Ark Research Project:
Search for Noah's Ark

Ark Research Project Newsletter - July 1998

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ INTRODUCTION ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Why in the world should Noah's Ark be found? And what does it really mean if it is found? First and foremost, the discovery or revelation of the Ark means different things to different people. As you have seen from past newsletters, it means "justification" of the the bible's accuracy, it means "nothing" to true believers or the Doubting Thomas, it means "joy" or "elation" to others as they see the bible come alive, it means that the evolutionary theory needs to be modified. Here is an example and a quote from scripture:

"It sure would be nice to have MORE proof to show the unbelievers that one of Gods greatest miracles is truth and here is the Proof :-)" LT 6/10/98

"Luke 16:31 "And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead." (If the Ark is found today, scoffers will denounce it!)

For some Christians sitting on the fence, it may knock them off and maybe wake them up. Many of the people who correspond with us are faithful in God and His promises and the revelation of Noah's Ark may not affect them one way or the other.

But for those who doubt, I challenge them to study. Ignorance can blind and people seem to revel in their pride. At one time I felt this way. When I began my own studies on this subject, I soon saw things differently. It is the inner pride of man which makes him "self-confident" and "self-assured" in his way. Take a look a Job. When God helped Job see his pride, Job became humble and looked in awe at a mighty God.

Job 42:1-6 "Then Job answered the LORD, and said, I know that thou canst do every [thing], and [that] no thought can be withholden from thee. Who [is] he that hideth counsel without knowledge? therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not. Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me. I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor [myself], and repent in dust and ashes." KJV

Maybe, just maybe, "some" of this might happen. That is, the proud "doubting Thomas", may one day see the Ark --- and be inspired --- and be humbled by the Mighty Awesome God.

And evolution, oh beloved evolution, may have to be rethought. When viewing the awesome majesty of the Grand Canyon, thoughts of "5 million years in the making" may come to mind. Now, consider a flood of biblical proportions. In your mind's eye, picture the flat expanse of loosely-packed land which buries the Grand Canyon. As the massive gushing, turbulent flood waters recede and move about, the earth dries and a massive chasm is created. The Grand Canyon is created. Evolutionary scientist must add millions of years to the Grand Canyon to make slow moving, meandering river slowly cut and gouge a canyon. This simply is not necessary if a world wide flood occurred. This is one prized piece of the "evolutionary web".

Finally, if we believe we are in the last days, then the Ark stands as a witness. Here it is described by my name sake, Matthew:

Matthew 24:37-39 "But as the days of Noe [were], so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." KJV

Ponder these things and let me know what you think.

Here are some Web resources to help your study:

http://www.tagnet.org/anotherviewpoint/ http://www.arksearch.com/naevolu.htm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ YOUR THOUGHTS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Words of encouragement, shared interest and enthusiasm are great ways to share your thoughts with us. However, due to the volume of email, it is nearly impossible to "personally" respond to all letters. If you would like a response from your email, please let us know and we will try our best to do so accordingly. Here are a few letters straight and mostly unedited from you:

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"I just wanted to express my joy when I found your web site quite by accident. I've sent your URL to some Christian Friends" JM 6/14/98

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"Wow,

I just got through reading some of your site, and I must say... 'Wow!'

How enlightening and it was. You've certainly got your work cut out for you! ...

I'd actually like to help you in any way I can, whether it be in prayer or in letter writing. I go to school in ... and we've certainly got a lot of resources up there. If there's ANYTHING that you think I can do... let me know.

God bless you and yours," J 6/12/98

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"Just visited ICR web site as you suggested. All I can say is that if you believe in fairy tales this is a good place to start. Their is very little REAL, provable or, scientific information that they have to offer. It's full of assumptions, vague theories and sometimes nonsense! The Christian community better come up with something better than that to make me a young earth creationist. Some of their stories make Greek mythology sound good!!!!! Sorry for the bad rap but, these people are truly pathetic. And, yes I still believe in the Messiah, the Lamb of God who paid for my mistakes and the Creator God who created EVERYTHING including All the strange creatures we know NOTHING about except that they existed at one time!!! Well, if we never meet, I see you in the next life when things will be a lot clearer. :)" No name 6/19/98

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"I am thankful to our Lord that He has risen up people like you to promote the truth, reach the ignorant, confirm the uncertain, and encourage the believers. It is apparent that you have devoted a considerable amount of time, energy and talent to this effort. Thank you. I especially enjoyed the "Hailstone" article. It really gave me a lot to think about." V 7/1/98

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"Our church has been doing studies on the end times and recently the significance of Noah's Ark. We are thrilled about your upcoming expedition and we shall be in prayer that all things will work to the will of God. God is doing mighty things in these days and the discovery of Noah's Ark, we believe, will be an unveiling of God's power and a testimony to the unbelievers of the world. Thank you all for your courage and for your obedience ." A&JK 6/25/98

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ FROM THE DIRECTOR ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Lord first called me to find the Ark in June of 1991. At that time, I was not sure of just how to proceed. After several years, it became evident to me that the Lord wanted me to have my own team and be its director. I then began to outline the steps I felt had to be accomplished. The first step, was to assemble a team of competent, committed Christian scientists and technicians. If we were called of the Lord to do this project, then I wanted it accomplished with the the use of the best personnel, equipment, and technology.

Last November, the last remaining member of our team was secured. Step one was accomplished. Step two was to secure tax exemption for our organization. Thus, the Ark Research Project was born. A tax exempt permit, as a qualified 501-c3 organization, was issued by the IRS on February 17 of this year. Step two was accomplished. Step three in my outline to the Lord, was to make contact with Turkish officials to secure the necessary permits. I am not at liberty to discuss this publicly but just to say that this phase is proceeding very nicely and hopefully in a future issue of the newsletter, I will be able to present step three in detail.

Our first official fund raising appearance will be on Cornerstone TV out of Pittsburgh, Pa. I will be appearing on their "Getting Together" program on July 27 at 8:00 PM. This is a talk show format where I will be presenting the proposed expedition to Turkey in August of 1999. The director will be taping five 30 minute TV programs to be used in their "Origin Series."

Following the Pittsburgh meetings, the director will be traveling to First Alliance Church in Lexington, Kentucky (July 31-Aug 2) to present a creation seminar. If any of you are in the area, I would like to invite you to come by as I would like to meet you. I will be presenting an extensive slide program on Friday and Saturday night. Sunday night, I will close with a slide presentation on the flood. I will be showing a scale model of Noah's Ark and recently enhanced photos taken by the Air Force in 1949. The enhancement by our special team photographer shows surprising results not seen before or on any of the web sites.

As director, I would ask you to pray for this ministry. We need divine protection and intervention. If any of you feel led to contribute financially to our cause, we would be happy to receive your tax deductible gift. In return for your gift, we will send you a tax deductible receipt and a nice 9" x 3½" black and white photo montage of the Air Force photo of 1949. You may send your contributions to:

                                Ark Research Project
                                PO Box 4312
                                Lynchburg, VA 24502

The director wishes to thank you readers of the newsletter for your prayers, support, and helpful comments.

Prof. James L. Hall

Director

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ OTHER NEWS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CIA Declassified Photos

Take a look at http://edcwww.cr.usgs.gov/Webglis/glisbin/search.pl?DISP to see some these photos. Very clear images of Mount Ararat are available but the resolution is so low that an image the size of the Ark would only appear as a couple of pixels [dots]. However, pass us a word if you see some thing of value. We are still awaiting official word from the CIA and State Department regarding final answer to the FOIA requests.

Other Expeditions

There are teams forming an expedition August 1998. As I receive information, I will post their efforts here.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ LAST THOUGHT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In his book, "Just Build the Ark and the Animals Will Come", David Heller asks the question, "How did Noah first discover that the waters had dried up enough for a landing?"

"God left a sign that said: READY FOR LANDING, NOAH. PARK THE BOAT RIGHT HERE. GOD.", Jeb, age 9

"A rainbow was shaped like an arrow pointed to where the land was.", Emilio, age 7

"Whenever the ship bumped into the shore and knocked everybody down, then it was time to land.", LeToya, age 11

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE WEB ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Most of the information presented here about Ark Research Project is available at our Web site:

http://www.arksearch.com/arp

In time, we plan to revise this address to reflect the organizational name. For now, it provides a means to allow the world to see the efforts of the team and organization.

OTHER WEB SITES

The Search For Noah's Ark by Matthew Kneisler http://www.arksearch.com

Noah's Ark Home Page by BJ Corbin http://www.noahsarksearch.com

The Noah's Ark Project by Douglas Peterson http://user.mc.net/dougp/noahs_ark/

Noah's Ark Website And Shipyard by David O'Neil http://www.geocities.com/ResearchTriangle/6039/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE PURPOSE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ark Research Project was an officially recognized United States organization in February 1998, when it received non-profit tax-exempt status from the IRS. The organizational purpose is to, "conduct research into locating the legendary Noah's Ark of the Bible. The revelation of the existence of such an archaeological and religious object would be of utmost scientific, religious, and educational value to the people of the United States and the World."

The Ark Research Project team is planing an expedition to Mount Ararat in northeastern Turkey in August 1999. Team members are listed below.

James Hall, Director (profhall@cwix.com)
James Lee, Business Manager
Mark Jenkins, Video Director
Robert Tamplet, Aeronautical Technician (btamplet@visi.net)
B.J. Corbin, Consultant & Previous Explorer (bjcorbin@beachin.net)
Robert DeVaul, Photographer
Matthew Kneisler, Technical Engineer (mkneisler@arksearch.com)
G. Wayne Bonsell, Security Consultant (gwbonsell@redrose.net)
David King, Technician Assistant (dking@tbci.org)

There are others who have contributed as periodic consultants. Their invaluable help and service are greatly appreciated. Special thanks to: John McIntosh, John Morris, Ray Anderson, and Jim Hays.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ABOUT THIS NEWSLETTER ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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