Iran threatens to blast Israel. Barak Obama wins the Nobel Peace Prize. Riots erupt over Jews visiting the Temple Mount, 12 policeman are hurt as the violence spreads. A 50-year old Israeli woman sustains a major head injury from Arab rock throwers in the West Bank. Obama must soon decide whether to send another 40,000 soldiers to fight in Afghanistan.

Well, although Obama has accomplished nothing to advance peace in the world - and when one reads the news it seems as though the opposite is true - the world has crowned him their "prince of peace" - the world feels he is their saviour. The reality is he has joined the terrorist Yasser Arafat on the list of Nobel peace prize winners; it's getting to be a rather shameful list! Obama's policies have brought the Middle-East to the brink of war. In fact one sees a very similar situation today as October 2000 when the second Intifada broke out, with the years of terror and horrific bombings that followed. Some Israelis are saying that the third Intifada has already begun.

The left-wing Israeli news source Ha'aretz in an analysis of the situation said: "Above all, the Temple Mount is in the headlines. The provocation may not be Israeli this time, but the combination of political aspirations with call for a religious war may render the "who started" question irrelevant."

Isn't it amazing how the conflict focuses on the Temple Mount, how above all the Temple Mount is in the world's headlines! Then the burning question of Jerusalem and next the Jewish presence in the Biblical heartland of Judea and Samaria takes up the world's time and attention.

What does the Bible say of the King of the North: "And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him." That's Daniel 11:45. It seems the ultimate objective of the campaign of the king of the north at the time of the end is the "glorious holy mountain".

Well what does the Bible say about Jerusalem at the time of the end? Zechariah 12:1-3 "The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him. Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it."

What about Judea and Samaria - the West Bank? What did the prophets write concerning that area? We turn to the prophet Joel chapter 3: "For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land." The captivity of Judah and Jerusalem was restored in June 1967 - our time. Further the prophet Ezekiel wrote: "And I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country. I will feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be: there shall they lie in a good fold, and in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel." Ezekiel 34:13,14

So God has been moving the Jews into Judah, Jerusalem and the "mountains of Israel" and Obama is bent on moving them out! It doesn't sound like a recipe for peace. We suspect Obama won the peace prize because he is pushing the Vatican's agenda for the Middle East: The Jews out of Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem under international control.

It may be difficult to recognize the Vatican's role in the situation in Israel, although listeners will have heard about it before on Bible in the News. This week an interesting example of how they work mostly behind the scenes came to my attention. Tony Blair the former British Prime Minister was interviewed by Newsweek in May of this year and the interview was republished on their website this week. The article was entitled: "Tony Blair: Faith-Based Politics". I knew that Tony Blair had revealed his Catholicism, but I found his comments here even more revealing. The last question in the interview was: "You became seriously interested in faith and politics at about the same time—when you were at Oxford. As a public figure, you put your religious beliefs aside and pursued politics. Would you have preferred to be more open about your faith?" It is interesting that Tony Blair became interested in faith while at Oxford and yet kept it quiet for most of his political career. Tony Blair's answer is very revealing: "People in Britain don't expect a set of religious sermons from their political leaders. I'm not a religious leader, you know; the pope is my religious leader." Tony Blair is now the official Envoy of the Quartet on the Middle East on behalf of the United Nations, the European Union, the United States, and Russia, no doubt taking into account the pope's religious and political desires.

Whether or not Obama succeeds in creating any peace or fostering war in the world remains to be seen. We know that Obama's and Tony Blair's vision for peace in the Middle-East will not be a reality. We do know that sustainable peace will not be achieved in the world until the real "Prince of Peace" is established on Yahweh's "holy hill of Zion" -Psalm 2. First he will establish righteousness in the world, ruling the nations with a rod of iron, "And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever." Isaiah 32:17.

Thanks for joining us on Bible in the News! With you this week is Dave Billington. See you again next week God willing.