Bible in the News

The announcement made today, Wednesday July 30th, that Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will resign in September, was hardly a surprise. There had been speculation about it for weeks as six corruption charges were being investigated against Olmert who one Israeli member of parliament described as "the worst leader in Israeli history."

Hello again: this is Paul Billington with another week's Bible in the News. While I was in Britain last week, the British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, was visiting Israel and became the first British Prime Minister ever to address the Knesset, Israel's parliament. He claimed that Britain today "shares an unbreakable partnership" with Israel, "based on shared values of liberty, democracy and justice."

This week the Middle East has been focused on the so-called prisoner exchange between Israel and the terrorist organization Hezbollah--but aren't prisoners supposed to be alive? Israel received two dead bodies in exchange for some living terrorists including a notorious one, Samir Kuntar. Israel National News gives us the background on this beast:

Hello everyone: this is Paul Billington with a somewhat late edition of the Bible in the News for this week. We should present this on Thursdays, but circumstances hindered us this week, so here I am rather late on Friday July 11th seeking to fulfill my obligation for this week. Well, we began the day today--as we do most days--by reading a portion of Scripture. We follow a Bible reading scheme that covers the whole Bible in a year--reading through the Old Testament once and the New Testament twice.

"My soul hath long dwelt with him that hateth peace. I am for peace: but when I speak, they are for war." Psalm 120:5,6 On Wednesday an Arab went on a terror rampage in Jerusalem killing three and wounding 66. Driving out of a construction site onto Jaffa road he turned the massive front end loader into a machine of terror; crushing cars and repeatedly ramming a bus until it flipped. A mother threw her baby out the window of her car and saved its life. This continued until he was shot by an off-duty soldier who managed to climb onto the bulldozer.

Anyone who scans the news headlines about Islamic terrorism or the Israeli-Palestinian conflict these days must surely conclude that world leaders and especially the Israeli and U.S. leaders, are... well; fools. Surely, one may think, these leaders are complete idiots!

The Bible describes the nations of Europe giving their power and strength to the beast, yet Ireland has rejected the treaty throwing the EU into chaos. What does the Bible say? What does this mean for European nations like Britain?

Britain and the Western World's dependence on oil is driving them toward interests in the Middle East. Russia does not look like a viable energy partner, so the West will have to look to the Middle East. Whether they like it or not they are being drawn into the arena of Armageddon.

Hello again: this is Paul Billington with another edition of the Bible in the News--and it is amazing how much the Bible--and especially Bible prophecy--features in the constant flow of news reports that come to us via the numerous media-forms in the modern world.

Welcome to the May 29, 2008 edition of Bible in the News, this is Glenn Abel reporting. The week began with the attention of the world being drawn to man’s activities and aspirations in space, as the latest “mission to Mars” landed successfully. The high-fives, fist-pumping, and backslapping were in stark contrast to the tension present during the final minutes of the “Phoenix” spacecraft’s descent. Commentators waxed eloquent on the greatness of this achievement, and all of the benefits mankind would gain from the mission – paving the way for future manned missions to the so-called “red planet”.

Welcome to Bible in the News a weekly podcast on Bible Prophecy which we see being fulfilled in our newspaper headlines week by week. This is David Billington with you. It has been announced that Israel is holding informal peace talks with the Syrians. The Syrians want the Golan Heights, captured by Israel during the June 1967 war, returned. If they achieved this it would be a major boost to their status in the Arab world and could help them to shed the image of a state that sponsors terrorism. The Golan is the area east and north east of the sea of Galilee

As the world is rocked by the literal sea and waves roaring, the political seas and waves are also roaring. Israel is celebrating 60 years since the State was proclaimed in 1948 - a testimony to the existence of God and proof the Bible is true. Russia has changed presidents and a hint of future directions is given in the inaugural speeches. NATO is loosing its influence and Russia is looking to take up a prominent position.

It is interesting, to say the least, that as the Canadian news magazine "MACLEAN'S" offers us a front cover story entitled "Why Israel can't survive," Israelis themselves--and Jews elsewhere--have been observing Holocaust Remembrance Day, and those terrible events in which six million Jews were murdered by Europeans.

This is Paul Billington bringing you another edition of the Bible in the News--and once again the Bible is reflected in the news of the past week. This time our focus is upon Libya, though this is connected to other powers that are referred to in prophecy, such as Russia, Iran and the Anglo-Americans.

The Associated Press reported yesterday: "His 90-minute visit to the White House — only the second ever by a pope — was accompanied by the kind of pomp and pageantry rarely seen even on grounds accustomed to welcoming royalty and the world's most important leaders."