Dr. Ernest Martin, 69, died in his Portland, Oregon home, January 16, 2002. He is survived by his wife, Ramona, one son and two daughters. He suffered a heart attack while working at his computer—having largely recovered from a heart attack on January 4th.

Mr. Martin graduated from Ambassador College in 1958, received an M.A. in 1962 and a Ph.D. in 1966. From 1960 to 1972, he was Senior Professor of History and Theology at the Brickett Wood campus. He also served as Dean of Faculty and secured an alliance with Hebrew University in Israel to bring students to help with archeological digs. Dr. Martin’s style did not fit in well with the growing centralized control in the WCG. His desire to study deeply and to write whatever conclusions were produced by his analysis of the facts caused him to split off from the WCG in 1974.

After leaving the WCG, Ernest started the Foundation for Biblical Research and the the Associates for Scriptural Knowledge (A.S.K.) in 1985. During this time he authored 10 books, 200 booklets and 200 taped lectures. His ministry was different from the typical WCG splinter-group ministry in that it did not claim to be "the one church" and most of those served were not former members of the WCG. Furthermore, Dr. Martin interacted with mainstream Bible scholars and some actually respected his work. I have seen him interviewed on network TV for a couple of biblical documentaries.

Dr. Martin did extensive research on the original location of the temples in Jerusalem. He was convinced that neither temple was located on the site of the Dome of the Rock mosque, but south of the so-called Temple Mount and Western Wall, in the city of David over the Gihon Springs. If his research is accepted by the rabbis currently hoping to build a temple, it may be possible to do what many have formerly considered impossible—build a Jewish Temple without destroying the Dome of the Rock.

Written by Norman Edwards courtesy of Servants News