Weekly World Watch: June 10-16, 2018 Developments

1. Weekly World Watch Andy Walton’s June 10 - 16, 2018 “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 June 10 - 16, 2018 • Trump, Kim Jong-un pledge peace and security • IDF launches surprise exercise in Golan Heights • UN Assembly blames Israel for Gaza violence • Yemen war: Saudi troops launch assault on Iran rebels • Russian navy put on high alert off Ukraine coast • Pope says countries must unite on migration To print any of the event slides that follow, click the picture on the upper right PRESS SPACE BAR TO CONTINUE

5. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.  But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.  “they” the people saying peace and safety are the gentiles. See 1 Thess 4:5 Trump, Kim Jong-un pledge peace and security South China Morning Post, June 12, 2018 United States President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un hailed their historic summit on Tuesday as a breakthrough for peace on the Korean peninsula, but questions immediately emerged over the sketchiness of the pact they signed and whether Pyongyang would actually surrender its nuclear arsenal any time soon. China, North Korea’s most important ally, mooted sanctions relief for the hermit kingdom within hours of the meeting, which Foreign Minister Wang Yi described as “creating a new history”. After their nearly five-hour summit at Singapore’s Sentosa island resort, Trump and Kim sealed a deal that saw the US president pledge “security guarantees” to Pyongyang, while the isolated regime’s young leader “reaffirmed his firm and unwavering commitment to complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula”. EVENT COMMENT The whole world was transfixed as they watched the almost impossible. Trump and Kim shaking hands and smiling. The most dangerous nuclear flashpoint in the world apparently resolved. Gone were all the threats of annihilation and nuclear destruction. After the event Donald Trump boasted the world could “sleep well tonight” after claiming North Korea was no longer a nuclear threat. In a Twitter post, Trump said: “Just landed - a long trip, but everybody can now feel much safer than the day I took office.There is no longer a nuclear threat from North Korea. Meeting with Kim Jong-un was an interesting and very positive experience.” The Bible says we should look for a time when “gentiles” are saying “peace and security”. It is when this happens that ”sudden destruction” comes. We don’t know if events this week is the time spoken of in Thessalonians,,, but we know that there will be no peace until Christ returns. BIBLE QUOTE (1 Thessalonians5:3-4)

6. 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.  How is the city of praise not left, the city of my joy! Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets, and all the men of war shall be cut off in that day, saith the LORD of hosts. And I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus IDF launches surprise exercise in Golan Heights Times of Israel, June 10, 2018 The military kicked off a surprise exercise in the Golan Heights on Sunday, calling up reservists amid ongoing tensions over Iran’s presence in nearby Syria.“ A short while ago, a large-scale surprise military exercise began in the Golan Heights area,” the army said in a statement. “In addition, as part of the exercise the system to call up reservists was activated,” the army said. Participating units were kept in the dark in order to test their reaction and conduct in the case of an actual outbreak of violence. The Israel Defense Forces said residents and visitors to the area could expect to hear explosions and see “increased traffic of vehicles.” On Friday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Iranian-backed forces stationed on the Golan border, including from the Hezbollah terror group, had begun posing as Syrian military units, in a ploy to try to reduce pressure from Israel. EVENT As the world’s attention turned to the far east as it watched North Korea, the tensions continued to mount between Israel and her neighbours. One of the new problems for Israel is that Hezbollah fighters and Iranian officers are dressing up in Syrian soldier uniforms. “It’s a camouflage,” Ahmad Azam, a commander with the rebel Salvation Army, a rebel group based in Quneitra told the Wall Street Journal. “They are leaving… in their Hezbollah uniform and they are returning in regime vehicles and dressed in regular [Syrian] army uniforms.” Israel has vowed not to tolerate any Iranian forces in Syria, and Netanyahu phoned Putin this week to tell him once again this is a red line. There is great trouble coming on Syria. COMMENT BIBLE QUOTE (Jeremiah 49:24-27)

7. UN Assembly blames Israel for Gaza violence Associated Press, June 14, 2018 The U.N. General Assembly approved a Palestinian-backed resolution Wednesday blaming Israel for violence in Gaza and deploring its “excessive use of force,” after narrowly rejecting a U.S. demand to add a condemnation of attacks on Israel by Gaza’s Hamas rulers. The votes reflected wide concern in the 193-member world body that the resolution sponsored by Arab and Islamic nations was one-sided and failed to even mention Hamas, which has fired over 100 rockets at Israel. Since near-weekly mass protests began March 30 along the Israel-Gaze border, more than 120 Palestinians have been killed and over 3,800 wounded by Israeli army fire. The overwhelming majority of the dead and wounded have been unarmed, according to Gaza health officials. Israel’s use of potentially lethal force against the protesters has drawn international criticism. Israel accuses Hamas of trying to carry out attacks and damage the border fence under the guise of the protests. EVENT COMMENT With a huge majority, the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday passed a resolution condemning Israel for using “excessive, disproportionate and indiscriminate” force during the recent clashes at the Gaza border and calling for an “international protection mechanism” for Palestinian civilians. The dramatic, down to the wire session saw the United States attempt to add a paragraph condemning Hamas, which was ultimately rejected on procedural grounds though most member states supported it. The resolution, proposed by Algeria and Turkey, then passed with 120 “yes” votes, 8 “no” votes and 45 abstentions. We see the nations of the world turn against Israel. Israel is the outcast and we can see how all nations will be gathered against her. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.  BIBLE QUOTE (Zechariah 14:2)

8. Yemen war: Saudi-led troops launch assault on Iran rebels as World War 3 tensions rise Express, June 13, 2018 EVENT The battle, launched by sea and air, is the biggest of a three-year war between an alliance of Arab states and the Iran-aligned Houthis. The exiled Yemeni government said in a statement issued by its media office said that Coalition warplanes and warships were carrying out strikes on Houthi fortifications to support ground operations by Yemeni troops massed south of the Red Sea port in operation ‘Golden Victory’. The assault began after the expiry of a deadline set by the United Arab Emirates for the Houthis, who hold the capital Sanaa, to hand over the sole port under their control. In a separate statement carried by state-run Yemeni media, the exiled government said: “The liberation of Hodeidah port is a turning point in our struggle to recapture Yemen from the militias that hijacked it to serve foreign agendas.“ The liberation of the port is the start of the fall of the Houthi militia and will secure marine shipping in Bab al-Mandab strait and cut off the hands of Iran, which has long drowned Yemen in weapons that shed precious Yemeni blood.” COMMENT Another major flashpoint in the world is yet another proxy war. This time centred in Yemen a country in the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a proxy war between Iran and Saudi Arabia. Iran is fuelling and funding rebels (the Houthis) in Yemen to launch attacks on the Sunni Yemeni government. If Iran can get a foothold in Yemen it can then launch strikes in Saudi Arabia itself. Iran is doing the exact same thing in Syria. Putting in troops and backing Hezbollah and therefore at some point being able to launch attacks into Israel. This is why Saudi Arabia and Israel are now aligned against the common Iranian threat. And why Saudi is onside with Israel in Ezekiel 38! BIBLE QUOTE Sheba, and Dedan [Saudi Arabia], 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?  This is the opposing force to Russia and Iran who invade Israel. (Ezekiel 38:13)

9. Russian navy put on high alert off Ukraine coast Reuters, June 14, 2018 EVENT Sources close to the Russian military said on Thursday that Russian naval forces in the Black Sea had been put on heightened alert to discourage Ukraine from trying to disrupt the soccer World Cup as the tournament got under way. However, the Defence Ministry itself dismissed the reports, saying in a statement: “The forces of the Black Sea Fleet are working in routine mode. No measures to put (them) on high combat alert have taken place.” Reuters was not able to verify a Ukrainian build-up independently, and there was no confirmation of that from officials in Kiev. One of the military sources said there were concerns that Ukraine was building up its military presence in the area as a “provocation” during the tournament. Three sources said Russia’s forces around the Black Sea Crimea peninsula had been put on a state of high combat readiness. Two of them said it was linked to the tournament. COMMENT Another flashpoint that remains unresolved in the situation in eastern Europe. Reuters sources said the Russian mobilisation involved deploying extra vessels to the Black Sea where Russia and Ukraine share the coastline, and naval aircraft flying extra sorties. Naval and coastguard units were involved. “There is a concern that Ukraine could organize a provocation during the World Cup,” said a source in the navy’s aviation arm, “Because of the World Cup and expectations of possible provocations by Ukraine around the Crimean coast, commanders took the decision to increase the fleet’s level of military preparedness,” said one of the sources. We wait to see if tensions do flare. We are watching the gentiles continue to prepare for war. Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up:  Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong.  BIBLE QUOTE (Joel 3:9-10)

10. Pope says countries must unite on migration, as Italy, France clash Reuters, June 14, 2018 EVENT Pope Francis called on Thursday for a “change in mindset” on migration policies, saying international cooperation was vital, as Italy and France engaged in a diplomatic spat over the issue. Francis made his comments in a message to participants at a conference on international migration being held in the Vatican. He called for the “shared global management of international migration in the values of justice, solidarity and compassion”. Italy summoned France’s envoy on Wednesday and angrily rejected French criticism of its immigration policies, escalating a diplomatic row that is widening one of Europe’s main political fault lines. A day after French President Emmanuel Macron said Rome had acted with “cynicism and irresponsibility” by closing its ports to a migrant ship, Italy’s economy minister cancelled a Paris meeting with his counterpart and Prime Minister Conte weighed postponing a meeting with Macron scheduled for Friday. COMMENT The Pope waded into the growing crisis on migration into the EU. Three years after Europe’s biggest influx of migrants and refugees since the second world war, tensions are rising again. Under EU law, asylum seekers must lodge their applications in the first EU country they enter. However, no one can agree how to do it. Germany’s coalition government is teetering on the brink due to this issue. Merkel is trying to find an EU wide solution. The German chancellor has said solving the question is “a litmus test for Europe’s cohesion and future”. Some countries are saying they want their own migration arrangements that are different to the other nations. Into this row the Pope has sided with Merkel calling for a united EU front. In Biblical terms this is the woman of Revelation 17 trying to direct the beast (the EU) she is riding… So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.  And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand BIBLE QUOTE (Revelation 17:3-4)

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