August 21 - 27, 2016

1. Weekly World Watch Andy Walton’s August 21 - 27, 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 August 21 - 27, 2016 • Turkey invades Syria • US urges action over 'Syrian chemical attacks' • Putin orders drills as Merkel accuses him on Ukraine • Germans warned to stockpile food and water • German, French heads at EU symbolic birthplace • Alien life could exist on 'second Earth’ orbiting star To print any of the event slides that follow, click the picture on the upper right PRESS SPACE BAR TO CONTINUE

5. “Look, the city of Damascus will disappear! It will become a heap of ruins……the royal power of Damascus will end. All that remains of Aram [Syria] will share the fate of Israel’s departed glory,” declares the Lord of Hosts. • Turkey invades Syria Israel National News, August 24, 2016 More than 80 ISIS targets were attacked in the first hours of "Operation Euphrates Shield" early Wednesday, officials say, as Turkish armour and warplanes targeted a key ISIS-held town across its border with Syria. Jarablus is one of the few towns in northern Syria that ISIS still controls and is a critical location for supplies, money and fighters coming into ISIS-held areas. In recent months, much of Turkey's firepower has been directed at the Kurdish separatist PKK in southeastern Turkey and across the border in northern Iraq. It has also occasionally shelled ISIS positions in northern Syria, but its last-known airstrikes against ISIS were in November last year. Turkish authorities have been pressed into taking action against ISIS by the surge of suicide bombings in Turkey, as well as the terror group's use of safe houses and "informal" financial services on Turkish soil. EVENT On Wednesday Turkish tanks rolled across the border into Syria. This is in response to the recent suicide bombings that have plagued Turkey. Over 50 people were killed at a wedding last week in southern Turkey and this seems to have been the final straw. Many commentators are saying that this is another step closer to World War 3 in the Middle East. It is yet another country entering the war in Syria. We now have the following all fighting in Syria….Russia, Iran, Hezbollah, Free Syrian Army, Syrian Government, PKK, Turkey, America, Saudi Arabia, ISIS and more! They are all on different sides, all fighting with different objectives. There is no end in sight to this war. But the Bible is clear there is an end. It is the total end of Syria as a nation. The cataclysmic end of Damascus as a city. Turkey’s entry into Syria is another step to this. COMMENT BIBLE QUOTE (Isaiah 17:1+3 NLT)

6. At the end time the king of the South [USA/UK] will push and militarily provoke him [Gog / Russian leader of verse 36-39 who becomes the king of the north] , and the king of the North [Russian forces] will storm against him [the king of the south] with chariots and horsemen and with many ships; and he will enter countries, overwhelm them and pass through The first “him” is not the same as the second “him” in this verse. • US urges action over 'Syrian chemical attacks' BBC, August 25, 2016 The US has urged "strong and swift action" after a UN investigation concluded that Syria used chemical weapons against its own people. The year-long inquiry found the government used chlorine gas in attacks in Idlib province in 2014 and 2015. Chlorine is an industrial chemical and was not part of the weapons stockpile that Syria agreed to give up in 2013. However, use of it as a weapon would contravene conventions signed by President Bashar al-Assad. The US ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, said the use of chemical weapons was "barbaric" and called for "all states to support strong and swift action". The report will be discussed by the security council next week. French ambassador to the UN Alexis Lamek also said "the council will have to act”. "When it comes to proliferation, use of chemical weapons, such weapons of mass destruction, we cannot afford being weak," he added. EVENT Back in August 2012, President Obama said that the use of chemical weapons by the Assad government would be a "red line" that, if crossed, would force the US to intervene. It was proved then that Syria did use chemical weapons but in the face of opposition Obama delayed authorizing military action. Russia then brokered an agreement, to have Syria handover its chemical weapons. But since then Syria has used Chlorine (a chemical weapon when used as such) to attack its enemies. The report this week said Syria has used chlorine as a weapon. And so now there are calls for action. What this action is remains to be seen. This week talks failed between Russia and America over a solution in Syria. We maybe approaching the time when the king of the south (USA) pushes at the king of the north (Russia). This is still to happen. COMMENT BIBLE QUOTE (Daniel 11:40 Amplified Version)

7. Satan will be let out of his prison. He will go out to deceive the nations—called Gog and Magog—in every corner of the earth. He will gather them together for battle…Then the devil who had deceived them, was thrown into the fiery lake of burning sulfur, joining the beast and the false prophet. The beast (EU headed up by Germany) is in the fiery lake. Magog at the end of the 1000 years joins the beast. Therefore Germany cannot be Magog Putin orders drills as Merkel accuses him on Ukraine Bloomberg, August 25, 2016 Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered snap military drills as German Chancellor Angela Merkel accused him of breaking international law in Ukraine and said NATO will defend member states against attack. Combat readiness exercises are taking place “to defend the interests of the Russian Federation amid increasing threats to its security,” Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said Thursday in a statement on the ministry’s website. Troops in Russia’s southern, central and western military districts, naval deployments in the Black Sea and Caspian Sea, and airborne forces are involved, he said. While Germany wants a “constructive relationship” with Russia, “we have to live with the reality” of its actions in annexing Crimea and backing separatists in eastern Ukraine, Merkel told reporters Thursday in the Estonian capital, Tallinn. Members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization will stand together against any threats and are committed to protecting the Baltic nation that borders Russia, she said. EVENT COMMENT There are some who see Magog as Germany and therefore are expecting Putin to either control Germany or become allied with it. Unfortunately the opposite is happening. Germany and Russia are at loggerheads over Ukraine. The reason for this is simple. Magog is NOT Germany. We are not expecting Putin to rule over Germany. Nowhere in the Bible does it say so. The territory of Magog was southern Russia and into eastern Ukraine. Which is why Putin is trying to take control of eastern Ukraine. The beast system (of Revelation 17) IS headed up by Germany. But the beast is destroyed forever by Christ and the saints. Magog however reappears at the end of the millennium. If the beast (ruled by Germany) is destroyed forever how can it reappear? BIBLE QUOTE (Revelation 20:8+10 NLT)

8. and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book. • Germans warned to stockpile food and water Independent, August 24, 2016 EVENT For the first time since the Cold War the German government is advising citizens to stockpile food and water for use in a national emergency. Some opposition MPs said the new civil defence concept, to go before ministers on Wednesday, was scaremongering. Citizens are advised to store enough food to last them 10 days, because initially a disaster might put national emergency services beyond reach. Five days' water - two litres (half a gallon) per person daily - is advised. The German news website Frankfurter Allgemeine (FAZ) said the new concept was set out in a 69-page German Interior Ministry document. The document said "an attack on German territory, requiring conventional defence of the nation, is unlikely". But, it said, a major security threat to the nation in future could not be ruled out, so civil defence measures were necessary. COMMENT It sounds like Germany is expecting war or some major terrorist incident. For governments to warn citizens to stockpile food and water is not something that happens everyday. Clearly they are very concerned about possible future events. Perhaps Germany sees war in Europe soon? On top of this Germany is considering the return of conscription for civil defence. In a crisis civilians might be obliged to help direct traffic or provide fuel and accommodation for the military, German news agency DPA reported. During the Cold War, national service meant that West Germany could mobilise 495,000 soldiers and boost the numbers to about 1.2m if necessary by calling up reservists. We are living in fearful times. The nations know that a time of trouble such as never was is coming. A worldwide emergency is at hand. Stockpiling food and water won’t help. It will take the return of Jesus to solve the world’s huge problems. BIBLE QUOTE (Daniel 12:1)

9. German, French heads at EU symbolic birthplace Associated Press, August 22, 2016 EVENT The leaders of Italy, France and Germany vowed Monday to improve Europe's defence and economic prospects as they paid tribute to one of the founding fathers of European unity in a symbolic bid to relaunch the EU after Britain's vote to leave. Standing silently together, Italian Premier Matteo Renzi, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Holland placed three bouquets of blue and yellow flowers — the colours of the European Union — on the simple white marble tombstone of Altiero Spinelli on the island of Ventotene. Spinelli, along with another intellectual confined to Ventotene in the 1940s by Italy's fascist rulers, co-wrote the "Ventotene Manifesto" calling for a federation of European states to counter the nationalism that had led Europe to war. The document is considered the inspiration for European federalism. Back in World War II a man called Altiero Spinelli was held prisoner on the Italian island called Ventotene. While in prison he wrote a political manifesto called “For a Free and United Europe.” It became known as the Ventotene Manifesto. It called on Europe to form a new political system. A federal government. He called for a “federal State, that will have at its disposal a European armed service instead of national armies.” A federal Europe is the unification of individual nation states into one sovereign state. The United Sates of America is one sovereign nation made up of many states. Europe wants to become the United States of Europe. The 3 big powers of the EU met this week in the very place where Spinelli wrote this manifesto. The message is clear. They will continue to drive towards the goal of a federal Europe. Interesting that 2 days later an earthquake struck central Italy. The tremors were felt on Ventotene! The Bible says a great earthquake is coming – maybe centred on Italy and Papal Rome. COMMENT And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great. And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: The “great city” is mentioned in Revelation 17:18. This is a clear reference to Rome. See v 9. Rome is built on 7 hills. BIBLE QUOTE (Rev 16:18)

10. The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, “Let us break their chains and throw off their shackles.” The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them. God laughs with scorn at worldly rulers who think they can prove God and His Son don’t exist. • Alien life could exist on 'second Earth’ orbiting star Daily Telegraph, August 24, 2016 EVENT It is invisible to the naked eye from Earth and outshone by the bright glow of Alpha Centauri, but our closest star is holding an intriguing secret, scientists have discovered. Proxima Centauri, which lies in our nearest star system, is orbited by a rocky planet that is so similar to Earth that it could harbour life. The planet, dubbed ‘Proxima b’ is only four light years away, just next door in astronomical terms, and sits in a position known as the Goldilocks Zone, where the temperature is mild enough for water to remain liquid. The planet is more than 25 trillion miles away, a distance that would take around 30,000 years to reach with current technology. Evolutionists are obsessed with finding life on another planet. If they can find life elsewhere it would prove their theory (they believe) that life did evolve on earth. God is clear in Genesis that he made the earth FIRST and the stars LATER. He made the earth on day 1. He made the stars on day 4. In other words it all began with planet earth and all the stars were arrayed around it. By the way of course light didn’t take trillions of light years to reach earth. The light from the stars shone instantly. Just as the trees had fruit and man was fully grown. Everything was created and assembled in working order. Like a machine that needs ALL the parts present to work so God put everything together quickly for it all to work. There is a wonderful YouTube video that proves that universe and solar system is young. It proves it cannot be billions of years old. It has to be thousands of years old. I thoroughly recommend this video. We watched it at Bible class this week. It is long – but it is worth it. CLICK HERE to watch. COMMENT BIBLE QUOTE (Psalm 2:2-4 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. Please take a look at this excellent Christadelphian Prophecy website Just click the image To watch again, click here.