Ken Ham's Blog, page 460

His Heart Has Been Changed

We hear so many testimonies about how the Creation Museum has been used by the Lord to bring people to salvation. Over the past years, we have been thrilled at the number of children who have committed their life to the Lord at the museum or as a result of visiting the museum. Because the heart of the ministry is evangelism, I thought I should devote this blog to a testimony that was phoned in to one of our staff yesterday. This a record of the phone call from the AiG staff member:

I just had a lady call in and she wanted to share her story with us, her son committed his life to Christ as a result of the Museum:

A family were visiting their brother & sister in law for Thanksgiving and wanted to come to the Museum; they tried to convince their extended family to come with them, but they declined. So they came, the Friday after Thanksgiving and went through the entire museum, ending with the Last Adam show. At the end of the show her 6 year old son . . . grabbed one of the cards (credit card type, the one you can sign the back of if you make a commitment to Christ) and took it home. Later that night, as he was drying off from his bath, he turned and looked at his mom and asked, "Mommy, am I a Christian?" So they talked and prayed because he really wanted to know Jesus. He was so happy after that while he was brushing his teeth, he kept stopping to sing," I'm a Christian, I'm a Christian!" They went and told his dad then pulled out that little card and he proudly signed his name and dated the card. It is now stored in his memory drawer.

This mother just wanted to call and let us know how grateful she is to the Lord for this whole experience and the impact the Museum had on her son; she said there is such a difference in him, his heart has been changed.

Pray for this six-year-old, and praise the Lord for what He is doing through the Creation Museum.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

Geology from a Creationist Perspective

Cedarville University in Ohio (which sponsors some of the special workshops at the Creation Museum) is introducing a new geosciences program this fall. Cedarville holds to a literal six-day account of Genesis and attracts thousands of highly motivated Christian students each year. See this article on Cedarville University's website for more information. Dr. John Whitmore, AiG friend, is a PhD geologist involved in this unique program.

More Awards

AiG was presented with three awards at the National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) convention in Nashville on Saturday. This is the first time when an organization received three NRB awards—one other organization also received three on Saturday.

At the same time Aig was being presented with the awards, we found out about two more awards. AiG won a silver Addy in Indiana (for the "I am not ashamed" video), and another silver Addy for this year's dinosaur billboards that promote our Creation Museum! Again, thanks to our marketing consultants at JDA (Joseph David Advertising) for the creative and professional expertise that enables AiG to be on the cutting edge with its marketing materials.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

Teacher In-service

Every so often, AiG runs special programs for teachers. Instructors are able to obtain credits for this time through one of the large Christian teacher associations. Here are some photographs from the teacher in-service program conducted last week, featuring Dr. David Menton and Ruth Carter:

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

Assemblies of God Conference to Feature Speaker from a Bible-undermining Organization

This blog is intended to warn people in the Assemblies of God denomination of what the Office of the General Secretary of the Assemblies of God is sponsoring an upcoming conference at Evangel University in Missouri that undermines the authority of the Bible.  You can find out about the conference at this link: faithandscience.ag.org.

About this conference we read:

On June 27 and 28, the Office of the General Secretary of the Assemblies of God will sponsor the first ever Faith and Science Conference <http://faithandscience.ag.org>  at Evangel University in Springfield, Missouri. The purpose of the conference is to equip leaders to evangelize and disciple scientifically literate people. General Secretary James Bradford, who holds a Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Minnesota, points out that in the Bible both David and Paul wrote that the physical universe displays the handiwork and character of God.  Unfortunately," Bradford says, "in Pentecostal tradition, science and faith have sometimes been made enemies of each other, rather than this more biblical understanding of the link between creation and God¹s character. Most pastors today are preaching to congregations that are much more scientifically literate than before, demanding that we think through the ethical issues, as Pentecostals, surrounding advances in areas such as genetics and human reproduction, the environment and our growing dependence on technology with its reshaping effects on relationships and culture.

Conference attendees will receive numerous resources to help them respond to issues including environmental stewardship, the interface of faith and science, bioethics, intelligent design and many other topics.  I hope that pastors, teachers, students and lay people will come away from this conference feeling better equipped to address scientific issues from a biblical perspective," says Bradford, who will be one of the featured speakers. "We would like to take another step in equipping spiritual and academic leaders in understanding the sciences from a Pentecostal worldview in order to enhance their roles as disciple-makers.

Evangel University Biology Professor, Dr. Michael Tenneson <>  is serving as the chair of the conference planning committee. He encourages pastors, church leaders, college faculty and students to participate in the event.

You can read more at:  www.evangel.edu/apps/pr/releases/ShowPressRelease.asp?ReleaseID=192

Now, why am I writing a detailed blog about all this?  For many of you who regularly read this blog, you will know that I have quoted Christian leaders from Baptist, Nazarene, Presbyterian, Lutheran, and other denominations to point out our increasing concern at the compromise of God's Word with the pagan religion of the day (evolution/millions of years) that is permeating the church.  Last year I also featured a number of blogs on the Assemblies of God denomination, and the very sad change the leaders have made to the AG's stand on Genesis.  You can  read those blogs at:

blogs.answersingenesis.org/blogs/ken-ham/2010/09/08/a-sad-day-for-the-assemblies-of-god-denomination/
blogs.answersingenesis.org/blogs/ken-ham/2010/09/15/assemblies-of-god-denomination-responds-but-what-does-it-really-mean/

Because of the change the leaders in the denomination are making on their views of Genesis, many Assemblies of God pastors and others have contacted the headquarters of the denomination to express their dismay.

The AG  administration is sponsoring a conference dealing with this topic of science and faith—but when you research what some of the speakers believe and where they come from, you can only be further dismayed.   I had our researchers seek out information for me to share with you, since most of you don't have access to the kind of research library we have.

For regular blog readers, let me remind you of the organization called "American Association for the Advancement of Science."  Really, in some ways this organization should be called the "American Association for the Advancement of Evolution"—it is pretending to be a comfortable place for those in the church who believe in evolution and God.

A person from this organization (Jennifer Wiseman) is one of the featured speakers at a conference this June entitled "Faith & Science Conference—Equipping Leaders to Evangelize and Disciple Scientifically Literate People."  And who is sponsoring this conference?  Sad to believe, but it is the Office of the General Secretary of the Assemblies of God.

Now wait a minute!  You might say,   "Surely, Ken, you must not be reporting correctly here! How could such a denomination be sponsoring  a conference on this topic which features a speaker from what you claim  in your blog's headline  is a 'Bible-undermining' group? This cannot be so, can it?"

Well, you be the judge.

In 2006, I reported on a conference conducted by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) attended by AiG's Dr. David Menton.  Here is what I wrote at the time:

AiG's Dr. David Menton, because of his scientific credentials, was able to sit in on some  very revealing meetings in St. Louis. He told me, "Evolutionists have had it with biblical literalists, and they're not going to take it anymore."  Dr. Menton had just attended the annual conference of the world's largest scientific society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). It featured a number of sessions on creation/evolution and how to combat creationists.  Dr. Menton told me, "What I heard is of great importance to all who are concerned about biblical Christianity and the future of education in America. Christians be warned—humanly speaking, it is not very encouraging."  The following is a summary of the strategies to fight biblical creationists:

They must enlist the "clergy" or "people of faith" to help promote evolution.  In fact, they are seeking out pastors for media representation.

They must introduce evolution earlier—as early as the first grade! They say junior high is simply too late to convince students about Darwin.

Evolutionists will use "bait-and-switch" tactics, with redefinition of terms. They must use terms like "science" instead of "evolution."

Overall, Dr. Menton said that "there was a strident and angry denunciation of Christian "fundamentalists" who seek nothing less than the end of all science!" He added that evolutionists at the AAAS organization were also very concerned that 50% of all students still reject evolution. They blame teachers for not teaching evolution strongly enough!

You can read the rest of my report at:  www.answersingenesis.org/docs2006/0527letter.asp

Dr. Menton personally wrote a 2-part article.  Here are some of the statements Dr. Menton made in his report:

Evolutionists—in the name of so-called "science"—have challenged us to nothing less than a battle for men's souls.

"Science" under attack!

A major theme this year was the growing battle between creationism and evolutionism in America's public schools. In several different symposia with titles like "Anti-Evolutionism in America" and "Science under Attack," dozens of speakers raised a strident and angry denunciation of Christian "fundamentalists" who, they claim, seek the end of all science!  Lawyers are ensuring that our schools remain "God-free zones" … Apparently the AAAS is counting on lawyers to continue to keep our public schools a "God-free" zone."

One of the speakers at this conference was an arch-enemy of biblical creationists, ardent atheist Dr. Eugenie Scott. Dr. Menton's report continued:

Throughout the conference there were appeals for "people of faith" to speak to the news media to show the compatibility of evolutionism and "faith."   Some evolutionists are even getting into churches to preach the "gospel" of evolutionism, often under the guise of titles like "The Preservation of Biodiversity." In 1995 the AAAS established the program "Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion" (DoSER)  to establish communication between scientific and religious communities. In a notice for an upcoming book sponsored by DoSER, called The Evolution Dialogues: Science, Christianity, and the Quest for Understanding, are the following questions: "does evolutionary theory deny the existence of God as creator?"  and "must Christians choose between evolutionary science and their faith?" They insist that "the answer to all of these questions is a resounding NO!"

By the way, this is the program that Jennifer Wiseman (one of the speakers for the Assemblies of God conference) now heads up.

I encourage you to read the entire article of Dr. Menton's at the two links provided for you below.  It is obvious from learning about this conference that to spread its evolutionist agenda, this organization  has set up this program, now headed by the speaker to feature at the Assemblies of God conference –  in an effort to convince the church to believe in evolution/millions of years.  Underneath it all, it is obvious from the overall thrust of the AAAS that it is really out to do its best to decimate biblical Christianity.

It is so sad that the leaders of a well-known church denomination would allow such a speaker as Jennifer Wiseman to be a part of the conference.  Here are the links to Dr. Menton's 2006 report on the AAAS conference.  If you are in the Assemblies of God denomination, I encourage you to read both part 1 and part 2 of this report carefully so that you can understand the truth about AAAS and what it really stands for:

AnswersInGenesis.org/docs2006/0310AAAS.asp
AnswersInGenesis.org/docs2006/0311AAAS.asp

You can find out more about AAAS at:

www.AAAS.org/aboutAAAS/

Now, Jennifer Wiseman is not the only speaker at the Assemblies of God conference.  Another featured presenter is Amos Yong from Regent University (yes,the university founded by Pat Robertson).  Let me share some quotes from this speaker so that you can understand what he believes and thus teaches at Regent.

Amos Yong, Professor of Theology and Director of Doctor of Philosophy Program at Regent University, has written the following (taken fom his book Theology and Down Syndrome):

Instead of being developed by ancient Israel, the idea of a primeval fall can be said to be of specifically Pauline inspiration, although it did not solidify into the doctrine of original sin until the fifth century…More specifically, early Christian interpreters developed the doctrine of the Fall." "What is needed is a reformulation of the doctrines of sin and the Fall that can provide a more plausible and coherent account of the experience of the disability in our time (p. 161) … First we might say that ha adam refers collectively to the "first self aware hominids" (Collins 2003: 481) who as individuals and collectively suppressed the truth as they understood it and resisted rather than responded to God" (p. 164).

Even if we have argued earlier that Down Syndrome is a peculiarly modern phenomenon in terms of our experience, it is also equally clear that trisomic mutations have been around for thousands and even millions of years, given their presence among gorillas and chimpanzees.  While chimpanzees normally have forty-eight (rather than forty-six) pairs of chromosomes, trisomy of their twenty-second chromosome not only results in forty-nine chromosomes but also produces parallel anatomical, phenotypic, neurological, and behavioral similarities to Down Sydrome … it only suggests that the kinds of genetic variations that have evolved the many species of both pongidae and hominidae (the family of human beings and their ancestors) have produced mutations like trisomy 21 (in human beings) and trisomy 22 (in chimpanzees) long before the appearance and "fall" of Adam and Eve from paradise. (pp. 163-164).

From his book, The Spirit Poured Out on All Flesh—Pentecostalism and the Possibility of Global Theology, Dr. Yong shows he believes in the discredited JEDP (multiple authors) hypothesis garding the authorship of Genesis.  For instance:

Referring to Psalm 33, he writes:  "… he is clearly echoing the Priestly author's account of the creation of the world." (p 281)
Concerning Genesis, he states:  "A case can be made that these hints from the Priestly author are fully consistent with the nuanced accounts of contemporary science." (p. 282).

I encourage you to read this article showing why we should reject the JEDP hypothesis: www.gotquestions.org/JEDP-theory.html.

And then here's a sad statement from page 279:  "What is basically true about secular explanations of human behavior needs to be supplemented by biblical revelation." (p. 279)

Well—that's just two of the speakers at this Assemblies of God conference.  I trust pastors and lay people in the AG denomination will be up in arms about this conference and challenge their leaders.

To read an article on the incompatibility of evolution and the Christian faith, see

AnswersInGenesis.org/articles/nab/couldnt-god-have-used-evolution

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

Creed of Gold

Yesterday, we had a special guest speaker in our morning staff meeting. Daniel Knudsen is one of six children of Mark and Michelle Knudsen in Michigan, who are long-time friends of AiG. Daniel showed us the paper that AiG's Buddy Davis drew (a dinosaur) and signed for him at a creation seminar his family attended when Daniel was young boy. He also remembers going to one of my student programs as a young child. He didn't really want to tell me how old he was then, but it was when he was five or six—does make me feel old!

Here is a photograph taken of me with Daniel after he spoke to the AiG staff:

Now 22 years old, Daniel recently graduated with a degree in humanities from Verity Institute in Indianapolis. He has a great passion to produce films for the secular movie theaters that will challenge Christians and non-Christians to think, and also plant seeds that will one day lead many viewers to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Creed of Gold is his first film, which he directed. Made by Crystal Creek Media, a film company started by his family, it will premiere in Indianapolis on May 6, and prayerfully it will be picked up by a major distributor to be released in movie theaters across America later this year. You can see a trailer for the film on the home page of Creed of Gold .

Hopefully you will be able to see this movie in a theater near you sometime this year.

It is thrilling for us to see so many people like Daniel who have been greatly influenced by AiG, and now they are involved in influencing others.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

Pumped About the Ark Encounter

Recently on this blog, I shared an item about a young man who was involved in using snow that had accumulated at his home to form it into a representation of Noah's Ark on a mountain (and see if you can make out the Bible reference in the foreground).

The young man, Joshua, couldn't afford to sponsor a beam in the Ark Encounter fundraising campaign, so he sponsored a peg and then built the "snow Ark"  in the hopes this would help inspire others to be creative to help fund the Ark Encounter project.

In my previous blog post, I wrote the following:

His father wrote to us and said that Joshua was "hoping  the snow pics would move Mr. Ham to send young Joshua an Ark model  replica, hand-signed by Mr. Ham himself. (I think he would like the hand- signed feature more than anything)."  Well Joshua, just keep a watch in the mail, you never know!

I reproduce below for you a letter and then a photo I received this week from Joshua:

I hope you are all as pumped as Joshua about the Ark project. Find out more from www.Arkencounter.com.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

Mission to Africa with Buddy and Kay Davis

Yesterday morning at the AiG staff meeting, Buddy and Kay Davis gave a report on their recent exciting and encouraging missions trip to Africa (Kenya in particular). Here are two photos of Buddy as he gave the staff presentation:

You couldn't help but be caught up in the excitement yesterday as Buddy in his unique way spoke about the people and the presentations during this special time. I encourage you to listen to the audio of Buddy's presentation:

Buddy Davis Presentation

Here are some of the photos Buddy referred to during his presentation:

After Buddy and Kay returned from this missions trip, they sent a box full of numerous AiG resource because they were so burdened for the children they spoke to. We have now had a number of emails back expressing thanks and excitement over these books. Here is a photo Buddy and Kay received this week:

Pray for the many children and adults Buddy and Kay were able to minister to. As Buddy told us, they were so excited to receive Bibles (given out at school) and AiG books. We pray that American school children will once again be able to receive Bibles at school and get as excited as these kids were.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

What a Line Up!!!

Registrations are pouring in for AiG's Apologetics Mega Conference 2011. It will be held July 18–22 using the facilities of Florence Baptist Church (about 20 minutes from the Creation Museum) in Northern Kentucky and south of Cincinnati (conveniently located right off I-75). There are around 1,500 seats, and with an overflow room, we can handle almost 2,000 people at one time. Because we needed a larger auditorium, we could not hold this major conference in our new 1,000 seat multipurpose room/auditorium that will be opened June 1 at the Creation Museum. However, it is a very easy interstate drive from the church to the museum taking around 20–25 minutes. Free museum admission is included in the conference fee.

Here is the line-up of apologetic's speakers:

Dr. Charles Ware—a fantastic communicator

President, Crossroads Bible College, Indianapolis, IN

Dr. Charles Ware

Dr. Steven Boyd

Professor of Old Testament and Semitic Languages, The Master's College, Santa Clarita, CA

Dr. David DeWitt

Professor of Biology/Chemistry, Liberty University, Lynchburg, VA

Dr. Joseph Francis

Professor of Biology, The Master's College, Santa Clarita, CA and Liberty University Online

Tim McKenzie

President and Founder of the On Every Word ministry

Dr. Jason Lisle

Astrophysicist, author, and speaker

Dr. Terry Mortenson

Theologian, historian of geology, author, and speaker

Dr. Andrew Snelling

Geologist, author, and international speaker

Dr. Georgia Purdom

Molecular geneticist, wife, mother, and speaker

Mike Riddle

Educational specialist, and speaker

Dr. Tommy Mitchell

Physician, author, and speaker

Dr. David Menton

Professor emeritus, Washington University School of Medicine and speaker

. . . and yours truly.

Our guest speakers will add a tremendous dynamic to this conference, and give presentations that will round this conference out to be a major creation/biblical authority apologetics conference.

We are seeing more and more organizations attempting to run apologetics conferences, but most of them use speakers that do not take the stand on Genesis and biblical authority that is needed. In fact, many such conferences have a majority of speakers who compromise on Genesis. This AiG conference only uses high-quality speakers who will boldly and uncompromisingly uphold biblical authority from the very first verse. This is a unique opportunity to be powerfully equipped.

We make no apology for the stand on God's Word we take at AiG!

For more information, check out the conference details.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

AiG History and Mourning the Passing of a Friend

My family is mourning the loss of a family friend and AiG supporter Alice Alexander who passed away late last month. It was six years ago that her husband Harold "Alex" Alexander died, and I wrote about that too. My connection with Alice and Alex goes back about 20 years, and it includes my visits to Alaska and Australia.

Photo taken of the three of us by the Alexander's daughter Aneida at AiG's Anchorage, Alaska conference in 2002.

Decades ago the couple had moved to Alaska in order for Alex to help build an enormous project: the famed 800-mile-long Trans Alaska Pipeline. Alex served as a superintendent of pipeline operations after a long and distinguished military career (starting with the U.S. Navy in World War II; he rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel). Alice met Alex right after the war while he was attending Georgia Tech.

Above is my Mum, Norma Ham (in a photo with Alex), who enjoyed fellowshipping with Alex and Alice when they visited Australia several years ago. The three became fast friends. This photo stood on Alex's bureau at home (one of only two pictures).

For AiG, the couple is best known for being the co-chairpersons for two major Answers in Genesis conferences they organized in Anchorage, Alaska. On a more personal level, I got to know them on a tour I led of Australia many years ago. My mother Norma also got to spend some time with them, and they kept in touch over the years.

In two recent emails, their daughter Aneida wrote to us with the following:

Soon after Dad died it became obvious how much the two of them depended on each other as the effects of her various small strokes became more apparent. She managed to maintain a sort of independence until the last two years of her life. She was 88 when she passed away.

Two of my brothers, Harold and Lon, were at the hospital with her the evening she died.  One by one each of us called her to say goodbye, including my brother, Chris. Harold and Lon held the phone near her ear and related to each of us her reactions. Lon had recorded the sound of her last grandchild (his four-week-old son) crying. When he played it, her face lit up so all the grandchildren spoke to her. Her favorite hymn was "It Is Well with My Soul," which was sung at Dad's funeral.

I'll  always remember her Bible open on the dining room table.  It was stuffed with bits of paper with notes, her Sunday school quarterly, and articles that interested her. It was always ready for her morning Bible study.

My brother Harold Jr. wrote "a great Lady has passed peacefully on to be with her Savior, Jesus."

She will be buried in the same grave as Dad at Ft. Richardson National Cemetery; we have to wait for the ground to thaw. The family will gather on Mother's earth birthday, June 4 (1922), for a memorial service and burial.

– Aneida

Thank you, Aneida, and our sincere condolences on your loss.

Alice passed away in Louisiana, leaving ten grandchildren (ages four weeks to forty years!), six great-grandchildren (and another one on the way), and a tremendous godly legacy.

It has been such a blessing to meet and get to know special people like Alex and Alice because of the ministry of AiG. We will see them again one day!

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

The Genesis Flood—The Battle Still Rages!

Friends,

This blog post is longer than usual, but I believe the subject matter required it. I hope you will take time to read it.

In the late 1700s and early 1800s, the idea of a long age (millions of years) for the earth was being popularized by deists, atheists, and other non-Christians. They were attempting to use a so-called "scientific investigation of the world" to justify their rejection of God and His Word. At the time, their primary target was to undermine the plain reading of the Bible concerning the Flood of Noah (and its consequence of rock layers and worldwide fossil deposits) and a young age for the earth. It was really their attempt to undermine the authority of the entire Bible.

At that time, there were church leaders who adopted these ideas (millions of years) into Scripture. This was no different than today, and really no different than what happened with the religious leaders in the Apostle Paul's day, and also no different to what was happening with the priests and false prophets in ancient Israel.

Fallible sinful man, ever since Genesis 3, has had the propensity to believe the fallible words of humans rather than the infallible Word of God. That is really our nature. At heart, because of sin, we are against God and what He teaches. People will go out of their way to trust in man rather than trust what God has clearly revealed.

In the early 1800s, there were church leaders in England who began to reinterpret the days of creation and the Flood account in Genesis to fit in the millions of years. Some advocated the idea of a gap between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2. Others said that Christians could interpret the creation days as long ages. Others realized that if one interpreted the fossil layers as representing millions of years, then how could one believe in the global Flood of Noah's day? Such a flood would destroy those layers and deposit more layers with fossils. Thus, it was postulated that Noah's Flood was only a local (regional) flood in the Mesopotamian Valley (modern-day Iraq).

As the nineteenth century progressed, Darwin popularized his ideas of evolution. There were church leaders who then reinterpreted Genesis to fit in evolution, even human evolution. When the idea of the big bang was popularized in the early twentieth century, in the same manner many church leaders then adopted this into God's Word.

Over the past 200 years, many different positions regarding understanding the creation account of Genesis have arisen in the church, such as the following:

Day Age idea
Gap Theory
Local Flood
Theistic Evolution
Progressive Creation
Framework hypothesis

There are other positions or variations on those listed above. But they all have one thing in common: trying to fit man's ideas of millions of years into the Bible.

A number of scientists who were Christians actually opposed these compromise positions. Various books and articles were written to challenge the church to stand on God's Word and not compromise with the fallible ideas of man that, intentionally or unintentionally, seriously undermined the authority of the Bible.

In February 1961, the book The Genesis Flood was published, authored by a scientist (Dr. Henry Morris) and theologian (Dr. John Whitcomb). This book dealt with the scientific and biblical aspects of the Genesis Flood account in Genesis 6–9, and challenged the church to stand on the authority of the Word of God and not reinterpret God's clear words in Genesis.

Today is the unofficial anniversary of the publication of this famous book that began the modern biblical creation movement. I encourage you to read the lead article on AiG's website today, commemorating this historic event.

Since the publication of this book, the biblical creation movement has grown. While the battle between God's Word in Genesis and the fallible ideas of man has changed somewhat, the same battle still rages today.

Since 1961, biblical creation scientists and theologians have been able to conduct tremendous research and have provided many answers in geology, biology, astronomy, anthropology, archaeology, and theology, which have equipped Christians to stand uncompromisingly on Genesis. The several thousand articles on the AiG website are a good example of providing such answers, as well as the hundreds of books, DVDs, and other resources now available.

The modern creation movement has been highly successful in pointing out to Christians of the inconsistencies in trying to add millions of years and evolution into the Bible. Many  articles on the AiG website (or in the Answers magazine) deal with this issue.

Even with this wonderful research and its dissemination, the spiritual battle  is  intensifying. We don't fight against flesh and blood but "principalities and powers" (Ephesians 6:12). As more and more answers have been given, and inconsistencies pointed out, the arguments against God's Word in Genesis move on to different topics. This is why we continually need to be on our guard as we "contend for the faith" (Jude 3).

So where is the battle today? I have observed an interesting phenomenon that is permeating Christian colleges and seminaries, which influences future church leaders and what they take  to the pulpit, mission field, etc.

I believe many Christian academics recognize the inconsistency in trying to add millions of years and evolution to Genesis. The compromise is obvious. Many of them recognize that one has to totally change the meaning of the words in Genesis to allow such compromise. For example, creating Adam out of dust and Eve from a rib have to be changed to mean that ape-men and ape-women changed into Adam and Eve. But this ignores many details in the biblical text and ends up playing language games. Various articles on the AiG website point out the numerous problems with such compromise. Ultimately, of course, the result of this compromise undermines the authority of God's Word. And in the church today, we see two thirds of young people leaving the church by the time they reach college age, and it's largely because the reliability and authority of God's Word has been undermined (as our research for the book Already Gone has shown).

Today, the same battle rages, but we see a change in what is being foisted on the church as the enemy continues to attack God's Word. Remember, the attack has always been on God's Word, as it started with the questioning of what God said to Adam and Eve in Genesis 3 and has never let up. That attack just manifests itself in different ways in different eras. I have observed that more and more Christian academics, in their attempt to adopt man's ideas of evolution and millions of years, are continuing this attack in a different sort of way. Let me give you some examples.

I will use the almost 1,000-page Dictionary of the Old Testament Pentateuch edited by T. Desmond Alexander and David W. Baker to illustrate where the battle is heading today.

On page 315, there is 12-page section on the Genesis Flood account written by John Walton, professor of Old Testament at Wheaton College in Illinois.

I  wrote a recent blog post about Walton's approach to Genesis, pointing out that he believes Genesis 1 is not an account of material origins, but an account of God's "Cosmic Temple." Walton believes that  a person needs to understand ancient Near-Eastern thinking and culture in order to understand Scripture. He argues that such an understanding has been lost for ages, but that academics like himself have been able to regain an understanding of this ancient Near Eastern thinking so the rest of us in the church can finally (after thousands of years) understand what Genesis 1 means. Walton certainly has a different view of inspiration to that of  Drs Whitcomb and Morris, our AiG staff, and millions of other Christians around the world. Walton, though,  looks at the person(s) who wrote Genesis and the pagan culture's of the day as authoritative. Morris and Whitcomb (and AiG and ICR—two of the leading creation apologetics organizations), however, understand that it is the words of Scripture that are inspired.

I think of this passage of Scripture: "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness"(2 Timothy 3:16).

In the original Greek language, "inspiration of God" is one word and it means literally "God-breathed." This verse clearly states that the words of Scripture are God breathed! Every one of them came from Him as the Spirit of God worked through the prophets and apostles. We are also told that God's Word will stand forever. If the infinite God, who created language, cannot move people to write His "God-breathed" words so all people (regardless of culture) can understand them, then there is something dreadfully wrong. If it is only now, after thousands of years, that we can finally understand what Genesis means because of what a few academics claim about ancient Near-Eastern thinking, how can we be sure we know anything? How do we know those academics like Walton have it right? No wonder Scripture cautions us that "knowledge puffs up." We are seeing academia in the Christian world going mad as  "Protestant popes" are popping up all over the Christian world.

Regarding the Flood, Walton applies the same misguided approach as he does in Genesis 1. He states the following:

The theological message of the Bible was communicated to people who lived in the ancient Near Eastern world. If we desire to understand the theological message of the text, we will benefit by positioning it within the worldview of the ancient cultures rather than simply applying our own cultural perspectives. (p. 315)

Walton then discusses ancient Near-Eastern mythology and relates it to Scripture and its book of Genesis. In essence, he is using pagan, idolatrous mythology to supposedly help enable us to understand what God and Moses really meant!

But really, the whole underlying reason for what he is doing (as I noted in my previous blog) relates to the ideas of millions of years and evolution. Walton recognizes that you can't fit millions of years and evolution into Genesis, so he is hoping to popularize an idea that Genesis is not revealing an account of material origins. Genesis chapter one, for instance, is supposed to be about God's Cosmic Temple and the function of the different creatures in that temple (which came into existence who knows when)!

So what does the Flood account mean then?

Walton declares the following:

It has already been suggested that the boat in Mesopotamian accounts may have served as a floating shrine. In its dimensions, the Genesis ark is much more realistic for a boat, though conceptually it may also represent a sanctuary where order is maintained floating on a sea of resurgent chaos. In this sense the Mesopotamian ark appears as a physical representation of a sanctuary, while the Genesis ark appears as a functional representation of a sanctuary.  Creation both in the Bible and in the ancient Near East entailed deity bringing order while pushing back chaos . . . The forces of chaos were most consistently represented in the cosmic waters. In this sense, the flood represents a reversal of creation. This is more the case in the biblical account than in the ancient Near Eastern accounts, for in the latter there is no textual representation of re-creation. (p. 322)

Now that makes sense to the average person, doesn't it?!  Why didn't any Jews or Christians before the twentieth century ever think of this?

While Walton insists that he does not propose his views as a response to millions of years and evolution, that is exactly what his underlying motive is. It is obvious when you read his writings carefully. For instance, Walton objects to a global Flood by bringing up the same old arguments that Morris and Whitcomb were confronted with and were answered in their book!

For instance, Walton makes the following claims:

It would be impossible to cover Mt. Ararat with the waters of the Flood. But this assumes Mt. Ararat existed before the Flood! This mountain is one that has undergone massive volcanism and uplift. If you were to smooth out the earth's surface and oceans basins, there is enough water on the earth's surface right now to cover the earth to a depth of about two miles. The oceans were not as deep and the mountains not as high before the Flood. There has been a lot of uplift—particularly associated with the ending of the Flood (as Psalm 104:6–9 tells us—and the promise in verse 9, which reflects God's rainbow promise in Genesis 9, shows that this passage is not referring to Day 3 of Genesis 1). That is why marine fossils are found near the top of Mt. Everest (and other high mountains); the mountains were not covered by the Flood but the once-horizontal sediments were tilted and raised up at the end of the Flood. One also can see evidence of this uplift at the Grand Canyon, where layers supposedly millions of years old were uplifted while they were still soft.
Walton brings up the old accusation that there are too many species of animals to fit on the Ark. First of all, God brought the animals to Noah; Noah didn't have to locate them. Secondly, God sent two  (seven of some) of every kind, not species. There are good biblical and scientific reasons to conclude that many species or even genera are descended genetically from each original created kind. For example, only one male and one female of the dog kind (not two  wolves, two jackals, two dingos, two poodles, two great danes, etc.) were needed. Far fewer animals were required than what Walton is imagining and claiming.
Walton states, "one must also explain how the animals today found only in Australia could have gotten to that continent" (p. 321). He needs only to purchase our New Answers Book 1—or just go to the AiG website—for a very plausible answer. Frankly, this academic has not done his homework.
Walton states,  "How could Noah and his family and animals such as elephants and hippopotami make the trek down the mountain (Mt. Ararat)" (p. 321). First, the Bible does not say the Ark landed on Mt. Ararat; it landed on the "mountains of Ararat," which this Hebrew expert should have known. So, the Bible doesn't tell us what particular mountain it was. The Mt. Ararat Walton refers to has undergone massive changes since the Flood: volcanism, earthquakes, and uplift. AiG's PhD geologist, Andrew Snelling, has stated that based on technical data that has been publicly available in maps and scientific papers for more than a decade, he is convinced that modern Mt. Ararat is almost certainly a post-Flood volcano, with most of its lavas having erupted during the post-Flood Ice Age. Therefore, the Ark most likely landed on some other mountain in that range. And unless Walton is going to say the Flood account is a myth, then it is obvious that Noah's family and all the animals could safely descend the mountain that they landed on so that they could repopulate the earth.

There are many more problems with what Walton states. But the bottom line is that he does not believe in a global Flood, and he does believe in an earth that is millions of years. In this section of the book, he certainly speaks positively about a possible regional event millions of years ago. He states, "If the reader finds it difficult to put the flood 5.5million years ago, the Black Sea theory may be more palatable" (p. 325). He really sums it up when he states, "There is presently no convincing archaeological evidence of the biblical flood."  So, does he believe it was a myth?  That belief would be contrary to the teaching of Jesus (Matthew 24:37–39) and the apostle Peter (2 Peter 2:4–6 and 3:3–7).

So the battle rages. It is the same battle Morris and Whitcomb were dealing with in their masterpiece The Genesis Flood. These great scholars were passionate for the Word of God. In the fifty years since their book's publication, the biblical creation movement is more passionate than ever for the Word of God. At the same time, we now see Christian academics like Walton using the argument that Genesis is not an account of material origins and that a Christian has to understand ancient Near-Eastern thinking to know what Genesis really means.

Walton's own arguments can be summed up this way; he states the following:

Some feel they are protecting theories that account of the details of the traditional interpretation of the text.  Too often, however, these theories prove to be implausible and are easily discredited by the scientific thinkers whom they intend to win over. (p. 320)

Let me reword this for you (my words are interspersed in Waltons' and are in brackets to help explain what I believe Walton is saying):

Some [those like Whitcomb and Morris] feel they are protecting theories (protecting the clear teaching of the text) that account for details of the traditional interpretation of the text [the interpretation that greats like Luther, Calvin, Wesley, Gill, and others held because of what the text clearly states].  Too often, however, these theories [their views based clearly on the text—Scripture alone] prove to be implausible  [to unbelievers, but not to Bible-believers] and are easily discredited by scientific thinkers [fallible sinful humans whose hearts are "deceitful above all things and desperately wicked," and who arrogantly claim that "science" has disproved the Bible's account because they insist millions of years are a fact] whom they intend to win over [who need to listen to God's Word but instead "suppress the truth in unrighteousness" (Romans 1:18)].

Today, let's praise God for the faithfulness of scholars like Whitcomb and Morris and for the publication of their book, The Genesis Flood. In some ways, this was the beginning of a new "reformation" in the modern church, which continues to this day as organizations like AiG, Institute for Creation Research, Creation Research Society, etc., continue to challenge the church and culture to return to the authority of the Word of God.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken