enter a new year and lurch toward a spring deadline for an accord. Five months into the talks that he pushed both sides to begin last summer, Kerry is stepping into a more direct role as mediator. The immediate goal is an “agreed framework” to guide the final and most difficult phase of talks on how to settle the decades-old conflict, he said. “This is not mission impossible,” Kerry said at the outset of his 10th visit to Israel as the United States’ top diplomat. He arrived as news spread that former Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon is near death. EVENT he COMMENT So we are now back up to date. 8 years ago Ariel Sharon with huge public support was pressing ahead to divide the land of Israel. 60% of the people in the land were in favour of what he was doing. He was then struck down by a stroke and remained in a coma for 8 years. Now look at the headline and article again in the Washington Post… Here we are again 8 years later with exactly the same situation. America is pushing Israel to establish “fixed, defined parameters (borders)” for a permanent peace deal. At the very time Kerry arrives in Israel to persuade Israel to do this Sharon’s health takes a turn for the worse. Just days later he is dead. Coincidence? NO. Surely God is warning those who would divide His land of what happens to those who try. Sharon tried – he went into a coma. 8 years later they try again – this time Sharon dies. Ariel Sharon’s name is significant. Ariel is a name for Jerusalem. Sharon means “level” or a “field or plain”. Jerusalem like a field or levelled. That is exactly what is to happen to Jerusalem when the nations try to divide it. It will be levelled and ploughed and made like a field!! BIBLE QUOTE (Micah 3:12)

9. Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt!.... Yet I will distress Ariel, and there shall be heaviness and sorrow: and it shall be unto me as Ariel. …For the LORD hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered. The Rabbi, the Note and the Messiah Israel Today, April 7, 2007 A few months before he died, one of the nation’s most prominent rabbis, Yitzhak Kaduri, wrote the name of the Messiah on a small note which he requested would remain sealed until now. When the note was unsealed, it revealed what many have known for centuries: Yehoshua, or Yeshua (Jesus), is the Messiah. A few months before Kaduri died at the age of 108, he surprised his followers when he told them that he met the Messiah. Kaduri gave a message in his synagogue on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, teaching how to recognize the Messiah. He also mentioned that the Messiah would appear to Israel after Ariel Sharon’s death. (The former prime minister is still in a coma after suffering a massive stroke more than a year ago.) Other rabbis predict the same, including Rabbi Haim Cohen, kabbalist Nir Ben Artzi. EVENT In 2005 while Sharon was at the height of his power and busy withdrawing from Gaza, Israel’s most loved and prominent Rabbi pronounced that the Messiah would return AFTER the death of Ariel Sharon. Kaduri died just a few months after Sharon in 2006 at the age of 108. Over 300,000 people attended his funeral. One year before his death Kaduri wrote a note that he requested should only be opened one year after his own death. In the note he revealed that the Messiah was in fact Jesus! All this was reported in Israel Today. By the time the note was opened Ariel Sharon was in a coma. Now at his death 8 years later many in Israel are asking whether the Messiah will come soon. We mentioned on the previous slide about Ariel meaning Jerusalem. Ariel is mentioned in this context in only one chapter in the Bible. Isaiah 29. It speaks of Ariel being the city where David lived. It speaks of Jerusalem being bought down to the ground (Leveled). But amazingly it also speaks of the leaders falling into a deep sleep…. COMMENT BIBLE QUOTE (Isaiah 29:1-2-10)

10. the world at that time was destroyed, being flooded with water. But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men…God is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. Ariel Sharon’s death sparks prophecy bombshell WND, January 18, 2014 EVENT The death of former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon last week has drawn attention to the prophecy of a venerated Jewish spiritual leader. When Sharon was still in office, vibrant and in command of his faculties, a venerated rabbi, who claimed he had met the Messiah, predicted the Messiah would not come until after Sharon’s death. Rabbi Yitzhak Kaduri died shortly after Sharon suffered a stroke that left him comatose in 2006. But before the beloved Kaduri died, he wrote a cryptic note in which he named the Messiah with whom he claimed to have had a mystical encounter. On the 108-year-old rabbi’s instructions, the note was to be released a year after his death. We cannot know for certain what the Rabbi Kaduri saw or heard. We do know he said that the Messiah would return after Sharon’s death. We do know in his note he revealed Jesus to be the Messiah. We also know one scriptural precedent for a significant death before worldwide judgment. There has only ever been one worldwide judgment before. The next one is coming soon. The first one was at the time of the flood. BEFORE the flood came a man died. His name was Methuselah. His name means “his death shall bring judgment.” He definitely died in the year the flood came and before the flood came. His own name spelt out judgment was coming. Ariel Sharon might be a similar person. His own name predicts what is coming. Judgment concerning Jerusalem. The leveling of Jerusalem. Sharon who led Israel to capture the land became the leader who gave some of it away and tried to divide it in two. He dies at the very time the world is pushing for division again. Is all this pure chance? – or is God’s hand behind these things? – you decide…. COMMENT BIBLE QUOTE (2 Peter 3:6-7)

11. 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. Please take a look at this excellent Christadelphian Prophecy website Just click the image To watch again, click here.