Ken Ham's Blog, page 394

The Consequences of Compromise

You know, I’ve said many times before that without a firm foundation in the authority of God’s Word and strong teaching in apologetics, many of our children will leave the church by the time they reach college age. Well, David Montgomery, a geology professor at the University of Washington, recently released his book The Rocks Don’t Lie: A Geologist Investigates Noah’s Flood (New York: W. W. Norton, 2012). Now, I blogged about a short excerpt from his book a few months ago.

In my earlier blog post, I pointed out the willful ignorance of Montgomery as he took his students  on a field trip to a geological formation in Washington State. You see, he was willing to say that the formation showed evidence of a “Noah-like catastrophe,” but he avidly denies that the Bible’s history of the Flood is true!

Well, I came across a quote in Montgomery’s new book that was very telling. He explains that he was raised in the church—but in a church that did not rely on the authority of Scripture:

In Sunday school I learned that Bible stories were parables to be read more for their moral message than their literal words. The story of Noah’s Flood taught mankind to be stewards of the environment—to care for all parts of nature, even as we bent her to our desires. Growing up, I was satisfied that Jesus taught how to live a good life and that science revealed how the world worked. (pp. 9–10)

Remarkable! So really, Montgomery was taught that the Bible is just a collection of stories with some occasional moral truths on “how to live a good life.” No wonder he believes the Bible’s history of the earth is just a myth. Sadly, what Montgomery was taught has become more the norm in the majority of churches these days!

We have to rescue this generation from the lies of the evolutionary/millions of years worldview—and from churches that compromise on the authority of God’s Word. In our book Already Gone, we presented research done by Britt Beemer and America’s Research Group, which found why two thirds of children are leaving the church by the time they reach college age.

What’s the cause? Well, overall, the answer is the lack of teaching apologetics as well as compromised teaching from church leaders. The younger generations are not being raised to be able to answer the skeptical questions of the age, and they are told by many church leaders that they can believe in millions of years and evolution—so they begin doubting from a very early age whether they can trust the Bible. Professor Montgomery’s statement is a perfect example of this—he was taught that the words of Scripture only influence morality and not how we understand the history of the universe and historical science.

You know, it only takes one generation to lose a culture. Remember what happened after Joshua and his generation died? The Bible declares, “When all that generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them who did not know the Lord nor the work which He had done for Israel”  (Judges 2:10). Christian parents, I urge you to stand your ground and teach your children to defend their faith against the challenges that will inevitably come their way, and never compromise God’s Word with man’s fallible beliefs.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

Ark Funding Reaches Milestone—Plus Incredible Matching Gift Announced!

For the $24.5 million that AiG is raising for its part in building the Ark Encounter project (the amount to build a full-size Noah’s Ark, one of nine attractions at the site), I’m thrilled to announce that the Ark funding “thermometer” recently passed the $10 million mark! The Ark “thermometer” reflects the total Ark donations and boarding pass purchases that have been made to date towards the construction of a full-size Ark. Both donations and boarding pass purchases have been increasing over the past several months as more people catch the vision for the evangelistic Ark Encounter.

Additionally, a few supporters of AiG have been moved by the Lord to bless the Ark project with $1.25 million in matching gift contributions and commitments before the end of the year. This means that every donation for the Ark Encounter project we receive by December 31 will be matched dollar for dollar up to $1.25 million! Praise God!

You can read more about this incredible matching gift opportunity and how you can participate at this link.

To watch our new one-minute video on the Ark Encounter, go to http://arkencounter.com/media/.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

Next ICC to be Held Next Year

Every few years, our friends at the Creation Science Fellowship in the Pittsburgh area host a very ambitious science meeting called the International Conference on Creationism (ICC). I have just gotten word that the dates of August 4–8, 2013, have been secured for the next ICC.

The ICC has an excellent reputation for organizing the major creation-science conference held anywhere in the world, mostly because there is a peer-review process for its papers, and it is all very thorough. Each paper will eventually be published in the proceedings of the ICC.

Already, Drs. Georgia Purdom and Andrew Snelling of our staff will be presenting the findings of some of their original research in biology and geology.

I encourage those who have an interest in apologetics—whether or not they are a scientist, engineer, or layperson—to go to the ICC website of www.creationicc.org and find out more about the August conference in Pennsylvania.

Children’s Creationist Ministry in the East

I wanted to introduce you to another creationist outreach, which is largely reaching children, led by Steve Levinson of North Carolina. Steve has been giving talks for children for many years around the country, and he shared one of his presentations with the AiG staff recently. Although Steve is not one of our adjunct speakers, we wanted to let you know that he has his own ministry independent of AiG and other creation groups, and you are invited to find out more at http://campgetaway.org/about.  Check to see if his programs might be a good fit for your church or ministry.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

Overheard in a Locker Room

I have stated many times that most of the criticism we receive as a ministry comes from those within the church, not from secularists and atheists. Our correspondence department indicates that the majority of letters, emails, and phone calls that pour into AiG every week comes from Christians who do not accept a literal, straightforward reading of the book of Genesis. They believe that science has forced us to reinterpret Genesis, and they criticize us.

The criticism from Christians happens so often that we (sadly) have now come to expect a steady stream of negative comments whenever we proclaim the truth of the history of Genesis. But when our supporters encounter anti-AiG sentiment, sometimes it stuns them. Read this summary of a fascinating encounter that occurred in an Idaho locker room from a shocked AiG supporter who had just spent some time being encouraged in his faith when he visited our Creation Museum in northern Kentucky:

I wanted to offer a word of encouragement.  I recently returned from visiting the Creation Museum.  I was at the gym, in the locker room, telling a pastor how great the museum was.  Pastor Jack asked me, “You believe in a literal 6 days?”

“Absolutely!” I replied.

Then out of nowhere, a man came around the corner who overheard our conversation said, “Ken Ham is a piece of c—.”

This man went on to tell me that he has four degrees, studies fossils, bends light, is a Christian, and is a follower of Reasons to Believe and its president Hugh Ross.  But out of his same mouth he called a fellow Christian a piece of c—. There was no sign of the humble heart of a Christian.

I thought: You have got to be kidding me, right!?

I stood in my underwear arguing with this man (possibly a professor) about God being big enough to do what He said in Genesis.  I can’t believe that I have fellow brothers and sisters wanting to side with “scientists”.

This has been a real eye-opener for me.

I lead a men’s morning study and I am very excited to take the men down this road. Thank you for the resources, and thank you for being willing to stand on God’s Word while we have brothers and sisters scoffing at us.  May our God strengthen you in your work.

I am one of the millions of young people who was struggling with the idea of millions of years. But Ken spoke at my church in Boise, Idaho, 8 years ago, and God really used this AiG ministry to strengthen my faith.

Thanks again.

In Christ’s grip,

– J.C., Boise, Idaho

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

Why So Much Traction Regarding Pat Robertson’s Views on Genesis?

Recently, I posted a comment on Facebook, and AiG wrote a related web article about statements televangelist Pat Robertson recently made against the young earth position on the 700 Club TV program.

Here is the video clip with Pat Robertson’s comments.

You can read our response on the AiG website.

In my Facebook post, I responded to Pat Robertson with the following comments:

Not only do we have to work hard not to let our kids be led astray by the anti-God teaching of the secularists, we have to work hard not to let them be led astray by compromising church leaders like Pat Robertson. This excerpt was posted on YouTube by a group that is a project of People For the American Way. Pat Robertson gives more fodder to the secularists. We don’t need enemies from without the church when we have such destructive teaching within the church.

Well, our response to Pat Robertson went viral on the internet. Both Christian and secular media reported on what Robertson said and mentioned our responses. Numerous atheist bloggers posted about this, and new posts continue to be made.

Why did this incident receive so much traction? After all, this is not the first time Pat Robertson has attacked the biblical, young earth, six-literal-day position on Genesis. For instance, back in 2003 I wrote the following about Pat Robertson:

Imagine you are on a TV quiz program. What would be your answer to this question?

What famous person made this statement? “Now creation science … is really pretty bogus. … I think there’s a lot of hocus pocus in that stuff.”

You might think of a leading evolutionary scientist, but you would be wrong.

So imagine the TV host giving you another chance and offering you the following hint:

This well-known person also said, concerning what he called “creation science,” “Some of that stuff just doesn’t meet the smell test.”

You might now be thinking of some leading secular humanist. Wrong also.

Imagine if you were then given one final chance.

This famous person is a Christian leader who also scoffs at those who believe the Earth was created in six literal days. He is the president and chancellor of what is described on the Web as “America’s premier Christian graduate school”—Regent University.

Yes, you would be right if you answered Pat Robertson.

AiG received a number of letters and e-mails from people dismayed and shocked by Pat Robertson‘s comments on a couple of “700 Club” TV programs about those who believe in the six literal days of Creation. I certainly wasn’t surprised by these statements. You see, I visited Regent University a number of years ago and discovered that a number of its professors were teaching theistic evolution. And over the years we’ve had contact with a number of students who have confirmed this (although there may be some literal Genesis professors at Regent).

Because Pat Robertson has made some very public statements (to literally millions of people) about this, I felt we should answer them. In particular, let’s examine a couple of statements that he has included in a form letter he has been sending to those who have inquired about his TV comments.

Pat Robertson: “According to the Holy Bible, the creation of life was accomplished in ascending order from the more simple creatures to man himself.”

Our answer: First, not even a single-celled organism can be described as “simple.” This idea of an ascending order is consistent with the traditional Darwinian idea of molecules-to-man—and of course fits with a theistic evolution position.

In fact, the whole order of creation in Genesis contradicts old-Earth teaching at over 20 points. For example, the Bible says fruit trees were made before fish— the “millions of years” view puts fish before fruit trees.

Pat Robertson: “The Bible records that this was accomplished in ‘six days.’ I stated that a solar day was different from an Earth day; a galactic day is different from a solar day; and a universal day is different from a galactic day.”

Our answer: Such statements are, quite frankly, “gobbledy-gook,” and have nothing to do with the real meaning of the word “day” in Genesis. The Bible was written, of course, in a language. Therefore we must go to the words in that language, look at the context and, on the basis of the rules of grammar for that language, work out what it means.

The word “day” in Hebrew, when used with a number or with the word “evening” or “morning”—just as in Genesis chapter one—means an ordinary day. After all, Christians don’t read the New Testament and say about the Resurrection: “A physical resurrection is different from a spiritual one is different from a resuscitation one—therefore we don’t know what sort of resurrection it was!”

No! We read the words in context according to the type of language, and then we can dogmatically state that Jesus Christ rose bodily from the dead, according to the Scriptures.

Besides which, as soon as you allow for millions of years of Earth’s history, then death, diseases (like cancer), suffering, and pain, etc., existed before sin—which destroys the foundation of the Gospel.

Pat Robertson: “In short, a ‘day’ does not have to be 24 Earth hours. The Bible itself says, ‘One day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as a day.’”

Our answer: This is one of the most common, but inconsistent and error-laden applications of Scripture (in this case 2 Peter 3:8) that I hear in Christian circles. This phrase from the New Testament has nothing whatsoever to do with defining a Hebrew word in Genesis.

Not only this, but people who use this verse to question the meaning of the word “day” apply this only to Genesis 1. But the word “day” is used over 2,000 times in the Old Testament—why don’t they apply it to all the times it’s used? Maybe Jonah was in the great “whale” for 3,000 years, not three days!

Sadly, the views of Pat Robertson are also held by many Christian leaders in America today. While these same leaders have a heart for fighting America’s culture war, Christians are losing the battle. The problem is that the culture war is being lost because biblical authority has been lost. And this has happened because the majority of Christian leaders have rejected the literal history in Genesis in order to compromise with millions of years and evolutionary ideas. Until Christian leaders get back to accepting God’s clear Word beginning in Genesis, and thus reestablishing Biblical authority, Christians will not be able to fight the culture war at a foundational level—where the real battle is largely being won by the secular humanists.

With Pat Roberston’s more-recent comments about Genesis, some Christians have commented on my Facebook page. Some have attempted to excuse his comments because, they say, Roberston is getting old! However, nine years ago, as you can see from the above quotes, he was even more mocking of the literal six-day, young earth position.

So why did his recent statements get so much traction on the internet?

I believe one of the reasons is because the age of the earth and universe happened to be a headline news item due to the question asked of Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida recently about the earth’s age. As I have said many times, when it comes to the origins issue, evolution is only a symptom of something deeper—the “disease” is really millions of years. Without millions of years, secularists can’t propose their anti-God evolutionary ideas.

Also, secularists know that if someone believes in or even allows for a young earth (consistent with the Bible’s account of history), such a person is more likely to believe in a biblical morality (e.g., accept marriage as being for a man and woman, not man and man, and that abortion would be wrong because it is the killing of a child in its mother’s womb).

Many atheists loved what Pat Robertson said for another reason. They know that when someone associated with the church compromises on Genesis, this compromise helps lead people to reject the Bible as a whole. One secularist posted the following on my Facebook page:

At least Robertson admits that fact beats fiction. Maybe he will soon realize that the rest of the Bible is fiction too.

And that’s the point of course. Secularists will tell Christian leaders they need to believe in evolution and millions of years—and then they tell them that the next step is to give up the Bible entirely!

However, we were thrilled to receive a lot of positive feedback, like the following:

Just want to say a big “thanks” to AiG for countering Bro. Robertson—whom I have loved—but who I knew was mixed up on some things. Hopefully he will read your feedback and be humbled enough to concede. But you are so right here, and thank you for being bold to speak out. We must speak out. Thanks for reprinting that “compromise” letter also. Disturbing that it seems the seminaries are actually preparing its graduates to know how to deceive churches about what they believe in order to get hired!!! Wow!!! Put that up against Martin Luther.

Thank you for the sound responses you have provided, as an example to us in how to respond. It’s not an enviable position, but we must. Thank you for leading the way in this fight for Truth and the Authority of God’s Word. May God Bless AiG and all of you!

People also expressed appreciation for warning them that institutions like Regent University (which was founded by Pat Robertson and where he is currently the chancellor) have professors that teach evolution/millions of years to generations of students—thus undermining biblical authority (for which they will have to answer to the Lord one day).

The age of the earth is an important issue. It is not a salvation issue or test of orthodoxy as such—but it is an authority issue. When Christians compromise millions of years with God’s Word, they are undermining the authority of the Word—and that is a dangerous thing indeed!

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

Does Scripture have a “Dark Side”?

You know, I’ve said many times that the general church community in the United Kingdom is an example of what the church in the U.S. will become if we don’t stand on the authority of the Bible. Most churches in the UK have compromised with evolution and millions of years. Also, church attendance in the UK is extremely low (6.3% according to a recent report in the Telegraph).

Well, a reporter for the Church of England Newspaper, the official newspaper of the Church of England, is encouraging even more compromise in the church. Paul Richardson wrote in his article, “Reinterpreting the Old Testament” (October 7, 2012), about what he calls the “dark side” of Scripture and how to interpret it in light of the culture.

Richardson wrote, “How we understand the authority of the Bible is crucial. At the basis of many disputes in the church over sexuality or the role of women are differing interpretations of the Bible and differing attitudes towards biblical authority.”

On that point, Richardson is spot on—all these debates lead back to one’s view of the authority of God’s Word. But sadly, Richardson himself doesn’t take a high view of biblical authority and inerrancy.

What Richardson is really trying to argue is that not all of God’s Word can be trusted. He wrote, “When God revealed himself to human beings he had to accommodate his revelation to the culture and viewpoint of finite, fallen human authors. He allowed human authors to be themselves when they wrote the Bible so that their work contains errors and mistaken views but also witnesses to divine truth.” This is the “dark side” of the Bible that Richardson mentions in his article.

So, if God allowed “errors and mistaken views” into the original manuscripts of the Bible, how does Richardson know which parts of the Bible are wrong? Are the words and views of Christ “mistaken”? You see, Richardson’s claim really destroys biblical authority altogether. In his view, the Bible is just a book full of a few truths that everyone in the current cultural climate can agree on—and the rest (e.g., biblical definition of marriage) is just “errors and mistaken views.”

Richardson drew the shocking—but unsurprising—conclusion that authority and inerrancy are unrelated.

Does this mean the Bible does not have authority? We need to get away from the idea that inerrancy and authority must go together. In my life I have learnt from many fine teachers but none of them was perfect. Most students are quick to see where a teacher offers real insight and where a teacher has blind spots.

There you have it. In Richardson’s view, the Bible is just a “teacher” that has blind spots, even if it does have good things to say. That’s a very low view of biblical inerrancy and authority. I would surmise from this that Richardson would also believe in evolution and millions of years if we asked him. I’m sure that this would have had a great influence on the way he looks at the rest of Scripture. This is just another sad example of the consequence of compromising God’s Word.

But you know, these kinds of articles and related teachings are exactly what the church in the U.S. will see more of as the authority of God’s Word is further eroded in the culture. We can’t give up biblical inerrancy and expect biblical authority to remain in society. I encourage you to read Brian Edwards’ article, “Why Should We Believe in the Inerrancy of Scripture?” to learn more about why we believe the Bible to be inerrant in its original manuscripts.

Richardson’s arguments against trusting God’s Word is based on the idea that the Old Testament in particular is unreliable—an erroneous claim that we at AiG have addressed before. To learn more, read Brian Edwards’ article, “Is the Old Testament Reliable?”

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

It Continues to Be a Great Tourist Draw!

Last week in our hometown newspaper, The Cincinnati Enquirer, a front-page article reported how tourism is a big part of our Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky economy. With attractions like the Cincinnati Zoo, Newport Aquarium, the Cincinnati Museum Center (which is now hosting an excellent Dead Sea Scrolls exhibition), the 15 counties that make up the region saw $4.1 billion in spending by tourists last year.

In the front-page Enquirer article, our Creation Museum was spotlighted with a nice photo of one of our animatronic dinosaurs that led a montage of photos of a few local attractions. During a downtown Cincinnati briefing for the media and others sponsored by local tourism officials, one of the leaders mentioned the Creation Museum as a major draw to the area. By the way, a study we conducted a few years ago indicated that about 51% of the people visiting our museum were traveling from more than 250 miles away and were staying an averaged 1.8 nights in a local hotel. Tens of millions of dollars are spent in the area by our museum visitors each year, and they are also taking in a Cincinnati Reds baseball game, touring the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit, and so much more. And tens of thousands of jobs are supported by tourism in the region.

Here is a scan of a part of the front page of the Enquirer.

A great reason to visit the Creation Museum this month is to take part in our annual Christmas Town program. With tens of thousands of lights, special dramas, live nativity, camel rides, and more, it’s one of the finest Christmas programs in the whole nation. Over 25,000 people came out last year over eight evenings. This month—starting tomorrow—we’ll hold this free Christmas Town outreach every Friday and Saturday evening (even after Christmas).

So make your plans to travel to Northern Kentucky and visit us during Christmas Town!

I’ll be returning to America from Australia this week, and one of the things I look forward to the most is seeing Christmas Town for myself.

Here is a panoramic photo of the museum grounds during a prior Christmas Town.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

School Standards and Science

Well, the battle for our children continues in this country (and around the world). A few months ago, the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) were made available to the American public for comment and recommendations. Dr. Elizabeth Mitchell (AiG–U.S.) wrote a detailed discussion of what was being written into these standards.

Forty-one people, who represent 26 states, are writing the science standards. All 50 states will be able to decide if they want to adopt these standards. A recent article in WORLD magazine explained two of the key issues with these standards. “They explicitly emphasize Darwinism and climate change.”

We at Answers in Genesis do not deny that climate change happens. However, we do debate how much of a role man has in it. An AiG web article written by a meteorologist “How much global warming is natural?” states the following:

Man’s contribution is slight, and not enough manmade warming has occurred to panic over. There is a good chance that man can do nothing or only very little to change the manmade portion, even if he spent what alarmists suggest to ‘fight’ global warming (although we should always have been and should continue to be good stewards of the resources God has provided us).

George Taylor, the president of Applied Climate Services, wrote an article for our Answers magazine. He said in relation to climate change that many aspects of it are “poorly understood” and that “talk of overhauling society is unwarranted.” You see, our concern is that students will not be taught the difference between good stewardship and some sort of view where nature is no longer under man’s dominion, but man is under nature’s.

The new science standards would have much of the education on these topics begin in kindergarten! Students in schools that have adopted the NGSS are “supposed to learn … about ‘evidence’ supporting the Big Bang.” The article goes on to say that high school students will be taught that common ancestry and the evolution of organisms from one kind to another are well supported by evidence.

You know, what these standards are doing is removing any opportunity for your children to think critically about evolutionary ideas and other controversial topics in science. At Answers in Genesis, we don’t advocate government-mandated creation classes in schools, but we do advocate that students be taught to carefully consider the claims being made by any scientific idea. We want the instructors and students to be allowed to criticize evolution. Evolutionary ideas are based on numerous assumptions. Yet the NGSS standards, if adopted, would require teachers to teach these ideas uncritically to this generation.

We are seeing increasing efforts to teach generations of children evolution and millions of years as fact. As the biblical creation ministry has increased in influence, we see an increasing effort by the secularists to impose their anti-God religion on the culture. We are truly in a spiritual war. The evil one (the Devil) is very active on planet earth. Don’t let him deceive you and your children.

As I’ve said many times before, the culture is at war regarding the hearts and minds of this generation. I encourage you to read my co-authored book Already Gone, which explains why the church is losing two-thirds of this generation by the time they reach college age.

Proverbs 22:6 tells us, “Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it.” It is the responsibility of parents to show their children how to think critically—we can’t depend on the school system. Parents, I urge you to teach your children how to think about the claims of evolution, so that they will be prepared for the challenges they will undoubtedly face in their educations.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

Note: I thank Steve Golden for his assistance in composing this blog.

Sea World—An Expensive Evolutionary Tourist Trap!

While in Australia, our family members decided to go to Sea World. They thought the family (including our grandkids) would have a great time as they watched the various shows and took in some of the attractions, but they weren’t ready for the intense evolutionary indoctrination in Sea World’s new dinosaur exhibit.

It seems this new multi-million dollar exhibition has one purpose—to convince children and mums and dads that Darwinian evolution is fact and that birds are actually dinosaurs (because dinosaurs supposedly grew feathers and became birds). Our son-in-law wrote this report after taking his kids to Sea World on the famous Gold Coast of Australia.

Sadly, Australia, like most of the western world, has given up many Christian aspects that once permeated the worldview of the culture. They’ve traded them for secular humanism—which now pervades the culture. For secularists, to justify their views of moral relativism, they use evolution and millions of years in their attempts to explain life without God. As we saw at Sea World, most parents had no idea what they were doing to their children by taking them to this new “temple” of evolutionary secular humanism and letting them be indoctrinated in this anti-God religion.

As Christians, we need to have a mental security system where an alarm goes off when aspects of this anti-God religion are presented. Here’s what should happen when you hear or read the following:

“Millions of years” should set off a mental buzzer that says, “warning—this is an attack on biblical authority—this is a buzz word to say there was no global Flood.”
“Evolution” should set off a mental buzzer that says, “warning—this is an attack on biblical authority—this is a buzz word to say creation by God was wrong.”
“Feathered dinosaurs” should set off another mental buzzer that says, “warning—an attack on biblical authority—this is a buzz word to say creation by God was wrong.”

According to the true history book of the universe—the Bible—birds were made on Day 5, and dinosaurs (which are land animals) were made on Day 6. So birds existed before dinosaurs. But evolutionists claim dinosaurs existed before birds!

This brings me to Sea World on the Gold Coast in Australia. You would think Sea World would focus on creatures that lived in or near the sea (like dolphins, polar bears, sea lions, sharks, star fish, and so on). And they have some of these at the park, of course.

However, they have a new addition to Sea World—a Dinosaur Island that is split into two portions. It’s a two-story addition devoted to convincing people of the secular humanistic view of the evolution of dinosaurs into birds, while is blatantly hitting people over the head with “millions of years”.

They cover T. rex with feathers, where no T. rex fossil has ever been found with feathers.

T. rex

Then the exhibit covers a Velociraptor with feathers, but researchers have never found a fossil one with feathers.

Velociraptor

Most dinosaurs at Sea World’s indoor facility have feathers attached to them. They even have a game that seems to target young children, where they are told to pick the 4 dinosaurs. They are then forced to pick both dinosaurs and birds, including fossil and modern birds.

Dinosaurs

So they are blatantly trying to indoctrinate the kids (and adults) with the religion of evolutionary humanism and millions of years. Those who play their game have no option but to call a modern bird a dinosaur!

They also talk about “protofeathers” in the exhibit. So, what is a “protofeather?” Well it’s something that is not a feather but evolutionists want it to be a feather! But it’s all in the terminology that is used to indoctrinate the public.

So what examples of feathered dinosaurs did they use? They used fossilized birds, such as the following:

Microraptor

Microraptor Fossil

Confuciusornis

Confuciusornis Fossil

What are they are really doing? Here is an analogy—consider this hypothetical example. If someone came up to you and said, “Look—the ancient extinct Meganeura monyi or Giant Dragonfly evolved into birds” and then said, “Here are the feathers to prove it,” and they showed you a fossilized seagull. Would you believe it?

Biblical creationists would say that the fossil layers from which they are digging up these fossilized birds were laid down during the Flood (about 4,300 years ago) and that they were buried the same year as the dinosaurs (now dinosaur fossils) that the evolutionists claim they have supposedly evolved from. The millions of years is a farce in light of a global Flood.

There are three ways the evolutionists try to make missing links (intermediates). We need to understand these and teach them to this generation so that our young people will not be easily indoctrinated by this false religion. Consider these three in the light of this Sea World exhibit.

Dino-bird Missing Link method 1: Take birds and make them look like dinosaurs.
Dino-bird Missing Link method 2: Take dinosaurs and make them look like birds.
Dino-bird Missing Link method 3: Take bones of both birds and dinosaurs and try to make a fictional link (or merely imagination like artist depictions, like the faked Archaeoraptor).

In the case of this Sea World exhibit, its designers used both of the first two methods. They took fossilized birds and tried to use them to convince people of their “dinosaur” nature (they are in a dinosaur exhibit, after all). They took dinosaurs and made them look like birds by adding feathers to them (e.g., the T. rex and Velociraptor models made with feathers).

Friends, we need to keep our mental buzzers alert about the latest attacks on biblical authority. They are all around us. Sadly, even at theme parks like Sea World, children will be indoctrinated in an anti-God religion.

I encourage you to bring your children to the Creation Museum in northern Kentucky to learn the truth. It’s also much, much cheaper (and every ticket is a two-day ticket). For more information, go to www.CreationMuseum.org.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

Chicago Church Compromise

I’ve been posting on my blog and Facebook recently on how church leaders (like TV host Pat Robertson) are compromising regarding the clear teachings recorded in the book of Genesis about creation and the age of the earth. Our supporters have been sharing with us their own experiences in seeing compromised teaching first hand, including this ministry friend in the Chicago area:

Greetings in the name of our Creator & Savior Jesus  Christ!

I have felt it necessary to inform you and all of the faithful supporters of AiG as to what has recently happened within my church, the church my wife & I have belonged to for over the past 25 years.

Both my wife and I came to a saving faith in Christ some 36 years ago.  We both believed the Bible to be God’s breathed Word, but yet we had difficulty in accepting Genesis as a literal account of God’s 6 day creation week and a global world wide flood.  We happened to attend a creation seminar at that time and the speaker was John Whitcomb who co-authored the book “The Genesis Flood” with Henry Morris.  As we listened to John speak, our eyes were opened for the very first time.  We both were able to see and to understand how God did it.  It was an amazing life changing experience.  Everything fit into place.  All of our questions were answered and our doubts set aside!  We could believe the entire Bible!  As a long-time church member, I soon had the opportunity of teaching creation to many Adult & Children’s Sunday school classes as well as Bible study groups (using AIG & ICR materials).

And now, 36 years later, something has happened in my church that I never would have thought possible.

Through several conversations with our newly elected 34 year old pastor, I have learned that he believes in theistic evolution!  How could this happen in my church?  In his summary of theology which he submitted to our board of elders during the interview process, he stated he confirmed his belief in the Bible as the literal Word of God, written by God and that all Scriptures were to be interpreted with Scripture.

Our conversations covered the seven 24hr days creation week, physical death prior to Adam, and Noah’s flood.  I supported my literal interpretation of Genesis using Scripture in both the Old and New Testaments.  Our new pastor  could not do that to support his opposing views.  He defended his beliefs by saying that everyone knows that science has proved billions of years of evolution and that he would never be a young earth creationist.  I think he was putting young earth creationist in the same basket as people who believe in a flat earth.  He began to ignore my questions.  He then handed me a book to read written by John Walton who is a professor of Old Testament at Wheaton College in Illinois.  The book entitled “The Lost World of Genesis”  claims that by studying  ancient Near Eastern cultures we are able, for the first time, to know what God was trying to tell us in Genesis and what it all means.  I politely left the book on his desk when I left.

I researched the book and author on the internet.  Among other things, the book supports millions of years of ape to man macroevolution, physical death before Adam, and a local Noahian flood.  It even questions the existence of a literal Garden of Eve.  I could not believe that my very own pastor would want me to read that book and believe what it said.  It was also hard for me to accept the idea that the professor could be teaching these beliefs to his Old Testament students.

Our church now has revised its Articles of Faith, and creation is now listed as a secondary issue.  Our Jr. High and High School pastors do not bring up the subject of creation.  If someone in their class asks a question about creation, they are simply told that God could have created it anyway he wished.  How and when He did it are not the important issues.  The only thing thing that is important is that God is our Creator.

I hope that someway this could be used as a wake-up call to other churches that may be seeking a new pastor or new elders.  They must be aware of both what is said and what is not said.

For example, prior to his hire, our new pastor submitted his summary of theology to our our church elders.    Concerning God’s creation of Adam he wrote,  ”As the culminating, sixth day of creation, God created a distinctive living creature, set apart from other living creatures, by breathing into this creature the breath of life (Gen. 2:7 with 1:20, 21, 24).  God named this distinct human creature Adam …”

At first glance, one would think that the words he used reflected what he meant. That was not the case, because what he really meant he didn’t say.

Note that Adam is first described as a living creature, set apart from all other living creatures. He does not refer to Adam as a human until after God breathed into him the breath of life.  What he didn’t say is that he believes God used millions of years “ape to man” macro-evolution to create Adam.  God took a fully evolved hominid creature and breathed the breath of life into it making it human and then naming him Adam.

– T.J.

Let this account above be a warning to you when your church seeks a pastor—to ask very specific questions and listen very carefully to the answers.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken