Sinking
Sand of Epic Proportions
By
Rev. Mike Dana
I was contacted this last year to recommend a product for
the repair of concrete pipe seams and the sealing of the joints. Normally this
would be no big deal as my secular job is a consultant for a polymeric company
and I have been involved in this type of repair a number of times.
However, this client was looking for material for a dam
structure that has recently been in the news and is of some great concern and
was at the center of controversy at its origin. The Mosul Dam, located in the
middle of Iraq.
The Mosul Dam is the largest Dam in Iraq and is on the
river Tigris (Hiddekel). It has biblical significance as one of the four rivers
leaving the Garden of Eden in the book of Genesis as well as the location of
Daniel while receiving the vision with prophetic words concerning the end of
time in Daniel chapters 10, 11, and 12.
The (E-T) Euphrates-Tigris river basin is changing fairly
rapidly according to HARC research.1 The dams on these rivers are
causing high buildup of sediment in the reservoirs they create, and there have
been record reductions in surface run off feeding the rivers. This information
makes me wonder about the bowl poured out on the river Euphrates by the Sixth
Angel mentioned in Rev. 16:12. The effect of this “bowl “creates a dry river
for the army to cross beginning the battle of Armageddon. We are not told the
details of this dry section of land and its specific physical result, i.e. cataclysmic
dam failure, washouts of river sections, a widening of the river or release of
large amounts of sediment… only its spiritual origin.
I don’t doubt our repair material would perform well and
maybe even shift the bigger problem to a different result. You see, the Mosul
Dam at its inception was advised against being built. The project was built by
Saddam Hussein, and it was known then that there was no bed rock to place a
satisfactory structure that would safely hold back the kind of flows that the
Tigris River can see. The resulting construction of the dam revealed the very
problem that was warned about.
The lack of foundation for this dam is forcing continual
reactive maintenance in the form of pumping grout under the dam structure to
slow the effects of erosion. This grouting effort seems to have no end and has
an annual budget equating to some of the recent lottery values. It is
said there are more lives at stake in the event of this dam failing than that
of a nuclear bomb!
What do you do?
· The
builder had reliable advice and warning.
· He
built it to try to improve status in the world and gain resources and control.
· At the
risk of loss of life.
Saddam’s decisions ultimately cost him everything. But the
consequences of his actions will have a profound effect on a lot of others as
well.
The parting questions I share are these of Christ…
Mark 8:34-38 (NKJV)
34 When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, "Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.
35 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it.
36 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?
37 Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
38 For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels."
34 When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, "Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.
35 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it.
36 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?
37 Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
38 For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels."
Matthew 7:24-27 (NKJV)
24 "Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock:
25 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.
26 But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand:
27 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall."
24 "Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock:
25 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.
26 But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand:
27 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall."
If you have read this article
and realized that you have not been seeking Gods will, but your own, and would
like your soul to be under the direction of Gods spirit and will, its time
right now to surrender to the will of God.
Maybe you have asked Jesus to forgive you, and come into your heart and life, but have turned away and gone back to trusting yourself, or maybe you have never asked Jesus to be Lord in your life and heart…
Take the time right now to ask Jesus to forgive your sins, and come into your heart and life. I invite you to visit The Meeting Place Billings that we may equip you to know Him better. If you live outside the greater Billings Montana area give us a call that we can help you find a place of fellowship and discipleship with other believers.
Maybe you have asked Jesus to forgive you, and come into your heart and life, but have turned away and gone back to trusting yourself, or maybe you have never asked Jesus to be Lord in your life and heart…
Take the time right now to ask Jesus to forgive your sins, and come into your heart and life. I invite you to visit The Meeting Place Billings that we may equip you to know Him better. If you live outside the greater Billings Montana area give us a call that we can help you find a place of fellowship and discipleship with other believers.
1HARC Research paper – Euphrates-Tigris
River Basin Report
