Recent Archaeological Finds

[nChrist]

Pastor Roger,

AMEN! This is GREAT!

Brother, thank you so much for sharing this. I always find information proving the Bible to be fascinating, and I give thanks for every scrap of evidence that ABSOLUTELY proves the Holy Bible to be accurate. It almost seems that GOD is giving the scoffers and doubters another chance to believe. This is also GOD giving the Jews who have not accepted JESUS some truth.

Love In Christ,
Tom

Romans 6:10-14 NASB  For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

[Soldier4Christ]

Brother Tom,

I am sure that this is exactly what God is doing. One Jesus' Apostles doubted that Jesus was in fact risen. He was chastised for his doubt but Jesus did in fact give him the evidence necessary to remove that doubt.

As the Bible tells us, Jesus isn't willing that any of us should perish. So I am sure that He is affording every opportunity for the doubting Thomas' of this world.

[Soldier4Christ]

New Dead Sea Scroll Fragments
There is only one place on earth where an unending stream of evidence substantiating the Bible is discovered year after year. Granted, it’s been 40 years since the major discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls thrilled biblical archaeologists and others who love the Word of God.

The latest discovery—two small fragments of animal skin, brown with age, with Leviticus 23:38-39 and 43-44 inscribed in ancient Hebrew—are now in the hands of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA). How they got there is an intriguing story in itself. About a year ago, Professor Chanan Eshel, an archaeologist at Bar Ilan University in Tel Aviv, was summoned to an abandoned police station near the Dead Sea for a clandestine meeting with a Bedouin Arab. After explaining that he’d been offered $20,000 on the black market, the man asked Eshel to evaluate the fragments. It would be hard to describe the emotions that surged through the professor’s heart as he examined the skins. “I was jealous that he had found them instead of me,” said Eshel, who has worked in the Judean Desert for nearly 20 years. “I was also very excited, though I didn’t believe I would ever see them again.” Months later, after learning that the fragments had not left the country, Eshel bought them with $3,000 provided by Bar Ilan. The skins were turned over to the IAA, which is now testing them for authenticity. They are the 15th find in this area and date to the Second Revolt against the Romans under Bar-Kochba.

The discovery sparked renewed hope among biblical archaeologists that the Judean Desert has much yet to yield. “No scrolls have been found in the Judean Desert since 1965,” said Eshel. “This [find] encourages scholars to believe that if they bother to excavate, survey and climb, they will still find things in the Judean Desert. The common perception has been that there is nothing left to find there, but that is clearly wrong.”

[Soldier4Christ]

Even though this is a different field of science it is more proof that the Bible is in fact true. Scientists unknowingly make this proof every day.

Job 40:15  Behold now behemoth, which I made with thee; he eateth grass as an ox.


Ancient Grazers: Find adds grass to dinosaur menu

Sid Perkins

Analyses of fossilized dinosaur feces in India reveal the remains of at least five types of grasses. The finding not only provides the first evidence of grass-eating dinosaurs but also shows that grasses evolved diverse forms much earlier than scientists had previously recognized.

Bits of silica called phytoliths indicate the grasses' presence. The tiny crystals, which form within cells of many plants, are especially plentiful in grasses, according to Caroline A.E. Strömberg, a paleobotanist at the Swedish Museum of Natural History in Stockholm. Because each type of grass produces distinctly shaped phytoliths, scientists use the readily preserved grit to identify the mix that once grew in an area.

(clip)

[Soldier4Christ]

Rare seal bearing Jesus image found in Tiberias
By Eli Ashkenazi, Haaretz Correspondent

A rare seal bearing a picture of Jesus on one side was discovered at an archeological dig in the old city of Tiberias on Thursday.

The other side of the seal, which dates from the sixth century, depicts a cross and bears the inscription "Christos."

The seal was discovered by two volunteers, employees of the American and British embassies.


Prof. Yizhar Hirschfeld of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, who is directing the dig, said the seal apparently belonged to a high-ranking church official, and indicated that the church in Tiberias "was stronger than we had thought."

[nChrist]

Rare seal bearing Jesus image found in Tiberias
By Eli Ashkenazi, Haaretz Correspondent

A rare seal bearing a picture of Jesus on one side was discovered at an archeological dig in the old city of Tiberias on Thursday.

The other side of the seal, which dates from the sixth century, depicts a cross and bears the inscription "Christos."

The seal was discovered by two volunteers, employees of the American and British embassies.


Prof. Yizhar Hirschfeld of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, who is directing the dig, said the seal apparently belonged to a high-ranking church official, and indicated that the church in Tiberias "was stronger than we had thought."

Hello Pastor Roger,

There was a time not too many years ago that many of the recent finds proving the Holy Bible would have been all over the newspapers and the televisions.

    One really doesn't have to wonder too much why information like this has to be dug out of Christian publications now if we ever hear about it. I will have to give us some credit and say that Christian communications is getting better by the minute, BUT IT HAS TO! We should all know by now that the mainstream news media could care less about Christians. OR WORSE, we represent their enemy, just poor dumb folks that the minority left needs to think for.

If you haven't guessed, I've had one too many doses of anti-Christ and anti-Christian garbage lately. YES, I know that we should just let this stuff go in one ear, out the other, and press on! AND, that is exactly what we will do! The harvest awaits.

Love In Christ,
Tom

John 4:36-38 NASB  "Already he who reaps is receiving wages and is gathering fruit for life eternal; so that he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. "For in this case the saying is true, 'One sows and another reaps.' "I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored and you have entered into their labor."

[Soldier4Christ]

Amen Brother,

Of all the news that I look for on a daily basis this is the most difficult to find because it is not widely published.

I understand the feeling on seeing all the anti-Christ, ant-Christian garbage. It upsets me also. It is a driving force that propels me forward to do something about getting the truth out as far and as much as I can.

I am thinking of adding some pages to The Fifth Day on this very subject.

[Soldier4Christ]

This one is not so recent but I felt it was just as important to this subject.


BELL IN COAL
In 1944 Newton Anderson claimed to have found this bell inside a lump of coal that was mined near his house in West Virginia. When Newton dropped the lump it broke, revealing a bell encased inside. What is a brass bell with an iron clapper doing in coal that is supposed to be hundreds of millions of years old? According to Norm Sharbaugh's book Ammunition (which includes a compilation of many such "coal anecdotes") the bell was extensively analyzed at the University of Oklahoma and it was found to contain an unusual mixture of metals, different from any modern usage. Genesis 4:22 states that Tubal-Cain was "an instructor of every artificer in brass and iron. . ." Perhaps when his civilization came to an end in the flood, this bell was buried with a mass of vegetation that became coal and ended up thousands of years later in Newton Anderson’s coal bin. Numerous other such accounts have even been recorded, including the intricate gold chain found in coal (Ivan Sanderson’s book Uninvited Visitors) and the cast iron pot found in a coal seam at the Municipal Electric Plant in Thomas, OK (archived at Creation Evidence Museum).

[Soldier4Christ]

New Dead Sea Scroll Fragments
There is only one place on earth where an unending stream of evidence substantiating the Bible is discovered year after year. Granted, it’s been 40 years since the major discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls thrilled biblical archaeologists and others who love the Word of God.

The latest discovery—two small fragments of animal skin, brown with age, with Leviticus 23:38-39 and 43-44 inscribed in ancient Hebrew—are now in the hands of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA). How they got there is an intriguing story in itself. About a year ago, Professor Chanan Eshel, an archaeologist at Bar Ilan University in Tel Aviv, was summoned to an abandoned police station near the Dead Sea for a clandestine meeting with a Bedouin Arab. After explaining that he’d been offered $20,000 on the black market, the man asked Eshel to evaluate the fragments. It would be hard to describe the emotions that surged through the professor’s heart as he examined the skins. “I was jealous that he had found them instead of me,” said Eshel, who has worked in the Judean Desert for nearly 20 years. “I was also very excited, though I didn’t believe I would ever see them again.” Months later, after learning that the fragments had not left the country, Eshel bought them with $3,000 provided by Bar Ilan. The skins were turned over to the IAA, which is now testing them for authenticity. They are the 15th find in this area and date to the Second Revolt against the Romans under Bar-Kochba.

The discovery sparked renewed hope among biblical archaeologists that the Judean Desert has much yet to yield. “No scrolls have been found in the Judean Desert since 1965,” said Eshel. “This [find] encourages scholars to believe that if they bother to excavate, survey and climb, they will still find things in the Judean Desert. The common perception has been that there is nothing left to find there, but that is clearly wrong.”

[nChrist]

Pastor Roger,

I really appreciate you and Dreamweaver posting this kind of news. The frequency of discoveries and events associated with the HOLY BIBLE are exciting.

I, for one, am wondering if GOD is giving the world a final message regarding the coming of the end of this age of Grace. Is HE really giving the world a message that JESUS is coming again soon?

Love In Christ,
Tom

Philippians 3:8-9 NASB  More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith,

[Soldier4Christ]

Amen Brother, that He is. God tells us through the Bible that He would have all to be saved so I am sure that He is giving a message to all especially so the doubting Thomas of this world.

[Soldier4Christ]

True size of Pool of Siloam discovered due to sewer blockage
By Nadav Shragai, Haaretz Correspondent

If the central sewage line for Jerusalem's Old City, which runs down the slope of the village of Silwan, had not gotten blocked a year ago, it would probably have been many years before we would have discovered the real dimensions of the historic Pool of Siloam from the Second Temple Period.

The pool, whose present small dimensions date from Byzantine times, is the outlet for the spring water coursing through the ancient Hezekiah's tunnel. It was once huge - three to four dunams.

And if the huge dimensions of the pool had not been discovered, it is doubtful that the Israel Antiquities Authority and the Elad association, which is working for the development of the area also known as the City of David, would not have come across the dramatic discovery now underway: the far end of a street dating from the Herodian period, which begins at the outer southwestern corner of the Temple Mount and is familiar to visitors to the Western Wall.

When the sewage main first backed up during the winter of 2004, the Israel Nature and Parks Protection Authority, responsible for the archaeological sites around the Old City's walls, called for a halt to the repair work and took advantage of the opportunity to dig a heretofore unexcavated part of the City of David.

Archaeologists Ronny Reich and Eli Shukron, who are directing the dig for the IAA and Elad, say that for the first time they are now able to trace the street that connected the Temple Mount in Second Temple times with the Pool of Siloam. Other portions of the road were revealed by the 19th-century Jerusalem explorers Bliss and Dickey and in 1963 by archaeologist Kathleen Kenyon. Now, the last piece of the puzzle has come to light near the pool.

Among the finds near the street are coins from the Great Revolt of the Jews against the Romans, from the years 67,68 and 69 C.E.

Dozens of workers are involved in the project - all are residents of Silwan who have been working on it for years.

The finds near the Pool of Siloam, which is mentioned in both ancient Jewish sources and the New Testament, have meant a major development push for the City of David neighborhood: the city is building and repairing sewage lines, water lines and streets, garbage is being collected on a regular basis and souvenir stores and snack bars are enjoying new business.

The Herodian street is not the only piece of ancient history in the area. In the excavations near Warren's Shaft, long believed to be part of Jerusalem's ancient water system and named after its 19th-century discoverer, Charles Warren, the first archaeological evidence of Jerusalem as an administrative center during the period of the Kingdom of Judah (the ninth century BCE) is now coming to light. A group of over 40 clay cylinder seals and stamps were recently unearthed by the IAA. Some of them bear human, animal and bird images, and one even shows the fingerprint of the person who used it in signing a letter written at the time. A number of ivory plaques also found are believed to have been used as calendars.

Reich and Shukron say this is the first time such a large assemblage of cylinder seals from the early period of the kings of Judah have been unearthed in one place in the city of David, attesting to its importance during the reigns of kings Jehoshaphat and Yehoram. According to Shukron, it shows the city was "an administrative center that conducted correspondence during the period between David and Solomon and the period of Hezekiah" and those who reigned around his time. "Until now, Shukron says, "all the cylinder seals found in Jerusalem are from the end of the First Temple period. This is the first time we find seals that can be dated earlier, to the beginning of the Kingdom of Judah."

Another interesting find is 1,700 bones of Mediterranean fish (so far), attesting to trade with the coastal area; the bones are being studied by Prof. Omri Lernau.

A number of finds in the IAA-Elad excavation have shed light on the study of Jerusalem over the past 140 years. For example, Charles Warren believed the shaft he discovered had been used by ancient Jerusalemites to draw water, an opinion that was widespread until recently. However the discovery of a pool and surrounding fortifications, now in the Elad's Spring House visitor center, have changed this idea. A ritual bath and water cistern from the Second Temple period were discovered in the excavation in the Givati parking lot across from the entrance to the City of David below the Dung Gate. Dr. Eilat Mazar of the Shalem Center has uncovered a palace or fortress covering an area of 300 meters and dated to the 10th century BCE. Next to this structure, the regal capital of a pillar was discovered, dating from the ninth century BCE (the period of David and Solomon).

Reich says the area of the City of David has become the most excavated area in the country. "We are the 12th expedition to work here, and in no small way it is thanks to the contributions that flow in to the project from the Elad association. They may be disagreed with politically, but without them we would not have been able to make the dramatic discoveries of recent years here, in the place where Jerusalem began, where the story began of the Jewish people in this land."

[Soldier4Christ]

Home’s false wall hid holy ark
The Associated Press

PORTO, Portugal — A chance discovery during renovations of a building in this Atlantic port city has revealed a dark secret from Portugal’s past: a 16th-century synagogue.

Built at a time when Portugal’s Jews had been forced to convert to Catholicism or risk being burned at stake, the house of worship was hidden behind a false wall in a house that a priest was converting into a home for the elderly.

A scholar of Porto’s Jewish history, the Rev. Agostinho Jardim Moreira says that as soon as the workers told him of the wall, “I knew there had to be some kind of Jewish symbol behind it.”

His hunch was confirmed when the wall came down, revealing a 5-foot-tall carved granite repository, arched at the top and facing east toward Jerusalem. It was the ark where medieval Jews kept their Torah scrolls. Only two other arks from the period have been found in Portugal, and last month the Portuguese Institute of Architectural Heritage authenticated this one as the third.

The building of thick granite walls stands on cobbled Sao Miguel Street. At its rear, steep steps lead down to a warren of alleys ideal for conspiratorial comings and goings around an outlawed synagogue.

Moreira, 64, knew his parish had been an officially designated Jewish quarter in the 15th and 16th centuries. He also knew that after they were forced to convert to Catholicism in 1496, many Jews privately kept their faith and worshipped in secret, while behaving like Catholics in public.

“I suspected that false wall was hiding something,” the priest said.

The secret synagogue dates from a convulsive period of the Iberian peninsula.

In 1492, neighboring Spain had expelled all Jews who refused to convert to Catholicism, and some 60,000 poured into Portugal. They prospered, but they were forced to live in a Jewish quarter subject to a curfew.

Then came the harsher crackdown. Portugal’s King Manuel I, hoping to seal a royal alliance with Spain, forced the Jews to convert.

Some fled, but those who stayed were subjected to humiliating public baptisms. They were designated “New Christians” or Marranos, Iberian slang for “pigs.” Even then, they remained at risk from religious persecution. In 1506, some 3,000 Jews were massacred in Lisbon.

[Shammu]

Last update - 13:51 01/01/2006            
Remains of Second Temple era Jewish village discovered
By Itim

Archaeologists have recently uncovered what they believe to be a large Jewish settlement dating back from the time of the Second Temple near the Shweifat Refugee Camp north of Jerusalem.

The excavations are being conducted by the Antiquities Authority at the request of the Moriah development company on the route of where the Jerusalem light railway is supposed to be built.

Archaeologist Debbie Sakler-Parnas, who is in charge of the dig, said that the findings imply that an affluent population lived in the area and that it was probably the largest Jewish settlement uncovered in the vicinity of Jerusalem to date.

A large number of stone tools were discovered, the use of which was important to the religious practices of the inhabitants. Other artifacts uncovered included wine vases imported from Italy and Greece and Roman glass rings -the first of their kind discovered in ancient Judea.

Seker-Parnas added that the village had apparently continued to be inhabited under Roman military rule, leading to new theories about the outcome of the First Jewish Revolt.

Remains of Second Temple era Jewish village discovered

[Soldier4Christ]

Artifacts with links to Bible unearthed
By Jay Bushinsky
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Published January 2, 2006

JERUSALEM -- Israeli archaeologists, screening tons of rubble scooped out of this ancient city's sacred Temple Mount, have discovered hundreds of artifacts and coins, as well as jewelry, some with biblical links dating back more than three millennia.
    Most of the stones and earth originally were taken to an organic garbage dump in nearby Bethany, the New Testament town known in Arabic as Al-Azariya, and could not be retrieved. But a substantial portion was diverted to the Valley of Kidron, mentioned in the Old Testament and located just outside the Old City's massive walls.
    This ambitious archaeological project, known as the Temple Mount Antiquities Operation, was started in November 2004, when Muslims excavated the sector north of Solomon's Stables to build the massive underground Marwani Mosque. Its second season, now under way, will last until February.
    The Waqf, or Muslim officials who administer the site -- known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary -- helped the Israelis arrange the transfer.
    Among the unusual finds extracted by Bar-Ilan University's Gabriel Barkai and his team of students and volunteers is a "bulla," or seal impression, thought to be used to close cloth sacks of silver.
    "It bears the name Gedalyahu Ben Immer Ha-Cohen, suggesting that the owner may have been a brother of Pashur Ben Immer, described in the Bible [Jeremiah 20:1] as a priest and temple official," Mr. Barkai said.
    That verse says: "Pashur, the son of Immer the priest, who was also chief governor in the House of the Lord, heard that Jeremiah prophesied these things."
    The team's discoveries span 10,000 years "and belong to all the historical periods that transpired in Jerusalem," Mr. Barkai said.
    One of the finds is a stone weight equivalent to four shekels (an ancient Hebrew measure, about 2 ounces), marked with words written in the ancient Hebrew alphabet.
    The site is not considered an archaeological dig. The workers use a technique called "wet sifting," similar to the way prospectors pan for gold.
    Mr. Barkai's team examines every particle, using large wire filters to rinse each one with cold water while looking for valuable objects.
    Some finds reflect the Temple Mount's unique and dramatic history. An example of this is an iron arrowhead with a shaft used by the Roman legions during the siege of the Second Hebrew Temple 2,000 years ago.
    Presumably belonging to the 10th Legion, Mr. Barkai said, "it was launched from catapults exclusive to the Roman army." He told of "scores of coins, many of them Jewish and minted by the Hasmonean and Herodian dynasty." This find might help explain why Jesus Christ drove the money-changers out of the Temple, as described in the New Testament.
    "There also are beautiful objects that belong to the Crusader period," Mr. Barkai said, noting the many Byzantine coins, which testify to large attendance at the Temple Mount during the Christian conquest and rule during the 11th to 15th centuries.
    Many of the more-recent coins date from the 17th century, and the research team even found a gold coin issued by the French Empire under Napoleon III.
    A bronze pendant several hundred years old depicts the Holy Grail.
    The team works in a large plastic tent pitched on a spur of the Mount of Olives. It overlooks the Old City of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, which is highlighted by the golden Dome of the Rock, a mosque built between 687 and 691 by the ninth Muslim caliph, Abd al-Malik.
    Because of the quantity, time and patience required to rinse the objects, this archaeological project likely will take several years to complete.