| Ron
enters Saudi Arabia |
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| January
24, 1984 |
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| Ron
made a decision to enter
Saudi without legal
permission.
Ron
and his sons arrived in
Jordan - they had
applied and received a
Jordanian visa prior to
leaving the U.S. They
toured Jordan a bit and
then parked their rental
car near the border and
walked into Saudi
undetected.
Hitchhiking
and hiring taxis, they
arrived near Jebel el
Lawz, where Ron saw
white pillars lying on
the ground, the sun
reflecting off the white
stone.
MARBLE
COLUMNS NEAR THE ALTAR
"Twelve
Pillars According to the
Twelve Tribes of
Israel"
And
Moses wrote all the
words of the LORD, and
rose up early in the
morning, and builded an
altar under the hill,
and twelve pillars,
according to the twelve
tribes of Israel.
.......EXODUS 24:4
Ron
believed that these were
pieces of a
"shrine" that
had once sat near the
altar. There were at
least 10 pieces of
broken, round columns
almost 23 inches in
diameter. They varied in
height from 8 inches to
26 inches.
In
addition, there were a
large number of
rectangular marble
stones 8 1/4 inches by
16 ½ inches, from 10 to
26 inches long. These
pieces were found around
the altar, while others
lay scattered at a
greater distance, and
are not included in our
count. |
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Pieces
of Column |
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Corral
and Alter |
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| He
believed this had to be
the site of Mt. Sinai
and he saw the entire
top of the mountain to
be blackened as if
charred. He noted
several features of the
site which identified
the area. |
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| As
Ron surveyed the region
around the mountain, he
saw that here was an
area that perfectly fit
the description of Mt.
Sinai (Horeb) - there
were thousands of acres
of land surrounded by a
mountain range which
enclosed the area. He
was convinced that this
was it! But as they got
nearer the base of the
mountain, a small truck
pulled up and the man
inside brusquely told
Ron and the boys' driver
to take them back to
where their taxi was
waiting for them, which
he did. They then got
back into this taxi and
headed to the Jordanian
border.
When
they arrived at the
border, things didn't go
so well. As they
attempted to exit the
country, they were
abruptly arrested and
taken to a jail in Hagl.
They were being charged
with espionage.
Ron
and the boys were
separately questioned
day after day by a group
called the Interrogation
Team. They each told
their story - of their
belief and reasons for
that belief, that Mt.
Sinai was Jebel el Lawz.
One Saudi official, Abu
Collet, sent men out to
the mountain to
determine if any
evidence was actually
there, but the men came
back with a negative
report, which was sent
to the King.
There
were some among the
interrogators, however,
who believed Ron.
One day three Saudis
took Ron on a trip in a
helicopter to the shore
of the Gulf of Aqaba
where Ron claimed the
great multitude had
crossed the sea. The
helicopter landed on the
beach directly opposite
Nuweiba, Egypt. |
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Marker |
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| It
wasn't too difficult to
find the right area
because Nuweiba is
easily seen across the 8
mile gulf. Landing
there, on the beach they
found a
Phoenician-style,
granite column erected
on the shore, with
inscriptions in archaic
Hebrew. |
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| The
Saudis took numerous
photographs of this
column, and Ron suddenly
had a little more
credibility with his
jailers. Archaic Hebrew
simply isn't found in
Saudi Arabia and here
was some very concrete
evidence. In fact, it is
possible that this
column literally saved
Ron and the boys' lives.
No one in Saudi had
known about the column
as it was in an
extremely remote,
uninhabited area. But
even this column didn't
insure their release.
However, it did match
the column Ron had found
in 1978 on the opposite
shore in Egypt - only
this one had the
inscriptions on it!
Only
upon their release,
after 75 days, did they
learn that a man whom
Ron had told of his
plans to enter Saudi
illegally, had called
the Saudi embassy and
told them that the
Wyatts were actually
Israeli spies. The
Saudis told Ron this
man's name when they
were released. |
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| Continue
to "A
Royal Prince comes to
Nashville" |
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