Posted on 12/12/2018 10:06:32 AM PST by SeekAndFind
The search for the Ark of the Covenant has led to renewed speculation that the biblical artifact may be hidden inside a church in Ethiopia, but historians have pushed back against the theory.
Archaeologists have searched for centuries for clues and hints of where the Ark, containing the stone tablets bearing the Ten Commandments given to Moses by God, could be.
The BASE Institute has sent research teams to Ethiopia, Egypt, Israel and Rome and it believes the evidence points to Ethiopia.
Although it has not found the actual Ark, it stated, "As unusual as this may sound, the BASE team has uncovered compelling evidence that the Ark may well have been spirited up the Nile River to an eventual resting place in the remote highlands of ancient Kush–modern-day Ethiopia."
Some claim that the artifact lies specifically inside the Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion in Aksum, Ethiopia.
Monks serving as guardians do not allow historians and archaeologists to come investigate. The chapel is said to be "off-limits to all but a few members of the Ethiopian Christian church hierarchy, hindering any independent confirmation of their authenticity.”
Fueling the speculation are old accounts by late British scholar and historian Edward Ullendorff, who claimed to have seen the Ark inside during World War II.
Live Science spoke last week with Tudor Parfitt, who was also a professor at the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies, and heard Ullendorff's claim firsthand.
Parfitt, now a professor of religion at Florida International University, clarified that what Ullendorff saw in 1941, when he was a British army officer leading forces into Ethiopia, was a copy, and not the actual Ark.
Furthermore, he clarified that Ullendorff never actually believed it was the real Ark, but kept the pretense due to his work in the African country.
"He went to the Church of Mary of Zion with a couple of soldiers," Parfitt said, but Ullendorff was refused entry by the guards, who said the church is holy.
"He said, 'Well, I'm sorry, but I want to go in,'" and "he did go in with his soldiers behind him. They couldn't do anything to stop him," Parfitt explained.
"What he saw was what you find in any Ethiopian church, which is a model of the Ark of the Covenant," the professor stated.
Ullendorff privately admitted at the time that the artifact “didn't differ in any way from many arks he had seen in other churches in Ethiopia," and that it wasn’t the original biblical Ark.
Since Ullendorf continued working in Ethiopia after the war and became a personal friend of the emperor of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie, he did not want to hurt the people’s feelings and claim that the Ark inside the Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion was not the real one.
Ullendorff made such an admission in a Los Angeles Times article in 1992 but hoped that Ethiopian authorities would not become aware of it. His supposed claim to have seen the real Ark was not challenged in Ethiopia itself.
In other research, archaeologists working at Shiloh in the West Bank found 10 pre-First Temple pottery jugs in July 2017, which they said could point in the direction of the Ark of the Covenant.
As the Bible describes in the Psalms and in the book of Jeremiah, Shiloh was destroyed when the Israelites were defeated by the Philistines, who stole the Ark.
"This is a very exciting find. The destruction could have been caused by the Philistine invasion and the fire that raged [at Shiloh]," Hanina Hizami, coordination officer for archaeology at the Civil Administration, said at the time.
“I don’t believe it was lost at all. Josiah stashed it in a secret place prepared by Solomon, on or near the Temple.”
That apparently fits with Jewish tradition and is what a number of archaeologists think is possible. Somewhere under the Temple Mount itself is a possibility.
True as the Jews still live under the Old Testament...as they rejected Christ and that is how they are fooled into accepting the Anti Christ..
It was before the coming of Christ as now its not needed...
I've seen that theory. It's pretty widespread. That's all about when a bunch of religious people become convinced that a man is God.
That sure wouldn't be the Jews. Yikes where do people get this stuff. A total reality disconnect is required to believe that one.
Well its not a theory as they did in fact reject Christ as the Jews are still looking for their Savior to come..And the Satan will bring a strong delusion on peoples of the Earth to accept him, matter of fact you are seeing it now..Many,many people today reject God and no matter how much you try and show them the delusion has them blinded.
that’s what the Bible says.
The curse of Oak Island?
Still missing the point the Jews have not accepted Jesus (Except Messianic Jews) as their Savior and just being a good person will not get you into Heaven..
We’ll see.
No We won’t as I won’t be here....
“Ark of the Covenant inside a church in Ethiopia?Historian’s claim of having seen the Ark disputed”
of course it’s being disputed: everyone has seen the pictures of the secret government WWII-era warehouse where THE Ark was being stored along with a bazillion other Arks ...
until I see the photoshop, I won’t believe it
He did not see the Ark, if he had, he would now be blinder than a bat.
Stephen Bishop is more known for his song used in “Tootsie”
“It Might Be You” - co-written by Dave Grusin and “the Bergmans”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9AVoIROBt0
My secret Jewish decoder ring is clearly not working.
The Ark of the Covenant has no relevance except as a part of history...God made a New Covenant through the Blood of Jesus.....worrying about the old Ark now is akin to eschewing the foods that were “unclean” in the Old Covenant (which God told Peter were now clean and tasty to eat) and maybe going on a circumcision crusade to “please God”.....ignoring His incredible gift and revering that which He declared no longer valid.
I read it. What a bunch of offal.
So I suppose the Christian Post would have us vote for Herself???! Are you kidding me???!!!
The latest polling data from The Barna Group shows that the majority of the U.S. still claim to be Christian but only a very small percentage of those believe the Bible to be true.
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