Mystery of the Ark of the Covenant Digs
Ron Wyatt’s claimed work, on the Ark of the Covenant, is a mystery that hasn’t been considered thoroughly. Eager critics have been willing and able to submit profuse arguments against the discovery of this fantastic artifact. The find, if true, would be the capstone of all of Ron’s findings, and would actually present Christ’s own blood as an archeological artifact that testifies to the truth of the Bible, of Christianity and of the Lordship of Christ. This discovery would indeed turn modern skeptics upside down, and actually place the Bible on par with rigorous modern science. Hence, I find it disturbing that critics of Ron Wyatt are rather glib when they make accusations against the man, because in reality, if Wyatt had actually found the Ark, then we must conclude that the Lord purposed to reveal it to us through Wyatt. Hence, critics are actually attacking our Lord, and not only that, but are telling us that we don’t need the Lord’s help.
WYATT PRESENTED NO EVIDENCE TO SUPPORT HIS
CONTENTION THAT HE FOUND THE ARK OF THE COVENANT
Critics have taken hold on the idea that Wyatt expects everyone to believe he had found the Ark of the Covenant. However, in his seminars, Wyatt has repeatedly said that he has presented no evidence to prove that he had found the Ark of the Covenant. He said:
“You might believe that I found the Ark of the Covenant because I’ve found all these other sites. You might say that you don’t know if Ron Wyatt found the Ark of the Covenant. But whatever you do, don’t call Wyatt a liar.”
Wyatt then, would ask the audience to wait until all the evidence was presented. Thus, the idea that anyone is expected to believe that Ron Wyatt had found the Ark of the Covenant is false. But that hasn’t stopped several critics from challenging Ron Wyatt, anyway, and calling him a deceiver to boot. But interestingly enough, critics have found new and intriguing ways of calling into question Wyatt’s claim. One of such is to focus on whether Wyatt had a permit to dig in Israel. Letters to Israeli authorities have repeatedly been returned with statements in denial of the fact. However, should we believe anything that comes out of the offices of the Israeli authorities? I think the proven case in point is that a well-known archeologist, who has been doing work in Israel for years, has been lied about. His name is Vendyl Jones and the Israeli Antiquities will tell you that they do not know the man. If Hitler can tell a big lie, who can tell one bigger?
But one of my main interests is in whether Ron Wyatt had:
1. Dug in the area which he claimed, near the Garden Tomb.
2. Did he work with Israeli Authorities?
3. How long did he work there?
4. How big was his operation?
5. Are there others who had worked with him?
6. Is there evidence that he dug out a large chamber?
WHO NEEDS A PERMIT?
By focusing on the question of a “permit” critics have deluded themselves into thinking that they have disproven the idea that Ron had actually discovered the Ark of the Covenant. If anyone could prove that Ron Wyatt had been working in the area around the Garden Tomb, that he had dug out a large chamber, and that he worked with Israeli Authorities, that in my mind would settle the permit question. As to why critics need to see a piece of paper in order to believe that Wyatt had a permit, is beyond me. Working with the Israeli Antiquities Department implies having a permit. Therefore the burden is upon the Israelis to provide an explanation as to why they worked with Wyatt. I think most people would readily agree with that assessment. If Ron Wyatt made a covenant of secrecy to some authority, be it from God the Father, himself, or the Israeli governing authorities, then we would expect him to keep silent . Since nobody but Wyatt, the Israelis and God knows what is really going on, maybe we need to quit speculating and just focus on the facts that we DO KNOW. Besides, the authorities know that a permit can be verbal or written. Can a well known archeologist, Vendyl Jones, produce his permit?
As someone who has been involved with investigative reporting, I find it profitable to not write speculation into print. Where the facts are missing we are to remain silent, especially when there is a possibility of slander involved. Like everyone else that I know, I can truly say that I haven’t seen any evidence that proves that Ron Wyatt had found the Ark of the Covenant. What I have found is some interesting circumstances that deserves some mind-wracking explanation. For instance, the question arises, why was an amateur archeologist digging in a prominent location in Jerusalem, on behalf of Dan Bahat, the antiquities director of that district? If you don’t think that that’s the case, I need only cite a letter from the Garden Tomb that is dated May 22, 2000.
“...At the request of Mr. Dan Bahat he was given permission to access the caves via our property...”
AN AWFULLY BIG PIT
If you are to read some of the critics of Ron Wyatt, you’d get the impression that Wyatt’s only involvement in the areas was to remove some garbage. But even this short sentence is loaded with information. We know that an Israeli Authority was permitting Wyatt to access some “caves.” If you read other critics you’d get the idea that there are no caves, but just a pit. There are some individuals who will tell you that they were involved in a dig, and went home disappointed. The supposed cave wasn’t there. But if anyone wants to know if there really was a large cave that Wyatt was digging in, I suggest that they obtain the video that is offered by www.wyattmuseum.com. I think in all fairness that you need to take a look at the Ark of the Covenant video before you level the charge of liar or deceiver. The first time I saw some footage of the extensive cave system that Wyatt was working on, was at one of his seminars. Wyatt had never shown any of this footage before. Amazingly, there is not one critic of Ron Wyatt who has commented on this video. This is a major oversight. And again, we must ask the critics, “where are you?” Tentmaker.org? Pam Dewey? Gary Amirault? Where’s your commentary?
If you look at the critic’s viewpoint of Ron supposedly being asked to remove garbage, or that the site was “nothing but a pit”, and that Wyatt ”didn’t have a permit,” et. al., one wonders how many statements of irrelevance and of error to we need to hear before we start asking the real questions?
Wyatt has provided a video. In the video we view quite a few people in a cave system hauling up rocks. We see Mary Nell Wyatt, there, too. We see Wyatt with a drill working to loosen the rock. We see a precarious site where there are numerous areas to fall and sustain injuries. We also see how the rocks are hauled and dumped. This is a very impressive operation, and the fact is, it had to have been accomplished by many hours of work and man power. So there is no truth to the idea that the “Ark of the Covenant” dig was merely a pit in the ground. The critics are either unaware, while ruminating on the false arguments that they had swallowed without question in the first place, or they are just simply too arrogant to admit that they were wrong.
I might as well mention the fact that Wyatt Archeology Research has just released a video of their archeological work with the Israeli government that occurred in July 2003 (a few months ago as of this writing.)
THE BIG CONSPIRACY
In 1977 Wyatt claims that he started work on the Ark of the Covenant. Since that time Wyatt has carried on numerous excavation work in that area. In 1989, Wyatt brought a huge crew there, including:
Bob Murrell (Florida)
John Rauch (Florida)
Fenton Froom (Florida. He left earlier than the others)
Dale Ernsberger (FLorida)
Dr. Nathan Meyer (Virginia)
Mark Yates (Australia)
Jamie Blackmore (Australia)
Frank Sheffield (Florida)
It is hard to believe that such a huge group of people could be working in a public area, near the famous Garden Tomb, and not get arrested. The critics have managed to dig out a few testimonies from people who had never gotten into the cave. But said critics, for some reason, have failed to interview the above list of individuals. I mean, if you were to initiate an investigation that could possibly be considered slander, and an attack upon the credibility of a person, would you not investigate thoroughly. To be frank, there is no evidence that Tentmaker.org or any other of the critics are interested in providing Ron Wyatt a fair trial. I mean, just out of curiosity alone, wouldn’t anyone just want to know the other side of the story?
CONCLUSION
There are numerous attacks being lunged against Ron Wyatt, and some of these have to do with the Ark of the Covenant. Wyatt never claimed that anyone had to believe that he found the Ark of the Covenant. Critics have claimed that Wyatt never had a permit and demand that he produce one. A long time archeologist, Vendyl Jones, who is well known as having made excavations in Israel, is not even acknowledged as having a permit. Therefore, the question is, can we believe the Israeli governing authorities? We know, for a fact that Ron Wyatt was working under the authority of Dan Bahat and this act is an acknowledgement of a permit. Wyatt has provided video evidence that proves the critics wrong in saying that Wyatt was only engaged in transporting garbage or that his work was insignificant. We know that Wyatt has worked with the Israelis for a long time, and that further suggests that Wyatt may have found something of worth to the Israelis. Otherwise the Israelis would have been likely to terminate his work. The fact that so many individuals have worked in Wyatt’s excavations leads one to believe that the Israelis have authorized the excavations. Critics of Ron Wyatt have not commented on the video evidence provided by Ron Wyatt, leading us to believe that they haven’t seen it or find if embarrassing to acknowledge. Further, the video contradicts some of the points that have been made by the video. Additionally, critics have not interviewed those who have been involved in Wyatt’s digs.
There is other information that proves that the Israelis have worked with Ron Wyatt. Such is found in the letters of scholar William Shea, and a statement by Bernard Brandstatter. An expansion of this article to include these statements is warranted, and is planned for the future.
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