January 2011 in the news

Weekly World Watch 1st - 8th Jan 2011‏

There was a Huge gas find for Israel Nations gather for war over Israel's oil find Nations arrive in Israel and surrounding nations to influence the peace process
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1. The UN has turned down Lebanon’s demand to intervene in delineating its sea border following Israel’s discovery in the Mediterranean of the Leviathan gas well – billed as the world’s biggest find in a decade. UN Spokesman Martin Nesirsky explained that UNIFIL’s mandate applied to coastal waters, not to delineating maritime lines.
   The enormous find of gas off Israel’s shores has the potential to become an enormous destabilising influence in the region. This article explains it could easily lead to conflict.
   We know for certain from the scriptures that when Russia attacks Israel it is because it sees a spoil worth taking.
2. How interesting that at the time the nations are beginning to question maritime maps of the ocean bed to establish who owns what – we also see the rumblings of conflict between rival nations.
3. Australia's wettest spring on record gives Queensland to face 'biblical' flood covering an area of the size of Germany and France!
4. The true impact of the natural disasters that occurred in 2010 are still to be fully felt.
   Altogether a total of 950 natural catastrophes were recorded last year, including five “great natural catastrophes:” the earthquakes in Haiti, Chile and central China, the heat wave in Russia and the floods in Pakistan. 2010 not only resulted in substantial losses, but also an exceptionally high number of fatalities – nearly 300,000.
   We now see food prices rising quickly due to the crop destruction with nations like Russia banning grain exports. Jesus spoke of a time to come when there would be great earthquakes and famines. We see large scale famine as a distinct possibility with these events. Whatever happens though NOTHING will separate US from Christ.
5. When the natural order of things stops working it causes alarm. Just today over 1000 dead birds have literally rained down in Italy! Mainly turtle doves but also other birds like pigeons. There is a very interesting passage in Amos which connects falling birds and warning & alarm! (Amos 3:5-7)

Further we got a.o. in the Weekly World Watch 9th - 15th Jan 2011‏
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1. Palestinians say they'll go to UN for recognition
2. Lebanon's government collapses after Hezbollah pulls out
3. Israeli troops on alert after Lebanese government falls
4. Brazil was reported in the Weekly World Watch slides just one month ago. They were the first nation to recognise an independent Palestinian State. One month later they have suffered their worst ever natural disaster.
5. An extensive study of tree growth rings says there could be a link between the rise and fall of past civilisations and sudden shifts in Europe's climate.
   The natural disasters we have been recently witnessing are a tiny foretaste of the tremendous upheaval that is to come -  which will usher in the long awaited Kingdom of God.

Weekly World Watch 9th - 15th Jan 2011‏

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More natural disasters and crisis in Lebanon.

1. The push continues for a Palestinian state. The Palestinian foreign minister says he will seek United Nations recognition for a Palestinian state in September and is currently lobbying for votes worldwide.
2. 2005 was a tumultuous year for Lebanon. The prime minister of Lebanon Rafik Hariri was assassinated. This provoked the “Cedar Revolution” where hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets.
3. A senior Israeli military officer says thousands of troops in the north are on alert following the fall of the Lebanese government.
   Authorities are concerned that the political turmoil in Lebanon will spill over into renewed violence on the Lebanese-Israel border. For Lebanon itself, the boom that has followed decades of turmoil could be brought to a shuddering halt as violence resumes.
4. Last year (March 2010) the US and Russia concluded a deal to cut their deployed arsenals of nuclear missiles by 30%. With great fan-fare it was announced this was the biggest breakthrough for arms control for two decades. Operational strategic nuclear weapons would reduce from 2,200 to 1,550. Now Russia is developing a replacement for the world's most devastating intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in a move that risks reviving a global nuclear arms race.
5. Brazil was reported in the Weekly World Watch slides just one month ago. They were the first nation to recognise an independent Palestinian State. One month later they have suffered their worst ever natural disaster.
6. Roman rise and fall 'recorded in trees'
   Climate instability is linked to the stability of civilisation. As we see increasing natural disaster we can expect increasing instability of the nations. Again we see how the two are linked. We believe that God causes the initial disaster which in turn changes the course of history with nations falling and rising. The final natural disasters will see the fall of the kingdom of men and the rise of the kingdom of God. The natural disasters we have been recently witnessing are a tiny foretaste of the tremendous upheaval that is to come -  which will usher in the long awaited Kingdom of God.

Weekly World Watch 16th - 22nd Jan 2011‏

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1. In Bible language the king of the north has come south – down towards the mountains of Israel – to pledge support for those who want Israel removed from the land.
   The president of Russia Dmitry Medvedev said "Russia's position remains unchanged." and pledged his nation's continued support in helping the Palestinians acquire a modern, unified and sovereign state.
2. Russia wants to be very involved in “finding a solution” to the conflict of the Middle East.
3. EU pushed to get tougher with Israel. European diplomats are calling for strong action against Israeli policy in a secret document made public recently.
   The report mentioned recommends the following steps: that East Jerusalem be treated as the capital of a future Palestinian state; that EU officials decline Israeli security in the eastern sector of the city; and that EU politicians refuse to visit Israeli government offices located beyond the Green Line.
4. The Stuxnet computer virus, created to sabotage Iran's nuclear programme, was the result of collaboration between at least one Western power and the Israeli secret service, a British cyber security expert has found. 
5. South African flood deaths rise following weeks of heavy rains that began in December.
   Meteorologists say southern Africa's floods are caused by El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO), which has also been linked to recent flooding in Australia and the Philippines.
   Jesus tells us that at the time he returns there will be earthquakes in various places. There will be famines. There will be plagues and pestilence. Interestingly the word translated “earthquake” is also translated as “tempest” in the New Testament. 

Weekly World Watch 23rd - 29th Jan 2011

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1. Tens of thousands of Egyptians fed up with crushing poverty, unemployment and corruption poured out of mosques after Friday's noon prayers and battled police with stones and firebombs.
2. Egypt has been Israel’s closest Middle East ally. Mubarak has worked with no less than 8 Israeli prime ministers and was of course the leader that signed a peace agreement with Israel in 1979. It was at that time that Egypt positioned itself on the side of Saudi Arabia, as head of the pro-American camp. The fading power of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's government leaves Israel in a state of strategic distress. Without Mubarak, Israel is left with almost no friends in the Middle East; last year, Israel saw its alliance with Turkey collapse.
3. Oil prices surge on Middle East unrest.
4. Less than 24 hours after the breakdown of its nuclear dialogue with the six world powers in Istanbul, Iran announced plans Sunday, Jan. 23, to send a fleet of warships, including a home-made destroyer, on operational and intelligence-gathering missions to the Red Sea and on to the Mediterranean through the Suez Canal.
5. Ireland is upgrading its diplomatic relations with the Palestinian territories in recognition of progress being made by the Palestinian Authority, and is condemned by the Israel's government.
6. Violence. The scenes that perhaps 20 years ago would have shocked us to our core are now so regular and common place its just another suicide bombing like at Moscow's Domodedovo airport.
   The world has become so violent that it must be similar to the days of Noah.
   When God looked down on the world around 4,500 years ago it was described as being “filled with violence”. The word violence means just that but also cruelty and injustice. As we see innocent victims blown up as they went about their own business we see extreme cruelty, total injustice and terrible violence. We live in the days of Noah

Weekly World Watch 30th Jan - 5th Feb 2011‏

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In this weeks WWW

Uprising in Egypt + some fascinating Bible verses that speak of these events...

We don’t need Wikileaks to tell us what the Bible has told us in advance. We read in the scriptures that the nations (at the time of end) will be in a race to make weapons – to prepare for war. We read in Zechariah 14 of the final battle over Jerusalem.
In this chapter we read of the effects of the war. Many have noted that the effects mentioned in this chapter to those who perish in the war are very similar to the effects caused by nuclear weapons. Flesh dissolving as people stand there, their eyes and tongues melting away. These are the effects of a nuclear weapon. They may be used…

1. We have been watching incredible scenes in Egypt this week. Thousands and thousands of people determined to remove their government. But there has been much violence in the process with fighting between those Egyptians who want President Mubarak to continue in power and those (the majority it appears) who don’t.
2. We've seen Iran essentially take control of Lebanon, where its proxy, Hizbollah, has ousted a relatively pro-Western prime minister and inserted its own candidate. We've seen the King of Jordan rush to sack his cabinet amid escalating protests. We've seen reports that similar demonstrations are planned for Syria, where the president, Bashar Assad, will find it far harder to get away with gunning down the crowds than his father did in 1982. And most dramatically, we are seeing the regime in Egypt – the largest, most important Arab country – totter, as President Mubarak faces unprecedented popular protest, and the likelihood that he will have to step down sooner rather than later.
3. Egyptian officials blamed "terrorists" for an explosion which tore into a gas pipeline from Egypt to Israel and Jordan, and sent flames towering into the sky near the Gaza Strip. A leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt told the Arabic-language Iranian news network Al-Alam on Monday that he would like to see the Egyptian people prepare for war against Israel.
4. Protest wave spreads out over Arab neighbours. Unrest in Tunisia, Yemen and Jordan.
   In the gospel of Luke, Jesus describes the nations (multitudes) rising up against nations (multitudes).
5. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said the Middle East is facing a "perfect storm" of unrest and nations must embrace democratic change.
6. Tension in the Middle East and Asia has given rise to an escalating atomic arms and missiles race which has “the direct potential to lead to nuclear war,” leaked diplomatic documents disclose.