by Peter Fernandez

According to a February 6 CNN report, two powerful earthquakes in southern Turkey and Syria have devastated the region.Tragically,  the number of dead has now surpassed 20,000.Two thousand years ago the Gospel of Luke predicted that, “…great earthquakes shall be in diverse places, famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall be from heaven. Luke 21:11 That’s when the world will allegedly transcend secularism.

Central Vermonters are acquainted with the genesis of Roxbury’s Dog River running north 20 miles through Northfield and Berlin before spilling into the Winooski, but what do recent Middle Eastern events, including the evaporation of the great and storied Euphrates River, have to do with us woodchucks? 

Regardless of the root causes, political, natural, or otherworldly, the ancient Euphrates River, 2800 kilometers (1700 miles) in length, is drying up. This Biblical waterway has streamed through the hard-rocking Cradle of Civilization, Mesopotamia (the Land between two rivers), for over five thousand years. (The other river is the Tigris.) The Euphrates emerges out of North-East Turkey to flow southeast through both Syria and Iraq before pouring itself into the Persian Gulf.  

Our tiny toy Dog River is much less a puddle of puppy pee in comparison to this gargantuan gangway the ancients considered a god. 

Turkey and Syria are reportedly redirecting their waters and/or weaponizing them against one another as their governments deny such charges. Other reported causes are low rainfall (drought) and centuries of land abuse by farmers. According to Phys.Org, an online science journal and other news reports, “Aid groups and engineers are warning of a looming humanitarian crisis…as plummeting water levels at hydroelectric dams are threatening water and power cutoffs.”  

Climate Homes News reports that several major rivers and lakes across  Europe, Asia, and North America have also been severely affected by extreme weather: “Because of low rainfall, high temperatures, and the drying of the river, crops are failing,” writes CHN’s Sebastian Rodriguez, “which has led to 800 families leaving the villages.   

According to a recent Arabic/English online broadcast, Rudaw.net, the Tigris and Euphrates rivers have decreased by more than 50 percent, a spokesperson for Iraq’s water ministry told state media.   

Why does this matter?

Thousands of years ago, the eschatological (Judgement Day-related) literature of Judaism and Christianity foretold not only earthquakes, wars, and rumors of wars, but this distinct ecological disaster. In 740 BCE, The Book of Isaiah, Chapter 11:15 explains:

The Lord will dry up the gulf of the Egyptian Sea; with a scorching wind, he will sweep his hand over the Euphrates River. He will break it up into seven streams so that anyone can cross over in sandals.

The Euphrates has never dried up before unless one counts Persia’s Cyrus the Great in 539 BCE,  redirecting its  waters in order to conquer Babylon. According to the New Testament’s Book of Revelation, Chapter 16:12: “Then the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up so that the way of the kings from the east might be prepared.” These Armies of the North and the East, “Gog and Magog,” feasibly Russia and China, are to march through its dried river bed to attack Israel. 

Flashpoint: Armageddon.     

The Quran’s 7th-century prediction states: “The Hour will not come to pass before the river Euphrates dries up to reveal the mountain of gold, for which people will struggle, and ninety-nine out of every hundred people will die [in the conflict].” Then, an Islamic messianic figure, the Madhi, is to appear and fight against the Dajjal, a demonic anti-Allah personage.           On June 10, 2021, Turkey’s  Minister of Industry and Technology announced that 20 tons of gold were found in the eastern province of Agri. According to the ministry’s spokesperson, “surveys and explorations are continuing to uncover a significant amount of gold in the mine.” 

These events, including the evaporation of the Euphrates, are believed to be “telling birth pangs” preceding the return of a messiah. As events flow through the Middle East, is it possible that  Vermont could experience a ripple effect? 

Do you recall OPEC’s (Oil Petroleum Exporting Companies) far-reaching fuel crunch during the seventies?  Some key OPEC members include Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia,  Libya and Qatar. In Hamlet, Shakespeare writes, “There are more things in heaven and Earth,  Horatio, / Than are dreamt of in your philosophy [science].” 

The author is a Northfield resident.