Eventually I decided to order some of their materials including a book, a CD-ROM and a video tape. What I read and watched removed most of my doubts. Although I still do not see now why what they claimed to be "the blood of Jesus" had to be on the Mercy Seat of the physical Ark of the Covenant they found (as God had presented Jesus His Son to be the Mercy Seat, according to Romans 3:25), I open myself for God to correct me in a daily manner. If indeed the Lord Jesus was the Lamb of God and came to CONCLUDE THE OLD and to START THE NEW in His death and resurrection, His blood should have something to do with the EARTHLY Ark of Covenant in order to express the HEAVENLY Ark of Covenant, which is His Body.

"And the temple of God which is in heaven was opened; and the ark of His covenant appeared in His temple..." (Revelation 11:19, NASB)

If God's Ark of Covenant in heaven will be shown in the opened heavenly temple, should we expect to see the shadows of the heavenly things (Hebrews 9:23-25) to appear briefly on earth at certain time?

Anyway, I am leaving this question for you to ponder upon as you are to start this new exploration at Wyatt Archaeological Research.

Ron's Discovery Was Independently Confirmed by Jonathan Gray

Being not able to go see these new archaeological sites in person, I searched for people who were seriously enough to go check for themselves. So far, I found only one team, headed by Jonathan Gray, who used to set out with a briefcase full of objections against Wyatt's claims. The following is a section taken with permission from chaper one of Jonathan's new book "Ark of the Covenant" describing his own shock upon hearing Wyatt's claim in the first time and, later on, his decision to check things out on site, an act no other Wyatt's adversaries have ever tried.

"Rubbish!" I cried. "You say this guy Wyatt asserts he's found the most prized artifact on earth? Who is this crazy nut?"

"I know nothing about him," said my friend, calmly. "But you could easily get his address. Why don't you just check it out?"

"Look," I snorted. "If that treasure had been found it would be BIG NEWS. We'd know about it!"

"Well, you know about it now," said Kristine.

"I've heard such things before. There've been so many different claims. Why should I get involved in this one?"

And how come a bunch of amateurs could accomplish something that professional archaeologists had failed to do for so long?

The whole idea was ridiculous.

Furthermore, Wyatt -- and his alleged discovery -- were on the opposite side of the earth. Why should I bother? I put the matter to rest and got on with other work.

It was months before Ronald Wyatt's name surfaced again. I took a cursory look at what was said and filed it away for the second time.

But I was doomed. That man's claims were again pushed before my eyes - this time by an atheist.

Now I sat up with a jolt. This amateur archaeologist Wyatt was beginning to get on my nerves.

I mulled over the matter for a few days... and even consulted my bank balance. It would cost me quite a few thousand dollars to do something about this. But the whole thing was nagging at me now, like an aching tooth.

By the time I was ready to act, a whole sheaf of papers against this Wyatt guy was coming into my hands. The attack sounded reasonably scientific, Wyatt's opponent dismissing him as a deceitful character... or, at the very best, deluded.

Whatever the truth of the matter, I had to investigate this for myself. This would be my personal quest -- and I would disprove the claims of Ron Wyatt.

Perhaps I should state right here that in my heart was an earnest desire to learn the unfettered truth. I could hold on to my money and from an ivory tower glibly repeat the objections of his enemies. Or I could put my money where my mouth was: confront the man personally... investigate the allegations... and assess the so-called "evidence." I opted for the latter course.

Before even beginning to investigate Ron Wyatt's claim, I would have to satisfy myself on two points: first, that no other claim of discovery was actually authentic; and second, that historical records made Wyatt's claimed location plausible.

Wyatt had also made claims to some other important discoveries. He had claimed to have confirmed the remains of an old boat in the mountains of eastern Turkey, as well as chariot parts on the door of the Red Sea. The fact that he was claiming so much was a problem in my mind. These I would have to check out.

Ever skeptical, I preferred to believe only that which I could see with my own eyes. Therefore, in the course of investigating Ron Wyatt's Ark of the Covenant claim, it was logical that I and my team personally check into the man's other claims.

To hear Jonathan Gray's supporting stories, please click here. To read the presentation of T.V. Oommen, who took a tour led by Ron Wyatt in 1988 to an underground quarry known as Zedekiah's Cave (where the original tunnel entrance to the Ark cave was located), please go to http://www.biblediscoveries.com/

End Note: Having finished preparing the above, I start to ask these serious questions: Why didn't any of the chief priests and elders go check about the report of the birth of their Messiah in Bethlehem, only five miles away from Jerusalem, if they were not ignorant of the prophecy and if they were in doubt at the same time? Why did God have to bypass them and announce His Son's coming through ignorant shepherds and uncircumcised Gentiles the Maji?

Is history ironically repeating itself again now?

In the time of Messiah's first coming, the people of Israel missed the initial sign totally, and most sadly of all, some of them who ranked the highest even gave Him up into the hands of Romans in attempt to totally wipe Him out from the earth. Will this happen again to "Christians" when we are facing the second coming of Messiah? Is this the fulfillment of Jesus the Messiah's word:

"... when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?" (Luke 18:8)

You may say, "How could you make such a comparison when Christians do not need things outside to show and strengthen our faith inside? We have the Holy Spirit inside as the seal of our faith!" Good answer! But how come we keep missing the signs of His Second Coming? If this is not the proof of our little faith in Him, is this the proof that we do not want Him to come back so soon? Or never again?

Maybe we are so attached to the earthly things that we do not want our Lord to terminate or disturb them. Or maybe the devil has been so successful in making us regard Jesus' Second Coming as the END of the world that we are afraid of His coming again. No! His coming again does not mean the END of the world, but the START of new era in human history: the millenium reign of Christ on earth, the full manifestation of our inner peace on the surface of the renewed earth, and the coming of New Heaven and Earth afterwards...

"There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love." (1 John 4:18)

Should we fear the One Who went to such an extreme as to die for us on the cross in order to remove our tremblings before the Holy God?

Well, Joseph's brothers did fear before repenting of their act of giving him up into the hands of Egyptians, however, while they really repented of this after Joseph acted on purpose out of their expectations, Joseph embraced them and revealed to them His real identity! Now their fear was totally removed: this foreign governer is in fact their brother!!! (note: Joseph appeared to be younger than all of them but in fact he was the First Born of Rachel, the one Jacob really loved!)

May our prayers echo that of the old John: "Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!" (Rev. 22:20) May we say to the coming Lord: "Lord Jesus, we want you to be our governer, not the antichrists, not even the last antichrist!"