To Help Bring Reformation

Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints (Jude 1:3).

Recently I wrote a blog in which I reminded readers that part of the mission of AiG (which is in our mission statement) is to help bring reformation to the church. My blog’s statements were made in the context of pointing out that yet another group of Christians compromise God's Word with millions of years and evolutionary ideas in Genesis. Now while it is true that many of these people may preach the gospel and even make great contributions to Christendom on many topics, nonetheless, I challenged people about the fact that such Christians are still undermining the authority of God's Word. I have a “fire in my bones”—one that I sincerely believe the Lord has burdened me with—to point out that such compromise is contributing to a loss generationally of the authority of the Word of God in the church (and culture as a whole). This loss is being reflected in the exodus from the church of generations of young people. Thus, as part of the mission of AiG, we believe we have been called to challenge the church to return to taking God at His Word from the very first verse—we liken this to helping bring in a new Reformation.

Here is the Mission Statement of AiG:

Goal

To support the church in fulfilling its commission

Vision

Answers in Genesis is a catalyst to bring reformation by reclaiming the foundations of our faith which are found in the Bible, from the very first verse.

Mission

• We proclaim the absolute truth and authority of the Bible with boldness.
• We relate the relevance of a literal Genesis to the church and the world today with creativity.
• We obey God’s call to deliver the message of the gospel, individually and collectively.

Core Values

• We resourcefully equip believers to defend their faith with excellence.
• We willingly engage society's challenges with uncompromising integrity.
• We sacrificially serve the AiG family and others.
• We generously give Christian love.

A few Christians reacted to my comments with blogs falsely accusing me (and AiG) of equating such “Reformation” as getting people to believe in young-earth creationism. That is not our motive—and never has been (despite the numerous times we have been accused of such). Really, believing in a young earth is a consequence of believing God at His Word in Genesis. In other words, our efforts are not directly to get people to believe in a young earth, but to get God's people to take God at His Word in Genesis.

The real issue is one of authority. Who is the authority? Is God the authority, or is fallible, sinful man—who does not seek after truth—the authority?

What has happened in much of the church is that many church leaders, Christian academics, and others have taken the fallible words of man concerning millions of years and evolutionary ideas and have reinterpreted passages in Genesis in varied ways in their attempts to fit such ideas into God's Word. Although this is not a salvation issue per se (salvation is conditioned upon faith in Christ, not what one believes about the age of the earth), it is an important authority issue.

And let's face it—from a Christian perspective, we are losing the culture in this nation. As I have often pointed out, such compromise is rife in even much of the theologically conservative church (or what is left of the conservative church) in England—and England only has remnants left of its once Christianized culture. That is where America is heading. Our passion at AiG is to challenge the church concerning standing on God's Word, rejecting compromise, and proclaiming the gospel with authority. AiG also is equipping Christians to answer the skeptical questions of this age that are used to try to get God's people to compromise Genesis with secular ideas.

These bloggers and others who falsely accuse us of being focused on young earth creationism are themselves undermining the authority of the Word of God, for which they will be held accountable before the God of creation.

When I speak in a church, I challenge people concerning what the Scripture states about certain issues, and then judge the words of man accordingly. For instance, the Bible makes it clear that thorns came after the curse (Genesis 3:18); that God pronounced everything He made “very good” (Genesis 1:31) and that humans and animals were vegetarian (Genesis 1:29, 30). If a Christian believes in millions of years (such as a very old fossil record which secularists say was laid down by millions of years of processes), then such a Christian has to then accept that: God calls cancer “very good” (as there is evidence of diseases like cancer, brain tumors, and other diseases in the supposed millions of years old fossils); thorns existed millions of years before sin (the fossil record has many examples of fossil thorns supposedly millions of years old); and that animals ate other animals millions of years before man (as the fossil record has many examples of animals with bones in the stomachs, or fossilized in the midst of eating another animal, supposedly millions of years before man). Thus it is obvious that millions of years is incompatible with God's Word. And one does not get millions of years from the Bible—it comes from fallible man's interpretation of the past. The reason there are many different views on Genesis in the church (such as gap theory, theistic evolution, progressive creation, day age, framework hypothesis, etc.) is because Christians are trying to fit millions of years into the Bible—and it just doesn't fit!! To try to fit this in the Bible is compromise—and it is an attack on the authority of Scripture. Although such compromise may not affect one's salvation, it does influence how the next generation views Scripture. And that is what has happened—and why we need a new Reformation. Generations are rejecting the authority of Scripture more and more.

I would also be prepared to say that those church leaders who condone “gay” marriage will have compromised Genesis! You see, if the Genesis history is true, marriage is a male and female (Genesis 2:21-25)—and that's it! But if Genesis is not history as written, then marriage can be whatever you want to make it to be. And the more church leaders have told generations to take secular ideas and reinterpret Scripture in Genesis, it is only consistent that the next generation will take secular ideas about marriage and reinterpret Scripture on that subject, too—which is exactly what is happening.

We need to return to God's Word as the absolute authority—and judge man's word with the Word of God, not the other way around.

Those in the church who compromise Genesis with millions of years and evolutionary ideas are really saying that man's word is infallible, and God's Word is fallible! It is the other way round!

I for one will do all I can to “contend for the faith”' as we are instructed to do in the Book of Jude. And in this day and age, that means to stand against what we call “the Genesis 3 attack” of this age (i.e., “did God really say?” per Genesis 3:1) that is focused on the first 11 chapters of the Bible.

All the way through Scripture we are told to trust God's Word, not man's word! “As for God, His way is perfect; The word of the Lord is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him. As for God, His way is perfect; The word of the Lord is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him. In God (I will praise His word), In God I have put my trust; I will not fear. What can flesh do to me? Every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him” (2 Samuel 22:31; Psalms 18:30; 56:4; Proverbs 30:5).

Yes I'm a young earth creationist, but it’s because I take God at His Word. It is an authority issue. So no, the “Reformation” we are calling the church to is not (as some critics have been recently claiming) to get people to believe in a young earth—it’s having them accept the full reliability of the Bible. Believing in a young earth is a consequence of accepting God at His Word in Genesis.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,
Ken