Ken Ham's Blog, page 397

Another Changed Life

We receive many testimonies of how the Lord has used Answers in Genesis and the Creation Museum to change lives. Here is an email we received recently. Praise the Lord!

I have been praying for my sister to believe that the Bible contained, true truth. She is a Christian, but has always attended a liberal church … My prayers were answered last week at the Creation Museum. …

Right as we walked in the Bookstore, a video of Ken Ham was on, considering the Genesis account as real 24 hour days. By the end of the 5 minutes of watching she started questioning her lifetime beliefs. We grew up in a non-Christian home and attended public school. Therefore, evolution was the only idea we had ever heard. When I became a Christian, I started attending an evangelical church and immediately believed everything in the Bible. So, you can see how different our spiritual lives have been.

By the end of the day she was convinced that the Flood was a real world-wide occurance and that God created the world in 6 24 hr. days. Before we left the Museum she had purchased a book, CDs and pamphlets to take home and read and share with her church. My prayer now is that she will stand firm on the Word of God and the truth she has learned.

… May God continually be with you, your family and the work of the Creation Museum. Its message has reached another person and changed her life.

Christmas Town Is Shaping Up

A lot of work has been going on at the Creation Museum—putting up sets, decorating trees with lights, making costumes, actors rehearsing, and much more for next month’s Christmas Town program at the museum. Make plans now to attend one of the nights.

Here is a photo of one of the new sets being placed outside—gates leading to the Noah’s Ark exhibit area. Some new things are also planned for this area next to the museum, leading to the kataluma and the live nativity.

Find out more about Christmas Town and the dates for this spectacular event next month.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

A Veterans Day Salute!

Today, on Veterans Day in America,* I wanted to honor a long-time volunteer at AiG and the Creation Museum: Art Hunsicker. Art served in the U.S. Army during World War II and saw quite a bit of action—especially in the famous Battle of the Bulge in Belgium during the bitterly cold winter of 1944–45. Art doesn’t talk much about the experiences of war, including some of the suffering he endured—and also as he saw so much death all around. But if you ask him to talk about WWII, he will. Art can present some personal anecdotes of such remembrances as seeing famous General George C. Patton, though the incident wasn’t all that flattering: Patton—immaculately dressed, including shiny black boots—berated Art’s commander for having dirty boots in one the messiest and dangerous of locations.

Here is a picture of Art with ministry CCO Mark Looy, an avid student of European history and who, in fact, flew over Belgium last Wednesday and—as he looked down below—thought of his friend Art and remembered Art’s service to his country. In the photo, Art points to Belgium on a world map where he played a role in rescuing Europe from Nazi tyranny. On this Veterans Day, our salute goes to you, Art. Thank you for your service—to America and also to AiG!

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

*Since Veterans Day falls on a Sunday, Monday is designated as a holiday for federal employees.

Going Down Under

My brother Steve is in charge of AiG’s Worldwide ministry outreach. (See my previous blog post about the handover that occurred recently as Dr. David Crandall retires as our international director). Steve wrote the following article for the Worldwide outreach blog that I wanted to share with you.

Very soon, my brother Ken will be in Australia. Australia is our home country, and we always enjoy returning to visit family, re-engage with some of our favorite foods, and reacquaint with many special friends who have supported us in ministry and who pray for us regularly. While Ken is in Australia, he will take some time out to speak in a couple of different venues (see a conference schedule). He finds people everywhere who are hungry for the biblical authority message and the real answers that God has given to the Answers in Genesis ministry.

I would like to spend some time telling you a little bit about Australia. Perhaps you can pray for this nation that is close to Ken’s heart (and my heart as well). Australia has a population of around 22 million people and yet has a land area quite similar to that of the USA.  28 percent of Australians are also born overseas, and actually, Australia is quite a young nation. While Christianity was once growing in Australia, in recent times those who identify themselves as Christian have been declining. Australia is burdened with increasing pluralism and aggressive secularization, and in a sense, the nation has become proud of its diversity of religions. There is an increasingly condescending attitude against those who hold to an ultimate authority for truth and only one way of salvation. As in the USA and the UK, absolute truth has taken a bashing from the era of postmodern thinking.

Not surprisingly, the issues of the existence of God and origins are a hot part of the debate in Australia. This is a country desperately in need of the Answers in Genesis ministry and message. Australia is a country where opinion counts and there are often forums to discuss such matters as these. Please pray that Christians would step up and graciously share the truth of God’s Word—particularly the gospel. Pray that people will do this while standing authoritatively on the Word of God.

Lastly, there is great opportunity. With the large amount of immigration to Australia, there are diverse communities that have yet to hear the gospel and are hungry for it. Before moving to America, my wife and I had opportunities to reach out to many Muslim families who lived in our local area, and churches have a unique opportunity to touch many people groups in their own localities. If you ever want to get a picture of the diversity of people groups within our one human race, Australia is a great place to see it. But if you go, take our message. These people are evolutionized and are being taught in a system that has its basis in naturalism.

Please pray for Ken’s upcoming trip and pray for our country. Australians need Christ, and they need answers to know that the Bible that testifies of Him is absolutely reliable.

In our Creator who is Savior,

Steve Ham

You can follow Steve on the Worldwide outreach blog at blogs.answersingenesis.org/blogs/worldwide.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

The Truth About “Evolving” Bacteria

Over the years, I have found that many students have been brainwashed into believing evolution because their teachers and professors supposedly showed them that bacteria evolve. Sadly, most students don’t know the right questions to ask in response, and most teachers and professors themselves don’t understand the nature of what is really happening at a molecular level with bacteria.

AiG molecular geneticist Dr. Georgia Purdom recently wrote a blog post to follow up on articles she has written on this topic. Because she knows the right questions to ask, Dr. Purdom is able to show that when one truly understands what is happening at a molecular level in regard to changes observed in bacterial function, it is easy to see that this has nothing—nothing—to do with molecules-to-man evolution. Reading through this article will also help you understand why young people can be so easily brainwashed into evolutionary thinking by their professors.

I’m reminded of this verse of scripture. “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4:6).

Four years ago, I wrote an article titled “A Poke in the Eye? Lenski and the adaptive acrobatics of E. coli.” The article highlighted the work of evolutionary biologist Richard Lenski and his discovery of bacteria that had reportedly evolved a new complex trait. During the recent Bill Nye controversy (see here and here), Huff Post decried my supposed ignorance of Lenski’s work that they acknowledged as “evolution that has been observed in a laboratory setting.” Obviously, as I stated in a response to Huff Post, they didn’t do their homework!

Interestingly, as all this was going on, Lenski released a new paper showing the genetic changes that had occurred in E. coli. First, let’s review what Lenski reported in 2008.[1] E. coli (such as those found in our gut or in the soil outside our home) have the ability to utilize citrate as a carbon and energy source when oxygen levels are low. They transport citrate into the cell and break it down. Lenski’s lab reported that the E. coli they had been culturing in the lab for many years could now utilize citrate under normal oxygen levels. It’s fairly easy to see that this was not “a major innovation” or the “making of a rare and complex new trait”; it was simply a change in the regulation of when citrate was used by E. coli.

In Lenski’s 2012 paper he shows the genetic mechanism that caused E. coli to make this change.[2] The E. coli that had been cultured for many years in his lab had a duplication of a portion of their DNA that included the citrate transporter gene called citT. The citT gene encodes a protein that transports citrate into the cell. The duplicated citT gene was under different regulatory control than the original citT gene. This allowed the citrate transporter to be produced and citrate to be utilized under normal oxygen levels.

Clearly this is not a case of adding new genetic information as the DNA that already existed in the bacteria was merely duplicated. It’s also not an example of the gain of a new function because the bacteria could already utilize citrate under certain conditions. There was a definite loss of regulation as the original citT gene was only expressed under low oxygen levels. These types of changes do not provide a mechanism for adding the new genetic information required for the evolutionary “novelties” necessary for molecules-to-man evolution.

Lenski also noted that certain mutations occurred before and after the duplication event. Those before were deemed necessary to “potentiate” the duplication event and those after were deemed necessary to “refine” the duplication event. I was amazed at just how many changes were necessary to allow the bacteria to perform a pre-existing function (using citrate) under different conditions (normal oxygen levels). Imagine how many changes would be necessary to generate truly novel proteins with truly novel functions necessary for molecules-to-man evolution. Impossible!

Lenski concluded in his recent paper, “The evolution of citrate use in an experimental E. coli population provided an unusual opportunity to study the multi-step origin of a key innovation.” No, it did not. It did provide further understanding of mechanisms that bacteria use to adapt to varying environmental conditions. God designed bacteria to be “master adapters” to survive and thrive in a post-Fall, post-Flood world. At times this can be to our detriment when bacteria cause disease, but this ability to adapt can also be put to good use for bioremediation and cleaning up our planet.

Keep fighting the good fight of the faith!

[1] Zachary Blount, et al., “Historical contingency and the evolution of a key innovation in an experimental population of Escherichia coli,” PNAS 105 (2008): 7899–7906.

[2] Zachary Blount, et al., “Genomic analysis of a key innovation in an experimental Escherichia coli population,” Nature 489 (2012): 513-518.

See Dr. Purdom’s full post, and be sure to follow her blog.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

ABC Gets Rave Reviews

AiG’s new Answers Bible Curriculum continues to get rave reviews. More and more churches are using the ABC curriculum for their Sunday School classes. It is a totally integrated curriculum from pre-school to Adult. The curriculum emphasizes apologetics and biblical authority. It is Christ-centered and chronological.

Here is an email received this week.

I wanted to say “Thank You” for the ABC Sunday School curriculum and your resources as a whole. My husband pastors a church in …, PA. Since returning from a vacation to the Creation Museum we took with our children this summer (of which I could write an entire e-mail about how much we enjoyed the visit with our kids ages 4–11!), we have been exposing our congregation to your resources. We took 2 groups through the Foundations 12 week study (they were sad to see the study end), and since September have been using the Answers Sunday School material. WE LOVE IT!!! It has really opened up people’s eyes to the amount of “Greekness” they have absorbed over their lifetimes. The children in our church are getting a solid foundation, especially those who are going to a public school. The family devotion is excellent reinforcement at home, and it is great that we are all on the same topic every week even though the grades vary. We tell any one who will listen about your organization and resources. Blessings as you continue to make an eternal difference in the lives of others.

Find out more about the Foundations curriculum mentioned in the email. And find out more about Answers Bible Curriculum.

Hundreds of Kids Taught Creation Apologetics in Highland, California

Hundreds of kids from Kindergarten through twelfth grade attended the two school assemblies as part of the recent AiG conference in Highland, California, this past Monday. Here are some photographs of the kids who attended one or more meetings at the conference.

It is thrilling to see so many children and young people being trained to defend the Christian faith and being taught the truth of God’s Word and the gospel.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

Foundations Grand Canyon Trip

Whenever we can, we at AiG love to help support quality ministries that stand for the truth of God’s Word beginning in Genesis. Canyon Ministries, headed by Tom Vail, is one such organization. We partner with Tom for the creationist Grand Canyon trips. Here is another special opportunity from Canyon Ministries.

Canyon Ministries has a new opportunity for people preparing for life and ministry—a trip through the Grand Canyon that specifically addresses the struggles of the learner’s heart and prepares the mind for action. The first of these trips will be July 19–26, 2013.

This eight-day trip features seven days rafting through 187 miles of the Grand Canyon from Lee’s Ferry to the Whitmore Wash. Although the rafts will navigate more than 100 rapids, they will not be the focus of the trip. Trained and experienced leaders will lead informative hikes in some amazing side canyons, yet these will not be the focus either. Christian fellowship will be an amazing part of the trip, but again, that will not be the focus.

The focus of the trip will be the foundational truths found in the first eleven chapters of the book of Genesis and how they relate to the Grand Canyon. Students will learn how what is seen in the world, especially its geology, truly upholds and supports what is read in God’s Word. Daily teachings will unpack the Scriptures, equipping students with concepts that can be used in any ministry. Although designed for the college level student, all adults (18 and over) are welcome. We will work with any college willing to provide credit for the trip.

For more information, go to Foundations in Genesis Class.

The following is an endorsement I wrote for Tom Vail and his Grand Canyon ministry:

A ride on one of Tom’s rafts is not only wonderful because of the adventure of running the rapids, but also because of the solid teaching received in geology and the Bible. The experience greatly helped me better understand how the Grand Canyon is a marvelous testimony to what the Bible teaches about the Flood and its after-effects. Of all my travels, none has been more exciting and educational. Highly recommended.

– Ken Ham, President, Answers in Genesis

Check This Out!

Master Books has now produced an e-enhanced version of my book, Dinosaurs for Kids. Check this out—you will love it! (This iBook is only available from iTunes right now. It will be available on other formats over time.)

Click here to view the embedded video.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

National Bible Bee Is on the Way

Next week (November 14–17), 300 students and their families from across the country will be in Sevierville, Tennessee, for the National Bible Bee contest. These students have been working hard since the beginning of the summer to memorize hundreds of Bible verses, and they have been studying First and Second Timothy.

Divided into three different age divisions, the students will be judged based on their ability to recite the passages and also on a test of their knowledge of Scripture and the two books they have studied.

If you live in the area and would like to learn about attending the events, you can find out more on their website. This event will take place at the same convention center where we will be holding our Answers Mega Conference next summer.

One of the major goals of this contest is to promote family discipleship as parents come alongside their children studying God’s Word together. More than just memorizing, the hope is that students will develop a deep love for God’s Word, hiding it in their heart so that they might not sin against Him (Psalm 119:11).

We are greatly encouraged by the work the people at the National Bible Bee do to hold up the Bible as the authority in every area of our lives, and I am pleased to serve on the Board of Advisors for their organization.

Roger Patterson and his family will be representing AiG with a booth promoting our new Answers Bible Curriculum (ABC) and as judges for the oral rounds of the contest.

Family discipleship is just as much a part of Answers Bible Curriculum as it is a part of the National Bible Bee contest. Along with apologetics and a deeper understanding of God’s Word, families are equipped with a devotional to connect the ideas that everyone is studying on Sunday in the ABC lessons.

All of this ties into one of the major efforts of AiG—to equip parents and churches to train up their kids in the truths of the Bible. AiG is thrilled to be able to provide some special prizes for this Bible Bee contest.

I would encourage you to begin thinking about participating in this wonderful program. Next summer could be a time to very intentionally disciple your children in the truth of God’s Word.

Registrations for next year’s program begin in April. You can learn more about the National Bible Bee by visiting www.BibleBee.org.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

Students on Board with the Ark Encounter

A home school group called Living Science loves AiG, the Creation Museum, and the coming Ark Encounter project.

This is the group Dr. Georgia Purdom traveled with to the Galapagos Islands on a unique creationist science endeavor.

Recently, this group sent us a copy of a letter they have sent out to raise money for the Ark Encounter project. I thought you would appreciate reading what this group is doing. It is good to know that there are students of this caliber whom God is raising up in the coming generations.

Here is what they sent out.

Dear parents and students at Living Science,

We returned from the Senior Retreat at the Creation Museum in Kentucky in early October. We were impressed by the Lord at that time to help Answers in Genesis to raise funds for their project to build a life sized ARK. We heard the story about how their vision began, and how God supplied the land for the ARK Theme Park and we observed AIG’s passion for evangelism throughout the Museum. The ARK, when fully operational will be one of the prime tools for evangelization in our nation. Millions of people will be confronted with the claims of Jesus Christ. For that reason, we want to be a part of it.

So we asked Answers in Genesis to provide us with some ideas for donations. They have 4 levels of donations. They are listed in the brochure attached. Your tax-deductible sponsorship donation will be assigned a unique serial number that you can use to look up the location of your peg, plank, or beam in the Ark.

Levels of Donation to help build the ARK:

Buy a peg. The entire ark will be built of wood – no metal. Wooden pegs will be used A peg costs $100.00
Buy a plank. Each plank costs $1,000. If we get enough for one or two planks, we will be able to locate our planks via computer screen on the ARK when we visit it.
Buy a beam. Each beam costs $5,000. Now we are getting ambitious! If we raise enough money to buy a beam, we will be extremely excited. Just imagine walking through the ARK and finding the beam we supplied! Cool!
Now, this is the God-sized vision: The ARK will have hundreds of cubicles inside, explaining various aspects of ARK life. If we raise $10,000 we help to outfit a cubicle inside the ARK. It will include a plaque commemorating Living Science’s efforts to build that cubicle. We are praying for the faith to trust the Lord for an amount that seems absolutely, physically, unattainable for us as students. But that is for the Lord to decide. If He wants us to pursue that goal, we will do it with His blessing and with His help.

To help you, the parents and students of Living Science, we are including a link to the ARK Encounter. This will provide details on everything we have said here, and will give you a much more visual idea of the size and scope of this amazing project. Here is the link: http://arkencounter.com/

A poster has been designed to hang up in the great room. It has a thermometer of the donation amount to date, and a wooden ARK sits on the piano. This wooden ARK was hand-made and especially designed to commemorate the construction of the ARK. It belongs to Mr. and Mrs. “D” and we thank them for lending it to us!

500 Piece Puzzle: Any student who gives a donation may add a puzzle piece to the ARK PUZZLE in the great room. The puzzle pieces are arranged carefully in boxes so that students may search through colors and shapes to find one that fits.

Our Challenge to the students and parents of Living Science: Help us to raise a significant contribution to the Ark Encounter, so that the Word of God may impact the millions of people who will visit it.

From the Graduates of the class of 2013

http://livingscience.com

You can find out more about the Ark Encounter project and how you can be a part of it at ArkEncounter.com.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

Language Is Not the Only Issue

Steve Ham, who heads up the AiG Worldwide outreach, wrote this important blog post that relates to the United Kingdom.:

Many times when English-speaking people consider global gospel ministry, they are thinking about foreign languages and translation. At times this can result in a lack of consideration for other countries that speak our same language. Yet these countries are also in desperate need for the defense of the gospel message, such as AiG is proclaiming. One of the most desperate situations for the gospel message is found in the country that has the namesake of the language many of us speak: England.

England specifically has a population of over 50 million people. In the land of Charles Spurgeon, John Owen, John Bunyan, Martin Lloyd Jones, and other great names in church history, the rapid decline in Christian influence has seen church attendance in England drop to below six percent of the population. There has also been a rise in atheism, and with media that is increasingly hostile toward Christianity, more and more people are seeing believers who know Christ as the only way of salvation as being overly intolerant. This scene in England also portrays much of the UK—there is a real hostility to biblical Christianity. The United Kingdom needs Jesus.

Did you know that Answers in Genesis actually has an office in the UK?  Many of the AiG—U.S. team have traveled to the UK to encourage and support our brothers and sisters in the UK office, and we have noticed that the fundamental belief systems of evolution and millions of years have been a major contributing factor to the decline in UK church attendance (and in no small way this is also happening in the USA). As many churches have adopted the secular beliefs of millions of years and evolution, many people have also seen the great disconnect between the foundational history revealed in Genesis and its relevance to the authority of Scripture and the gospel of Christ.

While atheists such as Richard Dawkins are accusing Christians of not having real answers for our world, many Christian leaders in the UK are embracing the foundations of Dawkins’s atheistic religion and attempting to fit it into the pages of the revealed Word of God. If the church understood that observational science confirms the literal biblical history in Genesis, the ripe ground in the UK is ready for confident evangelism that helps people to know that the Bible is reliable and the gospel of Jesus Christ is certain hope of Salvation.

Please pray for the folks in our UK office, and please pray as I travel to the UK very soon to encourage and support our brothers and sisters in that place. Pray for our meetings, and please pray that the Lord would guide us to be a light in a dark culture.

In Christ,

Steve Ham, Senior Director

Worldwide Outreach

(http://blogs.answersingenesis.org/blogs/worldwide/2012/11/02/language-is-not-the-only-issue/)

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

What Does the Ark Have To Do With Christmas?

Well, Christmas is coming up fast! And here at the Creation Museum, we’re already preparing for this year’s Christmas Town celebration. But you know, this year we’ve centered Christmas Town on a very special theme. It’s a question, really: What does the Ark have to do with Christmas?

Now, we’ll have many of the usual events, including a special turkey dinner available at Noah’s Café if you and your family would like to enjoy a meal together at the museum. And you’ll be able to tour the Creation Museum for just $5 after 5pm!

We’ll have the free Garden of Lights and the live nativity. And all the familiar characters will be present, including Elizabeth, Anna, and Hyam the Temple Guard in their live dramas.

But I want you to think carefully—What does the Ark have to do with Christmas?

We’re going to help you answer that question with new dramas and new characters at Christmas Town—and a special new outside set!

This year, you’ll travel back in time to about 2,000 years before the birth of Christ! Be prepared for a Christmas unlike anything you’ve ever experienced before.

I encourage you to not to miss Christmas Town at the Creation Museum.

The events run each Friday and Saturday in December, from 5–8pm. For more information, visit the Christmas Town website at CreationMuseum.org/christmas.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken