June 20 - 26, 2010

1. Weekly World Watch Andy Walton’s June 20 - 26, 2010 “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) 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). 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 20 - 26, 2010 • Warships in Suez may be prelude to faceoff with Iran • Iran to send aid ship to Gaza • IAF landed at Saudi base, US Troops near Iran border • Russia-Turkey: $100-bln friendship sealed with oil • Russia plans second military base in Kyrgyzstan • UN chief says East Jerusalem demolition plan 'illegal' To print any of the event slides that follow, click the picture on the upper right

5. For the day of the LORD of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low: And upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all pleasant pictures. Pleasant = desirous pictures = vessels / crafts These warships are man’s desirous vessels. . US, Israel warships in Suez may be prelude to faceoff with Iran Israel National News, June 20, 2010 Egypt allowed at least one Israeli and 11 American warships to pass through the Suez Canal as an Iranian flotilla approaches Gaza. Egypt closed the canal to protect the ships with thousands of soldiers, according to the British-based Arabic language newspaper Al Quds al-Arabi. One day prior to the report on Saturday, Voice of Israel government radio reported that the Egyptian government denied an Israeli request not to allow the Iranian flotilla to use the Suez Canal to reach Gaza, in violation of the Israeli sea embargo on the Hamas-controlled area. International agreements require Egypt to keep the Suez open even for warships, but the armada, led by the USS Truman with 5,000 sailors and marines, was the largest in years. Egypt closed the canal to fishing and other boats as the armada moved through the strategic passageway that connects the Red and Mediterranean Seas. EVENT This is a massive movement of American naval-air force. The 11 warships are carrying 6000 seamen and marines and 60 fighter bombers. Exceptional security measures were put in place as the ships sailed through the Suez Canal. Israel also had a warship with the American fleet. All this adds to the heightening tension in the region. Ships symbolise the power that a nation has. It gives them great reach around the world. The larger the navy the more status and influence a nation has. However, despite their power and prestige warships are actually quite vulnerable. Two men in a dinghy packed with explosives almost sank a US warship in the year 2000! The verse below says that God will judge the proud and lofty. His judgement will be upon the “ships of Tarshish”. Tarshish is the UK. The US is an offspring of the UK. COMMENT BIBLE QUOTE (Isaiah 2:12,16)

6. For I am with thee, sa ith the LORD, to save thee: though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee: but I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished. Iran to send aid ship to Gaza Jerusalem Post, June 22, 2010 Iran said Tuesday it would send a blockade-busting ship carrying aid and pro-Palestinian activists to Gaza, fueling concern in Israel, where commandos were training for another possible confrontation at sea. Iran's state television reported that the ship called "Infants of Gaza" would sail Sunday for the strip carrying 1,100 tons of relief supplies and 10 pro-Palestinian activists. Israel warned Iran to drop the plan. The Iranian announcement came days after Israel eased its three-year-old blockade of Gaza under international pressure following its deadly raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla last month. "No one in their right mind can believe that a ship sent by the ayatollahs and their Revolutionary Guards has anything to do with humanitarian aid," said Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor. "I don't think there is one single country in this region and beyond that would let such an ayatollah ship come near its coasts.“ Security officials said the prospect of an Iranian boat headed for Gaza had Israel deeply worried, and that naval commandos were training for the possibility of taking on a vessel with a suicide bomber on board. EVENT It remains to be seen how this will develop. One thing is certain however…The peoples and nations that hate Israel will never stop devising crafty and cunning ways to bring to that nation to an end. We know this because of passages like Psalm 83. What is clear from this Psalm is that those who are enemies of Israel are enemies of God. Verse 2 says (speaking of God himself) “THINE enemies make a tumult”, “they have taken craft council against thy people”, “they have said Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance”. So we know that the enemies of Israel are the enemies of God. He will not allow Israel to come to an end. COMMENT BIBLE QUOTE (Jeremiah 30:11)

7. Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong. Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: Reports: IAF landed at Saudi base, US troops near Iran border Israel National News, June 23, 2010 The Israeli Air Force recently unloaded military equipment at a Saudi Arabia base, a semi-official Iranian news agency claimed Wednesday, while a large American force has massed in Azerbaijan, which is on the northwest border of Iran. Both reports follow by less than a week the Pentagon’s confirmation that an unusually large American fleet sailed through the Suez Canal Saturday. Several reports stated that an Israeli ship joined the armada. The Pentagon played down the news, saying the American manoeuvres were routine. However, a report by Iran on Wednesday that it has enriched dozens of pounds of 17 per cent enriched uranium serves as a reminder that time is running out to stop Iran from being able to produce a nuclear weapon. Iran’s Fars News Agency said the Israeli military aircraft landed 10 days ago at the Saudi base near the city of Tabuk, located in northwest Saudi Arabia, one of the closest areas in the oil kingdom to Iran. EVENT The following was reported this week in Debkafile (a Jerusalem based military intelligence website) “In a rare move, Iran has declared a state of war on its north-western border, debkafile's military and Iranian sources report. Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps men and equipment units are being massed in the Caspian Sea region against what Tehran claims are US and Israeli forces concentrated on army and air bases in Azerbaijan ready to strike Iran's nuclear facilities.” We mentioned Saudi Arabia last week and how they were apparently going to turn a blind eye to Israel flying through their airspace. This week reports say that military equipment has been unloaded by Israel in Saudi. We do not know when war will begin. But we can surely see the rapid pace of the gathering of the nations to battle. COMMENT BIBLE QUOTE (Joel 3:10,11)

8. And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared. Russia-Turkey: $100-bln friendship sealed with oil, gas and nuclear power RT, January 10, 2010 Turkish PM Erdogan discussed strategic cooperation with President Medvedev and South Stream with PM Putin. His delegation also signed a preliminary deal to build Turkey’s first nuclear power plant by a Russian company. During his meeting with Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan confirmed all earlier understandings achieved on energy between his country and Russia, including both the South Stream and Samsun-Ceyhan oil pipeline projects. For quite some time, Turkey has remained one of Russia's top trading partners. Despite a 40% decline during crisis-hit 2009, Russia’s trade with Turkey is still larger than with the US and the UK, according to Putin. Turkey is the second largest importer of Russian natural gas after Germany (it constitutes 70% of overall trade) and it also buys Russian metal products and mineral fertilizers. Imports from Turkey to Russia include transport, consumer goods and food. EVENT This report is now 6 months old but in the light of events recently in Turkey we thought it worth including now. Turkey has lined up a new energy deal with Russia that has brought the two countries even closer together. It is also clear from the report that trade between the two nations is booming. When it comes to the final invasion of Israel, Turkey joins Russia in the assault. This is clear from Ezekiel 38 because Togarmah is in fact describing modern Turkey. See Ezekiel 38:6. Turkey was once an empire – the Ottoman Empire. Revelation 16 speaks of the Euphrates drying up. The Euphrates river begins in Turkey. It is therefore symbolic of Turkey’s power drying up. Turkey’s empire has dried up. She now depends on another super power – Russia. COMMENT BIBLE QUOTE (Revelation 16:12)

9. And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords: Russia plans second military base in Kyrgyzstan Daily Telegraph, June 25, 2010 Russia plans to build a second military base in Kyrgyzstan in a bold gambit likely to alarm Washington and other countries in the region. The Kremlin tried and failed to win approval for the base in the south of the country last year but saw its chances evaporate when the man it was close to making a deal with, President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, was deposed in a coup earlier this year. However, as the interim government that succeeded him struggles to maintain order after an outbreak of ethnic violence in the south of the country that left more than 200 people dead, the Kremlin has quietly revived the controversial plan. Coming less than a week after Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said he thought a US airbase in Kyrgyzstan that supplies fuel and troops for the war effort in Afghanistan should not become a permanent fixture, the move is likely to be seen as an aggressive counter thrust. "This is all about restoring the influence that Russia lost when the Soviet Union collapsed," said one Russian analyst. Kyrgyzstan already has a Russian airbase and is the only country in the world to host both a Russian and an American base. EVENT A state of emergency has been in place in Kyrgyzstan in recent weeks. The death toll in clashes in southern Kyrgyzstan has reached 208, with 2,101 others injured, the country's Health Ministry said on Monday. It is quite possible the unrest is being caused through American and Russian rivalry as they seek to gain control and influence over this central Asian country. Russia wants to restore its super power status and it needs influence in a country like Kyrgyzstan. The significance to us is that we see Russia wanting to increase its influence in the world. This desire will bring them to Israel. COMMENT BIBLE QUOTE (Ezekiel 38:4)

10. For Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth. UN chief says East Jerusalem demolition plan 'illegal' BBConline, June 24, 2010 It is possible the land mass of the earth will reunite in the kingdom with Jerusalem in the centre UN chief Ban Ki-moon has said the plan to demolish Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem to make way for a tourist park is illegal and unhelpful. On Monday Jerusalem City Council approved the plan to demolish 22 Palestinian homes in Silwan - part of a major redevelopment of the area. The move has drawn criticism both at home and from the Obama administration. Mr Ban said the plan was "contrary to international law" and "unhelpful" to efforts to restart peace negotiations. The scheme is still in an initial stage. "The Secretary-General is deeply concerned about the decision by the Jerusalem municipality to advance planning for house demolitions and further settlement activity in the area of Silwan," Mr Ban's office said in a statement. Israel's government had a "responsibility to ensure provocative steps [were] not taken" that would heighten tensions in the city, he said. On Tuesday, the US State Department criticised the move, saying it undermined trust and increased the risk of violence. EVENT The United Nations continues to make pronouncements about God’s city Jerusalem. This continuing interference by the nations of the world will eventually bring all nations to battle against it. Jerusalem is central to God’s plan. It will become the centre of Christ’s government when he returns. It will become the centre of all worship on earth at that time. It may even become the centre of the earth physically if the tectonic plates revert to their original position and all the land mass becomes one again. Jerusalem also comes at the centre of time as well. It became Israel’s capital in about 1000BC. 3000 years come before this (approx) and 3000 years come after it (approx)… COMMENT BIBLE QUOTE (Isaiah 62:1)

11. Weekly World Watch The end of this week’s WWW will be e-mailed to you each week. Please forward the e-mail addresses of others who may be interested. I will include them in the list of recipients. Comments and suggestions for improvement are welcome. E-MAIL ANDY Click here (Move the mouse until the cursor appears.) To watch again, click here.