Bible In The News

This week Bible in the News presents a lecture delivered by David Billington, presenting an analysis of the Bible in the News in 2008. David identifies the year's trends along with the forces and ideologies driving events. Due to the length of this lecture, there will not be a full transcription this week, other than this short introduction:

Israel has been bombarded by thousands of Qassam missiles from Gaza, the first being fired in 2001. However, since the Israeli communities of Gaza were destroyed and the Jews forcibly removed in 2005, the missile fire has become much worse. Even though the media have called these missiles "homemade", "cheap", "inaccurate", "rudimentary", ineffective" and "thrown together"; they are deadly, destroy homes, kill people and make life a living hell for those living in towns such as Sderot which are near Gaza. It is not true to call them "homemade", they have been in development since 2001 by the terror group Hamas and many improvements have been made. The Israeli army has in fact targeted "production factories", this is where they are manufactured. They are inaccurate, this does not matter to Hamas, however, the purpose of these missiles is to fire them indiscriminately at Israeli civilian areas. Their goal is to terrorize the Israelis, and to this end they have been successful. The Israeli Center for Victims of T

Welcome to the Bible in the News; this is Paul Billington bringing you the last edition in 2008. As another year passes into history we look out on a troubled world--and we think of the words recorded for us in Luke 21:25, 26,

Welcome to the Bible in the News weekly programme. This is Paul Billington with you this week. When you open a Bible, there is one nation that is dominant in all that it says, or that it is concerned with--and that nation of course is Israel. You just cannot escape it. Well, in our day, the news has that same feature--the nation of Israel is always a topic. During the past week or so important statements have been made about Israel by the United States, by Britain, the European Union, the United Nations--and of course as always, by the Arabs.

The two state solution is presented as the solution to the mid-east conflict. The plan consists of taking the current nation of Israel and dividing it into two states. One for Israel and one for the Palestinian Arabs. The Arab state would exist in the Gaza strip and the central highlands of Israel - what is know as the West Bank or Judea and Samaria. Jerusalem would be a shared capital city for both states, of course divided. The Catholic Church would like to give an international status to the city governed by a UN body. In this way the Vatican would virtually rule Jerusalem due to the large number of Catholic countries in the world. It is said if the two state solution is imposed it will lead to tranquility in the Middle East and as a consequence peace in the whole world.

Today Jewish families were dragged out of their home by riot police in Hebron, some were seriously hurt. We called David Wilder in Hebron whose daughter and grandchildren were some of those evicted.

Western companies that have outsourced thousands of jobs to India were in a panic on Wednesday evening as terrorists struck Mumbai, the capital of commerce and tourism in India… surely a portend of increased instability in a region on which they have come to increasingly rely. Welcome to the November 28th, 2008 edition of Bible in the News. This is Glenn Abel reporting.

As the world roils in financial meltdown, Bible students continue to see the spirit of Esau at work among the nations. Welcome to the November 20, 2008 edition of Bible in the News, this is Glenn Abel reporting.

Welcome to another edition of the Bible in the News. This is Paul Billington speaking. Today we have visiting us Don Pearce from the UK, who will be familiar to the readers of the Bible Magazine as Don writes the Milestones updates which appear in each issue. So I wanted to get a British angle on world news as far as the Bible is concerned.

Welcome to the November 6th edition of the Bible in the News, this is David Billington. Mr. Obama is now president elect of the United States, elected on a platform of change. The words from his now famous speech were:

America's recent attack on terrorists within the Syrian borders is citing international uproar. However, this is a continuation in the push against Russia that will eventually bring it down into the land of Israel.

The book of Revelation was given to show the servants of the Lord Jesus Christ "things which must shortly come to pass". This restricts the full understanding of the book to those who are truly his servants, however it does not restrict those servants to a particular class in one generation. To all generations of his servants believing the Hope of Israel, from John until the his return, the prophecy would reveal "things which must shortly come to pass". It revealed things which would shortly come to pass to John's generation and so it has for every generation since. Every generation with vision could find itself in God's timetable.

Welcome to another edition of the Bible in the News, this is John Billington. "For the first time in years and in the face of Iran's nuclear drive, Israel surpassed Saudi Arabia in arms purchases in 2008, reaching just over $20 billion… Last year, the US Department of Defense approved plans to sell Israel that amount of arms, including stealth fighter jets, transport aircraft, state-of-the-art missile ships and satellite-guided "smart bombs." "This is the year with the greatest defense spending in the history of the Middle East," Yiftah Shapir, head of the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv" Jerusalem Post – Oct 16, 2008

Take for instance the hebrew prophet Moses, who by faith "...refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible."

This week Israel National News reported that the population of Judea and Samaria has increased by 20% during Olmert's term in office. Welcome to the Bible in the News, this is David Billington.

Welcome to the September 25, 2008 edtion of Bible in the News, this is David Billington with you. I'm not an economist and I don't know much about Wall Street. However, I do know that Wall Street is a symbol of the powerful US financial system and a center of trade for the western powers. This relates to the biblical Tarshish which was a merchant power, consider Ezekiel 27:12: "Tarshish was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of all kind of riches; with silver, iron, tin, and lead, they traded in thy fairs." If you look closely at the history book map of Celtic and Roman Britain pictured in the print edition of this week's Bible in the News, you will notice I have highlighted in yellow all the mining sites flourishing in Britain at that time. You will see many lead mines - which also included silver, iron mines and tin mines, as well as a copper and a gold mine. I am told that Britain is the only place where you could go one-stop-shopping for these metals which Tarshish traded as mentioned by Ezekiel. It

The Catholic Church, driven out of France during the French Revolution, is being invited back into French society by President Sarkozy. The Catholic Church is positioning itself to exert control over Europe through the grassroots mechanisms that make up part of the European Union's governance system.

Russia increases its military aggressiveness and has Europe "over a barrel" when it comes to a response. Russia's hegemony is increased to include the other players described in Ezekiel 38.

Hello again! This is Paul Billington with another edition of the Bible in the News. As the stand-off between Russia and the West continues this week, and U.S. warships cross the Black Sea with “aid” to Georgia, one thing seems fairly clear; When the Bear comes to push and shove, Europe will capitulate. A few noises of protest maybe--but certainly no will to fight for freedom. In accordance with Bible prophecy, it requires no stretch of the imagination to see Russia becoming triumphant over Europe.

Welcome to the August 28th edition of the Bible in the News, this is David Billington. The crisis in Georgia continues to smolder and is now shifting to a confrontation between Russia and the United States. The situation in the Black Sea is tense and has the potential of being explosive as Russian vessels patrol in close quarters with US and NATO vessels. Then there is the Turkish Navy deployed in the Sea, they too members of NATO. The International Herald Tribune under the heading "NATO ships create alarm in Moscow" reports: