The state of Florida is one step closer to cutting off abortions after six weeks. Currently the state’s abortion cut-off is at 15 weeks, meaning any abortions after the first trimester would be illegal.

The Florida bill is sponsored by Republican representative Jenna Persons-Mulicka, who believes the bill is “a result of listening,” according the WFLA News.

The House Bill 7 states very clearly that this ban on abortions after six weeks isn’t to be taken lightly, blocking abortion supporters from using state funds to go to another state to have an abortion.

“A person, governmental entity or educational institution may not expend state any way for a person to travel to another state to receive services that are intended to support an abortion…” the bill reads.

There are a few exceptions, for example, if the state is required by federal law to provide such an accommodation or if the mother’s life is at risk or she is perceived to be in imminent, physical danger.

A woman will also still be able to get an abortion if the baby was conceived through rape or incest and is less than 15 weeks. However, the mother would be required to provide documentation including, “a copy of a restraining order, police report, medical record or other court order or documentation proving that she is obtaining the termination of pregnancy because she is a victim of rape or incest. If the woman is a minor, the physician must report the incident of rape or incest to the central abuse hotline.”

The state Senate will also begin pursuing this legislation as the House Bill goes through one final committee.

While many Christians perceive abortions at all stages to be wrong, this is still one-stepping stone closer to the ultimate goal of ending abortion altogether. Galatians 1:15 tells us: “But when it pleased God, who set me apart since I was in my mother’s womb and called by His grace…” It is clear that it is within God’s good and perfect plan to call each person while He is still fashioning them together within the womb, and it by His grace and mercy alone that we find purpose and meaning.

There are still many hearts that must be softened to get to the point where abortion is considered an injustice and an evil within our society. For those who find themselves on the pro-life side of the equation, we should not only be praying for the unborn children, but for those who consider themselves to be pro-choice, that their hearts and minds may be opened to the truth. {eoa}

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Abby Trivett is a marketing copywriter and coordinator and Staff Writer intern for Charisma Media.

If Christians in America want to continue enjoying the freedom to worship God as they see fit, or any religious group and people of faith, then there needs to be a stand against radical politicians looking to strip them of their rights.

As the citizenry of the United States becomes less faith-oriented, so too does their belief that religious freedoms need to be protected.

Now, Democratic lawmakers are introducing legislation in two states, Delaware HB 74 put forward by state Rep. Eric Morrison and Vermont Senate Bill 16 introduced by state Sen. Richard Sears, to strip the Catholic Church of its “seal of confession” protections.

Essentially, the seal of confession is the sacred duty of the priest to keep the confessions of a person between them, the person confessing and God. It forbids the priest from sharing any information about the sin itself and the person who confessed its identity.

In the case of the two proposed pieces of legislation, as reported by The Blaze, the bills “would remove priests’ right to a privileged conversation during confessionals if the member reveals information about child abuse or neglect.

“It requires priests to report child abuse and neglect or to give or accept evidence in a judicial proceeding relating to child abuse or neglect,” the Delaware legislation states.

That does not sound bad, right? It is for the safety and protection of the children according to the government, and you can always trust the ?

Sadly, no.

The politicians in America have for decades shown they cannot in fact be trusted, and often hide their true intentions with a thinly veiled, innocuous reason that few could object to, such as keeping children safe.

Except that these religious freedoms are some of the last remaining bastions of freedom that the enemy, who is Satan, needs to remove to continue turning America from God and suppressing the very freedoms this country was founded on.

To strip away this sacred duty from the Catholic Church would easily spiral into pastors of all denominations having to report to the government potential crimes, abuse or any situation that falls under the umbrella of government oversight.

No one is saying the abuse or neglect of an innocent child is even remotely acceptable, but when that situation is used, purposefully, to strip away rights from religious groups, then there is a far more nefarious plot afoot.

Do not be deceived into thinking this attempt at removing religious rights is a new occurrence, either. According to President of Catholic Action for Faith and Family Thomas McKenna, “This is not the first time this has come up.

“But what is at stake here is the real persecution of our Catholic faith because confession is not a therapy session … discussion, or therapy group, because when a person comes to confession the priest is acting in the person of Christ. This would be a persecution of the Catholic Church because a priest would go to jail before they would reveal someone’s sins,” McKenna stated.

Rep. Morrison claimed in a post on Facebook that the bill is “in the best interests of our children” and that “all Delawareans should be mandatory reporters of child abuse and neglect.”

The day is coming when there will be an attempt to outlaw the Bible. It is already being called a book of hate, and the Word of God rightfully predicted that it would.

The world hates Jesus, and His followers. The attempts to silence the gospel of Jesus Christ will not stop. Instead, it will only become more intense. So much so that the Tribulation will eventually take place because the world has become so engulfed in sin.

As this persecution continues, will Christians in America weather the storm and stand up for Christ as society shuns His name? Or will they conform to the world due to their faith not being built on a firm foundation? {eoa}

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James Lasher is Staff Writer for Charisma Media.

A storm chaser is speaking out about seemingly miraculous circumstances surrounding a family he rescued in the wake of a deadly Mississippi tornado.

Jonny Gabel, who has been chasing storms for the past five years, described a harrowing ordeal when he helped pull family in Rolling Fork, Mississippi, out of the rubble.

Now, Gabel told People he’s planning to help the family members rebuild their decimated home.

“Their home is completely destroyed,” he wrote in a GoFundMe. “100% of the funds will be used to help them or help other victims affected by tornados. The funds will be used to build them a new house (if insurance doesn’t cover it, or if there’s some sort of financial obstacle) or the funds will be used to get them into a new home as soon as possible.”

Gabel told People how he and others decided to shift into rescue mode Friday after initially chasing the storm, heading to hard-hit Rolling Fork to help pull people from the rubble.

He recalled hearing someone yell, “I need help! Help! Please come help me!” So, he went over to the house from which the screams were coming and discovered an elderly woman sitting up in her bed, surrounded by devastation.

Her roof and a wall were gone and, remarkably, she was virtually unscathed aside from a cut on her thumb. Gabel and others helped the woman get out of the house.

As it turns out, he wrote on GoFundMe that the “entire family survived without injury”—something that seemed to absolutely stun him.

“I just said, ‘Thank God you all survived. This is kind of a miracle,'” Gabel said. “Because just a hundred yards away, the Dollar General was just completely destroyed.”

For the rest of this story, visit our content partners at . {eoa}

Reprinted with permission from . Copyright © 2022 The Christian Broadcasting Network Inc. All rights reserved.

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Here’s a quick summary of the top stories on :

The Ark of the Covenant Found? ‘This Isn’t Raiders of the Lost Ark’

This isn’t fantasy, and it’s not “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” End times expert Michael Snyder says Israeli officials—among others—know exactly where the Ark of the Covenant is located, and there will come a time soon for that location to be revealed.

And once that location is finally revealed, Snyder says, “the Israeli people will see an immediate need to construct a new temple for it.” And the construction of a third temple will fulfill Bible prophecy, as the Messianic Bible reads “that the Hebrew prophets all proclaimed that in the last days, the exiles of Israel would return to the Promised Land and that the Temple would be rebuilt.”

Ezekiel 37:28 reads, “Then the nations will know that I, the Lord, make Israel holy, when my sanctuary is among them forever.

11-Year-Old Describes Miraculous Healing at Asbury Revival: ‘A Genuine Touch from the Lord’

When the Asbury University revival broke out, thousands of people from all ages flocked to Kentucky to join in the mighty move of God. Among them was an 11-year-old girl from Virginia named Helen White who recently shared with CBN News her testimony of experiencing a miraculous healing during the revival.

“It was the best night of my life, I loved it,” described Helen. “I pray every night and thank the Lord that I got to go.”

When the White family heard about the revival at Asbury University, they canceled their weekend plans, loaded up their RV, and drove about 10 hours to Kentucky to witness the move of the Holy Spirit for themselves. Helen said she watched the livestream for a few days leading up to the family’s trip and begged her parents every day to take her and her three younger siblings.

Meteorologist Prays on Air: ‘Dear Jesus, Please Help Them. Amen.’

Apparently, there are some secular media outlets in America that are not anti-Jesus or anti-Christian.

In the midst of deadly tornadic outbreak Friday night in Mississippi, Matt Laubhan, a meteorologist for WTVA Fox News 9 in Tupelo, Mississippi, paused for a moment when he saw the storms approaching the town of Amory, located in the northeast corner of Mississippi between Tupelo and Starkville.

Laubhan knew that the tornado would make a direct hit on Amory. {eoa}

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Have you ever read the passages in the Old Testament that describe God commanding the Israelites to wipe out entire cities of people including men, women and children? You might wonder why God would command for women and innocent children to be wiped out and murdered. Pastor Troy Brewer shared a message at OpenDoor Church about the Nephilim blood line and the war of two seeds.

When God delivered the Jewish people out of Egypt, He had a Promised Land ready and waiting for them. Because of their disobedience, they wandered in the desert for 40 years until the time of conquest came.

Brewer says, “Though they did not go into the Promised Land, they still did not get the luxury of not fighting giants. These are the people who refused to go into the promises of God because they didn’t want to take on cities and giants. So, guess what God had them doing while they were out in the wilderness?” In fact, the Israelites went on to destroy 60 cities.

He says the reason God had all of the men, women and children killed is to destroy the tainted DNA and bloodline. Brewer points to the mixed seed. A DNA that God did not create, that was spreading in humanity. “It has been going on from the very beginning, it went on even in the days of King Jesus, and it is going on right now, this second,” he says.

Deuteronomy 3:11 says, “For only Og, king of Bashan, remained of the remnant of the giants.”

That seed war started in Genesis 3:15, which says, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her See; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel” (NKJV). From the beginning God had a plan in mind. He knew that He would send His son Jesus to this world to destroy the works of Satan passed down through the tainted generation.

Genesis 6:1-4 talks about men multiplying on the earth and God limiting the years of men to 120 years. In verse 4 it says, “The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also after that, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.”

“It had to do with human beings, getting so intimate with demonic things that they pass something down physically,” Brewer says. He believes this is still happening to this day.

In his sermon, Brewer points to the flood and “trans-humanization.” He says the tainted seed or bloodline was growing rapidly and God had to bring the flood to wipe them out. Imagine Jesus coming back to a world that was filled with a mixed bloodline. This is why genealogy is important to God in the Bible. You see the pure bloodline leading up to Jesus from the very beginning.

Today, there are talks of similar trans-human conversations happening around the world. It is the idea that through AI technology a mesh would happen between humanity and computers. People are trying to overtake the role of God and creation.

In the end times we know that many will be deceived, there will be a great falling away. As these conversations continue to sprout up, the most important thing at the end of the day is who your allegiance is to? Are you loyal to King Jesus or the gods of the world?

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Shelby Bowen is an assistant editor for Charisma Media.

This isn’t fantasy, and it’s not “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” End times expert Michael Snyder says Israeli officials—among others—know exactly where the Ark of the Covenant is located, and there will come a time soon for that location to be revealed.

And once that location is finally revealed, Snyder says, “the Israeli people will see an immediate need to construct a new temple for it.” And the construction of a third temple will fulfill Bible prophecy, as the Messianic Bible reads “that the Hebrew prophets all proclaimed that in the last days, the exiles of Israel would return to the Promised Land and that the Temple would be rebuilt.”

Ezekiel 37:28 reads, “Then the nations will know that I, the Lord, make Israel holy, when my sanctuary is among them forever.

Free says “These phenomenal end-time events are unfolding before our very eyes!”

Snyder says the “truth is that the location of the Ark of the Covenant has actually been known for decades.

For those who aren’t familiar with what the Ark of the Covenant is, defines it as: the ornate, gold-plated wooden chest that in biblical times housed the two tablets of the Law given to Moses by God. The Ark rested in the Holy of Holies inside the Tabernacle of the ancient Temple of Jerusalem and was seen only by the high priest of the Israelites on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.

One reader told Snyder that the Temple Institute “has even publicly admitted that they know exactly where the Ark of the Covenant is. The following excerpt comes from the page where the Temple Institute answers frequently asked questions:

“The Ark of the Covenant is one of the most fascinating of all Temple-related subjects. There are many theories about what happened to the Ark of the Covenant, and speculation abounds as to its actual location. Some people think it was taken to the Vatican, together with other Temple vessels, such as those depicted on the Roman monument, the Arch of Titus. There are many authentic, ancient historical chronicles and even more popular legends, that attest to many sacred vessels having been taken away to Rome. However, this does not apply to the most holy feature of the First Temple, the Ark.

“While some claim to have evidence that the ark is in Ethiopia, and of course, moviegoers were treated to a fanciful version of the story in “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” in reality, the expression ‘lost’ ark is not an accurate description for the Jewish people’s point of view—because we have always known exactly where it is. So the Ark is ‘hidden,’ and hidden quite well, but it is not lost.

“Tradition records that even as King Solomon built the First Temple, he already knew, through divine inspiration, that eventually it would be destroyed. Thus Solomon, the wisest of all men, oversaw the construction of a vast system of labyrinths, mazes, chambers and corridors underneath the Temple Mount complex. He commanded that a special place be built in the bowels of the earth, where the sacred vessels of the Temple could be hidden in case of approaching danger. Midrashic tradition teaches that King Josiah of Israel, who lived about 40 years before the destruction of the First Temple, commanded the Levites to hide the Ark, together with the original menorah and several other items, in this secret hiding place which Solomon had prepared.

“This location is recorded in our sources, and today, there are those who know exactly where this chamber is. And we know that the ark is still there, undisturbed, and waiting for the day when it will be revealed. An attempt was made some few years ago to excavate towards the direction of this chamber. This resulted in widespread Moslem unrest and rioting. They stand a great deal to lose if the Ark is revealed—for it will prove to the whole world that there really was a Holy Temple, and thus, that the Jews really do have a claim to the Temple Mount.”

Snyder says he disagrees with the Temple Institute about who hid it. Instead of King Josiah, Snyder says he believes Jeremiah hid it in order to keep it from being captured by the Babylonians.

“But we all agree where it is right now,” Snyder says. “It is in a cave under the Temple Mount, and it will stay there until the time comes for it to be revealed. And, that could happen a lot sooner than you think.”

Once it is finally revealed, it will be just a matter of time before Jewish leaders start conducting sacrifices. In fact, the Temple Institute says that such offerings could actually begin before the building of the Temple itself.

There are other explanations by other scholars and experts.

Jim Barfield, a retired criminal investigator who heads up the Copper Scroll Project, has developed a passion to decipher the famed Copper Scroll discovered, found in 1952. Barfield established the Copper Scroll Project to “help the nation of Israel recover the treasures of the Copper Scroll.”

Watch this video to see Barfield’s extensive explanation on why he and others believe that the Ark of Covenant is in Qumran, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered recently. Qumran is located on the northwestern shore of the dead Sea in the Judean Desert, between Jerusalem and the Dead Sea.

Snyder says, in his opinion, that the “public revelation of the Ark of the Covenant could be the catalyst” of the building of the Third Temple. “Once the entire world sees that the Ark of the Covenant still exists, that will change everything,” Snyder says.

And, he says, it will be the “greatest archaeological bombshell in human history.” {eoa}

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Shawn A. Akers is the online editor at Charisma Media.

Every year in homes all over the world, Jewish people will gather with their family and friends around their tables for their annual Passover Seders where they will read from the Bible and tell the story of Israel’s exodus from Egypt.

They will remind their families of the powerful way that G-D used the 10 plagues and the parting of the sea to redeem His people from their bondage in slavery.

Believers in Yeshua, both Jewish and non-Jewish, will also be gathering to celebrate Passover and they will also gather around their tables and tell the story of the Exodus. However, they will not only share the powerful message of redemption through the blood of the lamb that was slain in Egypt, they will also share the message of redemption through the blood of the Lamb slain in Jerusalem, Yeshua (Jesus).

While the observance of Passover provides the narrative of both of these redemption stories, almost all Passover Seders focus their attention on G-D’s redemption of His people from something. In the case of Egypt, G-D redeemed His people from slavery, and in the case of Yeshua, G-D redeemed His people from sin.

However, neither narrative ends with the “redemption from.” They both include a “redemption to” narrative. The children of Israel were not just redeemed from Egypt; they were also redeemed to the Promised Land. Likewise, those who have been redeemed from sin and death have been redeemed to righteousness and eternal life.

When we only share the redeemed from narrative without the redeemed to narrative, we are not only sharing half of the story, we are also opening the door to bad theology. Let me explain.

The entire story of the Exodus from Egypt tells the whole story of our redemption through Yeshua. The narrative begins with the children of Israel in slavery crying out for deliverance, just as our story begins with our recognition of our slavery to sin and crying out for deliverance. G-D heard their cry and provided a miraculous deliverance through the blood of the lamb, just as He did for us through the blood of the Lamb, Yeshua. Then G-D led them through the waters of the Red Sea, which the Bible says was a type of immersion or baptism.

Then G-D led Israel to Mount Sinai, gave them the Torah, and they entered into a covenant and committed to walk in His ways. After our redemption in Yeshua, we also enter into a covenant and commit to walk in His ways. Then Israel traveled from Sinai to the Promised Land, just as after entering into the covenant with G-D through Yeshua, we must walk out our lives until we are saved in our Promised Land, The world to come, also known as heaven.

The problem with just telling the “redeemed from” part of the narrative, we rob people of the understanding that the full redemption of G-D isn’t completed until the “redeemed to” takes place. It is this focus upon only the redeemed to part that makes it so difficult for people to understand the words of Yeshua in Matthew 24:13:

“But the one who endures to the end will be saved.”

You see, there were Israelites who were redeemed from Egypt who broke their covenant promises to G-D and never made it into the Promised Land. They were redeemed from, but were never redeemed to.

Those of us who have accepted Yeshua as the Lamb have been redeemed from Egypt/sin and have entered our covenant with G-D. However, we are still on our journey through our wilderness, on our way to being redeemed to our Promised Land. And the one who endures to the end will be saved.

The danger in telling only the redeemed from part of the story is that those who participate in the redeemed to part don’t understand that being redeemed isn’t the end of the story, being saved is.

This year, as we gather to tell the story, let’s not only focus on the past miracle of being redeemed from; instead, let’s also focus on the miracle of being redeemed to.

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Eric Tokajer is the author of “Overcoming Fearlessness”, “What If Everything You Were Taught About the Ten Commandments Was Wrong?,” “With Me in Paradise,” “Transient Singularity,” “OY! How Did I Get Here?: Thirty-One Things I Wish Someone Had Told Me Before Entering Ministry,” “#ManWisdom: With Eric Tokajer,” “Jesus Is to Christianity as Pasta Is to Italians” and “Galatians in Context.”

Six people, including three children, are confirmed dead following a shooting Monday morning at a private Christian elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee.

According to the initial findings of an investigation, the woman was 28 and lived in the Nashville area and was “at one point a student” at the school, although it was unclear when, John Drake, the Nashville police chief, said at a news conference.

It has now been revealed by Nashville police that the shooter was Audrey Hale, a biological woman who claims to be a transgender man. Her LinkedIn profile listed her pronouns as “he/him.”

As reported by Fox News, “Hale allegedly shot through a locked door around 10:13 a.m. to gain entry to the school while armed with two assault-style rifles and a handgun, then climbed the stairs to the second floor and opened fire.

“Two Nashville police officers entered the school and went to the sounds of gunfire, where they fatally shot Hale around 10:27 a.m., according to police.”

The Tennessean described the incident as “one of the deadliest school shootings in Tennessee history.” Multitudes of parents and onlookers gathered together in a parking lot awaiting updates, the Tennessean said.

It is believed to be the fifth school shooting in the Nashville area since 2011 and the first since 2018.

Investigators found a manifesto left behind by Hale in her residence, along with drawings and maps of the school showing possible entrance points.

Last year, a massacre at elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, is still fresh in the minds of the nation, as well as an incident involving a first-grader shooting his teacher in Virginia in 2022 and a shooting last week in Denver that wounded two school administrators.

Nashville Mayor John Cooper tweeted, “In a tragic morning, Nashville joined the dreaded, long list of communities to experience a school shooting. My heart goes out to the families of the victims. Our entire city stands with you.”

Numerous prayers were posted for the victims’ families on WTVF-TV’s Facebook site.

“So saddening. Such a wasteful loss of human life. My heart goes out to all involved,” one user wrote.

“Sad times,” another user commented.

The Covenant School was founded in 2001 as a ministry of Covenant Presbyterian Church and has students in pre-kindergarten through sixth grade. Enrollment fluctuates between 195 and 210 students with 33 faculty members.

The Tennessean said that “officials and children will be counted outside as they arrive and will be taken into a sanctuary individually to reunite with parents. {eoa}

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Shawn A. Akers is the online editor at Charisma Media.

A student at a Catholic high school in Canada was arrested because of his biblical viewpoint on the differences between men and women.

Josh Alexander shared with Tucker Carlson that he first stated his beliefs on the difference between men and women after female students at school told him about their worries after other male students tried to use the girls’ restroom.

“Female students complained to me that they were concerned because males were using their washrooms. This turned into a debate at the school. I stated my opinion on it, and I used Scripture to back it up,” Alexander told Carlson. “They removed me from the building for the remainder of the year and, when I attempted to attend class, I was arrested and charged.”

In an interview with CBN News Alexander shared his full story of how he originally became a target of St. Joseph’s Catholic High School last fall when the debate about boys using the girls’ restroom came to light. For Alexander, this issue is not only against Scripture, but it goes against his belief that men have a duty to protect women.

“I felt it was my obligation and my duty,” Alexander shared. “There’s an attack on masculinity in our country and around the world quite frankly, and it is our duty as men to protect and provide and all that, and when a young lady comes and speaks to me about something they’re concerned about and I am capable of speaking up against it and taking some sort of action against it, I’m going to.”

Alexander ended up receiving two expulsions and was not allowed on school property for the remainder of semester. He was seen as a bully by the school administration and a potential mental and physical threat to the other students at the school, as reported by Charisma News. At the start of the new semester, he went back to the school and was arrested.

In a video of his arrest on Twitter by DC Draino and shared by Alexander, a group of pro-LGBTQ supporters can be heard cheering “Yes!” in the background.

When speaking with The Epoch Times, Alexander shared how having a Christian viewpoint does not automatically make someone a bully. It simply gives them a different angle from which they see the world.

“It doesn’t mean I’m harassing anybody. They express their beliefs and I express mine. Mine obviously don’t fit the narrative.”

Previously, Alexander had contact with police when he helped with the freedom convoy when Canadian truck drivers took a stand against to government overreach. The protest was also supported by Christian believers in the U.S.

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Abby Trivett is a marketing copywriter and coordinator and Staff Writer intern for Charisma Media.

This isn’t fantasy, and it’s not “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” End times expert Michael Snyder says Israeli officials—among others—know exactly where the Ark of the Covenant is located, and there will come a time soon for that location to be revealed.

And once that location is finally revealed, Snyder says, “the Israeli people will see an immediate need to construct a new temple for it.” And the construction of a third temple will fulfill Bible prophecy, as the Messianic Bible reads “that the Hebrew prophets all proclaimed that in the last days, the exiles of Israel would return to the Promised Land and that the Temple would be rebuilt.”

Ezekiel 37:28 reads, “Then the nations will know that I, the Lord, make Israel holy, when my sanctuary is among them forever.

Free says “These phenomenal end-time events are unfolding before our very eyes!”

Snyder says the “truth is that the location of the Ark of the Covenant has actually been known for decades.

For those who aren’t familiar with what the Ark of the Covenant is, defines it as: the ornate, gold-plated wooden chest that in biblical times housed the two tablets of the Law given to Moses by God. The Ark rested in the Holy of Holies inside the Tabernacle of the ancient Temple of Jerusalem and was seen only by the high priest of the Israelites on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.

One reader told Snyder that the Temple Institute “has even publicly admitted that they know exactly where the Ark of the Covenant is. The following excerpt comes from the page where the Temple Institute answers frequently asked questions:

“The Ark of the Covenant is one of the most fascinating of all Temple-related subjects. There are many theories about what happened to the Ark of the Covenant, and speculation abounds as to its actual location. Some people think it was taken to the Vatican, together with other Temple vessels, such as those depicted on the Roman monument, the Arch of Titus. There are many authentic, ancient historical chronicles and even more popular legends, that attest to many sacred vessels having been taken away to Rome. However, this does not apply to the most holy feature of the First Temple, the Ark.

“While some claim to have evidence that the ark is in Ethiopia, and of course, moviegoers were treated to a fanciful version of the story in “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” in reality, the expression ‘lost’ ark is not an accurate description for the Jewish people’s point of view—because we have always known exactly where it is. So the Ark is ‘hidden,’ and hidden quite well, but it is not lost.

“Tradition records that even as King Solomon built the First Temple, he already knew, through divine inspiration, that eventually it would be destroyed. Thus Solomon, the wisest of all men, oversaw the construction of a vast system of labyrinths, mazes, chambers and corridors underneath the Temple Mount complex. He commanded that a special place be built in the bowels of the earth, where the sacred vessels of the Temple could be hidden in case of approaching danger. Midrashic tradition teaches that King Josiah of Israel, who lived about 40 years before the destruction of the First Temple, commanded the Levites to hide the Ark, together with the original menorah and several other items, in this secret hiding place which Solomon had prepared.

“This location is recorded in our sources, and today, there are those who know exactly where this chamber is. And we know that the ark is still there, undisturbed, and waiting for the day when it will be revealed. An attempt was made some few years ago to excavate towards the direction of this chamber. This resulted in widespread Moslem unrest and rioting. They stand a great deal to lose if the Ark is revealed—for it will prove to the whole world that there really was a Holy Temple, and thus, that the Jews really do have a claim to the Temple Mount.”

Snyder says he disagrees with the Temple Institute about who hid it. Instead of King Josiah, Snyder says he believes Jeremiah hid it in order to keep it from being captured by the Babylonians.

“But we all agree where it is right now,” Snyder says. “It is in a cave under the Temple Mount, and it will stay there until the time comes for it to be revealed. And, that could happen a lot sooner than you think.”

Once it is finally revealed, it will be just a matter of time before Jewish leaders start conducting sacrifices. In fact, the Temple Institute says that such offerings could actually begin before the building of the Temple itself.

There are other explanations by other scholars and experts.

Jim Barfield, a retired criminal investigator who heads up the Copper Scroll Project, has developed a passion to decipher the famed Copper Scroll discovered, found in 1952. Barfield established the Copper Scroll Project to “help the nation of Israel recover the treasures of the Copper Scroll.”

Watch this video to see Barfield’s extensive explanation on why he and others believe that the Ark of Covenant is in Qumran, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered recently. Qumran is located on the northwestern shore of the dead Sea in the Judean Desert, between Jerusalem and the Dead Sea.

Snyder says, in his opinion, that the “public revelation of the Ark of the Covenant could be the catalyst” of the building of the Third Temple. “Once the entire world sees that the Ark of the Covenant still exists, that will change everything,” Snyder says.

And, he says, it will be the “greatest archaeological bombshell in human history.” {eoa}

Bring Charisma magazine home with a subscription today!

Shawn A. Akers is the online editor at Charisma Media.