GLOBAL PRAYER NETWORK: Amish carpenters nearing completion of life-sized Noah’s Ark

Rabu, 23 Maret 2016

Amish carpenters nearing completion of life-sized Noah’s Ark

Mark Ellis & Chad Dou, Special to ASSIST News Service

WILLIAMSTOWN, KY (ANS - March 23, 2016) -- A mind-blowing full-scale replica of Noah’s Ark is nearing completion in Williamstown, KY, displaying the remarkable grandiosity of the all-wood colossus.

While Noah and his family spent 100 years toiling on the ark, Ken Ham and his construction team — including dozens of Amish carpenters — will have taken five years by the time they are finished in July and it opens to the public.

“We want to reach millions more about the truth in the Gospel, the words of God,” said Ham, who is also the founder of the Creation Museum located 40 miles from the Ark. “I believe that the Ark of Noah is the greatest reminder we have for salvation.”

At 510 feet long, 85 feet wide and 51 feet high, the replica is so big it actually shatters previous records — becoming the biggest all-timber structure in the world, according to Ham.

To mount the massive construction, Ham employed several dozen Amish carpenters to apply their traditional carpentry skills to meet the Genesis specs. The interior of the ark will have three stories and 130 exhibits, including animal specimen and statues of Noah.

Ken Ham walks around the exterior of The Ark

The Ark Encounter website (https://arkencounter.com), hopes the project will dispel the aura of childhood fantasy that is associated with the
Ark story. “We consider the fairy-tale ark that appears in the drawings, kids’ books and toys, looking like a bathtub with the giraffes’ heads sticking out and modern animals on board, to be dangerous. The biblical account of the Ark and the Flood is not a fun story about an old man and lots of cute animals. It’s about God judging an exceedingly wicked world while sparing a righteous man, his family, and representatives of the land animals from destruction.”

The looming structure does much to rest the unease of any critical reader of the Genesis account of Noah: “How was Noah able to feed the animals? How could he deal with the waste?” Ham asked. “We want to show the feasibility of the Ark.”

Mark Looy is the co-founder of the website, Answers in Genesis (https://answersingenesis.org/), that works with the Ark Encounter. “The immensity of this structure – over 500 feet long – I would call it a jaw-dropping experience,” said Looy.

Photo captions: 1) Ken Ham. 2) Ken Ham walks around exterior of ark. 3) Mark Ellis (left), with Dan Wooding, on the “Windows on the World TV show.

About the writers: Mark Ellis is senior correspondent for the ASSIST News Service (www.assistnews.net), and also founder of www.GodReports.com , a website that shares stories and testimonies and videos from the church around the world. He is also co-host for "Windows on the World" with ANS founder, Dan Wooding, on the Holy Spirit Broadcasting Network (http://hsbn.tv). Chad Dou is a student at the Lighthouse Christain Academy in Santa Monica, California.