May 20, 2005
Israel National News
Photo: An unnamed Kabbalist has granted blessing to
famed archeologist Dr. Vendyl Jones to uncover the Holy Ark of the Covenant.
Jones plans to excavate the Lost Ark by the Tisha B’Av Fast this
summer.)
An unnamed Kabbalist has granted blessing to famed archeologist
Dr. Vendyl Jones to uncover the Holy Ark of the Covenant. Jones plans to
excavate the Lost Ark by the Tisha B'Av Fast this summer.
The famed
archaeologist, the inspiration for the "Indiana Jones" movie series, has spent
most of his life searching for the Ark of the Covenant. The ark was the resting
place of the Ten Commandments, given to the Jewish people at Mount Sinai, and
was hidden just before the destruction of the First Temple.
The Talmud
says the Ark is hidden in a secret passage under the Temple Mount. Jones says
that the tunnel actually continues 18 miles southward, and that the Ark was
brought through the tunnel to its current resting place in the Judean
Desert.
Throughout the many years of his quest, Jones has been in close
contact and under the tutelage of numerous Rabbis and Kabbalists. Extremely
knowledgeable in Torah, Talmud and Kabbalah sources dealing with Holy Temple
issues, Jones has now received permission from both known and secret Kabbalists
to finally uncover the lost ark.
Dr. Jones, who divides his time between
Texas and Israel, has been here since March 9th ready to finally reveal the Ark.
However, he has been waiting for both permission from the mysterious Kabbalist
and for project funding to come through.
Jones' daughter Sarah converted
to Judaism many years ago, and currently lives in the Shomron. She has been in
touch with a great unnamed Kabbalist from whom she requested a blessing that her
father merit success in finding the ark.
As recently as last month, the
rabbi, who only communicates via messenger, told Jones that the time was not yet
right to discover the Temple vessels.
Last Thursday, however, Dr. Jones
received a communication from the rabbi reading, "The time is
right."
Armed with this and other blessings, Jones is now excited to
uncover his life's pursuit. He believes the ark will be discovered by Tisha B'Av
(Aug. 14), a day of repeated tragedy in Jewish history. Most notably, it is the
anniversary of the destruction of both the First and Second Holy
Temples.
Noahide guru Jones says that the State of Israel is passing
through the same biblical straights as the generation that first entered Israel
after the exodus from Egypt. "If history repeats itself, the history itself is
prophecy," Jones says.
"Israel is different from all other nations in a
lot of ways, but more than anything else, Israel is the only nation whose
history was written before it happened."
Once a Christian pastor, Jones
left his post to become a leader of the growing Noahide movement. Noahides are
G-d fearing non-Jews who observe the seven laws of Noah, which are obligatory
upon all of humanity.
The explorer and teacher published a book in 1959
predicting the precise outbreak of the Six Day War, based on his analysis of the
period from the Exodus from Egypt up until the First Temple Period. He says that
applying biblical analysis to modern times points to major events that will
"turn the world right-side-up."
Jones calculated the war in 1967 by
analyzing the sequence of events in the First Temple Period and transposing them
onto the "Third Temple Period" - the period beginning with the Jews' foundation
of an independent State in the Land of Israel in 1948.
"It fits just like
tongue in groove," he says.
Jones analyzed the following passage from the
book of Bamidbar (Numbers): "Every man from 20 years old and upward, all that
are able to go to war...". He said it could be read this way, "So from 20 years
old and upward, all that are able to go, went to war in Israel."
"Well,
'67 was the 20th year," said Jones, who received acclaim for fighting as a
non-listed soldier in the Six Day War. He was the only non-Jewish American to
take part in the combat.
"Two years at Mt. Sinai, and then the Jewish
people went to Kadesh Barnea," he says, referring to the time immediately
following the Exodus. Transposing the Jewish people's first entry into Israel
via the Jericho region and the re-entry to those areas in 1967, one can find
striking similarities.
"At Kadesh Barnea, [the Jewish Nation] sent in
those [twelve] spies who gave the evil report, and because they believed the
evil report, they were sentenced to wander for 38 years before they could come
into Gilgal" - an ancient city near Jericho.
"1967 was a repetition of
Kadesh Barnea," Jones says. "If Israel had come in and taken this place, the
Arabs would have fled like they did in 1948. But no, because of the evil report
of Golda Meir and Motta Gur and Moshe Dayan, who said 'We cannot do that, world
opinion will be against us.' So Israel was sentenced to 38 years more - and June
the 7th [2005], Jerusalem Day, will be the 38th year.
Jones believes that
the Jewish prophecies regarding the greatly anticipated redemption are occuring
in front of our eyes.
Jones' escapades and explorations were the
inspiration for the blockbuster movie 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' of the 'Indiana
Jones' trilogy. The man who wrote the first draft of the film, Randolph
Fillmore, was one of the volunteers who worked with Jones in 1977.
"I
agreed to help him write the movie," Jones said, "as long as - number one - he
wouldn't set it here (in Israel). Some people believe the ark is in Ethiopia or
Egypt, some believe its in Constantinople or Rome. I just didn't want it to be
portrayed as being here. The second thing was, 'Don't use my name.' So he
didn't. My name is Vendyl - V-E-N-D-Y-L. So he just dropped the first and last
letters and it ended up Endy Jones."
Although at the time of the film,
Jones was far from pinpointing the location of the Ark, he has come a long way
since then. With the help of an ancient document found in Qumran together with
the Dead Sea Scrolls, known as the "Copper Scroll", Dr. Jones is convinced he
has pinpointed the location of the Ark of the Covenant.
"In the copper
scroll, the first five lines say, 'In the desolations of the Valley of Achur, in
the opening under the ascent, which is a mountain facing eastward, covered by
forty placed boulders - here is a tabernacle and all the golden fixtures,'"
Jones says.
"This is what we have been looking for all these years, and
I've walked over those boulders thousands of times without really stepping back
and looking - realizing 'hey, those boulders have been brought in here, they've
been placed in here, they didn't come off a mountain. And they're
huge.'"
Jones recounts his early explorations into the tunnels which lead
from the ancient Old City of Jerusalem, near Jaffa Gate, to the foot of the Dead
Sea. "My son and I went an hour and 20 minutes into the tunnel. There were so
many branches and we didn't have anything to mark the route, so I said, 'We
better get out of here and come back with a roll of string.' Then I made the
mistake of asking permission to do it. That was before I learned that Israel is
a lot like heaven - it is a lot easier to get forgiveness than it is
permission."
Dr. Jones, wearing an orange anti-disengagement bracelet,
dismisses the current Israeli government's plan to uproot the Jews of Gaza and
northern Samaria from their homes. "There will not be any disengagement, nor
will there be any Palestinian State," he says.
Jones, who has a
photographic memory, quotes: "Chapter One in Isaiah: 'How has the holy city
become a harlot? Righteousness filled the street, but now murderers. The ruler
is a friend of thieves and the ministers desire bribes.'"
"The prophet
wasn't talking about his day - he was talking about now. 'Therefore, says the
L-rd, I will restore them to their beginnings. I will set judges up as at first,
and counselors as in the beginning.'"
The Sharon government will soon be
history, Jones asserts, and the Sanhedrin (the Jewish High Court of 71 judges)
will take its place and lead the Jewish people. "The Sanhedrin was established
October the 13th of last year. Now all we have to do is have an election to
elect counselors. The Sanhedrin is like a Senate and the elected counselors are
like a House of Representatives."
Dr. Jones says the discovery of the
lost ark will "flip the whole world right-side-up."
"I just gotta drill a
bore-hole into the chamber, drop a pin-camera in and there it is. And everything
is gonna change, believe me. The Jewish people are gonna come
back."
Listen to an exclusive interview with Dr. Jones on the Noahide
Movement, on IsraelNationalRadio's brand new show: 'Light Unto the
Nations.'
Learn more about Dr. Jones' excavations online at www.vendyljones.org.il.
(Next up...an Anchor Stone response on the topic)