The Location of the Ark of the Covenant Revealed!!!

   People always ask me where I think the Ark of the Covenant is today and this question led me to carry out some deep research into the whereabouts of this ancient mystical relic. 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. Nevertheless, my research led me to two possible locations where the coveted Ark of the Covenant may be to today. One is in a small town in Ethiopia called "Aksum" and the other is under the "Temple Mount" in Jerusalem-under the Al-Aqsa Mosque!

   They shall make an ark of acacia wood," God commanded Moses in the Book of Exodus, after delivering the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. And so the Israelites built an ark, or chest, gilding it inside and out. And into this chest Moses placed stone tablets inscribed with the Ten Commandments, as given to him on Mount Sinai. Thus the ark “was worshipped by the Israelites as the embodiment of God Himself,” writes Graham Hancock in The Sign and the Seal. "Biblical and other archaic sources speak of the Ark blazing with fire and light...stopping rivers, blasting whole armies." (Steven Spielberg's 1981 film Raiders of the Lost Ark provides a special-effects approximation.) According to the First Book of Kings, King Solomon built the First Temple in Jerusalem to house the ark. It was venerated there during Solomon's reign (c. 970-930 B.C.) and beyond.  Then it vanished. Much of Jewish tradition holds that it disappeared before or while the Babylonians sacked the temple in Jerusalem in 586 B.C.

    However, through the centuries, Ethiopian Christians have claimed that the ark rests in a chapel in the small town of Aksum, in their country's northern highlands. It arrived nearly 3,000 years ago, they say, and has been guarded by a succession of virgin monks who, once anointed, are forbidden to set foot outside the chapel grounds until they die.

   It is interesting to note that Emperor Haile Selassie who was the last emperor of Ethiopia claimed to be the 225th monarch, descended from Menelik, the ruler believed responsible for Ethiopia's possession of the ark of the covenant in the tenth century B.C. The story is told in the Kebra Negast (Glory of the Kings), Ethiopia's chronicle of its royal line: the Queen of Sheba, one of its first rulers, traveled to Jerusalem to partake of King Solomon's wisdom; on her way home, she bore Solomon's son, Menelik. Later Menelik went to visit his father, and on his return journey was accompanied by the firstborn sons of some Israelite nobles—who, unbeknown to Menelik, stole the ark and carried it with them to Ethiopia. When Menelik learned of the theft, he reasoned that since the ark's frightful powers hadn't destroyed his retinue, it must be God's will that it remain with him.

  Many historians—including Richard Pankhurst, a British-born scholar who has lived in Ethiopia for almost 50 years—date the Kebra Negast manuscript to the 14th century A.D. It was written, they say, to validate the claim by Menelik's descendants that their right to rule was God-given, based on an unbroken succession from Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. But the Ethiopian faithful say the chronicles were copied from a fourth-century Coptic manuscript that was, in turn, based on a far earlier account. This lineage remained so important to them that it was written into Selassie's two imperial constitutions, in 1931 and 1955.

  In the second instance that relates to the most likely location of the Ark of the Covenant, it is interesting to note that 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 forty 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 Jewish sources, and today, there are those who know exactly where this chamber is. Jewish rabbis claim 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 (in the early 1990s) to excavate towards the direction of this chamber. This resulted in widespread Moslem unrest and rioting. Jews claim that Muslims 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. (The official position of the Islamic Wakf, the body that governs over the Temple Mount, is that there never was a Holy Temple, and that the Jews have no rights whatsoever to the place).

Nigeria's biggest con artist, bishop Oyedepo floats an airline: "Dominion Air"

   
Yesterday it was pastor Chris and today I bring to you an expose of the fake and anti-christian lifestyle of one of Nigeria's biggest CON ARTISTS: bishop, David Oyedepo. This is a man that even the devil would frown upon and its apparent that Christ would be ashamed whenever this man is called a Christian.  This is a man that milks his feeble minded congregation dry with underhanded dictates and has become rich off the humble offerings and tithes of poor church members. What is more annoying with this fake prophet of the end times is that with the money acquired from the poor, he has obviously detached himself from he poor to which he is supposed to minister to. He has not affiliated himself with the high and the mighty and only recently, Nigeria’s richest pastor and self-styled bishop, David Oyedepo, has made a glistening addition to his business empire by floating an airline called Dominion Air. 
    Oyedepo, who a few years ago ignited debate on flamboyant Christianity by acquiring his fourth private jet, is the owner of Dominion Publishing House, Covenant University and an elite secondary school called Faith Academy. Listed by Forbes as Nigeria’s wealthiest pastor with a net worth of $150 million, David Oyedepo is a preacher and founder of Living Faith Church Worldwide, more popularly known as Winners’ Chapel. Besides his four private jets, Forbes also mentioned the preacher’s luxury homes in London and the United States.

Sources within the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), the agency charged with business registration in Nigeria, confirmed the registration of Dominion Air with David Oyedepo as its chairman. Another source within a Lagos-based insurance firm known to handle most of Oyedepo’s businesses said the airline project had been in the works for six years and was only made a reality this year. The broker who balked at putting figures to the number of aircrafts so far purchased authoritatively said none of them is on lease. If Oyedepo’s entry into the airline business is creating exciting buzz in Nigeria’s stock exchange, the same cannot be said with the Christian community, especially the Pentecostal congregations, where the so-called men of God have been criticised for alienating their poor followers with their flamboyant lifestyle.

Money laundering

According to Lawrence Ofili, a member of the Save Nigeria Group (SNG), the social movement that staged days of protest over this year’s controversial fuel price hike, Nigerian pastors are increasingly acting like politicians who put themselves first before the people. “Pastor Oyedepo by his choice of businesses has severally demonstrated a disconnect between himself and hundreds of thousands of poor Christians who he claimed to have come to deliver. About 90 per cent of public schools in this country were built by early Christian missionaries; today Oyedepo has Covenant University but it is for children of millionaires,” says Mr Ofili.

“Even with the high school called Faith Academy, I am aware that most children in his congregation dream to be educated there but their parents who probably pay tithes and offerings cannot afford the school fees. His Faith Tabernacle accommodates 50,000 worshippers every Sunday; how many of them are going to fly Dominion Air? Honestly this project is not for the poor. He should have settled for mechanised farming to engage unemployed men and women.”
I just want to remind all of you that we are supposed to worship God, not men of God. "Touch not my anointed and do my prophet no harm" does not mean follow blindly. Anyone can carry the Bible and claim to be Pastor with all the wrong intentions. Be watchful because the bible says in the end times many false prophets will arise in the name of Jesus to deceive and to steal.

In Nigeria, we are known to be steeped in corruption and the canker worm has eaten into the very fabric of the Nigerian polity so much so that even the president is not innocent. But fate has a way of solving problems if man does not take action. The laws of nature hold that in a state of heightened chaos, order is restored via replacement reactions. This implies that the chaos would consume itself and order will return. This is what has started happening in Nigeria with corrupt officials now beginning to blow the trumpet on each other in order to escape the axe of natural justice. This is visible in the most recent comedy spectacle that was played out in the national assembly in Abuja about a day ago (15th March 2012). 
        The embattled SEC boss who has been shown to abuse her office threw mud at the lawmakers grilling her Under fire Director General of the Security and Exchange Commission, Arunma Oteh, fought back fiercely today after being accused by lawmakers for abusing her office and embarking on limitless spending.Today, Ms. Oteh said the lawmakers are furious at her because she turned down the request of the chairman, House capital market committee, Hernan Hembe, for a N44million tip. Ms Oteh said the lawmaker first asked for N39 million to defray the cost of the ongoing public hearing, and when she denied, the chairman asked for N5million.  That was in addition to the commission sponsoring a foreign trip for members of the committee, and paying them estacodes.  
    The hefty accusations have unsettled the mood at the hearing, which is being beamed live on television, and lawmakers are scrambling to play down the concerns. After the allegations were made, Mr. Hembe asked to identify representatives of the EFCC and the ICPC at the hearing, and said he was surrendering himself to their probe over the charges. Lawmakers discussed informally the possibilities of containing the news, with senior members questioning why the event was screened live in the first instance.  Premium could not ascertain the veracity of Ms. Oteh's allegation against the lawmaker but sources close to her said she arrived the hearing today fuming and threatening that she would unsettle the lawmakers and make them pay dearly for humiliating her Wednesday. Little by little dem de lick peppersoup finish...one day they will all expose themselves.