Bible in the News

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Welcome again to another edition of the Bible in the News--this time from our base in Canada. But our focus this week, is the same--Israel, and the political situation that is developing there. Well, according to The Jerusalem Post, Ehud Olmert has been asked by President Katsav to form the next Israeli government--but he has quite a task ahead of him. The complicated Israeli system, with so many different parties, means that Olmert must form a coalition government. He is currently bargaining with Amir Peretz, the leader of the Labour party, but even these two together will still not result in a majority government. Olmert will still have to bring in others--and that could scuttle some of his plans. Olmert is saying that coalition talks will probably be completed by the end of April or even early May--so that is still three or four weeks before the final picture emerges. We will then have a clearer idea of what might happen with the future of West Bank settlements.

Welcome once more to another edition of the Bible in the News, from the Land of the Bible--Israel. This is Paul Billington in Jerusalem where for the past few days--and amid an incredible security operation--Israelis have been choosing their next government.

Welcome to a special edition of The Bible in the News. Here is election news, and I am speaking to you from the Jerusalem Conference here at the Regency Hotel where speakers have included the President of Israel Katsav, Natan Sharansky, Benjamin Netanyahu and other high profile personalities.

Welcome once more to the Bible in the News! This is Paul Billington saying ‘Hello’ yet again, and looking at those points in the news that contact with the word of God—the Bible.

Welcome to some more Bible in the News with Paul Billington here again to bring it to you.It’s amazing how much the news headlines in just one week send us to look into the Bible to check that we aren’t dreaming! Can it really be happening? I mean... just look at it! Just a few weeks ago the militant terrorist organization Hamas swept to power in a Palestinian election and shocked the world. Everybody hoped that they would change their position on Israel—but no; Hamas maintains a confrontational stance insisting that Israel has no right to exist, and no one seems to know what to do about it. Well, almost no one. Russia quickly makes up its mind to invite Hamas up to Moscow for a chat—and the next thing you know is that Hamas is hob-knobbing with the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, Alexy II. They say that a picture is worth a thousand words—and you can see a picture of the Hamas leader with Alexy on our print version this week. So Russia not only accepts Hamas as an organization to do business with, but even sanctifies it by arranging meetings with Russia’s holy man.

Welcome again to our weekly edition of The Bible in The News. This is Paul Billington bringing it to you in spite of his bronchitis and some shortness of breath!So we look at the news and see that the situation in Iraq is, according to some, getting worse with the danger of full-scale civil war. Others—President Bush for example—is telling everyone that it ain’t so bad, and he says, “We are winning.”

Well there is an alliance forming against Israel’s security interests—and it’s all coming about under the banner of Democracy. Russia, Iran, France and Hamas, are all waving the flag of democracy in order to give the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority a legitimacy before the world. A terrorist organization which is committed to Israel’s destruction is thus sanctified by so-called Democracy. The secretary of Iran’s Supreme national Security Council, ali Larijani, has said that "the United States proved that it would not support democracy after it cut its aid to the Palestinians government after Hamas won the elections.

Hamas has masterminded nearly 60 suicide bombings against Israelis since the year 2000, and they are said to be funded by the IRANIAN backed Hizbollah movement in Lebanon.

This is another edition of the Bible in the News, and this is Paul Billington bringing it to you. Well: it’s getting very interesting out there, for as The Times newspaper of London put it the other day: “The unimaginable but ultimately inescapable truth is that we are going to have to get ready for war with Iran.” As the current issue of The Bible Magazine reports, Iran is playing with fire; her leader President Ahmadinejad is said to be preparing a nuclear capability, while at the same time saying that Israel should be wiped off the map.

A member of the Knesset (Israeli Parliament), MK Effi Eitam is one of three Knesset members injured by police as they attacked settlers on Wednesday during the destruction of Jewish homes in Amona. Eitam was taken to the neurosurgery department and to the same floor where Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is still in a coma. He had a CT scan on his head and chest.

Well, it’s hard to keep up with all the events that are happening, and which in one way or another reflect the Truth of the Bible. Jesus said to his Father in John 17:17, "thy word is Truth." Well it certainly is, and here we are some 2,000 years later watching it come true in the news headlines. For example, the apostle Peter who was inspired as he wrote his epistles, said to his readers in 2 Peter 2:1, "there shall be false teachers among you." Now no one, of course, likes to point the finger—yet here are Christians who are being told that there would be false teachers among them. Jesus himself in Matthew 7:15 says "Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits..."

There is a great deal happening in the News at the moment which can be directly related to Bible prophecy, and to what we call the “Signs of the times.” Iran, Russia, Europe, the Vatican and a lot of what is going on in the Middle East, and as always — especially Israel. It is all relevant. This week our focus will be upon the so called West Bank — that’s the mountains of Israel, and what the Jews call Judea and Samaria. Having “disengaged” (as they call it) from Gaza and Gush Katif last summer, the Israeli Government is now moving its attention to the West Bank. Isolated settlements that are labeled “illegal” are slated to be demolished and the Jewish settlers to be evicted, just as they were from Gush Katif in Gaza.

This is The Bible in the News, and this is Paul Billington commenting on it again this week—the first edition in 2006. Well, it has been a very eventful week since we last talked, and the stand-off between Russia and the Ukraine over gas supply has been dominating the international news. As Russia turned off some of its taps, all Western Europe realized their dependence upon Russia for the supply of energy. It became clear just how vulnerable the whole of Europe has become to Russia’s whim. The fact is that as things stand, Russia is in a position to virtually strangle Europe into submission to her will, through energy supply. The outcry from Europe earlier this week may have resulted in Russia restoring supplies—but the point has been well made—and it won’t be lost on European leaders, though just what they can do about it is an open question.

Much of the news this last week has focussed upon Ariel Sharon who has been unconscious ever since his massive stroke a week ago. As was expected, his sudden removal from the political scene in Israel brought uncertainty and turmoil. With a General Election scheduled for this coming March, the whole future direction of the country seemed to enter a thick mist of unknown variables. All hopes for the future had been pinned on Ariel Sharon—the majority of Israelis (we are told) believed and trusted that this man would be the salvation of Israel: It all proves once again the truth of the Scriptures which declare: “Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish” (Psalm 146:3-4).