An independent researcher who has devoted his life to exploring a site near Mount Ararat, believed by some to be the remains of Noah’s ark, is continuing his expedition to investigate what he believes could be the real-life location.

Andrew Jones, who runs Noah’s Ark Scans, a group he described as “a loose organization of individuals interested in pursuing scientific work and promoting [the ark site],” told CBN News his organization received a permit to drill at the site and has been actively engaged in exploring the area.

“This whole project is under Sivas Cumhuriyet University in Turkey, and I’m one of the vice presidents of the project,” Jones said. “The president is Professor Dr. Cenkur Atila, an archaeologist in Turkey, and he’s the one who got the permits for the project. The other vice president for the project has a PhD in archaeology.”

The researcher said other professionals are involved as well, sharing these details to push back on critics he said have accused him of being a lone wolf who’s “taking pictures and making up stuff.”

Jones said technology is allowing them to look 95 meters beneath the surface, deeper than the team has ever gone. He believes this could yield better clues about whether Noah’s Ark is truly underground, though he and his team haven’t yet been shown a full analysis of the findings.

“[Researchers are] seeing anomalies like right angles — some of the same things we were seeing with the 2019 traditional radar,” Jones said. “[Our researcher is] saying the same thing, anomalies that are associated with right angles, corridors, but which could be backfilled with silt, he said, but they’re showing… this pattern of a structure below the surface.”

Part of the exploration compares local and natural geology to see if there are any anomalies under the surface. In a few months, Noah’s Ark Scans will have a full radar analysis and will be able to more fully discern what’s present there. Depending on what they find, a deeper exploration will unfold next year.

“Then we’ll see what happens,” Jones said. “That will lead to … next year’s season.”

In addition to radar, the team has collected over 300 coring samples that will be analyzed at a Turkish university. The team is using various tools, including cameras, to try and dig into the site while also protecting it from damage.

“Since we believe this is Noah’s ark, the whole point is … if we hit a void or cavity, we want to film inside, not just take soil samples,” Jones said. “We have actually three different camera systems to go inside, to go down these holes because the holes are small.”

Ultimately, the researcher said he knows he can’t convince critics to believe that the site is truly where Noah’s ark came to rest. But he did deliver a powerful message to detractors.

“People are criticizing us right now,” Jones said. “I just say, be patient. Hold on. We’re doing this with a scientific team. It’s a multi-year project. We still have to get the soil analysis done. We’ll go where the data goes. So we just ask people to be patient and see what we find.”
Sources:faithwire

http://theendtimeradio.com

Bible Study teacher and author Christine Hoover didn’t realize she would face a severe personal test while writing a study on Second Corinthians. Around the time Hoover, a wife, mom, and Bible teacher, began writing More than Enough, God’s Strength in our Weakness in 2 Corinthians, she and her husband got the call no parent wants to receive.

“Our oldest son was in college in California. We live in Texas. And late one night, he had gone to the ER, and the ER doctor called and said, ‘Your son has cancer, and it has spread all over his body. It’s in his brain, his heart, his lungs, his stomach, everywhere.’ And so, as you can imagine, we were completely shocked,” Hoover recalled.

Their son Will, a college athlete, had always been healthy and strong. The devastating news turned their world upside down.

“He went through four rounds of chemo. He went through surgery. I said, you know what? I want to continue to write this study because it is about weakness and suffering. The themes of weakness and suffering are so strong. And so where I had set out to write really about ministry and service to others, the Lord changed the plan and had me providentially in this book of 2nd Corinthians during a time of probably the greatest suffering that I have ever walked through,” Hoover said.

In 2 Corinthians 12:9 and 10, Paul, after he had famously asked God to take away the mysterious “thorn in his flesh,” wrote the following famous line:

“But He said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me, for when I am weak, then I am strong.”

This scripture became Hoover’s anthem and helped her not only take care of her son but also keep writing the Bible study.

“Yes, it absolutely did, especially in the Amplified version. I love that verse, and the reason why it became so special to me, and of course, I had heard that verse so much, but I was experiencing it in real time. Every day I would wake up and I would think, I can’t believe this is happening to us. That word, cancer, applied to my son and to our family. And so, I would think, I don’t want this,” she explained.

“And my second thought every day was, I can’t do this. I don’t have what it takes to put one foot in front of the other. And I found myself; I would tell myself I needed to be strong. I needed to care for my family. I needed to have what it takes to care for them. And every morning, the Lord would remind me specifically through the verse you just mentioned: He wasn’t asking me to be strong. He was saying, ‘Bring your weakness, bring those thoughts to me. Rely on me to give you the strength that you will need for this day to go to the cancer clinic with your son to face the uncertainty.’ He’s asking us to be dependent, not to be strong,” she said.

For many people, weaknesses are something to hide or even be ashamed of, but the Apostle Paul tells us to embrace our weaknesses, which Hoover says is not easy for most of us.

“Well, I think it’s our human nature to want to present well to other people. And I think especially in our American Western culture, we are taught to be self-sufficient, to have it together, to depend upon ourselves. And that’s so counterintuitive or so anti-what scripture is telling us,” Hoover said.

‘God Did a Miracle’

Today, at age 22, Will is back at college and running on the track team. His doctors say the chemo worked miraculously.

“He’s a cross-country runner. He actually had a personal best in his event in track this year. So, the Lord has restored his health in some very miraculous ways. It’s hard sometimes to embrace that word for yourself to say, ‘Did God really do a miracle?’ He used medical intervention, and He did do a miracle in my son’s life. So, he is serving the Lord this summer through FCA in South Africa and just doing really, really, really well. So, we’re just praising the Lord still for his recovery,” she said.

According to Lifeway Research, when asked what has most encouraged their walk with the lord, almost one-third of female churchgoers point to Bible studies. Christine agrees and says the lessons God taught her from 2nd Corinthians and writing More than Enough are priceless.

“And I think really Paul is saying, let your faith work for you, Believers. Let your faith work for you where the rubber meets the road, where faith is lived out specifically in these difficult things in your life. I have needed to hear that. I have needed to study that. And I think most women do that, they’re going to face difficulty, even if it’s just the everyday wear and tear of life, to know how to turn to God as our confidence that He is the strength and the confidence we need no matter what the day entails, what the season entails,” she said.
Sources:CBN News

http://theendtimeradio.com

Walton County Jail in DeFuniak Springs, Florida, is being transformed from a place of confinement to a site of spiritual freedom.

Rev. Jonathan King, pastor of First Apostolic Church of DeFuniak Springs, serves as a volunteer chaplain for the Walton County Sheriff’s Office.

He said the ministry takes a specific angle that’s bearing fruit.

“When we approach these men and women as people instead of just as inmates, we’re finding that God is doing the work in their lives,” King told CBN News.

The ministry at the jail is a coordinated effort between the Walton County Sheriff’s Office, First Apostolic and New Life Church of Santa Rosa and includes worship, prayer, and Bible study.

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But the impact is going far beyond a weekly meeting.

“We can only have 28 men in there at a time,” explained King. “And so, obviously that doesn’t scratch the surface. And so, we teach them, we want you to take this and go and teach it to the ones that didn’t get to come today. And so, they’re teaching Bible studies in their pods. They’re having prayer meetings in their pods. They’re encouraging one another in their pods.”

The results have been impressive with 70 inmates baptized in July. King also helped baptize another 45 inmates in August at the Okaloosa County Jail.

“It’s a beautiful thing to watch as men who started the day with absolutely no hope of anything for the future,” King said, “and over months we watch as the life returns to their eyes and they have some purpose.”

The jail ministry focuses on rehabilitating and discipling inmates so they can go beyond just redirecting them to completely change their lives.

Some take that transformation with them after they leave, including one man who now attends King’s church.

“He got out on a Thursday afternoon and on Sunday he was in our service on Sunday morning. We’ve been seeing him. We have multiple services on Sunday. He comes to both of them and he’s brought more people with him than most anybody I know,” said King.

There are other positive signs.

“I’ve watched as the Lord has literally changed the atmosphere in that jail,” King said in the interview. “Several weeks ago, they communicated to me that they pulled the reports of those 70 inmates that we baptized there at Walton a few months ago, and as of a couple weeks ago, they had zero disciplinary actions towards any of them.”

The ministry is now expanding to help men prepare for life after incarceration.

“They’re going to allow us to teach a recovery part of that reentry program where we’ll be able to connect with those that are fixing to leave and to connect with them and tell them that they have somewhere to go when they get out,” explained King.

For King, changed lives are more than just jailhouse conversions.

“If the Lord can convert somebody in a jailhouse, then who are we to look down on that and say, ‘well, it’s just because they’re in jail.’ Well, the truth of the matter is we all were converted somewhere. And I believe that God can start a conversion process in some inmates in a jail that will move past the jail,” said King.
Sources:CBN News

http://theendtimeradio.com