Nexus - 0406 - New Times Magazine-pages

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FAILED ATTEMPTS TO PHOTOGRAPH THE ARK In the following years, Wyatt made sever- al other trips back to the site, armed with cameras. If he couldn't retrieve the Ark of the Covenant, he could at least secure pho- tographic evidence to confirm its existence. He attempted to photograph the Ark by rigging up the camera to a long pole which he inserted through the opening at the top of the stone case. First, he used a Polaroid camera, but the photos turned out foggy. Next, he brought in a 35-mm camera, but again the photos turned out foggy. Finally he used a video camera, but still the images were fogged. The photos were taken looking over the shoulder of one cherub toward the other. Unfortunately, in each attempt the devel- oped image showed a strange effect. In front of the cherub (which Ron could see clearly) there was a ‘supernatural’ golden mist obscuring the view. THE ARK UNEARTHED Being a religious man, Ron Wyatt concluded that he simply With Rafat's reaction still throbbing in his head, Ron Wyatt pur- _ was not supposed to take any photographs. nocaly chacbad hic wateh Tha tima uc 7 NN am: tha data Ron Wyatt, exploring the narrow tunnels and caves inside Mount Moriah. THE ARK UNEARTHED With Rafat's reaction still throbbing in his head, Ron Wyatt pur- posely checked his watch. The time was 2.00 pm; the date, Wednesday 6 January 1982. With only 45 centimetres (18 inches) clearance, Ron lay on his stomach and inched forward with nothing but the flashlight in his hand. The beam of light shone forward over the huge pile of rocks; then something shiny caught his eye. Ron began moving the rocks away, one at a time. It was slow, tedious work, but soon he found planks of dry-rotted wood just under the rocks. Beneath the planks he found the remains of ani- mal skins so affected by dry rot that when he touched them they turned to powder. The animal skins were laid over a golden table with raised moulding around its side. The decorative moulding depicted an alternating pattern of a bell and a pomegranate. Ron's heart was racing. He knew that he was in a chamber with objects from King Solomon's Temple! With adrenaline pumping through his veins and with mounting anticipation, Wyatt scanned the chamber with his torch, where- upon he noticed a crack in the ceiling with an accompanying deposit of a mysterious black substance. Slowly and painfully, Ron crawled over the rocks to the other end of the chamber where he saw a stone case extending through the rocks. It was a thin-walled case, similar to those used in ancient times for storing objects. The flat stone top was within eight to 10 centimetres (three to four inches) of the ceiling and it was cracked completely in two. Ron moved the smaller section of the cover, creating an opening into the stone case. Although it was too close to the ceiling to look inside, he now knew what must be in that stone case. With that instant realisa- tion, Ron passed out. It was 2.45 pm when he came to, and only 45 minutes since he had entered the chamber. Ron Wyatt did not report his experience to anyone at that time. His mind was whirring with all that had transpired. He needed time to think. The plan had always been to find the Ark of the Covenant and to retrieve it—but that now appeared to be an impossible task. OFFICIAL ISRAELI RESPONSE TO THE DISCOVERY Wyatt made several more trips into the chamber housing the Temple artefacts. He determined the chamber's dimensions to be 6.6 metres (22 feet) long and 3.6 metres wide (12 feet) at one end. One side follows the line of the cliff-face, narrowing the chamber in one corner. The height of the chamber is about 2.4 metres (eight feet), and the ceiling fairly flat. Ron Wyatt eventually reported what he had found to the Israeli authorities. Perhaps not able to believe what he had told them, or perhaps recognising the problems that could arise were it to be made known, they asked him not to tell anyone about this discov- ery. Alas, it was too late, for Ron confessed that he had already told a few people. Realising that "what is done is done", they asked him not to reveal any more details than he had already shared. For this reason, the information that is presented from this point on cannot be too specific in certain areas, nor can some vital evidence be published. Some time later, Wyatt was able to present the authorities with an artefact from the excavation. What he presented convinced them that he had indeed found some items from the First Temple. In 1990, the Israeli authorities decided to test public reaction to an announcement of the 'possible discovery' of the Ark of the Covenant and to a ‘possible building’ of anew Temple. The result was a bloody clash and many deaths. The morning of Monday 8 October 1990 will survive in history as the Temple Mount Massacre. Eleven Israeli worshippers and eight policemen were injured, while 21 Arabs were shot dead and 125 seriously injured in a clash between Zionists and Arab Moslems. Between Jewish extremists and nervous Moslems, the Ark of the Covenant is political dynamite. THE STRANGE BLACK SUBSTANCE On one of the later expeditions, Wyatt focused his attention on the two cracks in the chamber—one in the ceiling and one in the lid of the stone case—and found them to be in line. He had noticed the crack in the ceiling and its black substance deposit on his first visit to the cave. It almost seemed as if the crack had 58 + NEXUS OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 1997