RON
WYATT
ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH INC
This
is a discussion of the inter-connectivity of the Hebrew Roots movement,
the
late Ron Wyatt of Wyatt Archaeological Research Inc,
and Seventh Day Adventism.
We have seen
the videos of the Wyatt Archaeological Research Inc,
and we place a 100%
disclaimer on the organization. We
only give you quotations of other people on Ron Wyatt and his claims:
SDA
"Scholar" on Wyatt
(This man spent time with Wyatt on site) To
this day I cannot give a rational account for the extreme misguidedness that Wyatt
revealed. What was happening in his head? His participation in our group worship
times had left all of us in no doubt about his sincerity and his devotion to Scripture.
He was a competent Bible scholar. He
was a brother. Yet he had misled us terribly, and had offered no words of regret
or apology or explanation. I have reviewed the whole story many times since then,
and am convinced that the church administrator was right: Wyatt might be mistaken,
but he himself believed that what he had originally shared was true. |
From
medical school I remember hearing of a rare state of mind, with a long Latin name,
that led its victims to concoct marvelously detailed accounts of events that were
pure fabrications, yet which the story-teller himself had come to believe were
absolutely true. I am inclined to believe that Wyatt was a florid example of this
disorder. He was not a deliberate liar, a fraud. And some of his observations
had merit. But I am convinced that some of his "discoveries" were matters which
underwent transcription in his mind, and he came to believe as true certain ideas
and observations that in fact were his own inventions.
This opinion became confirmed in my mind some time after the Jerusalem expedition.
Wyatt was trying to convince everyone of the validity of his site for Noah's Ark.
And in trying to convince me, he described some extraordinary details of the rock-and-earth
formation that he believed gives us an outline of the Ark. He told me of probing
with a tool into the earthen mound, and breaking into a cavity in which he could
see--actually see--the remains of corroded metal "brackets" that he presumed were
part of the Ark's construction. This description caught my attention--all of it.
If Wyatt's report was factual, then we should get serious about his site for the
Ark. But was Wyatt a trustworthy observer and reporter? Months later I followed
up on this story, referring to my long-time friend John Baumgardner, who had personally
visited Wyatt's Ark site, and had subjected the whole area to minute scrutiny,
including a survey with penetrating radar. When I described to John the eyewitness
report of Wyatt, he simply laughed and dismissed the whole thing. He assured me,
beyond any doubt, that the Ark site under study revealed no cavitation as described
by Wyatt, and that the description given to me was entirely a fabrication.
So there you have it.
I am a long-time member of the S.D.A. fraternity, and have a high regard for Scripture
and for handling its text in a responsible way. I am embarrassed that Wyatt, who
identified himself with my community of faith, should turn out to be an unreliable
witness to important archeological data. I cannot put any confidence in his opinions,
his assertions, or his declared eyewitness reports. Yet the man I knew, now at
rest, was truly a man of The Word. He knew his Bible, and I heard him give impressive
expositions of some difficult passages. In full verbal flight he could be eloquent.
I expect his Bible study class was a good one. Yet he was sadly flawed. From close
personal acquaintance, I cling to the belief that he was sincere, at the same
time as he was woefully mistaken. It was through some quirk of mental dysfunction
that he came himself to believe as true certain facts and stories that were his
own inventions.
I must add one further cautionary note. Wyatt was a persuasive talker, and succeeded
in firing the imaginations of many good people in church pews. But I do not know
of any S.D.A. scholar who has given him serious favorable attention. He is an
embarrassment to them. I have had some correspondence with Jim Pinkoski,* who
was an ardent supporter. I have had no contact with Jonathan Gray; my friends
and colleagues in Australia describe him as a publicity man, perhaps devoted as
much to profit as to truth. Wyatt's claims have been reviewed and critiqued exhaustively
by Drs.Colin and Russell Standish, who published a book on these matters, and
also by Dr. David Pennington. These critics are in Australia; they all conclude
that his claims and conclusions are in serious error. _____________________________ Here
is an example of the urban legend mentality Ron inspired, and his claims that
angels helped him: According
to Ron, the Ark of the Covenant will remain in its current location in Jeremiah's
Grotto under Calvary, but the tablets of stone will be brought out with the video
that was taken showing the four angels lifting the Mercy Seat with the attached
Cherubim, while Ron Wyatt took out the tablets of stone. Ron told me the mercy
seat weighed 800 pounds. The tablets of stone and the video will not come out
until the tribulation period, so hopefully we will be gone. Ron was told by the
angels that if he remained faithful, he would participate in the revealing of
the tablets of stone and the video. I
suspect that Ron will be resurrected with the Firstfruits and do this. I would
certainly like to assist him in doing this, but so would lots of Christians. I
think we shall see what happens very soon. I think the 144,000 Jewish Firstfruits
will come around as a result of the Ark and the Tablets of Stone. We are certainly
on the verge of some tremendous prophetic events.
Here is another discussion
of Ron's findings: Another
American claims he discovered the Ark on 6th January 1982, but the Israeli Government
ordered its whereabouts kept secret! Ron Wyatt, excavated at the cliff face of
Golgotha. He claims he found three holes, 13 inches square, and three feet deep,
cut into the rock. He claims these were sockets for Roman crosses. Some coins
found, come from the era prior to 130AD. He claims to have found a large round
stone, 13'2" across, weighing several tons, which he claims fits the opening of
"The Garden Tomb" nearby. The most amazing claim however, concerns a crack in
the rock within the central post-hole. This leads deep within the rock. After
four years of excavation, a small entrance to a chamber underneath was discovered.
The chamber measured 22 feet deep by 14 feet wide and 8 feet high. Inside he claims
were the ancient Temple furniture covered with skins and held down with rocks.
He believed this was the hidden treasure of Jeremiah. Behind it was the Ark of
the Covenant!
Ron Wyatt says he took samples of dried blood from it. Jewish authorities were
called from the Department of Antiquities. One collapsed and was taken to hospital.
A second died. A third was murdered that night. Israeli Authorities then sealed
the chamber because it could cause Orthodox Jews to want to build the Third Temple,
could lead to the blowing up of the Dome of the Rock, and start a holy war. This
supposed discovery has more thrills than Indiana Jones!
Ron Wyatt produces plans that place the Ark of the Covenant, directly under that
crack in the rock on the centre post-hole where Jesus was crucified. From His
pierced side water and blood flowed down. Moses used to sprinkle the Mercy Seat
with water and blood! The scraping of the blood from the Ark beneath was supposedly
tested in an American laboratory, revealed no X chromosome, showing that the bearer
of the blood had no human father! The bearer had a virgin birth! He claims the
blood dripped on the Mercy Seat of the Covenant Box hidden in the cave below the
place of crucifixion! This is better than Speilberg! I believe this is fundamentalist
fantasy. I do not believe this happened! It is good theology but I suspect bad
archaeology and untrue history. prophezine.com
on Wyatt: Ron
Wyatt I recently received this email from an extremely reputable source and have
decide to remove the links to Ron Wyatt's web site.
I did do some research earlier into his claims to have found Noah's Ark, the Ark
of the Covenant, and other important things. What I found was quite seriously
disturbing. I spoke with Dr John Baumgardner, a reputable geophysicist at Los
Alamos National Laboratory, who I know personally, and who had accompanied Wyatt
on expeditions to search for Noah's Ark and the Ark of the Covenant. Baumgardner
strongly warned me that Wyatt is a complete fraud, and that Wyatt's claim to have
found the site of Noah's Ark is fallacious. Baumgardner studied the site and says
it is a natural geological formation. Even so, Wyatt still claims that Baumgardner
supports him. Geologist Dr Andrew Snelling has also studied Wyatt's Noah evidence
quite extensively and is of the same opinion as Baumgardner. His research can
be found at: http://answersingenesis.org/docs/1154.asp
Baumgardner
also accompanied Wyatt to Jerusalem in search of the Ark of the Covenant, and
says there was nothing at the supposed site, Wyatt's claims are not true. Other
evidence seems to suggest that the Ark of the Covenant is or was in Ethiopia.
Randall Price answers a
question on Wyatt: Q.
We had a man named Ron Wyatt who came to our city and claimed that he had discovered
Noah�s Ark and even the Ark of the Covenant? Is this for real?
A. Ron Wyatt, who has been telling his tales of discovering Noah�s Ark, the
chariots of Pharaoh, the pillars of Solomon, the true Mt. Sinai, the tomb of the
Patriarchs, Sodom & Gomorrah, the place of Christ�s crucifixion, and the Ark
of the Covenant for many years, has been documented as an archaeological fraud.
Both former �friends� as well as professional archaeologists in his own denomination
(Seventh- Day Adventist) have published detailed refutations of all of his �discoveries.�
Rather than
go into such details here we refer those interested in the documentation against
Wyatt to request a free packet of papers by archaeologists in Wyatt�s denomination
from: Dr. David Merling, Associate Director & Curator, Institute of Archaeology,
Horn Archaeological Museum, Andrews University, Berrien Springs, MI 49104-0990
(E-Mail: hornmusm@andrews.edu). Extensive examinations of his most extravagant
claims may be found on the Internet at: www.tentmaker.org/WAR/ (and especially
the following at this site: http://www.tentmaker.org/WAR/Fenner.html http://www.tentmaker.org/WAR/BaumgardnerLetter.html
http://www.tentmaker.org/WAR/HasNoahsArkBeenFound1.html
http://www.tentmaker.org/WAR/HasNoahsArkBeenFound2.html
http://www.icr.org/pubs/imp/imp-231.htm
http://www.answersingenesis.org/
http://www.biblerevelations.org/ronwyatt/letter02.htm
http://www.mysite.xtra.co.nz/~Papanui
Yet, despite
the fact that Wyatt has never submitted verifiable evidence for his claims to
competent authorities, his books, video tapes and lectures in churches and at
hotel meeting rooms (with the Prophecy Club) have won him a fervent following
among less discerning Christians. Concerning the claims that most excite his audiences
- his supposed discovery of Noah�s Ark and the Ark of the Covenant - we may
briefly state the following. His Noah�s Ark site had been examined and long
abandoned by Ark hunters and geologists as a natural formation before Wyatt and
others came to the spot, and it has continued to be proven to be such (even though
the Turks gave it credibility for the sake of tourism). There are eight other
smaller formations like it in the area, so if this is Noah�s Ark there must
have been a fleet of them! As
to the Ark of the Covenant, Wyatt says that he found it along with the Table of
Shewbread, the Golden Altar of Incense, and the Menorah (a seven-branched candlelabra)
which stood in the ancient Temple, in a cave inside the hill called �Gordon�s
Calvary� in eastern Jerusalem. Wyatt even says he scrapped blood off of the
Mercy Seat of the Ark, had it analyzed and found it to have half the normal number
of human chromosomes (therefore, the blood of the Virgin born Christ). He further
says that the Ark was positioned in such a way so that when Christ was crucified
His blood fell through a hole in the cliff above and landed on the Mercy Seat
(thus fulfilling the atonement typified by this object). While such a story thrills
audiences, �Gordon�s Calvary� cannot be the place of Christ�s crucifixion.
It has no archaeological support, whereas the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, identified
with Christ�s crucifixion since the 4th century A.D. has much). �Gordon�s
Calvary� at the site of the Protestant �Garden Tomb� is part of a complex
of First Temple tombs (about 600 years before Christ), but the New Testament says
Jesus tomb was �newly hewn� ().Wyatt�s �discoveries� have been rejected
by real archaeologists not because, as Wyatt contends, they are jealous, or lack
faith, but because his stories are unsubstantiated by facts. If facts are the
basis for our faith (Christ actually died and rose again), then it is no lack
of faith to demand of those with incredible claims that they be supported with
evidence. The bottom line is: Wyatt has given us nothing to believe, so believe
nothing he says!
Wyatt's Archaeological Research Inc is now under new management since Ron's entry
into whatever condition we find Ellen G. White. We make no further comment on
the present management, but WAR is still not approved here. The video content,
and the alleged discoveries, still carry forth the heritage of Ron Wyatt.
LETTER FROM
A READER: I
just read your article on Ron Wyatt, we were sent his video years ago by my SDA
brother in law. It was a simple matter of whether or not what he said lined up
with the Bible. He states that the children of Israel crossed over not in Egypt
at the Red Sea but the gulf of Aqaba. The Bible states differently than Ron Wyatt,
he was simply a heretic according to the Bible. In Exodus 14:2 the children of
Israel were to camp between Migdol and the sea over against Baalzephon etc. In
Jer. 44:1 Migdol is mentioned to be in Egypt not in Arabia. Also note in Numbers
33:5-7 the number of times that Israel "pitched" their tents, that is when they
stopped in their traveling. Once in v 5,6,7, that is, three days and the third
day they were in Migdol. Simply follow their route on a map noting the locations
mentioned in Ex. 33:5-7 and you can see where they crossed. Exodus 13:17 says
that God did not want them going the way of the Philistines, which is the way
they would have to go if they went around or over the top of the Red Sea to go
down and cross the gulf of Aqaba. V 18 says "But God led the people about, through
the way of the wilderness of the Red sea..." There
are more things to disprove Wyatt's claims but if even this one is contrary to
the Bible he must be lableled as wrong to say the least. LETTER
FROM A READER: I
wish I could answer this lady's questions better. But, her questions and observations
point up the demonic aspect to Ron Wyatt and his prophetic claims:
Dear Brother
Steve,
I have something to ask you and perhaps you can answer me. Regarding this Ron
Wyatt, I too believe he was a fraud when he claimed to find The Ark of The Covenant
or experiencing demonic visions as did his beloved Ellen White. There are some
things I want definite answers to. Perhaps you can help me. He professed that
an angel took the l0 commandments out of the Ark and set them on a shelf! This
does not sound to me what an angel of The LORD Jesus would do for the 10 commandments
were to stay inside the Ark....the Ark being a spiritual picture of Jesus was
later described by Paul in his writings. Also,
where are the lab tech reports regarding the blood results? Do they exist? Also,
what became of the blood specimen that he professed to believe was The Blood of
our LORD? Surely he would have kept it if he had really believed it was The Blood
of Jesus. I
have also read 2 versions of what the angel was supposed to have said to him about
the end days. What the angel said does not settle well with me in my spirit. Exactly
what did the "angel" say to him? In one version, the "angel" went so far as to
refer to the sda's heretical Sunday law that would be the mark of the beast. I
need to know EXACTLY what the "angel" said. I
also am like you for I know that proofs, even if real, do not save souls. It takes
the convicting power of The Holy Ghost to draw a person to Jesus just as Jesus
said. Proofs never worked in Jesus' day in converting the Pharasees, etc. I just
wonder with this likely being demonic in origin, if the devil already has in mind
a plan to incorporate this "find" in his deceptions for the last days. He makes
statues bleed now in false signs and wonders, tears on paintings, etc. Well, I
have written more than I had planned to. Please answer my questions at your convenience.
I am particularly
interested in the lab technicians testimony relating to the specimen. God has
said in His Word that He does nothing without showing it to His prophets first
and there is nothing I know of in The Word that would confirm that what Wyatt
found was Truth.....and God also said Himself that in the mouths of 2 or 3 witnesses
every word would be established. I don't know of anything in The Word that would
confirm as a witness any of this...the "angel's" words and the fact that the l0
commandments were removed from the Ark and placed on a shelf troubles my spirit.
I never
want to be unbelieving nor do I wish to be a heresy hunter but as the days come
to the end, The Bible warned us that damnable doctines and doctrines would become
worse and worse in The Church.
Thanks for everything.
Enjoyed your article and learned some things.
May
Jesus bless you and your work for Him and His Kingdom.
Sincerely in The LORD
Jesus,
Bonita ______________ Later
she wrote:
I did, last night, find part of what I was looking for re: the
ark that Ron professed to find and what I found alone discounts what he said about
all of this. I found it in Exodus as God explains EXPLICITLY how to make the Ark.
When one reads the specific instructions by God and then goes to the drawing that
Ron made of his find, one sees it could not be the actual Ark for it was not made
as God HIMSELF had specified! Please check it out for yourself! Oh, the graciousness
and goodness and mercy and grace of our Father to give us His Word and give us
The Holy Spirit to lead us into all truths. As
to the Ark of the Covenant,
there is no future for it in the Kingdom of Messiah:
Jeremiah
3:12 Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, thou backsliding
Israel, saith the LORD; and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you: for
I am merciful, saith the LORD, and I will not keep anger for ever.
13 Only
acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God,
and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have
not obeyed my voice, saith the LORD.
14 Turn, O backsliding children, saith
the LORD; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two
of a family, and I will bring you to Zion:
15 And I will give you pastors
according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.
16 And it shall come to pass, when ye be multiplied and increased in the
land, in those days, saith the LORD, they shall say no more, The ark of the covenant
of the LORD: neither shall it come to mind: neither shall they remember it; neither
shall they visit it; neither shall that be done any more.
17 At that time
they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the LORD; and all the nations shall be
gathered unto it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk
any more after the imagination of their evil heart. So,
where is the ark anyway? Revelation
11:19 And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple
the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings,
and an earthquake, and great hail.
LINKS:
Read
My Personal Account of a Discovery Very Similar to the One Above
See
our page on the Seventh Day Adventist Heresy Very
good discussions at this forum-- Many useful links Sermon
Debunking Ark Theology today:
http://www.wesleymission.org.au/ministry/sermons/25apr99.html Genesis
Ministries posts Andews Snelling on Wyatt:
http://answersingenesis.org/docs/1154.asp
Here is a yo-yo who
thinks Ron Wyatt was chosen of God to
"Sit in the Seat of Moses"
and give us latter day revelation:
http://www.pinkoski.com/aserious.html
http://www.pinkoski.com/harry.htm
This
SDA kook in awe of Ron Wyatt's Ark of the Covenant legend Sabbath
Keepers Promotional site:
http://members.aol.com/tron686/newsbites.html Brazen
Seventh Day Adventist connections of Ron Wyatt:
http://www.biblerevelations.org/ronwyatt/in_defense_of_ron_wyatt.htm
Professional
Level Forum Revealing the Quackery of Wyatt's Discoveries WAR
at WAR Connections The
Blood of Jesus discovered by Ron Wyatt?
You may want to copy this page
before it is trashed. Our
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