THE MORE I LIVE THE MORE I REALIZE THERE´S NOTHING LIKE LOVING EVERYONE. THERE SOMETIMES COMES THE TIME WHEN WE LOVE OURSELVES THAT MUCH THAT LOVING ALL OUR BROTHERS BECOMES NOTHING BUT A NOBLE ASPIRATION FULL OF JOY FOR OUR SOUL. THIS OVERJOY OF LOVE WE FEEL SOMETIMES MAKES US EVEN OPEN UP OUR HEART SO MUCH AS TO ADMIT WRONGS WE DID SOME TIME IN OUR LIFE, MAKING IT CLEAR IT´S OKAY TO CONFESS SOME WRONGS DONE OPENLY. AND NOW, IT´S MY TURN TO DO IT. YES, OH YES, I´M GUILTY TOO. I WAS IN MY EARLY TWENTIES WHEN I STOLE A COUPLE OF T-SHIRTS, AND NOW IT FEELS GOOD TO SAY THE TRUTH, TO ADMIT I WASN´T THE WAY I AM TODAY, AND FEEL THAT COMFORT AND PEACE I GET ONCE I SAY IT ALL. THE MOMENT ONE WANTS TO STEP INTO ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT SUBJECTS, LIKE THE ARK OF THE COVENANT, IS THE MOMENT WHEN OUR EGO, OUR SOUL, OUR VERBAL AND WRITTEN EXPRESSION HAVE TO UNDERGO A TOTAL CLEANUP OPERATION.
HAVING DONE STEP ONE LET´S GO AHEAD AND START DOING WHAT GOD WANTS US TO. ONE OF THOSE THINGS OUR LORD WANTS IS TO MAKE US AWARE OF THE EXISTENCE OF HIS PRESENCE IN THE ARK OF THE COVENANT (THE TABOT, “ETHIOPIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH WORD REFERRING TO THE TABLETS OF LAW”(WIKIPEDIA) ), WHICH STILL EXISTS TODAY IN AKSUM (ETHIOPIA) TO MAKE US MEDITATE FOR SOME TIME ON HOW KEY THIS ARK IS IN ORDER TO UNDERSTAND PURITY IS THE WAY, THE ONLY ONE TO WIN GOD OVER. YES, MY BROTHERS.
“AN ETHIOPIAN TRADITION SAYS THAT THE ARK OF THE TESTIMONY IS KEPT IN A CHAPEL IN ETHIOPIA. THIS ARK WAS A GOLD-PLATED CHEST WHERE MOSES KEPT THE 10 COMMANDMENTS IN TWO STONE TABLETS. MOSES LED THE ISRAELITES TO THE PROMISED LAND AND THEY CARRIED THE ARK DURING THAT TRIP THROUGH THE DESERT. THEY ACHIEVED VICTORY BY VIRTUE OF THE ARK WHEREVER THEY WENT TO. FINALLY, ONCE HIS REQUIREMENT WAS MET KING SOLOMON PLACED IT IN THE SANCTUM OF THE TEMPLE WHICH HE HAD BUILT IN JERUSALEM. AND FROM THERE, NOT MUCH AFTER THAT, IT WAS BROUGHT TO ETHIOPIA. BACK THEN THE PERSON IN CHARGE OF SAFEGUARDING THE ARK HAD TO HAVE THE FOLLOWING MORAL QUALITIES: LOVE FOR GOD AND PURITY OF HEART, MIND AND BODY. ONLY ONCE A YEAR IN JANUARY THE ARK IS DISPLAYED ON A RELIGIOUS PARADE, THE TIMKAT, WHICH RESEMBLES OUR HOLY EPIPHANY IN THE BASQUE COUNTRY. ”
“SOME LEGENDS SAY WHEN ETHIOPIAN QUEEN SHEBAH TOOK A FAMOUS TRIP TO JERUSALEM SHE GOT PREGNANT FROM KING SOLOMON AND GAVE HIM A SON, A HEIR PRINCE, WHO YEARS AFTERWARDS STOLE THE ARK. HIS NAME WAS MENELIK, WHICH IN ETHIOPIAN LANGUAGE MEANS “THE WISE MAN´S SON”. MENELIK WAS BORN IN ETHIOPIA AND WHEN HE TURNED 20 HE WENT TO ISRAEL AND SHOWED UP AT HIS FATHER´S COURT. HIS FATHER QUICKLY RECOGNIZED HIM AND AWARDED HIM WITH ALL KINDS OF HONORS. HOWEVER, ONE YEAR LATER THE ELDERS STARTED TO GET JEALOUS. THEY COMPLAINED ABOUT THE EXCESSIVE PREFERENCE FOR MENELIK BY THE KING, AND THEY INSISTED ON HIM GOING BACK TO ETHIOPIA. THE KING ACCEPTED IT BUT ON CONDITION THAT ALL ELDERS´ FIRST-BORNS HAD TO ACCOMPANY MENELIK. AMONG ALL THOSE FIRST-BORNS WAS AZARIUS, SADOK´S SON – PRIEST OF ISRAEL.” (EN BUSCA DEL ARCA DE LA ALIANZA PERDIDA BY GRAHAM HANCOCK).
“REGARDING THE BIBLE, THE ARK IS ALSO MENTIONED DURING THE TIME THE ISRAELITES WANDERED AROUND THE DESERT, RIGHT AFTER PROPHET MOSES HAD FREED THEIR ISRAELI PEOPLE FROM THEIR CAPTIVITY IN EGYPT, AROUND 1250 BC.” (EN BUSCA DEL ARCA DE LA ALIANZA PERDIDA BY GRAHAM HANCOCK).
“ACCORDING TO THE BOOK OF EXODUS, GOD INSTRUCTED MOSES ON MOUNT SINAI DURING HIS 40-DAY STAY UPON THE MOUNTAIN WITHIN THE THICK CLOUD AND DARKNESS WHERE GOD WAS, AND HE WAS SHOWN THE PATTERN OF THE TABERNACLE AND FURNISHINGS OF THE ARK TO BE MADE OF SHITTIM WOOD TO HOUSE THE TABLETS OF STONE. MOSES INSTRUCTED BEZABEL AND OHOLIAB TO CONSTRUCT THE ARK.
THE BOOK OF EXODUS GIVES DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW THE ARK IS TO BE CONSTRUCTED. IT´S TO BE 2 ½ CUBITS IN LENGTH, 1 ½ IN BREADTH, AND 1 ½ IN HEIGHT (APPROXIMATELY 131 X 79 X 79 CM, OR 52 X 31 X 31 IN). THEN IT´S TO BE GILDED ENTIRELY WITH GOLD, AND A CROWN OR MOLDING OF GOLD IS TO BE PUT AROUND IT. FOUR RINGS OF GOLD ARE TO BE ATTACHED TO ITS FOUR CORNERS, TWO ON EACH SIDE – AND THROUGH THESE RINGS STAVES OF SHITTIM-WOOD OVERLAID WITH GOLD FOR CARRYING THE ARK ARE TO BE INSERTED; AND THESE ARE NOT TO BE REMOVED. A GOLDEN LID, THE KAPPORET (TRADITIONALLY “MERCY SEAT” IN CHRISTIAN TRANSLATIONS) WHICH IS COVERED WITH 2 GOLDEN CHERUBIM, IS TO BE PLACED ABOVE THE ARK. INSTRUCTIONS MISSING FROM THE BIBLICAL ACCOUNT INCLUDE THE THICKNESS OF THE MERCY SEAT, THE THICKNESS OF ITS SIDES AND BOTTOM, AND DETAILS CONCERNING THE CHERUBIM. THE ARK IS FINALLY TO BE PLACED UNDER THE VEIL OF THE COVERING.” (THE ARK. WIKIPEDIA).
“THESE WERE GOD´S WORDS TO MOSES: “ONCE YOU BUILD THE ARK, COVER THE INSIDE AND THE OUTSIDE WITH PURE GOLD, AND ON THE TOP YOU´LL MAKE A GOLD CORNISE ALL AROUND IT. YOU´LL ALSO MAKE A PROPITIATORY WITH 2 CHERUBIMS ON THE SIDES. YOU´LL PLACE THE PROPITIATORY ON TOP OF THE ARK…HERE I´LL COME TO MEET YOU, ON TOP OF THE PROPITIATORY, BETWEEN THE 2 CHERUBIMS WHICH ARE OVER THE ARK”.
“RIGHT AFTER GETTING THIS MESSAGE FROM GOD MOSES WENT TO BESALEL, A MAN FULL OF GOD´S SPIRIT, WISDOM, INTELLIGENCE AND EXPERTISE FOR ALL KINDS OF TRADES, AND SHARED WITH HIM “THIS DIVINE PROJECT”. BESALEL BUILT THE ARK EXACTLY AS GOD ASKED. WHEN IT WAS FINISHED MOSES PLACED THE 2 STONE TABLETS OF THE LAW INSIDE THE ARK. AFTERWARDS, THE ARK WAS PLACED BEHIND A “VEIL” IN THE SANCTASANCTORUM OF THE TABERNACLE, THE SORT OF MOBILE TENT WHICH ISRAELITES USED AS A CULT PLACE WHILE THEY WONDERED AROUND THE DESERT”.
“THE BIBLE AND OTHER ARCHAIC SOURCES SAY THAT THE ARK RELEASED FIRE AND LIGHT, ABLE TO INFLICT CANCEROUS TUMORS, SERIOUS BURNTS, FLATTEN MOUNTAINS, STOP THE COURSES OF RIVERS, ANNIHILATE WHOLE ARMIES AND DESTROY TOWNS. IT WAS THE CORNERSTONE OF THE EVOLUTION OF THE JEWISH FAITH FOR A LONG TIME. WHEN KING SOLOMON BUILT THE 1ST TEMPLE IN JERUSALEM HIS ONLY GOAL WAS TO BUILD A HOUSE WHERE HE COULD HOUSE YAHVEH´S ARK.” (EN BUSCA DEL ARCA DE LA ALIANZA PERDIDA BY GRAHAM HANCOCK).
“THIS GOLD-PLATED ACACIA CHEST WAS CARRIED BY ITS STAVES WHILE EN ROUTE BY THE LEVITES APPROXIMATELY 2,OOO CUBITS (APPROXIMATELY 800 METERS OR 2,600 FEET) IN ADVANCE OF THE PEOPLE WHEN ON THE MARCH OR BEFORE THE ISRAELITE ARMY, THE HOST OF FIGHTING MEN. WHEN CARRIED, THE ARK WAS ALWAYS HIDDEN UNDER A LARGE VEIL MADE OF SKINS AND BLUE CLOTH, ALWAYS CAREFULLY CONCEALED, EVEN FROM THE EYES OF THE PRIESTS AND THE LEVITES WHO CARRIED IT. GOD WAS SAID TO HAVE SPOKEN WITH MOSES “FROM BETWEEN THE TWO CHERUBIM” ON THE ARK´S COVER. WHEN AT REST THE TABERNACLE WAS SET UP AND THE HOLY ARK WAS PLACED UNDER THE VEIL OF THE COVERING THE STAVES OF IT CROSSING THE MIDDLE SIDE BARS TO HOLD IT UP OFF THE GROUND”. (THE ARK. WIKIPEDIA).
“IN THE OLD TESTAMENT WE FIND MORE THAN 200 REFERENCES OF THE ARK UP TO THE TIMES OF SOLOMON (970-931 BC). AFTER SUCH A WISE AND SPLENDID KING´S RULE IT´S ALMOST NEVER MENTIONED AGAIN. AND THIS IS THE CAPITAL PROBLEM, THE TRUE HISTORICAL ENIGMA, GIVEN THE SUPREME RELIGIOUS MEANING IT HAD.” (EN BUSCA DEL ARCA DE LA ALIANZA PERDIDA BY GRAHAM HANCOCK). WHY SUCH SILENCE? IN THE NEW TESTAMENT THERE IS NO MENTION OF IT. THERE´S A TOTAL VOID AS IF IT HAD NEVER EXISTED.
“IT´S PROBABLE THAT THERE WAS SOME KIND OF DEVISED COVER UP PLAN BY PRIESTS AND SCRIBES TO ENSURE THAT THE LOCATON OF THE ARK WAS KEPT SECRETLY. THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION WAS GIVEN TO GRAHAM HANCOCK BY A GUARD MONK IN 1983 IN AKSUM – THE ETHIOPIAN SACRED TOWN – WHICH IS IN THE NORTHWEST OF THE PROVINCE OF TIGRÉ, DEVASTATED BY WAR. IT WAS IN THE CHAPEL´S GARDEN BUILT BY EMPEROR HAILÉ SELASSIÉ, WHERE THE MONK TOLD G.H. ALL THIS AND MORE. HERE´S THE DIALOGUE BETWEEN G.H. AND THE GUARD MONK IN CHARGE OF PROTECTING THE ARK:
G.H.: “HOW POWERFUL IS THE ARK?”
THE MONK: “WHAT DO YOU MEAN WITH THAT?”. THE MONK´S POSTURE BECAME MORE RIGID AND ALL OF A SUDDEN WAS ON GUARD. THERE WAS SOME SILENCE. THEN HE MURMURED UNDER HIS TEETH, AND IT WAS HIM WHO ASKED ME A QUESTION: “DID YOU SEE THE STELLAS
? “
G.H.: “YES, I HAVE.”
THE MONK: “AND HOW DO YOU THINK THEY WERE ERECTED?”
G.H.: “I HAVE NO IDEA HOW IT WAS DONE”.
THE MONK: “THEY USED THE ARK” – MUTTERED EERILY THE MONK. “THE ARK AND THE CELESTIAL FIRE. MEN ALONE WOULD HAVE NEVER BEEN ABLE TO DO SUCH A THING” “.
“AT THAT TIME (1983) THE LIBERATION POPULAR FRONT – FPLT – WAS A COALITION OF REBEL FORCES. HOWEVER IT WAS STILL A SMALL GUERRILLA FORCE AND THE SACRED TOWN OF AKSUM WAS ALSO STILL UNDER THE GOVERNMENT. CHRISTIANISM STARTED IN AKSUM IN ETHIOPIA IN THE 4TH CENTURY AC. AKSUM WAS THE CAPITAL OF ETHIOPIA FOR MANY YEARS. IT BECAME THE BIGGEST POWER AMONG THE ROMAN EMPIRE AND PERSIA, SENDING ITS MERCHANT SHIPS TO EGYPT, INDIA, CEYLON AND CHINA. ACCORDING TO SOME ETHIOPIAN LEGENDS THE ARK WAS KEPT IN A SMALL CHAPEL NEXT TO A VENERATED CHURCH, NEAR DOWNTOWN. THE NEW MODERN CATHEDRAL WAS BUILT BY THE LAST ETHIOPIAN EMPEROR – HAILE SELASSIE – IN 1965. BEFORE THAT THE ARK HAD BEEN KEPT IN THE TABERNACLE OF ST. MARY OF ZION CHURCH FOR HUNDREDS OF YEARS. HAILE SELASSIE WAS EMPEROR NUMBER 200, DESCENDANT OF MENELIK.” (EN BUSCA DEL ARCA DE LA ALIANZA PERDIDA BY GRAHAM HAYCOCK).”THE CHURCH OF OUR LADY MARY OF ZION IS THE MOST IMPORTANT CHURCH IN ETHIOPIA AND CLAIMS TO CONTAIN THE ARK OF THE COVENANT.
IT IS LOCATED IN THE TOWN OF AKXUM IN THE TIGRAY PROVINCE. THE ORIGINAL CHURCH IS BELIEVED TO HAVE BEEN BUILT DURING THE REIGN OF EZANA, THE 1ST CHRISTIAN RULER OF THE KINGDOM OF AXUM (PRESENT-DAY ERITREA AND ETHIOPIA) DURING THE 4TH CENTURY AD., AND HAS BEEN REBUILT SEVERAL TIMES SINCE THEM. EMPEROR FASILIDES WAS ONE OF THOSE WHO REBUILT AND ENLARGED IT IN THE 17TH CENTURY. ST. MARY OF ZION WAS THE TRADITIONAL PLACE WHERE ETHIOPIAN EMPERORS CAME TO BE CROWNED” (CHURCH OF OUR LADY OF ZION-WIKIPEDIA).
“SOMETIME IN BETWEEN THE 10TH AND 6TH CENTURIES BC THE ARK DISAPPEARED FROM THE SANCTUM OF THE TEMPLE. THE HOLY SCRIPTS DON´T SHOW ANY LAMENTS NOR ANY CHANTS FOR THE LOSS OF THE ARK, AS IF IT HAD NOT EXISTED. ACCORDING TO RESEARCH THE ARK WAS MISSING MUCH EARLIER THAN WHEN NABUCODONOSOR´S ARMIES BURNT DOWN JERUSALEM IN 587 BC, AND SURELY THE ARK WASN´T IN THE 2ND TEMPLE, BUILT ON TOP OF THE 1ST ONE´S RUINS, WHEN THE JEWISH PEOPLE CAME BACK FROM THEIR EXILE IN BABYLON IN 538 BC. RESEARCH SUGGESTS THAT BABYLONIANS DIDN´T TAKE IT AS THEIR LOOT. SO FAR THE ARK, THE MOST PRECIOUS AND ENIGMATIC RELIC FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT, HAS BEEN LOST FOR ALMOST 3000 YEARS“.
“ACCORDING TO SOME LEGENDS THE ARK MUST HAVE GOT TO AKSUM MUCH EARLIER THAN JESUS CHRIST´S BIRTH, AND WAS LATER ON HOUSED BY THE CHRISTIAN HIERARCHY, ONCE THE NEW RELIGION WAS OFFICIALY ADOPTED BY THE AKSUMITA STATE. HOWEVER, THE ARK WASN´T HOUSED THERE FOR A LONG TIME SINCE THE INVADING ARMIES OF AHMED GRAÑ WERE NEAR THERE AND SO IT HAD TO BE MOVED SOMEWHERE ELSE TO PROTECT IT FROM DESTRUCTION AND PILLAGING. IT WAS DESTROYED IN 1531 BY THAT FANATIC MUSLIM INVADER, WHOSE FORCES TROUNCED THE HORN OF AFRICA, FROM HARAR ONWARDS, AND THREATENED EVERYONE TO PUT AN END TO ETHIOPIAN CHRISTIANISM. IN 1535 AHMED GRAÑ DESTROYED AND SACKED AKSUM.”
“IN 1635 ONCE PEACE WAS RESTORED IN AKSUM THE ARK WAS BROUGHT BACK AGAIN TO BE HOUSED IN THE 2ND CHURCH OF ST. MARY – BUILT BY FASILIDES – WHERE IT WAS UNTIL 1965, WHEN HAILE SELASSIE HAD IT MOVED TO THE SAFER NEW CHAPEL BUILT AT THE SAME TIME AS ITS SPLENDID CATHEDRAL, AND ADJACENT TO THE 17TH CENTURY CHURCH.”
“IN 1983 G.H. WENT TO ADDIS ABEBA TO LOOK INTO THE MATTER AND CHECK WHAT THE MONK HAD TOLD HIM. G.H. MANAGED TO TALK TO PROFESSOR RICHARD PANKHURST, WHO WAS AND STILL IS THE BEST ETHIOPIAN HISTORIAN. THIS SCHOLAR FOUNDED THE RESPECTED INSTITUTE OF ETHIOPIAN STUDIES IN THE UNIVERSITY OF ADDIS ABEBA, AND TALKED ABOUT THE COLLABORATION BETWEEN G.H. AND HIM ON THIS TOPIC IN THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY OF LONDON. RICHARD PANKHURST TOLD G.H THAT THE OLDEST VERSION OF THE STORY BETWEEN SOLOMON AND QUEEN SHEBAH, MENELIK AND THE ROBBERY OF THE ARK OF THE ALLIANCE FROM THE 1ST TEMPLE OF JERUSALEM IS FOUND IN A 13TH CENTURY AC MANUSCRIPT, KEBRA NEGAST (“THE GLORY OF THE KINGS”), REALLY VENERATED, AND WHICH MOST ETHIOPIANS THOUGHT TOLD “THE TRUTH, ALL TRUTH AND NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH”.
“G.H. DID A LOT OF RESEARCH VISITING MANY CHRISTIAN CHURCHES, BUT IT WAS THE ONES NEAR LAKE TANA, NEAR BAHAR DAR, WHICH MADE HIM NOTICE THE REAL MEANING OF THEIR TABERNACLES, OF THEIR TABOTS. HE FOUND OUT A CHURCH WITHOUT A TABOT IS NOTHING. THE FACT THAT THE ARK WAS A PRECHRISTIAN RELIC – HAVING NOTHING TO DO WITH JESUS CHRIST – AND THAT ON TOP OF THAT THE ARK HAD BEEN GIVEN SO MUCH RELEVANCE AS TO HAVING ONE ARK REPLICA IN EACH OF THE ETHIOPIAN CHURCHES´ TABOTS BLEW HIM AWAY, AND MADE IT MORE INTRIGUING TO SAY THE LEAST”.
“G.H. WANTED TO VISIT FALASHA VILLAGES. FALASHAS ARE BLACK JEWISH NATIVE ONES. HOWEVER, AN IMPORTANT CIVIL SERVANT, AN INTERPRETER, BALCHA, WARNED HIM AND OTHERS THAT THEY SHOULD NOT INTERVIEW NOR PHOTOGRAPH ANY JEWISH ETHIOPIANS. BALCHA SAID THAT THE ETHIOPIAN GOVERNMENT TOLD PEOPLE TO SAY THAT FALASHAS DO NOT EXIST. THEREFORE, BALCHA TOLD G.H. THAT IF THE GOVERNMENT SAYS THAT FALASHAS DON´T EXIST – THOUGH THEY DO – THAT MEANS NEITHER YOU NOR ANYBODY CAN PHOTOGRAPH NOR TALK TO THEM. G.H. WAS TOLD THAT THE YEAR BEFORE BALCHA WAS ARRESTED BY THE POLICE, FOR TAKING A CANADIAN RESEARCH CREW TO SEE THE FALASHAS, SINCE THEY WERE INTERESTED IN THE JEWISH PEOPLE AND HAD ALL THE OFFICIAL PERMITS. BALCHA WAS ENCARCERATED FOR SEVERAL WEEKS, GUILTY OF PROPAGANDA AGAINST THE STATE. BALCHA SAID ADDIS ABEBA WAS THE HOME TO THE ORGANIZATION OF THE AFRICAN UNITY (OAU), AND THAT ETHIOPIA HAD JOINED THE OTHER AFRICAN STATES WHICH SUSPENDED DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS WITH ISRAEL RIGHT AFTER THE LAST ARAB-ISRAELI WAR. HOWEVER, CLANDESTINE CONTACT BETWEEN BOTH COUNTRIES STILL EXISTED. INDEED, ISRAELITES WERE SUPPLYING ARMS TO THE ETHIOPIAN REGIME IN EXCHANGE FOR LETTING HUNDREDS OF FALASHAS EMIGRATE TO ISRAEL EVERY YEAR. THE ETHIOPIAN GOVERNMENT FEARED THAT THE UNDERCOVER ARM BARTER FOR ISRAELITES COULD BE KNOWN TO THE OUA, WHICH COULD BE QUITE EMBARRASING.”
“IN THE AUTUMN OF 1983 G.H. WENT TO LONDON TO VISIT RICHARD PANKHURST AND ASKED HIM IF HE KNEW SINCE WHEN TABOTS WERE USED IN CHRISTIAN ETHIOPIAN CHURCHES, AND HE SAID HE HAD NO IDEA. AT THAT MOMENT RICHARD TOOK ONE BOOK FROM HIS BOOKSHELF, THE ETHIOPIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH AND IN THE CHAPTER “THE CONSECRATION OF A CHURCH” THEY FOUND THIS KEY DEFINITION: “THE CONSECRATION OF A CHURCH IS A SOLEMN AND IMPRESSIVE CEREMONY, WITH RITES SYMBOLIZING THE SACRED USES WHICH THE BUILDING WILL BE DEDICATED TO. ITS DIVERSE PARTS DATE BACK TO A LONG TIME AGO. THE TABOT OR ARK, PREVIOUSLY CONSECRATED BY THE PATRIARCH, IS PLACED WITH GREAT POMP, AND CONSTITUTES THE MAIN FEATURE OF THE CEREMONY.” IN ANOTHER CHAPTER, “THE ECCLESIASTIC BUILDINGS”, HE FOUND THIS LINE: “IT´S THE TABOT WHICH CONFERS SANCTITY TO A CHURCH WHERE IT´S PLACED.” FINALLY, IN THE GLOSSARY HE FOUND THE WORD “TABOT” SIMPLY DEFINED AS “ARK OF THE COVENANCE”.”
“IN 1989 G.H. WENT WITH HIS FAMILY ON HOLIDAYS TO CHARTRES IN FRANCE AND VISITED THE NEW GOTHIC CATHEDRAL THERE: 
.WHILE WALKING AROUND IT HE SAW MANY STATUES, LIKE AN ENIGMATIC REPRESENTATION OF THE QUEEN OF SHABAH, NEXT TO SOLOMON, THE ARK AND THE HOLY GRIAL. HOWEVER, WHAT REALLY CAUGHT HIS EYE WAS THAT UNDER THE STATUE OF QUEEN SHABAH´S FEET THERE WAS AN AFRICAN GUY ( AN ETHIOPIAN SLAVE). THAT MEANT THAT THOSE SCULPTORS AND BUILDERS OF CHARTRES CATHEDRAL KNEW ABOUT THE ETHIOPIAN TRADITIONS AND ABOUT THE QUEEN OF SHABAH BEING ETHIOPIAN, AND NOT FROM YEMEN AND CONSEQUENTLY ARAB, LIKE SOME BELIEVED. WELL, IF THAT WASN´T ENOUGH SOMETHING ELSE STILL THAT DAY AT CHARTRES CATHEDRAL BLEW HIS MIND, AND IT WAS AMINIATURE BOX OR CHEST, WHICH WAS MOVED BY AN OXEN CART:
, GOING IN THE DIRECTION OF QUEEN OF SHABAH, AND THE WORDS ARCHA CEDERIS, IN CAPITAL LETTERS, WERE INSCRIBED BELOW IT: 
.
THEY MEAN YOU´VE GOT TO PAVE YOUR WAY THROUGH THE ARK”. THERE WAS ALSO A MAN BENT OVER THE SAME BOX OR CHEST, AND BELOW IT THERE WAS THE FOLLOWING INSCRIPTION, SOMEHOW DIFFICULT TO DECODE: “HIC AMIGITUR ARCHA CEDERIS”, WHICH MEANS “HERE THINGS STAY ON COURSE: YOU´VE GOT TO PAVE YOUR WAY THROUGH THE ARK”.”
“G.H. SAW IN CHARTRES CATHEDRAL THE MIXTURE OF 2 CULTURES: THE CHRISTIAN AND THE ETHIOPIAN ONE:
.
THREE KEY EXAMPLES IN THE NORTH PORTICO OF CHARTRES CATHEDRAL ILLUSTRATING THIS DIVERSITY ARE THESE:
1.”THE STATUE OF MELQUISEDEC, PRIEST AND KING IN SALEM WHICH SOME RESEARCHES IDENTIFY WITH JERUSALEM, WITH HIS CUP, WHICH COULD REPRESENT ISRAEL AS DEPICTED IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. MELQUISEDEC IS IDENTIFIED WITH CHRIST IN THE BOOK OF HEBREWS”:
2.”THE QUEEN OF SHABAH WITH THE AFRICAN SLAVE, REPRESENTING ETHIOPIA”:
3.”AND BETWEEN BOTH WE SEE THE ARK OF THE ALLIANCE. THIS MEANS THAT THE ARK HAD TRAVELLED FROM JERUSALEM TO ETHIOPIA, WHICH IS EXACTLY WHAT KEBRA NEGAST STATES” “.
“THE NORTH PORTICO OF CHARTRES CATHEDRAL REPRESENTS MAINLY CHRIST´S PRECURSORS IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. MELQUISEDEC, HOLDING A CUP WHERE WE SEE A CYLINDRICAL OBJECT, PROBABLY SYMBOLIZES THE BREAD AND WINE OF THE EUCHARIST”. “G.H. THINKS THE REASON WHY BUILDERS AND SCULPTORS OF THE 12TH AND 13TH CENTURIES DID SUCH NORTH PORTICO WITH SUCH ENIGMATIC STATUES IS BECAUSE THEY WANTED TO COMMUNICATE ALL OF US THE KEY HISTORICAL ENIGMA OF ALL TIMES: THAT THE ARK OF THE COVENANCE, THE ARK OF GOD´S LAWS, WAS TAKEN FROM JERUSALEM TO ETHIOPIA.”
“DURING A TRIP TO ISRAEL G.H. FOUND A BEAUTIFUL SMALL DOMINICOS CHURCH BUILT IN 1924, AND DEDICATED TO THE VIRGIN MARY ARK OF THE COVENANT. THIS CHURCH IS LOCATED BETWEEN TEL AVIV AND JERUSALEM, AND ITS BELL TOWER IS FINISHED OFF BY A REPRESENTATION OF THE ARK LIFE-SIZE”.
THE FOLLOWING 7 FACTS BACK UP THE EXISTENCE OF THE ARK:
1.”THE OLD TALMUDIC COMMENT DESCRIBING THE ARK AS A SOURCE OF BLESSINGS:
“WHEN SOLOMON BROUGHT THE ARK TO THE TEMPLE, ALL THE GOLD TREES AROUND THERE BLEW UP WITH HUMIDITY AND GAVE ABUNDANT FRUIT TO THE PRIESTS THERE” “
2.”THE ARK EMITTED IMPRESSIVE LUMINESCENCE. THE ARK WAS PLACED IN THE DARK, IN THE SANCTUM OF SOLOMON´S TEMPLE, AND ACCORDING TO TALMUD SOURCES THE PRIEST OF ISRAEL WENT IN AND OUT OF THERE BY THE LIGHT THE HOLY ARK BEAMED. THAT WAS A COMPORTABLE STATE WHICH CHANGED ONCE THE RELIC MYSTERIOUSLY DISAPPEARED, AND FROM THAT MOMENT ON THE PRIEST WOULD GROPE ABOUT IN THE DARK. THEREFORE, THE ARK WAS A PARANORMAL SOURCE OF LIGHT, SINCE IT BEAMED A BLIND RADIATION, ACCORDING TO MANY BIBLICAL PASSAGES”:
3.”THE ARK WAS A GOLD-PLATED CHEST WITH A GOLD LID, BUT IT WASN´T THIS PRECIOUS METAL WHICH GENERATED SUCH POWERFUL LIGHT. RATHER THE GIFT HAD TO DO WITH THE FACT THAT THE ARK WAS SOAKED IN WITH BURNING CELESTIAL ENERGY, AND IT WAS THIS ENERGY THE 2 STONE TABLETS EMITTED, ONCE GOD WROTE THE 10 COMMANDMENTS ON THEM. AND THIS ALSO MADE MOSES´ FACE SPARKLE WITH A STRANGE SUPERNATURAL GLOW THE MOMENT HE DESCENDED MOUNT SINAI: 
“WHEN MOSES DESCENDED MOUNT SINAI CARRYING THE 2 TESTIMONY STONE TABLETS HE DIDN´T KNOW THAT HIS FACE´S SKIN HAD TURNED RADIANT…, AND WHEN AARON AND ALL THE ISRAELITES SAW MOSES THEY NOTICED HIS FACE SPARKLED AND FEARED OF GETTING NEAR HIM” “. (EN BUSCA DEL ARCA DE LA ALIANZA PERDIDA BY GRAHAM HANCOCK).
4.”THE FOLLOWING BIBLICAL DESCRIPTIONS OF THE ARK:
4.1. IN NUMBERS 10-33, FOR EXAMPLE, THE ARK CHOSE THE ROUTE THE ISRAELITES WERE GOING TO FOLLOW THROUGH THE DESERT, AND DECIDED AS WELL WHERE THEY WERE GOINT TO CAMP.
4.2. IN THE BOOK OF CHRONICLES THERE WERE ALSO EXAMPLES OF “PREDESTINED” INDIVIDUALS TO CARRY THE ARK:
“GOD´S ARK CAN ONLY BE CARRIED BY THE LEVITES, SINCE THOSE CARRYING THE ARK HAVE ALREADY BEEN CHOSEN BY GOD TO ENSURE PERPETUALLY THEIR SERVICE” “.
5.”IN THE AUTHORIZED ENGLISH TRANSLATION BY MR. E.A. WALLIS BUDGE G.H. FOUND THIS TEXT WHERE GOD´S ARK IS COMPARED TO A WOMAN FREE TO CHANGE HER MIND:
“AND AS TO WHAT YOU SAY ABOUT THE ARK OF THE ALLIANCE GOING TO ETHIOPIA, IF GOD WANTED AND SHE (=THE ARK) WANTED THERE WAS NOONE WHO COULD STOP IT FROM HAPPENING, BECAUSE BY HER OWN WILL IT WENT THERE, AND BY HER OWN WILL WILL COME BACK IF GOD WANTS TO.” G.H. FOUND OUT THAT THE ARK HAD A GREAT INTELLIGENCE, AND THAT THE HONOR OF WHOEVER WAS IN CHARGE OF SAFEGUARDING IT WAS CHOSEN BY CELESTIAL PREDESTINATION: “THE ARK GOES BY ITS FREEWILL WHEREVER SHE WANTS TO, AND CAN´T BE MOVED FROM HER PLACE IF SHE DOESN´T WANT TO”.
6.”WITHOUT GOD´S WILL GOD´S ARK WON´T STAY ANYWHERE. THE LORD´S CHOSEN ONES ARE ETHIOPIAN PEOPLE, BECAUSE THERE IS WHERE THE LORD´S HOME IS, THE CELESTIAL ZION, THE ARK OF HIS ALLIANCE. IN CHAPTER 60 OF KEBRA NEGAST THERE IS A LONG LAMENT BY SOLOMON WHEN HE KNEW THE ARK HAD BEEN SEIZED BY HIS SON MENELIK FROM JERUSALEM SANCTUM. DURING THE BEST MOMENT OF THAT LONG LAMENT AN ANGEL APPEARED TO HIM AND ASKED HIM THIS: “WHY ARE YOU SO SAD? THAT HAS HAPPENED BECAUSE GOD WANTED IT THAT WAY. THE ARK HAS BEEN GIVEN TO YOUR FIRST-BORN”. AND KING SOLOMON WAS CONFORTED WITH HIS WORDS AND SAID: “MAY GOD´S WILL BE DONE, NOT MAN´S”. LET´S IMAGINE THE FACT THAT IN BOTH THE GRIAL LITERATURE AND IN PARZIBAL PRESTER JOHN (“A LEGENDARY CHRISTIAN PATRIACH AND KING POPULAR IN EUROPEAN CHRONICLES AND TRADITION FROM THE 12TH THROUGH THE 17TH CENTURY” –WIKIPEDIA-) IS MENTIONED. IT´S IN 1145 WHEN HIS NAME IS HEARD FOR THE 1ST TIME IN EUROPE, IN THE CHRONICLE BY OTTO I, BISHOP OF FREISING (C.1114-1158). THE BISHOP TALKED ABOUT A PERSON CALLED JOHN, A REALLY RICH KING, PRIEST AND A CHRISTIAN WHO LIVED IN THE FARTHEST EAST, AND SENT HUGE ARMIES TO DEFEND JERUSALEM. IN 1165 PRESTE JOHN WROTE A LETTER WITH THREATENING FIGURES AS TO HIS ARMIES, RICHNESS AND POWER, ADDRESSED TO SOME CHRISTIAN KINGS, PARTICULARLY TO EMPEROR MANUEL I OF CONSTANTINOPLE (13TH CENTURY), AND TO THE HOLY ROMAN EMPEROR FEDERICK II (1194-1250). IN II77 POPE ALEXANDER III PUBLISHED AN ANSWER TO PRESTE JOHN´S LETTER, AND THIS RESPONSE ALSO REFERED TO A SUBSEQUENT PETITION BY PRESTE JOHN ASKING FOR AN ALTAR FOR THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY TOMB OF JERUSALEM. PRESTE JOHN MUST HAVE SURELY BEEN HARBE – ALIBALA´S OLDER BROTHER, WHO IN 1177 CAME TO THE THRONE OF ETHIOPIA. LET´S IMAGINE G.H. WAS TOTALLY RIGHT WHEN HE THOUGHT BOTH THE SCULPTURES OF CHARTRES AND THE RELEVANT NARRATIVE POEM BY WOLFRAM 
WERE CREATED EXPLICITLY IN ORDER TO SERVE AS ESOTERIC MAPS OF THE ONE AND ONLY TREASURE, AND THAT THE HIDDEN PLACE OF THE ARK THOSE MAPS LED TO WAS ETHIOPIA. THESE FRENCH AND GERMAN ARTISTS´ GOAL WAS TO ENSURE THE TRANSMISSION OF THE SECRET TO FUTURE GENERATIONS”.
7.”THE KNIGHTS TEMPLAR (C. 1119-1312) WERE A WESTERN CHRISTIAN MILITARY ORDER OF MONKS WITH HEADQUARTERS IN JERUSALEM, IN THE OLD SITE OF THE TEMPLE OF SOLOMON, THE SAME PLACE WHERE THE ARK OF THE COVENANT HAD INEXPLICABLY DISAPPEARED FROM IN THE TIMES OF THE OLD TESTAMENT:
8.IN 1896 WHEN KING MENELIK II FOUGHT AGAINST ITALIAN SOLDIERS IN THE BATTLE OF ADWA IN TIGRAY THE PRIESTS TOOK THE ARK OF THE COVENANT TO THE BATTLEFIELD TO FACE THE ITALIANS. FINALLY, MENELIK WON AND CAME BACK TO ADDIS ABEBA WITH ALL THE HONORS.
( EN BUSCA DEL ARCA DE LA ALIANZA PERDIDA BY GRAHAM HANCOCK).
HERE´S A LIST OF PEOPLE AND FACTS BACKING UP THE ARK IS IN AKSUM TODAY:
1.”DOCTOR BELAI GEDAI, AN ETHIOPIAN SPECIALIST, RECOMMENDED BY RICHARD PANKHURST TO GRAHAM HANCOCK“.
2.”TODAY THERE ARE MORE THAN 20.OOO CHURCHES AND MONASTERIES IN ETHIOPIA AND ALL HAVE AT LEAST 1 TABOT (= A REPLICA OF THE ARK)”.
3.”AN ARMENIAN GEOGRAPHER NAMED ABU SALIH SAW THE ORIGINAL ARK. ABU SALIH LIVED DURING THE BEGINNING OF THE 13TH CENTURY AND WENT AROUND ALL THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES AND MONASTERIES IN EGYPT, AND VISITED SOME NEIGHBORING COUNTRIES LIKE ETHIOPIA. HIS BOOK, CHURCHES AND MONASTERIES OF EGYPT AND SOME NEIGHBORING COUNTRIES, HE MAKES REFERENCES TO THEM. IN PAGE 284 OF THE ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF HIS BOOK HE MENTIONS THIS:
“THE ABYSSINIANS HAVE THE ARK OF THE COVENANT WHICH HOUSE THE 2 STONE TABLES OF LAW WRITTEN BY GOD FOR THE ISRAELITES. THE ARK IS PLACED ON THE ALTAR, BUT IT ISN´T AS WIDE AS THE ALTAR; IT´S ABOUT 23-INCH HIGH AND IT´S COVERED IN GOLD.” “(EN BUSCA DEL ARCA DE LA ALIANZA PERDIDA BY GRAHAM HANCOCK).
4.”ABU SALIH PROVIDES US WITH PRECISE DETAILS AS TO HOW THE ARK WAS USED BY CHRISTIANS IN AKSUM: “THE LITURGY WITH THE ARK WAS 4 TIMES A YEAR IN THE KING´S PALACE, AND THEY SPREAD ONE CANOPY OVER IT BEFORE IT WAS TAKEN OUT OF ITS CHURCH AND TAKEN TO THE ONE THAT IS IN THE PALACE. THESE FESTIVITIES WERE THE FOLLOWING:
-THE NATIVITY
-THE GLORIOUS BAPTISM
-THE SACRED RESURRECTION
-THE INSPIRATIONAL CROSS.
BOTH THE DIMENSIONS AND THE LOOK, TOGETHER WITH WHAT ABU SALIH SAID ABOUT THE ARK BEING COVERED BY A CANOPY WHEN IT WAS DISPLAYED ON A RELIGIOUS PARADE WAS IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE RULES MENTIONED IN THE BIBLE: “WHENEVER BREAK CAMP TIME COMES THEY WILL DESMANTLE THE CANOPY AND THEY WILL COVER THE ARK WITH IT. AND… THEY WILL SPREAD A CLOTH OVER IT…” “
5.”ETHIOPIAN LANGUAGE, AMHARIC AND HEBREW ARE ALL SEMITIC LANGUAGES. IN BIBLICAL HEBREW THE MOST USED WORD TO REFER TO THE ARK IS ´ARON. HOWEVER, THERE´S ANOTHER HEBREW WORD: TEBAH, WHICH ACCORDING TO LINGUISTS RESEARH TABOT HAD DERIVED FROM. THE WORD TEBAH APPEARS IN THE HEBREW OLD TESTAMENT TWICE AND THOSE 2 TIMES IT WAS USED TO REFER TO A SHIP-SHAPED CONTAINER:
–NOAH´S ARK, WHICH HOUSED MANKIND´S SURVIVORS AFTER THE FLOOD.
–THE ARK OF BULRUSHES, WHERE THE 3-MONTH-OLD BABY MOSES WAS LAID BY HIS MOTHER WANTING TO PROTECT HIM FROM THE EGYPTIAN MANDATE. MOSES´ MOTHER PLACED THE ARK IN REEDS BY THE NILE”.
6.”PROFESSOR EDWARD ULLENDORFF, FELLOW OF THE BRITISH ACADEMY AND THE FIRST HEAD OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ETHIOPIAN STUDIES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF LONDON, EXPLAINED WHY ETHIOPIANS ENDED UP CALLING WOOD OR STONE TABLETS ARKS OR TABOTS:
“SUPPOSEDLY THE ARK IS IN AKSUM; THE REST OF THE OTHER CHURCHES CAN ONLY HAVE REPLICAS, TABOTS. IN MOST CASES THEY AREN´T COPIES OF THE WHOLE ARK, BUT SIMPLY OF ITS CONTENT, THAT IS, OF THE TABLETS OF LAW…IN OTHER WORDS, CALLING THESE STONE TABLETS “TABOTAT” IS A “PARS PRO TOTO” REFERRED TO THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF THE ARK, THE TABLETS OF THE COVENANT” “.
7.”IN THE GREAT EPIC POEM KEBRA NEGAST WE ARE TOLD THAT JEWISH RELIGION HAD BEEN INTRODUCED IN ETHIOPIA IN 950 BC, WHEN MENELIK AND HIS COLLEAGUES ARRIVED WITH THE ARK. EVEN QUEEN OF SHABAH CONVERTED INTO JUDAISM. 20TH CENTURY CHRISTIAN MISIONARIES, AFTER HEARING NEWS OF ABBYSINIAN JEWS IN ETHIOPIA, DECIDED TO TRAVEL THERE IN ORDER TO CONVERT THEM. ONE OF THESE EVANGELISTS WAS MARTIN FLAD, A GERMAN YOUNGSTER WHO GOT TO ETHIOPIA IN 1855 TO CONVERT JEWS INTO CHRISTIANS. HE WROTE THE FALASHAS FROM ABYSSINIA IN 1869 WHERE HE INSISTED ON THE IDEA THAT THERE MUST HAVE BEEN JEWS IN ETHIOPIA SINCE JEREMIAH TIMES (627 BC), AND PROBABLY SINCE SOLOMON´S REIGN TOO. FLAD BASED THAT ARGUMENT ON THIS STATEMENT:
“FALASHAS DON´T HAVE ANY NEWS NEITHER ABOUT THE TALMUD OF BABYLON NOR ABOUT THE ONE OF JERUSALEM, WHICH WERE BOTH WRITTEN DURING THE CAPTIVITY AND AFTERWARDS. THEY DON´T OBSERVE THE JEWISH PURIM HOLIDAY NOR THE REDEDICATION OF THE HOLY TEMPLE, ONE WHICH CONTINUES BEING COMMEMORATED SOLEMNLY BY JEWS TODAY. THE REDEDICATION OF THE HOLY TEMPLE (THE 2ND ONE) KNOWN AS HANUKKAH WAS INTRODUCED IN 165 BC. THE NON-OBSERVANCE OF HANUKKAH MEANT THAT FALASHAS MUST HAVE BECOME JEWS BEFORE 164 BC, NOT THROUGH YEMEN BUT THROUGH OTHER SOURCES. REGARDING PURIM FESTIVITY, WHICH WAS ALSO IGNORED BY ETHIOPIAN JEWS, IT HAS BEEN OBSERVED AT LEAST SINCE THE 2ND CENTURY BC”.
ACCORDING TO FLAD, FALASHAS ENDED UP STRANDED FROM THE WORLD EVOLUTION BODY OF JUDAISM DURING THE 6TH CENTURY BC. GRAHAM HANCOCK WAS ALMOST SURE FALASHAS´ JUDAISM HAD COME TO ETHIOPIA DURING THE TIMES OF THE OLD TESTAMENT, LIKE KEBRA NEGAST, AND FALASHAS HAD SAID SO”.
8.”A 19TH CENTURY MISSIONARY, HENRY AARON STERN, A GERMAN JEW CONVERTED INTO CHRISTIANISM, HAD WORKED AND TRAVELLED WITH FLAD IN ETHIOPIA AND PUBLISHED HIS WANDERINGS AMONG THE FALASHAS IN ABYSSINIA IN 1862. REGARDING THE ENCLOSURE DESTINED TO THE SLAUGHTERING OF ANIMALS STERN SAID THIS:
“THIS SANCTUARY IS KEPT ZEALOULY FROM ANY ILEGITIMATE INTRUSION…AND POOR THE STRANGER WHO, IGNORANT OF THE FALASHA CUSTOMS, DARES COME TOO NEAR THE FORBIDDEN AREAS… ONCE AFTER SEVERAL HOURS WALKING WE ARRIVED AT A FALASHA VILLAGE. EAGER TO GET SOME REST I LOOKED FOR A COOL AND QUIET PLACE WHEN I SAW A PLACE COVERED IN GRASS AND A BLOCK OF STONE, WHICH SEEMED TO HAVE BEEN CHARITABLY PUT TO INVITE ANYONE TIRED TO TAKE A REST. THE THORNY FENCE GAVE WAY EASILY TO THE IRON SPEAR, AND I WAS ABOUT TO SIT ON THAT FLAT STONE WHEN A CHOIR OF ANNOYED VOICES… MADE ME REALIZE MY MISTAKE AND IT URGED ME TO LEAVE HASTILY”. THIS SACRIFICE OF ANIMALS STARTED TO EVOLVE AFTER THE EXODUS OF EGYPT, AROUNG 1250 BC. DURING THE TIME HEBREWS WERE IN THE SINAI DESERT, THE ARK OF THE COVENANT WAS BUILT AND HOUSED IN A PORTABLE TENT OR TABERNACLE. FROM THAT MOMENT ON ALL SACRIFICES HAD TO BE MADE BEFORE THIS TABERNACLE´S DOOR, AND WHOEVER DISOBEYING THAT LAW WOULD BE PUNISHED WITH EXILE: “EVERY ISRAELITE…WHO OFFERS AN HOLOCAUST OR A SACRIFICE WITHOUT TAKING IT TO THE ENTRANCE OF THE TENT OF THE REUNION TO OFFER IT TO YAHVEH WILL BE BLOWN AWAY”. G.H FOUND THAT PROHIBITION WAS NOT AS ABSOLUTE AS IT SEEMED. THEIR MAIN AIM WAS TO GET PEOPLE TO CARRY OUT SACRIFICES EXCLUSIVELY IN A CENTRALIZED NATIONAL WORSHIP PLACE WHEN IT REALLY EXISTED. FROM 1200 TO 1000 BC THE NATIONAL SANCTUARY IN SILO BECAME THE NEW SACRIFICE CENTER, AND AROUND 950 BC SOLOMON´S TEMPLE IN JERUSALEM REPLACED SILO AS A NATIONAL RELIGIOUS CENTER. THIS PROHIBITION WAS TAKEN SO SERIOUSLY THAT NO SACRIFICE WAS CARRIED OUT BY ANY JEWS ONCE THE TEMPLE WAS DESTROYED BY NABUCODONOSOR IN 587 BC. THEREFORE, AS LONG AS THERE WAS NO TEMPLE THERE COULD NOT BE ANY SACRIFICES. AFTER THE RETURN OF THE EXILED IN BABYLON THE 2ND TEMPLE IN JERUSALEM WAS BUILT AND SUCH PROHIBITION OF LOCAL OFFERINGS WAS REINFORCED AND LASTED FROM 520 BC TO 70 AC, WHEN THE 2ND TEMPLE WAS DESTROYED BY THE ROMAN EMPEROR TITO. AFTER MUCH RESEARCH ON FALASHAS PRACTICE OF SACRIFICES G.H. CAME TO THESE CONCLUSIONS:
8.1.THE ANCESTORS OF TODAY´S FALASHAS MUST HAVE CONVERTED TO JUDAISM DURING THE TIMES WHEN PRACTICE OF LOCAL SACRIFICES WERE PERMITTED: 
.
THESE PRACTICE OF LOCAL SACRIFICES WAS CARRIED OUT BY PEOPLE WHO LIVED FAR FROM THE CENTRALIZED NATIONAL SANCTUARY. THE CONVERSION COULD HAVE EASILY TAKEN PLACE BEFORE THE PROHIBITION OF THE PRACTICE OF LOCAL SACRIFICES BY KING JOSIAH, THAT IS, NOT LATER THAN THE 7TH CENTURY BC, OR EVEN BEFORE THAT.
8.2.HYPOTHESIS: AT SOME TIME AFTER THE CONSTRUCTION OF SOLOMON TEMPLE (MID 900 BC), BUT BEFORE JOSIAH (MID 600 BC) A GROUP OF JEWS EMIGRATED FROM ISRAEL AND SETTLED DOWN IN ETHIOPIA. THEY SET UP LOCAL ALTARS WHERE THEY CARRIED OUT SACRIFICES TO GOD, AND STARTED CONVERTING NATIVE PEOPLE TO THEIR RELIGION. IT´S UNLIKELY THEY COULD KEEP IN CONTACT WITH THEIR FAMILIES IN ISRAEL DUE TO THE BIG DISTANCE SO THEY FINALLY WOUNDED UP TOTALLY STRANDED. THAT´S WHY THEY HADN´T BEEN AFFECTED BY THE GREAT REVOLUTIONS ON THE THEOLOGIAN THINKING WHICH HAPPENED IN THE JEWISH WORLD DURING LATER CENTURIES. THIS EXPLAINS WHY FALASHAS ARE THE ONLY JEWS WHO CONTINUE PRACTISING SACRIFICES. THEY ARE THE ONLY SURVIVORS OF THE AUTHENTIC JUDAISM OF THE 1ST TEMPLE.
8.3.QUESTION: WHY WOULD A GROUP OF JEWS WANT TO EMIGRATE FROM ISRAEL TO A FAR PLACE IN ETHIOPIA SOME TIME BETWEEN THE 10TH AND THE 7TH CENTURY BC? THEY MUST HAVE HAD SOME VERY GOOD REASON TO DO SUCH A LONG DISTANCE TRIP.
8.4.ANSWER:
8.4.1 ACCORDING TO KEBRA NEGAST THERE´S NO DOUBT ABOUT IT. THE EMIGRANTS WERE THE ISRAEL ELDERS´ FIRST-BORNS, AND CAME TO ETHIOPIA AS MENELIK´S ENTOURAGE, PROTECTING THE SACRED ARK OF THE COVENANT WHICH HAD BEEN STOLEN FROM THE TEMPLE.
8.4.2 THE BOOK TRAVELS TO DISCOVER THE SOURCE OF THE NILE IN THE YEARS 1768-1773 BY THE SCOTCH ADVENTURER JAMES BRUCE OF KINNAIRD, TOGETHER WITH THE “REAL CHRONICLES” WERE RECOMMENDED TO G.H. BY PANTEHURST. THESE CHRONICLES BACKED UP, WITH DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE, A SERIES OF WARS BETWEEN CHRISTIANS AND JEWS. JAMES BRUCE OF KINNAIRD HAD RESEARCHED THE RELIGION, CUSTOMS AND HISTORICAL ORIGINS OF THE BLACK JEWS FROM ABYSSINIA. BY MEANS OF INTERVIEWS TO ELDERS AND RELIGIOUS PERSONALITIES HE WAS ABLE TO COLLECT MANY OLD TRADITONS THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN LOST OTHERWISE. ONE OF THOSE IS WHEN KING EZANA OF AKSUM WAS READING THE PSALMS BY DAVID AND HE IS INTRODUCED TO FRUMENCIO, A SYRIAN YOUNG MAN WHO LATER ON CONVERTED HIM TO CHRISTIANISM. BESIDES THIS, BRUCE MADE IT CLEAR THE KNOWLEDGE THE KING HAD ON THE OLD TESTAMENT VERSES OF THAT BOOK WAS DUE TO THE WIDESPREAD PREVALENCE OF JUDAISM IN EHTIOPIA AT THAT TIME, THAT IS, IN THE 1ST HALF OF THE 4TH CENTURY AC. ALL THIS BACKS UP G.H.´S HYPOTHESIS OF THE EXISTENCE OF A JEWISH RELIGION WHICH INCLUDED THE BLOODY SACRIFICES AND WHICH REACHED ETHIOPIA AT LEAST 1000 YEARS BEFORE FRUMENCIO APPEARED TO PREACH CHRIST´S GOSPEL.
8.5.MORE CONFIRMATION ON THAT COMES FROM AN ETHIOPIAN MANUSCRIPT FOUND IN THE TIGRAY FORTRESS OF MAGDALA, ATTACKED AND SACKED BY BRITISH ARMIES, WHOSE BOSS WAS GENERAL NAPIER, IN THE 19TH CENTURY: A HISTORY AND GENEALOGY OF THE ANCIENT KINGS WHERE WE FIND THIS TEXT:
“CHRISTIANISM WAS INTRODUCED IN ABYSSINIA 331 YEARS AFTER CHRIST WAS BORN. IT WAS ABUNA SALAMA – WHOSE EARLIER NAME WAS FRUMENTOS OR FRUMENTIUS – WHO DID IT. AT THAT TIME ETHIOPIAN KINGS REIGNED IN AKSUM. BEFIRE CHRISTIAN RELIGION BECAME KNOWN IN ETHIOPIA, HALF THEIR INHABITANTS WERE JEWS WHO OBSERVED THE LAW, AND THE OTHER HALF FOLLOWED WORSHIPPERS OF SANDO DRAGON”.
THE EXISTENCE OF THESE WORSHIPPERS OF SANDO DRAGON SUGGESTED JUDAISM HAD NEVER BECOME THE OFFICIAL RELIGION OF ETHIOPIA, AND THAT IN THE PRECHRISTIAN TIMES FALASHAS HAD ACCEPTED TO COEXIST WITH MULTIPLE PAGAN CREEDS.THE CONVERSION OF THE KING OF AKSUM COULD HAVE SEEM DISTURBING THEIR BELIEFS, AND FROM THEN ON JEWS AND CHRISTIANS COULD HAVE VERY WELL BEEN INVOLVED IN HEATED FIGHTS. BRUCE SAID THIS ABOUT FALASHAS: “THEY WERE REALLY POWERFUL WHEN THE CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANISM TOOK PLACE. THEY SAID THEIR KING WAS A PRINCE FROM THE JUDAH TRIBE, SOLOMON´S LINEAGE AND MENELIK. THAT PRINCE…REFUSED TO ABANDON HIS ELDERS´ RELIGION”.
“ACCORDING TO BRUCE SUCH THINGS SET THE GROUND FOR CONFLICTS, GIVEN THE FACT CHRISTIANS ASSURED THEY WERE GOVERNED BY A KING DESCENDANT OF SOLOMON´S LINEAGE: “ALTHOUGH THERE WAS NO BLOODSHED DUE TO THE DIVERSITY OF RELIGION, HAVING EACH RELIGION A DIFFERENT KING WITH THE SAME AMBITIONS, MANY BATTLES WERE FOUGHT DUE TO GREED AND RIVALRIES AS TO THE SOVEREIGN POWER”. BRUCE DIDN´T GIVE MUCH INFORMATION ON ALL THOSE BATTLES AND CONFLICTS. HOWEVER, HE DID SAY IN THE 6TH CENTURY AC, KALEB, A CHRISTIAN KING FROM AKSUM, GATHERED TOGETHER A BIG ARMY AND CROSSED THE RED SEA TO FIGHT A JEWISH MONARCH IN YEMEN. AT THE END OF THE GREAT EPIC POEM KEBRA NEGAST WE FIND A CHAPTER FULL OF ANTI JEWISH FEELINGS. ALL OF A SUDDEN ETHIOPIAN JEWS ARE DESCRIBED AS GOD´S ENEMIES, AND SO THE TEXT STOOD UP FOR THE DISMEMBERMENT, AND THE ARK DEVASTATION OF THEIR LANDS. ALL THIS WAS SAID IN A CONTEXT WHERE WE´RE TOLD KALEB HAS 2 SONS: ISRAEL AND GEBRE-MASKAL (ETHIOPIAN TERM WHICH MEANS “CROSS SLAVE”). IT´S NOT HARD TO NOTICE HERE THE SYMBOLISM OF A DIVISION WHERE THE CHRISTIAN PART IS REPRESENTED BY GEBRE-MASKAL AND THE JEWISH ONE BY ISRAEL. THIS ARGUMENT SEEMED MORE SOLID THE MOMENT G. H. REMEMBERED FALASHAS NEVER REFERRED TO THEMSELVES AS “FALASHAS” BUT AS “BETA ISRAEL”, THAT IS, “HOUSE OF ISRAEL” “.
8.6.THE WORDS “CART” AND “ZION” ARE MENTIONED SEVERAL TIMES. G.H. KNEW ZION WAS ONE OF THE EPITHETS OF THE ARK OF THE COVENANT, VERY OFTEN USED IN THE EPIC POEM KEBRA NEGAST. IT ALL BECAME CRYSTAL CLEAR WHEN G.H. READ THESE 2 TEXTS:
-“GOD WILL TELL GEBRE-MASKAL: “CHOOSE BETWEEN THE CART AND ZION”, AND HE´LL CHOOSE ZION AND WILL REIGN OPENLY IN HIS FATHER´S THRONE. AND GOD WILL HAVE ISRAEL CHOOSING THE CART, AND HE´LL REIGN SECRETLY AND WON´T BE VISIBLE.”
-“THE EPIC POEM KEBRA NEGAST FINISHED THIS WAY: “THE JEWS REIGN WILL BE FINISHED AND THE REIGN OF CHRIST WILL BE ESTABLISHED…THIS WAY GOD HAS GIVEN THE KING OF ETHIOPIA MORE GLORY, GRACE AND MAJESTY THAN TO THE OTHER KINGS ON EARTH, ALL DUE TO THE GLORY OF ZION, THE ARK OF GOD´S LAW” “.
9.”THE ARK OF THE COVENANT HAD BEEN THE CORE OF THE FIGHTS BETWEEN JEWS AND CHRISTIANS. THE FOLLOWERS OF THE NEW RELIGION, CHRISTIANITY, WERE THE MEEKLY WINNERS. HOWEVER, FALASHAS DIDN´T ACCEPT THEIR INVISIBILITY AND THEIR SUBORDINATE CONDITIONS WHICH CHRISTIANS HAD TRIED TO IMPOSE ON THEM. G.H. RESEARCHED ON THAT AND FOUND JEWS COUNTERATTACKED DECIDEDLY AND FOR A LONG TIME. THE FIRST SIGN OF A LASTING FIGHT BETWEEEN JEWS AND CHRISTIANS IN ABYSSINIA WAS IN A WRITTEN STORY BY A 19TH CENTURY TRAVELLER BY THE NAME OF ELDAD HA-DANI, KNOWN AS ELDAD THE DANITE BECAUSE HE CLAIMED DESCENT FROM THE ISRAELITE TRIBE OF DAN. HE TRAVELLED TO ETHIOPIA AND DESCRIBED JUDAISM THERE IN THE MID 19TH CENTURY AC. IN A LETTER HE WROTE IN 833 AC HE SAID THE DANITES AND 3 MORE “LOST” JEWISH CLANS LIVED IN ETHIOPIA, WHERE THEY GOT ENTANGLED IN A PERMANENT ANTAGONISM WITH THE CHRISTIAN RULERS OF THAT COUNTRY: “AND THEY KILLED ETHIOPIAN MEN, AND STILL TODAY THEY FIGHT AGAINST THE CHILDREN OF ETHIOPIA”. WHAT ELDAD SAID ABOUT THE ABYSSINIAN JEWS WAS SIMILAR TO WHAT WAS WRITTEN ABOUT FALASHAS. HE INSISTED ON THE FACT THAT THEY HAD EMIGRATED FROM THE HOLY LAND TO ETHIOPIA WHEN THE 1ST TEMPLE STILL EXISTED, JUST A BIT AFTER THE DIVISION BETWEEN THE REIGNS OF JUDAH AND ISRAEL, THAT IS, AROUND 931 BC. THAT´S WHY ABYSSINIAN JEWS DIDN´T CELEBRATE FESTIVITIES SUCH AS PURIM OR HANUKKAH. THEY DIDN´T HAVE RABBIS EITHER, “BECAUSE THEY APPEARED WITH THE 2ND TEMPLE AND THEY DIDN´T GET TO THEM”. HIS RELIGIOUS CIVIL SERVANTS WERE CALLED KAHEN, WORD DERIVED FROM HEBREW KOHEN, MORE FAMILIAR LIKE THE COMMON LAST NAME COHEN, WHICH MEANS “PRIEST” AND DATES BACK TO THE 1ST TEMPLE. ELDAD STATED THE ETHIOPIAN JEWISH TRIBES HAD BEEN SUCCESSFUL IN THEIR FIGHTS, SO POWER WAS IN BOTH CHRISTIANS´ AND JEWISH´S HANDS IN THE 9TH CENTURY AC AND IN THE BEGINNING OF THE 10TH CENTURY. IT WAS AT THIS TIME WHEN THE CHRISTIAN SOLOMONIC DYNASTY WAS OVERTHROWN AND THIS COUP DE ETAT HAD BEEN CARRIED OUT BY A JEWISH MONARCH, A QUEEN NAMED GUDIT, OR JUDIT, OR MAYBE YEHUDIT. AFTER GUDIT, THE ZAGWE DYNASTY WAS ENTHRONED AND KING LALIBALA BELONGED TO THE ZAGWE DYNASTY, WHICH WAS A JEWISH ONE WHO CONVERTED TO CHRISTIANISM. 50 YEARS AFTER KING LALIBALA´S DEATH THE ZAGWE DYNASTY ABDICATED IN FAVOR OF A SOLOMONIC MONARCH. HOWEVER, THE ZAGWE DYNASTY DID NOT PUT AN END TO THE CHRONIC STATE OF WAR BETWEEN JEWS AND ABYSSINIAN CHRISTIANS. BENJAMIN DE TUDELA, A SPANISH TRADER AND TRAVELLER WHO LIVED IN THE 12TH CENTURY, TELLS US ABOUT THE EXISTENCE IN JERUSALEM OF JEWS WHO “WEREN´T UNDER THE GENTILES´ OPPRESSION, WHO HAD CITIES AND CASTLES ON THE TOP OF MOUNTAINS.” HE TALKED ABOUT WARS BETWEEN CHRISTIANS AND FALASHAS WHERE FALASHAS USED TO WIN, SACKING AT THEIR PLEASURE, BECAUSE NOBODY COULD CONFRONT THEM.
IN THE 15TH CENTURY, A JEWISH TRAVELLER, ELIJAH DE FERRARA, SAID HE HAD MET IN JERUSALEM A YOUND FALASHA MAN WHO TOLD HIM HIS CO-RELIGIONISTS “KEPT THEIR INDEPENDENCE IN A MOUNTAINOUS REGION, FROM WHERE THEY STARTED CONTINUOUS WARS AGAINST THE CHRISTIAN EMPERORS OF ETHIOPIA.” SARSA DENGEL, THE SOLOMONIC EMPEROR WHO REIGNED FROM 1563 TO 1594, CARRIED OUT A WAR CAMPAIGN AGAINST THEM, A CAMPAIGN WHICH A RESPECTED SPECIALIST DESCRIBED AS “A TRUE CRUSADE”. IN 1984 THE NUMBER OF FALASHAS IN ETHIOPIA WAS 28,000 PEOPLE. THEREFORE THE REASON WHY FALASHAS HAD BECOME POOR WAS BECAUSE EMPEROR SUSNEYOS (1607) AND OTHER CHRISTIAN EMPERORS HAD SUBMITTED FALASHAS TO MASSACRE AND SLAVERY”.
10.”THE STORY OF THE THEFT OF THE ARK WAS RULING IN THE EPIC POEM OF KEBRA NEGAST, AND THAT LEADS US TO BELIEVE THE ARK IS IN AKSUM, ETHIOPIA. G.H. COMES TO THE CONCLUSION TEMPLAR KNIGHTS WENT TO ETHIOPIA AT THE END OF THE 12TH CENTURY TO LOOK FOR THE ARK AND FOUND THE PRECIOUS RELIC, JUST AS DESCRIBED AS WOLFRAM DOES. HOWEVER, SOMEONE TOOK THE ARK AWAY FROM THEM AND THEY HAD TO LEAVE ETHIOPIA WITHOUT IT.
FROM THE 1ST TO THE 6TH CENTURY AC ETHIOPIA WITH ITS KEY TOWN AKSUM COULD HAVE ASPIRED TO FIGURE AMONG THE MOST PROSPEROUS COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD, SINCE IT TRADED WITH ROME AND PERSIA, AND SENT ITS SHIPS TO FAR PORTS SUCH AS EGYPT, INDIA, CEYLON AND CHINA. IT BECAME THE FIRST IMPORTANT CHRISTIAN BASTION IN THE SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA AND TOOK THE NEW FAITH AS THE OFFICIAL RELIGION IN THE BEGINNING OF THE 4TH CENTURY BC, ALMOST COINCIDING WITH THE MIRACULOUS CONVERSION OF CONSTANTINO THE GREAT. HOWEVER, IN THE 7TH CENTURY AKSUM STARTED ITS DECADENCE WHICH LED TO ITS TOTAL ISOLATION. THIS CHANGE HAD TO DO WITH THE ADVANCE OF THE WARLIKE ARMIES OF ISLAM AND ITS SIEGE OF THE ABYSSINIAN CHRISTIANISM DURING AND AFTER THE TIME OF PROPHET MAHOMA (570-632 AC). SO FROM THE 7TH TO THE 16TH CENTURY ALMOST EVERYONE FORGOT ABOUT ETHIOPIA”.
11.”THE ETHIOPIAN HISTORIAN BELAI GEDAI TOLD G.H. THE ARK WAS MOVED FROM AKSUM TO AN ISLAND OF LAKE ZWAI BY PRIESTS TO PROTECT IT FROM QUEEN GUDIT WHOSE INTENTION WAS TO ESTABLISH THE FALASHA RELIGION ALL OVER AKSUM AND ETHIOPIA, AND PUT AN END TO CHRISTIANISM. GUDIT WENT OVER AKSUM IN ORDER TO BURN AND ROB THE CHURCHES IN AKSUM. GUDIT WAS QUEEN OF ETHIOPIA FOR SOME YEARS ONCE THE SOLOMON DESCENDANTS WERE DEPOSED. THE ARK WAS IN ZWAI FOR 70 YEARS, AND THEN IT WAS TAKEN BACK TO AKSUM AGAIN, AND THE ARK PROBABLY REMAINED THERE ONCE LALIBALA GOT TO THE THRONE. IN THE BOOK CHURCHES AND MONASTERIES OF EGYPT AND SOME NEIGHBORING COUNTRIES THE ARMENIAN GEOGRAPHER ABU SALIH SAYS THE ARK WAS TAKEN BY WHITE CARRIERS WITH RED HAIR, WHO LOOKED LIKE EUROPEAN NORDIC MEN, DURING CERTAIN CEREMONIAL EVENTS AT THE TIME OF KING LALIBALA”.
12.”THE PRIEST LIQA BERHANAT SOLOMON GABRE SELASSIE, ARCHBISHOP OF THE ETHIOPIAN ORTHODOX ST. MARY OF ZION IN GREAT BRITAIN, WAS A MISSIONARY FOR SOME YEARS IN ETHIOPIA. HE WAS SENT TO GREAT BRITAIN SOME YEARS AGO BY THE PATRIARCHY OF ADDIS ABEBA IN ORDER TO SPREAD THE ORTHODOX MESSAGE, AND HAD SOME CONVERTS MOSTLY YOUNG LONDONERS OF WEST INDIAN ORIGIN. HE TOLD G.H. THE ARK WAS AT THE FOOT OF MOUNT SINAI IN AKSUM”.
13.”ACCORDING TO RAPHAEL HADANE, A JEWISH ETHIOPIAN AND AN OLD WISE FALASHA PRIEST IN JERUSALEM, AFTER HIS ISRAELI ANCESTORS LEFT ISRAEL AND HEADED TO EGYPT THEY STAYED THERE FOR A HUNDRED YEARS, AND BUILT THERE A JEWISH TEMPLE IN ELEPHANTINE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE HIGH NILE. THIS TEMPLE WOUNDED UP BEING DESTROYED IN THE 5TH CENTURY BC DUE TO DISCREPANCIES WITH THE EGYPTIANS, AND THE JEWISH COMMUNITY WHO HAD LIVED THERE MYSTERIOUSLY DISAPPEARED TOO.
THEREFORE THEIR ISRAELI ANCESTORS HAD TO FLEE TO SUDAN WHERE LATER ON THEY HAD TO LEAVE TOO DUE TO ANOTHER WAR. THEY FINALLY GOT TO ETHIOPIA. RAPHAEL HADANE ALSO THINKS THE ARK IS IN AKSUM. HE WAS THERE SOME YEARS BEFORE THIS INTERVIEW WITH G. HANCOCK, AND WAS NOT ALLOWED TO GO INTO THE CHAPEL TO SEE THE ARK”.
“SINCE TODAY THERE ARE NO LEFT RUINS OF THE TEMPLE OF ELEPHANTINE THE EVIDENCE FOR THE FACT THAT THERE WAS A TEMPLE IN ELEPHANTINE (EGYPT) WAS THE FLUID CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN THE ISLAND OF ELEPHANTINE AND JERUSALEM. THE LETTERS WERE WRITTEN ON SEASHELLS, CERAMIC PIECES AND ON ROLLS OF PAPER. THAT CORRESPONDENCE STOPPED AROUNG 400 BC, AND THEN THE JEWS LEFT ELEPHANTINE. WHEN THE TEMPLE OF ELEPHANTINE WAS DESTROYED A NEW ROMAN TEMPLE WAS BUILT ON THAT SAME PLACE”.
THE FOLLOWING ARE FACTS BACKING UP THE EXISTENCE OF GOD´S ENEMIES TRYING TO DESTROY ANYTHING OR ANYONE FOLLOWING GOD IN ETHIOPIA:
1.”IN 1520 WHILE THE PORTUGUESE EMBASSY WAS STILL AT THE EMPEROR LEBNA DENGEL´S COURT IT WAS CLEAR ETHIOPIA WAS GOING TO BE ATTACKED BY MUSLIM ARMIES LED BY THE SCARY AND CHARISMATIC AHMED IBN IBRAHIM, GHAZI, NICKNAMED “GRAÑ” (THE LEFT-HANDED ONE). AFTER A FEW YEARS GRAÑ DECLARED THE HOLY WAR IN 1528, AND DROVE HORDES OF WILD SOMALI TROOPS, BACKED BY ARAB MERCENARIES AND TURKISH MOSQUETEERS TO A BRUTAL ATTACK AGAINST THE HIGH CHRISTIAN LANDS. CITIES AND VILLAGES WERE BURNT, CHURCHES DESTROYED, PRICELESS TREASURES SACKED AND MILLIONS OF PEOPLE WERE BEHEADED. IN 1535 MUSLIMS ATTACKED AKSUM AND DESTROYED THE OLD AND VENERATED CHURCH OF ST. MARY OF ZION, FROM WHERE SOME PRIESTS TOOK THE ARK WITH THEM TO PROTECT IT FROM DESTRUCTION AND SACKING. LEBNA DENGEL ASKED FOR MILITARY HELP TO PORTUGAL IN 1535 BUT IT WASN´T UNTIL 1541 THAT 450 PORTUGUESE MOSQUETEERS ARRIVED IN ETHIOPIA AND SAW THE ABYSSINIAN ARMY WAS KNOCKED DOWN AND DEMORALIZED. AFTER YEARS OF GOING FROM ONE PLACE TO ANOTHER LEBNA DENGEL HAD ALREADY DIED OF EXHAUSTION, AND HIS SON, CLAUDIUS, A YOUNGSTER THEN, TOOK OVER. LET´S IMAGINE THOSE 450 PORTUGUESE MEN WHO SAVED ETHIOPIA WERE LED BY CRISTOBAL DE GAMA, VASCO DE GAMA´S SON, KNIGHT OF THE ORDER OF CHRIST TOO. CRISTOBAL WAS MADE PRISONER IN 1542 AND BEHEADED BY THE MOOR GRAÑ. A YEAR LATER THE MUSLIM GENERAL WAS SHOT DEAD BY THE PORTUGUESE PEDRO LEON. THE PORTUGUESE AND ABYSSINIANS KILLED ALL THE MUSLIMS LEFT. THAT WAS THE END OF THE MUSLIM SUBJUGATION TO THE CHRISTIAN EMPIRE IN ETHIOPIA. MORE THAN HALF OF THE 450 PORTUGUESE WERE KILLED AND MANY CHURCHES AND TREASURES SACKED, BUT THE ARK WAS TAKEN TO ONE OF THE MANY MONASTERY-ISLE OF LAKE TANA
. THERE IT WAS UNTIL MUCH AFTER GRAÑ´S DEATH. IN THE MID 17TH CENTURY EMPEROR FASILIDAS ABOUT WHOM BRUCE SAID HE WAS THE GREATEST KING THAT EVER SAT DOWN ON AN ABYSSINIAN THRONE, BUILT A NEW CATHEDRAL OF ST. MARY OF ZION ON THE OLD RUINS, AND THERE, THE ARK WAS FINALLY REINSTALLED”.
2.”SOME SAY ONE OF THE MOST DARING AND DECISIVE FOREIGNERS INVESTIGATING ETHIOPIA WAS JAMES BRUCE OF KINNAIRD. HOWEVER, G.H. FOUND OUT HE WAS A LIAR IN 2 OCCASIONS. JAMES BRUCE TRIED TO FOOL US ALL MAKING US BELIEVE THE STORY OF MENELIK AND SOLOMON WAS FALSE, AND THAT THE ARK DIDN´T EXIST ANYMORE BECAUSE HE SAID GRAÑ HAD DESTROYED IT. JAMES BRUCE SAID THAT “THE ARK WAS DESTROYED …BY GRAÑ, ALTHOUGH SOME TRY TO PRETEND THAT IT STILL EXISTS. THIS I KNOW BY THE KING HIMSELF”. G. H. STATES THAT´S A LIE BECAUSE IN 1690, MUCH AFTER GRAÑ´S CAMPAIGNS AND ONLY 80 YEARS BEFORE BRUCE´S VISIT, AN ETHIOPIAN MONARCH ENTERED THE TABERNACLE OF THE NEW ST. MARY, WHERE HE SAW THE ARK, GIVING CONFIRMATION IT WAS STILL THERE. THE ETHIOPIAN MONARCH WAS YASSU THE GREAT, WHO HAD BEEN PRIEST AND KING, AND THAT´S WHY HE WAS ALLOWED TO SEE THE SACRED RELIC, OPEN IT AND LOOK INSIDE IT. G.H. FOUND OUT JAMES BRUCE OF KINNAIRD HAD LIED FOR A THIRD TIME WHEN HE SAID THE REASON WHY HE WENT TO ETHIOPIA WAS TO FIND THE SOURCES OF THE NILE. G.H. RE-READ ATTENTIVELY HIS DESCRIPTION OF AKSUM AND NOTICE ONE KEY PIECE OF INFORMATION: THE DATE OF JAMES BRUCE OF KINNAIRD´S VISIT IN AKSUM: JANUARY 18 AND 19. DURING THESE DAYS TIMKAT IS CELEBRATED, WHICH MEANS ONLY DURING THOSE 2 DAYS THE ARK ALL WRAPPED UP IN RICH BROCADES IS DISPLAYED ON A RELIGIOUS PARADE. BRUCE HAD CHOSEN TO BE IN AKSUM ON THOSE UNIQUE DAYS OF THE YEAR, WHEN AS A LAY PERSON, HE COULD HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO GET NEAR THE SACRED ARK. THAT TOGETHER WITH BRUCE´S EXCUSES AND SECRECY ON THE ARK´S QUESTIONS WHENEVER G.H. ADDRESSED HIM ANY, PLUS THE FACT THAT HE MASTERED OLD HEBREW, ARAMAIC AND SYRIAC – ALL DEAD LANGUAGES WHICH NOBODY WOULD BE INTERESTED IN LEARNING UNLESS THEY WERE REALLY INTERESTED IN DOING A DEEP RESEARCH INTO THE OLD BIBLICAL TEXTS. AND IT WAS CLEAR FROM HIS BOOK: TRAVELS TO DISCOVER THE SOURCES OF THE NILE FROM 1768 TO 1773, HE HAD STUDIED THE OLD TESTAMENT THOROUGHLY.
HISTORIAN BELAI GEDAI CONFIRMED JAMES BRUCE OF KINNAIRD 
WAS A LIAR, AND ADDED HIS GOAL IN ETHIOPIA WAS TO STEAL ETHIOPIAN TREASURES. JAMES BRUCE TOOK MANY PRECIOUS MANUSCRIPTS LIKE AN OLD VERSION OF KEBRA NEGAST AND THE BOOK OF ENOC, THE IMPERIAL DEPOSIT OF GONDER, AND TOOK THEM TO EUROPE. G.H. CONFIRMED ALL THAT BELAI GEDAI SAID WAS TRUE, AND BESIDES THAT HE FOUND OUT JAMES ALSO TOOK A COPY OF KEBRA NEGAST THAT HE MADE HIMSELF. LATER ON JAMES DONATED BOTH MANUSCRIPTS TO THE BODLEIANA LIBRARY IN OXFORD, WHERE THEY STILL EXIST AS “BRUCE 83” AND “BRUCE 97” “.
“IN 1989 G.H. WENT BACK TO ADDIS ABEBA, AND BEARING IN MIND ALL THE TURMOIL GOING ON IN THE NORTH OF ETHIOPIA IT WAS LIKELY TO THINK MAYBE THE ARK HAD BEEN TAKEN FOR A 2ND TIME TO DAGA STEPHANOS MONASTERY, ON AN ISLAND OF LAKE TANA, TO KEEP IT FROM DESTRUCTION AND SACKING, AS ARCHBISHOP SALOMON TOLD US IT HAD ALREADY HAPPENED BEFORE THAT”.
HERE ARE SOME SUPERNATURAL PHENOMENA CONCERNING THE ARK WHICH TOOK PLACE IN THE PAST:
1.”SOMETHING TERRIBLE STARTED TO HAPPEN. IT HAD TO DO WITH NADAB AND ABIHU, AARON´S SONS. AS THEY BOTH WERE MEMBERS OF THE PRIEST FAMILY THEY WERE ALLOWED TO GO IN THE SANCTASANCTORUM. ONCE THEY DID GO IN, CARRYING SOME METAL INCENSARIOS. THE LEVITICUS TELLS US “THEY OFFERED TO YAHVEH AN IRREGULAR FIRE WHICH GOD HAD NOT ASKED FOR” THE DEVASTATING CONSEQUENCE WAS THAT FROM THE ARK CAME A FLAME WHICH DEVOURED THEM, ENDING UP DEAD:
.
AFTER AARON´S SONS´ DEATH YAHVEH SAID TO MOSES THIS: “TELL YOUR BROTHER AARON NOT TO EVER ENTER THE INSIDE PART OF THE VEIL IN THE SANCTUARY, OPPOSITE THE PROPITIATORY, WHICH IS ON THE ARK, TO PREVENT HIM FROM DYING, SINCE I APPEAR ON THE CLOUD ON THE PROPITIATORY” .THE PROPITIATORY WAS THE PURE GOLD PLATE WHOSE AIM WAS TO PROTECT THE ARK. THE CLOUD OVER THE PROPITIATORY THREATENED TO KILL THE IMPURE ONES. AARON MUST HAVE BEEN VISIBLE AMONG THE CHERUBIMS. THE CLOUD WAS NOT ALWAYS PRESENT ALTHOUGH SOMETIMES IT WAS, AND NOT EVEN MOSES DARED GET NEAR IT”.
2.”A FEW DAYS AFTER THE DEATH OF AARON´S SONS, MOSES WENT INTO THE SANCTASANCTORUM OF THE TABERNACLE, INSTALLED AT THE FOOT OF MOUNT SINAI. INSIDE THERE MOSES HEARD THE VOICE OF SOMEONE WHO TALKED TO HIM FROM HIGH ABOVE OF THE PROPITIATORY BETWEEN BOTH CHERUBIMS. VERY OLD JEWISH LEGENDS STATE THAT VOICE CAME FROM HEAVEN IN A FIRE TUBE-SHAPED ONE. FIRE, ONE WAY OR ANOTHER, WITH OR WITHOUT A LETHAL CLOUD, SEEMS TO HAVE ALWAYS BEEN OFTEN ASSOCIATED TO CHERUBIMS. FOR EXAMPLE, ACCORDING TO AN UNFORGETTABLE TRADITIONAL MEMORY 2 SPARKS, DESCRIBED AS BLAZING FLAMES IN OTHER PLACES, EMERGED FROM THE CHERUBIMS SAFEGUARDING THE ARK, SPARKS WHICH SOMETIMES BURNT AND DESTROYED NEAR OBJECTS. THE TIME CAME WHEN ISRAELITES HAD TO LEAVE THE CAMP AT MOUNT SINAI (MOUNT OF YAHVEH): “…WHEN THE ARK LEFT MOSES SAID: “COME YAHVEH AND DISPERSE ALL EMEMIES …”. WHENEVER MOSES STOPPED HE SAID: “LAY YOUR EYES, OH YAHVEH, ON THE MYRIADS OF ISRAEL!”. THE ARK WAS CARRIED ON THE KAATITAS´ SHOULDERS (KAAT´S SONS, A LEVI TRIBE´S SUBCLAN). MOSES AND AARON BELONGED ALSO TO THIS LEVI TRIBE´S SUBCLAN, THE KAATITAS. ACCORDING TO SEVERAL LEGENDS AND RABBINIC COMMENTS ON THE OLD TESTAMENT, THOSE CARRIERS ENDED UP DEAD BY THE SPARKS COMING FROM THE ARK, AND FROM TIME TO TIME SOME OF THEM WERE LIFTED FROM THE GROUND, BECAUSE THE ARK COULD CARRY ALL THOSE WHO CARRIED IT AS WELL AS ITSELF. THE MIDRASH EXEGESIS GIVES ALSO TESTIMONY THAT SOMETIMES THE ARK LIFTED HIS CARRIERS FROM THE GROUND, RELIEVING THEM FROM A HEAVY LOAD”.
3.”A PARTICULARLY STRIKING JEWISH LEGEND TELLS US THE STORY OF SOME PRIESTS WHO TRIED TO CARRY THE ARK, WERE THROWN IN THE AIR BY AN INVISIBLE AGENT AND WERE KNOCKED DOWN TIME AND TIME AGAIN”.
4.”ANOTHER TRADITION TELLS US THAT ONCE THE ARK JUMPED BY ITSELF IN THE AIR. THE STORY OF ONE OF THE MANY BATTLES ISRAELITES HAD TO GO THROUGH TELLS US THE ARK EMITTED “A COMPLAINT SOUND”, AND AFTER THAT THE ARK LIFTED ITSELF FROM THE GROUND AND PLUNGED INTO THE ENEMY.
ACCORDING TO THE BIBLE, DURING THE 40 YEARS ISRAELITES SPENT IN THE DESERT THEY FOLLOWED MOSES ADVICE, AND WITH THE HELP OF THE ARK THEY MANAGED TO CONTROL THE WILD TRIBES OF THE SINAI PENINSULA, BESIDES CONQUERING TRANSJORDANIA, DEPRIVING THE MADIANITAS OF THEIR HOMELAND, AND DESTROY WHOEVER OPPOSED THEM. AFTER THE 40 YEARS THEY CAMPED IN MOAB PLAINS IN FRONT OF JERICHO. FROM THERE THEY COULD SEE THE JORDAN RIVER, THE PROMISED LAND. BY THAT TIME, MOSES´ BROTHER, AARON HAD ALREADY DIED AND ELEAZAR TOOK OVER AS PRIEST. HOWEVER MOSES WAS WARNED BY GOD THAT ELEAZAR WAS NOT SUPPOSED TO GO INTO CANAAN – THE PROMISED LAND – , AND SO MOSES INVESTED JOSHUA, NUN´S SON, WITH THE RIGHT TO TAKE OVER. JOSHUA KNEW THE ARK WAS A DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD WHICH HAD TO BE HANDLED WELL IF HE WANTED IT NOT TO BE HARMFUL AGAINST THEM OR ANYBODY ELSE. THAT´S WHY BEFORE CROSSING THE JORDAN RIVER JOSHUA SENT HIS OFFICERS TO THE CAMP TO WARN EVERYONE TO KEEP MORE THAN HALF A MILE DISTANCE BETWEEN THE ARK AND THEM. AND SO THEY DID. JOSHUA SAID TO THE PRIESTS: “CARRY THE ARK IN FRONT OF THE PEOPLE…” AND SO THE MOMENT THE PRIESTS CARRIED THE ARK AND GOT TO RIVER JORDAN…THE WATER STOPPED UP THE HILLS AND SO THE PRIESTS CARRYING THE ARK STOOD ON DRY GROUND IN THE MIDDLE OF THE JORDAN RIVER , AND WHEN THEY WENT OUT OF IT AND THEIR FEET WERE STILL TOUCHING DRY GROUND, ONCE AGAIN RIVER JORDAN´S WATER CAME BACK AGAIN. AND JOSHUA SAID TO THE ISRAELITES THIS: “YAHVEH, OUR GOD, DRIED RIVER JORDAN´S WATER IN FRONT OF YOU SO THAT YOU CAN CROSS IT” “. (EN BUSCA DEL ARCA DE LA ALIANZA PERDIDA BY GRAHAM HANCOCK).
AS THE ARK HAS GOD´S POWER LET´S IMAGINE ITS OMNIPOTENT POWER UNMASKS EVERYONE´S SOUL. WHEN THE SOUL OF THE CARRIER, PRIEST OR OPPONENT IS PURE THE PERSON ENDS UP BEING A WINNER, AND IS LIFTED FROM THE GROUND. ON THE OTHER HAND IF THE ENEMIES, PRIESTS OR WHOEVER ARE FALSE OR CORRUPT THEY´LL BE KNOCKED DOWN AND EVEN KILLED. THAT´S GOD´S WAY!
5.”THE ARK ALWAYS PLAYED AN IMPORTANT MILITAR ROLE EVEN UP TO JERICHO´S FALL. HOWEVER, BY THE 11TH CENTURY BC THE ISRAELITES THEMSELVES WERE ABLE TO CONQUER MOST PARTS OF THE PROMISED LAND, AND DIDN´T TAKE THE ARK WITH THEM. AS THEY THOUGHT THEY COULD GET BY WITHOUT THE ARK THEY KEPT IT IN THE SANCTUARY OF SILO. IT WAS IN THE BATTLE OF EBEN EZER WHEN THE ISRAELITES AFTER BEING ATTACKED BY THE PHILISTINES (4,OOO CASUALTIES) DECIDED TO GO TO SILO AND TAKE THE ARK WITH THEM TO BE PROTECTED AGAINST THE PHILISTINES. THE MOMENT THE PHILISTINES HEARD THE ISRAELITES SHOUTING FOR JOY THE PHILISTINES FELT FRIGHTENED OF WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN TO THEM. THE PHILISTINES SAID TO THEMSELVES:”COME ON, BE BRAVE AND FIGHT, NOT TO SERVE THE HEBREWS”. THIS WAS REALLY THE 1ST TIME ISRAEL WAS KNOCKED DOWN – 30,000 CASUALTIES – AND THE PHILISTINES TOOK THE ARK WITH THEM. THIS WAS SOMETHING NOBODY THOUGHT COULD HAPPENED AND YET IT DID. LET´S IMAGINE THAT AFTER JOSHUA DIED, ABOUT 45-50 YEARS AFTER IT, ISRAELITES STOPPED FOLLOWING GOD´S LAWS AND SO THE ARK, THAT IS, GOD DIDN´T LISTEN TO THEM. THE PHILISTINES TOOK THE ARK TO THE TEMPLE OF DAGON IN AZOTO, AND PLACED IT NEXT TO DAGON. THE FOLLOWING MORNING AS THEY FOUND DAGON´S HEAD AND HANDS CUT, THEY DECIDED TO MOVE THE ARK TO GAT AND THERE PEOPLE STARTED DEVELOPING TUMORS. FINALLY, THE PHILISTINES DECIDED TO TAKE THE ARK TO BET SEMES, THE CLOSEST ISRAELITE POINT TO THEM, AND THE ARK PUNISHED MORE THAN 50,000 PEOPLE FROM BET SEMES, SINCE ALL THOSE DIED. A GROUP OF LEVITES TOOK THE ARK BACK TO ABINADAD´S HOUSE, IN QUIRIATH JEARIM, WHERE IT WAS KEPT FOR ABOUT 50 YEARS. IT WAS DAVID, KING OF ISRAEL, WHO BEING SO POWERFUL WANTED TO STRENGTHEN HIS AUTHORITY BRINGING THE ARK TO JERUSALEM (BETWEEN 1000 AND 990 BC): “THEY PLACED THE ARK ON A NEW CART AND TOOK IT OUT OF ABINADAD´S HOUSE. OZA AND AJIO DROVE THE CART. OZA WAS NEXT TO THE ARK AND AJIO WAS IN FRONT OF IT. WHEN THEY GOT TO THE PLAIN OF NACON, OZA STRETCHED HIS HAND TO THE ARK AND TOUCHED IT BECAUSE THE OXEN WERE MOVING TOO MUCH. IT WAS THEN WHEN YHAVEH BECAME INFURIATED AGAINST OZA AND HE DIED RIGHT THERE NEXT THE ARK BECAUSE HE TOUCHED IT. THAT DAY KING DAVID FELT FRIGHTENED OF YHAVEH AND SO HE DIDN´T WANT TO TAKE THE ARK TO HIS HOUSE. INSTEAD HE ORDERED TO TAKE IT TO OBEDEDON´S HOUSE AND THERE OBEDEDON HIMSELF AND ALL HIS FAMILY WERE BLESSED WITH LOTS OF CHILDREN. AFTER THAT KING DAVID TOOK THE ARK TO JERUSALEM AND PLANNED TO BUILD A TEMPLE TO HOUSE IT. HOWEVER, GOD TOLD KING DAVID NOT TO BUILD IT, BECAUSE HIS SON SOLOMON WOULD BE THE ONE TO BUILD IT, AND THIS PROPHECY WAS FULFILLED (ABOUT 955 BC). SOLOMON PLACED THE ARK IN THE SANCTASANCTORUM, A DARK PLACE AS GOD HAD TOLD SOLOMON TO BE SO, IN THE NEW TEMPLE. THE ARK DISAPPEARED FROM THERE SOMETIME BETWEEN THE 10TH AND THE 7TH CENTURIES BC.
LET´S IMAGINE THE ARK, WITH THE STONE TABLETS, THAT IS, GOD HIMSELF, HELPED JUST PURE PEOPLE. LET´S IMAGINE THE PHILISTINES WERE THE PURE ONES AT THE BATTLE OF EBEN EZER, AND THE ISRAELITES AT THAT TIME HAD FORGOTTEN ABOUT GOD´S LAWS. LET´S IMAGINE OZA AND ABINADAD WERE IMPURE SOULS, AND THAT´S WHY THEY ALL DIED, OR SUFFERED FROM TUMORS LIKE MANY OTHERS TOO”.
6.”MOSES HAD A HARD TIME TRYING TO KEEP THE ISRAELITES´ TRUST AND MAKING THEM OBEY HIM. MOSES WAS CRITIZED BY THEM VERY OFTEN AND HE WAS FORCED TO DO MIRACLES TO REGAIN THEIR TRUST TIME AND TIME AGAIN. THERE WAS ONE TIME WHEN MOSES WAS FED UP OF THE ISRAELITES´ INSUBORDINATION THAT HE SUGGESTED THE 250 ISRAELITES TAKE A CENSER FULL OF INCENSE TO THE ARK, TO SEE IF THEY WERE AS SAINTLY AS MOSES WAS. THE 250 ISRAELITES ACCEPTED THE CHALLENGE AND WHEN THE 250 ONES WERE OVER THERE GOD TOLD MOSES AND AARON THIS: “SPLIT FROM THIS COMMUNITY, BECAUSE I WANT TO KILL THEM RIGHT AWAY”. SECONDS AFTER THAT, MOSES AND AARON FELL ON THEIR KNEES AND FIRE CAME OUT OF THE ARK AND WIPED OUT THE 250 ISRAELITES WHO WERE OFFERING THEIR INCENSE. LET´S IMAGINE THE 250 ISRAELITES WERE IMPURE ONES AND THAT´S WHY GOD GOT RID OF THEM. THAT SURELY WAS A BREAKING POINT FOR MOSES SINCE THE ISRAELITES NEVER AGAIN DECIDED TO ORGANIZE ANY MORE SIGNIFICANT REBELLIONS. THEY ALL LINED UP BEHIND MOSES AND DID WHAT HE TOLD THEM TO, DURING THEIR TIME LEFT IN THE DESERT”.
7.”ACCORDING TO RABBI SHELOMO YITSHAKI (12TH CENTURY AC) THE COVER OF THE ARK WAS A GOLD-PLATED SHEET OF 9 INCH THICK. WE´RE TOLD THE ARK WAS WRAPPED UP IN 2 LAYERS OF CLOTH, AND ONE OF LEATHER, IN ORDER TO CARRY IT SAFELY AND PREVENT ANYONE FROM DYING. HOWEVER, THERE WERE TIMES WHEN DESPITE BEING WRAPPED UP THAT WAY SPARKS CAME OUT OF IT, AND THESE SPARKS KILLED SOME CARRIERS“. 
8.”THE BIG MONOLITHS IN THE PARK OF THE STELAS ERECTED BY THE ARK AND THE CELESTIAL FIRE, ACCORDING TO THE GUARDIAN MONK OF THE ARK BACK IN 1983. EACH MONOLITH WEIGHTED HUNDREDS OF TONS. LET´S IMAGINE EACH MONOLITH WEIGHTED MORE THAN 200 TONS. THERE´S NO WAY IN THAT ANCIENT TIME WHEN THERE WAS NO TECHNOLOGY WHATSOEVER – THAT THOSE MONOLITHS WERE MADE BY MEN. THE ARK WITH ITS CELESTIAL FIRE MUST BE RESPONSIBLE FOR THOSE STONY SILHOUETTES“.
9.IN ”THE BOOK OF ISAIAH, CHAPTER 37, WE´RE TOLD HOW KING HEZEKIAH ADDRESSED THIS PRAYER TO GOD ONCE HE ENTERED THE TEMPLE OF YAHVEH: “OH YAHVEH SEBAOT, GOD OF ISRAEL, SAT BETWEEN THE CHERUBIMS, YOU´RE THE ONLY GOD FOR ALL REIGNS OF THE EARTH”. THE WORDS “BETWEEN THE CHERUBIMS”, WHICH REFER TO THE ARK, WERE WRITTEN IN 701 BC. ISAIAH BECAME A PROPHET IN 740 BC – THE TIME WHEN KING UZZIAH DIED- AND CONTINUED HIS MINISTERY DURING THE REIGNS OF JOTAN (740-736 BC) , AJAZ (736-716 BC) AND EZEQUIAS (716-687 BC). 701 BC WAS ALSO THE TIME WHEN THE ASSYRIAN KING SENNACHERIB TRIED TO TAKE CONTROL OF JERUSALEM, BUT HE COULD NOT SUCCEED IN IT. IT WAS ISAIAH WHO ADVISED KING HEZEKIAH NOT TO GIVE IN JERUSALEM TO THE ASIRIANS. SENNACHERIB SENT THEM AN INTIMIDATING LETTER TELLING THEM JERUSALEM WOULD BE DESTROYED AND EVERYONE KILLED. THAT´S WHEN EZEQUIAS TOOK THE MENACING LETTER AND SAID THE PRAYER WE´VE JUST MENTIONED BEFORE TO GOD: “OH YAHVEH SEBAOT, GOD OF ISRAEL, WHO ARE SAT BETWEEN THE CHERUBIMS, YOU ARE THE ONLY GOD OF ALL REIGNS OF THE EARTH. LISTEN TO THE WORDS SENNACHERIB SENT US TO INSULT YOU, LORD:… THE ASIRIAN KINGS DEVASTATED ALL NATIONS…BUT NOW, OH YAHVEH, OUR LORD, FREE US FROM THEIR EVIL SO THAT OUR REIGNS OF THE EARTH CAN KNOW YOU´RE THE ONLY GOD”. MIRACULOUSLY YAHVEH AGREED. GOD SENT PROPHET ISAIAH TO EZEQUIAS WITH THIS MESSAGE: “THIS IS WHAT YAHVEH SAYS ABOUT THE ASSYRIAN KING: “HE WON´T ENTER THIS TOWN, NOR WILL HE SHOOT ANY ARROWS AGAINST IT…I´LL PROTECT THIS TOWN TO SAVE IT, FOR THE LOVE I FEEL AND FOR THE LOVE OF DAVID”. YAHVEH KEPT HIS WORD THAT NIGHT: THE ANGEL OF YAHVEH WENT OUT AND HURT 185,000 MEN IN THE ASIRIAN CAMP. IN THE MORNING THEY WERE ALL DEAD, AND THAT´S WHEN SENNACHERIB, KING OF ASSYRIA, BROKE CAMP AND LEFT. IT WAS CLEAR THE ASIRIANS HAD SIEGED JERUSALEM IN 701 BC, AND ALL OF A SUDDEN THEY BROKE CAMP AND RAN AWAY”. LET´S IMAGINE THIS MASSIVE KILLING OF 185,000 ASSYRIANS WAS CARRIED OUT BY THE ARK, WHICH MEANS THE ARK WAS STILL IN THE TEMPLE IN 701 BC. SINCE THIS RELEVANT FACT OF HEZEKIAH PRAYING TO GOD, USING THE SIGNIFICANT WORDS OF “GOD OF ISRAEL WHO ARE SAT BETWEEN THE CHERUBIMS” REFERRING TO THE ARK, WAS IMPORTANT EVIDENCE BACKING UP THE CONTINUED PRESENCE OF THE ARK IN THE TEMPLE MUCH LATER THAN SOLOMON´S REIGN, THIS WAS A SET BACK FOR THE ASPIRATIONS OF KEBRA NEGAST AS TO THE ARK HAVING BEEN STOLEN BY MENELIK DURING SOLOMON´S LIFE.
10.”THE SAFEGUARD OF THE ARK, WHO TALKED TO GRAHAM HANCOCK, TOLD HIM THIS ABOUT THE ARK: “IT DOES MIRACLES AND IT´S ITSELF A MIRACLE. IT´S THE MIRACLE COME TRUE” “.
“ONCE THE ISRAELITES CAMPED IN FRONT OF MOUNT SINAI, MOSES WENT UP MOUNT SINAI AND GOD TOLD HIM THIS: ”TELL THE ISRAELITES NOT TO CLIMB MOUNT SINAI NOR TOUCH ITS HILLSIDE, BECAUSE OTHERWISE THEY´LL DIE. IT WAS AFTER MOSES SPENT 3 DAYS ON MOUNT SINAI THAT THUNDER AND LIGHTING STARTED, TOGETHER WITH A CLOUD OVER MOUNT SINAI, WITH A STRONG TRUMPET SOUND, AND SMOKE FROM MOUNT SINAI, SINCE GOD DESCENDED ON IT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FIRE. ALL THE ISRAELITES WERE SHAKING IN THE CAMP. MOSES SPENT ONLY SOME TIME ON MOUNT SINAI GOING DOWN TO THE CAMP ONCE IN A WHILE. IT ALL CHANGED WHEN GOD TOLD HIM THIS: “GO UP MOUNT SINAI AND STAY THERE. I´LL GIVE YOU THE STONE TABLETS WITH THE LAW AND THE COMMANDMENTS I´VE WRITTEN”. MOSES WENT UP MOUNT SINAI AND A CLOUD COVERED IT FOR 6 DAYS, SINCE YAHVEH´S GLORY HAD LAID HIS EYES ON MOUNT SINAI. ON THE 7TH DAY GOD CALLED MOSES WHO WAS STILL IN THE MIDDLE OF THE CLOUD, AND MOSES WENT UP MOUNT SINAI, DESPITE THE CLOUD, AND STAYED UP THERE FOR 40 DAYS AND 40 NIGHTS. THE ISRAELITES SAW A BLAZING FIRE COMING OUT OF THE TOP OF MOUNT SINAI. LET´S IMAGINE DURING THOSE 40 DAYS AND 40 NIGHTS UP THERE MOSES WAS MAKING AND REFINING A COMPACT SOURCE OF ENERGY WITH A STONY APPEARANCE TO GET IT INTO THE ARK. MOSES MUST HAVE USED ALL THOSE 40 DAYS AND 40 NIGHTS TO CARRY OUT THE CHEMICAL PROCEDURES TO PROVIDE THE LAW TABLETS AND THE ARK WITH A POWERFUL WEAPON AS TO PROTECT, HELP AND PUNISH WHOEVER DESERVES IT”.
LET´S IMAGINE SHORTLY BEFORE THE TEMPLE OF SOLOMON WAS DESTROYED THE ARK WAS “HIDDEN IN SOME CAVERNS UNDER THE SHETIYYAH, A BIG STONE, THE WORLDWIDE CORNERSTONE ON WHICH SOLOMON (THE 10TH CENTURY BC) PLACED THE ARK. THE MUSLIMS BUILT THE DOME OF THE ROCK ON THE PRIMITIVE SITE OF THE TEMPLE OF SOLOMON: 
LET´S IMAGINE TEMPLAR KNIGHTS USED THE MEZQUITA AL-AQSA AS GENERAL HEADQUARTERS IN THE 12TH CENTURY AC. THE TEMPLAR KNIGHTS LIVED THERE FROM 1119-1187 AC, WHEN THEY WERE EXPELLED FROM JERUSALEM BY SALADINO. LET´S IMAGINE THE ARK WAS MOVED FROM THE TEMPLE OF SOLOMON TO ETHIOPIA (SOME TIME BEFORE 598 BC) BEFORE THE EGYPTIAN ARMIES ATTACKED JERUSALEM. NABUCODONOSOR EXILED MANY INHABITANTS FROM JERUSALEM TO BABYLON. THIS EXILE LASTED UNTIL THE PERSIAN KING CIRO THE GREAT (539 BC) AND HIS ARMY ATTACKED THE BABYLONIANS. IT WAS CIRO WHO ORDERED TO RECOVER ALL THE PRECIOUS OBJECTS FROM THE TEMPLE OF SOLOMON TO LATER ON PUT THEM BACK PROBABLY IN MOUNT MOIRA, BEFORE THE 2ND TEMPLE WAS STARTED TO BE BUILT (537 BC), ON TOP OF THE DEVASTATED FOUNDATIONS OF THE 1ST TEMPLE. THE 2ND TEMPLE WAS FINISHED IN 517 BC AND DIFFERED FROM THE 1ST ONE LIKE THE TALMUD SAYS: “IN 5 THINGS, THE 1ST SANCTUARY DIFFERED FROM THE 2ND ONE: IN THE ARK, THE COVER OF THE ARK, THE CHERUBIMS, THE FIRE, THE URIM AND TUMMIN”. URIM AND TUMMIN WERE SOME MYSTERIOUS OBJECTS WHICH ARE CONSIDERED COLLECTIVELY AS IF THEY WERE ONE ALONE. IT´S POSSIBLE THEY COULD HAVE BEEN USED TO PREDICT EVENTS AND THAT IN MOSES´ TIMES THEY WERE HIDDEN IN THE HEAD PRIEST´S CHEST. ACCORDING TO A SUBSEQUENT LEGEND, SOLOMON HAD PLANNED THE DESTRUCTION OF THE TEMPLE ALREADY WHEN HE WAS BUILDING IT. THAT´S WHY HE HAD PLANNED HOW TO HIDE THE ARK IN DEEP TORTUOUS HIDEOUTS”.
ASIDE FROM LEGENDS WHAT WE KNOW FOR SURE ARE THESE FACTS:
“AROUND 955 BC THE ARK WAS LEFT IN THE SANCTASANCTORUM OF THE 1ST TEMPLE BY KING SOLOMON. SOME YEARS LATER FROM THERE IT WAS TAKEN OUT BY FAITHFUL PRIESTS WHO TRIED TO PROTECT IT FROM DESECRATION BY MANASSES, AND TOOK IT TO A SAFE PLACE IN THE REMOTE EGYPTIAN ISLAND OF ELEPHANTINE. THERE A NEW TEMPLE WAS BUILT TO HOUSE IT, AND IT STAYED THERE FOR MORE THAN 2 CENTURIES. WHEN THE JEWISH TEMPLE IN THE HIGH NILE WAS DESTROYED IT WAS TAKEN TO DIFFERENT PLACES UNTIL IT WAS FINALLY TAKEN TO THE GREEN ETHIOPIAN ISLAND OF TANA KIRKOS, AND WAS THERE FOR 800 YEARS…THE CENTRE OF JEWISH WORSHIP. AFTER THAT CHRISTIANS CAME TO PREACH THE NEW RELIGION AND AFTER CONVERTING THE KING THEY MANAGED TO SEIZE THE ARK: 
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THEY TOOK IT TO AKSUM AND PLACED IT IN THE GREAT CHURCH OF SAINT MARY, JESUS CHRIST´S MOTHER. AS YEARS WENT BY MORE AND MORE LEGENDS ABOUT HOW THE ARK ARRIVED IN ETHIOPIA APPEARED. ALL THOSE LEGENDS WERE PUT TOGETHER IN THE KEBRA NEGAST, A DOCUMENT WHICH HAD SO MANY MISTAKES, ANACRONISMS AND INCONSISTENCIES THAT NONE OF THE SUBSEQUENT GENERATIONS OF SCHOLARS COULD DECODE THE ANCIENT TRUTH UNDER THOSE SYMBOLS IN SUCH EPIC POEM. IN THE TEXT OF WOLFRAM WE´RE TOLD THE PAGAN FLEGETANIS PENETRATED THE HIDDEN MYSTERIES OF THE CONSTELLATIONS AND STATED RESPECTFULLY THESE 3 RELEVANT TRUTHS:
1.“A THING CALLED GRIAL CERTAINLY EXISTS”.
2.“THIS PERFECT SPIRITUAL THING, THE GRIAL, WAS KEPT BY CHRISTIANS CONSECRATED TO PURITY”.
3.“THE HUMAN BEINGS WHO ARE CALLED TO PROTECT THE GRIAL ARE ALWAYS DIGNIFIED”
“JANUARY 18, 1991 GRAHAM HANCOCK ATTENDED THE POPULAR CEREMONY OF TIMKAT, 
WHERE THE ARK IS DISPLAYED ON A RELIGIOUS PARADE. IT WAS A BIG RECTANGULAR CHEST COVERED WITH A THICK BLUE CLOTH WITH A DOVE EMBROIDERED ON IT. G. HANCOCK REMEMBERED THAT A SIMILAR DOVE WAS THE GRIAL´S EMBLEM IN PARZIVAL BY WOLFRAM” (EN BUSCA DEL ARCA DE LA ALIANZA PERDIDA BY GRAHAM HANCOCK).
HOWEVER GRAHAM HANCOCK KNEW AFTER ALL THE RESEARCH DONE THAT IT WAS NOT THE REAL ARK BUT A REPLICA, AND THAT THE REAL ONE WAS HIDDEN, SINCE THEY DIDN´T WANT ANYBODY TO BE KILLED, TAKING INTO ACCOUNT THE FEW PURE HUMAN BEINGS WHO ARE ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD. “HOW DID GRAHAM HANCOCK KNOW IT WAS A COPY OF THE REAL ONE? SIMPLY BECAUSE HE SAW GEBRA MIKAIL,
GUARD MONK OF THE ARK, BEHIND THE BARS, SITTING AGAINST THE GREY GRANITE WALL OF THE CHAPEL, PLUNGED INTO A STATE OF MEDITATION. G.H. SAW GEBRA MIKAIL STAYED THERE EVERY SECOND OF THE 2 DAYS THAT THE CEREMONY OF TIMKAT LASTED”. (EN BUSCA DEL ARCA DE LA ALIANZA PERDIDA BY GRAHAM HAYCOCK). “NO ONE HAS BEEN ALLOWED TO SEE THE HOLY OBJECT, DESCRIBED IN SCRIPTURE AS BEING MADE FROM ACACIA WOOD, PLATED WITH GOLD AND TOPPED WITH 2 GOLDEN ANGELS, EXCEPT ONE SOLITARY ELDERLY MONK, WHO MUST WATCH OVER THE ARK FOR THE REMAINDER OF HIS LIFE, AND IS NEVER ALLOWED TO LEAVE THE CHAPEL GROUNDS” (MAILONLINE NEWS. COVENANT TO BE REVEALED AFTER LEAKING ROOF IN ETHIOPIAN CHAPEL…).
LET´S IMAGINE G. HANCOCK WAS RIGHT WHEN HE SAID KING SOLOMON COVERED UP THE FACT THAT HIS SON MENELIK STOLE THE ARK, TAKING IT TO ETHIOPIA, IN ORDER TO AVOID FOREIGNERS BOASTING IN FRONT OF THEM. THAT MASSIVE COVER UP WOULD EXPLAIN THE ABSENCE OF CONTENT AS TO WHERE THE ARK WAS KEPT ALL THIS TIME, HAVING NO NEWS NOR ANY COMMENTS ABOUT IT WHATSOEVER. GIVEN THE FACTS ETHIOPIA CONVERTED TO CHRISTIANISM IN 330 AC, AND THE PRESERVED TRADITION IN TANA KIRKOS THE ARK MUST HAVE GOT TO ETHIOPIA IN 470 AC.
IN THE 2ND BOOK OF CHRONICLES JOSIAH (640-609 BC) TELLS THE LEVITES THIS: “PLACE THE HOLY ARK IN THE TEMPLE BUILT BY SOLOMON, KING OF ISRAEL. IT WON´T BE A WEIGHT ON YOUR SHOULDERS ANY MORE”. LET´S IMAGINE THE ARK HAD DISAPPEARED SHORTLY AFTER JOSIAH GAVE THAT SPEECH ABOVE (622 BC). THE ARK WAS PROBABLY MISSING SINCE 626 BC WHEN JEREMIAH MADE THIS PROPHECY: “WHENEVER YOU HAVE ALL MULTIPLIED THERE WILL COME THE TIME WHEN NOONE WILL SAY: “WHERE´S THE ARK OF THE COVENANT?”. NOONE WILL THINK OF IT, NOONE WILL REMEMBER IT NOR IT ´LL BE MISSED. JERUSALEM WILL BE CALLED YAHWEH´S THRONE AND NO NATION WILL BE AFTER ITS PERVERSE HEART OBSTINACY.
FROM 955 BC WHEN SOLOMON PUT THE ARK IN THE SANCTASANCTORUM AND 640BC (BEFORE JOSIAH´S REIGN) THERE ARE 315 YEARS OF SILENCE AS TO THE ARK DISAPPEARANCE. HOWEVER, THESE 315 YEARS OF SILENCE CAN BE REDUCED TO JUST 61 YEARS ACCORDING TO THE FOLLOWING EVENTS BACKING UP THE FACT THE ARK WAS STILL IN THE TEMPLE IN 740 BC:
1.CHRONICLES 26,2 TELLS US UZZIAH (REIGN:781-740 BC) REBELLED AGAINST YAHWEH GOING INTO THE TEMPLE IN ORDER TO OFFER INCENSE ON THE ALTAR OF THE PERFUMES. THE PRIEST AZARIAH AND OTHER ASSISTANTS TRIED TO PERSUADE HIM NOT TO ENTER THE SANCTASANCTORUM, BUT UZZIAH GOT ANGRY AGAINST THE PRIESTS, AND DURING THAT FIT OF RAGE LEPROSY ON HIS FOREHEAD STARTED TO APPEAR, IN THE PRESENCE OF THE PRIESTS IN THE TEMPLE OF YAHWEH, NEXT TO THE ALTAR OF THE PERFUMES: 
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AN ILLUSTRATION OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE OF THE 18TH CENTURY SHOWS THE UNFORTUNATE KING NEXT TO THE ARK WHEN HE´S PUNISHED. LET´S IMAGINE THE REASON BEHIND UZZIAH´S LEPROSY ULCERS IS THE FACT OF HAVING BEEN EXPOSED TO THE ARK. THAT WOULD MEAN THE ARK WAS STILL IN THE SANCTASANCTORUM IN 740 BC, TIME WHEN UZZIAH´S REIGN ENDED DUE TO WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM, AND IT WOULD ALSO MEAN THE ARK COULD HAVE ONLY BE TAKEN OUT OF THE SANCTASANCTORUM BETWEEN 740-640 BC, THAT IS, DURING JOSIAH´S REIGN. (EN BUSCA DEL ARCA DE LA ALIANZA PERDIDA BY GRAHAM HANCOCK).
ALL THIS KNOWLEDGE OF THE ARK OF THE COVENANT, OF THE GRIAL, THAT IS, OF OUR LORD, IS TO MAKE US STOP FOR A MINUTE AND THINK OF ALL THE WRONGS IN OUR LIFE WHICH MUST BE TURNED TO RIGHT AS SOON AS WE CAN, SO THAT WE CAN DESERVE OUR LORD´S ATTENTION AND LOVE. SMOKING CIGARETTES, CIGARS, TAKING DRUGS, DRINKING SOPHISTICATED COCKTAILS, WEARING THE TRENDIEST CLOTHES, HAVING THE MOST IMPRESSIVE CAREERS, BEING LOADED… ARE CONSIDERED COOL, AND YET ALL THOSE MEAN NOTHING TO GOD´S EYES, AND TO THE ONES WHO FOLLOW GOD´S LAWS, SIMPLY BECAUSE MOST OF THOSE ARE NOT WORTHY OF GOD, SINCE THEY ARE NOT PURE, BUT FULL OF THEMSELVES, EGOISTIC, MASOGISTIC, LIARS, ABUSERS…INFERIOR BEINGS WHO PREFER TO BE IN THEIR CONFORT ZONE, AND IGNORE WHAT THEY CAN´T PROCESS, THAT IS, SOMEONE SUPERIOR TO THEM, SOMEONE OMNIPOTENT AND OMNIPRESENT. THEY CAN´T STOMACH GOD, SINCE THEY SEE THEMSELVES AS GODS WHO MARVEL AT THEMSELVES, MOST EVERY LITTLE MINUTE OF THEIR EXISTENCE. THERE IS NOTHING LIKE FEELING PURE, LIKE FEELING DIGNIFIED OF OUR LORD.
THE 2015 MOVIE SPARROWS STARRING ATLI OSKAR FJALARSSON AS ARI AND DIRECTED BY RÚNAR RÚNARSSON SHOWS US THE EPITOME OF PURITY. IT IS ARI´S PURITY WHICH LEADS HIM TO HELP LARA (RAKEL BJORK BJORNSDÓTTIR) AND ACCEPT HIS FATHER. DESPITE THE CRUEL WORLD ARI FACES HIS ANSWER IS LOVE AT THE END. THE TWO MEMORABLE SCENES ARE WHEN ARI DECIDES TO LAY DOWN NEXT TO LARA MAKING HER THINK HE´S THE ONE SHE HAD SEX WITH, AND THE SECOND ONE IS WHEN RIGHT AT THE END ARI TAKES HIS FATHER´S ARM AND EMBRACES HIMSELF WITH IT TO FEEL SOME KIND OF LOVE SOMEHOW, AT THE SAME TIME THAT HE SHOWS US WE´RE TO FORGIVE AND ACCEPT IMPURE ONES, WITHOUT LOSING OUR PURITY. CERTAINLY, FOLLOWING GOD CALLS FOR BRAVERY AND PURITY AS THE ARK OF THE COVENANT SUGGESTS SO. ARE YOU IN FOR THIS?
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