1. February 15 – 21, 2009 “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) Weekly World Watch Andy Walton’s To skip the introductory slides and go straight to this weeks developments click here.

2. What is a Weekly World Watch? 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. 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.clicking here 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. Increasing natural disasters: including earthquake, famine etc The following six themes will appear repeatedly in WWW:

3. HEADLINE EVENT COMMENT News Photo The source of the headline and the date are included. 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. What is in a Weekly World Watch? BIBLE QUOTE 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) This is straight from a news report that caught my eye because it looked significant from a Biblical perspective, usually that of prophecy. 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. 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. 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).

4. This Week’s Developments To print any of the event slides that follow, click the picture on the upper right Netanyahu to form Israel cabinet Woman injured by Lebanon rocket Iran hails military ties with Russia Job losses pose a threat to stability worldwide Syria 'rebuilding' chemical weapons capability February 15 – 21, 2009 Britain's PM Brown invites Pope to visit

5. Netanyahu to form Israel cabinet It looks very likely that the next government of Israel will be headed up by Benjamin Netanyahu and will also be very right wing. Right wing in this context means tough on status of Jerusalem, the land and the peace talks in general. Mr Netanyahu talks tough when out of power but when in power does concede to pressure. However this time to form a government he needs more extreme right wing parties who will probably keep him tougher than he would be. Tzipi Livni (who actually won most seats) said (before election) that her country(!) needed to give up half of the biblical Land of Israel to secure peace with the Palestinians. The Bible makes clear however that the Jews will still be in control of Jerusalem and the West Bank when Christ returns. Ezekiel 38 speaks of Russia attacking a regathered people who dwell on the mountains of Israel. These mountains run through the West Bank. Israel will not be allowed to give up this land. Benjamin Netanyahu, the leader of the right-of-centre Likud party, has been asked to form Israel's next government. Mr Netanyahu said Israel faced "great challenges" including the global economic crisis and what he said was Iran's wish to obtain nuclear weapons. He said he would try to form a unity government with his political rivals. But Tzipi Livni, leader of the centrist Kadima, has suggested she would rather be in opposition than join a government led by Mr Netanyahu. Kadima narrowly defeated Likud in the election held on 10 February, but Mr Netanyahu has the support of religious and right-wing parties in the Israeli parliament. His position was bolstered on Thursday when Avigdor Lieberman, head of Yisrael Beiteinu, which favours tightening the Israeli blockade on Gaza, said it wanted him to be prime minister. BBConline, February 20, 2009 EVENT COMMENT thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel BIBLE QUOTE (Ezekiel 38:8)

6. Woman injured by Lebanon rocket The rumbling of the storm continues. It has not gone away. The war between Israel and the Palestinians a few weeks ago may have died down but the rockets and airstrikes have not gone away completely. This week Hamas fired at least 10 rockets at Israel and yesterday 3 rockets were fired at Israel from Lebanon. What is Lebanon’s role in the future conflict? The Bible makes clear they are against Israel. The ancient capital of Lebanon (then known as Phoenicia) was Tyre. There is still a city of Tyre today. God says in the verse below – “what has Tyre to do with me?” Psalm 83 speaks of the inhabitants of Tyre consulting with other nations as to how to destroy Israel. Hezbollah’s stronghold is in Tyre. Hezbollah want to destroy Israel. Lebanon are not part of the Gogian invasion – they are possibly destroyed before. A rocket fired from Lebanon has lightly wounded one woman in northern Israel, the Israeli army says. Lebanese security sources said that three rockets had been fired from southern Lebanon but two had landed inside Lebanese territory. Lebanese sources say that Israel retaliated by firing at least six artillery shells at the areas where the rockets had been launched. No-one has claimed responsibility for the rocket firing. A Lebanese source told Reuters that rockets had been fired from the area of Mansouri, south of Tyre, towards Israel. A woman is reported to have been injured by flying glass in her home when the rocket landed near the Israeli town of Maalot near the Lebanese border. The Israeli army said it had fired shells in response to the rocket attack. BBConline, February 21, 2009 EVENT COMMENT Yea, and what have ye to do with me, O Tyre, and Zidon, and all the coasts of Palestine? will ye render me a recompence? BIBLE QUOTE (Joel 3:4)

7. Iran hails military ties with Russia Russia continues to act as a “guard” to Iran. Ezekiel 38:7 tells us that Russia does exactly this prior to its invasion of Israel. The word “guard” can mean a prison guard ie keeping someone confined. But it can mean guard in the sense of protecting. Like the guards at Buckingham Palace who protect the Queen. It is in the latter sense that the word is used in Ezekiel 38. Gog protects the other nations that invade Israel with it. One of the other nations is Persia – see verse 5. Persia is modern day Iran. The headline above if written in Biblical language might say “Persia acknowledges that Gog is acting as a guard and protecting them”. In fact to prove this is the case Debkafile (military analysts) said this week that Iran is about to purchase Russian S-300 air defence missiles “to GUARD its nuclear sites”! The Whitehouse expressed concern on Friday that Iran had now stocked enough enriched uranium to produce a nuclear bomb. Iran's defence minister said Friday he hopes to obtain new weapons from Russia to upgrade the nation's arsenals. Iran has relied on Russian military assistance in the past and hopes to continue doing so, Mostafa Mohammed Najjar said. "Russia has advanced military technologies, we have used them and plan to keep using them," he said at a news conference. Najjar wouldn't elaborate on what specific weapons Iran was seeking. He met with his Russian counterpart and toured some Russians weapons plants during his five-day visit that began Monday. Moscow has developed close ties with Tehran and is building its first nuclear power plant. Associated Press, February 20, 2009 EVENT COMMENT Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them. BIBLE QUOTE (Ezekiel 38:7) Badge of Russian Guards unit. Guards were and are elite military units in Imperial Russia, Soviet Union and Russian Federation.

8. Job losses pose a threat to stability worldwide We are at the very beginning of the total meltdown of the financial systems of the world. The Bible makes clear in several places this will happen. Revelation 18, Isaiah 24 etc. One headline this week said “The looming collapse of European banking”. This was on the back of a Daily Telegraph article online that said European banks may need 16.3 trillion Euros to bail out their banks! That is $25 trillion. The American bailout will cost around $1.5 trillion. The Daily Telegraph said “Whether it takes months, or just weeks, the world is going to discover that Europe's financial system is sunk”. From lawyers in Paris to factory workers in China and bodyguards in Colombia, the ranks of the jobless are swelling rapidly across the globe. Worldwide job losses from the recession that started in the United States in December 2007 could hit a staggering 50 million by the end of 2009, according to the International Labour Organization, a United Nations agency. The slowdown has already claimed 3.6 million American jobs. High unemployment rates, especially among young workers, have led to protests in countries as varied as Latvia, Chile, Greece, Bulgaria and Iceland and contributed to strikes in Britain and France. Just last week, the new United States director of national intelligence, Dennis C. Blair, told Congress that instability caused by the global economic crisis had become the biggest security threat facing the United States, outpacing terrorism. “Nearly everybody has been caught by surprise at the speed in which unemployment is increasing, and are groping for a response,” said Nicolas Véron, a fellow at Bruegel, a research centre in Brussels that focuses on Europe’s role in the global economy. New York Times, February 14, 2009 EVENT COMMENT And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more: her = Babylon / Babel which are the false religious, political and financial systems of man. BIBLE QUOTE (Revelation 18:11)

9. Syria 'rebuilding' chemical weapons capability Syria is rebuilding its chemical weapons capability, according to satellite images analysed by Jane's Intelligence Review. Any suggestion that Syria is enhancing the offensive potential of its chemical munitions threatens to provoke a new round of hostilities with Israel as it will be treated as an additional threat to Israel's existence. Israel caught the world by surprise by ordering an aerial attack on a suspected Syrian nuclear research centre in the country's the eastern desert in 2007. Syria has maintained stockpiles of chemical weapons, including Sarin gas and blister agents, for decades. But satellite images from two operators, GeoEye and DigitalGlobe, appeared to show significant efforts to update known facilities. The Janes's report said that new structures for warehousing and manufacturing complex chemical materials had been built. The buildings had sophisticated filtration systems and cooling towers. Bays for Scud missiles had also been built. Daily Telegraph, February 18, 2009 EVENT COMMENT 1) The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap. 2) Damascus is waxed feeble, and turneth herself to flee, and fear hath seized on her: BIBLE QUOTE (Isaiah 17:1 & Jeremiah 49:24) Israel attacked Syria in September 2007. They destroyed a suspected nuclear site. It appears from new satellite images that Syria is rebuilding is chemical weapons capability. Israel will not allow this to happen. There is only one nation that Syria would intend to use such weapons. Israel. The question is does Syria attack Israel with Gog? The Bible does NOT say that they do. In fact Syria is not mentioned at all in Ezekiel 38. Therefore there are 2 scenarios. One is that Syria makes peace with Israel and is friendly therefore does not attack OR Syria is “destroyed” beforehand. There are many verses that indicate the latter. Isaiah 17 has never been fulfilled. Jeremiah 49 speaks of Damascus waxing feeble. With a right wing government likely in Israel we can see how Damascus might be ruined.

10. Britain's PM Brown invites Pope to visit Gordon Brown has invited Pope Benedict XVI to Britain, in what would be the first visit by a pope for nearly 30 years. The Prime Minister, speaking to reporters after a private audience with the Pope, said there was no indication of when the visit would take place. "He was very welcoming of the invitation," Brown said. It would be the first visit by a pope to the United Kingdom since the late Pope John Paul II visited in 1982. Brown said he suggested to the Pope that he could consider making the visit coincide with the beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman, one of the most prominent English converts from Anglicanism to Catholism. No date has yet been set for the beatification but it was expected to take place either later this year or next year. Daily Telegraph, February 20, 2009 EVENT COMMENT the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication…… The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. BIBLE QUOTE (Revelation 17:1.2.9) This protestant ruler (Gordon Brown) seeks an audience with the catholic ruler (The Pope). Interesting that a protestant was someone who protested against the authority of the Pope and Rome! Revelation 17 gives us a symbolic picture of a woman sat on a beast. This woman is a harlot with Babylon written on her head. In other words she thinks like the false religions of ancient Babel. The Bible tells us that a woman can be symbolic of the church. Ephesians 5 tells us that a wife married to her husband is symbolic of the church being married to Christ. This woman in Revelation is a harlot not a wife or bride. So which false religion is she? We are told in verse 9 she sits on 7 mountains. ROME! We are also told that the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her. In other words sacrifice their beliefs and accept her authority. Gordon Brown this week….

11. E-MAIL ANDY Click here (Move the mouse until the cursor appears.) To watch again, click here. 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. Weekly World Watch The end of this week’s