God’s Work in Our Battles

So why did this come to mind over Easter weekend?

This was the weekend we saw the total visitors for the Ark Encounter and Creation Museum reach 10 million. Wow! So why did that evoke thoughts about battles of the Israelites? Well, I started to think through many of the battles we’ve gone through to build the Creation Museum and Ark Encounter.

I thought you would appreciate reading a summary of a number of these battles, many of which most of you would not be aware of, to remind us of the faithfulness of God in seeing us through to where we are today. It’s also a reminder that these two leading Christian-themed attractions could never have come about without the miraculous hand of our Creator God.

Let me walk you through some of the battles we had along the way to build these two attractions. Understand that all the way through these battles many were praying for the various situations.

Creation Museum—The Massive Opposition to It

We moved to Kentucky in 1994 for the specific purpose of launching the Answers in Genesis ministry and building the Creation Museum.

In 1995, we located a piece of property in Boone County, a few miles off Interstate 75, and went through the rezoning process that year.

Yes, we were called a cult.

A local atheist group began opposing us, and all sorts of false rumors began spreading about the ministry and me personally. One lady at a rezoning meeting pointed to me and said I was like infamous cult leader Jim Jones “coming to get their kids.” Yes, we were called a cult. Someone even said we would be basically building tin sheds and sewage would spread across properties around it.

A minister from a very liberal church, with a big wooden cross around his neck, opposed us publicly. I’ll never forget him because the pastor of the church we attended at the time confronted this liberal pastor and said, “You should be ashamed of having that cross around your neck.”

The attorney for the atheist group claimed we had no right to build such a museum that he claimed denied science because of the so-called “separation of church and state.” So, his argument was that a Christian nonprofit, privately funded by donations, shouldn’t have the right to build a museum on private land! The atheist group stirred up such fierce opposition, it seemed we were headline news in the major newspapers of the area for days on end over a few months.

The zoning commission voted to approve the zoning in 1996, but it had to be approved by what’s called the Fiscal Court (i.e., county commissioners).

This court was impacted by the opposition, and even though the members normally rubber-stamp what the zoning commission approves, this time they didn’t. In December, the Fiscal Court denied the zoning change.

I remember a reporter asking something like, “So, is this the end of the Creation Museum?” I replied that God had called us to do this, so it would not be the end. Rather than be discouraged, we employed a person to search for other land for the Creation Museum.

In February 1998, we found the piece of property where the Creation Museum now sits. It was a far better location than the previous property (God’s ways are not our ways!) as it was at an interchange on Interstate 275, only 11 miles from the major north-south Interstate 75, and only 10 minutes from the Cincinnati International Airport. Now, this property was zoned to be “industrial,” so we applied to have it zoned “public facility.” And guess what happened? The local atheist group once again began opposing the rezoning.

It was obvious the hand of God put the right people into the key positions at the right time.

It was also election time for various county officials, including the Fiscal Court commissioners. Two individuals ran for commissioner solely because of how the court had treated AiG previously to stop the museum rezoning. One of those candidates was not well known at all in the area. But both of them won their seats—one defeated a longtime commissioner who was expected to easily win reelection. It was a miracle! Three of the four positions were won by new people. Because of what was to happen next, it was obvious the hand of God put the right people into the key positions at the right time.

We applied for the zoning we needed, and it was approved by the Fiscal Court in May 1999, 3-1. But three women who lived near the proposed museum property then sued us to try to stop the project. I attended one of the depositions when one of the women was asked various questions by the attorneys. Now, this was an interesting situation because the Fiscal Court had approved the zoning, so the county attorneys now had to defend us. I will never forget three of the answers this woman gave when being deposed. As I recall, the answers went something like this after being asked why she opposed the rezoning:

1. The dinosaur roars will keep us awake at night.
2. When it burns down (not “if”), ashes will fall on the houses around the museum, and they will burn down.
3. Dust kicked up by all the visitors will spread viruses and make people sick.

In early 2000, when the court case began, the judge called all parties into his office and told the plaintiffs they needed to have more than what he had read about the case, or he would be throwing it out.

After a day of hearings (and I was questioned on the witness stand), the judge threw the case out.

Whew! Now we could move ahead. Ah, but not quite. The opposition had not given up.

At this interchange of I-275, there were no public sewer lines. (It was the only interchange on the whole I-275 around Cincinnati without public sewer lines.) We had to build our own sewage treatment plant, which is actually not a unique thing to do—in fact, there was such a plant for a golf club not far from our property. But then the environmental activist group The Sierra Club began to get involved regarding supposed environmental issues. It could have dragged things out for years and delayed the museum’s construction. So we had to come up with an alternative plan.

Working with the state health department, we had to use some of the acreage to put in massive leach fields. This was approved in June 2001. It’s been working well ever since, and a few years ago, we acquired a small piece of property behind us, and it now contains the new leach fields. We continue to pray the county will extend the public sewer lines to our property one day.

So the fundraising for the Creation Museum began! To kick it all off, we invited some of our supporters to gather at the property for a prayer meeting one morning. It was a small group of dedicated Christians. Well, the police showed up, as one of the neighbors called to complain about an “unlawful assembly.” The law enforcement person showed grace toward us and told us they had to respond because of the complaint being registered and indicated that we needed to obtain a permit for any such meeting, even if just a few people were in attendance, in the future.

We continued to pray, and the number of AiG supporters praying for us increased.

Lots of other events occurred, with valleys and mountains, as we struggled with many issues that would take much longer than this letter to relate to you. But let’s jump ahead to opening day: May 2007. (Yes, we had all the necessary permits!)

A group of local atheists (and others from outside the state who were recruited) obtained permission from a neighbor to set up a stage right near the museum’s entry gates so they could play loud rock music and give speeches maligning us. It was a very hot day, so our staff went out to give water to the protestors. Some of them even came inside to buy ice cream! Yes, I think of the verse: “For you will heap burning coals on his head, and the Lord will reward you” (Proverbs 25:22).

Then we noticed a small plane flying overhead dragging a banner with the words “thou shall not lie.” It flew back and forth over the area during the opening ceremony. The atheist group had rented this plane to harass us. A pilot who was present at the museum ceremony called the appropriate authorities and the plane eventually left. Years later I met some supporters who thought we had rented the plane to give a message to the atheists that they shouldn’t lie. So even that backfired on them!

When you stand on the devil’s toes, he reacts. You guys must be kicking him in the shins.

Well, we’ve had many other battles over the years (and they continue), like the time we had advertised a special Valentine’s event at the museum with a great meal for our supporters. Two atheist men dressed as flamboyant gay people tried to disrupt the evening. They were escorted off the premises. All this is a reminder to pray for us daily, as so many different situations arise. The devil hates what we are doing. As one lady said to me once, “When you stand on the devil’s toes, he reacts. You guys must be kicking him in the shins.”

Ark Encounter—Even More Opposition!

We also had battles in obtaining the land (and other problems) as we planned to build the Ark Encounter in Williamstown. But let’s jump ahead to the tourism tax rebate issue.

One of the main reasons we chose to build the Ark in Kentucky was because the state offered a tourism tax incentive (as was given to the Speedway racetrack, which is now essentially shut down, the Newport Aquarium, etc.). For qualified tourist facilities that independent research shows would bring tourism dollars into Kentucky, the state would give a rebate on the sales tax generated within the facility (up to a certain percentage of the initial capital cost) over a period of 10 years. The tourism incentive is offered because the state would see a massive net gain after the rebate, as new dollars were coming in from tourists. We were approved for this incentive.

We were being discriminated against because we were Christians.

However, the governor at the time (father of the current governor) attempted to overrule the incentive decision and said we couldn’t receive it because we were a Christian group that was telling people about Jesus and only hired Christians who agreed with our Statement of Faith. So, we were being discriminated against because we were Christians.

We took the governor and the state to Federal Court and a judge ruled decisively in our favor. He also declared that under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, we as a religious group had every right to employ only those who adhered to our Statement of Faith.

Of course, the secular media and atheist groups continued to spread misinformation about this incentive, often claiming we took money from the state to build the Ark. That’s simply not true. The Ark was funded privately by donations and a bond offering. No state money was used to fund the attraction’s construction (we opened in 2016).

And that brings me now to the bond offering. As the wooden structure of the Ark had to be completed quickly and not built over time as funds came in (as we did for the Creation Museum), we needed a source of funding in addition to the donations we received. We worked hard to put together a bond offering to offer our supporters. (Atheists falsely claimed—and continue to claim—that the city of Williamstown funded the bond offering. No, a large number of our supporters funded it.)

When we offered the bond opportunity, an attorney from a well-known atheist group applied to get all the details, pretending to be an interested Ark supporter (we recognized the name later and did not respond to him). Yes, we knew we were going to have more battles!

In late 2013, we launched the bond offering to generate a large part of the funding needed for the building of the Ark Encounter. There was great interest in the bonds leading up to the offering (more demand than available bonds!) and nearly all of the major online brokerage firms were set to take the bonds into their client accounts.

However, on the first day of the official bond marketing period (also the “quiet period,” when we could not say anything publicly other than what was in the official bond statement), a young reporter with Bloomberg News wrote a series of highly misleading, hit-piece articles on the Ark and the bonds. It caused nearly all the brokerage firms to back out of their agreements to allow their clients to buy the Ark bonds. We went from likely having 100% of the bonds purchased to only 20%. Evidence indicated there was an organized effort to stop the Ark project by trying to stop us from obtaining the funding through bonds.

So we had to alter our plans in the middle of the offering. We added an option to sell physical certificate-type bonds directly to our supporters, bypassing the firms that had “canceled” us. By God’s providence, we met the minimum funding amount needed to close (and start construction) with just 30 minutes to spare on the deadline date! And by the way, all the bonds were paid back in full this past April.

Then we heard that an Ark opponent had put in a complaint to the government (we believe it was an atheist attorney) that we had used our 401k retirement plan to fund the bond offering. This was absurd and simply not true. Actually, a few staff had requested to invest some of their 401k funds into the bonds, and so we had attorneys check it all out to make sure we could do that—which we could. Less than 1% of the 401k funds were then invested in the bonds by these staff.

Then we had two officials from the government arrive on our doorstep and tell us outright they were here to investigate us because we used our 401k to fund the bond offering. They spent a few days and were perplexed (and seemed angered) that they couldn’t find any issues. They said they would still write up a negative report. So, to stop another series of battles and wasted time, the staff transferred the bonds out of the 401k plan to personal IRA accounts, even though it was legal to keep them in the 401k.

I’ve only shared a fraction of all the battles we’ve had—and continue to have.

Whew! Are you feeling exhausted now? I am, and I’ve only shared a fraction of all the battles we’ve had—and continue to have. For instance, recently the Indeed company that publishes job openings told us we could no longer post job positions with them because we required staff to sign our Statement of Faith. Now, Indeed posts job positions for Planned Parenthood where employees are required to adhere to all the group stands for, and it also posts job positions for Muslim organizations where employees have to agree with the Koran.

And the local atheist group continues to oppose and attempt to spread false information to malign us whenever they can. Recently, atheists falsely claimed there was a flood that damaged the Ark. This even became a major article in newspapers around the world based on the atheists’ false claim. (It actually had to do with a dispute we had with insurers over a service road issue and was resolved out of court).

In addition, a big software company recently told us we can no longer receive their educational discount because we require people to sign our Statement of Faith. And of course, there are ongoing deplatforming threats and other issues our staff are working feverishly behind the scenes to overcome to ensure the ministry continues to run smoothly. This takes a lot of time and is costly as well. And the atheists and secular media continue to spread false information. But that’s no surprise.

We Need Your Support

I wanted this month to be a reminder of how much we need your ongoing prayers as we fight these daily battles.

Also, I wanted to ask you to continue to support all the various projects we undertake to proclaim the truth of God’s Word and the gospel. We don’t have the billions of dollars Disney has, but we know the one who said, “The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, declares the Lord of hosts” (Haggai 2:8).

Would you please encourage us with a gift today of any size?

Your gift to our core ministry will provide support for all areas of our ministry, including our curricula writing, Twelve Stones Christian Academy needs, new and updated exhibits, seasonal housing buildings, Answers TV streaming platform, websites and social media, outreach, translation ministry, children’s resources, research, and so much more.

And let’s be encouraged because man cannot stop what God is doing! As I look back, I see God’s miraculous hand on this ministry:

For the Lord of hosts has purposed, and who will annul it? His hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back? (Isaiah 14:27)

Remember, no power on earth can stop what God is doing. Thanks for being a special part of our AiG family.

P.S. Thank you for your faithful prayers and support for the ministry of AiG. Your gift this month will be a great encouragement as we continue to do the Lord’s work in reaching souls for Christ with the authority of the Bible and its gospel message—regardless of the battles we endure!