Transcript - FindtheLight.org

Andy Walton’s
Weekly World Watch
December 19 - 31, 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.
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.
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.
HEADLINE
This is straight from a news report that caught my
eye because it looked significant from a Biblical
perspective, usually that of prophecy.
The source of the headline and the date are included.
News
Photo
EVENT
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.
COMMENT
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:
([email protected]).
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 Week’s Developments
December 19 - 131, 2010
• 2010: Deadliest for natural disasters in a generation
• North Korea warns of 'holy war' using nuclear weapons
• Huge gas find a boon for Israel
• Israel: best economy in the West
• Abbas says recognitions hit Israel
• Former Israeli president guilty of rape
To print any of the event slides that follow, click the picture on the upper right
2010: Deadliest for natural disasters in a
generation
The Globe & Mail, December 19 , 2010
EVENT
This was the year the Earth struck back. Earthquakes, heat waves, floods,
volcanoes, super typhoons, blizzards, landslides and droughts killed at least a
quarter of a million people in 2010 – the deadliest year in more than a generation.
More people were killed worldwide by natural disasters this year than have been killed
in terrorism attacks in the past 40 years combined.
The last year in which natural disasters were this deadly was 1983 because of an
Ethiopian drought and famine, according to the WHO. Swiss Re calls 2010 the
deadliest since 1976. While the Haitian earthquake, Russian heat wave and Pakistani
flooding were the biggest killers, deadly quakes also struck Chile, Turkey, China and
Indonesia in one of the most active seismic years in decades. Flooding alone this year
killed more than 6,300 people in 59 nations through to September, according to the
WHO. Inundated countries include China, Italy, India, Colombia and Chad. Super
Typhoon Megi with winds of more than 320 kph devastated the Philippines and parts
of China.
COMMENT This year there are 31 Weekly World Watch Slides that would fit into the theme of
natural disasters. This is twice as many as any other year since the WWW began in
2003. Looking back over the year it is amazing to see just how destructive it has been.
On the second introductory slide on the WWW it says we should be looking for
“Increasing natural disasters: including earthquake, famine etc”. This was also written
back in 2003 and has surely come to pass. How did we know this would happen?
The scriptures tell us clearly they would. See verse below. We also see sin increasing
in the earth. As it does the physical earth groans all the more. See Romans 8:22
BIBLE
QUOTE
And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights
and great signs shall there be from heaven.
(Luke 21:11)
To view all the natural disaster WWW slides for 2010 click here
North Korea warns of 'holy war' using nuclear
weapons
Daily Telegraph, December 23, 2010
EVENT
North Korea is prepared to wage a "holy war" against the south, including using its
nuclear weapons, the country's armed forces minister warned.
His warning came as South Korea staged a massive show of force aimed at deterring
further aggression from their volatile neighbour.
The North's defence chief, Kim Yong Chun, told a patriotic rally to celebrate the
military achievements of the country's ailing dictator Kim Jong-il, that Pyongyang was
"fully prepared to launch a sacred war" if the South encroached on its territory.
South Korea yesterday staged its largest military exercise of the year exactly a month
after a North Korean artillery bombardment against a South Korean island killed four,
dramatically raising tensions on the Peninsula.
The drills, conducted just 30 miles south of the heavily armed border dividing North
and South Korea, included around 800 troops, tanks, armoured personnel carriers, F15 fighter-jets, artillery, multiple long-range rockets and helicopter gunships.
COMMENT This small, angry nation is actually significant from a Bible prophecy point of view. We
have been showing how it is actually one of the fault lines between Russia and
America. Or as Daniel puts it – the king of the north v king of the south. Russia backs
the North and America backs the South. The Korea peninsula is a microcosm of the
much larger picture which is centred on Israel.
It is interesting that Joel speaks of the nations being gathered to judgement in Israel. In
the verses just before this he speaks of gentile nations “preparing for war” and weak
nations saying “I am strong.” The word “prepare” is actually the Hebrew word for “Holy”.
Therefore weak gentile nations are preparing a “holy war”. Precisely what is being said!
BIBLE
QUOTE
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: {Prepare: Hebrew. Sanctify or Holy} Beat your plowshares into
swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong.
(Joel 3:9-10)
Huge gas find a boon for Israel
Globe & Mail, December 30, 2010
EVENT
A massive offshore natural gas reserve is poised to give Israel
energy security, freeing the desert nation from the threat of boycotts and reshaping
the political dynamics of the Middle East. Estimated to contain 16 trillion cubic feet of
gas – equivalent to more than a quarter of Canada’s proven reserves and enough to
meet Israel’s domestic demand for 100 years – the Leviathan field is believed to be
the largest such deepwater gas discovery in a decade.
Neighbouring countries, including Lebanon, Syria and Cyprus, are likely to step up
their own efforts to find natural gas in the coastal waters, which could ratchet up
tensions. Future natural gas infrastructure may also be a target for Israel’s enemies.
“A worst-case scenario would be a bloody fight,” said Renan Levine, a University of
Toronto political scientist who has researched Israeli politics. Internally, the country
could also fall into the “natural resource curse,” in which money is funnelled to groups
that hold the country’s balance of power to placate them, he said.
COMMENT We reported the find of the Leviathan gas field back in June this year. It was not known
then how big the reserve would be – though there were indications it was big.
This week however the company that discovered the gas field has reported its size and it is enormous. It is worth something like $98 billion. It will seriously transform
Israel’s economy. Perhaps the biggest impact will be that Israel will not need to rely on
America funding as much as it does now. America uses cash assistance to persuade
Israel to do what it wants. With Israel far more independent this will change the politics
of the region. On top of this surely see at the close of 2010 spoil that Russia is very
interested in. How remarkable that after 50 years it is NOW the spoil has been found….
BIBLE
QUOTE
O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation. I will send him
against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take
the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. (Isaiah 10:5,6)
The invasion of Israel by Assyria provides a type of the invasion by Gog in the last days.
Israel: best economy in the West
Israel National News, December 30, 2010
EVENT
Israel’s economy is the fastest-growing in the West, the Central Bureau of Statistics
(CBS) reports. Israel's Gross National Product grew by 4.5% in the year 2010,
according to CBS data and estimates – 0.5% more than had been expected. This
compares with only 2.7% in the other 33 countries of the Organization for Economic
Co-Operation and Development (OECD). Israel became an OECD member state this
past September. In 2009, despite the great worldwide economic crash, Israel’s
economy grew by 0.8% - and by 4.2% in 2008. The GNP per capita grew by 2.7% this
year, compared with a drop of 1.1% the year before. In the OECD as a whole, this
year’s per capita GNP grew by 2.3%. Israel is also doing better in the employment
arena than the rest of the OECD, with a 6.7% unemployment rate, compared with
8.3% in the other countries. The CBS notes three notable developments in Israel's
economy during 2010: Exports slowed during the third quarter, following the growth
spurt in the second half of 2009; rapid growth of private consumption began to slow
down; and investments in residential buildings and the like continued to grow.
COMMENT Israel is feeling secure, confident and wealthy. But it is a mirage that will dissipate very
quickly one day. But it is exactly the picture the prophets paint when describing the
state of Israel at the time Gog thinks about invading the land.
Ezekiel 38 tells us that Israel will be dwelling “safely”. This word literally means an “over
confidence”. We also read that they have got “cattle and goods”. In other words they
are wealthy. We also read their villages are no longer surrounded by walls with bars
and gates. This is exactly how Israel used to dwell when it first entered the land. Every
village was surrounded by barbed wire and armed guards. No longer!
BIBLE
QUOTE
And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest,
that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates, {safely: or,
over confidently} To take a spoil,.. which have gotten cattle and goods,
(Ezekiel 38:11)
Abbas says recognitions hit Israel
Associated Press, December 31, 2010
EVENT
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said Friday that a recent wave of nations
recognizing a Palestinian state based upon 1967 borders is pressuring Israel and the
U.S. to return to negotiations and reach a peace deal.
Abbas, in Brazil to lay the cornerstone of a Palestinian Embassy and attend the
inauguration of President-elect Dilma Rousseff, told The Associated Press in an
interview that recent recognition of a Palestinian state by several Latin American
nations would help push the U.S. and Israel into new talks.
"These recognitions of a Palestinian state will help us to convince the Israelis on the
necessity to reach a two-state solution," said Abbas.
The current round of peace negotiations collapsed in late September, just weeks after
they were launched, when Israel ended a slowdown on settlements in West Bank
areas it captured in 1967, land where the Palestinians plan to build their state. By
December, the U.S. abandoned trying to persuade Israel to halt the settlements.
COMMENT We end this year with the peace process going nowhere. It collapsed due to Israel
being unwilling to stop settlement building in the West Bank or more importantly in
Jerusalem. The Israelis though are under far more pressure than the Palestinians.
More and more Latin American and European nations are about to join Brazil,
Argentina and Bolivia in recognizing a Palestinian state according to Abbas.
He believes this will eventually persuade America and in turn Israel to make a deal.
We wait to see. What we do have is Israel isolated, friendless but on the other side of
the coin, confident and feeling secure. There is no doubt that 2011 will see Israel at the
centre of our watching and we pray that they will soon see their Messiah return.
BIBLE
QUOTE
And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of
grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall
mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is
in bitterness for his firstborn.
(Zechariah 12:10)
Former Israeli president guilty of rape
Daily Telegraph, December 30, 2010
EVENT
Moshe Katsav, the former president of Israel, has been convicted of twice raping an
employee when he was a cabinet minister.
Katsav, 65, now faces up to 16 years in prison for the crimes, which included the two
counts of rape against an employee in 1998 when he was tourism minister and counts
of indecent acts and sexual harassment involving two other women who worked for
him when he was president.
Katsav served as a minister in several right-wing Likud governments before he was
elected president in 2000. He has denied the rape charges, claiming he was a victim
of a political witch hunt and suggesting he was targeted because he comes from
Israel's Sephardic community. Katsav, who is a father of five, was ordered to
surrender his passport while awaiting sentencing. His lawyers said they would appeal.
It’s a sad way to end the year… with Israel’s former president convicted of raping an
He is only the former president because he was forced to stand down
COMMENT employee.
because of these allegations.
Jerusalem is plagued by corruption at the moment. Israel is facing its biggest corruption
scandal in years, with new allegations surfacing virtually every day about hefty bribes
paid to secure a multi-million-dollar housing development in Jerusalem. The Holyland
scandal, as it is called, threatens to destroy more than a dozen high-profile careers and
shows no sign of ending. The immediate past prime minister, Ehud Olmert, is accused
of taking millions of shekels in bribes to help advance the development when he was
mayor of Jerusalem and also later as a cabinet minister in government.
All this tells us that the day of judgement for Israel and the world draws ever nearer…
BIBLE
QUOTE
.. the LORD will cut off from Israel head and tail, branch and rush, in one day. The ancient and
honourable, he is the head; and the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail. For the leaders of
this people cause them to err; and they that are led of them are destroyed.
(Isaiah 9:14-16)
The end of this week’s
Weekly World Watch
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