Bob Cornuke

Bob Cornuke (born 1951) is a controversial American writer and amateur archaeologist. Cornuke is president of the Bible Archaeology Search and Exploration Institute (BASE), which is operated from his home in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He describes himself as a Biblical archaeologist, but has no degree or training in archaeology.

Background and explorations

He holds a Masters of Arts in Biblical Studies and a Ph.D. in Bible and Theology, both from the unaccredited Louisiana Baptist University. He has been a police officer in Costa Mesa, California. He is the author of six books about his explorations over the last 20 years. Archaeologists and other critics characterize his approach of using of the Bible as a literal guide for his explorations as pseudoarchaeology.

Cornuke is travel guide/business partners with Chuck Missler.[7] Cornuke received credits at Missler's unaccredited Koinonia Institute, which were transferable to the unaccredited Louisiana Baptist University. Missler is a 1999 graduate of Louisiana Baptist University, and currently Cornuke in Colorado, a 2005 graduate, and Missler in Idaho are professors at the "school."

Cornuke also makes a claim of discovering the anchors from the Apostle Paul’s ship wreck, as described in the Bible's Book of Acts, chapter 27 — by searching the sea floor off the coast of Malta.

His most recent expeditions were to Takht-i-Suleiman in Iran in July 2005 and June 2006, where he discovered a rock formation approximately 400 ft long at 13,120 ft (4,000 m) elevation. Cornuke's search appeared on Fox News, CNN, and Good Morning America as well as others.

Mount Sinai

Cornuke's book, In Search of the Mountain of God, claimed he was the original researcher of the biblical match of Biblical Mount Sinai to Jabal al-Lawz in Saudi Arabia. Earlier, however, in 1984, Ron Wyatt had already claimed to be the discoverer of the Biblical Mount Sinai at Jabal al-Lawz[8], and in 2002 Randall Styx noted that Harry St. John Philby claimed such evidence in his 1957 book The Land of Midian

Author Gordon Franz claimed that Cornuke, "had forged a letter from the King of Saudi Arabia in order to obtain a visa into the Kingdom," and wanted to debunk Wyatt's, Cornuke's and Williams' claim that the Biblical Mt. Sinai was in Saudi Arabia. Franz argued that the "biggest problem with the identification of Mt. Sinai at Jebel Al-Lawz is that it does not meet the Biblical criteria for the site. These claims are based on three challenged assumptions and a supposed misunderstanding of the archaeological remains that they observed." The three assumptions were: 1) the Sinai Peninsula was within the territorial borders of the Land of Egypt, 2) "that Mt. Sinai is located in the Land of Midian, which is identified as part of the Saudi Arabian peninsula," and 3) "Apostle Paul says in Gal. 4:25 that Mt. Sinai was in Saudi Arabia."

Cornuke responded to Franz's accusations by calling him to "honestly examine and evaluate the [credible] historical, geographical, archeological and Biblical evidence that Jabal al-Lawz might be the real Mount Sinai". Allen Kerkselager, Ph.D. Professor of Theology St. Joseph's University stated "Jabal al Lawz may also be the most convincing option for identifying the Mt. Sinai of biblical tradition" and should be researched. Meanwhile Roy Knuteson former Professor of New Testament and Greek and Bible Archaeology at Northwestern College explained, "None of the suggested sites in the Sinai Peninsula fit the biblical requirements.

According to Cornuke, the scholar Frank Moore Cross of Harvard Divinity School[9] supports his Mt. Sinai claims, but according to Franz, "Frank Moore Cross, retired professor of Hebrew at Harvard University opines that the mountain of God was located in the Land of Midian. When asked if he had a guess what mountain might be Mt. Sinai, he responded, 'I really don't'" and Moore "later put the "Midian Hypothesis" in print, but did not endorse any mountains for the location of Mt. Sinai (Cross 1998: 60-68)." Another critic noted the "BASE institute site had some quotes from respected archaeologists which seemed to support the idea that Jebel al-Lawz was a good candidate for Mount Sinai," but, "when I contacted some of these individuals, they assured me they never made such statements, neither did they feel Jebel al-Lawz was the real Mount Sinai." Thus, "it became quickly obvious that some of the information on the BASE Institute site was not legitimate."

Maltese

In 2002 Cornuke claimed to have found anchors from the Biblical shipwreck of St. Paul. This claim has been disputed, however, with Cornuke being labelled by some as a "con artist" who was claimed "to have found the wreck of Paul's ship from Acts - and then got sued for breaking 'all aspects' of an oral contract with a former US ambassador to Malta." This case was unsuccessful with the judge ruling that the book was already released and could not be prevented from being sold. His critics believe he is "more interested in the money to be gained from their claims than in providing genuine evidence for anything." Cornuke says that these anchors were actually discovered by fishermen years before he went in search of them and had already been recovered.

Gordon Franz noted Charles Grech (a retired restaurant owner) found a third anchor in front of the same underwater cave that might have been found off the Munxar Reef, but this was not certain. Only one anchor was examined by Anthony Bonanno and it was only examined in Mr. Grech's home. Bonanno believes that anchor appears to be "consistent" with the "era of the shipwreck of St. Paul, in 60 A.D." and "a Roman/Alexandrian grain freighter," but he did not directly link the anchors with St. Paul.

Franz unilaterally dismisses every Maltese claim Cornuke has made. Franz has noted "had no tangible proof of the anchor stocks to show the world. The first of the anchor stocks was melted down; the second, third and fourth were in private collections; and the fifth and six had been sold." So Cornuke, with "the aid of the US ambassador to Malta, Kathy Proffitt, was enlisted to convince the President and Prime Minister of Malta to offer an amnesty to anyone who would turn over antiquities found off the Munxar Reef" and the pardons were issued on September 23, 2002." As a result, "two anchor stocks" were "turned over to the authorities."

Franz questions Cornuke's research in that "Mr. Cornuke does not interact with, or mention, some very important works on the subject of Paul's shipwreck; nor are they listed in his bibliography.". All these scholars have claimed different sites where St. Paul may have been shipwrecked. Gordon also has criticized Cornuke's understanding of the biblical story and description. On August 15, 2005, James Mulholland, a life-long member of the Maltese community and a member of the Pauline Association in Malta, stated that Franz made four errors in his refutation of Cornuke and that Cornuke's evidence was not compelling. Mulholland pointed out three problems with Franz's arguments: 1) That Marsaxxlokk bay was visible from Munxar Reef, 2) That Franz misidentified the Munxar reef referred to by Cornuke, 3) That Franz only dismisses, but does not refute Cornuke's identification of the real Munxar Reef as the location, and 4) while "Mr. Franz makes a compelling argument," but "these ancient sites would have been well-known by experienced sailors." Mullholland concluded, "we could pick each element of Mr. Cornuke's overall theory and propose other locations that could possibly match that single element. However, that's not the appropriate exercise here. The compelling nature of Mr. Cornuke's theory rests in the fact that ALL of the elements come together in one location. I could show you a place on the western side of the island where they possibly meet."

In 2003 Christianity Today reported that the then U.S. ambassador Kathryn Proffitt sued Cornuke to stop the sale of his book after she arranged for the "Maltese government to pardon the fisherman." (Cornuke would claim these "were from the apostle's ship.") Proffitt contended that as part of the pardon arrangement and several other issues, Cornuke agreed to remain silent about the pardon and "to allow Proffitt and the Maltese government to edit the book. He would also be required to encourage tourists to visit ancient temples." According to some he did not keep his part of the agreement.

A federal judge denied the request to hold up publication of the book since it was already released at the time. Even still, "what the Maltese government is apparently upset about, however, isn't that Cornuke's book was published without its permission, but that it claims that the shipwreck never happened in the traditional site on the northeastern tip of the island, now known as St. Paul's Bay."

Saudi Arabia

Cornuke and his partner, former American Gladiator Jonathan Byrne, "snuck" into Saudi Arabia illegally. Later on Cornuke and Byrne falsely told "guards" they were medical doctors after being captured so the Saudi Arabian guards did not consider them Jewish spies. However, "Cornuke found himself in a sticky situation when one by one each guard came to him complaining of various ailments."

Noah's Ark

Cornuke's surrogates claimed in June 2006 that Cornuke may have discovered Noah's Ark in a pile of dark-colored rocks on the Iranian Takht-e Suleiman ("Throne of Solomon") or Mount Suleiman in the Alborz (Elborz) Mountains. Cornuke relies heavily on one eyewitness of Noah's Ark, Ed Davis, in which there are problems with him being in Iran let alone at this site when he claimed to see Noah's Ark in 1943. Even creationist geologists doubt whether the rocks viewed by Cornuke are petrified and are urging caution. The research team included Arch Bonnema, film producer of The Genius Club and other well-known Christian businessmen. The oldest creationist organization does not believe the rocks viewed by Cornuke are petrified or Noah's Ark. Even Cornuke himself isn't completely convinced that what he observed was Noah's Ark or even if it was petrified wood. Associates for Biblical Research also produced a 7,800-word paper about problems with the Cornuke site. National Geographic critiqued the rocks at the site.

Books

• In Search of the Mountain of God: The Discovery of the Real Mt. Sinai, Part 1, Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2000. ISBN 0-8054-2052-5 (Co-written with David Halbrook)
• In Search of the Lost Mountains of Noah: The Discovery of the Real Mt. Ararat, Part 2, Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2001. ISBN 0-8054-2054-1 (Co-written with David Halbrook)
• In Search of the Lost Ark of the Covenant, Part 3, Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2002. ISBN 0-8054-2053-3 (Co-written with David Halbrook)
• The Lost Shipwreck of St. Paul, Global Publishing Services, 2003. ISBN 0-9714100-3-8
• Ark Fever:Legend Chaser, Tyndale House Publishers, 2005. ISBN 1-4143-0296-7
• Relic Quest: Legend Chaser, Tyndale House Publishers, 2005. ISBN 1-4143-0297-5
• The Bell Messenger: A Novel, (with Alton Gansky), Howard Books, 2008, ISBN 978-1416549819

External links

• Bob Cornuke Homepage
• comments by geologist Paul Heinrich on Cornuke's geological claims
• NZ Cult List - a dictionary of cults & religious groups: C: Bob Cornuke
• A Critique of Bob Cornuke with a timeline
• Is Mount Sinai in Saudi Arabia? by Gordon Franz