Ken Ham's Blog, page 416

Compromise Being Spread

It is sad to see that as the ministry of AiG has grown in influence and the plethora of creation apologetics resources has grown and been blessed by God, we have also seen an increase in the number of leaders from within the church who are actively promoting compromise positions of evolution and millions of years. Unfortunately, there are many church leaders who are very active in trying to counter the biblical creation movement, which has positively influenced so many lives in this nation. In fact, a big part of our mission is to bring reformation to the church, so of course we expect opposition to our efforts. Sadly, the worst opposition from my perspective is from within the church, since we should expect opposition from the world.

Here is another example.

“Stand to Reason” is an organization that has been around for many years, and their speakers include Gregory Koukl, a graduate of Talbot School of Theology, and Brett Kunkle, a graduate student at Talbot. Stand to Reason states its mission as teaching people “not just what to think, but how to think.” Sadly, their supposed teaching people “how to think,” is actually teaching them think in terms of millions of years and evolutionary ideas.

In some recent posts on the Stand to Reason blog, Melinda Penner, one of the organization’s writers, wrote a post about the idea of theistic evolution (that God supposedly used evolution). She distinguishes theistic evolution from Darwinism, writing, “TE does allow for other miraculous events and God’s sustaining power, but not God’s intervention for creative purposes once the natural process has begun.” From what she writes, she seems to be rejecting theistic evolution. In fact, some people would say that since Stand to Reason doesn’t believe in evolution, they must be a creationist group. But this is where God’s people need to analyze what is actually being stated by Stand to Reason very carefully, or one could easily be led astray. In many ways it becomes a semantics battle.

So what does Stand to Reason really teach in regard to the Genesis account of creation? Penner wrote in a recent blog post, “The data of human origins, archaeology and molecular chemistry all harmonizes with the literal Biblical account of God’s special creation and intervention.” At this point, Penner links readers to a book by Hugh Ross and Fazale Rana titled Who Was Adam? Hugh Ross believes in an old earth and promotes the day-age and progressive theories of creation. He says God created over millions of years in the same basic order as the secularists claim life evolved (in reality, this is a form of theistic evolution). Now, we all need to understand that there are three main types of evolutionary ideas: biological, geological, and cosmological. Stand to Reason blatantly accepts geological and cosmological evolutionary ideas, but tries to reject and modify parts of the biological ideas of evolution to fit God in as Creator—but really it is just another form of theistic evolution.

First, the old earth and universe (geological and cosmological evolution) belief:

Stand to Reason’s president, Gregory Koukl, agrees with the old-earth position. He discusses the issue of distant starlight, arguing that young-earth creationists who believe in distant starlight believe in a deceptive God:

The young-universe creationist is in an untenable spot. If the earth is six to ten thousand years old, then virtually nothing we see outside of our solar system is real. . . . God has fabricated images of events that never happened, but passes them off as if they did. The Bible deceives us. (http://www.str.org/site/News2?page=Ne...)

Koukl writes in another post, “As an old-earther, I’m going to say that evidence for an ancient universe is in the heavens because scientific testing shows us that these stars are far away and their light takes a long time to reach us. Therefore, if we’re seeing light from those stars, and they’re a billion light years away, then those stars must have existed for at least a billion years.” (http://www.str.org/site/News2?page=Ne...)

Frankly, he is not representing many of the young-earth/universe creation scientists correctly. Not every young-earth creationist believes that God created starlight in transit. In fact, we have a number of articles by Dr. Jason Lisle on our website that address this issue, using scientific models to explain how starlight could have traveled to earth in the short amount of time required by the Genesis account. See Does Distant Starlight Prove the Universe Is Old? for more information on distant starlight.

Brett Kunkle, another writer for Stand to Reason, writes about the supposed big bang:

First, scientific discoveries of the last century provide strong evidence the universe exploded into existence in the Big Bang. Yes, I said the Big Bang. And no, if you accept the Big Bang it does not mean you accept evolution. This is an unfortunate myth Christians sometimes believe. If Big Bang evidence is persuasive to you, then you must also accept an old universe (approximately 12 billions years old). (http://www.str.org/site/PageServer?pa...)

There are problems with Kunkle’s assertions as well. First, Dr. Lisle addresses in the link above a major problem with the big bang model regarding distant starlight. Using evolutionary assumptions, even 12 billion years is not enough time for the starlight to travel the required distances in the big bang model!

Second, the big bang is part of a belief in cosmological evolution. What’s more, there is not “strong evidence” to support a big bang. All of this “strong evidence” for the big bang is being interpreted through an old-universe worldview, but the same “strong evidence” can be explained from a young-universe perspective too. In fact, the inflationary model of the big bang is based entirely on speculation! (See Dr. Lisle’s article for more.)

So this organization certainly believes in cosmological and geological evolution, but they claim they reject theistic evolution. But do they really? What they seem to mean is that some ideas of evolution are okay, as long as God remains necessary to the process. Penner explains, “If God intervenes at all then it’s not evolution; it’s some form of intelligent design.”

I’ve had many people say to me over the years that it doesn’t matter if God created over millions of years—just as long as God did it. My answers is always the same, “It is not what God said He did!” Even though this organization doesn’t believe in Darwinian evolution per se, its leaders do believe God created (in much the same order as evolutionists discuss the evolution of life) over millions of years. They can try to modify things all they want, but what they are doing is compromising man’s ideas of millions of years with the Bible and reinterpreting the clear text of Scripture, thus undermining the authority of the Word of God. They do believe in evolution—it’s just that they just don’t accept the naturalistic neo-Darwinian view but modify their beliefs to suit their purposes of having God create but over millions of years.

This is one of the reasons the church is losing its effectiveness in the culture and why we are losing two thirds of our generations from the church. I encourage you to read the two books: Already Gone and Already Compromised. Both of these essential resources deal with the compromise with evolution and millions of years in the church (including Christian schools) and the terrible consequences of such compromise.

Over time, we will warn you about other organizations that are teaching compromise within the church and are undermining the authority of the Bible.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

Blew My Mind

One of the emphases of AiG has been to produce books, DVDs, curricula, Answers magazine, written articles for the AiG website, and Answers Research Journal, etc. In other words, we need to work hard at disseminating the truth of God’s Word beginning in Genesis by as many means as possible, and we need to distribute as widely as possible. Praise the Lord, we see the momentum increasing from years of such hard work, and it’s occurring across the nation and around the world. We now receive so many testimonies of lives changed, like the one described in this exciting letter we receive recently.

I became a Christian fourteen years ago and had the hardest time taking Genesis at face value. I was always good at science and even dreamed of being a herpetologist or a paleontologist. But my faith and views didn’t match, so I chose to not become a scientist.

About four years ago, a friend of mine showed the Andrew Snelling geology collection that you offer (which I have since purchased) and it blew my mind! I had no idea that a view of science and the Bible could be offered, much less make more sense than what I had been taught growing up.

I have since consumed myself in all the literature and videos about creationism I can find. I have found Dr. Morris’s book The Genesis Flood and am currently reading it. I have found numerous videos on-line and have watched almost all of them. I have viewed all the videos that you offer on your video-on-demand section, some of them more than once. I subscribe to Answers magazine as well as a few others. My wife gets me your DVDs for my birthday and Christmas because that’s all I ask for.

I feel a passion and calling to this area in my life. I am now teaching what I have learned to our home group from church as well as in the children’s ministry when I teach during service. Also, I have recently been presented an opportunity to teach to a group of students from another church! (I am using the free cartoons you offer for my presentations and am thankful you offer such things.) I have recently met a man who used to do a creationist view walk-through of the Museum of Natural History here in my city and am planning to start doing it myself.

I am writing this to thank you for your ministry! I am so grateful for all the work you have done. I know that you probably receive plenty of mail that is not so much directed with kindness that I thought I would send one of encouragement to you. Again, thank you for AiG, your hard work, and your perseverance. May the Lord continue to bless you.

AiG Resources More Popular than Ever

As we have seen a lot lately, people at our AiG conferences are hungry for AiG resources. We are currently at Grace Family Church in Lutz, Florida. By the end of the three services Sunday morning, we had already run out of many resources. Here is a photo of people crowded around the resources tables and in line to purchases AiG’s apologetics material.

The final sessions of the conference are tonight.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

Need More Than Just Exposure

Dr. Georgia Purdom—AiG speaker, researcher, and writer—recently wrote a blog item I wanted to share with all of you. It is a warning—even to parents who bring their children up on AiG apologetics resources.

As I read her blog post, I thought of these main points:

We need to be reminded that we can do our best to bring children to the “door” of the “Ark,” but we can’t force them through—only God does that.
As we train our children, we need to do much more than just expose them to resources like those produced by AiG; we need to make sure they understand them correctly and are taught to be able to answer questions logically.
We can undermine a lot of what we have done if we send our children to the wrong institution (e.g., a compromising Christian college or even a theologically conservative one that does not teach them why they believe what they do—and how to logically defend the Christian faith and so on).

Here is Dr. Purdom’s blog item:

As I was perusing an atheist blog site the other day, I came upon a post by a young woman named Libby explaining how she became an atheist. The first paragraph of her “testimony” caught my eye.  She writes,

My parents were great fans of Ken Ham and Answers in Genesis and I was taught to use “creation apologetics.” In other words, when you evangelize someone you start by showing them the truth of young earth creationism, and after that they will have to concede the truth of the Bible and convert to Christianity. I read everything Ken Ham wrote, attended conferences put on by Answers in Genesis, and even visited the Creation Museum. I was taught that we know the Bible is true because young earth creationism is true. As Answers in Genesis so often trumpets, I learned that the foundation of the Bible was a literal Genesis.

Libby seems to have things backwards. It’s not that “we know the Bible is true because young earth creationism is true,” but rather because the Bible is true we can believe what God said in Genesis about the time frame in which He created. Although she read AiG resources, attended AiG conferences, and came to the Creation Museum, I have to wonder how much she really understood what she was reading and hearing. The very idea of God creating in six literal days, 6,000 years ago, and the global flood comes from Scripture (and of course the scientific evidence confirms it)!

AiG does teach that a literal Genesis is foundational to the truthfulness and authority of God’s Word. This is because if part of the Bible is in error and can’t be understood as written, then other parts could be in error and unable be understood as they are written. How would we know what to believe and what not to believe? As Libby states,

As I accepted evolution, I watched everything I had ever known crumble at my feet. I had been taught that the truth of the Bible rested on young earth creationism. Now that that foundation was gone, I had no idea what to do with the Bible. How could I trust it? How could I believe in it?

Again “the truth of the Bible” does not “[rest] on young earth creationism.” But if Genesis is not true, as she decided, then how could she trust any of it? I wish many pastors and Christians leaders could read Libby’s journey to atheism and realize the importance of a literal Genesis to trustworthiness and authority of God’s Word as a whole!

So why did Libby begin to doubt a literal Genesis? She writes,

And then I went to college, where my young earth creationist views were challenged.

Libby doesn’t say whether she attended a Christian or secular college. Sadly, in the USA today there isn’t much difference between the two types of schools concerning Genesis—and even the authority of the Bible—as surveys in Already Compromised showed. Either way, she was challenged, fought for a while, and gave up. It’s difficult to say why, but she does seem to have some misunderstandings about Genesis and the Bible despite her exposure to creation apologetics.

Libby ends her blog post with this thought:

I would like to point out that by teaching their children that their faith rests on young earth creationism, fundamentalist and evangelical parents create an Achilles heel in their children. If they grow up to find that young earth creationism is wrong, they have to completely evaluate everything they believe about the Bible, God, and Christianity. In trying to buttress their children’s faith, these parents build into it a fundamental flaw.

As I read her plea to parents and the instruction of their children, I couldn’t help but think of my daughter Elizabeth. However, for me Libby’s words had the opposite effect of what she desired. I realized that I can expose Elizabeth to all the creation and biblical apologetics in the world, but if she doesn’t actually understand it then it is useless. She needs more than simply exposure to these things.

I need to start asking her questions and she how she responds and not just assume she knows the answers. I need to start giving her more detailed understanding of these issues so she can answer effectively when those around her question her beliefs. I decided to start with the topic of dinosaurs. We are doing all the dinosaur questions from Answers Books for Kids and then we’ll move on to Dinosaurs for Kids. We are truly blessed to have all these great resources to train our children to “always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3:15).

My heart is greatly burdened for Libby and her parents. I can’t imagine the heartache of seeing your child make wrong decisions leading them to deny the very existence of God.  Please pray for them. Take God’s instructions to parents to heart and put it into practice:

And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. (Deuteronomy 6:6–9)

Keep fighting the good fight of the faith!

You can follow Dr. Purdom’s blog at this link.

By the way, to help build up your family in the Christian faith, please read my coauthored book How do we Know the Bible is True?

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

You Can Travel into Outer Space with AiG!

Later this month and throughout the summer you can join the Creation Museum for an evening of astronomy, fellowship, and worship on a journey through the universe.

Our next Stargazer’s Nights will be on Friday, May 18, and Saturday, May 19.  These exciting programs begin in the planetarium with an astronomy devotional. This is followed with a viewing of “New Horizons,” a program not typically presented at the museum. You’ll ride on a comet through our solar system!

The evenings will be led by astronomer Dr. Don DeYoung.  A professor at Grace College in Indiana, Dr. DeYoung is known internationally for his work in creation studies.  Dr. DeYoung and a team of talented assistants from the Creation Museum will take you on an amazing tour through the night sky.  You will be treated to a variety of incredible views of the heavens through the telescopes in the new Johnson Observatory. Our museum staff informs me that : “There will be binary stars, nebulae, globular clusters, galaxies, and planets to view. You may even be treated to an iridium flare as a satellite passes by or a view of the space station as it races overhead. It’s amazing to actually see the colors of stars; one favorite is a binary pair of stars, one yellow and one blue.”

But what if it’s cloudy or rainy? We have a plan for that! Here’s what I’ve been told:

If conditions aren’t good for telescope use, you get to stay inside for a truly unique presentation.  Our staff is able to manipulate time and space through the powerful technology of the Stargazer’s Planetarium. Be prepared for an amazing astronomy lesson as you watch the changing phases of the moon, follow planets through a retrograde cycle, and more. See the ‘North Star’ of Noah’s day, which is not the current star, Polaris. Travel forward in time and see what the night sky would look like if the Lord tarries for many years. I’ve seen portions of this show myself and know that you will not be disappointed if you don’t get to go outside and view the actual night sky!

Tickets are $15.95 per person.  This event is designed for older children and adults, but budding astronomers age 12 and under can attend for only $10.95 (all attendees must purchase a ticket).  For more information (and to see the dates for the rest of this summer’s events) you can check out the Stargazer’s Night page on the Creation Museum website.

2,000 Reached Already in Florida

Dr. Gary Parker and I are conducting an AiG conference at Grace Family Church in Lutz, Florida.  On Friday I spoke to 2,000 young people, teens, and adults at two school assemblies, and a youth meeting Friday evening.  Here is a group of photos to give you a feel for what happened yesterday:

You can find out more about the AiG conference in Florida continuing today through Monday at www.answersingenesis.org/outreach/event/Lutz02010/

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

Never a Dull Moment

At AiG and the Creation Museum, we often have the privilege to sit under the teaching of Christian leaders. Some of us also get to meet members of the media and other interesting visitors from around the world. This past week was no exception. As I sometimes say, “there is never a dull moment at AiG!”

Christian Leaders

This is not yet the extremely busy season at the Creation Museum. It really picks up starting Memorial Day and continues through August. (By the way, I urge you to read my previous blog on all the special five-year anniversary celebrations that will be going on at the Creation Museum May 25–28.)

Yet it’s been busy at the museum with all kinds of special visitors—both for and against the museum. It’s also been busy in another way, with a hectic week of traveling, flying back from a great seminar in Eden Prairie, Minnesota on Tuesday, and then on Thursday I flew to Florida for a seminar in Lutz.

In my day and a half back in the office, I had the wonderful opportunity to meet with some Christian leaders representing influential churches in the south.

On Tuesday, as I was flying back from Minnesota after the conference in Grace Church, our staff was treated to a devotional by Pastor Jim Perdue, Senior Pastor of the Second Baptist Church of Warner Robbins, Georgia. I missed his message, based on the book of Nehemiah, but I connected with him later in the day and we had dinner together.

Below is a photo of Pastor Perdue, as he presented a message to our staff on how Christians should deal with discouragement. He was certainly aware that a ministry upholding biblical authority like AiG is constantly criticized.

You can find more information about Jim and his church in Georgia on their website.

His last name may be familiar to many of you. His father was Governor Sonny Perdue, who was the first Republican governor in the state of Georgia in about 130 years. Gov. Perdue served from 2003 to 2011. You may recall the name because he became controversial a few years ago when his state was going through a horrible drought. Gov. Perdue (with other elected officials) prayed for rain at the Capitol in Atlanta, and secularists blasted him.

On Wednesday morning, we had a special chapel session with Pastor Hayes Wicker of the First Baptist Church of Naples, Florida. This church will be hosting AiG for a conference next year. In his message, Pastor Wicker mentioned, among many things, how he was recently at the bedside of Watergate figure (who was later born again), Chuck Colson, just before Chuck passed away.

It is such an encouragement to know that these two speakers who were at our chapel are representing churches that have a wide influence in their region and are so supportive of AiG’s ministry. You may read Dr. Wicker’s bio on the church’s website.

On Thursday morning, as I was preparing to leave for Florida, it was unfortunate that I did not hear Dr. Bill Dickens speak to the staff. He’s the headmaster of Calvary Christian School in Northern Kentucky, where many of our staff have sent their children for a good Christian education. Since yesterday was the National Day of Prayer in America, Dr. Dickens talked about the importance of making sure that Christians are not just active in the culture as voters and maybe activists, but that they should remember most of all to go before God to pray for this nation. As someone who has been deployed overseas in the US Air Force a few times, Dr. Dickens also stressed that we pray for the safety of the U.S. military men and women overseas—but most importantly, that we pray that they will get saved for eternity.

Find out more information on Calvary Christian School, which is an outreach of Calvary Baptist Church (a Bible-upholding church in our region) on their website.

Journalists

On the flip side, we had two radio broadcasters from Europe tour the museum and interview staff members on Wednesday, and they were not warm towards our message of biblical authority. One is a broadcaster (both radio and TV) for BBC Northern Ireland and the other is with Germany’s version of America’s National Public Radio. Both journalists were very skeptical of the museum’s content. Even before arriving here, the Northern Ireland broadcaster was tweeting his followers with a disparaging comment about meeting a “science expert” (he put the words in quotes to show his disdain), and then he met AiG’s Dr. Georgia Purdom, who certainly is a scientist (she has a PhD in molecular genetics from Ohio State University). After his visit, the man sarcastically tweeted “My jaw was dropping with all the learning ;)” continuing to mock us.

On the same day, the German journalist expressed a lot of skepticism as she interviewed Dr. Purdom, so we wonder how her report will turn out. We do know that she walked through the museum with a professor from Marshall University in West Virginia who attends a theologically liberal church and, we understand, is supportive of gay and lesbian issues. As they walked through the museum, this prof was being interviewed by the German reporter. So we have a hint at the future program’s probable anti-museum thrust.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

Cincinnati Christian University VP and Professor Takes a Swipe at AiG

Knowing the sin nature of man, “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked” (Jeremiah 17:9),  and that “men loved darkness rather than light” (John 3:19), we should not be surprised at the attacks an evangelistic, Bible-upholding ministry like AiG receives from the secular world. Such attacks should be expected. However, it is so sad when we receive them from people in Christendom—particularly those who say they are Bible-believing Christians and preach the gospel. Unfortunately, it happens frequently.

For instance, let me give you a recent example from our “backyard” of Cincinnati. A number of years ago, one of the profs (who has since passed on) at Cincinnati Christian University did his best to uphold the authority of God’s Word beginning in Genesis, as AiG does. But what about Dr. Jon Weatherly, professor of New Testament studies and vice president for academic affairs at Cincinnati Christian University? He earned his Bachelor and Master of Arts degrees at Cincinnati Christian University, his Master of Divinity at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and his PhD at the University of Aberdeen (Scotland)—see http://www.ccuniversity.edu/call/faculty/.  In a recent blog post, Dr. Weatherly takes a swipe at AiG (in 2010, he also gave false witness on his blog about what we believe concerning salvation).

Dr. Weatherly writes regularly for his blog “Seldom Wrong, Never in Doubt.” Recently, Dr. Weatherly wrote a post about our Ark Encounter, in which he was very critical of the project. In the past, he’s referred to the Ark Encounter as a “global publicity stunt” that “sounds lame.”

In a more recent post on the Ark Encounter project, Dr. Weatherly expresses his doubt about the project ever being completed. While he acknowledges that the economy is not doing well and that the Ark Encounter is a source of controversy in secular society, Dr. Weatherly also writes, “But we wonder whether the hot air is starting to leak out of the Ken Ham’s militant-young-earth balloon. Ham’s hostility could be making him enemies as fast as it used to make him friends.” Now, doesn’t that comment seem a little hostile itself?

I just never cease to be amazed by the lack of scholarship by these professors who use their platforms to attack the biblical positions we hold at AiG. For instance, Dr. Weatherly does not explain that the Ark project is a for-profit enterprise, owned not by us but the Ark Encounter LLC of Springfield, Missouri. He probably does not cover that detail because as far as we know he never asked us and never searched out the matter; he just seems to have written on the basis of hearsay instead of doing scholarly research. AiG is raising most of its financial commitment to the project through donations (and we are building one attraction, the Ark, of nine total Bible-themed attractions). By far the bulk of the revenue for the entire Ark Encounter will come from private funding sources, and we/they are well underway with this aspect of the funding. There are also Ark memberships that are a part of the revenue raising. While we are the designers and operators of the Ark, we are one member of the LLC.

Also, the comment “Ken Ham’s militant-young-earth balloon,” I believe, reveals the real agenda behind his attack. The bottom line is that he does not hold to the position on a literal Genesis as we do and seems to be mocking those who hold to a young earth and universe. Of course, if Dr. Weatherly holds to the belief in millions of years (which I believe is implied by the wording in his blog post), he is ultimately blaming God for death, disease, and suffering occurring for a very long time before Adam appeared, instead of blaming our sin for suffering and death.

It’s unfortunate that Dr. Weatherly has such a poor opinion of the ministry of Answers in Genesis and the Creation Museum. A few years ago, hearing that he might be “agnostic” about the age of the earth and hoping to share our perspectives with him, we actually invited Dr. Weatherly to visit the museum as our guest, and he came and also gave a devotional to our staff (in 2008), which I mentioned in a blog post. He certainly knows our commitment to the authority of the Word of God and the gospel. We were friendly and not hostile in the slightest toward him.

To me, it doesn’t seem very academic of the vice president of academic affairs at a Christian university to then write condemning blog posts about the ministry of AiG and the Creation Museum, using arguments that are not based on scholarly research—and thus his readers (and perhaps the students he speaks to) do not understand the true nature of the Ark project.

The Ark Encounter is intended to be an evangelistic ministry, one that will spread the gospel to people across the United States and the world. Why would a professor at a Christian university choose to criticize such an outreach—one that will powerfully reach out to an increasingly secularized world! Surely he should be thrilled that such a project will be used to call people’s attention to the truth of God’s Word and challenge them concerning the need of salvation in Jesus Christ. Now, I don’t think he is concerned that the Ark Encounter will be a second-rate effort and thus be an artistic embarrassment for the Christian faith (he has seen the high-tech exhibits and quality of the Creation Museum for himself).

A friend of AiG read these comments by the CCU VP and professor and shared the following with us:

I often wonder about these e-guys. They’re so eager to mock and scorn on the web. Even when I was an old earth, theistic evolutionist, I cannot imagine that I would have been happy that the Ark’s construction could be delayed.

What he supposes is that we are actually putting a stumbling block to the Gospel in front of folks by saying that the Bible means what it says [about the Ark and Flood] instead of saying natural science must be the ultimate authority in interpreting Scripture — except maybe where it would also forbid miracles, the resurrection of Christ, etc. Such double mindedness (I can testify from experience) is either a prideful commitment to a position based on the esteem it has gained you, or simply the consequence of a faith that has not been fully examined. In my experience, many, many Christians, including ministers, never fully flesh out their beliefs and instead hold beliefs in unexamined contradiction. It is a failure of the Church to systematically teach doctrine and apologetics that has led us to this place.

I pray that Christians will not be led astray by the misinformation seen in this latest Ark attack. In fact, why would any Christian want to attack an outreach—with 1.6 million projected visitors coming each year (many of them non-Christians needing to hear the saving gospel message)—that presents biblical events as real and the gospel?

Lastly, here is a troubling item that appeared on Dr. Weatherly’s blog post in December 2010 (and to our knowledge has never been retracted). A person described as “Tom in KY” had commented on a posting by Dr. Weatherly’s entitled “Ken Ham’s Ark Adventure,” writing, “… isn’t Ham the guy that says if you don’t believe in a literal 6-day creation, that he trotted out the ‘you are not a Christian/going to hell’ narrative?” How did Dr. Weatherly reply? He wrote the following:

Correct, Tom. Ham is the founder/president of Answers in Genesis, which uses various means, notably its celebrated Creation Museum in Hebron, KY, to promote the notion that either God created the world in six 24-hour days about 6000 years ago or the entire Christian faith is false. And while he may not formally affirm that people like SWNID are hell-bound for their dissent–even allowing his assistants to invite the likes of SWNID to address the organization’s employees devotionally–he comes mighty close to doing so when he devotes at least as much of his organization’s resources to arguing with other Christians as to promoting a theology of creation to the outside world.

As you can see, Dr. Weatherly also added the false charge that we believe “the entire Christian faith is false” if you reject a young earth. Of course, we write time and time again—and declare in our public talks—that salvation is dependent on faith in Christ alone, not on the date of the earth. We often add that many wonderful pastors and theologians who reject a literal Genesis are godly people who love the Lord.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying—including for the evangelistic Ark Encounter. On this National Day of Prayer in America, we would certainly appreciate your prayerful support as ministries like AiG are challenging the church and nation as a whole to accept God’s Word as true.

Ken

Museum Anniversary—Help Us Celebrate Five Years of Ministry

I can’t believe how the past five years have flown by. You see, later this month, we’ll be celebrating the fifth anniversary of the opening of the Creation Museum. So much about the museum has exceeded our expectations—from the attendance (1.6 million people), to the international media coverage we’ve gotten, to the many positive comments we’ve received (including salvation testimonies)! It is time to celebrate. And we’ll do that on Memorial Day weekend.

Here is a photo taken on opening day at the Creation Museum almost five years ago—just as the ribbon was about to be cut and the doors to open. Notice the many boom mikes and cameras of some of the media present.

The museum doors opened and the crowd poured in.

As you check out the Creation Museum blog post for more information, note in particular what will be happening on Friday evening, May 25. Before an excellent dinner is served, we’ll be unveiling the newest high-tech exhibit at the Creation Museum—our “Lucy” display. This is a very impressive exhibit. It will be using holographic technology that will probably have museum curators from all over the country wanting to see it. This new exhibit, built under the scientific direction of Dr. David Menton of our staff, will show museum visitors that this so-called “exhibit A” in human evolution is bogus.

Now that our new Johnson Observatory has opened (to many rave comments), we’re happy just a few weeks later to open a high-tech and eye-opening exhibit on Lucy.

The dinner and anniversary celebration doesn’t end after eating the meal. I will give a talk on the legacy of the AiG ministry, and the AiG staff have talked me into playing our ministry’s new piano (I rarely play in public). I will be accompanied by AiG musician Buddy Davis, and then there will be a concert by Buddy. A few weeks ago, a family in New Mexico donated a Yamaha (C7) grand piano to AiG, and this will be one of our first public events where this magnificent piano will be used. (We had a special dedication of the piano in front of the AiG staff a few weeks ago.)

A ticket for this anniversary dinner, the Lucy unveiling, the music, and the talk will be $60. A portion of that amount will be used to fund our future insectarium. To make your reservations (by May 18), call (800) 778-3390.

For this May 25 banquet, we’ll be meeting in our new Legacy Hall, so this will be an opportunity for you to see how God has blessed us with another addition to the museum. The hall can seat about 1,000 people, and in banquet style, about 350 diners. You might want to make your reservations now in case we do get 350 people signing up for the banquet.

I hope that as many of you can attend as possible—not only to enjoy the dinner and join in our museum anniversary celebration, but also to know that your participation will help fund one of the major new exhibits at the Creation Museum.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

Over 10,000 in Minnesota

Over 10,000 people (including over 4,000 at the two school assemblies) attended the sessions Sunday through Monday at the AiG conference held at Grace Church in Eden Prairie, Minnesota (near Minneapolis).

We rarely experience such support as we received from the Senior Pastor and all the other pastors/leadership at this church, which is well known in the region for teaching God’s Word unashamedly, boldly, and uncompromisingly! What a blessing it was for us to be at such a church. This church also teaches apologetics to the young people to equip them to be able to defend the Christian faith. They bring their young people to the Creation Museum each year!

The feedback was phenomenal!

As I explained yesterday on this blog, two AiG staff drove through the night (over 700 miles one way) to bring a cargo-van full of resources for yesterday’s sessions, as we ran out of most books and DVDs by Sunday evening. Most of the extra material was gone by the end of the two school sessions in the morning! I don’t think Minnesota will be the same. So much material has gone out into the communities and will be used to train children and witness to people in the region. The following photographs were taken yesterday at various sessions:

Praise the Lord for the response in Minnesota!

While in the Minneapolis area, Dr. Gary Parker—who spoke with me at the Grace Church conference—gave a chapel talk to students and faculty of Bethel University.

Former Baseball Star Now on Christian Radio—Listen on Wednesday

I’m happy to be returning to the “Frank Pastore Radio Show” on KKLA radio (Los Angeles) on Wednesday, May 2, 4:00 PM Pacific time, 7:00 PM Eastern. You can listen to this very popular radio program online on their website, or if you live in Southern California, listen at 99.5FM. I have been informed that KKLA may be the most-listened-to Christian radio station in America.

Baseball fans who are over 40 years old might recognize Frank’s name, and those who live here in our Cincinnati area heard his name a few times last month when the Cincinnati Reds played their first baseball game of the season in their ballpark. A staff member shared with me that the Reds won that game “on a shut-out, meaning the other team did not score any runs. Baseball writers recalled that it was over 30 years ago when the Reds won an opening game at home with a shut-out, and Frank was that pitcher for the Reds in 1980. So our friend Frank was mentioned a bit here in our area recently.”

Today he hosts the highly successful “Frank Pastore Radio Show” on KKLA. In the past, he has told me of the influence of the late Dr. Henry Morris and his creationist writings, such as his co-authored book The Genesis Flood, in coming to Christ.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

Hungry People in Minnesota

It was so thrilling yesterday to experience (and it really was an experience) the great response to the AiG conference held at Grace Church in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. The crowd was hungry for the resources and hungry for the message. I have not experienced such a response like this in a US church in the last few years. In fact, we ran out of many of the resources (books and DVDs) after the morning services. What was left went off the tables last night. Because of our burden to equip people, we asked some AiG staff if they would drive up (10 hour or more drive) to Minnesota with a load of resources. Two staff members did that last night. Other staff went into the warehouse to pack and load. The photos below show why we ran out of resources. People waited in long lines to get them:

I also received so many phenomenal testimonies.

1. A man named Todd told me he was a member of a bike gang, and a few years ago he was given a set of my videos to watch. After watching them, he became a Christian and now has a ministry to reach the people he used to ride with. See the picture below.

2. Another man told me he had strayed from the Christian faith but that it was the ministry of AiG that the Lord used to bring this man back. He was so thankful.

3. I had many kids and teens tell me how much this ministry meant to them. This young man below (Ryan, aged 10) wants to be a creation scientist. He told me more than once that he had really wanted to meet me.

Pastor Troy Dobbs (Senior Pastor) has been so supportive of AiG and this conference. This church (Grace Church) sends its young people to the Creation Museum each year and teaches them apologetics so they will be equipped to defend the faith. Dr. Gary Parker spoke to the young people and was excited to see the results of what the church has done with them. This is one of the rare churches where the young people showed they knew how to answer the skeptical questions of the day.

Here is a photograph of Pastor Troy with his family:

Lots of families like these came up to meet and thank us:

Here are two photographs of the auditorium:

What an exciting day! Thousands of people have been equipped, and hundreds and hundreds of resources have now gone out into the community!

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

More Radio-activity

Next month, we will be releasing a new version of our Answers … with Ken Ham radio program. A :90 version has been airing for almost 18 years on several hundred radio stations around the United States and overseas. However, we have been informed by many Christian stations that they would prefer a :60 format as opposed to :90. As we shared with radio stations that we were shortening our program (and I only have to reduce my teaching a few seconds because our ending announcements are much shorter), we have received a warm welcome. We think this new format will allow our radio network to grow even bigger.

As we reformatted the Answers program, we added a new music bed and also a new announcer’s voice—after 18 years, Mark Looy will be going into “radio announcer retirement” (though he will still take an active role in the production).

For a preview of the new radio format, which will start to air on May 7 on our network of stations, see below:

http://media.answersingenesis.org/Blog/aig20120509.mp3

For the mp3 file, click here.

For a list of stations that carry the Answers radio program, go to the radio page.

If your local Christian radio station does not carry our Answers program, call the station manager and suggest that he or she should contact Katie Livingston of our staff and request a demo CD from Answers in Genesis at (859) 727-2222 ext. 461, or via email. Or please find the general manager’s email address and send the demo recording that is linked to above here on this blog post—with a note of encouragement that the station air this relevant and faith-building program, which is now at a convenient :60 format.

Visit the Grand Canyon

As you listen to this sample radio program, please be aware that this topic of Noah’s Flood, geology, and even dinosaurs is something that we cover quite a bit in our ministry. The most intensive teaching we do on Flood-related  geology is on one of our raft trips on the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon, co-hosted by our friends at Canyon Ministries. Two of our upcoming raft trips have already filled, but we have a special four-day trip that leaves in late August where seats are still available. For some great teaching on what the Bible says about Noah’s Flood, and how the Grand Canyon provides a wonderful testimony to the accuracy of the biblical account—plus to receive excellent Bible teaching and devotionals from my brother Steve Ham (one of our best communicators)—go to the Grand Canyon raft trips page for more information.

Since my brother Steve is taking his teenage son David on this August trip, it is something of a “father-son outing” for them. Maybe there are some of you who would consider taking your son on such a trip—just before the school year is starting in many areas around the country.

A few years ago I went on one of these Canyon raft trips. Even though I had stood on the Canyon’s rim a few times before, being at the bottom and seeing the sedimentary layers stacked as they were really helped me better understand how the Canyon provides great confirmation of what the Bible teaches about the Flood in Genesis (chapters 6–9). It’s a great experience not only for the teaching but the Grand Canyon is just a spectacular place to see from the bottom. Looking up a mile to the Canyon’s rim is a jaw-dropping experience.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken