April 24 - 30, 2016

1. Weekly World Watch Andy Walton’s April 24 - 30, 2016 “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 April 24 - 30, 2016 • Aleppo braces for 'war of all wars' • Russia says U.S. build-up violates Syrian sovereignty • Israel worries about Isil terrorists on northern border • Missile test surge • British support for EU membership split 50-50 • Israeli PM rejects French peace conference initiative To print any of the event slides that follow, click the picture on the upper right PRESS SPACE BAR TO CONTINUE

5. The towns of Hamath [Homs] and Arpad [Aleppo] are struck with fear, for they have heard the news of their destruction. Their hearts are troubled like a wild sea in a raging storm. Damascus has become feeble, and all her people turn to flee. When Aleppo is about to be destroyed, Damascus falls….see v 26-27 • Aleppo braces for 'war of all wars' Daily Telegraph, April 29, 2016 Aleppo saw one of its bloodiest days since the ceasefire began on Friday, as government forces laid the groundwork for a “war of all wars” to retake Syria’s second city. The carnage of the last few days has propelled Aleppo - bitterly contested since 2012 and considered the jewel of Syria - once again to the main battlefield in the civil war. The Syrian regime pounded rebel areas in the city with air raids, including on another medical clinic, while opposition fighters hit government-held neighbourhoods with rocket and artillery fire. Friday prayers were cancelled across Aleppo for only the second time during the five-year war, so worried were residents that they would be targeted if they gathered in groups. With more than 100 killed in the past 48 hours, an average of one Syrian was dying every 25 minutes. EVENT Fadi Hakim, a doctor from Aleppo who set up the clinic in the district of Marja that was bombed on Friday morning, told the Telegraph “it has been some of the worst days we’ve ever seen.” The UN rights chief condemned the “shameful” international response to the escalating violence, accusing the two major powers backing warring sides of becoming "accomplices" in the bloodshed. Aleppo, where roughly 1.5 million people still live, is bracing for a final offensive by the Syrian army, backed by Russian warplanes. So why are we so interested in Aleppo from a Bible prophecy point of view? The answer is Aleppo is specifically mentioned in Jeremiah 49 in connection with the fall of Damascus. In the Bible, Aleppo is called by the ancient name Arpad. Wikipedia says Arpad is an ancient city that was near Aleppo. The Bible says that Arpad would be gripped by fear as they have heard news of their destruction! COMMENT BIBLE QUOTE (Jeremiah 49:23-24 NLT)

6. Then at the time of the end, the king of the south will attack 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 says U.S. build-up violates Syrian sovereignty Wall Street Journal, April 29, 2016 Russia said Friday that U.S. plans to increase the number of its military personnel in Syria was illegal and violated the sovereignty of the war-torn country. “It is impossible for us to be not worried that such an action by the United States of America is being carried out without the agreement of the legal government of Syria,” Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said. “It is a violation of sovereignty,” the state news agency Tass reported him as saying. Earlier this week, U.S. President Barack Obama said Washington would boost the number of special operations forces in Syria to about 300 from 50. They will advise and assist local forces battling the extremist group Islamic State, he said. Since last September, Russian forces, mainly warplanes, have carried out attacks against rebel groups fighting to force Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from power, after Damascus asked for Moscow’s military help. EVENT As the talks between Russia and America over Syria break down, the accusations blaming each other for failure increase. The tension between Russia and America is escalating rapidly. This week the Pentagon said a Russian jet fighter acted in an "unsafe and unprofessional manner", and performed a barrel roll over its plane. It is the second incident in the Baltic this month in which the US has accused Russian planes of flying aggressively. Russia says it was right to confront a US Air Force reconnaissance plane over the Baltic Sea. On Friday, Pentagon spokesman Daniel Hernandez said such actions could "unnecessarily escalate tensions between countries.” Two Russian warplanes flew close to a US destroyer almost a dozen times on the 13th April. This is king of the north (Russia) v the king of the south (USA). COMMENT BIBLE QUOTE (Daniel 11:40 NLT)

7. “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 Israel will also be destroyed, Israel worries about Isil terrorists on northern border Daily Telegraph, April 28, 2016 Israel is increasingly concerned about the presence of Isil terrorists on its north-eastern border in the occupied Golan Heights – only 20 miles from the town of Safed. The Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade has declared allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the self-styled “caliph” of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil). This group has between 600 and 1,000 fighters within striking range of Israel. They are located in the southern Syrian Golan Heights, near the triangle where the Israeli, Jordanian and Syrian borders meet. “We are observing and watching them to make sure there are no surprises,” said Major Arye Sharuz Shalicar, an Israeli military spokesman. One kibbutz is located only two miles from the area where the group’s fighters are said to be stationed; the town of Safed, with a population of 27,000, is only 20 miles away. EVENT COMMENT Israeli defence officials are worried that this ISIS unit may have acquired poisonous gas from Bashar al-Assad’s regime. “Israel will not stand by and watch," said one senior military official. “We will take appropriate action in order to thwart such activities.” This is very interesting. The Bible says the when Damascus is destroyed the northern parts of Israel will also be greatly weakened. So Israel must at some point get drawn into the Syrian conflict. So must Jordan as well. The cities of Aroer are in modern Jordan (see verse below). We can now see how easily Israel could get drawn into this conflict. This report shows how close ISIS is getting to Israel. ISIS as we known are the most fanatical and extreme Muslims. If they could they would try to attack Israel. If they are happy to slaughter other Muslims what must they want to do to Israel? BIBLE QUOTE (Isaiah 17:1-3 NLT)

8. Say to the nations far and wide: “Get ready for war! Call out your best warriors. Let all your fighting men advance for the attack. Hammer your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears. Train even your weaklings to be warriors. Come quickly, all you nations everywhere. • Missile test surge Washington Times, April 27, 2016 EVENT U.S. intelligence agencies that monitor foreign missile tests have been working overtime in the past several weeks keeping tabs on test firings by China, Russia, Iran and North Korea. The surge in missile tests began April 12 in central China with Beijing’s newest and longest-range intercontinental ballistic missile, the DF-41. The missile carried two dummy warheads that are the latest feature of China’s large-scale nuclear build-up — the addition of multiple, independently targetable re-entry vehicles, or MIRVs, to its forces. Then on April 19, Russia tested a revolutionary new hypersonic glide vehicle that travels at several thousand miles per hour and is capable of manoeuvring to defeat missile defences. The Yu-71 was launched atop an SS-19 long-range missile from a base in central Russia and flew east. On the same day that Russia tested its missile, Iran conducted the first test launch of what the Pentagon says is a covert long-range missile known as Simorgh. Iran has called the rocket a space launcher. The Iranian rocket launch was following by Saturday’s test of a North Korean submarine-launched ballistic missile aboard a Gorae-class submarine in the Sea of Japan. Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said the flurry of recent launches is an indication of the growing ballistic missile threat. He added, “Clearly these countries have decided this is a moment to test those capabilities and enhance those capabilities and we see that as a concern, obviously, particularly in those cases when they are violating U.N. resolutions.” And so we see nations preparing, getting themselves ready for conflict. It cannot be a coincidence that all these nations are testing missiles at the same time. The Bible says the Gentiles will prepare for war. Nations far and wide are getting read for war… COMMENT BIBLE QUOTE (Joel 3:9-10 NLT)

9. The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. • British support for EU membership split 50-50 Reuters, April 29, 2016 EVENT British support for staying in the European Union is split 50-50 according to an opinion poll published by research firm ORB which also suggested U.S. President Obama has not won over many voters with his call for the country not to leave the bloc. The online poll of 2,082 people, carried out between Wednesday and Friday for the Independent, showed the balance shifting slightly towards the "Leave" campaign when accounting for the likelihood of respondents to actually vote in the referendum in June. That weighting gave the "Out" campaign 51 percent of the vote against 49 percent for "In," ORB said on Friday. Britons will vote on June 23 on whether to end the country's 43-year membership of the bloc. Many opinion polls have shown the outcome is too close to call. Supporters of the "In" campaign, which has been led by Prime Minister David Cameron, had hoped that support from by President Obama, during a visit to London last week, for Britain to stay in the EU would help their cause. COMMENT It is clearly a very close call in the referendum vote due to take place on the 23rd June that asks British citizens if they want to stay in Europe. If the vote says yes then Britain will remain in Europe but with assurances written into law that will stop any further integration. If the vote says no then Britain will leave the European institutions. The UK will no longer be part of the European project. Many have said that Britain will leave Europe at some point. Britain is Tarshish and is clearly linked to America and Saudi Arabia in Ezekiel 38. The impact on Europe if Britain leaves could be profound. It could be a catalyst to rethink Europe and who is in it. We know that a future Holy Roman Empire will appear at some point. Europe as it stands is not the resurrected HRE. But it is coming. We watch and wait to see the outcome of the referendum. BIBLE QUOTE (Revelation17:8-9)

10. I will make Jerusalem like an intoxicating drink that makes the nearby nations stagger when they send their armies to besiege Jerusalem and Judah. On that day I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock. All the nations will gather against it to try to move it, but they will only hurt themselves. • Israeli PM rejects French peace conference initiative Guardian, April 28, 2016 EVENT Israel’s prime minister has rejected a French peace initiative to break the impasse in negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians. In a short statement issued a few hours before the start of the second Passover holiday in Israel, Binyamin Netanyahu’s office insisted formally that it saw no benefit to a proposed French peace conference mooted for later this year. The announcement comes ahead of a summit of foreign ministers at the end of May in Paris where participants had been expected to try and hammer out a “political horizon” to bring the two sides together later in the summer. “Israel adheres to its position that the best way to resolve the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians is direct, bilateral negotiations,” the statement read. “Israel is ready to begin them immediately without preconditions. Any other diplomatic initiative distances the Palestinians from direct negotiations.” COMMENT Neither Israel nor the Palestinians were to be invited to the summit on 30 May, which is expected to include some 30 countries and international organisations – including the “Quartet” of the UN, the EU, Russia and the US – though they would be expected to attended the peace conference slated for later in the summer. The French foreign minister, insisted on the urgency of breathing new life into the peace process. “The two sides are further apart than ever,” he said last week. “There is no other solution to the conflict than establishing two states – one Israeli and the other Palestinian – living side by side in peace and safety with Jerusalem as a shared capital. We cannot do nothing. We have to act before it’s too late.” See verse below! BIBLE QUOTE (Zechariah 12:2-3 NLT)

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