A short film featuring evidence that the biblical Mount Sinai is in Saudi Arabia has surpassed 1.3 million views, and among the viewers are members of radical Islamic groups that believe the movie is part of a sinister American and Jewish plot to take over the area.
As WND reported in December, the film produced by national security analyst Ryan Mauro takes viewers into a highly restricted zone in the Islamic kingdom with an abundance of features that fit the biblical description of the place where the Ten Commandments were given after the Israelites fled captivity in Egypt.
Advertisement - story continues below
In a newly released video blog, Mauro says there have been two common responses to "Finding the Mountain of Moses: The Real Mount Sinai in Saudi Arabia" among propaganda outlets linked to the Muslim Brotherhood, the Iranian regime, Houthi rebels and others.
Some say the film is true, but it's part of a Jewish conspiracy with the United States to seize Mount Sinai and conquer Saudi Arabia.
TRENDING: WATCH: Top DOJ official says she's 'not familiar' with landmark censorship case against Biden
Others say it's not true but agree it's part of a Jewish plot.
Mauro says that all of that is nonsense on its face.
Advertisement - story continues below
"We thank the Saudis for preserving the evidence this long," he said. "If Western businesses controlled the area, we would have ruined it.
"We believe this area belongs to Saudi Arabia, and we would oppose any effort to conquer the area," he said.
Mauro noted there are historical sites in the area of interest to Muslims as well.
"We feel this is a special area and we want everyone to come see it," he said.
See "Finding the Mountain of Moses: The Real Mount Sinai in Saudi Arabia":
Advertisement - story continues below
'Out of Egypt'
Mauro told WND last November of his trips to the region the Bible calls Midian, where Moses married Jethro's daughter and shepherded Jethro's flocks.
Mauro, who was also an adjunct professor for Liberty and Regent Universities until recently, covertly traveled to Saudi Arabia to obtain unprecedented footage of the sites.
Advertisement - story continues below
He shows viewers many landmarks and other evidence that fit the biblical account. They include the rock at Horeb struck by Moses, the golden-calf altar made by the Israelites, the altar constructed by Moses, the Oasis at Elim and the cave of Elijah.
Could the blackened peak on the mountain – Jabal Maqla in the Jabal al-Lawz mountain range in northwestern Saudi Arabia – be evidence of the Exodus 19:18 account of fire descending from heaven?
Mauro points out that the Bible says more than 70 times that the Israelites went "out of Egypt."
In an interview with Mauro, talk-radio host Glenn Beck urged his listeners go to the website and "just look at the footage."
"It's stunning that you've never heard of this," Beck said to his audience.
Most scholars believe the site is in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. But evidence is lacking at other possible sites, and Mauro points out that the authoritative Jewish Encyclopedia states there is "no Jewish tradition of the geographical location of Mt. Sinai; it seems that its location was obscure already in the time of the monarchy." Rabbi Alexander Hool recently published a book, "Searching for Sinai," that makes a case for Mount Sinai being in Saudi Arabia.
As WND reported in May 2018, Bible scholar and author Joel Richardson visited the area with skepticism but returned "fully confident that this is the real Mount Sinai."
"At every turn, everything lines up with the biblical narrative. Everything falls into place," Richardson said. "If this is not Mount Sinai, then God Himself has masterfully created the greatest hoax in human history."
'Moses was here'
Significantly, for villagers and Bedouins in the area, it's simply a matter of fact that the "mountain of Moses" is in their midst.
Mauro told WND last month that local Saudis were "excited to tell us that we were traveling where Moses and the Israelites walked."
"Some Saudis were coming from across the country just to see the area believed to be the land of Jethro and the well where Moses met Jethro's daughters," he said. "Muslims from around the world visit the area, believing it is related to the Exodus."
The film includes the testimony of a former member of a jihadist group who claims he and other jihadists knew Mount Sinai was in Saudi Arabia, protected by fences and guards.
The jihadist believes Saudi Islamic Law has saved the mountain from being ruined, explaining it otherwise would have been turned into an oft-visited site of idolatry.
"Local Saudis we met were proud of the fact that Moses and the Israelites were there," Mauro said.
One local said, "This is our land, but it is also the land of the Yahud [Jews] who came here long ago."
Remarkably, the "mountain of Moses" is within an area designated by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman Al Saud as the site of his $500 billion, futuristic mega-city called Neom. Thirty-three times larger than New York City, it's to be an autonomous zone with its own legal and taxation system, independent from Riyadh. A promo video shows the prince's utopian vision to "set aside a part of the world for those who want to change the world," providing "the blank page you need to write humanity's next chapter."
See the trailer for "Finding the Mountain of Moses":