Ken Ham's Blog, page 383

Creationist College President Welcomed

Dr. Troy Shoemaker, the new president of Pensacola Christian College of Florida, and his wife Denise, recently visited our Creation Museum, and it was for the first time. He spoke to our staff while I was wrapping up a speaking engagement in Chicago, but I returned to AiG the next morning to spend some time with the Shoemakers.

Several staff—including on the creative side of the museum team and the future Ark Encounter—attended Pensacola Christian College, and Dr. Shoemaker enjoyed getting to meet with many of them.

Here is a photo of Dr. Shoemaker and his wife Denise—with museum operations director Dan Mangus and his wife Karen (who both graduated from Pensacola).

Find out more about this college (I have a close relative attending there right now), which is listed on our database of creationist colleges, by going to www.pcci.edu.

Found on Another Top Ten List

In the current issue of the magazine Religious Travel Planning Guide, our Creation Museum is listed as one of the top religious sites (Catholic and Mormon included) to visit in America. Here is a scan of page five of this magazine, with the museum mentioned:

According to the magazine, people spend over $18 billion a year in what’s called faith-based travel. These range from going on pilgrimages to religious sites, to visiting religious museums.

By the way, see my recent blog post where l announced our major clearance sale on books, DVDs, and other items at the museum on April 4–6. If you have not visited the Creation Museum, this is one more reason to come and visit us. And if you have not been here to the museum in the past couple of years, you need to see what’s new inside the museum—with some great exhibits and a large new auditorium for special lectures. And then also take part in our April 4–6 sale of faith-building resources.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

The Evolving Sexual Agenda

I wrote a blog post recently about a report from a “gay” news source that so-called “gay marriage” was only one part of the real agenda for those redefining marriage. The report stated the following:

Legislative victory should not mean identity erasure. There remain numerous sexual freedoms to campaign on – yes sexual – that’s what gay rights is about, not merely a civil rights campaign – and there are battles still to be won. Battles relating to pornography, the continued criminalisation of consensual sexual acts, re-constructing our ideas of relationships in relation to sex, monogamy and the illusion that only ‘couples’ might want to enter into a state-sanctioned partnership, are just a handful which spring to mind.

We are beginning to see examples of this continually evolving “sexual freedoms” campaign in the U.S.

An issue that has repeatedly surfaced across the U.S. has been schools that want to affirm so-called “transgender” students. In 2012, a Massachusetts law known as the Transgender Equal Rights bill took effect, banning discrimination in employment, housing, and so on.

Now, the Boston Globe reported that, because of this new law, the Massachusetts school system has altered the way it deals with traditional gender categories:

The state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education issued directives Friday for handling transgender students, including allowing them to use the bathrooms or play on the sports teams that correspond to the gender with which they identify.

Another report stated, “The 11-page directive also urged schools to eliminate gender-based clothing and gender-based activities – like having boys and girls line up separately to leave the classroom.”

I believe the above mandate is likely to lead to a host of problems. Sadly, these school authorities don’t recognize the sinful heart of man and what can come out from it. Surely schools officials have thought about the potential for high school boys to pretend to “identify” as a female just so they can have access to the girls’ restroom and, maybe, to their locker room—winking to their friends as they do it? This isn’t an unrealistic possibility. The new guidelines explain, “The responsibility for determining a student’s gender identity rests with the student.”

Furthermore, what about safety and privacy concerns for students who are not comfortable with students of the opposite sex sharing their restroom? Well, the school system has no tolerance for that kind of an intolerant attitude:

The guidance said some students may feel uncomfortable sharing those facilities, but this ‘‘discomfort is not a reason to deny access to the transgender student.’’ Education Department spokesman JC Considine said school restrooms are not public accommodations. ‘‘We’re talking about the use of school facilities by students who have no choice but to be in a school building,’’ Considine said.

In fact, the guidelines state, according to one article, that if a student expresses discomfort with sharing a restroom with an opposite-sex student, such discomfort “should not be tolerated and can be grounds for student discipline.”

Our country is quickly moving toward having a society in which there are no gender distinctions. Some of this desire to do away with gender distinctions is because there are people who want to simply follow sinful sexual desires wherever they lead, with a total lack of regard for the authority of God’s Word. Other people struggle with confusion about their “gender identity” because of the effects of sin on the world.

This is a complex issue, but Scripture is clear that in the beginning, God created man as male and female (Genesis 1:27). There is nothing in Scripture to indicate that God created some as anatomically male but who identify as female or vice versa. (We do recognize that, because of sin’s effects on the world, there are physical variations and aberrations that do cause legitimate difficulty for a very small number of people, such as hermaphroditism. For more on this, read Dr. Elizabeth Mitchell’s feedback article on hermaphroditism.) As Christians, we should affirm our children’s God-given genders and cultivate godly masculinity and femininity in them, rather than encouraging them to abandon the gender God gave them in the womb:

For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well. (Psalm 139:13–14)

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

I thank Steve Golden for his assistance in writing this blog post.

Scholarship Opportunity

In 1980, you could attend a typical four-year college for $2,500 in tuition. Skip ahead 30 years and now you’re looking at $16,000 (at least) for a four-year public college. If you want to attend a private college or university, which includes some Christian schools, then the typical cost is almost double that amount!

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the cost for a four-year private college or university is $32,000 (not including room and board). Many students begin their adult lives in debt because of the massive amount of student loans they have. However, there is help! Many different scholarships are available to students who qualify.

Master Books, a division of New Leaf Publishing Group, will award one $3,000 scholarship for the 2013–2014 academic school year. The 2013 “Master Books Scholarship Essay Contest” is open to any high school junior or senior (or the equivalent) from any public, private, or homeschool venue.

Here is the essay topic for this year:

The war in society of Christianity versus humanism. Define where the essence of the conflict lies, and describe your personal view of this dynamic battle in American society. What solutions would you propose?

Master Books will provide each applicant a free chapter of my book The Lie: Evolution/Millions of Years as their guide and starting point for their research.

Tim Dudley, president of New Leaf Publishing Group, started the annual Master Books scholarship program in 2008. New Leaf’s investment is evidence of the company’s focus, as New Leaf told me, on “teaching and defending the authority of the Bible to this generation so that it lives on in the next. In this time of unprecedented cultural neglect of the Word of God, families all over the world are learning to trust the inerrancy of the Bible as they discover creation science, apologetics, church leadership, and Christian education resources available from publishers such as New Leaf.”

For more information about this scholarship opportunity please visit www.nlpg.com/scholarship. All applications, transcripts, and essays are due by April 15. Contact Katie Gumm for more information at katie@newleafpress.net or 800-999-3777.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

Special Sight & Sound Visitors

Enjoying the “Sights & Sounds” of the Museum on a Father-Daughter Getaway

If you have ever attended one of the wonderful, Bible-based musical dramas put on by Sight & Sound productions in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, or Branson, Missouri, you have been treated to one of the finest Christian productions in the world.

Ever wonder who the creative person is behind these excellent Bible-honoring musicals? Well, it’s Josh Enck, and we were honored to host him and his daughter Faith for a tour of our Creation Museum recently during their father-daughter outing. Here is a photo of them with me in my office.

If you don’t know much about the Sight & Sound programs, let me fill you in. First, they are known for their productions related to the book of Genesis (and other parts of the Bible). They have created elaborate sets of the Garden of Eden for “In the Beginning,” of Noah building the Ark for “Noah,” and for a special program a few years ago on “Abraham and Sarah.” They have produced many other shows. I saw “Jonah” last December, and Sight & Sound also does a Christmas program.

According to the Sight & Sound Theater website, it “is a Christian drama company dedicated to visualizing and dramatizing the Scriptures. Just as the Lord Jesus illustrated truth by stories, Sight & Sound Theaters allows their guests to see biblical events acted out on stage. By presenting professional-quality productions of key Bible stories, they strive to present the gospel to the unsaved and to encourage Christians in their walk with the Lord. Sight & Sound has locations in Strasburg, Pennsylvania (the nation’s largest professional Christian theater), and in Branson, Missouri.”

Before you head out to enjoy one of their productions, it would be a good idea to go to Sight & Sound’s website of www.sight-sound.com to check on ticket availability, as sometimes the 2,000-seat auditorium is sold out. There are discounts for groups of 15 or more—see this page.

Here is what we have about Sight & Sound on our Creation Vacations website.

In March of next year, Sight & Sound will premiere a brand-new production. I have been given a glimpse of what it will be, and I plan to drive out to see the production next year as I wouldn’t want to miss it!

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

One More Reason to Visit the Creation Museum

We’re conducting our own “spring cleaning” inside our huge AiG warehouse in northern Kentucky, and we hope you will “spring” into action to take advantage of some wonderful sales on books, videos, and other items at the Creation Museum on April 4–6. In addition to selling overstocked items, we also will have on sale some slightly worn or damaged resources—this clearance includes books, DVDs, curriculum, and even some clothing.

Please note that while we would also love to have you tour the Creation Museum on those days of April 4–6 (Thursday through Saturday), our large selection of materials will be placed in an area where museum admission is not required. But to get you to visit the museum when you are here on those clearance days as you purchase our discounted resources, you can save $5 per adult when you mention the code (CLEARIT) at our ticket counter inside the museum’s portico (April 4–6 only).

Here are the dates and times of this huge sale at the Creation Museum:

Thursday, April 4—10 AM–6 PM
Friday, April 5—10 AM–6 PM
Saturday, April 6—9 AM–6 PM

For years, I have been saying that AiG’s faith-building resources are what God has used as much as anything to distribute our creation/gospel message far and wide. Many people who will never attend one of our seminars or visit the Creation Museum will watch, for example, our videos in their church because an AiG supporter purchased them so that the entire church could benefit. Also, many Christian school teachers are using our curriculum because a teacher or school administrator bought our materials for the school to use across the many age levels. And, of course, our evangelistic resources have been used by God to bring many people to a saving knowledge of Him.

So take advantage of some of these tremendous clearance bargains April 4–6, and bring them into your home, Sunday school class, to your school teachers, pastors, etc.—and see lives changed!

For more information about the Creation Museum, go to creationmuseum.org.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

The Tower That Changed The World!

The Tower of Babel can be a controversial issue for some people. Even within the church, the Tower is attacked as a mythological account—or some will state that it has little value in history and needs to be reinterpreted with modern eyes. Recently, Bodie Hodge of AiG authored a new book called Tower of Babel: The Cultural History of Our Ancestors. This book takes a unique look at the events of the Tower of Babel and how this piece of biblical history reveals insights into the genealogy of all of us.

Watch the short video trailer about the new book here:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Tower of Babel will help you:

understand the historical events through extensive, documented research.
get insights into studies of ancestry, based on the history of nations.
discover the age of the Old Testament patriarchs and how this era relates to pagan ancestor worship.

The secular world’s religion of evolution and millions of years is used by anti-Christians to suppress the history of ancient times of the Old Testament in an attempt to “rewrite it.” Sadly, this generation is being taught that this evolutionary make-believe history (often called “revisionist history”) is true. This unique book makes sense of the world around us by utilizing historical research that brings the Bible’s account to vivid life. 

Pre-teens and older will find this new resource to be extremely helpful for Bible classes, ancient history courses, and apologetics training. Tower of Babel is an excellent way to connect your ancestry to the Bible.

You can order this book from the AiG online store.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

Teaching Kids Truths with Catchy Sayings

As part of the AiG conferences I speak at each year across the nation, we usually conduct special sessions for children and teens, which we call “school assemblies.” Each year, I am able to teach many thousands of kids the truth of God’s Word and equip them to defend the Christian faith. Here is a photograph of some of the hundreds of children I taught at school assemblies in the Chicago area this past Monday (at Quentin Road Bible Baptist Church, Lake Zurich).

As part of what I do to teach the children (kindergarten through grade 6), I teach them special sayings. I find that the kids (and parents) love this. Many children have come to me over the years to recite these sayings to me. Such phrases help them remember what they were taught and the truth of God’s Word beginning in Genesis.

To help them remember that God created and that the design we see in life cries out, “In the beginning God,” I teach them this saying:

It’s designed to do what it does do,

And what it does do it does do well.

Doesn’t it, yes it does, I think it does.

Do you, I do, hope you do too, do you?

I use examples like the platypus, wombat, and kangaroo to talk about God’s design. Of course, my Australian bias comes through as I use creatures from Down Under!

To help them remember that most of the fossil record is from the Flood of Noah’s Day around 4,300 years ago (not the false idea of millions of years—which I teach them is fiction), I teach children this saying:

If there really was a worldwide Flood—what would we expect to find?

Billions of dead things

Buried in rock layers,

Laid down by water,

All over the earth.

Along with such sayings, I like to teach children how to think correctly, so they will know how to answer the secularists who are out to capture their minds and try to keep them from trusting in God’s Word for salvation. The secularists, of course, hate me for doing this. My favorite question to teach children to ask about origins is,  “Were you there?” This is based on the question God asked Job in Job 38:4 (so, God’s Word is where I obtained this question). I teach students to remember that whenever anyone claims the earth is billions of years old, they can ask that question God asked Job: “Were you there?” It is really a way of teaching young children the difference between historical science (beliefs about the past) and observational science (direct observations that build our technology), but at their level.

I have met many people over the years who tell me they remember being taught to ask “Were you there?” when they were kids, and now they are married with their own children. And they now bring their children to our school assemblies to help teach the truth about dinosaurs, the universe, and many other key issues as recorded in God’s Word.

Here are some more photos taken of kids at the school assemblies in Chicago:

Dr. Andrew Snelling shared the platform with me during the school assembly for teens, as we spoke on the topic “Science Confirms the Bible.” Dr. Snelling, with a PhD in geology, talked about the evidences for Noah’s Flood seen around the world and the problems with the dating methods that give an old age for the earth.

Praise God for the thousands of kids we reach each year through Answers in Genesis, including at the Creation Museum.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

Sounding an Alarm “Bell”

I read this news report a few days ago:

Controversial faith leader Rob Bell spoke over the weekend at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, Calif., where the former pastor openly endorsed gay marriage. When asked about the controversial issue by The Very Rev. Dr. Jane Shaw, who was moderating the event, he offered up a clear and concise response – one that will serve as a surprise to many conservative evangelicals.

“Yes, I am for marriage. I am for fidelity. I am for love,” he said, going on to get more specific. “Whether it’s a man and a woman, a woman and a woman, a man and a man — and I think the ship has sailed and I think the church needs to just — this is the world we’re living in and we need to affirm people wherever they are.” (http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/03/19/which-famed-christian-pastor-just-issued-this-shocking-gay-marriage-endorsement/ )

More and more pastors are jumping on the “gay” marriage bandwagon. However, those pastors who do support same-sex marriage invariably have a low view of Scripture. Rob Bell is a classic example.

First of all, who is Rob Bell?

He is the founder and former pastor of Michigan-based Mars Hill Bible Church. He is known for the NOOMA videos and his highly controversial book Love Wins, in which he teaches a form of universalism and rejects a literal hell.

Bell says that he does believe in hell, but he is really not being intellectually honest about his statement. For Bell, hell is not an eternal punishment in a real place. It is being “at the party” (i.e., heaven) but living in your own personal hell. It is a temporary “period of pruning” and “an intense experience of correction” (Love Wins, p. 91). Although Bell does not believe there are many ways to salvation, he does claim that eventually all people will be saved: “No one can resist God’s pursuit forever because God’s love will eventually melt even the hardest of hearts” (p. 108). Basically, heaven is a time for people to start over, where some will live in their own personal “hell” (like purgatory) as their hearts are slowly pruned and changed.

On a general note, Bell regularly attempts to make Christian orthodox theology look ridiculous, while basing his entire theology on a few verses ripped from their contexts. Serious scholarship is not what he’s known for, and his books certainly reflect that.

Here’s the podcast of Bell on “gay” marriage—the clip runs 42:23–42:57.

Now, not every Christian who compromises Genesis with millions of years, evolution, or both will support “gay” marriage. But I believe I could say, from my experience, that every Christian or Christian leader who supports “gay” marriage will in one degree or another compromise Genesis. After all, if a person takes outside ideas to reinterpret parts of Genesis, then why not take outside ideas to reinterpret other doctrines in Genesis like marriage?

Rob Bell is saying that the orthodox Christian faith is like an old car model that is now superseded by new ideas (see the video clip below).  In the podcast above, he says that the church needs to understand “this is the world we are living in.”  In other words, the world has changed, and so our view of marriage has changed.

I have news for those pastors like Bell—God’s Word has not changed, even though the beliefs of fallible pastors such as Bell, who has a sin nature (like everyone else) and who knows next to nothing compared to God’s infinite knowledge, have changed!  Bell obviously believes his theology can evolve as the culture’s view of morality evolves.  It’s not surprising, then, that he stands against taking Genesis as written.  In this video clip below, I believe he is probably referring to Answers in Genesis—though he grossly misrepresents what we teach. Watch this video clip on YouTube, which automatically starts at 1:46 into the clip.

What we do say at AiG is that if a person does not accept the six literal days of creation but reinterprets them to fit in millions of years, the individual is going on a slippery slide of doubting all of God’s Word and can continue down the slope to unbelief. Now, there are Christians who reject the six literal days of creation but believe the rest of Scripture—so we in no way question their salvation, but we do point out their inconsistency. We warn them that this kind of thinking can lead them to undermine the idea of biblical authority with those they influence.

Rob Bell is a classic example of someone who puts man’s fallible word in authority over God’s Word.  It is not surprising he is now supporting the unbiblical position of “gay” marriage.

Yes, this should be an alarm “Bell” for the church! Don’t be distracted by the uncertain sound of this Bell!

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

America Is Under Judgment!

Yes, I believe America is under judgment. Romans chapter 1 is being played out right before our eyes. And whose fault is it?

I claim it is largely the fault of the church, including even many conservative, evangelical pastors who have compromised by adding the ideas of millions of years, evolution, or both to the Bible—or who say it doesn’t matter (even though they may preach the gospel powerfully).

Recently at a conference at the Creation Museum, I gave a presentation in regard to this topic of compromise in the American church. I wrote a short lead article for our website today to encourage people to watch this talk that was streamed live from the Creation Museum.

I encourage you to go to the lead article on the AiG website, where you can watch this illustrated presentation—one that also contains a number of eye-opening video clips (including some of President Obama).

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

Amazing Curriculum

AiG’s integrated, three-year Bible curriculum is proving to be extremely popular—in fact, it’s so popular that our warehouse can hardly keep up with the orders. It really is an incredible curriculum to teach apologetics and biblical authority—and to teach chronologically through Scripture. We call it Answers Bible Curriculum. It can be used for Sunday school, Christian school, or at home. We received this letter from a supporter recently:

I want to thank AiG for such an amazing curriculum. As Christian parents we want our children to believe in God and serve Him, but we often fail at teaching them God’s Word and how to defend their faith. Answers Bible Curriculum provides an invaluable tool that enables us to equip our children to defend their faith against the common opinions that deny the veracity of God’s truth. Our children are prepared to refute any claim of an old earth with accurate biblical knowledge. They understand the role of man and woman and God’s definition of marriage. They are convinced, from studying the Bible, that God’s Word can be trusted and it is true. I have been teaching the Bible at my church for four years. But, my most rewarding class is my own family. Every Saturday afternoon we go to our upstairs home-made classroom to study God’s Word and find Answers in Genesis.

Here is a photo taken as this family is using Answers Bible Curriculum.

You can find out more about this amazing curriculum and how to purchase it at AnswersBibleCurriculum.com.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken