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Chinese community launch Noah’s ark

12:18am Monday, 15th August 2011

Has Noah’s Ark been found on Mount Ararat? The World premiere of “The Days of Noah: Apocalypse”, a movie that makes that claim, was held in the Sydney Opera House concert hall Tonight (Sunday).

The movie contains impressive footage of large amounts of timber buried beneath rocks and Ice towards the top of the mountain. It follows a Chinese/Turkish expedition that finally manages to penetrate inside the wreckage of a large timber construction, made of massive beams and indeed shaped like a ship. Carbon dating reveals dates of up to 5,000 years old.

“If this is the ark it adds a little confirmation for believers”, Dr Barry Chant (formerly of Wesley Mission International congregation in Sydney) told the audience. “But if it is not the ark it does not matter; we don’t believe in Jesus because of the finding, or not the finding of the ark.

“We believe because of the Lord Jesus Christ and what he has done.”

The movie highlights Jesus’ statement that “Just as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be in the days of the Son of man”. Our world exhibits the violence and rejection of God,, just as in Noah’s time.

During the expeditions, Panda Lee, a key member of the team as an experienced mountaineer was diagnosed with final stage lymphoma. People asked him “You have gone all out for the Lord, and this is your reward?” for two years he did not get any treatment believing God wanted hiom on the project.

“When I went back to see the doctor to tell him I was still here I saw God’s grace” He said. “Rely on God and not on your own strength.” During this time his tests showed good results.

More recently with the movie completed Panda Lee feels it is God’s timing for him to have treatment.

“We are excited that we can go into your world, the western world” expedition member Fiona Leung said at the launch of the English language version of the movie.

This large evangelistic endeavour— the movie makers Media Evangelism, a Hong Kong Christian group which has a branch in Australia, have a target of 30,000 conversions—is significant as it marks the Chinese Christian community running a broad based evangelistic programme that extends outside their own ethic group.

Since mid 2010, expedition team have seen some 2,500 conversions in meetings prior to the launch of the movie.