|
|
"IF" CLICKING the email icons above will not take you to our email page "THEN" please use our guest book - just put delete in the message and it will NOT appear in the guestbook
News
+ Views
Former
Visitors Forum News & Views Updated Daily End Times News Questions, email your comments midi "Butterfly"
ON AIR WWSR Signs Radio 60+ files posted for you to listenTO ON THIS SITE... STREAMING AUDIO like INTERNET RADIO listen to live messages by Signs Of The Times preachers & our short-wave programs! Newer audio is posted on the downloads page CLICK HERE Secret Societies pictures include: Masons, Illuminati, Skull & Bones, Bush, Regan, Bohemian GroveHave patience as pictures load! Dark2Light Need HELP? Depressed? Experiencing Darkness? Hurting? This is great! Prophecy Main Page The Sword of the Lord! updated weekly midi "Holy Ground" PROPHECY Fulfillment page check for updates! Prayer Forum Requests Prayer email requests midi "Butterfly" News & Views Updated Daily End Times News Questions, email your comments midi "Butterfly" Credentials For your ministry and Church midi "As Deer Panteth" About
AIGA
Our founders
heart and Our
Commission midi "majesty" AIGA
Meetings &
Conventions
Some
but just those this site is aware
of!
Pictures of 2004 & 2005 Conventions
Bible
College
Associate and Bachelor
Degrees - - - - - SIGNS OF THE TIMES new info added as time permits End Times News + Views updated daily Please check the End Times News & Views page link above FOR UPDATES to the following -OR- click each link! Over half of the links are updated daily! Secret Societies pictures include: Masons, Illuminati, Skull & Bones, Bush, Regan, Bohemian GroveHave patience as pictures load! Weather Control Is it possible You decide! News + Views Updated Daily End Times News Links to other UPDATED pages Posse Comitatus Act Bans the USA Government from using U.S. troops in domestic law enforcement PESTILENCES old/ new or of Biblical proportions Terrorism in the US and the world Nuclear reports and events BITES reports of interest in the last days Apostate Christianity exposing the false see pictures of Rev Moon as "MESSIAH" another Jesus? News + Views Updated Daily End Times News Links to other UPDATED pages Anti-Christian things opposing Christians Sodom & Gomorrah In today's news Diseases Archive Mad Cow, Bird Flu, SARS, Human types U N United Nations and NATO EU European Union Israel Luke 21:20 KJV And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. 666 ? end times reports 666 Facts? THE MARK! How close do you think? Chip's info and Pictures, wrist, hand, head, see also #7 #9 The load time is getting long on this one but I hesitate to delete anything! Interesting but you decide + picture of SAINT BILL CLINTON! another Jesus? Get Chipped information and pictures linking end times with RFID, etc. technology IS BIG BROTHER WATCHING YOU? cameras, surveillance, satellite, face scan, cell phones News + Views Updated Daily End Times News Links to other UPDATED pages STRANGE SCIENCE In the last days knowledge increases SCIENCE FICTION TODAY last days knowledge will increase... New SciFi Weapons Anti-Christian Matthew 5.. Blessed are they that endure for His sake! Worldwide Events updated almost daily... Tsunami, Tidal wave Earthquake, Volcano, etc News + Views Updated Daily End Times News Links to other UPDATED pages BIBLE PROVED Science proves KJV Bible is correct - - - - - - - For Women Bible promises, Prophecy Devotions The Word Sermons, outlines by AIGA N. E. Div. Director Brother Johnson, midi "El Shaddai" Dr
Rayl's Page
Teachings by AIGA founder Dr.
G.M. Rayl, ThD, D.D.midi "Alleluia"
The World TODAY END TIMES WORD this page dates back to 911 but it is still worth viewing Awesome picture of New Jerusalem descending out of Heaven Rev 21:2 midi "Butterfly" America at War Also dates back to 911 but it is one of our popular pages. You will see graphic pictures & commentaries on the NY City attack, 4 sequence animated picture of 2nd plane hitting tower II and much more! midi melody "America, Onward Christian Soldiers, God Bless America. STAY HEALTHY midi Jesus Name above all names News + Views Updated Daily End Times News Links to other UPDATED pages WEB LINKS PAGE midi "Majesty" FREE Graphics Have patience as pictures load! Wallpaper/ Back ground pictures on page 2 and 2a EAGLES: pgs 2, 2a, 8 MIDI "Jesus Name Above All Names NEW AGE BIBLES How they change KJV scripture Midi: Majesty Bible Search Search the Bible in 7 languages and translations or do a Topic Search Midi: Majesty MISSIONGIVER FREE CD's sent around the World! Midi " Old Rugged Cross" News + Views Updated Daily End Times News Links to other UPDATED pages |
TODAY'S SCIENCE PROVES... KJV BIBLE IS CORRECT PAGE 2
Posted April 25, 2007 ----------------------------- [Originally posted on our NEWS + VIEWS PAGE] Relevance of Dead Sea Scrolls heightens Important discoveries in recent archaeological digs should encourage Christians to boldly proclaim the fulfillment of the Messianic hope to Jewish people, Lamar Cooper, Criswell College executive vice president and provost, said on the opening day of the April 16-17 Lausanne Consultation on Jewish Evangelism’s North America meeting in San Antonio. Noting why so much attention continues to be given to the Qumran site where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found 60 years ago, Cooper said last year's excavations by Criswell College students and faculty in conjunction with World of the Bible Ministries could potentially link the Qumran community to Jewish contemporaries of Jesus known as Essenes. The Dead Sea Scrolls have become one of the most important biblical archaeological finds of all time, though access to the writings did not extend beyond a few scholars until a decade ago. As researchers poured over the photocopies, Cooper explained, the scrolls’ contents proved to be even more remarkable than anyone suspected, containing portions of every book in the Old Testament except Esther and a complete scroll of Isaiah. "All the romance of the 'Indiana Jones' version of archaeology is gone in about 10 minutes," Cooper said, describing the methodical labor by the Criswell excavation team working in temperatures that sometimes rose above 120 degrees. "Every volunteer discovers it is just plain hard work," he said, describing one section of the dig in the open sun as being dubbed "the pit of death." The Lausanne Consultation on Jewish Evangelism is a task force that arose from an emphasis on reaching Jews presented to the Lausanne committee for World Evangelism. LCJE holds an international consultation every four years, with regional meetings like the San Antonio event held annually. Particular attention is given to developments like the excavation Cooper described, based on the desire of LCJE members to declare the hope of Jesus Christ as Messiah to the Jewish people. As a Hebrew scholar and teacher, Cooper offered an overview of Qumran and the Messianic hope, noting the relevance of the later Essenes' commitment to the Word of God. "The scrolls (that the Essenes preserved) have confirmed the accuracy of the Word of God," Cooper said, giving particular attention to their text of the Book of Isaiah dated 125 B.C. "It is providential that this, the most Messianic book in the Old Testament, has been preserved in its entirety and delivered to us today intact. The care and commitment the Essenes gave to the task of copying and preserving the text indicates a high view of Scripture that is the underpinning of the Bible as God's infallible and inerrant Word." Citing Luke 24:25-27, 44-49, Cooper emphasized, "The Essenes already knew what Jesus revealed to His disciples and followers, that the whole Old Testament was filled with words about Him." Cooper also pointed to the highly developed moral code based on their Messianic hope of a coming "Teacher of Righteousness." "It was this concern for morality that caused the community to separate themselves from the corrupt established priestly community in Jerusalem. They withdrew to the desert for biblical and theological reasons." The highly developed Messianic hope of the Essenes offered the only hope for healing such an immoral world culture, Cooper continued. They regarded the Messiah not only as a "branch" of David, but God's coming personal representative who would die and be resurrected to take up His role as high priest and Teacher of Righteousness, Cooper explained. As the excavation team continues to identify ceremonial bone burial sites, evidence points to the "messianic banquet" that Cooper called "their version of the Lord's Supper" consistent with the sacrificial system and covenants of the Old Testament. "They were looking to the coming Lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world and set up His righteous Kingdom on earth," Cooper said. Furthermore, the Essenes focused on the biblical and theological significance of the use of the word "east" in the Bible, a reference that Cooper said is found 161 times, in addition to 44 variations of the word, in Scripture. He noted the intentional significance of the remains being buried on the east side of the community, citing the association of "east" with Messianic themes in both the Old and New Testament. "Implications for presentation of the Gospel to the Jewish community based on the discoveries at Qumran past and present are huge and significant," Cooper told the Lausanne gathering. First, he said, "The Dead Sea Scrolls demonstrate unequivocally that the Bible at the time of Jesus is the same Bible we have today." Second, the consistency and growth of Messianic hope may be seen in the entire canon of the Old Testament, Cooper said, pointing to the scrolls as documenting the reliability of the Old Testament text that contains that revelation. "This means that we can trust the Old Testament when it points to the coming Messiah and when it predicts the ultimate salvation of the Jewish people in the latter days as seen in Zechariah 12:10-14 and 13:1-9." Third, the Dead Sea Scrolls also document the transition from Messianic hope to Messianic reality as revealed in the New Testament revelation of Jesus. Instead of depending on early rabbinic writings that debate the role of the Messiah, the scrolls found at Qumran emphasize the priestly role, Cooper said, adding that foundational concepts are found in Qumran a century before Jesus. Cooper made his case, citing an article by Craig A. Evans on "The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Jewishness of the Gospels" which was published in Mishkan, a journal recently acquired by the Pasche Institute of Jewish Studies at Criswell College. Evans noted the unquestionable Jewish nature of the scrolls, with parallels between them and Christian Gospels. "This means that the New Testament should be offered to Jewish people because it is a thoroughly Jewish document that should be considered by those seeking to discover the identity of the Messiah," Cooper added. Fourth, the existence of the concept of Messianic consciousness on the part of a personal Messiah was not invented by the church, Cooper said, describing that as a huge step forward in the continuing dialogue between Christians and Jews. Evans, in his research, pointed to common ideas seen in one of the scroll fragments such as "setting prisoners free, opening the sight of the blind, raising the dead, preaching the good news to the poor" as found in Isaiah 61:1-2 as well as New Testament passages such as Luke 4:16-19 and 17:18-23. Fifth, Cooper noted the Messianic character of the communal meals described in documents at Qumran. He urged Christians to heed Mishkan editor Kai Kjaer-Hansen's challenge to boldly proclaim "the fulfillment of the Messianic hope envisioned 2,100 years ago among the Jewish community in Qumran that has come of age in our generation." Part of the month-long excavation last summer was filmed for an upcoming television special on recent excavations by Randall Price of the World of the Bible Ministries based in San Marcos, Texas. When asked during an interview what he had learned from the excavations at Qumran, Cooper told the Lausanne audience, he pointed to the predicament that people of today's world share with those of the Qumran community. For reasons of theological correctness and moral purity, he said they chose to withdraw from a world that was thoroughly corrupt theologically, politically, militarily, economically, socially and morally. "They understood that the only hope for their world lay in the coming of God's Messiah," he told the interviewer. "Our hope is still the same as was theirs," he said, pointing to "the coming of Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, to set up His Kingdom and to bring His rule in peace, justice and righteousness in the earth." Quoting Revelation 22:20, Cooper closed by stating, "Even so, come quickly Lord Jesus!" The Last Days SIGNS - The End Times - ARE - Upon The Earth! Posted April 12, 2007 ----------------------------- Archaeologists discover rare Roman ruins Greek archaeologists discovered a Roman tomb filled with glass, copper and gold artefacts and an amphitheatre on the island of Cephalonia, which they say must have been an important link between ancient Greece and Italy. The tomb, which included more than one grave, measures about 8 by 6 meters (yards) and included glass jars, clay pots, gold jewelry, copper items and coins. The finds were revealed during digging for construction in the town of Fiscardo and the theatre, which extends underground beyond the lot, appears to be in excellent condition, the ministry added. In the past, archaeologists have found near the site a group of Roman urban dwellings - a paved open-air space surrounded by houses, a bath and a cemetery. ================== Ancient city found under Jerusalem suburb Workers digging a new Jerusalem tram line have stumbled upon the ruins of an ancient Jewish city from the first century AD under what is now a Palestinian suburb of the Holy City. Archaeologists are frantically working to unearth the nameless settlement that lies beneath the bustling streets of the Shuafat neighborhood before they have to bury it again in order to lay tracks for a long-planned rail line. The newly discovered settlement dates back to the period of the second Jewish temple. Although some archaeologists have argued that this is the site of the biblical city of Nob, a refuge for ancient priests where Saul was anointed King of Israel, the find has excited scholars. The city is believed to have been built after Roman legions sacked Jerusalem and destroyed the second temple of Herod in the year 70 AD, Bar Nathan said. Pots filled with coins have also been found buried in walls, suggesting that the residents hoped one day to return to their pillaged settlement. A rare gold coin emblazoned with the face of the Roman emperor Trajan, who ruled from 98 to 117 AD, was among them. The city was built facing west towards the ancient Roman road which connected Jerusalem to Flavia Neapolis, modern-day Nablus, the city founded in 72 AD by Titus, the Roman general who crushed the Jewish rebellion and was later made emperor. Its layout and the large number of water cisterns found have led archaeologists to conclude that this city was probably a supply stop for travelers using the north-south Roman road. Archaeologists have also uncovered private homes, public buildings, and stone cooking utensils used by Jews of the era because they believed them to be immune to impurities. Coarse stone steps were found leading down to the remains of thermal baths, decorated with colorful mosaics, in which the faithful cleansed themselves. =================== Ancient city found under Jerusalem suburb Workers digging a new Jerusalem tram line have stumbled upon the ruins of an ancient Jewish city from the first century AD under what is now a Palestinian suburb of the Holy City. Archaeologists are frantically working to unearth the nameless settlement that lies beneath the bustling streets of the Shuafat neighborhood before they have to bury it again in order to lay tracks for a long-planned rail line. The newly discovered settlement dates back to the period of the second Jewish temple. Although some archaeologists have argued that this is the site of the biblical city of Nob, a refuge for ancient priests where Saul was anointed King of Israel, the find has excited scholars. The city is believed to have been built after Roman legions sacked Jerusalem and destroyed the second temple of Herod in the year 70 AD, Bar Nathan said. Pots filled with coins have also been found buried in walls, suggesting that the residents hoped one day to return to their pillaged settlement. A rare gold coin emblazoned with the face of the Roman emperor Trajan, who ruled from 98 to 117 AD, was among them. The city was built facing west towards the ancient Roman road which connected Jerusalem to Flavia Neapolis, modern-day Nablus, the city founded in 72 AD by Titus, the Roman general who crushed the Jewish rebellion and was later made emperor. Its layout and the large number of water cisterns found have led archaeologists to conclude that this city was probably a supply stop for travelers using the north-south Roman road. Archaeologists have also uncovered private homes, public buildings, and stone cooking utensils used by Jews of the era because they believed them to be immune to impurities. Coarse stone steps were found leading down to the remains of thermal baths, decorated with colorful mosaics, in which the faithful cleansed themselves. The Last Days SIGNS - The End Times - ARE - Upon The Earth!
Posted April 4, 2007 ----------------------------- THE END TIMES - THE LAST DAYS - ARE UPON THE EARTH! MATTHEW 24:21 "For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. 22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened." --- CLICK HERE to see what it will be like for the unsaved and for a prayer of salvation! THIS IS NO GAME! - THIS IS THE REAL THING! - DO NOT WAIT! ------------------------------------------ First Temple Wall Found In City Of David A wall from the First Temple was recently uncovered in Jerusalem's City of David, strengthening the claim that it is the site of the palace of King David, an Israeli archeologist said. The new find, made by Dr. Eilat Mazar, a senior fellow at the Shalem Center's Institute for the Archeology of the Jewish People, comes less than two years after she said she had discovered the palace's location at the site just outside the walls of the Old City. The monumental 10th century BCE building found by Mazar in 2005 following a six month dig has ignited debate among archaeologists about whether it is indeed the palace built for the victorious David by King Hiram of Tyre as recounted in Samuel II:5. A 20-meter-long section of the 7-meter-thick wall has now been uncovered. It indicates that the City of David once served as a major government center, Mazar said. Mazar estimates less than a quarter of the entire wall has been uncovered so far, and says that it is the largest site from King David's time ever to have been discovered. The dig is sponsored by the capital's Shalem Center, with academic backing from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The Last Days SIGNS - The End Times - ARE - Upon The EArth! Posted March 19, 2007 ----------------------------- Plans For Third Jewish Temple Developing It's been nearly 2,000 years since Jews celebrated Passover at the Temple in Jerusalem, but that will change soon if a growing Orthodox Jewish movement in Israel has its way. "The present-day Sanhedrin Court decided Tuesday to purchase a herd of sheep for ritual sacrifice at the site of the Temple on the eve of Passover, conditions on the Temple Mount permitting," the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported yesterday. "The modern Sanhedrin was established several years ago and is headed by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz. It claims to be renewing the ancient Jewish high court, which existed until roughly 1600 years ago, and meets once a week. Professor Hillel Weiss, a member of the Sanhedrin, said that the action, even if merely symbolic, is designed to demonstrate in a way that is obvious to all that the expectation of Temple rituals will resume is real, and not just talk. Several years ago, a number of members of the various Temple movements performed a symbolic sacrifice on Givat Hananya, which overlooks the Temple Mount from Jerusalem's Abu Tur neighborhood. During the ceremony, participants sacrificed a young goat that was donated by a resident of Tekoa. The participants also built a special two-meter tall oven, in accordance with halakha (Jewish law. The Passover sacrifice is considered a simple ceremony, relative to other works performed in the Temple." Numerous Biblical prophecies in the Old and New Testaments indicate a new Temple will be built in the "last days," suggesting such headlines have been foretold for centuries. Several Orthodox Jewish groups in Israel are currently making preparations to build and outfit the Third Temple. Some are developing detailed architectural plans for the structure, while others are creating the religious implements and clothing that would be used by Levitical priests to carry out sacrifices once the Temple is in place. Tensions over control of the Temple Mount are running high at the moment, with Palestinians rioting several weeks ago to keep Israelis from building a ramp so visitors can safely access the ancient holy site. The emergence of an even stronger Iran-Sudan alliance this week is that it was foretold 2,500 years ago by the Hebrew Prophet Ezekiel in chapters 38 and 39. Ezekiel 38:5 tells us that "Persia" and a people group known as "Cush" will be allies with Russia and a group of other Middle Eastern countries in an effort to destroy Israel in what Bible scholars refer to as the "War of Gog and Magog." Until 1935, Persia was the official, legal name of the country we now know as Iran. "Cush" is the upper Nile region that today is Sudan and Ethiopia. One other interesting note: right after the Hebrew prophet describes this "War of Gog and Magog" in Ezekiel 38-39, he goes on to describe the rebuilt Jewish Temple in Jerusalem in Ezekiel 40-48. The Last Days SIGNS - The End Times - ARE - Upon The Earth! Posted March 7, 2007 ----------------------------- THE END TIMES - THE LAST DAYS - ARE UPON THE EARTH! MATTHEW 24:21 "For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. 22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened." --- CLICK HERE to see what it will be like for the unsaved and for a prayer of salvation! THIS IS NO GAME! - THIS IS THE REAL THING! - DO NOT WAIT! ------------------------------------------ Archaeological Remains Point To Exact Location Of Second Temple Of Jerusalem While scholars have put forth various assessments for the location of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, a Hebrew University of Jerusalem professor says that archaeological remains that have so far been ignored by scholars point to the exact location, which is in a spot that differs from prevailing opinion. The location identified by Prof. Joseph Patrich of the Hebrew University Institute of Archaeology places the Temple and its corresponding courtyards, chambers and gates in a more southeasterly and diagonal frame of reference than have earlier scholars. In spotting the Temple in this way, Patrich concludes that the rock, over which the Dome of the Rock mosque was built in the 7th century C.E. is outside the confines of the Temple. The rock is considered by Moslems to be the spot from which Muhammad ascended to heaven and for Jews the place at which the binding of Isaac took place. Patrich basis his proposal on a study of a large underground cistern on the Temple Mount that was mapped by British engineer Sir Charles Wilson in 1866 on behalf of the Palestine Exploration Fund. The giant cistern, 4.5 meters wide and 54 meters long, lay near the southeastern corner of the upper platform of theTemple Mount. It had a southeasterly orientation with branches extending north and south Examining the location and configuration of the cistern together with descriptions of the daily rite in the Temple and its surroundings found in the Mishna (the Rabbinic Oral Tradition compiled in the 3rd century C.E.), Patrich has demonstrated that this cistern is the only one found on the Temple Mount that can tie in with the Mishna text describing elements involved in the daily purification and sacrifical duties carried out by the priests on the altar in the Temple courtyard. On this basis, he says, one can "reconstruct" the placement of the laver (a large basin) that was used by the priests for their ritual washing, with the water being drawn by a waterwheel mechanism from the cistern. After this purification, the priests ascended the nearby ramp to the sacrificial altar. By thus locating the laver, the water wheel, the ramp and the altar, one can then finally map, again in coordination with the Mishna, the alignment of the Temple itself and its gates and chambers. All of these considerations have led Patrich to come up with a diagram of the Temple and its surroundings that place the Temple further to the east and south than earlier thought and at a southeasterly angle relative to the eastern wall of the Temple Mount, and not perpendicular to it as earlier assumed. It is this placement which also leaves the Dome of the Rock outside of the Temple confines. Prof. Patrich stressed that his research concerning the location of the Temple is strictly academic in nature, and that political connotations should not be attributed to it. The Last Days SIGNS - The End Times - ARE - Upon The Earth! Posted February 23-25, 2007 ----------------------------- Tombs unearthed near Egyptian pyramid Story Highlights • NEW: Archaeologists uncover tombs of royal butler, scribe and two wooden coffins • Scribe's mud brick tomb holds wooden statues • Butler's limestone tomb holds well preserved murals • The tombs are located near the famous Step Pyramid of King Djoser Archaeologists on Tuesday unveiled the tombs of a pharaonic butler and scribe that have been buried for more than 3,000 years -- proof, one says, that Egypt's sands still have secrets to reveal. Although archaeologists have been exploring Egypt intensively for more than 150 years, some estimate only one-third of what lies underground in Saqqara, site of the country's most ancient pyramid, has been uncovered. "The sands of Saqqara reveal lots of secrets," said Egypt's antiquities chief, Zahi Hawass, as he showed reporters a 4,000-year-old mud brick tomb that belonged to a scribe of divine records, Ka-Hay, and his wife. The tomb, along with the butler's 3,350-year-old limestone grave and two painted coffins, were discovered earlier this year at Saqqara near the famous Step Pyramid of King Djoser -- the oldest of Egypt's more than 90 pyramids. Hawass said the three discoveries are just the tip of what remains undiscovered at Saqqara, which was the burial grounds for Memphis, the capital of Egypt's Old Kingdom. =================== Temple's location found, says Israeli archaeologist Using maps created in 1866 by a British explorer and passages from the Jewish Mishnah, an Israeli archaeologist and professor at Hebrew University says he has pinpointed the location of the sacred Jewish Temple, twice built and twice destroyed in ancient times. While popular consensus places the Temple, built by King Solomon in the 10th century B.C. and rebuilt by Jews who returned from Babylon in the 5th century B.C., on the site of the present Muslim Dome of the Rock, Prof. Joseph Patrich says archaeological remains show its exact location – and the consensus is wrong. According to Patrich, the Temple, its corresponding courtyards, chambers and gates were oriented in a more southeasterly direction, sitting diagonally on what is the modern Temple Mount. The difference in orientation and the placement further eastward varies from the east-facing orientation of other scholars who believe the Temple was closer to today's Western Wall. However, that difference is why, Patrich says, the Temple did not sit over the rock believed by Jews to be the site where Abraham was prepared to sacrifice his son Isaac and where Muslims believe Muhammad ascended into heaven. Patrich's siting of the Temple is derived from information collected by British engineer Sir Charles Wilson in 1866 on behalf of the Palestine Exploration Fund. Wilson mapped a series of ancient cisterns below the present Temple Mount platform. One of those, Patrich says, preserves a vestige of the Temple that stood until it was destroyed by Rome in A.D. 70. The cistern mapped by Wilson, approximately 15 feet wide, 170 feet long and 45 feet deep, was located near the Temple Mount's southeast corner. It was oriented in a southeasterly direction with branches extending north and south. "Until now no one has ever thought that the location of the cistern on the Temple Mount and its unique shape were derived from the shape and location of the altar and sanctuary," Patrich told YNetNews. According to the archaeologist, this cistern is the only one found on the Temple Mount that corresponds to descriptions in the Jewish Mishnah – the rabbinic oral tradition compiled in the 3rd century A.D. – of daily purification and sacrificial duties carried out by the priests on the altar in the Temple courtyard. The Mishnah says water was drawn by a waterwheel mechanism from a cistern and held in a large basin, or laver, for daily purification by the Temple's priests before they ascended the nearby ramp to the altar to offer sacrifices. Patrich believes the placement of the waterwheel and laver can be reconstructed from Wilson's map of the giant southeast-trending cistern and from that, the location of the altar and the Temple itself. Patrich's sitting has the Temple further east and south of locations proposed by other scholars and diagonal, rather than perpendicular to the Temple Mount's eastern and western walls. It also leaves the rock in the Dome of the Rock outside of the confines of the Temple itself. The Last Days SIGNS - The End Times - ARE - Upon The Earth! Posted February 20, 2007 ----------------------------- 'Miracle' -- teen's heart, stopped for 4 days, beats again Story Highlights • Boy, 17, collapses after jogging in gym class • Teen found to have heart defect • Heart stops as boy waits for transplant on bypass machine • Heart begins beating again on its own; "it's a miracle," doctor says NEW YORK - Daniel Walker was on his final lap jogging in his high school gym class when he collapsed, his flawed heart giving out on him. More than four days later, his heart at a standstill, kept alive by a bypass machine, it began beating again. The 17-year-old's parents called it divine intervention. His physicians were no less amazed. "I've been a surgeon for 10 years, and this is probably one of the most incredible things I've ever seen," said Dr. Abeel Mangi, one of Walker's cardiac surgeons at New York-Presbyterian Hospital Columbia. Walker's father described his son's recovery in spiritual terms. "God turned around, put His hand on my son, and recharged him," said William Walker, 58, a retired sanitation worker. MARK 16:17,18 "And these signs shall follow them that believe;...they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover." The Last Days SIGNS - The End Times - ARE - Upon The Earth! Posted February 19, 2007 ----------------------------- ***WATCHMAN... Bible proved??????????... Research: God did speak world into existence Student's scientific documentation offers evidence of biblical account A science student in Kentucky says when the Bible records God spoke, and things were created, that's just what happened, and he can support that with scientific experiments. "If God spoke everything into existence as the Genesis record proposes, then we should be able to scientifically prove that the construction of everything in the universe begins with a) the Holy Spirit (magnetic field); b) Light (an electric field); and c) that Light can be created by a sonic influence or sound," Samuel J. Hunt writes on his website. ***WATCHMAN COMMENT... WRONG! The Holy Spirit is NOT a magnetic field... "There are several documented and currently taught laboratory experiments that accurately portray the events in Genesis in sequential order, the most important being that of sonoluminescence," he wrote. That, he described, is the circumstance in which sending a sonic signal into bubbles in a fluid causes the bubbles to collapse and they release photons, or create light. That aligns with one of the earlier descriptions of the creation by God, when, in Genesis 1:1-3, the Holy Spirit moved upon the face of the deep, which generally is considered water, and said "Let there be light," he explained. God was sending a sonic influence into the waters, and basically creating light, Hunt said. He's documented his theory, and the experiments he believes back it up, in his "Episteme Scientia, the Law of All That Is." Researchers at institutions no less than UCLA and the University of Chicago have verified the production of light from bubbles when sound is passed through a liquid, called sonoluminescence. Hunt said he was spurred on in his work because the advanced physics and other courses he was taking were advancing propositions that sometimes didn't match up. "The further I went, the more my questions seemed to be being answered in the Genesis record," he said. His abstract states, "An examination of the sequential mathematical and experimental dual proof of the Genesis record of origins underlying the institution of all that is in the universe – from waves to matter to the mind." Hunt said science has been proving the Genesis account in classrooms for centuries, "in spite of the fervency to promote evolution and big bang theories." A student at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, Hunt said his questions started very simply. "I asked my professors in physics and chemistry, 'What if I could scientifically prove that all matter was spoken into existence and that all matter could be manipulated by sound just as Genesis says? Wouldn't that mean God exists and created the universe?" he asked. "Nobody's ever done that before," was the response. His 84-page treatise, now published, addresses that, he said. Hunt said he believes every event in Genesis can be observed to be happening daily. "Either you experience a universe of chaos or a universe of order and processes that produce immediate and calculable results," he wrote. "The results of my research support and prove that everything that exists was spoken into existence from waves to matter to mind." "My professors think my application of accepted laws and theories may bend the rules a bit, but the ideas are thought-provoking and progressive," he said. The website describes the integration of several mathematical systems including "Phi, Pi, L-systems, Penrose tiling, and an all-encompassing Koch curve." The outline, available at scienceprovescreation.com, already has sold more than 1,700 copies. Hunt said his goal was to be able to provide experiments that would explain the Genesis creation story – in the order the Bible records events happened. "Some of my teachers are like, 'That's complete hogwash,'" he said, "while others say, 'That's pretty interesting.'" His goal is to bring a unity to the Christian community, "just like the founders of our nation expected and wanted from the Constitution." The documentation of his processes, Hunt believes, could end debate. "People want to know the truth, to have something to stand on that's not trickery and deceit," he said. "This gives people something real to touch, hang on to." ***WATCHMAN COMMENT... I am NOT against this BUT that one statement about the Holy Spirit being a magnetic field is bad unscriptural reference... The Last Days SIGNS - The End Times - ARE - Upon The Earth! Posted February 15, 2007 -----------------------------
Using maps created in 1866 by a British explorer and passages from the Jewish Mishnah, an Israeli archaeologist and professor at Hebrew University says he has pinpointed the location of the sacred Jewish Temple, twice built and twice destroyed in ancient times. While popular consensus places the Temple, built by King Solomon in the 10th century B.C. and rebuilt by Jews who returned from Babylon in the 5th century B.C., on the site of the present Muslim Dome of the Rock, Prof. Joseph Patrich says archaeological remains show its exact location – and the consensus is wrong. According to Patrich, the Temple, its corresponding courtyards, chambers and gates were oriented in a more southeasterly direction, sitting diagonally on what is the modern Temple Mount. The difference in orientation and the placement further eastward varies from the east-facing orientation of other scholars who believe the Temple was closer to today's Western Wall. However, that difference is why, Patrich says, the Temple did not sit over the rock believed by Jews to be the site where Abraham was prepared to sacrifice his son Isaac and where Muslims believe Muhammad ascended into heaven. The Last Days SIGNS - The End Times - ARE - Upon The Earth! Posted February 14, 2007 ----------------------------- ***WATCHMAN... not sure this PROVES anything but this page seemed the best place to put this... 'Proof' Temple Mount 'belongs to Muslims' Head custodian says site will never be returned to Jewish sovereignty The replacement in the Al Aqsa Mosque of a key podium transported with the coordination of Israeli security forces is "proof" the Temple Mount belongs only to Muslims and will never be returned to Jewish sovereignty, according to the leader of the Wafq – the Muslim custodians of the Temple Mount. "This historic occasion proves that the extremist Jews will never achieve their goals of taking over the [Temple Mount.] It shows that we are much closer to liberating the Al Aqsa Mosque and Jerusalem from Israeli occupation," said Waqf chief Adnan Husseini. At a ceremony in the Al Aqsa Mosque, the podium is set to be unveiled and installed at the "exact spot" Waqf officials state the prophet Muhammad went up to heaven to receive revelations from Allah. The podium will be used by Al Aqsa preachers to deliver sermons. ***WATCHMAN COMMENT... Mohammed did NOT go UP - HE WENT DOWN - TO HELL!... The new stand replaces a 1,000-year-old podium believed to have been shipped to Jerusalem by the Islamic conqueror Saladin. That stand was destroyed in 1969, when an Australian tourist set fire to the Al Aqsa Mosque. The replacement stand, a near replica of the original, was funded by the Jordanian and Saudi governments. It took craftsmen four years to construct. The podium's nearly assembled parts were shipped to Waqf offices on the Temple Mount earlier this month with help from the Israeli police, and will be installed at the center of the Al Aqsa Mosque tomorrow. According to a Waqf official, the theme for the installation ceremony will focus on exclusive Islamic domination of the Temple Mount. "The official reason for the ceremony is to mark the installation, but unofficially it will be a celebration that this podium is proof we are the rightful owners of the Haram al-Sharif (Temple Mount). This podium solidifies our eternal presence here," the Waqf official said. The Temple Mount is the holiest site in Judaism. Muslims say it is their third holiest site. The First Jewish Temple was built by King Solomon in the 10th century B.C. It was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 B.C. The Second Temple was rebuilt in 515 B.C. after Jerusalem was freed from Babylonian captivity. That temple was destroyed by the Roman Empire in A.D. 70. Each temple stood for a period of about four centuries. The Jewish Temple was the center of religious Jewish worship. It housed the Holy of Holies, which contained the Ark of the Covenant and was said to be the area upon which God's "presence" dwelt. The Al Aqsa Mosque now resides on the site. The temple served as the primary location for the offering of sacrifices and was the main gathering place in Israel during Jewish holidays. The Temple Mount compound has remained a focal point for Jewish services over the millennia. Prayers for a return to Jerusalem have been uttered by Jews since the Second Temple was destroyed, according to Jewish tradition. Jews worldwide pray facing toward the Western Wall, a portion of an outer courtyard of the Temple left intact. The Al Aqsa Mosque was constructed around 709 to serve as a shrine near another shrine, the Dome of the Rock, which was built by an Islamic caliph. Al Aqsa was meant to mark what Muslims came to believe Muhammad, the founder of Islam, ascended to heaven. Jerusalem is not mentioned in the Quran. Islamic tradition states Mohammed took a journey in a single night from "a sacred mosque" – believed to be in Mecca in southern Saudi Arabia – to "the farthest mosque" and from a rock there ascended to heaven. The farthest mosque later became associated with Jerusalem. Most Waqf officials deny the Jewish temples ever existed in spite of what many call overwhelming archaeological evidence, including the discovery of Temple-era artifacts linked to worship, tunnels that snake under the Temple Mount and over 100 ritual immersion pools believed to have been used by Jewish priests to cleanse themselves before services. The cleansing process is detailed in the Torah. According to the website of the Palestinian Authority's Office for Religious Affairs, the Temple Mount is Muslim property. The site claims the Western Wall, which it refers to as the Al-Boraq Wall, previously was a docking station for horses. It states Muhammed tied his horse, named Boraq, to the wall before ascending to heaven. In an interview Kamal Hatib, vice-chairman of the Islamic Movement, which will take part in the podium installation ceremonies, claimed the Al-Aqsa Mosque was built by angels, and that a Jewish Temple may have existed, but not in Jerusalem. The Movement, which works closely with the Waqf, is the Muslim group in Israel most identified with the Temple Mount. "When the First Temple was built by Solomon – God bless him – Al Aqsa was already built. We don't believe that a prophet like Solomon would have built the Temple at a place where a mosque existed," said Hatib. "And all the historical and archaeological facts deny any relation between the temples and the location of Al Aqsa. We must know that Jerusalem was occupied and that people left many things, coins and other things everywhere. This does not mean in any way that there is a link between the people who left these things and the place where these things were left," Hatib said. Last June, in a widely circulated interview, a former senior leader of the Waqf contradicted his colleagues, saying he has come to believe the first and second Jewish Temples existed and stood at the current location of the Al Aqsa Mosque. The leader, who was dismissed from his Waqf position after he quietly made his beliefs known, said Al Aqsa custodians passed down stories for centuries from generation to generation indicating the mosque was built at the site of the former Jewish temples. He said the Muslim world's widespread denial of the existence of the Jewish temples is political in nature and is not rooted in facts. "Prophet Solomon built his famous Temple at the same place that later the Al Aqsa Mosque was built. It cannot be a coincidence that these different holy sites were built at the same place. The Jewish Temple Mount existed," said the former senior Waqf leader, speaking from an apartment in an obscure alley in Jerusalem's Old City. The former leader, who is well known to Al Aqsa scholars and Waqf officials, spoke on condition his name be withheld, claiming an on-the-record interview would endanger his life. He said "true" Islamic tradition relates the Jewish temples once stood at the site of the Al Aqsa Mosque. ***WATCHMAN COMMENT... So what about the LIES all through this article? The LIES are from the FATHER OF LIES - SATAN... "[The existence of the Jewish Temple at the site is obvious] according to studies, researches and archaeological signs that we were also exposed to. But especially according to the history that passed from one generation to another – we believe Al Aqsa was built on the same place were the Temple of the Jews – the first monotheistic religion – existed." He cited samples of some stories he said were related orally by Islamic leaders: "We learned that the Christians, especially those who believed that Jesus was crucified by the Jews, used to throw their garbage at the Temple Mount site. They used to throw the pieces of cotton and other material Christian women used in cleaning the blood of their monthly cycle. Doing so they believed that they were humiliating, insulting and harming the Jews at their holiest site. This way they are hurting them like Jews hurt Christians when crucifying Jesus. ***WATCHMAN COMMENT... See what I mean??? What obvious BLASPHEMY!... "It is known also that most of the first guards of Al Aqsa when it was built were Jews. The Muslims knew at that time that they could not find any more loyal and faithful than the Jews to guard the mosque and its compound. They knew that the Jews have a special relation with this place." Currently, even though the Jewish state controls Jerusalem, the Waqf serve as the custodians of the Temple Mount under a deal made with the Israeli government that restricts non-Muslim prayer at the site. The Temple Mount was opened to the general public until September 2000, when the Palestinians started their intifada by throwing stones at Jewish worshipers after then-candidate for prime minister Ariel Sharon visited the area. Following the onset of violence, the new Sharon government closed the Mount to non-Muslims, using checkpoints to control all pedestrian traffic for fear of further clashes with the Palestinians. The Temple Mount was reopened to non-Muslims in August 2003. It still is open but only Sundays through Thursdays, 7:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m., and not on any Christian, Jewish or Muslim holidays or other days considered "sensitive" by the Waqf. During "open" days, Jews and Christian are allowed to ascend the Mount, usually through organized tours and only if they conform first to a strict set of guidelines, which includes demands that they not pray or bring any "holy objects" to the site. Visitors are banned from entering any of the mosques without direct Waqf permission. Rules are enforced by Waqf agents, who watch tours closely and alert nearby Israeli police to any breaking of their guidelines. The Last Days SIGNS - The End Times - ARE - Upon The Earth! Posted January 26-28, 2007 -----------------------------
The site was found in a never-before-excavated area situated behind the Western Wall police station, right beside the plaza where millions of worshipers and tourists come each year to visit the Western Wall and Temple Mount. This new archaeological find uncovers an important missing link in the ancient water system. It is called the "Lower Aqueduct." Through it water was channeled from Solomon's Pools near Bethlehem [several miles south of Jerusalem] directly to the national focal point of Jewish worship - the Temple Mount. The ancient pools of Solomon [just north of the modern Jewish town of Efrat] cover an area of about seven acres and can hold three million gallons of water. A lengthy aqueduct conveyed the water from the lowest pool through Bethlehem, across the Gihon valley, along the western slope of the Tyropoeon valley, and into the cisterns underneath the Temple Mount. The current government plans for the partition wall will leave Solomon's Pools outside the area of Jewish sovereignty. The plastered hewn-stone mikva (ritual bath) that was also unearthed at the excavation site is from the Second Temple period. It was originally situated at the foundation level of a private home during that time. The ritual bath was damaged at a later date when the bedrock cliff opposite it was hewn into a vertical wall that rose up to a maximum height of about thirty feet. The most extensive remains of the period are those of a Roman-Byzantine colonnaded street - the Eastern Cardo. Included in that area is a covered stoa, a row of shops and several artifacts. The street appears on a sixth century map and is known as the Eastern Cardo or the Valley Cardo. The lavish colonnaded street began at the Damascus Gate in the north and led south, running the length of the channel in the Tyropoeon Valley. Sections of this street were revealed in the past in the northern part of the Old City, at a depth of about four meters (12 feet) below the pavement. The full eleven-meter (33 foot) width of the original road was exposed in the present excavation for the first time. The Last Days SIGNS - The End Times - ARE - Upon The Earth! Posted January 19-21, 2007 ----------------------------- THE END TIMES - THE LAST DAYS - ARE UPON THE EARTH! MATTHEW 24:21 "For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. 22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened." --- CLICK HERE to see what it will be like for the unsaved and for a prayer of salvation! THIS IS NO GAME! - THIS IS THE REAL THING! - DO NOT WAIT! ------------------------------------------ Temple Aqueduct and Ritual Bath Excavated Opposite Temple Mount Excavations being conducted opposite the Western Wall Plaza have uncovered an aqueduct that brought water to the Holy Temple, as well as a ritual bath from that period. The never-before-excavated area is situated behind the Western Wall police station, adjacent to the plaza where millions of worshipers and tourists come each year to visit the Western Wall and Temple Mount. The new archaeological find uncovers a missing link in the ancient water system, known as the "Lower Aqueduct." This system channeled water from Solomon’s Pools near Bethlehem (located several miles south of Jerusalem) directly to the national focal point of Jewish worship - the Temple Mount. The Last Days SIGNS - The End Times - ARE - Upon The Earth! Posted December 13, 2006 ----------------------------- 'Church of the Ark' found on West Bank Archaeologists claimed to have uncovered one of the world's first churches, built on a site believed to have once housed the Ark of the Covenant. The site, emerging from the soil in a few acres in the hills of the Israeli occupied West Bank, is richly decorated with brightly colored mosaics and inscriptions referring to Jesus Christ. Archaeologists look over a mosaic discovered at Shiloh According to the team, led by Yitzhak Magen and Yevgeny Aharonovitch, the church dates to the late 4th century, making it one of Christianity's first formal places of worship. "I can't say for sure at the moment that it's the very first church," said Mr Aharonovitch, 38, as he oversaw a team carrying out the final excavations before winter yesterday. "But it's certainly one of the first." He said the site contained an extremely unusual inscription which referred to itself, Shiloh, by name. "That is very rare and shows early Christians treated this as an ancient, holy place," said Mr Aharonovitch. According to the Old Testament, the Ark of the Covenant, which contained the two tablets inscribed with the Ten Commandments, was kept by the Israelites at Shiloh for several hundred years. The Last Days SIGNS - The End Times - ARE - Upon The Earth! Posted December 5, 2006 ----------------------------- WATCHMAN... Although not a Bible Proved story I found this interesting...
A shipwreck found off the coast of Israel's Dor Beach south of Haifa is the oldest found boat in the world built by the "shell-first" method. Up until now the oldest known boat built by this method was located in Turkey and dates back to the first quarter of the 11th century. Research conducted at the University of Haifa's Institute for Maritime Studies revealed that the Israeli shipwreck is some 500 years older. The wrecked medium-sized merchant ship was discovered off the coast of Dor Beach in 2001 and has since been the subject of research at the Institute, headed by Dr. Ya'acov Kahanov. During the digging season that just ended, it became clear that this is no less than a revolution in the field. The boat, dating back to the 5th century, is the oldest boat built by the "shell-first" method known to be in existence. This inexpensive method of shipbuilding was developed at the fall of the Roman Empire. Having sank some 1500 years ago, this merchant ship was sixteen meters long and five meters wide. It sailed up and down the Mediterranean coast of Israel during the Byzantine period, and was a quicker and more efficient replacement to land-based convoys for shipping goods. She was found carrying local building stones. It was these stones that preserved the ship all these years. Posted August 1, 2006 ----------------------------- King Solomon-era fortifications revealed in Israel excavation This year's excavations have revealed more than 40 meters of a massive fortification system associated with the six-chambered gate common in the building projects of King Solomon. Solomon’s extensive building projects are recorded in the biblical account of his activities throughout his kingdom and at his capital city of Jerusalem (1 Kings 9:15-17). The Last Days SIGNS - The End Times - ARE - Upon The Earth! ... MATTHEW 24:8 "All these ARE the beginning of sorrows" Posted July 25, 2006 -----------------------------
Last month, headlines screamed that a Texas team of archaelogists believed they had possibly located the biblical boat in Iran. There are numerous claims about the final resting place, from Ararat to Armenia. With modern technology and digital photography being utilized in the hunt, it seems like everyone is finding what they think is Noah's Ark. A 14-man crew that included evangelical apologist Josh McDowell says it returned from a trek to a mountain in Iran with possible evidence of the remains of Noah's Ark. The group, led by explorer Bob Cornuke, found an unusual object perched on a slope 13,120 feet above sea level. Cornuke, president of the archeological Base Institute and a veteran of nearly 30 expeditions in search of Bible artifacts and locations, said he is cautiously, but enthusiastically, optimistic about the find. Despite the hype, there are those who maintain the vessel is definitely on Mount Ararat, in present-day Turkey. Among them is Edward Crawford, a former draftsman illustrator for the U.S. military who now teaches Christian theology at Evergreen Bible Presbyterian Church in the Seattle suburb of Pullayup, Wash. Crawford has made numerous climbs up Ararat, and says in 1990, he discovered a large, rectangular structure buried in the ice at an elevation of 14,765 feet. "I don't have any doubt about it at all, and the Turks don't either," he said. He says the structure currently sits under snow and ice, which he calls "ridiculously hard stuff," but he expects it will be at its highest point above the frozen water this summer, as forecasts call for an unusual warm-up. Crawford has put much of his discovery online at a website called Project von Bora, where photographs and diagrams are available, and he alleges the structure has 90-degree angles. "Those don't happen in nature," he said. "If you think someone went up there to build that, it would take a greater miracle than the Flood [of Noah] itself." Crawford is now urging the Ankara government to formally acknowledge his find, and grant him permission to explore the site again this summer. "This is not a politically correct discovery," he said. "I never imagined that I would discover the structure and its disposition. I had no idea it would take this long to sort through the Turkish red tape." Not far from Crawford's "structure" on Mount Ararat is something which made headlines in March with the release of a new, high-resolution digital image of what has become known as the "Ararat Anomaly." The location of the anomaly on the mountain's northwest corner has been under investigation from afar by ark hunters for years, but it has remained unexplored, with the government of Turkey not granting any scientific expedition permission to explore on site. "I've got new found optimism ... as far as my continuing push to have the intelligence community declassify some of the more definitive-type imagery," Porcher Taylor, an associate professor in paralegal studies at the University of Richmond, said at the time. For more than three decades, Taylor has been a national security analyst, and has also served as a senior associate for five years at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. "I had no preconceived notions or agendas when I began this in 1993 as to what I was looking for," he said. "I maintain that if it is the remains of something manmade and potentially nautical, then it's potentially something of biblical proportions." The anomaly remains ensconced in glacial ice at an altitude of 15,300 feet, and Taylor says the photos suggest its length-to-width ratio is close to 6:1, as indicated in the Book of Genesis. Some 15 miles from Mount Ararat is perhaps the most well-known candidate vying for the title of Noah's Ark. Many believe this is Noah's Ark, already found on a mountain next to Mt. Ararat
It gained worldwide attention after its photo was published in a 1960 issue of Life Magazine. The man most responsible for promoting this location as the ark's actual resting place from the Bible was Ron Wyatt, who died of cancer in 1999 after years of searching for biblical antiquities, also claiming to have found the remains of Pharaoh's chariots that chased Moses through the Red Sea, and the "true" location of Mount Sinai in Arabia. In 2004, Wyatt's widow, Mary Nell Wyatt Lee, published a history of the discovery in a book titled, "The Boat-Shaped Object on Doomsday Mountain." She writes that on Dec. 12, 1987, "it was the official decision of members of [Turkey's] Ministry of Foreign Affairs, of Internal Affairs, and researchers from Ataturk University, among others, that the boat-shaped formation did indeed contain the remains of Noah's Ark!"
Blevins offers little proof for his claim, except a series of photos on his website, as he purports the ark is situated on Armenia's highest point Mount Aragats, not to be confused with the similar sounding Ararat in Turkey. "No one has ever looked for Noah's Ark on this mountain in Armenia," he said. "There is a rectangle-shaped boat on the top of this mountain. This boat has what appears to be either a vent or windows. You can see the whole outline of this ship and it is locked in the mountains. ... You can see that it is big and man-made." Joe Zias, a Jerusalem-based anthropologist who is a former curator at the Israel Antquities Authority, is quick to throw cold water on all these claims of the ark being discovered. "Just when I think I've seen it all, another group of nutters shows up," he said. Zias says the parties making the discovery claims are "pimping" off the Bible for money, suggesting they have no training in geology, archaeology or anthropology; nor any peer-reviewed articles, university appointments and "any credibility whatsoever in academic circles." "Aside from myself who follows this craziness, few if any in the profession have ever heard of them," he said. In both the Old and New Testaments, the Bible speaks of Noah and the ark, and Jesus Christ and the apostles Paul and Peter all make reference to Noah's flood as an actual historical event. According to Genesis, Noah was a righteous man who was instructed by God to construct a large vessel to hold his family and many species of animals, as a massive deluge was coming to purify the world which had become corrupt. Genesis 6:5 states: "And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." Noah was told by God to take aboard seven pairs of each of the "clean" animals – that is to say, those permissible to eat – and two each of the "unclean" variety. (Gen. 7:2) Though the Bible says it rained for 40 days and 40 nights, it also mentions "the waters prevailed upon the earth a hundred and fifty days." The ark then "rested" upon the mountains of Ararat, but it was still months before Noah and his family – his wife, his three sons and the sons' wives – were able to leave the ark and begin replenishing the world. The Last Days SIGNS - The End Times - ARE - Upon The Earth!... MATTHEW 24:8 "All these ARE the beginning of sorrows" Posted July 17, 2006 ----------------------------- Roots of human family tree are shallow With the help of a statistician, a computer scientist and a supercomputer, Olson has calculated just how interconnected the human family tree is. You would have to go back in time only 2,000 to 5,000 years — and probably on the low side of that range — to find somebody who could count every person alive today as a descendant. Furthermore, Olson and his colleagues have found that if you go back a little farther — about 5,000 to 7,000 years ago — everybody living today has exactly the same set of ancestors." Mal. 2:10 "Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us?" The Last Days SIGNS - The End Times - ARE - Upon The Earth!... MATTHEW 24:8 "All these ARE the beginning of sorrows" Posted July 13, 2006 ----------------------------- THE END TIMES - THE LAST DAYS - ARE UPON THE EARTH! MATTHEW 24:21 "For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. 22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened." --- CLICK HERE to see what it will be like for the unsaved and for a prayer of salvation! THIS IS NO GAME! - THIS IS THE REAL THING! - DO NOT WAIT! ------------------------------------------
Returns from Iranian mountain with petrified wood, marine fossils A 14-man crew that included evangelical apologist Josh McDowell says it returned from a trek to a mountain in Iran with possible evidence of the remains of Noah's Ark. The group, led by explorer Bob Cornuke, found an unusual object perched on a slope 13,120 feet above sea level. Cornuke, president of the archeological Base Institute and a veteran of nearly 30 expeditions in search of Bible artifacts and locations, said he is cautiously, but enthusiastically, optimistic about the find. Also on the team were Barry Rand, former CEO of Avis; Boone Powell, former CEO of Baylor Medical Systems; and Arch Bonnema, president of Joshua Financial. The team returned with video footage of a large black formation, about 400 feet long – the length of the ark, according to the Bible – that looks like rock but bears the image of hundreds of massive, wooden, hand-hewn beams. Bonnema observed: "These beams not only look like petrified wood, they are so impressive that they look like real wood – this is an amazing discovery that may be the oldest shipwreck in recorded history." The team said one piece of the blackened rock is "cut" at 90-degree angle. Sealed with pitch Even more intriguing, they said, some of the wood-like rocks tested this week proved to be petrified wood. It's noteworthy, they pointed out, that the Bible recounts Noah sealed his ark with pitch, a black substance. When the retrieved pieces were cut open, a marine fossil was discovered. In the area around the object, the team found thousands of fossilized sea shells, and Cornuke brought back a one-inch thick rock slab replete with fossilized clams. With the discovery of wood splinters and broken pottery at the remote 15,300-foot level, the team says it also found evidence that ancients considered it an important worship site for hundreds, if not thousands of years. Cornuke became involved in the search for the ark after meeting Apollo 15 astronaut James Irwin, participating with him in several searches on Mount Ararat in Turkey, but with disappointing results. Cornuke began looking elsewhere, after finding clues in the Bible such as Genesis 11's reference to descendants of Noah coming to the Mesopotamian valley from the east. Cornuke believes that would put the biblical mountains of Ararat somewhere in northern Iran. He also points to ancient historians such as Nicholas of Damascus and Flavius Josephus who wrote, just before and after Christ, that timbers of the ark had survived in the higher mountains of present-day Iran. Cornuke noted that during World War II, an American Army officer and road construction engineer in Iran named Ed Davis said he saw the ark on a high mountain in the country after being led there by Iranian friends. After the war, according to Cornuke, Davis passed a lie detector test affirming he saw timbers from an ark-like object. Before his death, Davis gave Cornuke a map showing the way to the object. "It was right where Ed said it was in his map," Cornuke said. "After seeing it from a distance, I thought it at first unimpressive, but once we stood on the object we were all amazed at how it looked just like a huge pile of black and brown stone beams." Noah tours Cornuke's is the latest of many expeditions – most of them at Turkey's Mount Ararat – in search of Noah's Ark. A new travel website is promoting summer tours to a Turkish site near Mount Ararat believed by many to be the fossilized remains of Noah's Ark The Last Days SIGNS - The End Times - ARE - Upon The Earth!... MATTHEW 24:8 "All these ARE the beginning of sorrows" Posted June 7, 2006 ----------------------------- Science 'Discovers' The Arctic Was Once Tropical . . . But It Couldn't be Confirmation of the Flood! Or Could it? The first detailed analysis of an extraordinary climatic and biological record from the seabed near the North Pole shows that 55 million years ago the Arctic Ocean was much warmer than scientists imagined — a Floridian year-round average of 74 degrees. The findings, published today in three papers in the journal Nature, fill in a blank spot in scientists' understanding of climate history. And while they show that much remains to be learned about climate change, they suggest that scientists have greatly underestimated the power of heat-trapping gases to warm the Arctic. But if science was really looking for answers to the question of why the Arctic was once tropical, they'd find them in the Book of Genesis -- to the story of the Flood. Posted May 30, 2006 ----------------------------- ***WATCHMAN COMMENT... Proof or NOT this is extremely interesting... Summer tours offered to site of 'Noah's Ark' A new travel website is now promoting summer tours to a Turkish site near Mount Ararat believed by many to be the fossilized remains of Noah's Ark. Noah's Ark Holidays, which bills itself as an "ethical travel referral website" is behind the offer, with a pitch for the location in Dogubayazit, Turkey, reading: You will be awe-inspired, whether you have a personal faith or not, when you visit the National Park of Noah's Ark. Many experts have examined, tested, researched, taken radar scans and recorded lengths of this incredible boat-shaped object that many people, both non-experts and scientists, believe to be the fossilized remains of Noah's Ark. Read what others have said about it and make your own mind up. It really is a mind boggling story! If it is not Noah's Ark, then what are, what look like the fossilized remains of a boat, the same lengths as the lengths detailed in the Book of Genesis for Noah's Ark doing in the "Mountains of Ararat"? While the website itself is not a travel agency, it does provide a link to one that is conducting the tours embarking from London for a price of about $1,500 for a 10-day excursion. It has already slated three departure dates of July 5, Aug. 5 and Sept. 6. "You can literally stand and smell the history around you in your nostrils," the site maintains. The project partnership between Noah's Ark Holidays and the Dogubayazit Council came about after Mukaddes Kubilay, the mayor of Dogubayazit, visited London in March. The story of Noah's Ark is one of the best-known portions of the Bible, and while the Book of Genesis does not pinpoint the location of the vessel, it does say the ark rested "upon the mountains of Ararat." While some believe this phrase suggests Mount Ararat itself, others say the use of the plural word "mountains" means the ark is in the general region of Ararat. Among the regional proponents was the late Ron Wyatt, whose Tennessee-based foundation, Wyatt Archaeological Research, purported the ark is indeed located at Dogubayazit, some 12-15 miles from Ararat. Wyatt's website is filled with on-location photographs and charts promoting its case with physical evidence including radar scans of bulkheads on the alleged vessel, deck timber and iron rivets, large "drogue" stones which are thought to have acted as types of anchors, and even some animal hair inside, possibly from a large cat like a lion or tiger. A flood of doubt However, there's been no shortage of critics from both scientific and Christian circles who think the Dogubayazit site is erroneous. Lorence Collins, a retired geology professor from California State University, Northridge, joined the late David Fasold, a one-time proponent of the Wyatt site, in writing a scientific summary claiming the location is "bogus." "Evidence from microscopic studies and photo analyses demonstrates that the supposed Ark near Dogubayazit is a completely natural rock formation," said the 1996 paper published in the Journal of Geoscience Education. "It cannot have been Noah's Ark nor even a man-made model. It is understandable why early investigators falsely identified it." The Answers in Genesis website provides an in-depth report attempting to debunk any validity the Dogubayazit site has, and concludes by stating: "[A]s Christians we need to always exercise due care when claims are made, no matter who makes them, and any claims must always be subjected to the most rigorous scientific scrutiny. If that had happened here, and particularly if the scientific surveys conducted by highly qualified professionals using sophisticated instruments had been more widely publicized and their results taken note of, then these claims would never have received the widespread credence that they have." Officials with Wyatt Archaeological Research remain unfazed in the face of such criticism. "The site ... is actually something that you can look at. Not some made up story that no one is quite able to reach but something that is really there," said president Richard Rives. "It is a 'boat-shaped object' composed of material containing organic carbon, which is what is found in petrified wood. ... "While there is more research that needs to be done at the site, there is a substantial amount of evidence that would indicate that the Wyatt site is not a natural object. ... "Today, everyone wants to tell us how to think. We, at Wyatt Archaeological Research, do not do that. We just present the evidence that we have and let each individual make his own decision." Meanwhile, in March, others who believe the vessel is on Ararat itself became excited with the release of a new, high-resolution digital image of what has become known as the "Ararat Anomaly." The location of the anomaly on the mountain's northwest corner has been under investigation from afar by ark hunters for years, but it has remained unexplored, with the government of Turkey not granting any scientific expedition permission to explore on site. "I've got new found optimism ... as far as my continuing push to have the intelligence community declassify some of the more definitive-type imagery," Porcher Taylor, an associate professor in paralegal studies at the University of Richmond, said at the time. In both the Old and New Testaments, the Bible speaks of Noah and the ark, and Jesus Christ and the apostles Paul and Peter all make reference to Noah's flood as an actual historical event. According to Genesis, Noah was a righteous man who was instructed by God to construct a large vessel to hold his family and many species of animals, as a massive deluge was coming to purify the world which had become corrupt. Genesis 6:5 states: "And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." Noah was told by God to take aboard seven pairs of each of the "clean" animals – that is to say, those permissible to eat – and two each of the "unclean" variety. (Gen. 7:2) Though the Bible says it rained for 40 days and 40 nights, it also mentions "the waters prevailed upon the earth a hundred and fifty days." The ark then "rested" upon the mountains of Ararat, but it was still months before Noah and his family – his wife, his three sons and the sons' wives – were able to leave the ark and begin replenishing the world. The Last Day SIGNS - The End Times - ARE - Upon The Earth! Posted May 26, 2006 ----------------------------- No fear: Overcoming Bible trauma I've been a writer for many years, working on all kinds of projects from screenplays to corporate speeches to playwriting to academic essays to journalism and commentary. As a former English teacher, I've read all kinds of writing but never anything that comes even close to the Bible. In fact, as I will explain from a writer's perspective, the Bible is not possible. And yet, ironically, this amazing book is taken for granted. Most Americans have at least one Bible in their home. Most don't read it, or don't read it very much. In all likelihood that means you, or someone you know. Strangely, polls have shown that a huge percentage of Americans believe the Bible is the word of God but don't have time to read it. No kidding. Either we must think God has nothing to say to us, or something else is going on. First off, be assured I am not going to ask you to become a Bible scholar. I am not going to ask you to take umpteen Bible study classes, or memorize chapter and verse. All of those are good things – but they're not for everyone. Most of us need a simpler approach. The Bible is about relationship. It's about you (with all your discouraging flaws) – and about God (who seeks to encourage you). We should go to the Bible as we go to an old friend, or to a loving parent. But that's not reality for most people. Let's face it: That "big thick book" intimidates us. We act like it's a school book and we're going to be tested on everything we read – as if being "saved" meant being a "scholar." Our fear of fears is that if we don't understand the Bible, then there's something deeply, spiritually wrong with us – maybe even that God doesn't love us, but saves His love for the learned. Yet, the opposite is true. Jesus thanks His Father for making the Faith for regular people. Ironically, considering all our fears, this ancient spiritual manuscript called the Bible is not some high-toned, intellectual textbook, but rather a storybook full of very human adventures, full of heroes as well as people who continually make a mess of things – and often the two together! It's actually fun to read once you get past your Bible trauma. Here's the key: Don't worry if the Bible is hard to understand. What you need for now will be there for you and will be understandable. Don't expect some big revelation though. It may be only some small insight or oddly interesting bit of history. But on some level, it will feed your desire to relate to God. After all, it is His-story. Eventually, you'll want to know more. So let me repeat this essential point: Don't worry about what you don't understand. If you read 10 verses and understand only one – you win! A little goes a long, long way. Ultimately, the Bible is amazing because truth is amazing. The Bible is not only adventurous; it's also touching, meaningful, instructive, ironic, sarcastic, humorous, gentle and stern – and ultimately both spiritual and human at the same time. It is also strangely modern despite its ancient text. The Bible has been called God's love letter to us, and yet, the majority of Americans don't read it. If this is true for you, consider the following. The Bible could become something entirely different for you – something that can change your life in the most wonderful ways. The impossible Bible The main thing you really need to know is that the Bible is a "living thing" with an ability to relate to you personally – on the basis of your current needs. Simply put, the Bible is a miracle. I am not exaggerating. Let me prove it to you. The first question a professional writer asks when given an assignment is, "Who am I talking to?" It is the key to getting started. In fact, you can't get started if you do not know the answer to that one simple question. Unless you know who your reader is going to be you can hardly know how to approach your assignment. If an editor tells me to write an article about love, that's clear enough as far as the general subject, but the assignment changes completely depending on the reader. If I know I am writing to teenagers or if I am writing to middle aged married couples, my writing style changes – and so does my content. The less you know who your audience is, the more difficult the assignment. You can't even be sure how to choose your words properly. Are you writing to highly educated people or are you writing to someone with an eighth-grade education? Or how about the references you make in writing? Are you writing to city or country folk? Sound difficult? Believe me, it is. Well, let's make it harder. Now imagine this editor tells you he wants you to write about love in a way that works not only for Americans but works even when translated for people of other countries. You're thinking Europe with its Judeo-Christian roots, but your editor is more ambitious. He wants your article to work in all foreign lands, wherever he can sell it. Consider the difficulty of this: Asian cultures, African cultures, Islamic cultures, Buddhist cultures, Hindu cultures – and regional cultures within those cultures must also be considered. You must write for them all – and write effectively! Impossible you say? Fine, but your editor is not moved by your objections. He has other demands. Not only should everyone in today's world understand your book (he's decided it should be a book), he also wants you to write something that will be relevant a hundred years from now. In fact, he really wants something timeless, but even he knows that's impossible. Can you even imagine what American culture will be like in 100 years? How about 1,000 years from now? Now imagine writing for people living many thousands of years from now, and it will give you a little idea of why I tell people that from a writer's perspective the Bible can't be written in any normal human way. Nor can it be read "normally." It is truly a miraculous document. Consider that the Bible was written for all people, of all backgrounds, of all education levels. It was written for all races, colors, creeds and cultures. It was written for people thousands of years ago and for people who will live many years into the future. But even more! It is also written for you as you are now, as you were when you were a teenager, and as you'll be when you are old. It's written for all the personalities of all the billions of people in all of existence. God wouldn't leave anyone out, would he? The Bible is amazing, and all the more so because it was written over the course of about 1,500 years – by many different people. This is not the work of a single human being with a single personality and vision. The Bible has at least 40 different authors, from all different backgrounds and walks of life – and they write in three different languages. There are almost 40 books in the Old Testament and almost 30 in the New Testament. And yet, the result is a singular Holy book, tried and true, tested by millions of readers over thousands of years. This is a book capable of befriending anyone at anytime with just the right wisdom for our needs. As I said, the Bible isn't possible. The Bible is written to reach you when you are happy and when you are sad. When life is good and full, and when it's empty and unbearable. So how should you read the Bible? Go to it as old friend, one who loves you and is patient with your progress. So don't worry about what you don't understand. Read it for what you do understand, and in joyful expectation that more will come in good time – when you need it. If you need it! This is not just a book. This is a Holy Book, a miracle God created for you – capable of covering all your needs in good time. It is a living document because the God who guides you is a Living God. His Holy Spirit is always with you, if you will only listen. And the Spirit that guides you in reading the Bible is the same Spirit that guided the men who wrote it. No wonder the Bible can speak to us on our terms and in anticipation of our needs. Hard to believe? Yes, of course! All miracles are hard to believe, even when they happen to you – as this one will. That's right. The Bible was written for you, to reach you, to revive you, to nourish you and to inspire you to seek its Author. It asks only one thing of you. Treat it as you would a loving parent and not as a homework assignment. Remember, those scholars who sent Jesus to His death knew the Bible cold. The secret isn't knowledge. The secret is love. It's about process not results. Leave the results to God. Just make sure you read the Bible – read little parts, or big parts – read a sentence here, a paragraph there. Just open the Bible and let the adventure begin. Yes, many of us find the Bible intimidating. But that's not God's fault. It's our fault. The "Good Book" is a handbook on truth. It is a living document, a spiritual thing, meant to minister to your needs over a whole lifetime, no matter who you are – or where you live – or what language you speak. We can all speak the language of truth. God helps us to know it's His Book by writing it in such an impossible way. Start by believing He wrote it for you – as a matter of faith. Stop thinking that God is a boring, uncaring teacher! In your heart you know that's not true. So get that book on your shelf right now. Don't think about it. Just do it. Start reading anywhere you like. And do it again tomorrow. Don't give up. You might start with something toward the end of the book. The New Testament is a little easier to grab on to – but decide right now that it won't matter to you if you don't understand what you read. Let what you do understand come as a complete surprise – part of the continual fun of picking up that ancient book and seeking the treasures within. Do this on a regular basis, and your life will never be the same. And remember, there are thousands and thousands of churches – and neighbors and friends who will be glad to give you any help you want. In the end, that's the real lesson. You are not alone. You are loved. The Bible is proof of that. The Last Days SIGNS - The End Times - ARE - Upon The Earth!
Posted May 25, 2006 ----------------------------- Jordan site may be biblical city of Sodom A New Mexico archeologist told an audience at First Baptist Church on Sunday night that he believes he has found the biblical city of Sodom. According to the Book of Genesis in the Bible, God destroyed the city with fire and brimstone because of the inhabitants' evil behavior. Steven Collins, dean of the College of Archaeology and Biblical History at Albuquerque's Trinity Southwest University, and his group spent several weeks last winter excavating Tall el-Hammam, a site in Jordan he believes fits the profile of Sodom. He has committed to working there for seven seasons. Collins said most historians and archaeologists believe the stories of the early followers of Judaism, including the tale of Sodom's destruction, are myths. "If that's true, they're basically saying our Bible is wrong," he said. Operating on the belief that the Bible is true, he searched the Book of Genesis for clues to the city's location. Genesis Chapter 13 says Abraham, the father of the nation of Israel, and his nephew, Lot, were in the area of the cities of Bethel and Ai, 10 miles north of Jerusalem, when Lot moved east on the Plain of the Jordan and pitched his tent as far as Sodom. In 2001, Collins visited a library in Jordan and learned of at least 14 major archaeological sites in the vicinity. Collins was looking for a city destroyed in the Middle Bronze Age, about 2,000 years B.C. It would have existed earlier, probably in the Early Bronze Age, about 3,000 years B.C. Also, the ruins Collins wanted would show evidence of no occupation for several centuries after its destruction, he said. The Bible tells of Moses, who led Israel centuries after Abraham, bringing the nation to the area after they left enslavement in Egypt. It describes the place as a wasteland and records no encounters with other people. He said research, now a few weeks old, indicates that Sodom would be the southernmost city in a group of two cities and at least three villages because of the order the Bible lists them. Collins said it would also be the largest city because the Bible sometimes mentions it without naming other towns at the same time. Collins visited sites and used potsherds to date them. Five ruins on the plain's east side match the locations, artifacts and time of occupation for Sodom and towns the Bible mentions in relation to it. "It is so good archaeologically and geographically, it's almost unbelievable," he said of the match. Also, Sodom was fortified, since Genesis Chapter 19 mentions Lot sitting in the city gate. Collins and his excavation crew found a mound of packed earth typical of Bronze Age city walls. An Iron Age wall was built around or through the older structure, indicating no one lived in the city for at least five centuries after its Bronze Age destruction. While excavating around the wall, Collins and his group discovered a huge mud-brick structure. He doesn't know what it is, but suspects they found the city gate all or mostly intact. If so, it will be the first time in archaeology someone has found and excavated intact a specific structure mentioned in the Old Testament. In a probe plot 3 meters deep, Collins found a piece of a clay storage jar with a glaze-like substance. However, Middle Eastern potters couldn't fire their work at high enough temperatures for glazing until ninth or 10th century, he said. He said a flash event heated the pottery so much, so fast after it broke that the surface turned to glass and began flowing over the edge of the break. Prolonged exposure to such heat causes the whole clay piece to lose its shape, but only the surface of this potsherd changed. Collins believes this indicates a flash event. He is having a number of people, including New Mexico Tech scientists, examine the potsherd to determine what the glaze is. Material engineers at the site said it looks like Trinitite, the substance materials such as sand turn into when subjected to a nuclear blast. However, Collins said he isn't suggesting a nuclear blast hit the site. He doesn't know the cause, but suspects a comet strike or electrical event. Mud bricks and other potsherds his crew discovered also show burn marks, but not the glaze. He expects to find more melted surfaces in the next excavation season and gain a better picture of what happened. "So right now, it's just extremely interesting," he said of the partially melted potsherd. "Scientifically, you can't say much about it." Collins sees his field of biblical archaeology as a means to prove the Bible is real. Finding Sodom would provide an opportunity to demonstrate the historical authenticity of the most doubted part of the Bible, he said. He hopes to help keep the United States from becoming "post-Christian" as Europe has. He is looking for financial support to pay experts and other expenses, and for volunteer excavators The Last Days SIGNS - The End Times - ARE - Upon The Earth! Posted April 27, 2006 ----------------------------- THE END TIMES - THE LAST DAYS - ARE UPON THE EARTH! MATTHEW 24:21 "For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. 22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened." --- CLICK HERE to see what it will be like for the unsaved and for a prayer of salvation! THIS IS NO GAME! - THIS IS THE REAL THING! - DO NOT WAIT! ------------------------------------------ Shroud of Turin wrongly condemned A new book says the controversial Shroud of Turin – said to bear the image of the crucified Jesus Christ – has been wrongly condemned as a fraud and desecrated due to serious errors in its study and conservation. "The Rape of the Turin Shroud – how Christianity's most precious relic was wrongly condemned, and violated," by William Meacham, contends the shroud was dismissed as a medieval fake by the general public after poorly planned Carbon-14 dating in 1988. ***WATCHMAN COMMENT... Carbon 14 dating is an IMPERFECT GUESS! As it also says that the earth is millions of years old and has been said to be off in other tests... The linen also suffered major damage in 2002 through what Meacham calls an ill-advised and secretly executed restoration "conducted for cosmetic and misguided conservation purposes." The author points out that in the early 1980s, the shroud was at the pinnacle of its prestige, as a considerable number of academics and scientists thought it could be the burial cloth of Christ. But that perception changed almost overnight with the announcement in 1988 that Carbon-14 dating had placed the origin of the cloth at about A.D. 1260-1390. ***WATCHMAN COMMENT... Like I said Carbon dating is an IMPERFECT GUESS!... Meacham insists, however, the relic was wrongly condemned, because the dating methodology was poorly planned, marred by petty rivalries and scientifically flawed. He finds it remarkable that a second sample was never run to confirm the dating. From studies done in the last 10 years, the author asserts, it appears very likely the dating is invalid and the shroud is much older. ***WATCHMAN COMMENT... AS a former scientist myself I can tell you from first had experience SOME but not ALL scientists will run their data forward and backward until it proves their theory right - BUT IS IT WHEN DONE LIKE THAT? - NO!... It could actually be Christ's burial cloth after all, the author says, but for unknown reasons, authorities at Turin and with the Catholic Church have refused requests for a new Carbon-14 measurement. As reported in 2000, in the decade after the measurement, additional evidence called into question the process of carbon dating on certain materials – textiles in particular. And a relic known as the Sudarium of Oviedo, believed to be the other linen cloth found in the tomb of Christ, also has been used as evidence of the shroud's authenticity. The author Meacham says the "restoration" in 2002 resulted in the loss of valuable scientific data as materials were taken from the cloth without stringent controls. Repairs dating from 1534 that constituted part of the shroud's visual heritage were removed, he points out. The attempt to restore the shroud was done in secret, without peer review, he added, and "engineered by an opportunistic clique around the archbishop of Turin." The effort has been condemned by most shroud researchers as a conservation and scientific disaster, he said, as the relic and its study have been altered forever. ***WATCHMAN COMMENT... REAL - COVER UP - OR LIE - we will never actually know the truth... The Last Days SIGNS - The End Times - ARE - Upon The Earth! Posted April 13, 2006 ----------------------------- Road to Temple Mount uncovered The main road that ran from Jerusalem's City of David to the Temple Mount during the time of the Second Temple has been uncovered by Israeli archeologists, those involved in the dig said Thursday. The road connected the Shiloah pool in the City of David to the Temple Mount compound. The 2,000-year-old road was discovered adjacent to the Shiloah pool during ongoing excavations at the site, said Israeli Antiquities Authority archeologist Eli Shukrun. He is directing the dig together with University of Haifa archeologist Prof. Ronny Reich. The road was used by the tens of thousands of people who came to Jerusalem for the Jewish pilgrimage holidays during the Second Temple Period, who immersed themselves in the Shiloah pool before entering the Temple Mount, Shukrun said. He said the road showed the centrality of both the Temple and the pool for life in the city at the time. Archeologists had previously discovered the other end of the 600-meter road near the Temple Mount, he said. The archeologists have not learned when the road was built, but they have determined that it was in use between the first half of the first century BCE and the destruction of the second Jewish Temple by the Romans in 70 CE. "This was the main road of Jerusalem during the Second Temple period," Shukrun said. The archeologists also found large stones and boulders from the destruction of the Second Temple, burnt ashes, and an assortment of coins from the failed Jewish rebellion against the Romans. The excavations at the site are being sponsored by the right-wing Ir David Foundation, which supports the reestablishment of Jewish communities in east Jerusalem. The latest finds in the City of David, located just outside the walls of the Old City, came two years after Israeli archeologists stumbled upon the 2,000-year-old pool while the city was carrying out infrastructure work for a new sewage line. The waters of the Shiloah pool, which come from the nearby Gihon spring, were used in Jewish purification rituals carried out, among other times, before visits to the Temple. The Last Days SIGNS - The End Times - ARE - Upon The Earth! Posted April 7, 2006 ----------------------------- ***WATCHMAN COMMENT... I just felt this was the best page to POST this to... Modern Day Ark Some people think he's crazy. His wife's not exactly thrilled either. But like the biblical Noah, Dutchman Johan Huibers is steadfast in his mission: he's building an enormous working replica of Noah's Ark as a testament to his faith in the literal truth of the Bible. Townsfolk in Schagen, 45 km north of Amsterdam, frequently stop by to wave hello or just gawk at the huge wooden ship that is nearing completion in the town's small harbour. Johan's Ark is calibrated to be able to pass narrowly under every bridge and through every sluice along his planned sailing route, through the interior waters of the Netherlands to the country's big cities. Reckoning by the old biblical measurements, the ark is roughly 150 cubits long by 30 cubits high and 20 cubits wide. That's nearly 70 meters long, 13.5 meters high, and 9.5 meters wide. As described in Genesis, Noah used "gopher wood" to build his ark. Johan's Ark is constructed with American cedar and Norwegian pine - on top of a seaworthy steel hull. While spectacular, it holds only about a fifth as many cubic cubits as Noah's would have, according to most biblical scholars. "And just think, Noah did it alone and without modern tools. It's unimaginable, no?" says Huibers, an energetic 47-year-old contractor. According to Genesis, Noah kept seven pairs of most domesticated animals, and one breeding pair of all other creatures, plus his wife, three sons and three daughters-in-law together on the same boat for almost a year while all the world was submerged by an enormous flood. Huibers' vision is more modest. He plans to stock his ark with a collection of farmyard animals such as horses, lambs, chickens and rabbits, plus an exhibition on more exotic creatures. He hopes to set sail in September - displaying the ark as a combination religious monument, museum, and petting zoo. "This will speak very much to children, because it will give them something tangible to see that Noah's Ark really existed," Huibers says. "They'll hear the creak of the wood, smell the smell of the dung." Huibers kicked the idea around in his head for more than a decade before he bought and milled more than 1,200 logs needed for the project last northern summer. His son Roy, 17, and several builder friends have helped when they can. But most of the work was up to Huibers. And Mrs Huibers? "She doesn't really like it," he says. "She always says 'Why don't you go dig wells in Ethiopia?' I've been involved in projects there before. But she understands, this is my dream." Seeing is believing. Huibers began hammering in the nails in December, and on a frosty March afternoon, he walked energetically around the ship, pointing out how it will all work. The entry is through a large drawbridge in the side, leading up to the second of three levels, where the animals will be stalled. Stairs take visitors to displays on the first and third levels. On the top deck will be a small covered house serving drinks, with the zoo outside. Johan's Ark will house mostly baby animals, which Huibers believes Noah would also have done to save space. They're also cuter, which may help business. The total cost of the nonprofit project is estimated at slightly under a million euro. Huibers plans to charge admission, two euro for children and three euro for adults, which will include a tour, a drink, and a religious pamphlet. "So at least a hundred thousand people will have to visit to call it a success," he says. "Do you believe they will? I do." Huibers has already convinced his fussiest critics: the bankers, who provided loans. Johan's Ark will meet all naval, fire and animal rights regulations. Despite coming from the low-lying Netherlands, fear of rising seas from global warming or a new God-sent deluge didn't play a special role in the Dutchman's plan. "It won't happen again. You know: the rainbow," he said, referring to the passage in Genesis (9:9-9:16) where God put his "bow in the cloud" as part of his promise that he would never again flood the whole Earth. Huibers said he hopes the project will renew interest in Christianity in the Netherlands. "That's my motivation." He already has his next project in mind: a full-size ark. "In Manhattan," he said. "But right now that's just in my head." The Last Days SIGNS - The End Times - ARE - Upon The Earth! Posted March 28, 2006 ----------------------------- THE END TIMES - THE LAST DAYS - ARE UPON THE EARTH! MATTHEW 24:21 "For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. 22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened." --- CLICK HERE to see what it will be like for the unsaved and for a prayer of salvation! THIS IS NO GAME! - THIS IS THE REAL THING! - DO NOT WAIT! ------------------------------------------ Dead Sea Scroll to go on display at the Museum of Art in Fort Lauderdale With its King Tut crowds still going strong, the Museum of Art in Fort Lauderdale announced Tuesday its next major exhibit: A cache of rare biblical treasures, including one of the Dead Sea Scrolls. "Cradle of Christianity," an exhibit created by the Israel Museum, will boast objects that have never before left the Holy Land, museum officials said Tuesday. They will include: The famed Temple Scroll, one of the Dead Sea Scrolls that rocked the biblical world with their discovery in the Judean desert in 1947. An inscription stone with the name of Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor who condemned Jesus to death, according to the New Testament. The burial box of Caiaphas, the high priest who the Bible records as handing Jesus over to Pilate. The exhibit, set for Dec. 7 through April 15, will show the roots of Christianity in Judaism, and how the faiths influenced each other, museum officials said. "Religion has shaped our legal system, our politics, our ethics, even our disagreements," said museum executive director Irv Lippman. "It's very important to know the fundamentals of Christianity, and get a dialogue of Christians and Jews. "The exhibit will also have a broader appeal for those who aren't religious, who want to touch history." Also in the exhibit will be a large stone menorah, from a sixth century synagogue in the Galilee area of Israel; a mosaic of glass and stone, from the floor of a church in the southern Negev area; and a drawing of a menorah from first century Jerusalem. The show will also include portions of a typical Holy Land Byzantine church, with objects gathered from 10 sites -- from Beersheba in the Negev to Nahariya in the Galilee. The objects fit together naturally into a unified whole, according to museum officials. The local museum is one of only three in the U.S. that will host the exhibit, Lippman said. The Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage in Cleveland will show it first, starting April 1. After Fort Lauderdale, it will go to the Michael C. Carlos Museum at Emory University, Atlanta. "Cradle of Christianity" follows several other exhibits at the Fort Lauderdale museum with religious or cultural themes. Most popular, of course, has been the King Tut show, with 550,000 tickets sold since it opened on Dec. 15. In 2004, the museum hosted the painting of a huge image of the Buddha for a visit of the Dalai Lama to South Florida. The previous year saw papal artifacts from the Vatican collection. The Last Days SIGNS - The End Times - ARE - Upon The Earth! Posted February 15, 2006 ----------------------------- Satellite Sleuth Closes in on Noah's Ark Mystery High on Mt. Ararat in eastern Turkey, there is a baffling mountainside "anomaly," a feature that one researcher claims may be something of biblical proportions. Images taken by aircraft, intelligence-gathering satellites and commercial remote-sensing spacecraft are fueling an intensive study of the intriguing oddity. But whether the anomaly is some geological quirk of nature, playful shadows, a human-made structure of some sort, or simply nothing at all—that remains to be seen. Whatever it is, the anomaly of interest rests at 15,300 feet (4,663 meters) on the northwest corner of Mt. Ararat, and is nearly submerged in glacial ice. It would be easy to call it merely a strange rock formation. But at least one man wonders if it could be the remains of Noah's Ark—a vessel said to have been built to save people and selected animals from the Great Flood, the 40 days and 40 nights of deluge as detailed in the Book of Genesis. The Genesis blueprint of the Ark detailed the structure as 6:1 length to width ratio (300 cubits by 50 cubits). The anomaly, as viewed by satellite, is close to that 6:1 proportion. Newfound optimism Identifying the Ararat anomaly has been a 13-year-long quest of Porcher Taylor, an associate professor in paralegal studies at the University of Richmond's School of Continuing Studies in Virginia. Taylor has been a national security analyst for more than 30 years, also serving as a senior associate for five years at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C. "I've got new found optimism ... as far as my continuing push to have the intelligence community declassify some of the more definitive-type imagery," Taylor told Live Science. He points to a "new and significant development," a high-resolution image taken by DigitalGlobe's impressive QuickBird satellite and shown here publicly for the first time [alternate version with no annotation]. "I'm calling this my satellite archeology project," Taylor said. It's an effort that has now included use of QuickBird, GeoEye's Ikonos spacecraft, Canada's Radarsat 1, as well as declassified aerial and satellite images taken by the various U.S. intelligence agencies. Making the mountain transparent Taylor said his goal is straightforward: Combining this imagery to make the Ararat anomaly transparent to the public, as well as to the discerning, dispassionate eyes of scientists, imagery analysts, and other experts. "I had no preconceived notions or agendas when I began this in 1993 as to what I was looking for," Taylor said. As for the saga of Noah's Ark, he is quick to note that there are those who say it is fable while some take it as truth. Nevertheless, the anomaly may not be a ridge line of ice, snow and possibly rock, but an artificial ridge line, Taylor said. "I maintain that if it is the remains of something manmade and potentially nautical, then it's potentially something of biblical proportions." While chiding the intelligence communities to release more of their closely guarded satellite imagery, Taylor said that soon-to-fly commercial remote sensing spacecraft are sure to help his archeological undertaking. "We've got three new birds that are going up. I'm using all my clout, rapport and lobbying to, hopefully, have them at least fly calibration runs over Mt. Ararat," Taylor said. Those images would make the mountain even more transparent, he said. Will it float? Meanwhile, Taylor has an ever-expanding network of experts to help tease out the truth about the anomaly. For example, satellite imagery analyst Rod Franz of SunTek Media Group/RiteImage, Inc., located in Henderson, Nevada, has taken a look at imagery provided by Taylor of the Ararat anomaly and carried out additional analysis of the area. As director of training for the firm, Franz sharpened his skills by serving nearly 25 years as a military intelligence imagery analyst. For the anomaly assessment, the same software tools used for studying government and commercial remote sensing data were employed, Franz told LiveScience. Ground distances and scales of the anomaly were determined. That software also has the ability to adjust brightness, haze, sharpness, contrast and other factors of the area of interest, he said. "Along with many other image manipulation functions ... I also used the pseudo-color function trying to determine if I could detect anything under the ice and snow," Franz said. The face of the anomaly measured 1,015 feet (309 meters) across, Franz said. "I also found the shape of the anomaly appears to fit on a circle. I am not sure what this means, if anything, but I find it curious." Given that length, Taylor pointed out, the anomaly dwarfs the Titanic and Bismarck in size, and equals the size of the largest modern aircraft carrier. That analysis would seem to call into question whether the anomaly is a wooden ship and raises a key question: If a boat were truly that huge, would it float? There are also experts in remote sensing who offer a skeptical view. "Image interpretation is an art," said Farouk El-Baz, Director of the Boston University Center for Remote Sensing. "One has to be familiar with Sun lighting effects on the shape of observed features," El-Baz said. "Very slight changes in slope modify shadow shapes that affect the interpretations. Up to this time, all the images I have seen can be interpreted as natural landforms. The feature that has been interpreted as the 'Ararat Anomaly' is to me a ledge of rock in partial shadow, with varied thickness of snow and ice cover. Visual truth serum Thanks to more satellite imagery in the offing, as well as other studies underway, Taylor said his remote archeological research is on the upswing. There is an ultimate end-game. That is, on-the-spot ground truth ... and Taylor hopes his research findings will catalyze a top-notch expedition to the area. "It is whatever it is," he said. But for now, satellite remote sensing to carry out archeological "digs" from space will fill in for an in-the-field expedition. Just a few weeks ago, for example, NASA scientists utilizing space- and aircraft-based remote sensing hardware and techniques uncovered Maya ruins hidden in the rainforests of Central America for more than 1,000 years. "For explorers, imagery from GeoEye's Ikonos satellite married with Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite data has become as indispensable as water and freeze dried food for any expedition. One does not want to leave home without it," said Mark Brender, GeoEye Vice President for communications and marketing, headquartered in Dulles, Virginia. For researchers, imagery from space like those provided by GeoEye provides "the ultimate high shot" and a contextual view you could never get from observations on the ground or even from a plane, Brender told LiveScience. "It's visual truth serum." Posted February 14, 2006 ----------------------------- ***WATCHMAN COMMENT... Though this is NOT proof yet it sure is interesting... New photo resparks 'Noah's Ark mania' A new, high-resolution digital image of what has become known as the "Ararat Anomaly" is reigniting interest in the hunt for Noah's Ark. The location of the anomaly on the northwest corner of Mt. Ararat in eastern Turkey has been under investigation from afar by ark hunters for years, but it has remained unexplored, with the government of Turkey not granting any scientific expedition permission to explore on site. But the detail revealed by the new photo from DigitalGlobe's QuickBird satellite has a man at the helm of the probe excited once again. "I've got new found optimism ... as far as my continuing push to have the intelligence community declassify some of the more definitive-type imagery," Porcher Taylor, an associate professor in paralegal studies at the University of Richmond, told Space.com. For more than three decades, Taylor has been a national security analyst, and has also served as a senior associate for five years at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C. "I'm calling this my satellite archaeology project," Taylor said. The project has been combining the photographic resources of QuickBird with GeoEye's Ikonos spacecraft, Canada's Radarsat 1, as well as declassified aerial and satellite images snapped by U.S. intelligence agencies. While it's quite possible the item of interest could simply be a natural ridge of rock, snow and ice, Taylor says there's also a chance it could be something manmade. "I had no preconceived notions or agendas when I began this in 1993 as to what I was looking for," he said. "I maintain that if it is the remains of something manmade and potentially nautical, then it's potentially something of biblical proportions." The anomaly remains ensconced in glacial ice at an altitude of 15,300 feet, and Taylor says the photos suggest it's length-to-width ratio is close to 6:1, as indicated in the Book of Genesis. The U.S. Air Force took the first photographs of the Mt. Ararat site in 1949. The images allegedly revealed what seemed to be a structure covered by ice, but were held for years in a confidential file labeled "Ararat Anomaly." The new image was actually taken in 2003, but has never been revealed to the public until now. Meanwhile, there are others who believe Noah's Ark has already been found, and tourists can actually visit it on a mountain next to Ararat. The late Ron Wyatt, whose Tennessee-based foundation, Wyatt Archaeological Research, purported the ark has already been found at Dogubayazit, Turkey, some 12-15 miles from Ararat, noting Genesis states the ark rested "upon the mountains of Ararat," not mountain. Wyatt's website is filled with on-location photographs and charts promoting its case with physical evidence including radar scans of bulkheads on the alleged vessel, deck timber and iron rivets, large "drogue" stones which are thought to have acted as types of anchors, and even some animal hair inside, possibly from a large cat like a lion or tiger. However, there's been no shortage of critics from both scientific and Christian circles who think the Dogubayazit site is erroneous. Lorence Collins, a retired geology professor from California State University, Northridge, joined the late David Fasold, a one-time proponent of the Wyatt site, in writing a scientific summary claiming the location is "bogus." "Evidence from microscopic studies and photo analyses demonstrates that the supposed Ark near Dogubayazit is a completely natural rock formation," said the 1996 paper published in the Journal of Geoscience Education. "It cannot have been Noah's Ark nor even a man-made model. It is understandable why early investigators falsely identified it." The Answers in Genesis website provides an in-depth report attempting to debunk any validity the Dogubayazit site has, and concludes by stating: As Christians we need to always exercise due care when claims are made, no matter who makes them, and any claims must always be subjected to the most rigorous scientific scrutiny. If that had happened here, and particularly if the scientific surveys conducted by highly qualified professionals using sophisticated instruments had been more widely publicized and their results taken note of, then these claims would never have received the widespread credence that they have." Officials with Wyatt Archaeological Research remain unfazed in the face of such criticism. "The site ... is actually something that you can look at. Not some made up story that no one is quite able to reach but something that is really there," said president Richard Rives. "It is a 'boat-shaped object' composed of material containing organic carbon, which is what is found in petrified wood. ... "While there is more research that needs to be done at the site, there is a substantial amount of evidence that would indicate that the Wyatt site is not a natural object. ... "Today, everyone wants to tell us how to think. We, at Wyatt Archaeological Research, do not do that. We just present the evidence that we have and let each individual make his own decision." In both the Old and New Testaments, the Bible speaks of Noah and the ark, and Jesus Christ and the apostles Paul and Peter all make reference to Noah's flood as an actual historical event. According to Genesis, Noah was a righteous man who was instructed by God to construct a large vessel to hold his family and many species of animals, as a massive deluge was coming to purify the world which had become corrupt. Genesis 6:5 states: "And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." Noah was told by God to take aboard seven pairs of each of the "clean" animals – that is to say, those permissible to eat – and two each of the "unclean" variety. (Gen. 7:2) Though the Bible says it rained for 40 days and 40 nights, it also mentions "the waters prevailed upon the earth a hundred and fifty days." The ark then "rested" upon the mountains of Ararat, but it was still months before Noah and his family – his wife, his three sons and the sons' wives – were able to leave the ark and begin replenishing the world. The Last Days SIGNS - The End Times - ARE - Upon The Earth! Posted February 1, 2006 ----------------------------- THE END TIMES - THE LAST DAYS - ARE UPON THE EARTH! MATTHEW 24:21 "For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. 22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened." --- CLICK HERE to see what it will be like for the unsaved and for a prayer of salvation! THIS IS NO GAME! - THIS IS THE REAL THING! - DO NOT WAIT! ------------------------------------------ Ancient church in Meggido, Israel may cause jail relocation In an unprecedented move, Israel's top archaeological body is recommending that the Megiddo Prison be relocated due to the recent discovery of the most ancient Christian place of worship ever found in Israel on the grounds of the prison. The ruins of the Christian prayer hall, which was located inside a Roman villa, date back to the first half of the third century CE, making the chapel the earliest place of Christian worship ever unearthed in the Holy Land, excavation director and Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologist Yotam Tepper said Tuesday. The site in question, which is located between an ancient Jewish village dating back to the Roman period and what used to be a Roman Army camp, was uncovered last year after authorities sought to expand the prison grounds and prisoners stumbled upon the ruins during routine excavations. The building, which is thought to have belonged to a Roman officer, has a rectangular hall with a mosaic floor bearing geometric patterns, a medallion decorated with drawings of fish - a symbol widely used in early Christianity - and three Greek inscriptions. One inscription names an army officer who contributed toward the paving of the floor, the second is dedicated in memory of four women, and the third mentions a woman who contributed a table or altar to the God Jesus Christos. Pottery shards and coins found in the excavation date the mosaic to the first half of the third century, Tepper said during a visit by President Moshe Katsav and senior Christian religious leaders in the Holy Land. He noted that the Jesus inscription found on the mosaic was one of the first such epigraphic references ever unearthed. The prayer site, which unequivocally associates the Roman military officer with Christianity, is viewed as especially rare in that it precedes the recognition of Christianity as an official religion. Tepper said Tuesday that the "unique" discovery could shed new light on Early Christianity, which was banned by the Romans until the fourth century. The established view is that Christian churches did not begin to appear in the region until the fourth century following Emperor Constantine's edict in 313 that Christians could worship freely in the Roman Empire. The Antiquities Authority said that the structure found at the site does not fit the accepted architectural definitions of a church, and so they deem it to be a Christian prayer hall, or chapel. The building was never used again after the third century, and was covered with dirt until the mosaic was discovered as the prison sought to expand, and the excavations were carried out, Tepper said. "We are talking about a unique and unprecedented find which is exciting the entire Christian world," said Antiquities Authority director Shuka Dorfman. "Any move which would disconnect the mosaic from its site would injure the cultural values this site represents," he added. President Moshe Katsav said that in light of the historical dimensions of the find he fully supports the recommendation of the Antiquities Authority to relocate the prison, noting that during his recent visit to the Vatican the Pope inquired if he may visit the site on his future visit to Israel. The prison, which is likely to be moved as a result of the find, currently holds about 1,200 prisoners, prison authority spokeswoman Orit Messer-Harel said Tuesday. Megiddo, also known as Armageddon, is the place where the New Testament says the ultimate battle of good and evil will be waged. Today the prison is located along a major thoroughfare in northern Israel and is surrounded primarily by fields. Posted January 27, 2006 ----------------------------- ***WATCHMAN COMMENT... Disproved or proved??? [for want of a place to post this]... Noah's Ark rests in Iran? Despite popular speculation that Noah's Ark rests on Turkey's Mount Ararat, there are a few believers seeking elsewhere. Specifically, Iran. Evangelical explorer, author and lecturer Bob Cornuke has followed the Exodus route of Moses, dived the Red Sea in search of Pharaoh's chariots, searched for the lost Ark of the Covenant in Israel and Ethiopia, sought in Malta's ocean beds the four anchors from the shipwreck of St. Paul, and traveled through Eastern Turkey with Apollo 15 astronaut James Irwin. To the above, his research and findings regarding Mt. Sinai have been chronicled by Discovery, the History Channel, and National Geographic Television. This past summer Cornuke, a former crime scene investigator turned relic hunter, culminated more than 20-years of painstaking research and reconnaissance by climbing Iran’s Mt. Soleiman in search of Noah’s Ark. Decades of previous expeditions by noted historians, scientists, and explorers have centered the focus of the search on Mt. Ararat in Turkey which, to-date, has been widely-believed, but never proven, to be the landing site of the Ark. But Cornuke has always been focused on the mountainous regions of Iran as the likely landing place for he Ark; retracing the steps and accounts of Ed Davis, an army officer stationed in Iran in 1943. Davis, who passed a lie detector test, claims to have been taken to the Ark's resting place, and was able to offer both a detailed verbal account, and drawings of what he had seen. Relying on instincts honed from years in law enforcement, and a Biblical interpretation that points toward the Ark's ultimate destinations being further east than traditionally thought, as well as the disappointing lack of progress in finding any evidence of boats that other alleged eyewitnesses claimed to see on Mount Ararat - which Cornuke has climbed several times - led him to believe that Davis' story was worth investigating. Braving treacherous climbing conditions, and a hostile political environment, Cornuke says he discovered evidence of an altar site, and a structure that geological experts theorize could have been “hand-hewed.” He returned from Mt. Soleiman with numerous samples, photos, and video footage, and has chronicled the journey in a new book, Ark Fever. Testing of rock and shell samples were conducted by BETA Analytic Inc., the largest professional radiocarbon dating laboratory in the world, which routinely services world governments and major academic and historical institutions such as the Smithsonian Institute. Results of this carbon dating, which is still on-going, indicate the presence of abundant organic material consistent with coming from a quiescent deep-water environment – in layman’s terms, possibly from a world once immersed in water. Evidence of petrified wood was also brought back, and a world-wide team of experts is studying all materials. As for Cornuke, he awaits a break in the harsh Iranian winter so that he and a team can return to Mt. Soleiman for further investigation, where he is optimistic that a veil will be lifted on a centuries-long quest for the greatest Bible legend ever chronicled. Cornuke believes the discovery of the ark would rock the archaeological world, and cause many skeptics to take a renewed look at the historical authenticity of the bible. As Dr. Mellville Bell Grovesnor, the late editor of National Geographic once said, “If the ark of Noah is discovered, it will be the greatest archaeological find in human history, the greatest event since the resurrection of Christ, and it would alter the currents of scientific thought.” Posted January 5, 2006 ----------------------------- THE END TIMES - THE LAST DAYS - ARE UPON THE EARTH! MATTHEW 24:21 "For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. 22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened." --- CLICK HERE to see what it will be like for the unsaved and for a prayer of salvation! THIS IS NO GAME! - THIS IS THE REAL THING! - DO NOT WAIT! ------------------------------------------ Artifacts with links to Bible unearthed JERUSALEM -- Israeli archaeologists, screening tons of rubble scooped out of this ancient city's sacred Temple Mount, have discovered hundreds of artifacts and coins, as well as jewelry, some with biblical links dating back more than three millennia. Most of the stones and earth originally were taken to an organic garbage dump in nearby Bethany, the New Testament town known in Arabic as Al-Azariya, and could not be retrieved. But a substantial portion was diverted to the Valley of Kidron, mentioned in the Old Testament and located just outside the Old City's massive walls. This ambitious archaeological project, known as the Temple Mount Antiquities Operation, was started in November 2004, when Muslims excavated the sector north of Solomon's Stables to build the massive underground Marwani Mosque. Its second season, now under way, will last until February. The Waqf, or Muslim officials who administer the site -- known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary -- helped the Israelis arrange the transfer. Among the unusual finds extracted by Bar-Ilan University's Gabriel Barkai and his team of students and volunteers is a "bulla," or seal impression, thought to be used to close cloth sacks of silver. "It bears the name Gedalyahu Ben Immer Ha-Cohen, suggesting that the owner may have been a brother of Pashur Ben Immer, described in the Bible [Jeremiah 20:1] as a priest and temple official," Mr. Barkai said. That verse says: "Pashur, the son of Immer the priest, who was also chief governor in the House of the Lord, heard that Jeremiah prophesied these things." The team's discoveries span 10,000 years "and belong to all the historical periods that transpired in Jerusalem," Mr. Barkai said. One of the finds is a stone weight equivalent to four shekels (an ancient Hebrew measure, about 2 ounces), marked with words written in the ancient Hebrew alphabet. The site is not considered an archaeological dig. The workers use a technique called "wet sifting," similar to the way prospectors pan for gold. Mr. Barkai's team examines every particle, using large wire filters to rinse each one with cold water while looking for valuable objects. Some finds reflect the Temple Mount's unique and dramatic history. An example of this is an iron arrowhead with a shaft used by the Roman legions during the siege of the Second Hebrew Temple 2,000 years ago. Presumably belonging to the 10th Legion, Mr. Barkai said, "it was launched from catapults exclusive to the Roman army." He told of "scores of coins, many of them Jewish and minted by the Hasmonean and Herodian dynasty." This find might help explain why Jesus Christ drove the money-changers out of the Temple, as described in the New Testament. "There also are beautiful objects that belong to the Crusader period," Mr. Barkai said, noting the many Byzantine coins, which testify to large attendance at the Temple Mount during the Christian conquest and rule during the 11th to 15th centuries. Many of the more-recent coins date from the 17th century, and the research team even found a gold coin issued by the French Empire under Napoleon III. A bronze pendant several hundred years old depicts the Holy Grail. The team works in a large plastic tent pitched on a spur of the Mount of Olives. It overlooks the Old City of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, which is highlighted by the golden Dome of the Rock, a mosque built between 687 and 691 by the ninth Muslim caliph, Abd al-Malik. Because of the quantity, time and patience required to rinse the objects, this archaeological project likely will take several years to complete. Posted January 1, 2006 ----------------------------- Pool of Siloam's True Size Found Due to Sewer Blockage The pool, whose present small dimensions date from Byzantine times, is the outlet for the spring water coursing through the ancient Hezekiah's tunnel. It was once huge - three to four dunams. And if the huge dimensions of the pool had not been discovered, it is doubtful that the Israel Antiquities Authority and the Elad association, which is working for the development of the area also known as the City of David, would not have come across the dramatic discovery now underway: the far end of a street dating from the Herodian period, which begins at the outer southwestern corner of the Temple Mount and is familiar to visitors to the Western Wall. When the sewage main first backed up during the winter of 2004, the Israel Nature and Parks Protection Authority, responsible for the archaeological sites around the Old City's walls, called for a halt to the repair work and took advantage of the opportunity to dig a heretofore unexcavated part of the City of David. Archaeologists Ronny Reich and Eli Shukron, who are directing the dig for the IAA and Elad, say that for the first time they are now able to trace the street that connected the Temple Mount in Second Temple times with the Pool of Siloam. Other portions of the road were revealed by the 19th-century Jerusalem explorers Bliss and Dickey and in 1963 by archaeologist Kathleen Kenyon. Now, the last piece of the puzzle has come to light near the pool. Among the finds near the street are coins from the Great Revolt of the Jews against the Romans, from the years 67,68 and 69 C.E. Dozens of workers are involved in the project - all are residents of Silwan who have been working on it for years. The finds near the Pool of Siloam, which is mentioned in both ancient Jewish sources and the New Testament, have meant a major development push for the City of David neighborhood: the city is building and repairing sewage lines, water lines and streets, garbage is being collected on a regular basis and souvenir stores and snack bars are enjoying new business. The Herodian street is not the only piece of ancient history in the area. In the excavations near Warren's Shaft, long believed to be part of Jerusalem's ancient water system and named after its 19th-century discoverer, Charles Warren, the first archaeological evidence of Jerusalem as an administrative center during the period of the Kingdom of Judah (the ninth century BCE) is now coming to light. A group of over 40 clay cylinder seals and stamps were recently unearthed by the IAA. Some of them bear human, animal and bird images, and one even shows the fingerprint of the person who used it in signing a letter written at the time. A number of ivory plaques also found are believed to have been used as calendars. Reich and Shukron say this is the first time such a large assemblage of cylinder seals from the early period of the kings of Judah have been unearthed in one place in the city of David, attesting to its importance during the reigns of kings Jehoshaphat and Yehoram. According to Shukron, it shows the city was "an administrative center that conducted correspondence during the period between David and Solomon and the period of Hezekiah" and those who reigned around his time. "Until now, Shukron says, "all the cylinder seals found in Jerusalem are from the end of the First Temple period. This is the first time we find seals that can be dated earlier, to the beginning of the Kingdom of Judah." Another interesting find is 1,700 bones of Mediterranean fish (so far), attesting to trade with the coastal area; the bones are being studied by Prof. Omri Lernau. A number of finds in the IAA-Elad excavation have shed light on the study of Jerusalem over the past 140 years. For example, Charles Warren believed the shaft he discovered had been used by ancient Jerusalemites to draw water, an opinion that was widespread until recently. However the discovery of a pool and surrounding fortifications, now in the Elad's Spring House visitor center, have changed this idea. A ritual bath and water cistern from the Second Temple period were discovered in the excavation in the Givati parking lot across from the entrance to the City of David below the Dung Gate. Dr. Eilat Mazar of the Shalem Center has uncovered a palace or fortress covering an area of 300 meters and dated to the 10th century BCE. Next to this structure, the regal capital of a pillar was discovered, dating from the ninth century BCE (the period of David and Solomon). Reich says the area of the City of David has become the most excavated area in the country. "We are the 12th expedition to work here, and in no small way it is thanks to the contributions that flow in to the project from the Elad association. They may be disagreed with politically, but without them we would not have been able to make the dramatic discoveries of recent years here, in the place where Jerusalem began, where the story began of the Jewish people in this land." Posted December 9, 2005 ----------------------------- Anchors away with Herod Two ancient anchors uncovered in the Dead Sea on display at the Israel Museum are proof of the area's thriving economy some 2,000 years before the modern day construction of hotels and the Dead Sea Works on the shores of the world's lowest "lake." One of the anchors dates back to the Roman period, and the archaeologist who found it says it may have belonged to King Herod's ship. Mediterranean Sea water has three percent salinity, while the Dead Sea's salinity is 10 times greater. That's why metal sections of ships that sail on the Dead Sea corrode rapidly. Nevertheless, the famous sixth-century Madaba map indicates that in ancient times, shipping traffic on the sea bustled. "The Ein Gedi oasis was an important agricultural center where persimmon oil, a much sought-after perfume in the ancient world, was made," says the Israel Museum exhibition's curator, Dudi Mevorach. The Dead Sea also was a main center of salt mining. The salt yielded there was used primarily for food preservation, asphalt, sealant and glue. Mevorach notes that there was no land route along the Dead Sea in ancient times, because the water level was much higher, and in many places reached the edge of nearby cliffs. As a result, sailing was the only transportation means in the area at the time. Seashore discovery The anchors were discovered by Gideon Hadas, an archaeologist and member of Kibbutz Ein Gedi, while hiking along the seashore. The annual one meter drop in the water level in recent years helped expose the two anchors. Hadas uncovered the first anchor in December 2003 when he noticed a wooden rod protruding from a one-meter wide chunk of gypsum. With the help of a group of volunteers and Ein Gedi's emergency rescue team, he was able to retrieve the 600-kg anchor, which was transported to the kibbutz. Using a hammer and chisel, Hadas and an Antiquities Authority crew took apart the chunk of rock and revealed the anchor itself, which was made from jujube wood, lead weights and ropes made from date palm fiber. Laboratory tests revealed the anchor is from the first century BCE, when the area was ruled by the Hasmoneans, King Herod and the Roman conquerors. Hadas says the anchor he uncovered in the Dead Sea differs in at least one important respect from several other anchors from the same period uncovered in the Mediterranean Sea: the chemical composition of the Mediterranean's water led to the decomposition and disintegration of the anchor's organic materials, that is, its wood and ropes. The Dead Sea anchor, however, underwent a reverse process: the minerals led to the melting of the lead, but adequately preserved the wood and ropes. Hadas admits that on the anchor itself, there is no proof it belonged to Herod's royal yacht. However, "Herod simply fits into the story perfectly." One of the reasons for this is that the anchor was made according to Roman technology, and included a large chunk of lead imported from abroad. He says the size of the anchor indicates it was on a large ship, at least seven-meters long. "We know that Herod spent a lot of time traveling around the area, going from the sulfur baths on the eastern shore of the Dead Sea to his palace on Masada and his winter palace in Jericho. Who else, besides him, could have bought himself a large boat with parts imported from abroad?" Hadas says he also expects to uncover Herod's ship. With that in mind, he recently embarked on a systematic shore survey along the sea's northern basin. Ancient community Hadas found the second anchor some weeks later, directly across the spot where the ancient community of Ein Gedi was located. It is a simple anchor made of wood, and it is estimated to date back to between the eighth and fifth century BCE. Hadas says the anchor prompts many questions. "The fact that we don't have an exact age of the anchor leaves open many possibilities. It could be an anchor from a Jewish ship from the late First Temple period, but it can't be ruled out that it belonged to a Phoenician or even Persian ship." Posted December 7, 2005 ----------------------------- Amazing discovery in heart of biblical Jerusalem In what many archaeologists hail as the potential find of the century, remains of a massive structure dating to the time of King David have been discovered in the heart of biblical Jerusalem. Eilat Mazar, the Israeli archaeologist leading the excavation, has suggested that it may, in fact, be the palace built by David as described in the Bible. The discovery has shaken the already contentious field of biblical archaeology to its roots: For the last few years, a number of respected archaeologists most prominently Israel Finkelstein, chairman of Tel Aviv University's archaeology department and author of the 2001 best-seller The Bible Unearthed have argued that the biblical accounts of Jerusalem as the seat of a great and united monarchy under the rule of David and Solomon are false. If Mazar's hypothesis proves right, it would go a long way toward proving Finkelstein and the others wrong. Her findings will also doubtlessly affect the broader political battle over Jerusalem that is, the question of whether the Jewish people has its origins in the city and thus has a special hold over it, or whether the concept of a Jewish origin in Jerusalem is nothing but a myth. With such a potentially powerful find, there will naturally be no shortage of skeptics, whether for reasons of politics or scholarship. Yet there are many good reasons to identify Mazar's find, at least provisionally, as the palace described in the Book of Samuel. These reasons deserve to be heard. According to archaeological evidence, Jerusalem was founded two millennia before David arrived on the scene in 1000 B.C.E. Because of its unique topography n a high hill nestled between two deep valleys that converge at its southern point, graced with abundant sources of water and exposed to attack only along a ridge from the north n the location proved ideal for the capital of a kingdom. Therefore, David did not destroy the city when he conquered it from the Jebusites, but rather added to it. The most notable addition was the palace built by the Phoenician king, Hiram of Tyre, as a gesture of friendship. Based on the biblical account, coupled with textual clues as to the topography and findings previously published by Kathleen Kenyon, Mazar formulated her proposal as to the location of the palace in a 1997 article in Biblical Archaeology Review. "If some regard as too speculative the hypothesis I shall put forth in this article," she wrote, "my reply is simply this: Let us put it to the test in the way archaeologists always try to test their theories by excavation." In early 2005, with the support of the Jerusalem-based Shalem Center, the City of David Foundation, and Hebrew University, Mazar did just that. The evidence she found is remarkable: A section of a massive wall, which runs about 100 feet from west to east before making a right-angle turn heading south, implies the existence of a very large building. Other findings include pottery shards, discovered in the dirt fill between the stones of the wall, which were dated to the 11th century B.C.E., the earliest possible date of the building's construction. Additionally, the building is positioned directly on bedrock along the city's northern edge with no archaeological layers beneath it. This implies that the structure, built two millennia after the city's founding, constituted a new, northward expansion of the city's limits, as described in the biblical account. It is located at what was then the very summit of the mountain - a reasonable place for the palace from which David is said, in II Samuel (5:17), to have "descended." Finally, Mazar discovered a remarkable clay bulla, or signet impression, bearing the name of Yehuchal Ben Shelemiah, a Judean prince from the time of King Zedekiah mentioned by name in Jeremiah 37:3. This evidence suggests that four centuries after David, the site was still an important seat of Judean royalty. This matches the biblical account of the palace being in continuous use from its construction until the destruction of Judea by the Babylonians in 586 B.C.E. The evidence seems to agree surprisingly well with Mazar's claim that this could be David's palace. The location, size, style, and dating of the building all match the textual description. Moreover, there are no finds that suggest the contrary, such as the idolatrous statuettes or ritual crematoria found in contemporary Phoenician settlements. Furthermore, the building appears in an ancient world where such constructions were extremely rare and represented the greatest sort of public works. Finally, the evidence fits well with previous archaeological finds from the site. Naturally, many archaeologists, having been trained in a scholarly world wary of religious enthusiasts, will be extremely reluctant to identify any new archaeological find with particulars found in the Bible. Others, driven by a combination of interests, ideologies, or political agendas, will seize on any shred of uncertainty in the building's identification to distract attention from the momentousness of the find. Both groups will invoke professionalism and objectivity to undermine the proposition that this was David's palace: They will either raise the bar of required proofs to a standard that no archaeological find could ever meet, or they will simply dismiss it all as wishful thinking in the service of religious or Zionist motives. Yet even if this is not in fact David's palace, there is no doubt that we are talking about an archaeological find of revolutionary proportions. It is still the first discovery of a major construction from the early Israelite period in Jerusalem. No longer is it reasonable to claim, as many revisionist archaeologists have done, that the absence of evidence from the relevant period shows that the great unified monarchy of David and Solomon was really an imaginary historiosophic creation. It is thus significant that the normally reserved Amihai Mazar, cousin of Malat Mazar and one of the most esteemed scholars in the field of biblical archaeology and author of the standard textbook Archaeology of the Land of the Bible, 10,000 - 586 B.C.E., has described the discovery as "something of a miracle." Furthermore, so long as we are willing to admit that possible future evidence may prompt a different conclusion, there is no reason not to identify this building as David's palace. Put simply, we have before us two things: A biblical text describing in detail the creation of a Phoenician-style palace by David on a particular mountain around the end of the eleventh or beginning of the tenth century B.C.E.; and a grand Phoenician style structure dating from the same time on the summit of that very mountain, located with assistance from the text and previous archaeological discoveries. Is this absolute proof? No. But surely it is enough to shift the burden of proof. For in the end, the theory that this is David's palace is thus far the best explanation for the data. As Mazar herself says, "Anyone who wants to say otherwise ought to come up with a better theory." This is neither wishful thinking nor an imagined past. It's good science. Posted December 5, 2005 ----------------------------- Seal with image of Jesus found in Tiberius A lead seal from the sixth century depicting Jesus was recently discovered in excavations by the Antiquities Authority in the Old City of Tiberius. The other side of the seal has a cross with an abbreviation of the name “Christos.” This is the first time a seal with the image of Jesus has been discovered in excavations in Tiberius. A number of similar seals have been found in Caesaria, which in ancient times was the capital of the province. The rare seal was discovered by two volunteers, employees of the American and British embassies. Professor Yizhar Hirschfeld of the Hebrew University, who is in charge of the dig, notes that the seal shows an important church official. "The church here was stronger than we thought. This also shows that Judaism and Christianity met here and lived together in harmony,” he says. In February of this year, a tenth century C.E. coin was discovered in the excavations in Tiberias that depicted Jesus on one side, and had the Greek inscription “Jesus the Messiah, King of Kings” on the other. Professor Hirschfeld believes that the coin was issued in Istanbul in honor of the first millennium. He notes that the fact that the Jesus coin was found in a dig in Tiberius indicates that the Crusaders continued going to Tiberius even in the Muslim period (the tenth century C.E.). Tiberius is the only site in Israel where such coins have been found. Posted November 21, 2005 ----------------------------- THE END TIMES - THE LAST DAYS - ARE UPON THE EARTH! MATTHEW 24:21 "For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. 22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened." --- CLICK HERE to see what it will be like for the unsaved and for a prayer of salvation! THIS IS NO GAME! - THIS IS THE REAL THING! - DO NOT WAIT! ------------------------------------------ Goliath found? A very small ceramic shard unearthed by Bar-Ilan University archaeologists digging at Tell es-Safi, the biblical city "Gath of the Philistines," may hold a very large clue into the history of the well-known biblical figure Goliath. The shard, which contains the earliest known Philistine inscription ever to be discovered, mentions two names that are remarkably similar to the name "Goliath". The discovery is of particular importance since the Bible attributes Gath as the home town of Goliath. "Gath of the Philistines," was one of the major cities of the Philistines, the well-known arch-enemies of the Israelites in the biblical text. Professor Aren Maeir, Chairman of Bar-Ilan University's Martin (Szusz) Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology, told The Jerusalem Post that the odds of this being the actual Goliath referred to in the Bible are "small if non-existent." Professor Maeir explained that this find could chronologically be placed some 50 years after the story of David and Goliath was to have taken place. Furthermore, according to Prof. Maeir, Goliath was a very popular type of name at the time. Regardless of the low odds, the archaeological find may be seen as the first clear extra-biblical evidence that the story of the battle between David and Goliath may be more than just a legend. Written in archaic "Proto-Canaanite" letters, the inscription found on the shard, dating to the 10th or early 9th century BCE, contains two non-Semitic names: Alwt and Wlt. Most scholars believe the name Goliath, of non-Semitic origin, is etymologically related to various Indo-European names, such as the Lydian name Aylattes. Following intense examination of the inscription, Prof. Meir (along with his colleagues Prof. Aaron Demsky, an expert in epigraphy at Bar-Ilan University, and Dr. Stefan Wimmer, of Munich University) has concluded that the two names which appear in the inscription are remarkably similar to the etymological parallels of Goliath. Posted November 18, 2005 ----------------------------- Pittsburgh professor's team unearths earliest alphabet yet found An ancient stone found by a team led by a Pittsburgh professor contains the earliest alphabet ever discovered, but it may not be enough to settle a hot debate among biblical scholars. Ron Tappy, a professor at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary in Highland Park, announced Wednesday that an excavation that he led in Israel this summer unearthed a complete alphabet inscribed on a stone set inside a building. The building, which dates to the 10th century B.C., is in an Israeli archeological site called Tel Zayit, about 35 miles southwest of Jerusalem. It would have been on the outskirts of ancient Judah. For years, scholars have debated whether the kingdoms of David and Solomon, who the Bible says reigned about the 10th century B.C., were as advanced as the Bible describes them. Tappy said he believes the alphabet proves that a civilization comparable to the one described in the Bible existed during the time of David and Solomon. "This was not an embryonic kingdom," Tappy said. "It has to have been quite advanced. They had the ability to write at remote, outlying cities." The alphabet was found July 15 by Dan Rypma -- an undergraduate student at Colorado State University -- on the last day of the annual five-week dig led by Tappy. It was carved into a 38-pound limestone boulder embedded in the wall of a ground-floor room. Tappy said that the position of the boulder made it impossible for someone to carve the alphabet after the stone went into the wall. "Early writing systems used hundreds of pictures to mean things, and eventually those pictures were distilled down into 22 individual marks," Tappy said. "This was an enormous step forward for the human race: You could record things, any expression, any idea. That is what made the alphabet powerful." Neil Asher Silberman, director of Ename Center for Public Archaeology in Belgium, said the discovery doesn't mean that a centralized kingdom existed that long ago. "We need to look at this thing, and we need to understand what it is," said Silberman, who has not seen the boulder, which is being kept in a secret location in Israel. "Whether the biblical story of David and Solomon is true or is very different from what the Bible says is not going to be determined by some letters scratched on a stone." Robert Kraft, an emeritus professor of religious studies at the University of Pennsylvania, agreed. He said historians still are unsure how widespread writing was at the time. "You could have a shepherd that learned how to write sitting in the middle of a field and writing on a rock," Kraft said. "It doesn't have to tell you anything about the city." Kraft, however, said the discovery will be important in tracing the evolution of writing. "It's a pretty big deal -- that's fairly important," he said. "Most of the texts that we actually have are from considerably later." Whether the alphabet is Hebrew, Phoenician or some other language still is up for debate, said P. Kyle McCarter, a professor of ancient Near Eastern studies at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and a member of the team researching the inscription. The team includes University of Southern California professor Bruce Zuckerman and Marilyn Lundberg, associate director of the West Semitic Research Project. "We're talking about a period in history very early in the writing history," McCarter said. The 22-letter alphabet eventually was picked up by the Greeks, more letters were added, and it became the 26-letter alphabet used today, he said. Posted November 17, 2005 ----------------------------- ***WATCHMAN COMMENT... UPDATE of 11/12/05 article that follows Archeological Find May Shed Light on Early Christians JERUSALEM -- The Israeli Antiquities Authority has announced a major archeological find. This may be the earliest church ever discovered in Israel. It's being called a "once in a lifetime discovery.” It may shed light on the life of some of the earliest Christians. Experts say the discovery is a rare find, an early church building from the mid third or fourth century. "In Israel we think now this is the most early, the earlier church in Israel,” said Yotam Tepper, who directs the archeological dig for the Israel Antiquities Authority. The excavation is taking place in a unique setting. The discovery came to the valley of Armageddon and in the middle of one of Israel’s prisons. The maximum security facility houses more than 1,000 inmates. Sixty prisoners helped the Israeli Antiquity Authority. What makes the find so important is both the age of the building and the inscriptions on the mosaic floor. There are three inscriptions. One is dedicated to Gaianos, an army officer from more than 1,600 years ago, who contributed to the mosaic floor, and another is dedicated to the memory of four women, and the third and most significant is an inscription that declares "the God Jesus Christ." Stephen Pfann, president of University of the Holy Land said, "Here we have from before the time of Constantine, an actual functioning room devoted to communion and worship from that earliest century. And it's certainly the earliest structure we have of an ecclesia, which would be like a first century Christian synagogue, believing synagogue, house of worship with Christ at the center." The floor includes a medallion decorated with two fish and standing in the middle of the room is the base of a table. Both the table and its Greek description offer a unique insight into how early Christians may have celebrated communion. "The fact that we still have the name ‘trapezon,’ a table here shows that they want to stress not the idea that this is like some kind of a pagan altar, but that this is a commemorative meal where Jesus himself is revealed in. So it looks like everyone in the room is actually surrounding the area of the table,” Pfann said. “There's no division between the laity and the priesthood. These are people around a common table actually enjoying the communal meal that God gave to them through Jesus Christ." The table, Pfann said, links believers from nearly 2,000 years ago and Christians today. "It shows this continuity and a real confirmation of this thread through history that the communal meal was central to the worship of the early Christians," Pfann said. The find has attracted attention from media from all over the world, and Israeli officials may turn the discovery into a Christian tourist site. Options for the site include either moving the discovery to another location or re-locating the prison itself. Regardless of the decision, the find gives a profound view into the lives of real people who followed Jesus Christ at a time when Christianity was illegal and persecution was widespread. "This is a time of a great deal of turmoil, a great deal of walking in faith and secrecy,” Pfann said. “And here in a mosaic no less on a floor of a building like this, it has clear expression of the fact that Jesus Christ is God." Posted November 12, 2005 ----------------------------- Archaeologists Discover Ancient Church Israeli archaeologists said Saturday they have discovered what may be the oldest Christian church in the Holy Land on the grounds of a prison near the biblical site of Armageddon. The Israeli Antiquities Authority said the ruins are believed to date back to the third or fourth centuries and include references to Jesus and images of fish, an ancient Christian symbol. "This is a very ancient structure, maybe the oldest in our area," said Yotam Tepper, the head archaeologist on the dig. The dig took place over the past 18 months at the Megiddo prison in Israel's northern Galilee region, with the most significant discoveries taking place in the past two weeks, Tepper said. Scholars believe Megiddo to be the New Testament's Armageddon, the site of a final war between good and evil. Tepper said the discovery could reveal more about an important period of Christianity, which was banned until the fourth century. "Normally, we have from this period in our region historical evidence from literature, not archaeological evidence," he said. "There is no structure you can compare it to. It is a very unique find." Pictures of a detailed and well-preserved mosaic bearing the name of Jesus Christ in ancient Greek and images of fish were shown by a TV station. Pietro Sambi, the Vatican's ambassador to Israel, praised the find as a "great discovery." "Of course, all the Christians are convinced of the history of Jesus Christ," he told Channel Two. "But is it extremely important to have archaeological proof of a church dedicated to him? Certainly." Posted October 31, 2005 ----------------------------- Israeli digs near the Temple Mount Discoveries at the new site include a ritual bath from the period of the second Jewish Temple, destroyed in 70 A.D., and a wall archaeologists say dates to the first Jewish Temple, destroyed in 586 B.C. The findings were widely reported by the media as strengthening Jewish ties to the Temple Mount. The visitors center, which opens next month, is built around the new findings and includes large glass windows that look into recently excavated sections of the Western Wall. Israel hopes the center, which also features a music and light show, will become a major tourist attraction. Posted October 26, 2005 ----------------------------- THE END TIMES - THE LAST DAYS - ARE UPON THE EARTH! MATTHEW 24:21 "For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. 22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened." --- CLICK HERE to see what it will be like for the unsaved and for a prayer of salvation! THIS IS NO GAME! - THIS IS THE REAL THING! - DO NOT WAIT! ------------------------------------------ Can the Temple be rebuilt without touching the Dome of the Rock? How long is a "cubit"? Defining that ancient measurement may seem a matter of mere Bible trivia, but in theory the answer could affect a potentially calamitous modern-day religious confrontation. The term occurs in the Bible more than 100 times. Some well-known examples: -- God's directive to Noah on building the ark: "The length of the ark 300 cubits, its breadth 50 cubits, and its height 30 cubits" (Genesis 6:15). -- The dimensions for the Jerusalem Temple King Solomon built: "60 cubits long, 20 cubits wide and 30 cubits high" (1 Kings 6:2). -- The prophet Ezekiel's vision of the restored Temple precinct: "Set apart for the Lord a portion of the land as a holy district, 25,000 cubits long and 20,000 cubits broad" (Ezekiel 45:1). Cubit, from the Latin word for "elbow," is used in most English Bible translations when the Hebrew word for "elbow" refers to measurements. In various ancient cultures, the cubit referred to the typical measurement between a person's elbow and the tip of the middle finger. Obviously there was no fixed meaning because people come in different sizes. Scholars say the cubit became a more or less standardized measure but referred to different lengths in ancient Sumer, Egypt, Greece, Rome and Israel. As for biblical usage, scholars estimate the cubit at anywhere from 1.33 to 2.2 feet, says Joshua Schwartz, the dean of Jewish studies at Israel's Bar-Ilan University, writing in the current Biblical Archaeology Review. The consensus appears to be the 1969 view of Arye Ben David that in Temple measurements, at least, a cubit was 1.84 feet. However, Asher Selig Kaufman is a "cubit minimalist" who puts the length at only 1.43 feet. Historian Kaufman specializes in aspects of the Temple Mount, the sector where the Temple once stood (called the Haram as-Sharif or "Noble Sanctuary" by Muslims). His short cubit provides the basis for controversial calculations on the location of the ancient Temple. During the past five centuries, most Jews have agreed with Rabbi David ben Zimra's belief that the ancient Temple stood at the exact site that's now occupied by the Dome of the Rock. This is one of Islam's holiest structures, commemorating what's believed to be the spot from which Muhammad ascended to heaven. Some zealous Jews and Christians interpret the Bible as teaching that it's God's will for the Temple to be rebuilt someday at its original location. If the conventional location is correct, that would require demolition of the Muslim shrine ---- and incitement to interfaith world war. But the effect of Kaufman's short cubits is to undermine the old "central theory" for the Temple's location. His "northern theory" puts the Temple site northwest of the Dome of the Rock at a cupola known as the Dome of the Spirits or Dome of the Tablets. (There's also a third or "southern theory" promoted by Tel Aviv architect Tuviah Sagiv.) Kaufman set forth his case in Biblical Archaeology Review in 1983. He pursues the theme further in a 2004 book published in Israel, "The Temple Mount: Where Is the Holy of Holies?" the third in a series treating the Mount. If Kaufman is right about cubits, it's possible Israel could someday rebuild the Temple without having to destroy Islam's Dome of the Rock ---- not that Muslims would welcome such nearby construction, either. Besides calculations based upon a short cubit, Kaufman argues based on the alignment of the Temple in relation to the Mount of Olives. In Jewish tradition, a priest would burn a red heifer and mix the ashes with water to be sprinkled on worshippers for ritual cleansing. The ceremony took place on the Mount of Olives with the priest looking toward the entrance to the Temple sanctuary. To Kaufman, the line of sight argues for the northern location. Schwartz's article says, "With all due respect to the calculations of the author, it is impossible to know where the priest stood." Though Kaufman's views "have been accepted by very few scholars," Schwartz says, he is an acknowledged expert and his general contributions to Temple Mount scholarship "cannot be denied." Posted October 18, 2005 ----------------------------- Biblical palace found (?) near Old City The evidence she found is remarkable. It includes a section of massive wall running about 100 feet (30 meters) from west to east along the length of the excavation, and ending with a right-angle corner that turns south and implies a very large building. Within the dirt fill between the stones of the great wall were found pottery shards dating to the 11th Century B.C.E.; this is the earliest possible date for the walls’ construction. Two additional walls, also large, running perpendicular to the first, contain pottery dating to the 10th Century B.C.E. - meaning that further additions were made after the time of David and Solomon or during their reign, suggesting that the building continued to be used and improved over a period of centuries. The structure is built directly on bedrock along the city’s northern edge, with no archeological layers beneath it - a sign that this structure, built two millennia after the city’s founding, constituted a new, northward expansion of the city’s northern limit. And it is located at what was then the very summit of the mountain - a reasonable place indeed for the palace from which David “descended.” This immediate evidence fits well with other archeological finds from the site, as well. In 1963, the renowned archeologist Kathleen Kenyon reported finding a Phoenician “proto-Aeolic capital,” or decorative stone column head dating to the same period, at the bottom of the cliff atop which the new excavation has taken place. Kenyon wrote that this capital, along with other cut stones she found there, were “typical of the best period of Israelite building, during which the use of Phoenician craftsman was responsible for an exotic flowering of Palestinian architecture. It would seem, therefore, that during the period of monarchic Jerusalem, a building of some considerable pretensions stood on top of the scarp.” Clay signet In the early 1980s, Hebrew University’s Yigael Shiloh uncovered the enormous “stepped-stone” support structure which now appears to be part of the same complex of buildings. And in the new excavation, Mazar has discovered a remarkable clay bulla, or signet impression, bearing the name of Yehuchal Ben Shelemiah, a noble of Judea from the time of King Zedekiah who is mentioned by name in Jeremiah 37:3, evidence suggesting that four centuries after David, the site was still an important seat of Judean royalty. This matches the biblical account according to which the palace was in more or less continuous use from its construction until the destruction of Judea by the Babylonians in 586 B.C.E. So, is it David’s palace? It is extremely difficult to say with certainty; indeed, no plaque has been found that says on it, “David’s Palace”; nor is it likely that such definitive evidence will ever be found. And yet, the evidence seems to fit surprisingly well with the claim, and there are no finds that suggest the contrary, such as the idolatrous statuettes or ritual crematoria found in contemporary Phoenician settlements. The location, size, style, and dating are all right, and it appears in a part of the ancient world where such constructions were extremely rare and represented the greatest sort of public works. Could it be something else? Of course. Has a better explanation been offered to match the data - data which includes not only archeological finds, but the text itself? No. There will be no shortage of well-meaning skeptics, including serious archeologists, who, having been trained in a scholarly world weary of exuberant romantics and religious enthusiasts prone to making sensational, irresponsible claims about having found Noah’s Ark, will be extremely reluctant to identify any new archeological find with particulars found in the Bible. Others, driven by a concatenation of interests, ideologies, or political agendas, will seize on any shred of uncertainty in the building’s identification to distract attention from the momentousness of the find. Both groups will invoke professionalism and objectivity to pooh-pooh the proposition that this is David’s palace. Don't be swayed They will raise the bar of what kind of proofs are required to say what it was to a standard that no archeological find could ever meet. Or they will simply dismiss it all as wishful thinking in the service of religious or Zionist motives. There are two good reasons not to be swayed by such claims. The first is that even if this is not in fact David’s palace, there is no doubt that we are still talking about an archeological find of enormous moment. Whether it is a citadel, someone else’s palace, or a temple, it is the first-ever discovery of a major construction from the early Israelite period in Jerusalem to date. This alone is enough to overturn the hypothesis of Finkelstein and others that Jerusalem at the time of David was a “poor village” incapable of being the capital of an Israelite kingdom. No longer is it reasonable to claim, as did Tel Aviv University’s Ze’ev Herzog writing in Haaretz in 1999, basing his claim entirely on the absence of just this kind of evidence, that “the great unified monarchy was an imaginary historiosophic creation, invented at the end of the Judean period, at the very earliest.” On the contrary: Now we have a major Israelite compound dating to the time of the unified monarchy, firmly establishing Jerusalem as a major city of its time. For this reason, important voices in the archeological world have already begun declaring the find to be of great importance, even as they reserve judgment as to its identification as David’s palace. “Due to all the possible historical implications, we need to look carefully at the pottery and to further excavate the area,” Seymour Gitin, director of archeology of W.F. Albright Institute in Jerusalem, told a newspaper. Yet he adds, “this is an extremely impressive find, and the first of its kind which can be associated with the 10th Century (B.C.E.).” The normally reserved Amihai Mazar of Hebrew University, one of the most esteemed scholars in the field of biblical archaeology and author of the standard textbook, "Archaeology of the Land of the Bible, 10,000–586 B.C.E., has described the discovery as “something of a miracle.” Yet beyond this, there also are good reasons to identify this building, at least provisionally, as the very palace described in the book of Samuel. This is methodologically sound, so long as we are willing to admit that future evidence could emerge, or a better theory be proposed, that might prompt a different conclusion. Burden of proof Right now we have before us two things: We have a biblical text describing in detail the creation of a Phoenician-style palace by David high up on a particular mountain, around the end of the 11th or beginning of the 10 Century B.C.E. And we have a grand structure of the Phoenician style dating from the same time, on the summit of that very mountain, located with assistance from the text and previous archeological discoveries. This was not stumbled upon, moreover, but carefully hypothesized, and the current dig was proposed as the test. The likelihood of this happening by chance is extremely small. Is this absolute proof? No. But it is enough to shift the burden of proof. “You can never be sure about this sort of thing,” Mazar says. “But it seems that the theory that suggests this to be the very palace described in the book of Samuel as having been built by David is thus far the best explanation for the data. Anyone who wants to say otherwise ought to come up with a better theory.” This is neither wishful thinking nor an imagined past, but good science. Posted September 28, 2005 ----------------------------- ***WATCHMAN COMMENT... Maybe not exactly proof but interesting... ***WATCHMAN COMMENT... This is an update of previous posts... The last paragraph says "Of course there are the giant biblical implications"... Yes, and it may help fulfill this scripture... Luke 21:20 KJV "And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh."... Oil today seems to incite WAR!... But then with the Gaza pullout is not Israel surrounded by their enemies RIGHT NOW on all sides???... Is Israel sitting on enormous oil reserve? KIBBUTZ MA'ANIT, Israel – Is Israel sitting on an enormous oil reserve mapped out in the Old Testament that when found will immediately change the geopolitical structure of the Middle East and confirm the validity of the Bible to people around the world? So believes John Brown, an evangelical Christian and founder and chairman of Zion Oil and Gas, a company he and others poured several million dollars into to drill a hole 15,000 feet deep that will as soon as next week tap a rock interval that may contain oil. "The Bible spells out where the oil is," Brown said yesterday outside his drilling rig off a highway between Haifa and Tel Aviv. "It's very specific. Now we're here to find it, and I know that when we do, the Scriptures will come alive for everyone who hears about it. And Israel will have enough oil not to worry about all the implications of the Arab states using their oil to threaten and gain power." Brown, pointing to the Bible he says he always carries with him, referred to several biblical passages he is certain indicate where to find petroleum. He stressed that two passages, detailing God's blessings to each of biblical patriarch Jacob's 12 sons, are very specific: "Let Asher be blessed ... and let him dip his foot in oil." – Deuteronomy 33:24 "Joseph is a fruitful bough by a well ... blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that couches beneath shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head." – Genesis 49: 22-26 Brown also pointed to other verses, such as the continuation of Joseph's blessing in Deuteronomy 33: "For the deep that couches beneath ... and for the chief things of the ancient mountains, and for the precious things of primordial hills, and for the precious things of the earth." The Twelve Tribes were each given a section of Israel as inheritance, Brown explains. Mapping the tribes' biblical territory indeed shows that Asher's area resembles a giant foot "dipped" into the top, or "crown" area of the land of Joseph's son, Manasseh. "The oil is there, where Joseph's head is met by Asher's foot," said Brown. Brown says he used a strategy explained to him by James Spillman, an evangelical minister and Bible scholar who lectured at his local church, to determine exactly where on the biblical map the oil might be. He then set out on a quest to find it, forming Zion Oil and Gas, which in 2000 was awarded by the Israeli government a small onshore petroleum license. In 2003, the company was granted an extended license that includes 95,800 acres of the area not far from Tel Aviv that Brown believes contains oil – Kibbutz Ma'anit. The company immediately attracted some of the industry's top talent, including its current CEO Gene Soltero, a successful drilling veteran, and Glen Perry, its executive vice-president, who previously engineered for oil giants Exxon and Energy Reserve Group. "Our project, while it may be based on faith and the Bible, is entirely grounded in geology and scientific evidence," said Perry. Perry said the company, as well as independent contractors, conducted seismic and geologic studies that found the drill area contains signs of hydrocarbons evidencing likely oil and rock intervals deep in the ground conducive to petroleum storage. Soltero calls his company's project "a class A drillable prospect with reasonable chances of success ... drillable by any international standards." Another company previously drilled in Ma'anit through several earth layers to a depth of 7,600 feet, past the Jurassic crest, but did not permeate any reefs containing petroleum and reportedly had to suspend operations due to lack of funds. Geologists told Zion Oil the Jurassic area beneath the drilling site consisted of closely packed limestone that was not porous enough to store vast sums of oil. So Zion, backed by some cash from private Jewish and Christian investors, set up shop and dug past the Jurassic zone, drilling to about 15,000 feet to the deep Triassic layers, where tests indicate 10 rock intervals may contain oil. Engineers the next few days will shoot large, pressurized rock perforating bullets into one of the intervals Brown hopes will contain oil or at least more oil-bearing hydrocarbons indicating petroleum is nearby. "I think we may see petroleum come out," said Brown. "It doesn't happen right away, it takes a few days, but something might be happening really, really soon." Perry said if the company doesn't strike oil with this week's perforation, "we'll keep searching. There are several other rock intervals. This is just one of many possibilities." The company also says studies indicate a large structural feature perhaps 5,000-10,000 feet deeper then the current drilling zone may contain a formation that has enough oil to make Israel a world class producer. "These kinds of similar zones around the world have contained billions of barrels," said Soltero. For Brown, it's all about Israel. "You have these Arab states that threaten boycotts and throw their oil weight around to get countries to pressure Israel," said Brown. "Imagine if Israel becomes a huge oil producer. There will be no more placating anyone since they have the oil." Brown continued: "Of course there are the giant biblical implications. This will get people thinking about God and realizing His word it the truth." --------------------------------------------------- PSALMS 78:50 "He made a way to his anger; he spared not their soul from death, but gave their life over to the pestilence" JEREMIAH 28:8 "The prophets that have been before me and before thee of old prophesied both against many countries, and against great kingdoms, of war, and of evil, and of pestilence." JEREMIAH 34:17 "Therefore thus saith the Lord; Ye have not hearkened unto me, in proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother, and every man to his neighbour: behold, I proclaim a liberty for you, saith the Lord, to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine; and I will make you to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth." MATTHEW 24:7 "For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences" Posted September 14, 2005 ----------------------------- ***WATCHMAN COMMENT... Maybe not exactly proof but interesting... A debate of biblical proportions The recently ended season of excavations at the top of the City of David slope was accompanied by much excitement. With every passing day, more and more parts of an enormous building were unearthed. Dr. Eilat Mazar, the archaeologist in charge of the site, believes this could be the palace King David built after conquering Jerusalem from the Jebusites. The discovery has stirred up the old argument among archaeologists as to whether the events described in the Bible in fact occurred, and in this context, the importance and greatness of David himself. In this case, the disagreement is more than an academic question: It touches on the roots of the connection between the Jewish people and the Land of Israel, and particularly Jerusalem, and could serve as ammunition in any argument over the future of the city. What's more, the excavation was conducted by the Shalem Center, with the academic auspices of Hebrew University, and in collaboration with Elad, the non-profit association that owns the land on which the City of David visitors' center is built. The excavation took place in a rectangular strip 10 meters wide by 30 meters long, and the structure that has been unearthed occupies the entire site, even extending beyond its boundaries. It is constructed from immense stones that served as the foundation of a palace. The stones were placed on an earthen landfill in which hundreds of broken pieces of pottery were found, mainly of cooking pots. Mazar, a senior fellow at the Shalem Center and a researcher at Hebrew University, states that the pottery can be dated to the 12th and 11th centuries BCE, in other words, to the Jebusite period, which immediately predates David's reign. The large structure might be a palace, temple or fortress, says Mazar. Analysis of the finds in her possession has led her to conclude that it is a palace. "For years, there have been those who contended there was no evidence of public construction in 10th century BCE Jerusalem," says Mazar. "Based on this, they claim that David and Solomon were not important rulers, as described in the Bible. Now there is evidence of such construction, and those who minimize the importance of David and Solomon have to deal with the facts. Because in an out-of-the-way and remote settlement you would not find a structure like this, the construction of which required abundant resources and a great capacity to plan and execute." A structure of such impressive dimensions, says Mazar, could be a fortress, palace or temple. The excavation site has not turned up evidence of ritual practices, and the well-known tradition attributes sanctity to nearby Mount Moriah, not here. Therefore the possibility that the structure was a temple seems faint. "According to the Bible [II Samuel, Chapter 5], David conquered a fortress and then built a palace outside the boundaries of the Jebusite city," says Mazar. In other words, the palace was not built atop the ruins of another structure, but was the first building erected on its site. "Throughout the entire excavation site, there is no sign of a wall built before the 10th century BCE," she says. "The construction that we found was a complicated and intricate engineering operation that required immense resources. This is the kind of step that one would expect of a new ruler who wants to turn the city he conquered into his permanent residence, and who has a exceptional vision of the future development of the city." According to the Bible, David was assisted in constructing his palace by Hiram, King of Tyre, the contemporary Phoenician ruler. "The Phoenicians knew how to build," says Mazar. "In Jerusalem, too, they built the biggest buildings, such as Solomon's palace, the wall and the Temple. So it is very reasonable to believe that they are also responsible for the monumental construction we found." The structure that has been unearthed is indeed monumental, concurs Dr. Gabi Barkai of Bar-Ilan University, a recipient of the Jerusalem Prize for Archaeology. It is built atop an 11th century BCE floor, and on top of it are destruction layers dated to the end of the First Temple period. Based on this data, it is very reasonable to assume that it is a structure from the 10th or 9th century BCE. "It is without doubt a public building. It matters little if it is a palace or a fortress. The fact is that a structure like this from this period has not been found in Jerusalem until now, so the findings are most certainly sensational," says Barkai. Professor Seymour Gitin of the Albright Institute of Archaeology in Jerusalem has also been deeply impressed by the dimensions of the structure, but he has his doubts about the period in which it was built. "Based on the pottery, the structure was built after the 11th century BCE," says Gitin. "It may be that it was built in the 10th century, that is, in the period of David. But we have to approach this hypothesis with caution." Dr. Mazar admits that based on the findings in her possession, it would be very difficult to determine when exactly the palace was built, in the 10th or the 9th century BCE, but regardless, the monumental construction significantly reinforces the view that Jerusalem of that time was the capital city of a kingdom, and not merely a small, unimportant settlement, as Finkelstein and his faction contend. Professor Amichai Mazar of the Hebrew University Institute of Archaeology is not convinced that the structure unearthed in the City of David is the king's palace, but he nevertheless feels that it can be linked to biblical descriptions. In his opinion, the Stepped Stone Structure is the retaining wall of a fortress that David conquered from the Jebusites. "If you view the Bible as the presentation of a certain reality, as I think, it seems reasonable to me that the structure that had now been found is the fortress David conquered." Zedekiah's minister Dr. Eilat Mazar's children made their own supper that evening. It was about two weeks before the end of the excavation season, and Mazar was heading home with a rare find that had been unearthed that day in one of the structure's rooms: a bulla, a round clay seal about one centimeter in diameter in which its owner's name was inscribed. "The light bulb next to my desk was not working, and I took a flashlight and began to work," she recalls. With the help of a needle and a magnifying glass, she cleaned the grains of dust from the bulla and gradually its inscription was revealed. Late that night she realized that the inscription - three lines in a Hebrew script characteristic of the late First Temple period - contained the name of Yehokal ben Shlamyahu ben Shavi, who is mentioned twice in the Book of Jeremiah. When Mazar investigated further to see who the owner of the seal was, she let out a cry of surprise: Yehokal ben Shlamyahu was a senior minister in the government of Zedekiah. He is mentioned in Jeremiah 37:3 as one of two emissaries dispatched by King Zedekiah to Jeremiah, asking him to pray for the people during the siege of Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon. Chapter 38 tells that Yehokal was one of four ministers who asked the king to kill Jeremiah, alleging that the prophet was sowing demoralization among the besieged people. (R.S.) Posted August 19, 2005 ----------------------------- Ancient water system discovered near Jerusalem Israeli and American archaeologists have discovered what they term a "monumental rock-hewn water system" near Jerusalem dating back to the eighth century B.C. The discovery, announced Aug. 9, was made during an eight-week dig at a cave close to Jerusalem, in Ein Kerem, which is regarded as the traditional birthplace of John the Baptist. Last summer, Shimon Gibson, the chief archaeologist at the dig, announced that he had found a cave that may have been used by John the Baptist to anoint his followers. A statement by Gibson and archaeologist James Tabor from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte said that the latest excavations have revealed the cave to be part of "a much larger Iron Age water system, rock-cut in places to a depth of 65 feet." The archaeologists said the cave, which dates back to the time of King Hezekiah (according to pottery shards from that period), contains a vertical shaft, an open horizontal corridor, a flight of stone steps above a tunnel and three external plastered pools, all of which was on the slope above an underground reservoir. Although elaborate water systems "have been found elsewhere," Gibson said, until now they were discovered only within Israelite cities such as Beit Shemesh and Gibeon. "Never before has such a massive water system been found isolated in the countryside without a town or city attached to it," Gibson said, leading the team to believe that the project had been undertaken "by the Kingdom of Judah." The cave was discovered in 1999 and has been under excavation ever since. Another ongoing biblical-era excavation -- what is believed to be the Pool of Siloam -- was highlighted in the latest issue of Biblical Archaeology Review, whose editor reported the find to The Los Angeles Times on Monday (Aug. 8). For more than a year, archaeologists have been excavating the pool outside the walls of what was once the site of the biblical temples. The pool was the main water reservoir for Jerusalem dwellers two millennia ago. It is fed by the nearby Gihon Spring, which has been under excavation for decades. In biblical times it was utilized by Jews making annual pilgrimages to ancient Jerusalem. The Gospel of John (Chapter 9) says that Jesus, one such pilgrim, cured a man of his blindness by the pool. Posted August 15, 2005 ----------------------------- Biblical Pool of Siloam uncovered in Jerusalem (report 2) Workers repairing a sewage pipe in the old city of Jerusalem have discovered the biblical Pool of Siloam, a freshwater reservoir that was a major gathering place for ancient Jews making religious pilgrimages to the city and the reputed site where Jesus cured a man blind from birth, according to the Gospel of John. The pool was fed by the now-famous Hezekiah's Tunnel and is "a much grander affair" than archaeologists previously believed, with three tiers of stone stairs allowing easy access to the water, according to Hershel Shanks, editor of Biblical Archeology Review, which reported the find yesterday. "Scholars have said that there wasn't a Pool of Siloam and that John was using a religious conceit" to illustrate a point, said New Testament scholar James H. Charlesworth of the Princeton Theological Seminary. "Now, we have found the Pool of Siloam ... exactly where John said it was." A Gospel that was thought to be "pure theology is now shown to be grounded in history," he said. The discovery puts a new spotlight on what is called the pilgrimage to Jerusalem, a trip that religious law required ancient Jews to make at least once a year, said archaeologist Ronny Reich of the University of Haifa, who excavated the pool. "Jesus was just another pilgrim coming to Jerusalem," he said. "It would be natural to find him there." The newly discovered pool is less than 200 yards from another Pool of Siloam, this one a reconstruction built between A.D. 400 and 460 by the empress Eudocia of Byzantium, who oversaw the rebuilding of several biblical sites. The site of yet another Pool of Siloam, which pre-dated the version visited by Jesus, is still unknown. That first pool was constructed in the eighth century B.C. by the Judean King Hezekiah, who foresaw the likelihood that the Assyrians would lay siege to Jerusalem and knew that a safe water supply would be required to survive it. He ordered workers to build a 1,750-foot-long tunnel under the ridge where the City of David was located. The tunnel connected Gihon Spring in the adjacent Kidron Valley to the side of Jerusalem less vulnerable to an attack. The first Pool of Siloam was the reservoir holding the water brought into the city. It presumably was destroyed in 586 B.C., when Babylon's King Nebuchadnezzar razed the city. The pool of Jesus' time was built early in the first century B.C. and was destroyed by the future Roman emperor Titus about A.D. 70. The pool was discovered last fall by a repair team, supervised by Eli Shukron of the Israel Antiques Authority, that was excavating a damaged sewer line. As soon as Shukron saw two steps uncovered, he stopped the work and called in Reich, who was excavating at the Gihon spring. When they saw the steps, Shukron said, "We were 100 percent sure it was the Siloam Pool." With winter approaching rapidly, the two men had to hurry their excavation, so the sewer could be repaired before the rainy season. As they began digging, they uncovered three groups of five stairs each, separated by narrow landings. The pool was about 225 feet long, and they unearthed steps on three sides. They do not yet know how wide and how deep the pool was because they have not finished the excavation. The fourth side lies under a lush garden -- filled with figs, pomegranates, cabbages and other fruits -- behind a Greek Orthodox Church, and the team has not yet received permission to cut a trench through the garden. "We need to know how big it is," Charlesworth said. "This may be the most significant and largest 'mikvah' [ritual bath] ever found." Posted August 11, 2005 ----------------------------- Biblical Pool of Siloam Is Uncovered in Jerusalem Workers repairing a sewage pipe in the old city of Jerusalem have discovered the biblical Pool of Siloam, a freshwater reservoir that was a major gathering place for ancient Jews making religious pilgrimages to the city and the reputed site where Jesus cured a man blind from birth, the LOS ANGELES TIMES reports. The pool was fed by the now famous Hezekiah's Tunnel and is ``a much grander affair'' than archeologists previously believed, with three tiers of stone stairs allowing easy access to the water, according to Hershel Shanks, editor of Biblical Archeology Review, which reported the find Monday. ``Scholars have said that there wasn't a Pool of Siloam and that John was using a religious conceit'' to illustrate a point, said New Testament scholar James H. Charlesworth of the Princeton Theological Seminary. ``Now we have found the Pool of Siloam ... exactly where John said it was.'' A gospel that was thought to be ``pure theology is now shown to be grounded in history,'' he said. The discovery puts a new spotlight on what is called the pilgrimage to Jerusalem, a trip that religious law required ancient Jews to make at least once a year, said archeologist Ronny Reich of the University of Haifa, who excavated the pool. ``Jesus was just another pilgrim coming to Jerusalem,'' he said. ``It would be natural to find him there.'' The newly discovered pool is less than 200 yards from another Pool of Siloam, this one a reconstruction built between A.D. 400 and 460 by the empress Eudocia of Byzantium, who oversaw the rebuilding of several Biblical sites. Posted JULY 28, 2005 ----------------------------- Rare Scrolls Reveal Early Biblical Writing Three ancient scrolls — one parchment and two silver — recently have been identified as containing some of the world's earliest known verses from the Hebrew Bible, also known as the Old Testament. The discovery of two fragments of a 2,000-year-old parchment scroll in the Judean Desert was announced last week by Israeli archaeologist Chanan Eshel of Tel Aviv's Bar Ilan University. The fragments contain verses from Leviticus, the third book of the Hebrew Bible, attributed to the tribe of Levi from which Israeli priests are said to be descended. The book consists of regulations for both the priests and their followers. The two silver scrolls were found by Bar Ilan archaeologist Gabriel Barkay in 1979 in a cave at Ketef Hinnom near Jerusalem. It was only until recently, however, that technology made it possible for scientists to read the scrolls, which date to the 7th century B.C. and likely were worn around the neck as protective amulets. Project leader Bruce Zuckerman told Discovery News that the scrolls not only are the oldest known Hebrew amulets, but they also are the earliest known artifacts to quote Biblical verses. "The silver amulets are even older than the Dead Sea Scrolls," said Zuckerman, who is associate professor of religion at the University of Southern California. The more than 800 documents that comprise the Dead Sea Scrolls have been dated to about 300-200 B.C., meaning they were created as much as four centuries after the amulets. Zuckerman and his team utilized electronic cameras, specialized imaging software, and infrared systems from NASA to peer into the etched surfaces of the once-rolled silver scroll amulets. The scrolls contain only consonants, and one is etched with the Priestly Benediction from Numbers 6:24-26. It reads, "May the Lord bless you and keep you; may the Lord cause his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; may the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and grant you peace." Zuckerman said, "We don't yet know if the Book of Numbers existed then, or if this verse preceded it." He added, "We do, however, know that the same prayer also pops up in early graffiti (wall writings), which at least suggests that it would have been a familiar prayer at the time." The other scroll reads, "May he/she be blessed by Yahweh, the warrior/helper, and the rebuker of Evil." Zuckerman believes the word "rebuker" is significant, because it echoes language used in earlier Canaanite literature describing the pagan god Baal. It also appears in the Dead Sea Scrolls' Book of Zachariah and was used much later in exorcism rituals. Zuckerman, who is compiling images of early Biblical texts for a USC Web site, thinks that together, the scrolls and other early documents support the theory that the Bible represents a collection of sacred materials gathered over hundreds, and perhaps thousands, of years. "The precedent established by the editors was not to gather the most clear and consistent materials, but those that were believed to be the most sacred," he said. "For example, two ideas are given for the origin of the universe. Both are included because to leave one out would have violated the sacredness of the tradition." Posted JULY 19, 2005 ----------------------------- ***WATCHMAN COMMENT... Though this is not yet directly connected to scripture it may be significant... Biblical Scroll Fragments Found in Israel A secretive encounter with a Bedouin in a desert valley led to the discovery of two fragments from a nearly 2,000-year-old parchment scroll -- the first such finding in decades, an Israeli archaeologist said Friday. The finding has given rise to hope that the Judean Desert may yield more treasures, said Professor Chanan Eshel, an archaeologist from Tel Aviv's Bar Ilan University. Iiticus, are from "refugee" caves in Nachal Arugot, a canyon near the Dead Sea where Jews hid from the Romans in the second century, Eshel said in an interview with The Associated Press. The scrolls are being tested by Israel's Antiquities Authority. Recently, several relics bearing inscriptions, including a burial box purported to belong to Jesus' brother James, were revealed as modern forgeries. More than 1,000 ancient texts -- known collectively as the Dead Sea Scrolls -- were discovered between 1947 and 1956 in 11 caves overlooking the western shores of the Dead Sea. "No scrolls have been found in the Judean Desert" in decades, Eshel said. "The common belief has been that there is nothing left to find there." Now, he said, scholars may be spurred on to further excavations. Archaeologist and Bible scholar Steven Pfann said he had not seen the fragments. If authenticated, they would "in general not be doing more than confirming the character of the material that we have from the southern part of the Judean wilderness up until today." But "what's interesting and exciting is that this is a new discovery," Pfann added. "This is the first time we've seen anything from the south since the 1960s." Eshel said he was first shown the fragments last year during a meeting in an abandoned police station near the Dead Sea. A Bedouin said he had been offered $20,000 for the fragments on the black market and wanted an evaluation. The encounter that both excited and dismayed the archaeologist who has worked in the Judean Desert since 1986. "I was jealous he had found it, not me. I was also very excited. I didn't believe I would see them again," said Eshel, who took photographs of the pieces he feared would soon be smuggled out of the country. But in March 2005, he discovered the Bedouin still had the scroll fragments. Eshel bought them with $3,000 provided by Bar Ilan University and handed them over to the Antiquities Authority, he said. "Scholars do not buy antiquities. I did it because I could not see it fall apart," Eshel said. The finding constitutes the 15th scroll fragments found in the area from the same period of the Jewish "Bar Kochba" revolt against the Romans, and the first to be discovered with verses from Leviticus, Eshel said. The Dead Sea Scrolls were written by the Essenes, a monastic sect seen by some as a link between Judaism and early Christianity. The scrolls comprise more than 1,000 ancient texts found a half century ago in the caves above Qumran in the West Bank, one of the most significant discoveries in the Holy Land. Posted JULY 7, 2005 ----------------------------- New Evidence of Biblical World-Wide Flood! Archeologists are rejoicing over a discovery this week of a man-made structure 300 feet below the surface of the Black Sea, which points to dramatic new evidence of an apocalyptic flood that may have inspired the Biblical story of Noah. Reported this week a collapsed barn-like structure was discovered more than 300 feet below the surface of the Black Sea, along with planks, beams and tree branches untouched by worms or mollusks. The Black Sea’s 7,000-foot abyss may shelter intact shipwrecks dating back to the dawn of seafaring, the report said. “It is beyond our wildest imagination," explorer Robert D. Ballard, leader of the expedition, said when contacted by phone on the expedition. "Wood is existing much shallower than we thought. When we do go deep, it can only get better." The Black Sea project’s goal is to look for ancient shipwrecks and perhaps evidence of a great flood. Late last year, the outline of an ancient coast 550 feet below the current waterline was discovered. That coast was the first visual evidence that a flood had occurred in the region eons ago. Twelve miles east of the Turkish port city of Synope, the expedition used a special “side-scan” sonar to map anomalies on the sea floor. A robotic submersible was then sent to investigate the most promising site, which led to the discovery this week. A collapsed building that would be described as a “good-sized barn” was found, which was 39 feet long and 13 feet wide, Ballard said. University of Pennsylvania archaeologist Fredrik Hiebert described the construction technique of the barn as a "cluster of wood stuck in a clay matrix"--traditional Black Sea "wattle and daub" architecture. "This struck a bell, because it was familiar to me from land," Hiebert said. "Literally my jaw dropped." Other evidence of human habitation, including a trash heap with polished stones and old tree branches and pieces of wood, were found, Ballard said. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Among scholars who take the Bible literally this will be confirmation," said Hershel Shanks, editor of Biblical Archaeology Review. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Critical Bible scholars are almost unanimous in regarding the flood story as a legend. On the other hand, legends arise not out of imagination but from an experience.” Also found in the same general area were two old shipwrecks containing many intact wooden plants and ceramic jars used in ancient times to transport liquids such as olive oil or wine. Researchers are unsure if they are from the same period or related to an ancient flooded settlement. Because the waters of the Black Sea lack oxygen below a depth of 500 feet, archaeologists have long been interested in the sea. Theoretically, organic material that shipworms would quickly eat would lie untouched in the Black Sea’s sterile depths. Last year, interest in the Black Sea was stimulated with the publication of “Noah’s Flood,” by Columbia University geologists William Ryan and Walter Pitman. They suggested the modern-day sea was formed 7,500 years ago when melting glaciers raised sea level until the waters of the Mediterranean breached the natural dam at the Bosporus. A cataclysmic deluge followed, their theory said. Seawater from the Mediterranean poured into the Black Sea basin at 200 times the volume of Niagara Falls. The heavier salt water plunged to the bottom of the existing fresh water lake and began to fill the basin like a bathtub. Then, the theory proposes, land was submerged for thousands of square miles, destroying communities, killing people and wiping out plants and animals as the ecosystem flipped from fresh water to salt water in only two years. The flood also created a two-layered body of water, which permanently interfered with the normal convection that brings deep water to the surface for oxygenation. Fresh water, which is less dense, lay like a lid on top of the denser Mediterranean water, which was sterile once its original oxygen had been used up. The Black Sea today is dead as the ancient day when the floodwaters settled, except for the top 500 feet, which supports a thriving marine life. ”I don't think we'll ever know what flood that was,” Shanks said of researcher’s questions over the flood’s date. Tests of shell samples showed that freshwater mollusks had lived in the waters until 7,500 years ago, but had been replaced with marine species 600 years later. And he said, researchers are questioning: “Did anyone live here?” After scanning the underwater coastal area earlier this month, Ballard’s team located the countryside area and river systems under water. Soon after they found the submerged barn-like building, with wood still intact, about 200 feet above where they expected to find it. "Now we're looking for the neighbors," Ballard said. Posted May 28, 2005 ----------------------------- THE END TIMES - THE LAST DAYS - ARE UPON THE EARTH! MATTHEW 24:21 "For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. 22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened." --- CLICK HERE to see what it will be like for the unsaved and for a prayer of salvation! THIS IS NO GAME! - THIS IS THE REAL THING! - DO NOT WAIT! ------------------------------------------ Is new evidence revealing the birthplace of Jesus? Following the 1994 Jordan-Israel peace agreement, archaeologists promptly resumed the search for the place the Bible called "Bethany beyond the Jordan." In a region of some 8 square kilometers on the east bank of the Jordan River, archaeologists have identified and examined over 30 different archaeological remains. Numerous artifacts confirm the area was inhabited in the Early Roman period, the time of Jesus and John the Baptist. The discoveries have excited archaeologists and biblical geographers alike. This seems the only site where textual, archaeological and traditional evidence converge. John 1:28 explicitly names "Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing." The place where Jesus found refuge on the east bank of the Jordan seems to be Bethany beyond the Jordan. The strongest evidence for a Christian-era settlement here comes from the excavated remains of heavy stone jars, a distinctive feature of local Jewish communities. Father Michele Piccirillo of the Franciscan Archaeological Institute in Jerusalem and Mount Nebo, one of those who rediscovered the site in August 1995, identified these fragments. He believes that, along with remains of large ceramic storage jars, they are clear proof of a settled population, which he identifies as Bethany beyond the Jordan. According to Dr. Mohammad Waheeb, formerly of the Jordanian Department of Antiquities, the tell site was transformed into a walled monastery during the Byzantine period. Waheeb directed the first five years' excavations at Tell al-Kharrar. His team identified at least four churches and chapels, a possible early Christian "prayer hall," a sophisticated water conveyance and storage system, three pools, and a surrounding wall. One of the three churches, discovered in 1999 on the west side of the hill, was built around a natural cave used in John the Baptist's days. This may be the cave Byzantine pilgrims called "the cave of John the Baptist." A man-made water channel started at the front of the cave, and traveled for about 6 meters until it spilled its water into the south bank of the Wadi al-Kharrar. Over 30 Byzantine-era sites identified from the Jordan River eastwards to Wadi al-Kharrar and Wadi al-Gharabah. They formed stations along the pilgrims' route from Jerusalem to the Jordan River and Mount Nebo. Perhaps the key discovery related to the commemoration of the baptism tradition on the east bank of the river is the large multi-church Byzantine-era complex, about 100 meters east of the Jordan. It comprises the remains of four distinct churches from the 5th-6th century. Three are superimposed on each other, comprising the original church and two re-builds. The fourth is a smaller structure built about 30 meters east. The original church here was almost certainly the Church of St. John the Baptist, described by Byzantine texts as built by Emperor Anastasius. Byzantine-era accounts said the church was built on arched arcades on stone piers. These have been exposed by recent excavations. Posted May 23, 2005 ----------------------------- Science reveals biblical rainbow Azurite, cinnabar, malachite, verdigris, carbon: These are the true colors of the Bible -- the Gutenberg Bible, that is. For the first time in 600 years, the world has become privy to the mysterious substances used to illustrate the rare volumes of God's word produced by the German printer Johann Gutenberg circa 1454. It took a pair of enterprising researchers with a delicate touch to isolate the composition of the nine colors -- painstakingly concocted by unknown artists from such substances as precious metals and minerals, ground chalk, copper, plants and even insects. Gregory Smith, an artifact conservation specialist at Buffalo State College in New York, and Robin Clark, a chemist with the University College of London, managed to collect tiny fragments of paint tucked in the inner margins of the King George III copy of the Gutenberg Bible at the British Library. Using a process called Raman spectroscopy, the two sent a tiny laser beam into the paint bits and on a few selected pages of the Bible. By analyzing resultant characteristic light patterns, they identified the chemicals that enlivened decorative letters or intricate drawings of flora and fauna. "What is surprising is that this core knowledge of pigment composition had not until now been established, bearing in mind the colossal amount of art historical research which has been carried out on Gutenberg Bibles over the past six centuries," Mr. Clark said. "Spectroscopic chemical analysis represents an important first step in an appropriate conservation and preservation strategy," said Mr. Smith, who cringes at the idea of using inappropriate restorative preparations on such a book -- which took the skins of 191 calves to produce back in its day. The two researchers found that Gutenberg's bright red is actually cinnabar, or mercuric sulfide. Yellow is lead tin yellow, -- or lead stannate. Black is carbon possibly taken from lamp soot; blue is azurite, or copper carbonate. White is calcium carbonate, or chalk. Olive green is malachite, while dark green is verdigris, or copper ethanoate. They struggled with gold and a lush, dark red, eventually concluding that the former is gold metal and the latter an organic pigment possibly gleaned from insect bodies. Gutenberg originally printed 180 of the Bibles, using a Latin translation made in A.D. 380 of the Hebrew Old Testament and the Greek New Testament. The volumes -- some fancier than others -- brought the text to the public for the first time. Forty-eight copies of the Bibles remain. The researchers' revelations now provide a road map of sorts to those tasked with preserving and protecting the remaining volumes. The pair has discovered the presence of modern chemical compounds in Bibles located elsewhere in Europe, indicating misguided attempts to restore them. "If you don't know the chemical composition of an artifact, such as a manuscript, you have the potential to damage it by using the wrong chemicals," Mr. Smith said. The research will be published June 1 in Analytical Chemistry, a journal published by the American Chemical Society. Posted April 18, 2005 ----------------------------- Dumped Temple Mount Rubble Yields Jewish Artifacts A historic excavation has been taking place in an eastern Jerusalem valley for the past six months: the first-ever archaeological examination of the Temple Mount. Arutz-7's Ezra HaLevi has taken an exclusive inside look into one of the most important and unique archaeological explorations in history - currently in danger of going unfinished due to lack of funding. In November 1999, the Islamic Wakf carried out an illegal construction project on the Temple Mount, Judaism’s holiest site. The unsupervised digging caused irreparable damage to the important site, as well as to untold priceless artifacts contained in rubble removed during the construction and dumped clandestinely in the Kidron Valley. Though the archaeological remains were no longer in their original contexts, they held enormous potential to shed light on the undocumented human history of the Temple Mount, as systematic archaeological excavation or scientific study have never taken place there. The mounds of dirt in the Kidron Valley therefore contained the only available data from the Temple Mount to which modern archaeologists have ever had access. During the illegal excavations and dumping on and from the Temple Mount, the police and the government Antiquities Authority refused to interfere, citing concerns of violence by Muslims who deny that Temples ever stood on the Temple Mount. Tzachi Zweig, then an archaeology student, called a press conference to publicize the extent of the archaeological havoc being perpetrated. Zweig caused a stir in the media by displaying an assortment of artifacts that he had easily scooped out of the piles. The story elicited outrage across the political spectrum in Israel, and this was followed by temporary restrictions on the free access of heavy construction equipment on the Temple Mount. The dirt itself into which the Waqf had mixed garbage was meanwhile ignored, and the Antiquities Authority refused to fund an examination of the tons of rubble. Prominent archaeologist Dr. Gabriel Barkai decided to undertake the task of sifting through the 70 truckloads of Temple Mount dirt in order to rescue as much archaeological information from the destruction as possible. “What they did was an archaeological disaster," Barkai told Israel National Radio's Eli Stutz and Yishai Fleisher. "That material is the only material available from the Temple Mount." Private donations were gathered, and Zweig and Barkai proceeded to bring truckloads of earth to the Tzurim Valley National Park, located on the western slope of Mount Scopus, just below Hebrew University and the Maaleh Adumim tunnel. The work was done quietly. "Anything in Jerusalem is politically charged," Barkai said. "Anything connected with the Temple Mount is even more sensitive. If our activity would have been known at the beginning, our work might have been jeopardized by unfriendly elements." Using a mechanical sifter, the rubble was first separated into heaps consisting of material of differing sizes. The piles were then sifted by hand. The work at the site was at first conducted primarily by volunteers who heard of the project by word of mouth and through Jerusalem-based email lists. Soon, groups from schools or other programs began pitching in for a few hours at a time. Eventually, Zweig began paying some of the more dedicated volunteers to work full-time, and since then, progress has increased significantly. “The very act of spending time and making the effort to examine debris just because it originates from the Temple Mount transmits a very powerful message to the general public and to the world as a whole about the importance of the place,” Dr. Barkai said, likening the painstaking examination of the Temple Mount rubble to the respect given to a dead corpse by burying it. He said the project is of particular importance due to the Islamic Waqf efforts to perpetrate something that he says is worse than Holocaust denial. "There is a phenomenon of Temple denial," Barkai said. "I just heard [Arab] MK Dahamshe this week in the Knesset denying that there were ever temples on the Temple Mount. It is a part of the cultural Intifada. I think it is just as serious as Holocaust denial. This intifada started in Joseph’s tomb and is trying to deny Jewish rights to the country." The sifting and examinations have already yielded important artifacts from various periods, starting from the First Temple period until today. Among the discoveries so far: * During the first days of the project, a coin was recovered from the time of the Great Revolt against the Romans, preceding the destruction of the Second Temple. It bore the Hebrew phrase L’Herut Tzion, “For the Freedom of Zion.” The find was particularly meaningful, as the Temple Mount itself was one of the focal points of the Revolt. * A few days later, on the eve of Chanukah, workers discovered the “pinched style” spout of a Hasmonaean lamp. * Several weeks later, on the Tenth of Teveth - one of the fast days commemorating events that lead to the destruction of the First Temple - a crusader arrowhead was discovered. Though this was from a later period than the Temple’s destruction, arrowheads were subsequently recovered from earlier periods. * An unexpected find, due to the Waqf’s removal of almost all large artifacts, was a large segment of a marble pillar’s shaft - one meter tall and 60 cm in diameter, streaked with purple veins and white spots. There is another segment of a column shaft with a similar texture lying in a heap of various marble column shafts near the southern wall within the Temple Mount. Both fragments seem to be from the same pillar. * A large amount of pottery shards were discovered. Some 10-20 percent of it stems from the time of the First Temple period, and a small amount comes from the Second Temple period. * Animal bones - remnants of sacrifices. * A number of mosaic tiles and prehistoric flint implements. * An inscription chiseled on a jar fragment of the First Temple period, with the ancient Hebrew letters “Heh,” “Ayin” and “Kof.” * A seal impression from the Hellenistic period showing a five-pointed star with the ancient Hebrew letters spelling “Jerusalem” spaced between the points. About 30 such impressions have been found in Jerusalem on handles from the Hellenistic period (3rd century BCE). This was apparently a kind of official stamp from a period about which very little is known. * Numerous ceramic oil lamps were found. The most common among them are “Herodian lamps” from the time of the Second Temple. Another frequently found lamp is the “sandal” type, characteristic of the late Byzantine period (6-7th century CE). Many are decorated menorah patterns. * About 100 ancient coins, including several from the period of the Hasmonaean dynasty. One of the Hasmonean coins bears an inscription “Yehonatan High Priest, friend of the Jews.” On the other side is a cornucopia with a pomegranate in the center. Another coin is of Alexander Jannaeus. One side has the design of an anchor and the other side a star. * A fragment of a figurine from the First Temple period. * A Scytho-Iranian arrowhead, of the type used by the Babylonian army of Nebuchadnezzar that destroyed the First Temple in 586 BCE. Very few such arrowheads have been found in Jerusalem. * A bronze arrowhead from the Hellenistic period, possibly a remnant left by the Seleucid forces that were stationed in the Akra fortress, or by soldiers of Shimon the Maccabee, who liberated the Temple Mount. * An ivory comb, apparently from the Second Temple period. Similar combs have been found at Qumran, and it is probable that they were used as preparation for ritual purification in a mikveh (ritual bath), prior to entering the Temple courts. “Our prime intent is to collect all man-made relics so that later we will be able to conduct a more intensive study based on quantitative analyses,” Barkai said. “By these studies we may learn more about the level of activity on the Temple Mount during the different periods, and the characteristics of each period. Another plan is to sort the bones, identify the various animal species, and date some of them by Carbon-14 analysis.” Because such a sensitive excavation of material had never before taken place, and because the material had been purposely mixed with garbage and other matter, Zweig and Barkai had a difficult time estimating how much time the excavation would take. Despite six months of work, to date only 15% of the rubble has been examined. “We had to develop the work methods ourselves as we progressed,” Zweig said. They now estimate that it will take four more months to finish sifting all of the material, but their initial grant of $65,000 has nearly run out. $61,000 more is needed to finish the project, something the two say could be accomplished by the end of the summer using the methods they now use. Posted January 1, 2005 ----------------------------- There have been many claims about the age of the earth over time. The claims are based on assumptions which need a closer look. One way is to study the life cycle of a volcano. Rarely do volcanologist get to watch the birth, growth, and death of a volcano. Paricutin provided such an opportunity. In a perfectly flat cornfield the eruption began in 1943 and continued for nine years until 1952 reaching a peak of 1,350 feet. Lava flows covered about 10 square miles (25 square km). The eruption eventually smothered the villages of Paricutin and Parangaricutiro 180 miles west of Mexico City, Mexico. Sydney P. Clementson, a British engineer, has analyzed the published studies of rock samples from 22 volcanoes around the world where it is recorded that the volcanoes were formed within the past 200 years. Radioactive dating showed the ages of the rock samples to be between 100 million to 10 billion years old yet each of these volcanoes was born within the last 200 years. Clementson determined that rocks with a calculated age of millions of years were not reliably dated and were in fact quite young. Furthermore, the ages of these rocks have no relationship to the age of the earth. Clementson concluded dating methods and ratios used by science are fraught with many assumptions that cannot be checked out and are not a reliable indication of the age of the earth. All this scientific stuff makes the Bible look better all the time! Posted December 29, 2004 ----------------------------- Archaeologists identify traces of 'miracle' pool Archaeologists in Jerusalem have identified the remains of the Siloam Pool, where the Bible says Jesus miraculously cured a man's blindness, researchers said — underlining a stirring link between the works of Jesus and ancient Jewish rituals. The archaeologists are slowly digging out the pool, where water still runs, tucked away in what is now the Arab neighborhood of Silwan. It was used by Jews for ritual immersions for about 120 years until the year 70, when the Romans destroyed the Jewish Temple. Many of Jesus' acts are directly linked to Jewish rituals, and the miracle of the blind man is an example. According to the Bible, the man was undergoing ritual immersion in the Siloam Pool for entry into the Temple compound, and Jesus used the occasion to cure his blindness. In the last four months, archaeologists have revealed the pool's 50-yard (50-meter) length and a channel that brought in water from the Silwan spring. In the past week, a section of stone road that led from the pool to the Jewish Temple was uncovered. "The moment that we revealed and discovered this four months ago, we were 100 percent sure it was the Siloam Pool," said archaeologist Eli Shukron. "We know today that the Siloam Pool is connected to the Temple Mount. There is a road that connects the two elements. The entire system is clearer today," Shukron said. Stephen Pean, a Bible scholar, said the pool's waters were considered so pristine they could purify even a leper. Pean said Jesus likely chose to cure the blind man using the purest water available, because people with any disabilities were barred from the temple. "The whole point is that people will not only be healed physically but also healed spiritually," he said. "This discovery helps bring the Gospel alive in the context of Jewish practice." The archaeologists excavating the site are with the Israeli government's Antiquities Authority. They found biblical-era coins marked with ancient Jewish writing, along with pottery shards and a stone bottle cork — helping them confirm the area was the Siloam Pool. The stone-lined pool has steps leading into it from all sides, said Ronny Reich, a University of Haifa archaeologist. One side of the pool, two corners, a part of the esplanade around it and the water channel leading to it have been uncovered, he said. Jesus, according to the New Testament, put clay on a blind man's eyes and then sent him to wash them out in the pool's purifying waters, giving him sight. Jews, who traditionally made three pilgrimages a year to Jerusalem, would immerse themselves in the Siloam Pool before heading down the stone pathway to the temple. They also used the pool for drinking water and camped around it. "Jesus was a pilgrim in Jerusalem ... so this would be a natural place for him to be ... enjoying the water supply," Reich said. The Israeli Antiquities Authority is negotiating with the Greek Orthodox Church, which owns the land, to continue the dig. Archaeologists believe the pool is under the thick green covering of an overgrown vegetable garden and several large trees. Nine-foot-tall (3-meter-tall) stone walls topped by old sewage and drainage pipes separate the new discovery and the pool's stone steps, uncovered in the 1960s. Now archaeologists hope to remove the old pipes and connect the esplanade and water channel to the steps that lead into the pool. "Here we can judge and see how large it is — the grandeur of the city in those days," Reich said. Posted December 15, 2004 ----------------------------- [hmmmm might just be that they had something there...therev] Good Boundaries Make Good Christians "The Early Church often worshiped behind closed doors, and joining the church involved a long process of instruction that could take three years. The lives of those who sought Christian instruction were examined, and people in questionable professions were rejected unless they changed their line of work. ...their lives were scrutinized again to see if they had been leading holy lives while they prepared for baptism. ...But Christians who do not know their own tradition and do not know the Scriptures will commit idolatry in the name of inclusiveness."] Posted November 15, 2004 ----------------------------- UPDATE: Trial Begins Over Ga. Evolution Disclaimer A trial opened Monday over whether a warning sticker in suburban Atlanta biology textbooks that says evolution is "a theory, not a fact" violates the separation of church and state by promoting religion. The case is one of several battles that have been waged in recent years in the Bible Belt over what role evolution should play in science books. Cobb County schools put the disclaimers in biology texts two years ago after more than 2,000 parents complained the books presented evolution as fact without mentioning rival ideas about the origin of life, namely creationism. A group of parents and the American Civil Liberties Union then filed a lawsuit over the stickers. "It's like saying everything that follows this sticker isn't true," said Jeffrey Selman, a parent who filed the lawsuit. The sticker reads, "This textbook contains material on evolution. Evolution is a theory, not a fact, regarding the origin of living things. This material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully and critically considered." A lawyer for the school district, Linwood Gunn, said the sticker was meant to "encourage critical thinking" and said it did not imply that evolution was wrong. Gunn said it was silly to consider the stickers a promotion of religion. "It doesn't say anything about faith. It doesn't say anything about religion," he said. But U.S. District Judge Clarence Cooper asked Gunn why it is necessary to have a sticker clarify evolution as a theory. "Why put a sticker on the book when that's already in the book?" Gunn replied that school board members were simply trying to accommodate all views. The first witness, parent Marjorie Rogers, started the drive to put the stickers in the books. She said it was only fair to put a small disclaimer in a textbook where religious-based ideas about the origin of life are not mentioned. "I don't want the Bible taught in the classroom. But ther e is a wealth of science that would support intelligent design, and that is not taught," she said. "There should be a marketplace of ideas." The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1987 that creationism was a religious belief that could not be taught in public schools along with evolution. The theory of evolution says evidence shows current species of life evolved over time from earlier forms and that natural selection determines which species survive. Creationism credits the origin of species to God. The trial, which will be decided by the judge, is expected to last several days. Posted November 10, 2004 ----------------------------- 'Theory Of Evolution' In Court School officials in suburban Cobb County will go to court Monday to defend themselves against a lawsuit accusing the district of promoting religion by requiring that science textbooks warn students evolution is "a theory, not a fact." Posted November 8, 2004 ----------------------------- Looks like they just can't get it right - MAN WAS CREATED!...therev Eroding evolution's believability Researchers found the skull and part of the skeleton of an adult female, plus bones and teeth from seven other individuals. These remains have many features similar to Homo erectus, another so-called human species claimed to be the ape-man of Africa and our subhuman ancestor. Now researchers suggest the Flores bones are dwarfed descendants of Homo erectus. ------------------- Flores man not a new species A leading Indonesian scientist on Saturday challenged the widely publicised theory that fossilised bones found on the eastern island of Flores were from a previously unknown species of human. Posted October 15, 2004 ----------------------------- New evidence supports Hebrew kingdoms in biblical times Deep in the ruins of a Hebrew town sacked nearly 3,000 years ago by an Egyptian Pharaoh, scientists say they have discovered new evidence for the real-life existence of the Bible's legendary kingdoms of David and Solomon. The evidence refutes recent claims by other researchers who insist that the biblical monarchs were merely mythic characters, created by scholars and scribes of antiquity who made up the tales long after the events to buttress their own morality lessons. The debate, however, is not likely to subside, for archaeology is a field notable for its lengthy quarrels among partisans, however scientific they may be. The latest evidence comes from Israeli and Dutch archaeologists and physicists after seven years of digging at a historic site called Tel Rehov. The site is in the Jordan valley of Israel, where successive settlements rose and fell over the centuries. Using highly sophisticated techniques for establishing dates through the decay rate of radioactive carbon, the scientists have pinned down the time of a disputed moment in history, recorded in the Bible, when a Pharaoh now known as Shoshenq I invaded Jerusalem. As the book of Chronicles relates in the Old Testament, Shoshenq (the Bible called him Shishak) came "with twelve hundred chariots and threescore thousand horsemen" and plundered Israel's capital, as well as such towns and fortresses as Rehov, Megiddo and Hazor. The Pharaoh later listed those conquests on a monument in the temple of Amun at Karnak, where the Egyptian city of Luxor now stands. The new timetable places Shoshenq's rampage and looting at Rehov in the 10th century rather than the 9th, a highly significant difference. It sets the date at about 925 B.C., some five years after Solomon was said to have died, and some 80 years earlier than other archaeologists maintain. Those scholars, known in the world of archaeology as "minimalists," insist that both David and Solomon were little more than tribal chieftains, and certainly not the mighty monarchs of the Bible. In a telephone interview, Mazar said that one specific "layer of destruction" at the site yielded a harvest of charred grain seeds and olive pits that enabled his colleagues to date them with an unusually high level of precision. The dates of both earlier and later layers showed clearly how the successive layers of occupation could be dete rmined from the 12th through the 9th centuries B.C., he said. "They provide a precise archaeological anchor for the united monarchies of the time of David and Solomon," Mazar said. "The pottery we found there also tells us that the conquest dates from the same period as Meggido, when its mighty gates and walls and temples were also destroyed by Shoshenq's armies." We don't need to rely any more only on the Bible or on Shoshenq's inscriptions at Karnak to establish that Solomon and his kingdom really existed, because we now have the superb evidence of the radiocarbon dates." Posted August 30, 2004 ----------------------------- Noah's Ark Expedition Update Has Noah's Ark, the legendary vessel of the Bible, been found? Does it remain hidden? Was there in fact a giant ship that guided humanity and animals through a 40-day flood, or is it all just ancient myth? These questions have sparked countless debates for years, and several groups now are trying to settle the issue once and for all. One group is headed by Honolulu businessman Daniel McGivern, who received worldwide publicity in early spring when he announced he was planning a July expedition up Turkey's Mt. Ararat to investigate what was spotted in high-resolution satellite images taken last year at the height of a record-warm summer. "These new photos unequivocally show a man-made object," McGivern, president of Shamrock – The Trinity Corporation, told reporters in April at the National Press Club in Washington. "I am convinced that the excavation of the object and the results of tests run on any collected samples will prove that it is Noah's Ark." But that was then, and this is now. McGivern's plann ed expedition up Ararat has still not taken place for one simple reason – lack of permission. "The government of Turkey did not issue a research visa, which is sad, but it's their country," McGivern told WorldNetDaily. "We haven't totally given up, but it's pretty obvious they're not going to give us one." According to Space.com, the U.S. Air Force took the first photographs of the Mt. Ararat site in 1949. The images allegedly revealed what seemed to be a structure covered by ice, but were held for years in a confidential file labeled "Ararat Anomaly." The government released several of the images in 1997, but experts say they are inconclusive. Though McGivern is disappointed he hasn't been given the green light, he hasn't given up all hope. "I'm in the seventh inning. It isn't over 'til the snows come," he said. Posted August 27, 2004 ----------------------------- India's 'lost Jews' wait in hope A team of senior Israeli rabbis is due to rule soon on whether thousands of Indians who say they are members of one of the lost tribes of Israel can settle there. Shlomo Amar recently led a delegation of rabbis to the north-eastern Indian states of Manipur and Mizoram where members of the Benei Menashe tribe live and practise Judaism. At the Beith-el Synagogue in the Manipur capital, Imphal, nine men wearing knitted skull caps read silently from the Old Testament. Four others stand on a wooden platform in the centre of the room as a young man reads from the holy book under the supervision of an elderly priest. These people claim to be one of the lost tribes of Israel. Tongkhohao Aviel Hangshing is the leader of the Benei Menashes in Imphal. "We are Benei Menashe, because we belong to the Menashe tribe," he says. "Menashe is the son of Joseph, who was one of the 12 sons of Jacob. So we are the lost tribe of Israel." Mr Hangshing says for thousands of years they did not know they were lost. "We found out only 27 years ago," he says. "When the Bible was translated into our language, in 1970s, we studied it. "And we found that the stories, the customs and practices of the Israeli people were very similar to ours. So we thought that we must be one of the lost tribes." Saturdays are observed by Jews the world over as the Sabbath, the day of rest, and the members of the Benei Menashe community meet for morning prayers at the synagogue in Imphal. A lamb-skin scroll of the Torah, is unrolled and then rolled up again as each reader finishes his part. There are more than 300,000 Benei Menashes in Manipur but most of them follow Christianity. Only about 5,000 have converted to Judaism, most of them during the 1970s. Mr Hangshing says although India has treated them quite well, they do not consider it their home. The recent visit by a delegation of rabbis from Israel has given new hope to the members of this community. Caleb, a 24-year-old college student, wants to go to Israel because he says it is the land of his forefathers. Amram is studying to be a lawyer. He says Israel is the promised land, for him and the others too. "In Israel it will be easier for us to practise our religion." Michael Freund, director of Amishav - an organisation that helps Jews move to Israel - says he firmly believes that Menashe is one of the lost tribes of Israel. "We have brought over 800 of them to Israel," he says, "and the remaining people also want to emigrate". Mr Freund says that last year the new Israeli interior minister, Avraham Poraz, suddenly declared his opposition to bringing the Benei Menashes into Israel. "But I'm confident that if the chief rabbi issues a ruling saying that the Benei Menashes are indeed descendents of the Jewish people and should be allowed back home, then he will have no choice but to let them in." So while the rabbis in Israel take a decision on whether or not to grant the right to emigrate to Israel to the Benei Menashes, this community here is waiting with bated breath - and praying. Posted August 26, 2004 ----------------------------- DNA to reveal source of Dead Sea Scrolls Authorities are hoping that DNA testing of animal bones discovered in excavations at the Qumran plateau will reveal the origins of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Archeologists believe the findings will resolve the debate sparked nearly half a century ago with the discovery of the biblical manuscripts in 11 separate caves on the shores of the Dead Sea. Prof. Oren Gutfield of Hebrew University, who participated in the excavations, is attempting to ascertain the relationship between the scrolls and their place of discovery. "What we will do now are DNA tests to these bones in order to compare DNA results from these animals with DNA of the Dead Sea Scrolls parchment. A connection was never found between the Dead Sea Scrolls and the site itself, but if a match is found it means that the people who lived in Qumran actually prepared the scrolls from animals at the site itself," Gutfield said. The seven bone deposits of mules eaten and buried inside cleaning pots and storage jars by the Qumran community in the 1st century BCE will undergo DNA testing this week. Archeologists will compare the findings of the bones with the DNA of the scrolls conducted over the past five years. Also, the Qumran storage pots resemble those found inside the caves with the scrolls. According to Gutfield, "If the bone deposits, which are unique to the plateau, match with the scrolls, we will be able to resolve one of the greatest debates of the archeological world today – do the scrolls originate from within the Qumran community or were they transported to the caves from outside before the siege of the Romans in 66 CE?" There are two schools of thought regarding the origin of the scrolls. Most scholars, led by archeologist Roland de Voux, who directed the excavations at the plateau in the 1950s, claim that the 900 scrolls originate from both within Qumran and also from contributions of individuals joining the community. A group of dissidents argues that the site must be disconnected from the scrolls. The manuscripts, written by high priests, were only transported to the caves immediately before the Roman siege of Jerusalem. Associate professor of archeology at Bar-Ilan University Hanan Eshel suggests that the majority of the manuscripts, although not all, are sectarian and were written by community members. He suggests that evidence for this thesis is rooted within the text of the scrolls themselves. "The content of the scrolls prove that they [the dissidents] are wrong. They [the scrolls] describe the rules and workings of the Qumran community. Even more so, th ey speak out against the Jerusalem establishment and the priests of Jerusalem themselves," Eshel said. "I can't understand why some people would deny a connection between the scrolls found in the cave and the site [Qumran] itself. In addition to the proximity of the caves to the site, one must go through the site to reach the caves. If a match is found, it will prove the connection once and for all," he said. Posted August 24, 2004 ----------------------------- Archaeologists Think They've Found John the Baptist's Cave Archaeologists said Monday they had found a cave where they believe John the Baptist anointed many of his disciples, a huge cistern with 28 steps leading to an underground pool of water. During an exclusive tour of the cave by The Associated Press, archaeologists presented wall carvings they said tell the story of the fiery New Testament preacher, as well as a stone they believe was used for ceremonial foot washing. They also pulled about 250,000 pottery shards from the cave, the apparent remnants of small water jugs used in baptismal ritual. "John the Baptist, who was just a figure from the Gospels, now comes to life," said British archaeologist Shimon Gibson, who supervised the dig outside Jerusalem. "Unfortunately, we didn't find any inscriptions," said James Tabor, a religious studies professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Tabor and Gibson said it was very likely that the wall carvings, including one showing a man with a staff and wearing animal skin, told the story of John the Baptist. The carvings stem from the Byzantine period and apparently were made by monks in the fourth or fifth century. Gibson said he believed the monks commemorated John at a site linked to him by local tradition. Gibson said the carvings, the foot washing stone and other finds, taken together with the proximity of John's hometown, constituted strong circumstantial evidence that the cave was used by John. John, a contemporary of Jesus who also preached a message of redemption, is one of the most important figures in Christianity. The discovery, if confirmed, would be among the most significant breakthroughs for biblical scholars in memory. Posted August 18, 2004 -----------------------------
Archaeologists think they've found a cave where John the Baptist baptized many of his followers - basing their theory on thousands of shards from ritual jugs, a stone used for foot cleansing and wall carvings telling the story of the biblical preacher. Only a few artifacts linked to New Testament figures have ever been found in the Holy Land, and the cave is potentially a major discovery in biblical archaeology. "John the Baptist, who was just a figure from the Gospels, now comes to life," said British archaeologist Shimon Gibson. Posted July 27, 2004 ----------------------------- [This story was emailed and may be made up but it still is interesting...therev] Bible Proved Correct by NASA. For all the scientists out there and for all the students who have a hard time convincing people regarding the truth of the Bible.....here's something that shows God's awesome creation and shows that He is still in control. Did you know that the space program is busy proving that what has been called "myth" in the Bible is true? Mr. Harold Hill, President of the Curtis Engine Company in Baltimore Maryland and a consultant in the space program, relates the following development. "I think one of the most amazing things that God has for us today happened recently to our astronauts and space scientists at Greenbelt, Maryland. They were checking the position of the sun, moon, and planets out in space where they would be 100 years and 1000 years from now. We have to know this so we won't send a satellite, up and have it bump into something later on in its orbits. We have to lay out the orbits in terms of the life of the satellite, and where the planets will be so the whole thing will not bog down. They ran the computer measurement back and forth over the centuries and it came to a halt. The computer stopped and put up a red signal, which meant that there was something wrong either with the information fed into it or with the results as compared to the standards.. They called in the service department to check it out and they said, "What's wrong?" Well, they found there is a day missing in space in elapsed time. They scratched their heads and tore their hair. There was no answer. Finally, a Christian man on the team said, "You know, one time I was in Sunday School and they talked about the sun standing still. "While they didn't believe him, they didn't have an answer either, so they said, "Show us." He got a Bible and went back to the book of Joshua where they found a pretty ridiculous statement for any one with "common sense." There they found the Lord saying to Joshua, "Fear them not, I have delivered them into thy hand; there shall not a man of them stand before thee." Joshua was concerned because he was surrounded by the enemy and if darkness fell they would overpower them. So Joshua asked the Lord to make the sun stand still! That's right-"The sun stood still and the moon stayed-and hastened not to go down about a whole day!" (Joshua10:12-13) The astronauts and scientists said, "There is the missing day!" They had the computers going back into the time it was written and found it was close but not close enough. The elapsed time that was missing back in Joshua's day was 23 hours and 20 minutes--not a whole day. They read the Bible and there it was "about (approximately) a day" These little words in the Bible are important, but they were still in trouble because if you cannot account for 40 minutes you'll still be in trouble 1,000 years from now. Forty minutes had to be found because it can be multiplied many times over in orbits. As the Christian employee thought about it, he remembered somewhere in the Bible where it said the sun went BACKWARDS. The scientists told him he was out of his mind, but they got out the Book and read these words in 2 Kings that told of the following story: Hezekiah, on his deathbed, was visited by the prophet Isaiah who told him that he was not going to die. Hezekiah asked for a sign as proof. Isaiah said "Do you want the sun to go ahead 10 degrees?" Hezekiah said "It is nothing for the sun to go ahead 10 degrees, but let the shadow return backward 10 degrees." Isaiah spoke to the Lord and the Lord brought the shadow ten degrees BACKWARD! Ten degrees is exactly 40 minutes! Twenty-three hours and 20 minutes in Joshua, plus 40 minutes in Second Kings make the missing day in the universe!" Isn't it amazing? References: Joshua 10:8 and 12,13 and 2 Kings 20:9-11. Posted June 23, 2004 ----------------------------- The Discovery of Noah's Ark: Would It Be A Sign? For more than two decades, the quest for Noah's Ark has attracted worldwide attention. Even the term "ark-eology" has been coined to describe the numerous pictures supposedly taken by the CIA and locked away in vaults, eyewitness reports, satellite images, lost photographs, and various expeditions to the Ararat region of Eastern Turkey, where the Ark is believed to be located. Despite the interest, however, no scientific evidence has ever conclusively demonstrated the Ark's existence. That could soon change if Daniel McGivern should succeed in his search for the great vessel. McGivern, a Christian businessman and activist from Hawaii, is currently putting together an international dream team of archeologists, forensic scientists, geologists, glaciologists, and others to investigate a site on Mount Ararat this summer. McGivern is "98 percent sure" the Ark is buried there beneath the mounds of snow and ice. He says last year's hottest summer in Europe since 1500 made it possible to get better satellite images that ever before. He claims the satellite imagery now reveals "vertical beams, and one horizontal beam." Will McGivern's expedition actually discover Noah's Ark? No one knows but God. Still I can't help but speculate what the Ark's discovery might mean for our time. Perhaps it would be a tangible witness to our own coming judgment. It's a principle with God that the more degenerate the times, the more definite the testimony. the same world conditions that presaged a coming catastrophe in Noah's day, also foreshadow an even greater calamity to befall our own. Some of the characteristics are summarized as follows: Preoccupation with physical appetites (Luke 17:27), Rapid advances in technology (Gen. 4:22), Grossly materialistic attitudes and interests (Luke 17:28) Uniformitarian philosophies (Hebrews 11:7) Inordinate devotion to pleasure and comfort (Genesis 4:21) No concern for God in either belief or conduct (II Peter 2:5; Jude 15) Disregard for the sacredness of the marriage relation (Matthew 24:38) Rejection of the inspired Word of God (I Peter 3:19). Widespread violence (Gen. 6:11, 13) Corruption throughout society (Genesis 6:12) Preoccupation with illicit sexual activity (Genesis 4:19; 6:2) Widespread words and thoughts of blasphemy (Jude 15) If the Ark were actually found, it would certainly be a reminder to our age that God's loving-kindness cannot be indefinitely scorned, His patience abused, and His offer of salvation ignored. God has clearly demonstrated in the past that His Spirit will not always strive with men. Moreover, the discovery of Noah's Ark would also point to the truth that God's plan of salvation for the ancient world was the same as for today. Noah, the great antediluvian carpenter, built a judgment-proof vehicle of redemption for a lost world. His work simply reflects the work of the Carpenter of Nazareth who provided a judgment-proof righteousness and perfect salvation for mankind. All who shelter in Him will never face the storm of God's wrath. Christ comes between them and God's anger with sin. Neverthel ess, there must be a deliberate response to God's offer -- a conscious turning to Christ. For Christ is our Ark and salvation is available only in Him. Great Bible commentator and expository preacher John Phillips has written: "It is a principle with God that He witnesses in two ways to an age about to be relinquished to judgment -- by faithful preaching and by fulfilled prophecy; by sermons and by signs. In that far off world, Noah was a "preacher of righteousness" and, as history has demonstrated so often, his witness was in vain. There was fulfilled prophecy, too. Methuselah died. His name was a prophecy: "When he dies, it shall come." The death of Methuselah was an ominous sign to that generation. There were others, also. What a strange and disturbing sight it must have been for those antediluvians to see the animals beating a path to Noah's door to seek refuge in the ark. No doubt the rationalists had an explanation for that. In any case, the sign was ignored." Indeed. And should Noah's Ark be discovered, would its sign to our age be ignored? Show us and we shall see, Mr. McGivern. Posted May 25, 2004 ----------------------------- Looking For Miracles Site of the Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes Discovered Archeologists Unearth NT's Bethsaida Findings unearthed at the ancient city of Bethsaida near the Sea of Galilee - where Jesus and his apostles ostensibly lived, and where the grand capital of a First Temple period kingdom was located - have excited tremendous attention all over the world for 17 years. Everywhere, that is, except in Israel. In the Talmud, Bethsaida is called "Saydan" and is described as a flourishing area teeming with hundreds of types of fish. Bethsaida is the third-most frequently mentioned place in the New Testament, after Jerusalem and Capernaum. Scholars are agreed that Jesus was at Nazareth, Capernaum, Korazin and Bethsaida. And of all of them, Bethsaida is the only place where the visitor today can see a well-preserved settlement - only partial, it's true, but in archaeological terms, that's a great deal. Professor Rami Arav. "The Bethsaida findings show that a capital city in the 10th century B.C.E. is a plausible thing. Bethsaida is today an existing model of such a city, which is unexampled in Israel. It proves that biblical descriptions have a basis in reality." However, he notes, "even for the doubters Bethsaida constitutes a breakthrough in the study of Jesus. This is an archaeological approach to resolving the dispute over Jesus. We have uncovered an authentic source, a new option - reaching a decision in the age-old dispute not on the basis of texts, but on the basis of the material culture that is being uncovered here." He adds that, as with Jesus, the overwhelming majority of researchers in the world believe in the existence of the apostles, and notes: "Anyone who claims that the apostles did not exist can by the same token arrive at the conclusion that Christianity didn't exist." From the very first days of the excavations Arav informed the world about his discoveries and released a communique to the media with the headline: "Site of the Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes discovered." Posted January 30, 2004 -----------------------------2 MATHEMATICIANS DISSECT A MIRACLE It took a stormy night and a strategically placed reef to pull
off the biblical miracle of the parting of the waters of the Red Sea when the
Jews fled slavery in Egypt,
ISRAEL SEEKS RETURN OF NEEDED UTENSILS FOR TEMPLE RESTORATION When Israel's chief rabbis meet Pope John Paul II, they will seek permission to search Vatican storerooms for artifacts such as the huge golden menorah that stood in the Temple in Jerusalem 2,000 years ago. When the Romans sacked Jerusalem in AD 70, they took Temple treasures with them. Legend has it that religious articles from the Temple, including the menorah, were among them. The menorah was the most important symbol of the Temple after the Ark of the Covenant. The image of the biblical menorah is the symbol of the modern state of Israel. Some Orthodox Jews believe the restoration of the menorah and other holy vessels to Jerusalem would be the first step in rebuilding the Temple, whose site is now occupied by the Al Aqsa Mosque, a Muslim shrine. Posted January 24, 2004 ----------------------------- STUDY: RED SEA PARTING WAS POSSIBLE The Washington Times reports: "Russian mathematicians have determined the legendary parting of the Red Sea that let the Jews flee Egypt was possible, the Moscow Times reported. The study, published in the Bulletin of the Russian Academy of Sciences, focused on a reef that runs from the documented spot where the Jews escaped Egypt, which in Biblical times, was much closer to the surface, according to Naum Volzinger, a senior researcher at St. Petersburg's Institute of Oceanology, and a colleague based in Hamburg, Alexei Androsov. The mathematicians calculated the 'strong east wind that blew all that night' mentioned in the Bible needed to blow at a speed of 67 miles per hour to make the reef, said Volzinger, who specializes in ocean phenomena, flooding and tidal waves. 'It would take the Jews -- there were 600,000 of them -- four hours to cross the 4.2-mile reef that runs from one coast to another. Then, in half an hour, the waters would come back,' he said. The Egyptian army that followed them drowned in the sea. 'I am convinced that God rules the Earth through the laws of physics,' Volzinger told the Times…" THE END TIMES - THE LAST DAYS - ARE UPON THE EARTH! MATTHEW 24:21 "For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. 22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened." --- CLICK HERE to see what it will be like for the unsaved and for a prayer of salvation! THIS IS NO GAME! - THIS IS THE REAL THING! - DO NOT WAIT!
|
SITE HAS RECEIVED 9 MILLION+ HITS SINCE APRIL 2007 when our new server stats took effect! *Sorry ! I do not know why the site counter below is off. It is "SUPPOSED" to count the hits to ALL pages. It may be because it is tied to the bottom "frame" as we actually get over 1/4 million (240,000+) hits per month according to our server stats. Site was first posted on the web February 24, 2000..Brother Johnson
Our "SERVER STATISTICS" show we average over 270,000 hits per month! Our SITE is accessed by over 110 DIFFERENT COUNTRIES every single month! POD CASTING #1 PODCAST WANT OUR CHRISTIAN podcast? PLEASE PASTE THIS INTO YOUR POD CATCHER... http://www.messageshare.com/podcast.asp?memberID=356 #2 PODCAST To SUBSCRIBE to our SECULAR PODCAST paste the following link in your POD Catcher software http://feeds.feedburner.com/SignsOfTheTimes (or click it to subscribe at feedburner and get Multiple Podcatcher software: Juice => i-Tunes => Zie => Doppler => Fireant, etc.) CAUTION DO NOT SERF BLOGGER! MP3 DOWNLOADING
INTERNET RADIO
INTERNET VIDEO
CHRISTIAN CARTOONS I VOTE I WELCOME PAGE I Stay Healthy I For Women I The Word I Web Links Page I "666" How Close Is It? I I Technical Help I FREE Graphics Entry Page I End Times Word2day I America at War I World Mission Givers I Compare the KJV Bible to others I prophecy archive I RFT Church I The Rev Editorials I Is Big Brother Watching? I Animal/Human Crossover Diseases I PRAYER FORUM I Search the Bible in 7 languages and translations or do a Topic Search I Dark2light help for depression, etc. I Prophecy I Pictures of 2004 & 2005 Conventions I Weather Control Is it possible You decide! MORE LINKS TO OTHER PAGES FOLLOW>>> FEELING LIKE DARKNESS SURROUNDS YOU CLICK HERE FOR AN AWESOME DEVOTION END TIMES PAGES...
NEWS LINKS: I Terrorism News I Nuclear News I News Bites I UN News I Israel News I 666 News? I "666" Fact I EU News I Is Big Brother Watching? I Animal-Human Crossover Diseases I Bible Proved in Science Today I Apostate Christianity I Sodom & Gomorrah I Prophecy I Prophecy Archive I Prophecy Fulfillments I Strange Science I Science Fiction A Reality I Anti-Christian I Worldwide I Events/Disasters I 911 + other cover-up's I USA wide open Border's I CULTS, Satanism I PESTILENCES... I DROUGHT/Famine... I Posse Comitatus Act - Bans our government from using U.S. troops in domestic law enforcement I USA FREEDOMS LOST 2005 Freedoms Losses I predicted all through 2004 I Weather
Control Is
it possible? You decide!
I Global
Warming I Secret Societies pictures: Masons - Illuminati - Skull & Bones - Bush - Regan - Bohemian Grove MORE LINKS TO OTHER PAGES FOLLOW>>> CLICK HERE for The Rev Editorial page ...last days reports reviewed CLICK HERE for an audio welcome message by Brother Johnson. Takes 1min+? to load with a modem connected at 30kbs AIGA PAGES...
|
WELCOME NEAIGA
- "Signs Of The
Times"
Preparing
- Strengthening - Preserving - The Remnant of GOD
Temple's
location found, says Israeli archaeologist
Israel Cave Linked to John the Baptist
according to a new study by two Russian
mathematicians. A number of researchers around the world have tried to determine
the probability of such an event taking place and to calculate the odds, but
Naum Volzinger, a senior researcher at St. Petersburg's Institute of Oceanology,
and a colleague based in Hamburg, Alexei Androsov, decided instead to study the
conditions needed for the miracle to happen. "I am convinced that God rules
the Earth through the laws of physics," Volzinger said in a telephone
interview. The six-month study, published in the Bulletin of the Russian Academy
of Sciences, focuses on a reef that runs from the well-documented starting point
of the Jews' escape to the north side of the sea. In biblical times, the reef
was much closer to the surface, Volzinger said. The questions the researchers
were interested in answering included what wind speed was needed to leave the
reef high and dry at low tide, how long the reef could stay dry, and how quickly
the waters would return.
Posted January 26, 2004 -----------------------------
NOW
ON THE AIR! 
