Ararat. The cave was at about the 8,000-foot level near the western wall of the Ahora Gorge. They told me that T. E. Lawrence [of Arabia] hid in this cave. There’s fungus there that glows in the dark. And they say Lawrence put it on his face to convince the Kurds he was a god and get them to join him in his war against the Turks.
Eventually we run out of trail for the horses. After three days of climbing we come to the last cave. Inside, there’s strange writing, it looked beautiful and old, on the rock walls and a kind of natural rock bed or outcropping near the back of the cavern.
The next day we hike for a while. Finally Abas points. Then I see it—a huge, rectangular, man-made structure partly covered by a talus of ice and rock, lying on its side. At least a hundred feet are clearly visible. I can even see inside it, into the end where it’s been broken off, timbers are sticking out, kind of twisted and gnarled, water’s cascading out from under it.
Abas points down the canyon and I can make out another portion of it. I can see how the two pieces were once joined—the torn timbers kind of match. They told me the ark is broken into three or four big pieces. Inside the broken end of the biggest piece, I can see at least three floors and Abas says there’s a living space near the top with forty-eight rooms. He says there are cages insideas small as my hand, others big enough to hold a family of elephants.
It began to rain. We had to return to the cave. The next day it was snowing so bad that we could not climb down to the ark. We were forced to leave the mountain. It took five days to get off the mountain and back to my base.
The lights were turned on and several hands were raised. Murphy could see Levi Abrams standing behind the back row smiling that big Israeli smile. Their eyes caught each other’s and there was a barely perceptible nod of heads.
“Yes, Carl!” Murphy pointed to his right.
“Professor Murphy. In the Badi Abas story, Davis mentions that the ark is broken. In the other sightings the ark was all in one piece. Why don’t the stories match?”
“We’re not sure, Carl. It’s possible the first sightings of the ark were when it was on a cliff above the Ahora Gorge. The movement of the glacier and/or an avalanche could have toppled it into the gorge and the fall broken it into sections. Ararat is known for earthquakes and avalanches.”
Murphy glanced at the clock on the wall. He knew that the bell would ring in a few moments.
“We’re almost out of time, but before the class is over, I want to give you an assignment.”
Those who had already closed their notebooks anticipating the bell groaned and opened them back up.
“I want you to do a study and see what you can find in history about Noah and the Flood. Jesus even talks about Noah when He says in Luke Seventeen:
Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. People were eating, drinking, marrying, and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the Flood came and destroyed them all. It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed.
“Noah’s Ark is a testimony that God will not let wickedness run unrestrained forever.”
“Professor Murphy, I have a question,” said a student named Theron Wilson.
“Go ahead, Theron.”
“Do you think we will ever really find the ark?”
The question momentarily stopped Murphy in his tracks. Finally he said, “There’s probably a reason it’s been hidden all this time. And God would need a good reason to let someone reveal it to the world again. It could be that revealing it now would send a message, a message about how much evil there is in the world and how we have to do something about it. Maybe now
Eventually we run out of trail for the horses. After three days of climbing we come to the last cave. Inside, there’s strange writing, it looked beautiful and old, on the rock walls and a kind of natural rock bed or outcropping near the back of the cavern.
The next day we hike for a while. Finally Abas points. Then I see it—a huge, rectangular, man-made structure partly covered by a talus of ice and rock, lying on its side. At least a hundred feet are clearly visible. I can even see inside it, into the end where it’s been broken off, timbers are sticking out, kind of twisted and gnarled, water’s cascading out from under it.
Abas points down the canyon and I can make out another portion of it. I can see how the two pieces were once joined—the torn timbers kind of match. They told me the ark is broken into three or four big pieces. Inside the broken end of the biggest piece, I can see at least three floors and Abas says there’s a living space near the top with forty-eight rooms. He says there are cages insideas small as my hand, others big enough to hold a family of elephants.
It began to rain. We had to return to the cave. The next day it was snowing so bad that we could not climb down to the ark. We were forced to leave the mountain. It took five days to get off the mountain and back to my base.
The lights were turned on and several hands were raised. Murphy could see Levi Abrams standing behind the back row smiling that big Israeli smile. Their eyes caught each other’s and there was a barely perceptible nod of heads.
“Yes, Carl!” Murphy pointed to his right.
“Professor Murphy. In the Badi Abas story, Davis mentions that the ark is broken. In the other sightings the ark was all in one piece. Why don’t the stories match?”
“We’re not sure, Carl. It’s possible the first sightings of the ark were when it was on a cliff above the Ahora Gorge. The movement of the glacier and/or an avalanche could have toppled it into the gorge and the fall broken it into sections. Ararat is known for earthquakes and avalanches.”
Murphy glanced at the clock on the wall. He knew that the bell would ring in a few moments.
“We’re almost out of time, but before the class is over, I want to give you an assignment.”
Those who had already closed their notebooks anticipating the bell groaned and opened them back up.
“I want you to do a study and see what you can find in history about Noah and the Flood. Jesus even talks about Noah when He says in Luke Seventeen:
Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. People were eating, drinking, marrying, and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the Flood came and destroyed them all. It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed.
“Noah’s Ark is a testimony that God will not let wickedness run unrestrained forever.”
“Professor Murphy, I have a question,” said a student named Theron Wilson.
“Go ahead, Theron.”
“Do you think we will ever really find the ark?”
The question momentarily stopped Murphy in his tracks. Finally he said, “There’s probably a reason it’s been hidden all this time. And God would need a good reason to let someone reveal it to the world again. It could be that revealing it now would send a message, a message about how much evil there is in the world and how we have to do something about it. Maybe now
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