Bible In The News

Hello again! This is Paul Billington looking at the News from a Bible perspective--and therefore somewhat selectively, choosing news items that demonstrate the Truth that lies behind the headlines.

Bringing you the Bible’s view of the news, after many weeks absence, this is Paul Billington back with you again to look at what is going on--and how it fits in with what the prophets have told us to expect.

The Israeli Knesset has approved the 2006 budget 158 days late, with a vote of 53-22 with 45 abstaining. Five of collation Labour party MKs left the plenum in rebellion over the budget--not a good sign for the government as many polititions are saying that the real battle will be the 2007 budget. Throw Olmert's controversial "convergence plan" into the mix and you have a very unstable government. This is David Billington with the weekly Bible in the News.

This week, the Pope visits Auschwitz and asks why God was silent during the Holocaust; Qassam rockets land in the south of Israel, in Strerot, with a direct hit on a house very close to the defense ministers; Katyusha rockets, shelling and gunfire on the northern border of Israel from Hizbullah; ten months after the expulsion from Gush Katif,111 families are not even living in temporary prefab structures; meanwhile, there are orders from the Israeli government to destroy 12 outpost communities in the West Bank. It's the May 31st edition of the Bible in the News. This week, we are going to discuss some of these questions with the editor of Israelireporter.com.

With you for the weekly Bible in the News program, is Dave Billington, as Paul continues his lecturing tour in Australia. I don't know if President Bush takes time out every week to listen to The Bible in the News, but if you don't Mr. President, it's certainly time you did -- in fact you would find this week particularly interesting having just visited with the PM of Israel, Ehud Olmert. You discussed with him is plan to expel many Jews from their homes in the west bank, or Judea and Samaria; he said, that unless the Palestinians negotiate to let him give them the land, he will force them to have it! (My paraphrase.)

Welcome friends, to the May 17th edition of Bible in the News with Dave Billington. This week the "International Aerospace Exhibition" is taking place in Berlin. You may be surprised to find out who the largest exhibitor is at this international show -- so big they had to especially construct a new 3,000 square meter pavilion, just for this exhibitor! It is not the European Union or even the United States. It's Russia. Yes, Russia is back in a big way. The Russian News and Information Agency reported this information under the heading: "Growing Russian Aerospace Industry to Display its Products in Berlin." Gone are the days of a starving population with Russia begging the west for aid, today Russia is flexing its muscles. The difference for Russia now, in comparison to the cold war era, is all the doors are open to the west and the lucrative markets in Europe. The International Herald Tribune Reports that Russia supplies a third of Germany's gas needs and a quarter of the EU's, sales totalling $25.7 billion,

This is Dave Billington with this week's Bible in the News. The ancient city of Hebron is a city that resounds with events of faith. Abraham the father of the faithful is buried there with Sarah his wife; Caleb, one of the faithful spies choose Hebron for his portion in the land of Canaan, the place where the giants were and the cities great and fenced; and Samson carried the gates of Gaza all night and around the time the sun arose this mighty man filled with the spirit of God placed the gates of Gaza on a hill before Hebron, no doubt with the promise to Abraham in mind, that his seed would possess the gate of his enemies.

This is Dave Billington with you for this week's Bible in the News. On Tuesday of this week Berlusconi resigned as Italian PM, clearing the way for Romano Prodi to become the next Prime Minister of Italy. What does this have to do with the Bible? Stay tuned to find out.

This is Dave Billington with you for this weeks Bible in the News. Ever heard of Nefesh B'nefesh? Well don't touch the dial, because they are an exciting organization that is making headlines!

This is Dave Billington with this weeks Bible in the News. This Monday a suicide bomber struck in Tel Aviv killing nine civilians, at the same time as Israel's new parliament was to be sworn in. After calls for the ceremony to be canceled it went ahead regardless of the carnage. This is an epitome of the plans of the new government in Israel, who has plans to withdraw from large swathes of the West Bank in Judea and Samaria, regardless of the ongoing attacks and bloodshed. Does this new government have God's blessing? We would say 'no'. As it says in the Proverbs 29:2: "When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn." When will there be righteous government for the nation of Israel?

Welcome to our weekly Bible in the News programme brought to you again this week by Paul Billington in Canada.This week we want to step back from the turmoil of world events and the politics--and take a look at those who report the news to us--the media.Many of us will recognize the power of the media in today's world. We see it at election times, and also at times of crisis--such as with the Iraq war or when the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is at a crucial phase--as it is now. In these situations the media (both press and electronic) can bring enormous pressure and influence to bear. Journalists and announcers are sometimes referred to as being 'formers of public opinion'--they actually see their job as being to form public opinion--as telling us what to think. In this way they are seen to manipulate elections and even the policy of government. These are powerful people.

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

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.