Bible In The News

Russia is the latter dayDragon of Revelation described as working in concert with Europe and the Papacy in bringing the nations to Armageddon. It's activity is also described in the prophets who paint a picture of religious entity in the latter days. Bible students have looked for this for years, and now a religious revival is being witnessed in the news. 

The U.S. and Gulf states have been carrying out airstrikes against ISIS in Syria since the last week of September. CBC News in Canada reported: "U.S. officials said Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates participated in the strikes against Islamic State targets, as Obama significantly ramped up U.S. military involvement in Syria, a country that has been mired in a brutal three-year civil war."

This week we examine the power and influence of the Catholic Church in Europe and the part it has to play in the dramatic events before the return of Christ. This is Matt Davies joining you.

Welcome to another edition of the Bible in the News, although a shortened version this week due to time constraints. This is Paul Billington with you commenting on the Scottish Referendum that almost brought an end to the United Kingdom.

This week we bring you an interview with Honest Reporting which was originally done on March 12, 2009. Even though this was over 5 years ago, the situation of the Israeli population being targeted by rockets from Gaza has not changed, neither has the way these events are reported in the media. This interview with Yarden Frankl is very interesting and relevant today, after the current Gaza war.

This week another shocking video of a beheading by the Terrorist group ISIS was promoted on social media. This weeks Bible in the News looks at this organisation and how it could rapidly bring a militant Russia into the Middle East

Russian tanks and heavy armour move across the border into eastern Ukraine, accompanied by Putin's denials of involvement and what would clearly be considered as threats of nuclear war. In the last few days the rebels in control of areas of eastern Ukraine have made significant advances, as reported in the UK Telegraph, "...dramatically turning the tide in the four-month conflict." The article entitled, "Vladimir Putin: Don't mess with nuclear-armed Russia" continues:

What a frightful world it is with the emergence of the Islamic State and its crucifixions, beheadings and slaughter. The ISIS, as it is known (or sometimes IS or ISIL) has the Western nations cowering and powerless as they dither in the face of a terror state that is threatening the whole human civilisation. As one newspaper article put it on August 11, "Western leaders, as a whole, remain in denial about what is occurring in Muslem countries because it exposes their past analysis as catastrophically naive."

At the beginning of June in 1967 Israel was surrounded by a hostile ring of Arab forces, armed to the teeth by the then Soviet Union. These nations were bent on the destruction of the Jewish state. Egypt had blocked the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping, creating a stranglehold. Early in the morning of June 5th Israel moved against the armies of Egypt and Syria. By the next morning the whole of the Gaza strip (as well as many other areas), were in Israel's hands. By the end of the "Six Day War", all of the Sinai peninsula, the old city of Jerusalem and the whole area up until the Jordan river and the Golan Heights were in Israeli hands. Many in the world rejoiced in Israel's victory against the much larger forces of the Arab armies. Bible students were thrilled to see prophecy fulfilling as Israel captured all of Jerusalem and the rest of the Biblical heartland of Israel - the hill country of Judah and Samaria.

As we are on the edge of the coming of the Messiah son the David we must say the future of Israel is bright, very bright indeed.  That said, the question we ask is whether the future of the rest of the nations of the world is quite so rosy?

“It’s a war that is the end result of decades worth of fear and hatred on both sides”; so said a Facebook comment concerning the current war in Gaza.  And many reasonable people view the long running conflict, between Jew and Arab in the Middle East, in this way. 

Media bias is turning world opinion severely against Israel in the conflict in the Middle East. The Bible has predicted this picture years ago.  The Israeli Ambassador Ron Demer, Prime Minister Netanyahu defend Israel’s actions in a perilous situation. British official defend Israel’s right to defend itself and identify its military as the most moral in the world. 

At the time of writing Israel's forces have begun a ground invasion into Gaza to stop Hamas from sending rockets into their cities. The hostilities of a people on the "coasts of palestine" is exactly what we would expect to see occurring in "The Latter Days" as Bible prophecy has foretold this long ago. This is Matt Davies joining you.

Welcome to another edition of the Bible in the News, this is John Billington with you this week.We spoke with David Ha’evri who lives with his wife and eight children in Kfar Tapuach in the Shomron region of Israel, the Biblical heartland and what many call today the “West Bank.”  David is the founder of the Shomron Liaison Office and is also an international speaker and an independent writer, in fact David has a new book coming out soon entitled “A View from the Mountains of Israel” that will be available at his website haivri.com.

Jerusalem is once again the scene of riots and violence, and it appears that the Government of Israel is either unwilling or else unable to take the necessary action to stop it. There certainly is an unwillingness on the part of Israel to act with sufficient determination, and the reason for their weakness is not difficult to identify as leading world powers issue the usual calls for "restraint" and "justice" etc. The pope, who calls himself "Francis," visited the city just a few weeks ago, but now has fallen silent; he did not condemn the murder of three Israeli teenagers near Hebron and he has not called upon the Palestinian rioters to behave themselves in a more civilized and decent way. They claim that the death of a Palestinian teenager was a revenge attack by right-wing religious Jews, but there is no proof of that - but the case was a handy means of pushing back the sympathy for the three murdered Israeli teens.

This week the EU elects Jean-Claude Juncker as the next president of the European Commission, the EU's top job. Mr. Juncker is described as an arch-federalist, who wants to bring Europe closer together. During the financial crisis his actions by many were considered undemocratic. Prime Minister of Britain David Cameron said the election of Juncker makes keeping Britain in the EU a harder task. The headline on the UK daily Telegraph reads: "One step closer to quitting Europe". Here are a couple of snippets from the article:

Peace in the Holy Land seems a long way off with violence and anger escalating between Israel and the Palestinians. This is Matt Davies joining you for another Bible in the News.

The civil war is spilling over into Iraq from Syria on a major level, the peace talks in Israel have come to end as Abbas joined up with Hamas and now the kidnapping of three Israeli teenagers in the hills near Hebron makes the Middle East about as hot as ever. Certainly peace in the Middle East is something that seems like mission impossible for world leaders I’m sure.

While the world rushes to recognize the joint terrorist government formed between Hamas and the PLO, Israel’s response is to build more houses on the mountains of Israel.

Welcome to another edition of Bible in the News. This is Paul Billington with you this week speaking from Jerusalem where the amazing events of 1967 have been remembered and celebrated by thousands of Jewish people waving their blue and white flags as they sang, danced and gave thanks for the deliverance from massed Arab armies which had been intent on destroying Israel in early June, 1967.