Ken Ham's Blog, page 451

Goodbye to Some Ministry Friends

I wanted you to pray for the Norberg family this week. Its patriarch, Frank, passed away on May 18. Many of Frank's family members are good friends of the AiG ministry, as was Frank himself. In fact, Frank's son Jeff—who lives in Montana—hosted me and some ICR speakers about 20 years ago when Jeff was the chairperson of a well-attended creation conference in Missoula, Montana.

Frank spent most of his life in Montana and later moved here to northern Kentucky with his wife Sharon. They had many friends among the AiG staff. Frank was a newspaper man in Montana (and quite an outdoorsman, I hear, in that beautiful state), and eventually became editor of a magazine.

Please pray for Sharon and the rest of the family—Frank leaves behind six children, many grandchildren, and a great-grandchild.

We rejoice that Frank has a new body—he had gone through quite a debilitating disease in the last few years.

Frank, who was 83, was commemorated at a memorial service on Sunday here in our area. Here's a recent photo of Frank:

Also, a few days before that, we lost another ministry friend: Archie Kidd. Archie did a lot of AiG's printing jobs in the 1990s when we were a brand-new ministry. With his shop only a few miles from AiG, he was just a quick drive away and was known to do quality work at a very reasonable price. This fine Christian man was also a volunteer at Calvary Baptist Church in northern Kentucky, where a number of AiG staff attend. Pray for his wife Fannie and son Stephen.

Burning Flame

Here is a short but very encouraging note received at AiG:

Since [we came ] to the museum 2 years ago the revelation that I received there has changed the way that I read the Bible and has put a burning flame in me.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

Are Satan and Hell Real?

The controversial new book by Rob Bell, Love Wins, has millions of people questioning the reality of Heaven and Hell, God, and Satan. If God is love and the Creator of the universe, why would Hell be necessary? How could a God of second chances, a "Redeemer," sentence anyone to suffer for all eternity? How would you handle those kinds of questions?

Our authority on the subject of Hell is the Bible, the inerrant words of our Creator. Bodie Hodge of Answers in Genesis—in a new resource from Master Books—address the topic in the timely release of The Fall of Satan: Rebels in the Garden. Each chapter provides the biblical research needed to answer our questions and counter the destructive claims that have now entered our church and Christian institutions.

Are you ready to give an answer to those who call your faith into question? Arm yourself, your family, your church community with the biblical answers to those who deny the existence of Hell, Satan, and eternal life without God.

See The Fall of Satan in our online store where you can order copies of the book, watch a short video promotion, and read a few sample pages.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

Birmingham Pastor Speaks at AiG

AiG staff have the privilege of hearing messages from many Christian leaders from various ministries. This year, we have had a number of senior pastors of large churches visiting the ministry and the Creation Museum. Last week, Dr. Danny Wood from Shades Mountain Baptist Church (Birmingham, Alabama area) visited with us and shared a special devotion with the staff.

According to a bio I read, Dr. Danny Wood was born in Birmingham, and at the age of six, he moved to Atlanta, Georgia. He graduated from Auburn University in 1975 with a degree in Business Marketing, and began his career in marketing with South Central Bell (now BellSouth) in Birmingham. He joined Shades Mountain Baptist Church—where he taught in the singles ministry, was ordained as a deacon, and married his wife, Janice, in 1978.

After eight and a half years in the business world, Danny and Janice felt called to full-time ministry. In 1984, they moved to Fort Worth, Texas, where he attended Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and served as minister of young married adults at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Dallas. He received a Master of Divinity degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1986, and was called as Pastor of First Baptist Church in Ruston, Louisiana, in 1988.

In February 1997, he was called to Shades Mountain Baptist Church as Pastor. In 1999, he earned his Doctor of Ministry degree from Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham.

You can listen to the devotion Dr. Wood shared with our staff below:

Dr. Danny Wood

Ministry in Scotland

Dr. Terry Mortenson of our staff has just finished up a conference in Scotland. It received publicity in local newspapers—like this one below—through our surgeon friend, Dr. Nagy Iskander, in Glasgow, Scotland:

We look forward to hearing a report of the meetings Terry will be conducting in the Middle East soon.

From Brazil

It was thrilling to receive this comment from a person in Brazil who was a part of AiG's recent ITS (International Training Seminar) held at our offices in Kentucky:

I want to share with you that the training week time at the Creation Museum had a strong impact on my life. The lectures were very important and the Museum in itself. But What most impacted me was the commitment of those people with their ministry and the testimony of each member of the ITS. That does not leave my mind.

After my return, me and . . . a 2010 ITS [participant], started weekly meetings with teachers of our Church's Sunday school and also two teachers from secular school, who assisted in our church. We started studying the book "Why Won't They Listen?" and giving answers to their questions. Please pray for these meetings. We are having an average of 25 people per meeting. At this point it is difficult to manage our time with the secular work, because we are translating the stuff we present. Also there are some questions we need to study to give an adequate response in the next week.

We have bigger plans for the creationist ministry in Brazil. So, please, pray for that.

Yes, pray for these dear people in Brazil as they work to get this vital creation/gospel message out in their country.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

Genesis Conference in LA Area

I don't often mention creation/evolution conferences organized by various creation groups. There are probably thousands of meetings every year around the United States, and if you mention one, then the others like to ask for "equal time"! But there is one conference I want to draw your attention to because it is organized by a young man (a youth pastor) who has a tremendous burden to influence his denomination with the message that the Bible can be trusted from the very first verse.

I have written before about the position paper the Assemblies of God denomination issued last year on the book of Genesis. As a result, Pastor Nate Loper has written to Assemblies of God denominational leaders to express his concern, and now has decided to host a "Genesis Conference" on Saturday, May 28, in the South Bay area of Los Angeles (held just off the famed Pacific Coast Highway).

You can find out more about Nate's conference by going to his website, www.genesisconference.org. If you live in the area of Los Angeles and Orange County, you might want to make a trip on I-405 toward Lomita and show your support of Nate's effort to get his denomination back on track regarding Genesis.

Tucson Conference

Here are some photographs taken during the AiG conference at the Calvary Chapel church in Tucson, Arizona:

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

AiG Scientist to Visit Galapagos

AiG's Dr. Georgia Purdom (PhD in molecular genetics) is traveling to the Galapagos Islands with a group of students—what an opportunity! She will bring back numerous photographs we can use in articles, lecture slides, etc. The goal of the trip is to produce a curriculum based on the Islands. This will be another great asset for not just the homeschool community, but for all young people and adults.

Dr. Purdom wrote the following about the trip:

In three days I leave for on my great adventure to the Galapagos Islands! I will be traveling with a homeschool group out of Atlanta, Georgia, called Living Science. Lance and Penney Davis are the leaders of the group, and we will be traveling with several students and their parents. The goal of our expedition is to develop a homeschool curriculum based on the islands. I will be the resident scientist, sharing with the group and answering their questions about the biology of the islands. We will be taking lots of pictures and will also be accompanied by a videographer.

We will be exploring many islands during my two-week stay with the group, and my goal is to write a blog about my experiences each day. However, internet accessibility is not guaranteed so I will be sending my blogs when and if I can. That means there may be more than two blogs posted each week and they may not be on the typical days of Tuesdays and Thursdays. All I can say is: keep checking in! If I am unable to send anything, I will post the blogs in sequential order when I return so you can live the experience with me then. . . .

I will be traveling to the same place that Charles Darwin did over 170 years ago. My observations about the islands may be very similar to Darwin's; however, the implications of those observations for the past will be very different. I will be starting with God's Word as the truth about the past but Darwin started with man's opinions about the past. My conclusions about the past will be supported by what I observe, whereas many of Darwin's conclusions about the past (i.e., molecules-to-man evolution) were and remain unsupported by what he saw. Isn't it amazing the difference one's worldview can make?

Dr. Purdom asks for prayer. If she can, she will update us through her blog. Go to her blog post about this trip for more information.

I will inform you when we learn of updates.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

Plants That "Bite"

Ron Dudek makes a few trips from Michigan throughout the year to give special workshops for our Creation Museum guests. His specialty is "carnivorous plants." In his workshop (co-hosted by Cedarville University) entitled "Cursed Plants," Ron answers the intriguing question: Did God create carnivorous plants (i.e., plants that eat creatures) on Day Three of creation or did they appear later?

On Monday, some members of the Creation Club at Lake Michigan College (Benton Harbor, Michigan) took in one of Ron's museum presentations, along with other guests here on that day.

Find out more about these occasional "Cursed Plants" workshops (tickets can be purchased at the door when museum tickets are bought).

Another "Cursed Plants" workshop will be held at the museum sometime in the summer—the date is yet to be scheduled. Check out our museum's events calendar.

Here is a photo of Ron with the college group, taken at our museum's Foto FX booth.

Tucson, Arizona

Tonight and Sunday morning and evening, I will be speaking at Calvary Chapel in Tucson, Arizona.  Find out details on the event page.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

Ark Encounter Receives State Approval for Tax Rebates

Below is a copy of the press release AiG sent to various media yesterday:

Ark Encounter Receives State Approval for Tax Rebates:

Economic impact study gives themed attraction high marks

PETERSBURG, Ky., May 19, 2011 – This afternoon, the Tourism Development Finance Authority of Kentucky unanimously approved the application of the Ark Encounter LLC to receive a rebate of sales tax that is to be collected when the attraction opens in Grant County. Based on evaluating a 3-month study, the Authority determined that the project exceeds the criteria established by the state's Tourism Development Act and thus qualifies to receive a sales tax rebate that Kentucky offers as an incentive for prospective tourist attractions to build in the state.

The Authority today approved the analysis conducted by the independent research group Hunden Strategic Partners. HSP was commissioned by the state to determine how much money tourists would spend at the future Ark Encounter and whether the attraction would have a net positive economic impact for Kentucky even after the rebates are factored in.

The report's executive summary presented the bottom line of the likelihood of success: "Overall, the Project scores high on nearly all the critical success factors," adding that "the Project meets all criteria identified by the Kentucky Tourism Development Act."

The Tourism Authority determined that the Ark Encounter is eligible to receive a sales tax rebate from the sale of tickets, food, and resources at the Ark Encounter for 10 years. The performance-based incentive allows the Ark Encounter to recover up to 25% of its construction costs if it meets attendance and sales projections.  The remaining sales tax that is kept by the state plus other taxes collected (e.g., income taxes of citizens employed at the attraction and at businesses created by the Ark, plus sales tax collected by those businesses) will have a net positive impact for the state. If the Ark Encounter was not built in Kentucky, those millions of dollars in potential revenue would go to another state. The Tourism Development Act offers impressive financial incentives through rebates without taking existing money out of the state's coffers.

Hunden Strategic Partners specializes in conducting what is called a "fiscal impact analysis" as it studies a potential tourism project. An economic impact study rather than a feasibility study, the HSP analysis presented two Ark Encounter scenarios and the possible results of each: Scenario A, in which the Ark Encounter will present biblical events from the Old Testament that would exclude the creation account of origins; and Scenario B, in which the project would be similar in content to Answers in Genesis's Creation Museum and its teachings from the first chapters of the book of Genesis. The Ark Encounter satisfies Scenario A, for it will be an attraction that starts with Noah's Flood and then continues through the rest of the Old Testament.

The HSP analysis noted that if the Ark Encounter follows Scenario A, then it:

benefits from a theme (the Bible) which has "perhaps one of the largest built-in audiences in the U.S."; very conservatively, HSP predicts 1.2 million visitors should visit the first year from outside the state; AiG's own 2009 feasibility study mirrors that estimate (1.6 million visitors coming from both outside Kentucky and inside)..
could have an expected impact to the state of $119 million (e.g., from sales tax, income tax, etc.) over ten years; after the rebate is factored in, the Ark Encounter will generate an estimated $64.6 million in taxes for the state over 10 years.
will see (among many benefits): guests filling about 600,000 room nights per year at area hotels, see the hiring of over 3,000 people at the attraction and also at tourism-related business that will be created by the Ark Encounter, etc.

Mike Zovath, Senior Vice-President of Answers in Genesis and head of the team that built the successful Creation Museum in Boone County, further noted: "This Ark project will be great for Williamstown, Grant County, and Kentucky. It will bring much-needed revenue and jobs to the Commonwealth. I am satisfied with the HSP analysis because it confirms what we have believed for some time: the Ark Encounter is a viable and worthwhile project."

The Ark Encounter is a one-of-a-kind historical themed attraction. In an entertaining and educational way, it will present a number of themes from the Old Testament, centered on a full-size, all-wood Ark. The attraction also includes a walled city, a first-century Middle Eastern village, a tower of Babel, a large petting zoo, and other attractions. A nationwide feasibility study commissioned by Answers in Genesis in 2009 estimated that the Ark Encounter could draw over 1.6 million visitors the first year.

The Ark Encounter is scheduled to open in spring 2014 on about 800 acres off I-75 in Grant County, Kentucky, south of Cincinnati, Ohio.  Groundbreaking is tentatively planned for late August 2011. The for-profit Ark Encounter will be privately funded, with an estimated cost of almost $150 million. A non-profit subsidiary of Answers in Genesis is a member of the Ark Encounter LLC and will oversee the project.

By the way, go to www.ArkEncounter.com to follow the exciting progress of the Ark project. Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

AiG Website Content Now in Arabic

Seven Arabic–speaking people were brought to America by invitation from our international division (Answers Worldwide) during two of our annual International Training Seminars. This group, encouraged by Dr. Nagy Iskander (an Egyptian medical doctor who resides in Scotland), became very excited about the ministry and message of AiG and determined to translate parts of the AiG website into Arabic.

Today that dream became a reality as the Arabic website went live and is now available to Arabic-speaking people around the world.

The following email made the announcement about the new website:

Dear Brothers and Sisters (especially those of you who read Arabic)

We have the pleasure to announce to all of you the official launching of our website: www.nermo.net.  Yes our ministry is on the web now and we would  like your comments. Enjoy it.

Dr. Yasser Farah

The entire AiG family congratulates Dr. Yasser Farah and his team for this historic accomplishment. Please visit the website and note the AiG 1:1 logo on their home page.

Dr. David Crandall, international director of Answers Worldwide, said the following today:

The announcement today is a significant milestone for AiG internationally; it takes volumes of AiG resources and makes them now available to the 221 million Arabic-speaking people all over the world. I would encourage every Christian to forward this wonderful news to every Arabic reader that they know.

Praise the Lord for the way he is using AiG to reach millions around the world.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

AiG Website Now in Arabic

Seven Arabic–speaking people were brought to America by invitation from our international division (Answers Worldwide) during two of our annual International Training Seminars. This group, encouraged by Dr. Nagy Iskander (an Egyptian medical doctor who resides in Scotland), became very excited about the ministry and message of AiG and determined to translate parts of the AiG website into Arabic.

Today that dream became a reality as the Arabic website went live and is now available to Arabic-speaking people around the world.

The following email made the announcement about the new website:

Dear Brothers and Sisters (especially those of you who read Arabic)

We have the pleasure to announce to all of you the official launching of our website: www.nermo.net.  Yes our ministry is on the web now and we would  like your comments. Enjoy it.

Dr. Yasser Farah

The entire AiG family congratulates Dr. Yasser Farah and his team for this historic accomplishment. Please visit the website and note the AiG 1:1 logo on their home page.

Dr. David Crandall, international director of Answers Worldwide, said the following today:

The announcement today is a significant milestone for AiG internationally; it takes volumes of AiG resources and makes them now available to the 221 million Arabic-speaking people all over the world. I would encourage every Christian to forward this wonderful news to every Arabic reader that they know.

Praise the Lord for the way he is using AiG to reach millions around the world.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

90 and Still Going Strong! Happy Birthday, Art!

In over 17 years, AiG has been blessed with many volunteers. One of our volunteers of long standing is Art Hunsicker, who has been a faithful volunteer for 14–15 years, and he is celebrating his ninetieth birthday today!

The following photos were taken at Art's surprise birthday party Sunday night at Bible Chapel of Delhi Hills (Ohio):

As we approach Memorial Day (May 30), we also want to pay tribute to Art as an Army veteran. He fought in the famous Battle of the Bulge (the winter of 1944/45 in the forests of Belgium). One of our staff told me that he must have experienced some bone-chilling cold and constant bombardment by the German Army—it must have been a harrowing time. Today, we salute Art for his service to America and also to his Lord.

In the photo below, you can see Art in the back row (second from the left—in the white coat, standing behind his wife Betty who is in a wheelchair). He was part of a group that came from his church to visit the museum recently (Bible Chapel of Delhi Hills); Art's pastor, Kevin Landis, stands just to Art's left and is in the gray coat (Kevin has been a great friend of the ministry for all of our 17 years).

To Art's right in the group photo is another long-time volunteer for the ministry (much of his woodworking is on display inside the museum, including a magnificent fireplace in the bookstore): Gene Earnest.

By the way, Art still faithfully volunteers at AiG!

If you want to read more about the incredible Battle of the Bulge (it was the German Army's final counter-offensive against the Allied forces that had been so successful since D-Day (June 1944), go to www.army.mil/botb/.  It has been described as one of the greatest battles in American history.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken