Newsletter from Christian Leaders & Scholars

Volume 1, Issue 2

August 14, 2011

Greetings,

As the sun set this evening in Australia, NAMI premiered a three hour documentary about their discovery to a sold-out audience in the large concert hall of the Sydney Opera House. We are looking forward to learning how actual pictures from inside what seems likely to have been Noah's Ark and the miraculous account of this discovery impacted those in attendance.

Some of you may have linked through my last newsletter to the trailer (click on trailer in right hand column) for the documentary. It depicts the response of three professors and seminary officials who witnessed some of this video footage when it was shown last April to a private audience in Charlotte, NC. (Their identities in the right hand column).

Those looking forward to the scientific analysis of this discovery may be disappointed that it is being preceded by this dramatic cinematic showing. However disappointing to the scientific community, we are fortunate to have the discovery of this artifact so well documented. It may in fact be the best documented of all major scientific discoveries for the simple reason that it occurred as the result of a filming project on this mountain. Regardless of what some have declared, Media Evangelism, the organization that created this documentary did not go to Mount Ararat in search of Noah's Ark. Aside from a few scientific and travel organizations, they are one of the few outside groups ever to visit this mountain who were not searching for the Ark!

What may seem incredible to many are the providential preservation, concealing, and timely revelation of this vessel. How did a wooden vessel of such great size manage to survive the ravages of time? How has the precise location of this giant artifact been concealed from so many Ark explorers who have searched this very mountain? Why its discovery by a filming company with a mission of end-time evangelism? I have even more to ask: why did this happen in the very year I publish my 20-year investigation of Noah's Flood and how did I become so quickly connected to its discoverers?

These providential events transcend and confound naturalistic thinking, but that is just what this discovery challenges in far more dramatic fashion. As I point out in Part II of The Archaeological Evidence of Noah's Flood (see links below), the acts of the God of the Bible transcend the ordinary order of the world. He is not the remote, transcendent God of the philosophers but the personal and living God who creates history- and offers us a future!

This documentary will soon be brought to audiences in the United Sates. We are making plans for a Charlotte showing to be followed in other American cities. We note that even most Christians prefer these showings in public and secular arenas. That will certainly occur as more of the public here in the United States become aware of this discovery. In the meantime, we are looking for churches that may want to host these showings.

If you want to be one of the first to see this historic showing, please let us know simply by replying to this email. Also, let us know how many others (from your family, church, or group) may want to join you. Would your ministry, church, or you as an individual be interested in assisting or participating in the hosting these events?

Regards to you all,

Philip Williams

New recipients

If this is your first Christian Leaders & Scholars Newsletter, please take a look at last week's introductory newsletter.

In this issue

Documentary Trailer

Noah and the Apocalypse

The Responses

Give trailer time to download

Trailer of NAMI's documentary
Some North Carolina connections

A premier on the other side of the world about a discovery in eastern Turkey by a Hong Kong based organization may seem remote to many Americans. That the American media have been distracted from following these history-making developments make them seem even more distant. But NAMI's trailer reveals that some Americans have been closely following this discovery.

The first commentary ("This is not the search for history. This is history!") is obviously American: a Harvard-trained archaeologist who has studied the pottery found in the artifact. So are the other three interviews, all recorded in Charlotte, NC in June, 2010, shortly after NAMI's original announcement. Those speaking include Ted Wright, a Charlotte professor of archaeology and Alex McFarland, who pioneered the National Conference on Christian Apologetics and at the time of this interview serving as President of Charlotte-based Southern Evangelical Seminary. Last interviewed in his studio library is biblical scholar and Line of Fire radio host, Dr. Michael Brown.

Noah and the apocalypse!

NAMI's documentary reflects early church teachings about Noah's Ark

Noah's Ark from Roman Catacombs

In the first volume of his magisterial The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine, the late Jaroslav Pelikan, Yale University's Sterling Professor of History, notes how early Christians understood Noah's Flood as a type of the final Judgment. Christ is the new Noah's Ark by which men might be spared the judgment of the earth, this time as depicted in the book of Revelation.

NAMI's documentary makes the same connection between Noah's Flood and Jesus's Second Coming. I just finished watching their cinematic map of fires hitting the continent of Europe, likely depicting one of the judgments in the book of Revelation, when I switched to the online version of the BBC News. The British news agency's depictions of the fires from the recent riots eerily resembled those of the trailer.

The chief reason that our modern world has reduced the topic of Noah's Flood to a story for children has to do with the scientific challenges, but there is another reason for this portion of the Bible being shifted into a story about animals, suitable for entertaining children. That becomes apparent as soon as it becomes clear that it is the scientific challenges that are the fairy tales. This is the matter of God's judgment. No other age in all of history has so neglected, even challenged the biblical teachings about God's judgment.

Quick Links

Christian Leaders & Scholars

The Ararat discovery website

Noah's Ark Ministries International (NAMI)

Post public questions and comments to our Facebook Discussion group.

The Responses

Unsurprising and surprising responses to the NAMI announcement

Sharing news about the Ararat discovery draws forth some general responses. As one might expect, the most positive and excited reactions come from believers while explicit unbelievers usually react with instinctive skepticism or hostility. What is surprising is how many warm responses and how much genuine interest has come from those in secular and scientific callings where faith cannot be or is rarely openly expressed.

Perhaps even more surprising is that the majority of the reactive or negative responses come from those who openly declare themselves as Christians or believers! This group may be the most difficult to understand because their negative responses occur for different reasons. What they seem to have in common is a faith based on culture rather than the historical truth of the Scriptures to which this discovery so impressively witnesses. Many of these belong to four groups:

(1) Quietly expressed scorn at such simplistic Christianity.

(2) "It doesn't matter to me. I just believe the Bible!"

(3) "This discovery is troubling because it may become a shrine for pilgrimages."

(4) A general negative reaction because the discovery contradicts what one presently believes about Noah's Ark, the Flood, or the Bible.