Answers in Genesis: Upholding the Authority of the Bible from the Very First Verse

Here is the press release sent out this week about our new Dinosaurs for Kids book:

New ‘Dinosaurs for Kids’ from Ken Ham Wows Kids and Parents Alike

PETERSBURG, Ky., Nov. 18, 2009 – While there is no lack of colorfully illustrated books about dinosaurs for children, by and large these books talk about how many millions of years ago the dinosaurs lived, and how many billions of years old the Earth is. Many creationist parents have largely been stuck supplying these books for their dinosaur-loving children while cautioning them against the evolutionary teaching within.

Not any more, as Ken Ham, president and founder of Answers in Genesis and the Creation Museum, has just released “Dinosaurs for Kids” through Master Books, with all the great illustrations those other books have, but written from a biblical worldview.

“As a parent, and now as a grandparent, I saw my children’s and grandchildren’s fascination with dinosaurs and their desire to read every book about dinosaurs they could get their hands on,” Ham said. “Inevitably, we were all disappointed by the teaching of millions and billions of years, the claim that dinosaurs evolved into birds, and the humanistic world view presented in them.

“I determined, as a writer of creationist and apologetics materials – for both adults and children – that I would help remedy the dinosaur book situation,” Ham continued. “I couldn’t be more pleased with how the book turned out.  Wonderfully and powerfully illustrated by Bill Looney, this book will not disappoint Christian parents and their children.”

“Dinosaurs for Kids” will help to fill a void of creation-based science books for elementary age children, which has been a contributing factor to young people leaving the church as they get older. Research commissioned by Answers in Genesis and conducted recently by America’s Research Group (ARG) showed that – by and large – children are “already gone” from church in their minds by junior high and high school, because Sunday school could not answer their hard questions about origins and the trustworthiness of Scriptures.

The results from this survey were published in the book “Already Gone,” co-written by Ken Ham and ARG Founder and President Britt Beemer.  The book has been selling steadily since its release in late May, with more than 90,000 copies in print, and has inspired influential churches and church leaders across the nation to re-think how they are conducting church and Sunday school.  Dr. Charles Stanley, pastor of First Baptist Atlanta, has just written an endorsement of the book’s next edition; last month he had Ken Ham give a message based on the book at the church’s morning worship services.

The decay regarding young people often begins, Ham and Beemer discovered, with a lack of faith in the creation story of Genesis. Children tend to separate the “stories” of the Bible from the “hard facts” taught in almost all public schools about evolution and the age of the Earth. They look to their secular textbooks for answers, not the Bible.

Now, with the release of “Dinosaurs for Kids,” parents and teachers alike will have a new resource for helping children understand their beliefs about origins in a scientific context. These kids can once again embrace their love of dinosaurs, and their teachers and parents can encourage those discussions in a biblical context.

“Dinosaurs for Kids” includes full-color illustrations throughout, with an easy-to-understand timeline of dinosaurs’ true history from creation to the most recent discoveries—and convincing evidence that they did not die out 65 million years ago. It explains how the Flood affected the dinosaurs, when and where dinosaurs existed, how fossils like dinosaur skeletons are made, and why they are found all over the Earth. A recurring theme is the difference between biblical history (God’s revelation) and  assumptions by fallible secular scientists.

Recommended for ages 7-12, the 64-page, hard cover, 8 ½ by 11 book retails for $14.99. Published by Master Books, “Dinosaurs for Kids” is available at Christian bookstores everywhere, or online www.answersingenesis.org.

Photo of the Week

The photo below was taken at Northland International University in Wisconsin this past Thursday after I had finished 3 major sessions (over 5 hours of presentations) to students, faculty and public.

From left to right:  Dr. Bobby Wood, Chief Operating Officer:  Dan Wooster, AiG supporter, friend, and BJU Prof: Myself;  Dr. Matt Olson, President of the University.

The reason I chose this as the “photo of the week” is because it is so thrilling to me to see an academic institution so committed to the Word of God and taking  a stand on a literal creation, as all Christian universities should.

If you are researching creationist Christian universities (and there are very few), I encourage you to check out Northland International University.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying

Ken

Over the last two days, I had the honor of speaking to all students and faculty at two extended chapels—and also a public evening meeting—at Northland International University in Dunbar, Wisconsin. To me it was very encouraging to be asked to speak at a Christian university that takes a stand on biblical authority, beginning in Genesis. There are so few such Christian universities in the world that uphold the book of Genesis as Answers in Genesis does. If you have never heard about Northland, then I encourage you to go to their website.

I was also thrilled to find that the school’s president and faculty deemed the messages I presented were so important for their students that they allocated two hours for each chapel, Wednesday and Thursday. The students and faculty also turned out for the two presentations Wednesday evening for the public meeting, making it an overflow crowd. I was so impressed with the number of students and faculty who were so complimentary of AiG and stand totally behind this apologetics ministry that they see as raised up for this era of history.

The university has first-class facilities and is located in northern Wisconsin—in one of the most beautiful areas you could imagine. It is somewhat isolated, but what a wonderful place to concentrate on studies. If you have never considered Northland for your student, check them out!

Here are some photographs of the various events:

1. The audiences at the various meetings

2. Speaking at a chapel

3. The Question and Answer time

4. The volunteers helping with the resources (When I speak at such Christian institutions, we offer students/faculty a very special (super) deal on resources to get these items into their hands.)

5. Students crowded around the resources

Sadly, even among what would be normally deemed conservative Chrstian colleges, there are only a few that will invite AiG to speak to their students/faculty. I trust the example Northland has set will stimulate other Christian colleges to consider doing likewise.

Devotion

I bring near

(Isaiah 46:13) I bring near my righteousness; it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not tarry: and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory.

We never could have brought the Lord Jesus Christ down from heaven to save us; it was all His decision to bring near to us His righteousness for us to wear.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,
Ken

As this unique scholarship involves a book written by AiG personnel, I thought it would be good to publicize this opportunity for students:

Master Books, an imprint of New Leaf Publishing Group [and publisher of many of our books], will award one $3000 scholarship for the 2010–2011 academic school year. The 2010 Master Books Scholarship Essay Contest is open to any high school junior or senior or the equivalent thereof from any public, private, or homeschool venue. The applicant must be a U.S. citizen and have a minimum GPA of 3.0 or above.

This scholarship is a one-time award and may be used at any accredited two-year, four-year, or trade school within the contiguous United States. This award covers only tuition and university-provided room and board. The scholarship monies will be forwarded to the college, university, or trade school of the winner’s choice in the winner’s name upon receipt of a copy of the winner’s confirmed admission to their chosen school.

• Scholarship information and application can be downloaded online at www.masterbooks.net
• High school transcript or the equivalent is required. Transcripts or the equivalent must be signed by the high school counselor, homeschool evaluator/supervisor, or principal. Scholarship submission name must be exactly as noted on the transcript in order to qualify for the scholarship.
• Scholarship applicant information, essay and transcript must be submitted by mail to:

Master Books Scholarship Essay Program
P.O. Box 726
Green Forest, AR  72638

Deadlines and other important dates:

• Scholarship available online: Now
• Scholarship due date: Applications, transcript, and essay are due February 28, 2010
• Scholarship Announcement: Winner will be notified by student and parent email on or before May 1, 2010

Conditions of Scholarship Eligibility:

• Must be a U.S. citizen
• Must be a high school junior or senior or the equivalent
• Must be enrolled or enrolling in a U.S. accredited two-year, four-year, or trade school for the fall of 2010 or the fall of 2011
• Must have a minimum GPA of 3.0 out of 4.0 (or the equivalent)

The Essay:

Students planning to apply for this essay scholarship may download two free chapters of the AiG book The New Answers Book 2 at www.masterbooks.net. After reading these two chapters, students are invited to write a 500 to 1500 word essay with the following focus:

Describe the differing views concerning the beginning of life (according to Chapter 29) and your personal conclusions based on the information.

The essay will be judged on creativity, clarity of thought, accuracy, research, grammar, and spelling. The student’s essay will be the property of Master Books and may be used as an example or to promote this scholarship in the future. The student winner and his/her parent or guardian will be notified by email of their winning status and then must submit a written acceptance of the scholarship award by no later than July 30, 2010. If the acceptance of the scholarship is not received by July 30, 2010, the monies will be awarded to the 1st runner-up.

The Master Books Scholarship will be submitted to the winner’s accredited school upon receipt of a copy of their acceptance to that school. If the scholarship winner does not complete a full semester at the accredited school, the monies must be returned to Master Books to be awarded to the 1st runner-up. The winner agrees that all of his/her scholarship combined benefits do not exceed the cost of tuition, fees, and university-provided room and board as stated in the institution’s cost of attendance.

Download the application from Master Books.

Devotion

Look unto me, and be ye saved

(Isaiah 45:22)  Look unto me, and be you saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.

We were saved when we looked exclusively to the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, apologized to Him as God for sinning against Him & fell on His mercy.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,
Ken

Here is an item about a Christian college I will be speaking at next May: Tennessee Temple University. TTU professor Dr. Andrew Fabich, a biologist, sent this to us about a special campus event being held Thursday:

Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species on November 24, 1859. Atheists, agnostics, and skeptics are thus celebrating 150 years of its evolution teaching. In response to the 150th year of Darwin’s publication, Tennessee Temple University will have a special Creation Chapel tomorrow (November 19th). For the Creation Chapel, TTU will not highlight Darwin’s publication; instead, faculty, staff, and students will worship the Creator for His miraculous creation—and as the sovereign Lord of everything (Romans 1:20–21).

To honor our Creator, the Creation Chapel will include the video Six Days produced by Answers in Genesis. Furthermore, the song service will focus on God as Creator—in addition to fostering a continual atmosphere that upholds truth of the Bible starting with the first verse. What mercy the Lord has extended to us in that we can observe anything beautiful in light of the Curse from Adam’s Fall!

Tennessee Temple University is a distinctively Christian liberal arts institution of higher education that prepares students for lives of leadership and service. Each year, a biology class is taken to the Creation Museum.

Photo of the Week

Here are some children at the Creation Museum enjoying the amazing balloon creations that some of our young volunteers make for them. The young lady in the background, Chelsea Driver, made these balloon headpieces.

Devotion

Unto His habitation shall ye seek and thou shalt come

(Deuteronomy 12:5) But unto the place which the LORD your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put his name there, even unto his habitation shall you seek, and there you shall come:

Love to the Lord Jesus Christ is when in the morning we say no to the many pressing urgencies that call out me first & instead seek first our private time with Him.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,
Ken

On November 13, I posted a blog item with the heading “Liberal Lutheran Pastor Slams Already Gone Book and Marriage.” If you haven’t read this item I encourage you to do so or refresh your memory by going to this previous blog posting.

Well the pastor responded on his own blog, virtually ignoring the fact that we pointed out numerous false statements in his previous posting concerning AiG and its CEO. He admitted he was wrong about the publisher of the Already Gone book—but tried to justify his mistake. However, he basically ignored everything else and used his next blog to attack us for answering his accusations that he put up publicly on the worldwide web!

Mark Looy, AiG’s Chief Communications Officer, in a gracious but firm way, attempted to post a comment to the pastor’s blog—but the comment was not approved.

The ELCA pastor has now stated that he “had to close all the comments on my personal blog due to hate filled comments from AiG supporters.” This included, we suppose, Mark’s rebuttal to correct the many mistakes the pastor had made about our book Already Gone—but was denied. Now, do Mark’s comments below seem hateful to you? Here is what Mark tried to post—word for word—so that the pastor’s blog comments will not go unchallenged.

Greetings, pastor, from Answers in Genesis.

Ken Ham did not make a personal attack on you as a person but on the content of your lengthy, error-filled commentary on our book Already Gone. Even though you said you did not read the book, you wrote so knowingly (and at length) about it, including the book’s conclusions. You were wrong, though, on so many counts about the book’s content:

—You originally wrote that AiG has “one goal and one goal only—to teach Creationism.” That is a patently false statement. In so many of our articles, and even in our core values statement and our mission statement, we state clearly that our mission is to bring reformation to the church and to proclaim the gospel. As Ken wrote in his blog in countering your many false statements, “we stand on the authority of God’s Word, proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, to see people saved and be in Heaven! In fact, I often state in my talks that there is no purpose in converting people to creationism—for creationists will end up in Hell just like an atheist if they don’t believe and trust our Creator as Lord and Savior.”

—You stated that our book was about “only mainline” churches being in decline. An absolutely wrong comment. If you had read the book, you would have noticed that we summarized the contents of a poll taken of those who attended theologically conservative churches, NOT mainline (generally liberal) ones. You missed the intent of the whole survey: to see why so many young people leave conservative churches, and you said it was mainline churches.

—You called us a “fringe” ministry. Well, in recent Gallup polls, almost half of Americans agreed with the statement that humans today are the descendants of Adam and Eve from about 10,000 years ago. And many of the largest churches in America have hosted us in their pulpits this year, such as First Baptist Atlanta, Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa, Thomas Road Baptist, etc. This is not “fringe”. Plus, Dr. David Menton of our staff spoke at a Lutheran seminary last month. Our supporters come from all across the evangelical spectrum.

In addition, our website gets more traffic than almost all ministries, our radio program is on 800 stations in the U.S., over 900,000 guests have visited our Creation Museum in less than 2 1/2 years, etc., and yet you write that we are “fringe”?

—Another wrong statement you made: that we tie “nuclear weapons” to creationism. Where have we ever made a bizarre statement like that?

—You wrote that “as society changed, the definition [of] marriage changed in the Bible. It wasn’t just between a man and a woman . . . .” Well, how do you deal with what Jesus said about marriage in Matthew chapter 19? “Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, and said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?” God made them male and female, and this is the “cause” (i.e., reason) for marriage. Marriage is between a man and woman only.

—No, we are not a rich ministry, however you have chosen to define “rich”. Our biggest expense is staff salary (we have about 300 staff), and that’s the biggest chunk of our expense (as we attempt to pay a “workman worthy of his/her hire”). Also, had you done your research, you would have noticed that much of the excess we have on the books is money that has been set aside for the construction of a new auditorium (we are still collecting the funds and have not yet started to build). Plus, the salary figure you quoted for Ken includes benefits and expenses. I should mention that the executive directors of two similar-sized non-profit organizations in this area receive 2–3 times the compensation. Lastly, most people would say that “rich” describes a person earning at least $1 million a year.

You were concerned that “the part that hurt me the most” about Ken’s blog was that he mentioned your name and church name, adding that “I am assuming there was a reason for this which I can guess is to encourage people who come and read his blog to spam my site, my twitter address, and possibly church with personal attacks.” No, we don’t want people to attack you. But when we read of someone making so many false charges about our ministry and is also compromising the Bible’s clear teachings in the foundational book of Genesis, we want to warn people. As you yourself stated in your original article, “I write this not to only criticize, but also to warn.” You find it fine to warn people about us in a public way and yet we are not allowed to? Yes, it’s not fun being corrected, but that is not an attack on your person.

You wrote a “scathing” (your word) article about us and mentioned Ken by name, but why did you hide behind a pseudonym?

You apologized for mistakenly calling AiG the publisher of Already Gone. Thank you for that. But please retract the much more serious mistakes you made.

Pastor, please: next time you summarize the contents of a book and present a critique (a “review”), read it first.

Regards,

Mark Looy
CCO
Answers in Genesis

The above certainly doesn’t seem like one of the supposed “hate filled comments” to me! I challenge this theologically liberal Lutheran pastor to admit where he was wrong—he can certainly disagree with us, but to publicly make false statements against us and not allow us to present the other side for his followers to read? That needs to be dealt with! Sadly, the pastor dealt with it this way on his blog:

Attention Spammers from AiG November 16, 2009 at 12:23 am

In the past few days, I have been getting lots of spam/hate comments/comments telling me how horrible I am/telling me how I am going to hell/telling me I am wrong/telling me how much I hate the Bible/etc. I have also gotten phone calls at the church I am called to. This is exactly what I wrote would happen due to a negative blog from the president of Answers In Genesis. I am so glad that you are taking the time to check out my blog and then writing comments that are either hurtful or unkind about me or about my ministry. I have been forced to remove comments until this all blows over. I hope your zeal for insulting me is just as strong as it is for Christ. I will continue to hold onto the grace of God and the cross of Christ. I will continue to preach his word. Please use your time for this purpose as well. As you can see, I have removed the articles to help speed the process of healing and forgiveness. I challenge Ken Ham to do the same. Have an awesome Christ filled day!”

So, he can make false statements about me and AiG—he can misrepresent us in various ways—we correct him (NOT in a hateful way), and his response is the above? Again, I challenge the pastor to deal with the false accusations he made against us—yes, we obviously disagree regarding marriage, creation, etc.—but many of the previous statements he made about our ministry and us personally were simply not true (as Mark has gently but firmly demonstrated). That needs to be dealt with by the pastor, but he is apparently so embarrassed by what he has written, that he now does not want any further public embarrassment by being corrected on his blog by our posting—and has shut down further comment. He has refused our efforts to give his readers the other (correct) side.

Also, we would never say that a person who does not believe in Genesis as written can’t be a Christian—it’s faith in Christ that saves.

By the way, Mark would welcome a call from the pastor if he wants to discuss this further.

In Wisconsin

Today I am in Wisconsin to speak at Northland International University, Dunbar, Wisconsin. I will be speaking at three major sessions—all are open to the public. Go to the AiG website for details.

Devotion

Everlasting salvation

(Isaiah 45:17) But Israel shall be saved in the LORD with an everlasting salvation: you shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end.

As we win souls we never stop to marvel at how when a sinner from his heart calls on the name of the Lord to be saved that an everlasting salvation takes place.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,
Ken

AiG’s award-winning curriculum for homeschoolers continues to receive some extremely high marks. Over the last couple of years our curriculum team has helped to bring the already excellent work of Diana Waring (history writer) and Debbie & Richard Lawrence (science writers) to a whole new level, as we’ve added extensive color, new graphics, even entirely new textbooks. These, plus our just-released Answers for Preschoolers curricula, are now in use by thousands of families.

I hear “thank you” from grateful parents frequently as I’m out speaking, and now with the newest round of upgrades, we are also seeing Christian schools beginning to integrate these AiG publications—with their strong Bible-affirming creationist worldview—into their courses.

This week we received word that reviewer Cathy Duffy, for many years one of the most respected voices in homeschool curricula, has uploaded new reviews of our God’s Design for Science and History Revealed materials to her website. Here are some highlights. I encourage you to click through to see her exhaustive full-length versions, too. They are probably the most substantial and well-researched of any reviewer articles we’ve seen thus far.

HISTORY REVEALED

Popular convention speaker and storyteller extraordinaire Diana Waring is the author of Answers Genesis’s history program. . . . More than just a history curriculum, each course might well serve as a unit study with its coverage of history, geography, cultures, Bible, Bible history, and the fine arts coupled with plenty of work in language arts and even some science. . . . Each course is presented in nine units with four, weeklong lessons or “phases” per unit. Each of the four phases reflects one of four learning style preferences (based on Myers Briggs learning styles). . . . On top of learning styles, the curriculum incorporates methods that teach to the three learning modalities: visual, auditory, and kinesthetic (movement or hands-on learning). . . . [This] isn’t your typical program. It isn’t about memorizing names, dates, and events. Rather, it’s about seeing the hand of God through history, the shaping of cultures and people. The emphasis is on learning in ways that engage the student’s interest so that they grasp the big picture and broad outlines of history. (Cathy Duffy, Curriculum Specialist; from her full review)

GOD’S DESIGN SCIENCE

. . . the third editions (2008-2009) have been totally redesigned with significant content improvements, resulting in an outstanding program. . . . The books in this series all reflect a Christian worldview, including a young-earth view of creation. . . . Hands-on experiments and activities are built into every lesson. These are worthwhile and really relate to topics. The activities and experiments include step-by-step instructions and are designed to teach [the] scientific method as children observe, record information, discuss, and form conclusions. . . . Textbooks are printed in full-color with numerous, high-quality illustrations and excellent graphics. The publisher has also made good use of color to highlight different portions of the lesson, making it easy to spot sections to be used with different students. These features make this series a practical choice for Christian homeschooling families as well as for classroom teachers in Christian schools. . . . I like this combination of information with experiments and activities, plus questions to ensure understanding. The variety of activities effectively reaches children with different learning styles.” (Cathy Duffy, Curriculum Specialist, from her full review)

60 Minutes Misses Something

Make sure you don’t miss our review of the 60 Minutes TV program that aired last night on dinosaur evolution—and what was completely missed.

Video Conference Coordinator Testimony

We praise the Lord of our volunteer Video Conference Coordinators who run AiG video conferences across the nation. Here is a testimony from one of them:

Bob/Jan,  I wanted to let you know about a praise that we found out about this last week.  In March of 2007 we did an [AiG] Genesis—Key to Reclaiming the Culture event at [a Baptist church] in Michigan. The event went well, but since then we haven’t heard anything from that church.

This last week my family had a homeschool group dinner with several other families. One gentleman and I were speaking, and I inquired what church they were with, and he said [this same] Baptist [church].  I said that we had been there and had organized the AiG event.  He said, “That’s where I recognize you from,” and he began to tell me about what has been happening in the church.

Apparently since that night, that church has undergone a significant revival. They started using AiG resources in training the kids, teen, and adult classes. They have been using Living Waters resources in motivating evangelism. The teens specifically have been moved from “pure apathy” to being involved and even doing personal evangelism. Even the kids that didn’t believe anything, or even care, are now witnessing and proclaiming the truth in the Bible. The wife of the man I was speaking with also mentioned that the event motivated them to start homeschooling their son after seeing what he was being taught in public school.

I just wanted to let you know that God is using AiG in great ways. He blessed us with finding out about this church and encouraged us that the work AiG, and the VCCs, are doing is well worth the effort.

—Terry & Michelle Stearns, Video Conference Coordinators.

Devotion

I will go and make and break and cut

(Isaiah 45:2) I will go before you, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron

We have many crooked places in our path and many obstacles in preaching the gospel to the lost, but we have the promise of help from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,
Ken

I have included some photographs of a new member of the Creation Museum—his name is “Tucker,” and he was a real hit yesterday with our 1800 visitors, including many children (plus our museum’s operations director Dan Mangus, holding Tucker).

Very Special Talk at the Museum, on a Memorable Date—December 7

Things are not static at the Creation Museum.  Even our lecturers are constantly developing new talks for our museum attendees. Popular AiG speaker Mike Riddle is a former Marine (although he is quick to remind me that there really is no such thing as a “former” Marine!), and with this military background, Mike has come up with a special patriotic talk that also incorporates our biblical authority message.

Why is the special talk being given on December 7?  History buffs will recognize that date: the entrance of the U.S. into World War II after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941.

Here is how Mike summarizes the talk that he will give at noon on December 7 (a Monday) inside the museum (free for museum ticket holders):

America: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

This talk presents the history of America and her battles for freedom, including the War for Independence, Civil War, WW I and II, Korea, Vietnam, as well as the Cold War—and now the war on terror. The talk then focuses on another and greater battle that will affect America’s future: the importance of biblical foundations. The gospel message will also be presented. The talk is accompanied with memorable graphics and music that reflect this country’s heritage.

Bring a friend to the museum on Monday, December 7—someone who needs to hear the gospel message and appreciates learning about America’s heritage. Again, the talk by Mike is free with museum admission.

As a relatively new citizen of America, this kind of presentation is of personal interest to me.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying

Ken

Our geologist Dr. Andrew Snelling received this email from an excited AiG supporter:

Hi Doctor Snelling, I have some good . . . news. While I was doing [the AiG in-depth conference called] “Creation College” in July, my family and I went over to see the Creation Museum. I took pictures of the gardens and the waterfalls. When I got home, I entered two pictures I took of the gardens into my county fair and one of them won first place. I attached the winning picture.

Already Gone on the Radio Again

Part 2 of the interview that David Wheaton, host of the national radio program “The Christian Worldview,” conducted with me on our new book Already Gone is now available online. David and I discuss that the church in America needs a new reformation—a return to a belief in the full authority and accuracy of the Bible. If that is done, the church will then see fewer young people leaving the church.

Already Gone (and a companion DVD) gives the reasons why there is a massive exodus of young people from our churches—and reveals that 80% are “already gone” from the church in their hearts and minds before they go to college. (If you missed part one, you co go to my previous blog post about David Wheaton.)

Listen to part two of this nationally syndicated radio program here.

While on this site, find out something about the fascinating background of the interviewer—David is a Wimbledon tennis champion (in doubles)!

Photo of the Week

FotoFX photographers Deb and Mary Minnard sent me this cute photo taken inside the museum:

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,
Ken

Our new book Already Gone has already had a phenomenal impact on numerous churches across America. This book details the results of a survey conducted by America’s Research Group, headed by respected market researcher and behavioralist Britt Beemer—highly respected in both the secular and Christian world.

Britt set out to find out why—and importantly when—two-thirds of our young people are eventually walking away from the church. The results were both revealing and shocking. Britt co-authored the book with me—keep in mind that he would not put his name on a book if he could not agree with the interpretation of the results or if they were not statistically valid. The Already Gone research was carefully done and the results were interpreted according to the normal rules of statistical analysis.

Many pastors have contacted us to say that Already Gone has caused them to totally appraise/change how they run their Sunday schools, teaching programs, etc. in their churches.

However, I was saddened to read a review of the book by a Lutheran pastor (who calls himself Darthjedi in his posting)—from the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America denomination (ELCA)—which showed a high degree of carelessness and antagonism to our approach to Scripture. In fact, if the research for the book Already Gone was done in the same way this review was conducted, it would have no credibility whatsoever.

I have reprinted the negative review, interspersed with a few comments of mine—just to show how such a pastor imposed his (no doubt liberal) views on the book, instead of reading the book carefully and considering the results.

The Single Reason Why Churches are in Decline (According to Answers in Genesis)

November 4, 2009 at 12:29 pm . . . This is probably the longest title for one of my blog posts, but I wanted to share a book I read recently. Ok, let me stop there and be truthful, I skimmed this book for about 10 mins. The book’s title is “Already Gone: Why Your Kids Will Quit Church and What You Can Do To Stop It.” For obvious reasons, I was intrigued, so I started reading the back cover, the inside cover, and started with the introduction. I froze in my tracks when I read who the publishing company was- Answers in Genesis.

Well, Answers in Genesis is not the publishing company. On the spine, inside the book, and in other places, it prominently displays the publisher’s name, Master Books (part of the New Leaf Publishing Group). Master Books is an independent company (with shareholders) and separate organizationally from AiG. The co-author of the book (me) is a staff member of AiG.

NOTE: He admits he “‘skimmed this book for about 10 minutes”—and then somehow managed to write a detailed critique. That is not what I call careful research. This statement alone illustrates that his review has absolutely no credibility—and as you read his critique, you will notice that because he didn’t read the book, he gets so much wrong—including jumping to conclusions. If his sermons are prepared like this, I frankly fear for his church!

Why I froze. For those who are not familiar with Answers in Genesis, they are a very large fundamentalist fringe group with a lot of money.

I wish it were true that we have a “lot of money.” Notice too his language here about AiG: “‘fundamentalist fringe group.” So, before reading the book, he already had pre-conceived ideas about AiG, even falsely claiming that we—a non-profit organization, and a member of the Evangelical Council of Financial Accountability—were making lots of money.

Also, it would be interesting to know how he defines fundamentalist. It used to be that this word referred to those who accepted the fundamentals of the Christian faith: e.g., inerrant Scripture; virgin birth; bodily resurrection of Christ; God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—three in One; Jesus Christ is God in the flesh; etc.

Now I know using the word, “fringe” group is a dangerous word to some, but they have one goal and one goal only—to teach Creationism.

That is simply not true. If you read our core values statements, mission statement, and so on, we state clearly that our mission is to bring reformation to the church and to proclaim the gospel. I always summarize our purpose this way: to stand on the authority of God’s Word, proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, to see people saved and be in Heaven! In fact, I often state in my talks that there is no purpose in converting people to creationism—for creationists will end up in Hell just like an atheist if they don’t believe and trust our Creator as Lord and Savior.

This pastor has never contacted me or others here (to my knowledge) to find out what our goal is—and besides, if he were to read our statement of faith and mission statement (on our website), he would not have written the false statement he made.

In most of the writings that I have seen from them; all of them point back to creationism. I really mean everything—nuclear weapons, racism, stem cell research, etc—all go back to creationism and more specifically the mainline’s departure from teaching creationism.

“Nuclear Weapons”? Where did that come from? And as we say over and over again (and I have stated on this blog many times), racism and other moral ills are caused by sin! Now, evolution can fuel racism, as even many evolutionists admit, but we do not say that evolution causes racism.

In the last year, I got up close and personal with this group as our VBS program was purchased from them (I was not aware of this until it was paid for) and hearing about the Creation museum found in Petersburg, KY. The Creation museum has been featured in some news stories due to it’s stance that humans and dinosaurs co-existed and were aboard Noah’s Ark. The Tyrannosaurus Rex, according to Answers in Genesis, was a vegetarian and would never harm a human because God wouldn’t allow it.

Well, Genesis 1:29–30 make it clear that humans and animals originally (before sin) were all vegetarian. So, it is not AiG’s idea that animals were vegetarian to start with—this is the clear teaching of Scripture in Genesis—if you take Genesis the same way Jesus Christ did, as literal history (e.g., Matthew 19).

Of course they also proclaim that the Earth is only 6,000 years old.

If you add up the dates in the Bible (using the genealogies) and accepting the straightforward reading of Genesis that God created in six ordinary days, then the age does come to about 6000 years.

Let me stop for just a moment because I know that many Christians believe in some form of Creationism (including myself). I was recently freed by hearing that those in the scientific community who believe in intelligent design feel that Darwin’s theory of evolution is not the only alternative to creationism. What happens though is that if you say you believe in intelligent design, you are instantly linked to creationism (ie the world is only 6,000 years old) when in fact intelligent design means that you feel that the world was not created by just a series of random events as some evolutionists proclaim (ie Dawkins).

Interesting—he “‘feels . . . the world was not created by a series of random events.” If his understanding of the world is based on feelings, how does he know he can trust any of his feelings? What a subjective way to determining “truth”! Why should people accept what they “feel”?

So, this is not an attack on Creationism, but rather this fringe group who believes and promotes things that even most fundamentalists who agree with a literal translation of the Bible don’t agree with.

We would need to see a list of what he thinks (maybe “feels”!) “fundamentalists” believe. Also, we would need to understand what he means by (or “feels” that) “literal translation of the Bible.” I suspect he means “literal interpretation.” However, when we use the terms literal interpretation, we really mean taking it naturally—according to the type of literature/language used, as there is poetry in the Bible (e.g., the Psalms), apocalyptic literature, etc. And really, the whole issue concerning what this pastor has written really comes down to how we view Scripture—that is the real issue and would need to be sorted out first before even discussing other matters.

I know that was a long tangent, so let me get back to the book. After freezing in my tracks, I decided that I was going to start on chapter 1 just to be sure. So I started reading. I heard how certain churches (*cough* only mainline *cough*) are definitely in decline,

If he read the book, he would find that the group chosen for this study had to come from a theologically conservative/evangelical church background (as they understand conservative and evangelical). These are the best the stats could be.

kids are leaving when they reach the teenage years,

America’s Research Group used the Barna research that verified two-thirds of teenagers are leaving the church—and then we located 1000 such people to interview for this research

they are not being educated properly in these certain churches, and so they are leaving. The reason why…. wait for it…..wait for it…. surely you have a guess why they are leaving by now….. that’s right because certain churches (*cough* mainline *cough*) are not teaching “proper” Creationism (ie Answers in Genesis’ version). That was their sole reason.

Actually, if he had read the book and looked at the research, many reasons were given as to why the young people left church. In fact, the number one reason was “hypocrisy.” Britt Beamer then delved further to find what they meant by “hypocrisy,” and found that it was basically because they were told by the church that they believe the Bible, when in reality the people didn’t believe it as written—this was seen as hypocrisy.

One hundred and fifty pages plus all revolving around why Creationism is important and what is the proper way to teach it and why your kids will be better off knowing the proper way.
ARRRGGGGHHHHHHH!

Actually, the book dealt with the results of the research. One of the factors that did cause many to doubt the Bible was the age of the earth issue—as seen in the statistical results. But the point is this book documented real, statistically valid research conducted by a leading market researcher. The book wasn’t just based on someone’s opinions—it was reporting on real research that can’t be ignored. Anyhow, how would this pastor really understand this when he didn’t read the book carefully as he admitted above?!

Now again, let me emphasize, I believe in intelligent design, but if I started teaching things according to Answers in Genesis’ definition of Creationism, not only would I have teenagers leaving, but most adults as well!

Actually, if he doesn’t teach the Bible as authoritative and doesn’t teach young people how to defend the faith in today’s word—many will leave the church. I wonder if this pastor has researched where the adults are now who were once children in his church? That could be interesting!

I personally have a feeling that most teens when faced with ideas like AiG’s ideas would balk. As I wrote, most fundamentalist Christians agree with mainline churches that AiG is just way too out there with their ideas and are not Biblical, even though they claim that they are.

Actually, AiG teaches what Martin Luther taught about Genesis—and Calvin—and John Gill—and so on. So, who is really “out there”? We receive increasing numbers of testimonies from teens who either become Christians or rededicate their lives as a result of the Lord using AiG to help them know they can trust the history in God’s Word. That’s why they can trust the gospel based in that history.

Just for the record, let me cite one more thing at the Creationism museum — Adam and Eve do not have genitalia!

What is that all about? We recognize we now live in a fallen world, and we are not going to depict a totally naked Adam and Eve before the Fall occurred. We ensure that Eve’s long hair (or the use of plants) tastefully and modestly covers her body.

I write this not to only criticize, but also to warn. There are many things labeled Christian out there. Some publishing companies are also very rich and can print as many things as say Augsburg Fortress can.

Again, we are not the publishing company, and we are not rich. In fact, the Creation Museum does cover day to day running costs with admission fees, but any new exhibits or upgrading of exhibits can only happen when extra funds are raised through donations.

But, just because they are labeled Christian be warned. Look at the publishing company, see what else they have published, and usually if they are a Christian publishing company, they will have a mission statement-read it. Here are some Christian companies that I have purchased from that tend to have “good” theology- Augsburg Fortress, Fortress Press, Concordia, some Zondervan, Barna Group, Regal, Abingdon, and some Multnomah. These are just a few, but the warning is be careful what you buy or in my case get for free.

Yes, go to the publisher’s website (New Leaf Publishing Group) and read who they are. Glad he mentioned Barna—America’s Research Group built the Already Gone analysis on Barna’s research and took it a step further!

It is so sad to see a pastor, who is responsible for leading a congregation and representing the Christian faith in his community, mock a Christian organization that stands on biblical authority and boldly proclaims the gospel, and on the basis of a 10-minute skim of a book that we had written based on statistically valid research, which was conducted by an independent, highly respected research group. Excuse me, pastor, but your agenda (as shown below) is showing!

No wonder the church is in trouble in America when pastors think like this!

Inconsistency

While this liberal pastor scoffs at what the Already Gone research documents in regard to young people leaving the church, in another blog posting he states:

I was on Twitter yesterday (surprise, surprise) and saw a tweet on #ELCA about another church in California that took their first vote to leave the ELCA. The tweet read “When will the church stop bleeding?” I am assuming this means that we are losing churches and losing members left and right and all over. “So, are we bleeding as an ELCA? Are members leaving in droves? Is it over for the ELCA?”

It seems they are losing people—wonder why? But read the next section regarding what pastors like this one are teaching:

The Consequences

It is sad to see the consequences of such a pastor’s poor research and view of Scripture played in this additional way:

This blog is going on, but for unions, I recognize that the Bible did not have just marriages between men and women. As much as people want to argue that point, it just isn’t true. There were marriages between men and many women, there was wife swapping, etc, so some definitions of marriages changed through time. As society changed the definition marriage changed in the Bible. It wasn’t just between a man and a woman, so don’t try that one. In fact, Paul felt that as Christians no one should get married unless they cannot control their lust. In fact 1st Corinthians 7 has a lot of odd things to say on marriage and how we are to live as Christians and it isn’t positive toward married folks. In fact Paul says that married folks cannot truly serve God (vs 32–33) because of our spouses, we become too fixed upon worldly affairs. Therefore if we are truly following the Bible, no one who is a Christian would be married, but we don’t want to hear this. Therefore if we are going to ignore this and continue to marry and bless people, I say allow everyone who wants to to control their lust.

With such a view of Scripture, no wonder people are leaving the church—and churches are leaving this denomination! He needs to read what Jesus said about marriage in Matthew 19: He made them male and female, and this is the cause (reason) for marriage. He also needs to read what Martin Luther said of marriage—Luther stood on Scripture and certainly believed marriage was between a man and woman only.

Now, who is the pastor who wrote this scathing “review” based on scanning Already Gone for a few minutes? A staff member tells me that he is confident that “Darthjedi” is the pen name for Justin Johnson, pastor of St. Timothy Lutheran Church in Geneseo, NY. Apparently the church purchased our VBS curriculum (which he obviously did not like at all). The website for the church has a link by Pastor Johnson to the blog posting reprinted above about Already Gone. His Twitter page matches the biographical information of the Darthjedi blog, I am told. On his Twitter page (with a link to his Darthjedi blog) he calls himself “PrJusto,” i.e., Pastor Justin Johnson.

Well, I wonder what would Martin Luther say to this Lutheran pastor, as Luther believed in a literal Genesis—six literal days, the institution of marriage, etc. just as we do at AiG. Martin Luther believed Genesis and that marriage was one man for one woman, just as Paul and Jesus teach so clearly (e.g., Matthew 19:4–7). No doubt Martin Luther would be horrified to know what is happening in some of the Lutheran denominations today.

Part of the mission of AiG is to call the church back to biblical authority—as Luther did in his day. Pray for this pastor and the church in this nation!

Devotion

He shall speak

(Deuteronomy 18:18) I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto you, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.

The Lord Jesus Christ is our conversation with God.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

One of the news items from our local area this week started with the headline:

“Godless” Billboard Going Up in Cincinnati.

The item continued:

“Don’t Believe In God? You are not alone.” [sic] are the words featured on the billboard on Reading Road at 12th Street, one block south of Liberty Street. It was placed there by Cin CoR, the Cincinnati Coalition of Reason.

The group says the display is part of a coordinated statewide campaign that includes similar billboards announced today in Columbus and Cleveland. It’s aimed at raising awareness about people who don’t believe in a god.

First of all, who is in this group putting up these billboards? From their own words, they state:

The United Coalition of Reason is a national organization that works to raise the visibility of local groups in the community of reason. Nationally, we do this by conducting campaigns which highlight the fact that nontheists live in every community across America. Locally, we do this by promoting informal cooperation among local groups, hosting a local coalition website, providing group leaders with free public relations training, and funding a publicity campaign. There is no obligation, financial or otherwise, for these services and United CoR’s efforts are cooperative and supplementary to the work already being done by national and local nontheistic organizations.

Now there are currently three of these billboard campaigns in Ohio: Cincinnati area, Columbus area, and Cleveland area. Each has its own local Coalition of Reason group with various atheist/rationalist/freethinker/secular humanist groups as “members.” The Cincinnati sponsor is the Cincinnati Coalition of Reason (Cin CoR). They state:

Welcome to the The Cincinnati Coalition of Reason. We are a collection of nontheistic groups in Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky working together to increase awareness of secular-minded principles and organizations. We invite you to explore all of the groups, listed under the member organizations tab, and to join one or two if you are interested.

Three local atheist groups are members of Cin CoR: Cincinnati Atheists Meetup Group (they arrange informal meetings in the Cincy/Northern Kentucky area.); Free Inquiry Group of Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky (FIG); and Camp Quest Ohio.

Here is what is interesting about all this: the Free Inquiry Group and the atheist founder of Camp Quest (and a founding member of the Free Inquiry Group) were some of the atheists who demonstrated outside the Creation Museum when it opened in 2007, and also the Free Inquiry Group was the group that initially opposed the first site we had selected for the Creation Museum—and their opposition initially was because we were a Christian group. And the founder of Camp Quest was one who was with nearly 300 atheists/agnostics who visited the Creation Museum in recent times and held a mock communion service outside the gates to openly mock the death and resurrection of our Lord.

Now, America is a country with freedom of religion, and, so, atheists are able to put up these billboards to promote their religion of atheism (yes, it is a religion—a system of belief held to with ardor and faith, and in this case, blind faith). However, it is interesting to note that many people from these atheist groups actively opposed the Creation Museum, demonstrated against it, held up placards at the opening with statements that were personal attacks, and rented a noisy plane to pull a banner over the museum to harass us and accuse us of lying. Many such atheists have written blogs attacking us personally, using vile language and blaspheming God.

Yes, these intolerant atheists cry loudly when people have opposed some of their billboard campaigns in certain areas—but they themselves actively oppose Christian organizations—and the Christian message—and attack people personally. The inconsistencies and hypocritical nature of what they do is blatant.

Also, think about this: a group called Free Inquiry wanted to stop us from building a museum on private property and using private funds, initially saying that it was because we were a Christian ministry. Then they tried to come up with more legitimate-sounding reasons (e.g., we were in a rural area) to oppose us, but their true motivation in vehemently opposing us had already been shown by that time. But, then again, for an atheist who doesn’t believe in absolutes (except their own belief that their opinion determines what should be done), there is no such thing as right, wrong, love, or whatever—all depends on how such a person determines they will define things. So, it’s no wonder they do whatever they want to—all is ultimately relative—there is no purpose and meaning to anything except what they themselves determine.

One last thing: the ultimate message of these billboards is that there is no God. Therefore, there is no ultimate meaning or purpose in life. What is the point of even putting up such billboards? They have no ultimate purpose anyway!

Today’s devotion is one every atheist needs to take heed of:

Devotion

I, even I

(Isaiah 43:11) I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no savior.

The plain truth is that there is just no other hope to be saved from sins, avoid hell, and gain heaven other than through the rejected and despised Lord Jesus Christ.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,
Ken