Archaeological Discoveries — Full Article

Then the LORD Rained Upon Sodom — Cities Globally Disappear

CITIES GLOBALLY DISSAPEAR

I invite you to consider the enormous changes that have come upon our world during human history. Were you aware that where there is now the dense jungle of the South American Amazon, there was, some 3,000 to 4,000 years ago a vast stretch of inland water? This article will reveal some amazing facts about our world and its past. Be prepared to be shocked.

THE AMAZON SEA

When man first settled South America, the whole Amazon basin was a shallow inland sea. Into the great inland Amazon Sea, many rivers flowed which are now the arms and feeders of the great Amazon River. And also at that time there was no mountain range between the Amazon and the Pacific Ocean. The Amazon Sea connected naturally with the Atlantic Ocean in the east and with the Pacific in the west, by canals. These canals remained intact until the Andes mountains were raised suddenly. But that is something for another time.

The shore lines of this inland sea are distinctly visible today:

1.The northern shores: Along the foothills of the Venezuelan highlands are beautiful white quartz beaches.

2.The western shores: Along the eastern foothills of the Andes, these shorelines can also be seen.

Amid the Amazon basin there are vast tracks of sand "islands" not too far from the rivers' edges. These sandy strips in the midst of savannah or even forest seem to be ancient beaches where the sea surf once broke; yet they cannot be so very ancient because continental vegetation has not yet deposited more than the thinnest green veneer on most of them.

Some Brazilian scientists claim they have evidence that the Amazon Sea was still there about the year 1200 B.C. In the nineteenth century, James Churchward was travelling through Tibet. At one of the western monasteries he found some large tablets, which on examination proved to contain maps of various parts of the earth. These were very ancient. Among these maps was one of South America.

This South American map shows the Amazon Sea. It also shows a city at the exact spot where the ruins of Tiahuanaco (in Bolivia, south of Lake Titicaca) are today. And it shows a canal nearby. If you go to that ruined city today, you can find nearby the remains of ancient stone-lined canals, which are broken up and out of alignment, up and down, like the swells of the sea.

That whole area has risen thousands of feet. And there are clues that it happened suddenly. The now arid regions of the coastal strip of Peru and Chile must once have been very different. Deserts could not have supported the extensive cities with great urban populations whose ruins have been uncovered there.

I've flown over the great Peruvian Desert. It is the driest in the world. Even in our time, Chile's Coquimbo region was used for cattle grazing. It is now so depleted that only hardy cacti and goats seem able to survive.

TANTALIZING QUESTIONS

Here follows 30 amazing facts for your consideration. Did you know that there are islands, now deep beneath the sea, with remains of cities, palaces and temples on them? Did you hear about the pilot who, on a trans-ocean flight, discovered a drowned mountainside city in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean? Were you aware of the ruins up to four stories high, that you can explore only if you go diving? Did you know that a submarine accidently bumped into a flight of man-made steps cut into a cliffside 1,400 feet below the surface?

Where you aware of the 700 miles of tunnels in the Sahara desert? Have you heard of the bizarre lost city in the clouds? And what are white quartz surf beaches doing high up, hundreds of miles from the sea? Did you know that a city of gleaming white pyramids, towering palaces and broken fountains, has been discovered poking up through a tract of virtually unknown jungle in northern Brazil?

Did you know that from Mexico to Chile, thousands of ruins of towns and cities, buried under dense jungle or desert sands have never been explored? Have you heard the incredible true story of how thousands of city folk, sophisticated in commerce, became savages in the jungle! Who carved hundreds of rooms high into the wall of the Grand Canyon, 2,000 feet above the present river bed? And what mysterious "giants" built a city in Death Valley? What hovering heat source destroyed it? Did you know there are traces of ancient cities spread out from Florida, through the Mississippi and over into Arizona and New Mexico? That one of them, in Texas, had walls up to 49 feet high?

What do you know about the British city, then half the size of London, that vanished? Have you heard of the bells of churches that peal as the sea currents surge through the bell towers? Has anyone told you about the paved roads that go far out under the sea?

And what about a city the world forgot - encircled by cliffs, guarded by tall, lean, hawk-faced sentries, and accessible only through a split in the rock wall? The city where victims' hearts were torn out, still beating, as sacrifice to the sun? Why did this bustling city die? And how was it re-discovered?

In a desert of southern Israel is the eeriest ghost town on earth and what happened to this once-bustling city? According to the book of Genesis five cities -- Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zoboiim and Zoar sat on a fertile, watered plain near the present Dead Sea. In ancient times, the region was lush and green.

A rain of fire and sulphur, in which the land was smoking like a furnace", utterly destroyed the

cities and turned the countryside into desert. From ancient writings we learn that it was their great wealth which led the citizens to idleness and a disregard for those less fortunate than they. They were full of pride and haughtiness, thinking they were better than others.

WHY SO WEALTHY?

What was the source of their wealth? The mention of the "slime pits" (tar, asphalt, or bitumen pits) in the book of Genesis may provide the answer, since it was a most valuable commodity in those days, being used extensively all over the ancient world.

Even today, according to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, "In its various forms bitumen is one of the most widely distributed of substances." In the ancient Ebla tablets from Syria, one tablet listing some purchases and the price for each item in silver, shows that the highest price was paid for bitumen. And the people of Sodom and Gomorrah had only to walk out into their "front yard" and gather it. They had no reason to engage in hard work. They had a "gold mine" there just for the taking.

The bitumen of Sodom and Gomorrah was easily accessed, because it was on the surface. Extraction required no oil wells. Have human attitudes changed? Today, oil is still regarded as a strategic resource justifying war. After all, a large proportion of our consumer products are derived from oil.

The deepest spot on earth dips down between Israel and Jordan, some 1,300 feet (400 metres) below sea level, to what is known as the Dead Sea.

In this lake no fish can live. The waters are 28 per cent salt, six times saltier than the ocean. Any careless fish that ventures from the River Jordan down into this evil lake chokes to death and is pickled. In this water you cannot sink. When you jump in, you feel as if you are being thrown out again. The scorching sun dries your skin almost at once. The thin crust of salt which the water has deposited on your body makes you look quite white.

You must rinse this off quickly, or risk severe burning. Virtually nothing grows here. The shore is utterly desolate... and in summer it bakes like an oven. It is hard to believe that this whole area was once like a beautiful garden, exceptionally fertile.

THE CITIES LOST

The New Testament writer Jude said that the ruins were visible in his day. Also in the first century, the historian Josephus wrote: "The traces (or shadows) of the five cities are still to be seen... (Wars of the Jews, Bk IV, ch. 8, Sec. 4)

It appears that in Josephus' time the location of these dead cities was known and pointed to. But after the destruction of Judea and the dispersion of the Jews this knowledge was forgotten. For centuries travellers passed through this desolate waste, oblivious to the fact that the shapeless ruins close by were those of a city, so thorough had been the destruction.

In our day popular speculations have placed the ruins of these lost cities on the floor of the Dead Sea. In 1960, an American explorer, with the friendly cooperation of the Jordanian monarchy, attempted to make a search of the north, middle and south end of the Dead Sea bottom. He located, photographed and displayed a few poorly identifiable objects that he claimed to have found at depths and locations that are incompatible with the actual depths in the named locations.

The only certainties that emerged were that trees once grew on the land now covered by water. And there was no evidence of any remains of cities. But these efforts and published data have led many to incorrectly believe that the cities rest beneath the Dead Sea.

NOT UNDER THE SEA

However, the cities cannot lie under the sea and here's why. In his statement, part of which is quoted above, Josephus says that:

1. The ruins were VISIBLE IN HIS DAY -- ON THE "BORDERS" OF THE DEAD SEA, not hidden under it!

2. Bitumen was floating to the surface of the sea. This can only mean that the bitumen pits (of the old Vale of Siddim) were SUBMERGED -- BUT NOT THE RUINS OF THE CITIES.

3. His description of the remains perfectly describes what can be seen today in these five ashen sites. They are visible on land. They are all whitish in colour; the shadows and shapes display all the visual characteristics of ancient cities and walls.

From surveying, mapping and dating the ancient shore lines in the salt caves of Mount Sedem \[Mount Sodom\], Hebrew University speleologist Amos Franklin concluded that the SEA LEVEL about 2,000 years ago was HIGHER than at present.

(A. Frumkin, "Holocene Environmental Change Determined from Salt Caves of Mount Sedem, Israel". The Holocene, 1, 1991, pp. 191 200)

The significance of that find is simply this: If the remains of Sodom and Gomorrah were visible in the first century (when the sea level was HIGHER), then the same remains CANNOT be underwater today, when the sea level is lower.

UNDER THE DROWNED SOUTHERN PLAIN?

Could the ruins be under the water of the drowned plain to the south of the Dead Sea? The Jordan River flows into the Dead Sea, but there is no outflow from the sea. Thus, after the destruction of the cities, the level of the sea rose and eventually covered the plain to the south.

So scholars suggested hopefully that the cities lay beneath these shallow waters.

More recently, however, Jordan River waters have been siphoned off for irrigation purposes. This lowered the lake level and largely exposed the southern plain. But there was no sign of any

ruined cities there.

OR ARE THE RUINS TO THE EAST?

Could the remains of Numeira and Bab edh Dhra on the east side of the Dead Sea be the sites of

Sodom and Gomorrah? There are several reasons -- if you believe the biblical account - that these sites do not qualify. One reason is simply this: they are not "in the plain" but instead on the plateau, some 500 feet above the plain. When William Albright and Melvin Kyle discovered the site of Bab ed Dra in 1924, they understood immediately that this site was not

a candidate for Sodom, Gomorrah or any of the cities of the plain.

(Albright, The Archaeology of Palestine and the Bible, 1932, p. 136)

The largest site, Bab ed-Dra is just 10 acres, while Numeira is only 2! Not very large for

important cities. The evidence shows that these sites may have been cemeteries of the cities of the plain. A first century document tells us that the cities were ASHES. But the sites on the Jordanian side of the Dead Sea are NOT ashen.

Careful examination of the remains of these show them to be typical of those destroyed in war. Archaeologists have found wood and other flammable materials in VARYING STAGES OF DECAY.

THE LOST CITIES FOUND

The identification was made in 1989. There is a mountain called Mount Sodom. This long, narrow mountain is a salt dome - made entirely of salt. Behind it is the squarish shape of an ancient city. Since the mountain is called SODOM, could this adjacent city have been SODOM?

In this region are five sites which share one thing in common. In all the world, only these five

sites share this feature. Within their perimeters everything has been totally burned to ASH. The second largest, as well as the best preserved of the sites, lies between Masada and the Dead Sea. Since Gomorrah was listed second in the biblical account, we conclude that these ashen remains qualify to be the remnants of Gomorrah. This must be the eeriest ghost town on earth. One experiences an oven by day, and at night the stark silence of death.

IT HAUNTS YOU

This whole region reeks of some ancient curse. I still remember vividly my first visit to this

haunting place. It was two hours before sunset. The lengthening shadows accentuated the ashen shapes rising above the desert. One could make out outlines of walls. From the start, I was struck by the contrast between the brown of the stony desert and the white of a city that had been turned to ashes. These were separate and most distinct from each other.

THE EERINESS

After a preliminary exploration, I located a spot on the ashes to lie down and sleep. That night, one might as well have been in a tomb -- it was so deathly silent. Time after time I would drop off to sleep, only to almost instantly reawaken. The silence wakens you. Each time I would stare at the sky overhead and note that the stars hardly seemed to have moved.

Eventually the moon peered up above the horizon and crept slowly higher over the Dead Sea.

It was now casting eerie shadows on the remains around me ...structures composed totally of ash. It was weird, all alone under a full moon in this city of the dead. I could hardly wait for

sunrise! The sun popped up from behind the Jordanian hills, blazing hot. In no time I was perspiring.

Soon the plain was a furnace. In this desert the temperature could soar to 49 degrees Celsius in

the shade. This time of the year, the maximum time one could explore was about 30 minutes. Before dehydration began to take effect. This Dead Sea Valley is an immense oven, in which many have died of thirst in a matter of hours.

I would soon find myself searching for the rare spot of shade - a place to sit down... and drink... drink... drink... And it might be all of another half hour before one was ready to brave the direct sun again.

STRUCTURES

There was distinct form here. Remains of buildings, one of them five stories high. All ash now. This place had suffered tremendous destruction. Periodically there were openings in the walls,

entrances to the city, where you see actual "streets". These wide avenues had structures on both sides, and were flanked by side streets. The large piles of ash made walking difficult down these streets.

Sodom and Gomorrah were Canaanite cities, according to the Bible. And the cities of the Canaanites were constructed with double walls, with buildings atop them. Just like these remains. And were these shapes once windows? One became aware that nothing one's eyes saw was stone... or earth... or sand. Not anymore. I was looking here at ash - ash from a tremendous fire. And there it was - the city wall - a double wall, with buttresses coming out from it at right angles. These had been built to strengthen the wall.

There were traces of sphinxes. And close by the clear remains of a ziggurat, or stepped pyramid. One of the interesting features of these sites is the layering present in ALL of the ashen material. Hundreds and thousands of layers are present, none very thick.

In very high temperature fires, and/or in very hot flames containing alkali metals or alkaline-earth materials (for example, sodium and calcium) the positive and negative ions attract and repel, resulting in this layering effect.

Samples taken for testing DID prove to be ASH!

THE CLINCHING EVIDENCE

On my fifth visit to the site, in answer to prayer RAIN HAD JUST FALLEN, would you believe -- yes, rain in the desert! And there, exposed to the eye for the first time, was the clinching evidence - embedded in the ash were balls of burnt sulphur - probably millions of them!

Here was actual evidence that fire and brimstone (sulphur) once rained upon this area, just as the biblical book of Genesis says! As I bent to pick up a block of ash, I noticed small yellow balls embedded in it. Each ball was (or had been) surrounded by a black crystalline shell, and around that was a reddish-black ring in the ash.

Prying one of these out, I recognised it as sulphur. Smelling it, I KNEW it was sulphur. Here was the physical evidence. All through the ashen remains were round balls of sulphur encapsulated in burnt (crystalline) sulphur. As I scanned the site, at first not knowing what to look for, I saw these sulphur balls literally everywhere.

Before, I hadn't been able to see them because the loose ash had covered everything. But now the rain had washed away the loose ash and caused a section to fall way, revealing these sulphur balls embedded through the ashen material.

HAD ONCE BEEN ON FIRE

The reddish-black crystalline material surrounding the sulphur balls showed that they had once been on fire. Here was something that long, long ago had come out of the sky, burning. The ash had then smothered the ball and the fire had gone out. I struck a match. And now, 4,000 years later, here we were re-igniting and finishing off the fire. It seems that as these burning balls of brimstone fell from the sky, they set everything ablaze. And they burned right through everything. And as they burned, after a while, molten material surrounding the sulphur cut it off from the oxygen, preserving it in the interior of the ashes.

What we call a "burn ring" surrounds each capsule suggesting that the ash itself was vitrified. It appears that as the ashen material erodes and these sulphur balls become exposed to the surface, they fall out of their capsules. Thus they can be found lying all over the ground.

The biblical report claims that "the Lord rained brimstone and fire" on the cities. And we might ask, how does rain fall? In drops, of course! And this burning brimstone DID fall in drops, which landed in the pattern that rain would fall. This burned sulphur covers the remains of the

five cities discovered. The clinching evidence, I believe, is the pressed powder balls of brimstone inside burn capsules, and surrounded by burn rings embedded in ash -- a phenomenon which, as far as can be determined, is found NOWHERE ELSE IN THE WORLD.

Lost Cities

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