In 21st century conflicts…
Is Water The Ultimate Weapon?
“There is a real chance that water will replace – or at least join – oil as a primary source of conflict in the 21st Century.” (dailymail.co.uk)
God's Use Of Water As A Weapon
Looking back in history, God has used water as a very effective weapon.
God Weaponised Water To Destroy The Pre-flood World
“And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die.” (Genesis 6:17)
God Weaponised Water To Destroy The Egyptian Army
“And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his strength when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it; and the LORD overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea.” (Exodus 14:27)
God Will Weaponise Water Yet Again During End Time Events
“And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood;” (Revelation 8:8)
The Two Witnesses Given Power Over Water!
“These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.” (Revelation 11:6)
All Life In The Sea - Destroyed!
“And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea.” (Revelation 16:3)
“And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood.” (Revelation 16:4)
River Euphrates Dried Up
“And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.” (Revelation 16:12)
Man’s Use Of Water As A Weapon
Here is a partial list of some of the most significant cases throughout history.
430 BC - Spartans Poison Cistern in Athens
537 AD - Goths Cut Rome’s Aqueducts
1187 - Saladin Cuts Crusader’s Water Supply
1863 - General Grant Destroys Levees
1941 – Sabotage of Soviet Dam
1964 – Cuba Cuts Off Water to US Navy
1992 - Serbs Cut Water and Power to Sarajevo
2000 – Kenyans Fight with Monkeys over Water Source
2002 – Violence over Indian River
2004 – 23 Dead in Somalian Clan Dispute
2004-2006 - 250 Dead in Ethiopian Water Conflict
2008 – Kyrgyzstan Dispute Between Villagers and Border Guards Over Dam Access
2010 – Over 100 Dead in Pakistani Tribal Dispute
2012 – Protests Turn Violent Across Egypt
2014 - Over 1000 Killed in Nigeria over Water Resources
2016 – Water Crisis in Yemen
2016 – Clash Between Indian Army and Protestors
2017 – 70 Dead in Darfur over clean water source
2018 – Water Protests in Iran
Water Wars
Middle East 2026
“Donald Trump has threatened to destroy Iran’s water infrastructure – an act experts say would constitute a war crime that could plunge tens of millions of people into crisis. If the Strait of Hormuz is not opened ‘immediately,’ the United States ‘will conclude our lovely “stay” in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island – and possibly all desalination plants,’ the president wrote on Truth Social on Monday.
Over the last five weeks, strikes have already hit desalination facilities in Iran, Bahrain and Kuwait, killing at least one worker and forcing Iranian authorities to truck water by tanker to some villages left without supply. Experts have warned that the US president’s threats, along with the recent attacks, risk escalating the conflict into a water war across the Gulf – with catastrophic consequences.
The Gulf states, in particular, are highly dependent on more than 400 desalination plants that line the coastline of the Arabian Peninsula. Without them, cities like Dubai, Doha, Kuwait City and Riyadh, home to tens of millions of people, could not exist.
But Iran is also acutely vulnerable to potential attacks on water infrastructure – its water system was already teetering on the brink of collapse before the war broke out.
Escalation could be catastrophic for the Gulf states. Kuwait relies on desalination for 90 per cent of its drinking water, Bahrain for 95 per cent, and Qatar for 99 per cent.” (telegraph.co.uk)
When Britain’s Water Runs Out…
Not just wars - man abuses water and neglects water supply, until the rain stops!
“There have been workable plans to cope with droughts for decades, but our leaders ignore the looming crisis. There is an answer. Indeed, it is an answer that has been staring us in the face for more than 80 years. A national water grid was proposed back in 1943 by the engineer J F Pownall. He produced plans for a canal running down the spine of England at the 310ft contour and connecting the most populated towns and cities.
This Grand Contour Canal would have no locks, other than at the entry and exit points, and would serve as a grid able to distribute water around the country. Needless to say it never got built. It is hardly a new concept: the ancient Chinese built one nearly 2,000 years ago while aqueducts testify to Roman ingenuity in this field.
While repairing leaks is important, it is not sufficient. It is one thing to face the prospect of power blackouts because of the net zero policy. Just wait until the water runs out.” (telegraph.co.uk)
When America’s Water Runs Out…
The Colorado River is so overused that it cannot reach the sea!
“Seven thirsty states, including California, are fighting over the dwindling waters of the Colorado River. USC experts look at how we got here — and why this was inevitable. Once hailed as the ‘American Nile,’ the Colorado River spans 1,450 miles and supplies nearly 40 million people across seven states plus northern Mexico with drinking water, irrigation for farmland and hydroelectric power. But after decades of drought and overuse, major reservoirs along the river are drying up.
The American Southwest now faces a crisis it knew was coming. The fate of the Colorado now depends on the states’ ability — and willingness — to agree on a plan to slash water consumption and equitably distribute what’s left.
The ‘American Nile’ is one of several battlegrounds in the global water wars. Halfway around the world lies a river in crisis. The true Nile River — the longest on the planet and the lifeblood of more than 300 million inhabitants in East Africa — is the site of a similar, long-running conflict over water rights. ‘Like the American Southwest, the Nile River Basin is under great pressure due to decades of increased water consumption, droughts and upstream damming.’” (today.usc.edu)
The Colorado River No Longer Reaches The Sea
“The Colorado River is perhaps one of North America’s most iconic, curving through such natural wonders as the Rockies and the Grand Canyon – but its waters are also historically low, to the point where it no longer reaches the sea. Running for over 2,300 kilometers (around 1,500 miles), the Colorado River is considered a critical source of water to more than 40 million people across seven states. Its waters are also of vital importance to more than 2 million hectares of cropland.” (iflscience.com)
This World Is Suicidal!
The population of the planet continues to grow - now over 8 billion - but the available supply of water hasn’t changed. It is true that more than two-thirds of the world’s surface is covered by water, but most of it is too salty to drink.
Only 2.5 per cent of the water on Earth is fresh and two-thirds of that is locked up in ice-caps and glaciers. Less than 0.1% of the world’s drinkable water is accessible to humans. Since clean drinking water is essential for human existence, surely mankind would be going all out to preserve this vital resource?
The opposite is happening! Toxic waste from factory farming, waste from industry, and untreated human waste continues to be dumped into the nation’s rivers, rendering them dangerous for humans and aquatic life. The situation is now so serious that huge areas of ocean are now “dead zones”, where the oxygen level is so low that life cannot exist.
UK Rivers Used As ‘Open Sewers’
“The River Wye: It’s the nation’s favourite river and through agricultural pollution and sewage hitting our river it’s in a diabolical state. Water is life. If we haven’t got clean water, we have got no life.” (dailymail.co.uk)
China’s Rivers Used As ‘Open Sewers’
“China’s rivers have suffered profound water quality impairments due to the undeniable pressure of economic development on the environment since China’s Reform and Opening-up in 1978.” (nature.com)
India’s Rivers Used As ‘Open Sewers’
“Unplanned growth has led to the use of water bodies as dumping grounds for sewage and industrial effluent.” (yale.edu)
Death By Hypoxia
Most rivers end up in the sea - and even the sea is suffering!
“Hypoxia occurs when algae and other organisms die from lack of oxygen and available nutrients. This lack of oxygen creates dead zones in which most aquatic species cannot survive.” (nationalgeographic.org)
Mankind Is Slowly Committing Suicide
Much of the food supply is ultra-processed - corrupted. The water supply is being destroyed and even the air we breath is polluted.
Can there be any hope for the future?
Mr Armstrong writes …
“DO YOU see a bright future ahead?
For you?
For humanity?
Personally, I do – and if you can join me in saying that, you are one in a hundred thousand!
Where is any good news today?
Where is any future to be found in nations developing nuclear weapons that can erase all human, animal and plant life from the earth?
Where is any hope to be found in the wretchedness, ignorance, poverty, squalor and filth in which more than half the world’s population lives?
Where is any joyous anticipation to be found in prosperous ‘have’ nations where sources of drinking water – the rivers and lakes – are being polluted and the air we breathe is being befouled, the soil is worn out and contaminated and the foods are being robbed of nutrition in food factories; where homes and families are being broken up, crime is rapidly increasing, racial problems and violence are erupting, and sickness and mental disturbances multiplying?
Where is happiness today? …Where do we find inspiration in the assertions of world leaders and the ‘great’, warning us that we must adjust to a future of growing problems and dangers where there are NO SOLUTIONS?
There is a CAUSE for every effect.
There is a CAUSE for the state of the world today.
And there has to be a CAUSE that will produce the peaceful and happy world tomorrow.
This all means one thing. Man, imbued with human nature, is utterly UNABLE to solve his problems. He can only worsen problems and create new ones. By the ‘knowledge’ and efforts of man, this world faces doom and hopelessness.
But there emphatically is a bright future ahead! The world tomorrow – which The Plain Truth proclaims – will bring world peace, universal prosperity, universal right education, universal good health.
In the wonderful world tomorrow, we shall have knowledge of the TRUE values. People will cease chasing the false values and suffering the painful consequences. People will learn the WAY to real happiness and find it.
Life will be continuously interesting and invigorating.
There will be world peace.
There will be universal prosperity.
The greatest event of all history will be the coming of the living Jesus Christ again to earth. When he returns, the world will know something of the meaning of ‘the power and the glory’! He is coming to crush every government of men, as if to grind them into powder! He is coming as the King of kings, ruling over ALL NATIONS. He is coming to change human nature!
He is coming to enforce the WAY of outgoing concern, or love, of giving, serving, sharing, helping, instead of grasping, taking and self-centeredness.
He is coming to abolish war, competition, strife and violence. He is coming to inaugurate a universal, right education.
He is coming to clean up this filthy earth.
He is coming to restore the government of God as the all-powerful world government.
Yes, I see a very bright future – just ahead!
It’s the only GOOD NEWS in the world today!” (The Plain Truth – February 1983)
The Millennium: The Vital First Phase
One of the first things Jesus Christ does, to show His supreme power and concern for people, is…
“When the poor and needy seek WATER, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst…
I the LORD will hear them,
I the God of Israel will not forsake them.
I will open RIVERS in high places, and FOUNTAINS in the midst of the valleys:
I will make the wilderness A POOL OF WATER (lake), and the dry land SPRINGS OF WATER.
I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the acacia tree, and the myrtle, and the oil tree;
I will set in the desert the fir tree, and the pine, and the box tree together:
That they may see, and know, and consider, and understand together, THAT THE HAND OF THE LORD HATH DONE THIS, AND THE HOLY ONE OF ISRAEL HATH CREATED IT.” (Isaiah 41:17-20)
“You don’t have to believe it!
It will happen, regardless.
It is sure – the world’s only sure hope.
This advance good news of tomorrow is as certain as the rising of tomorrow’s sun.”
Recognising Self-Righteousness
"But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away." (Isaiah 64:6)
The Two Trees
When we think of self-righteousness we might think of two different categories of people; firstly those Christ mentioned in Matthew 6:1-6, who loved to parade their 'righteousness', i.e. their alms giving and prayers, before an audience, and others who superciliously look down their noses at lesser mortals, while being blind to their own faults and sins (Luke 18:11). The truth of the matter is however, that self-righteousness is something that all humanity suffers from because it's just natural to want to be thought well of by others, and it wouldn't be wise to think we're immune from that proclivity! So during these days of Unleavened Bread, it would do us all good to look in the mirror, and consider how much we personally are affected by this all too common failing, because at times we still take from the tree of good and evil. But notice what Mr. Armstrong describes as the 'good' associated with that particular choice:
God started his supreme mission and PURPOSE of reproducing himself through the first human, Adam. But to become a begotten child of God, so that he might, on acquiring the spiritual character of God, be BORN into the divine FAMILY OF GOD, Adam was required to make a choice. He chose apostasy, rebellion, self-righteousness mixed with evil – the way of the kidnapper of the potential family of God. (A World Held Captive, p20)
Satan and the Book of Job
So important is this subject that an entire book of the Bible – the book of Job – has been devoted to it. Through the best part of 30 chapters, Job's three friends gave him a wealth of advice, but until Elihu ventured to speak, (Hebrew; "God is he") they remained blind to the heart and core of Job's problem. At the very start of the book, Satan is also depicted as being totally oblivious to the monumental problem that God needed to correct in His servant Job. For Job was indeed humanly righteous and Satan couldn't see beyond the physical, because his understanding is limited to his own self-centred approach of vanity and self-importance. Notice how often "I" is mentioned in just these two verses:
- For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
- I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High (Isaiah 14:13,14)
Satan's basic problem stems from his arrogance and conceit ... his "beauty and brightness" as mentioned in Ezekiel 28:17. And so it is with self-righteousness. PRIDE in righteousness lies at the heart of the problem – righteous acts done, but done with the INcoming, SELF-centred attitude or frame of mind. True repentance is not merely turning from the things we have done, but turning from the self-centred approach of a carnal mind to the entirely opposite God-centred character and frame of mind. From the world's way to God's way, in absolutely everything. What God truly requires of us is brought out in verse eight of Micah 6, as humility in a human being is the crucial starting point.
- Wherewith shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old?
- Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
- He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and [Heb: humble thyself to walk] with thy God? (Micah 6:6-8)
- Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest?
- For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is [humble] and of a contrite [repentant] spirit, and trembleth at my word. (Isaiah 66:1,2)
Sons of God
God's very purpose in creating humanity is to reproduce Himself within a family of spirit-born children, who will not only have a glorified body, but – more importantly – with the character to match! That spiritual character is what God is moulding and shaping in each one of us right now. In several places throughout scripture God is depicted as a potter fashioning and shaping us as clay in His hands. So the verse quoted initially – about our righteousness being nothing more than filthy rags – should ideally be read within its context.
- For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him.
- Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways: behold, thou art wroth; for we have sinned: in those [ways] is continuance, and we shall be saved.
- But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
- And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee: for thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities.
- But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand. (Isaiah 64:4-8)
The fact is, "that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God;" (I Corinthians 15:50) but neither can flesh and blood character, flesh and blood thinking, nor flesh and blood righteousness. In all cases such things must be spirit-motivated from a spirit-begotten mind if they are to be any use at all in the future. As Mr. Armstrong pointed out to us, it's the DEGREE of change that we were not getting.
In the account in Matthew 19, when the rich young ruler approached Christ with the question what good thing must he do to inherit the Kingdom of God, the answer was to keep the commandments but in the same breath, Christ also gave the WAY in which those commandments were to be kept, as He pointed out that there is NONE good but One and that is God. (Matthew 19:17) Mere self-righteousness does not cut it, and if that is the only righteousness we have – like the rich young ruler – we make ourselves unfit to inherit the Kingdom prepared for us, as a major lesson from this past 6000 years is that human thinking has proved itself totally unfit for righteous rulership. We have to make sure that our thinking and deeds are indeed "wrought in God" (John 3:21) ....
- Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
- Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
- And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. (Matthew 7:21-23)
Mankind left to himself cannot rise above self-righteousness with his good deeds, as he is not being led by God's spirit. Conversion is the key, and willingly following where the Holy Spirit leads us, trusting the fact that God knows best.
- Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.
- For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.
- For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
- For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of [sonship], whereby we cry, Abba, Father (Romans 8:12-15)
Faith OF Christ
The problem is not only are we blinded by our own humanity into thinking of righteousness in only human terms but so often when we catch a glimpse of the actual REALITY of the situation we are liable to throw up our hands in despair. The reality is the need to change us – nothing more than lumps of clay – into God. To change the thinking of man into the thinking of God; the character of man into the character of God; the righteousness of man into the righteousness of God. And as Christ had to point out to His discouraged disciples, after His discourse with the rich young ruler: "with men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible". (Matthew 19:26).
At the time – before their conversion on the day of Pentecost – the disciples, like so many of us in this generation, simply could not "get it", as to truly grasp the transcendental magnitude of what needs to occur requires the faith OF Christ – the same kind of faith that Christ had in His father, who is our Father also (John 20:17). This is THE faith once delivered we find mentioned in the book of Jude: it is the absolute trust that Jesus Christ had in the Father, the same kind of faith that we too need to accomplish the humanly totally impossible – converting a human being made of nothing more than dirt into a glorified son of God, complete with the character and righteousness to match. This faith requires placing God at the centre of everything in our lives – just as Christ Himself did:
- Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. (John 5:19)
- For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. (John 6:38)
- Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. (John 7:16)
- For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak.
- And I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak. (John 12:49,50)
- Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. (John 14:10)
Paul's Example
The apostle Paul declared himself "a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee," (Acts 23:6) which indeed he had been. Unlike the twelve apostles, many of who were fishermen, Paul had been extensively trained in Judaism – "brought up ... at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers," (Acts 22:3) Yet on his conversion he finally saw the vast difference between carnal Pharisaic self-righteousness and the righteousness God requires, something he briefly expounds on in his epistle to the Philippians:
- ... as touching the law, a Pharisee;
- Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.
- But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.
- Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,
- And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: (Philippians 3:5-9)
We tend to think of Paul as one of the great men of the Bible and a pillar of the New Testament church, and indeed he was, but thankfully for us he mentioned in Romans 7:9-10 the ongoing struggle he had with his carnal nature (as we so often do) when he realised the DEGREE of conversion required – i.e. the spiritual implication of the commandment on coveting. This is something we just cannot achieve by ourselves. Our attempts at righteousness on a human level can bring good physical/temporary results, but we need to go further than that if we are to be granted eternal life. Paul gives us the answer at the close of chapter 7:
- My inner being delights in the law of God.
- But I see a different law at work in my body– a law that fights against the law which my mind approves of. It makes me a prisoner to the law of sin which is at work in my body.
- What an unhappy man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is taking me to death?
- Thanks be to God, who does this through our Lord Jesus Christ! This, then, is my condition: on my own I can serve God's law only with my mind, while my human nature serves the law of sin. (Romans 7:22-25 GNT)
Elihu's Assessment
And so we come to the book of Job – the key example God gives us in scripture concerning this vital subject. Notice what Mr. Armstrong had to say concerning the parallels between the conversion of Job and that of his father:
But my father was actually so good, humanly speaking, and so void of vices and any of the commonly accepted “sins” that he was actually in the same category as Job. Job was so righteous that even Satan could not find anything of which to accuse him. Actually Job’s one great sin was his own righteousness. It blinded him to his HUMANITY, the actual NATURE of sin in every human. Job was the most difficult man on record for God to convert. Finally, God brought Job to the place where he did REPENT, and come to completely ABHOR himself!
My father had come to that same place. He came to realize that mere human goodness and uprightness is not, after all, the true RIGHTEOUSNESS of GOD, which is received only from God’s Holy Spirit after the painful and suffering experience of repentance. But now he had repented. And now he had come to recognize his real NEED of Jesus Christ as personal Saviour. He had thrown himself on God’s mercy, in faith believing. (The Autobiography - Chapter 28)
Previous to Elihu's comments, Job's three friends presumed these catastrophes were the result of him having sinned in some way – even though he was adamant ... My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live." (Job 27:6) What they weren't able to see was the problem of the exalting of the self – vividly brought out in chapters 29-31 – which resulted in him effectively attempting to diminish the righteousness of God, and even castigating Him for being unfair: "Oh that one would hear me! behold, my desire is, that the Almighty would answer me, and that mine adversary had written a book." (Job 31:35)
Elihu points out to Job the absurdity of mere dirt – which we all are – criticising the One that gave us life in the first place. It is this lack of comprehension as to the mind-numbing difference between our existence, character and righteousness and that of the eternal God that lies at the heart of self-righteousness.
- The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life.
- If thou canst answer me, set thy words in order before me, stand up.
- Behold, I am according to thy wish in God’s stead: I also am formed out of the clay. (Job 33:4-6)
Even though we all only have this clay-based perception of the situation, all mankind should still be able to grasp the eternal power and Godhead of the Almighty and the vast difference between our physio-chemical existence and that of the Creator God. This Elihu graphically points out to Job within the following two passages:
- Look unto the heavens, and see; and behold the clouds which are higher than thou.
- If thou sinnest, what doest thou against him? or if thy transgressions be multiplied, what doest thou unto him?
- If thou be righteous, what givest thou him? or what receiveth he of thine hand? (Job 35:5-7)
- And [the rain and clouds are] turned round about by his counsels: that they may do whatsoever he commandeth them upon the face of the world in the earth.
- He causeth it to come, whether for correction, or for his land, or for mercy.
- Hearken unto this, O Job: stand still, and consider the wondrous works of God. (Job 37:12-14)
The Conversion of Job
And then finally Jesus Christ Himself gives the true assessment of the situation by questioning Job from HIS perspective. And at last, Job grasps what God required him to learn, with the words: Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth. Once have I spoken; but I will not answer: yea, twice; but I will proceed no further." (Job 40:4,5) We can then see just how profound that change of attitude was – from self-centred to God-centred – when we take his final recorded words ...
- Then Job answered the LORD and said,
- I know that You can do all things, And that no thought or purpose of Yours can be restrained.
- You said to me ‘Who is this that darkens and obscures counsel by words without knowledge?’
- Therefore I now see I have rashly uttered that which I did not understand, Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.
- Hear, please, and I will speak; I will ask You, and You instruct me.’
- I had heard of You only by the hearing of the ear, But now my spiritual eye sees You.
- Therefore I retract my words, And I repent [mere] dust and ashes. (Job 42:1-6 Amplified Version)
... and compare them with his self-centred, negative approach just a few chapters earlier:
- My feet have carefully followed His steps; I have kept His ways and not turned aside.
- I have not departed from the commandment of His lips; I have kept the words of His mouth more than my necessary food.
- But He is unique and unchangeable, and who can turn Him? And what His soul desires, that He does.
- For He performs what is planned and appointed for me, And He is mindful of many such things.
- Therefore I would be terrified at His presence; When I consider all of this, I tremble in dread of Him.
- For God has made my heart faint, And the Almighty has terrified me, (Job 23:11-16)
The thing to notice is how in chapter 23 above it's all about Job, but in chapter 42 his centre had changed – from self to God. He is no longer mystified at what is happening to him, but rather accepts his position in a trusting way. The total centrality of God is what Job needed to recognise – the vast difference between his thinking and that of God's; between his accomplishments (even the pyramids) and those of God's; of his meagre life-span and that of the Eternal; of his SELF-righteousness and that of God's. And THIS is the about-face that Job had to come to and to get to grips with, and is also the true antidote to SELF-righteousness in our case as well.
And then, with God's own righteousness being formed in him, rather than self-righteousness, God blessed him physically, but even more importantly Job was then spiritually equipped to fulfil his ultimate God-ordained potential... the same potential available to all of us, IF we recognise where we are "missing the mark"! And God has given us these seven days of Unleavened Bread in particular to do just that – to ask Him to show us where we need to change, that all and any righteousness is of God, and not of ourselves.
- Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults.
- Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous [proud, arrogant] sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.
- Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer (Psalm 19:12-14)
Latest Audio - 2026-04-04
“Just what is an APOSTLE?”
Today we find the Church of God in a “wilderness of religious confusion!”
The confusion is not merely around the Church – within the religions of the world outside – but WITHIN the very heart of The True Church itself!
Read online or contact email to request a copy
