The Ships of Salvation by Steven E. Behrmann Dedication This book is dedicated to the faithful members and students in all of my churches and classrooms who have lovingly supported my efforts in ministry. Though a human, faulty vessel, these beloved friends have patiently listened to my sermons, read my books, listened to my lectures, and helped me nobly in the tasks of ministry in so many wonderful ways. To them this book is dedicated. Among the churches I have served are: Brewster, Washington; Freeland, Washington; Omak, Washington; Valdez, Alaska; Anchorage, Alaska; Hermiston, Oregon; Milton- Freewater, Oregon; Sunnyside, Washington; Linwood (Spokane) Washington; Eastgate (Walla Walla), Washington; Canyonville, Oregon (2X); Cottage Grove; Oregon; Sunnyside (Portland), Oregon (2X) ; Milo Adventist Academy, Oregon (2X); Myrtle Creek, Oregon; Winston, Oregon; Sutherlin, Oregon; Albany, Oregon (2X); Yoncalla, Oregon. May the Captain of the Ship of Our Salvation come soon to take us all safely home! Copyright © 2019 Albany Edition Second Printing The Ships of Salvation 5 Table of Contents Three Odysseys of Faith ............................................................9 Sacred Sagas of History...........................................................20 The Great Deluge and the Ark of Noah..................................28 Evidence That Demands a Verdict ..........................................42 Ark-e-ology...............................................................................71 Why Mt. Ararat? Why an Ark? ..............................................84 Where is Noah’s Ark?..............................................................94 The Ark of the Exodus...........................................................107 Voyage Across the Sea and the Wilderness Trek..................138 A Ship in the Desert ...............................................................156 Raiders of the Lost Ark ..........................................................170 Why an Ark of the Covenant? ...............................................179 Where is the Ark of the Covenant Today? ............................196 The Captain of Our Salvation ...............................................209 The Ships of Salvation Appendices..............................................................................226 Appendix A: Expeditions to Ararat:......................................227 Appendix B: The Palouse Mammoths...................................229 Appendix C: The Ipuwer Papyrus.........................................244 Appendix D: Nemty, the Falcon God ....................................245 7 Chapter 1 The Ships of Salvation Three Odysseys of Faith Introduction Christians living in the millenial post-modern era claim a faith that is significantly grounded in the past. Indeed biblical faith does have deep historical roots. The Bible narratives-including those of Adam, Noah, Moses, Abraham, and David, even Christ and the Apostles-took place thousands of years ago. But even though these are not recent accounts, they still remain believable to most Christians. In a general sense, most typical Christians are satisfied with the central tenets of yesteryears’ Judeo-Christian truths and values. They believe them and accept the biblical stories of faith even though they happened millenia ago. They do not question the validity of them even though the creation, the history of salvation, and the call of the gospel story have been passed down for centuries or from the ancient past. It is not the same, however, to those less acquainted with, or at least less committed to the foundations of Christian culture. To most non- Christians religious faith seems distant, ancient, and irrelevant. For millions, Christian history is considered semi-mythical or even non- existent. So while most Christians themselves at least claim that they possess a "modern" faith, their secular counterparts seldom see it that way. The seemingly esoteric and mysterious nature of the Christian’s faith, as real and relevant as it may seem to the Christian, does not generally elicit the same believability from the people in the world around them. We hear devoted Christians sing enthusiastically about serving a living savior. Meanwhile, their non-Christian friends find that such an 9 Three Odysseys of Faith idea simply does not ring true for them. Christians openly witness to the name of Jesus Christ, but neglect to consider how even the name sounds to the secular mind. Evangelistic billboards and bumper stickers may do more harm than good in convincing non-Christian neighbors to turn to religion. They appear ignorant, crude, and outdated. As we look at these blatant attempts by some zealous Christians it can even be embarrassing. At times one wonders what these well-intentioned yet misguided brothers and sisters who sponsor some of these attempts are really thinking. Even a great number of Christians have a very shaky hold on heavenly realities. Some Christians fail to realize that many of their own Christian friends, strongly influenced by the onsloughts of the world, are doubtful and questioning about their own particular faith as well. "Jesus," a Hellenized version of a Hebrew name, (Hebrew; Joshua) refers to an individual who supposedly lived on this earth almost two thousand years ago. But remember, the personal and historical Jesus seems hardly relevant to those steeped in modern culture. The actual title: "Christ" has little informative or positive meaning to the secular mind. Many know only enough about it to use it as an "expletive." The name of “Jesus” or “Christ” is the basis for a large part of the world's slang. Worldlings enjoy serving up shocking and blasphemous epithets to communicate an exclamation of surprise or purposely attach unholy scorn to the subject of the moment. Divine expletives, attached to God or the Lord Jesus are now common expressions in daily communication. The author of this book is a happy and dedicated Christian. Not only does he find the message of the Bible convincingly real and exciting, he actually rejoices in the fact that he has a faith that has solid roots in the past. He wants a faith that has endured the test of time, a faith that is designed to have relevance to every generation of this world's history. He wants a faith structure that represents salvation history from before this world began to its end or fulfillment in the future. Nonetheless, that being said, he is reminded daily that in believing these things he is now a part of an increasing minority. 10 The Ships of Salvation For much of the last two thousand years Christianity reigned dominant in the Western world. But this circumstance gradually and significantly changed. With the coming of the Reformation and the Enlightenment, the revolutions of Europe and America, the fall or shaking of traditional religion, the partial demise of the papacy, along with the rise of democratic freedoms, followed with communism and socialism. Godless and liberal thinking has now taken over almost everything. The Christian religion is becoming more and more outmoded, and so-called “science” or secular “philosophy” have become the new religions for millions. So let us restate our premise: Most Christians find their faith relevant, and thus they are Christians. But only the most naivé proponent of Christian values can make the case that this is the way the preponderance of most moderns--Christian or otherwise--feel. This is paramount for Christians to realize. Even most modern Christians are greatly influenced by modern philosophical and scientific trends. Our present world is inundated with intense skepticism toward biblical philosophy. The fact is very few Christians actually cling to the purest version of biblical faith. Instead, standard forms of science market evolutionary hypotheses, variant forms of naturalism and uniformitarianism, Einsteinium astrophysics, and even evolutionary or developmental interpretations of actual or recorded sacred history. Over all, traditional biblical history and religion is commonly treated largely as myth. Sadly, it seems even Christians spend less and less time actually digesting the informative and life changing values of biblical Christianity. They are distracted by modern living, media of all kinds, and secular interests of a varied sort. As far the Bible itself is concerned Christian thinkers and writers have become sidetracked in an array of various exercises which criticize the biblical text, applying criticism tools used with the analytical purpose of separating the "kernel" (kerygma) of truth from the supposed surrounding mythological material. This has been referred to as "demythologicalization." In other words, Jesus couldn't have actually multiplied the loaves and fishes--miracles don't occur--so one must somehow reduce and extract from the story only the factual part of 11 Three Odysseys of Faith what really happened. The net effect is a diluted gospel, ceaseless arguments, and finally in the end for a great number, an essentially destroyed faith. Peter, the New Testament apostle succinctly predicted this current attitude would eventually prevail: "Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and