With the New Year’s celebrations and resolutions behind us, I’m sorry to have to do this—but I’m going to give you a most pessimistic outlook for 2019. Now, as discouraging as this is, I really want this letter to encourage our supporters like you who are behind the ministry of Answers in Genesis.
The pessimistic outlook doesn’t come from anyone here at AiG. I hope that’s a sigh of relief! In fact, with each year that passes (and there have been 25 years since we started AiG), we continue to see God’s goodness and faithfulness at AiG. As we look forward to 2019, I am excited about what God will accomplish in the year ahead.
That optimism, however, can’t be said of atheist Seth Andrews. His thoughts are summed up in two of his sentences:
“You don’t owe others comfort. You owe yourself a life of integrity . . . lived on your own terms [emphasis mine].”
This outlook is so sad, but it represents where the coming generations and the culture as a whole are currently heading. This only burdens me to make sure Answers in Genesis, the Creation Museum, and the Ark Encounter are more active than ever!
Andrews’ New Year’s message urged his followers to embrace what amounts to the sin of Adam as recorded in Genesis 3:1–5:
“He said to the woman, ‘Did God actually say you shall not eat of any tree in the garden? . . . You will not die. . . . You will be like God.’”
The devil told Adam and Eve that they could decide truth for themselves and be their own gods. And that’s how our sin nature, inherited through Adam, can affect each one of us. We have a tendency to want to decide for ourselves what is truth, good, bad, right, and wrong.
And because of our sin nature, we want to be our own gods, not accountable to the God who created us and who therefore has the right to tell us what is true, good, bad, right, and wrong. He’s the One who is truth and the absolute authority by which everything must be judged.
This atheist’s post is really all about promoting a life that has no meaning, purpose, and hope! And that’s increasingly where the coming generations in our culture are heading. No wonder people turn to drugs, promiscuity, and suicide.
The people of this ministry know we should submit every area of our life to our Creator . . . lived on his terms. And he has blessed us beyond measure.
I want you to read this atheist’s New Year’s greeting carefully—and weep as you do, as you understand the total purposelessness of those without salvation in Christ.
Of course, what he should have added at the bottom of this post was something like:
“Then you will die and cease to exist, so it’s all ultimately meaningless and purposeless anyway. The End.”
There’s much we could write concerning this brief message from an atheist. First, with a worldview devoid of absolutes, what do his words—value, goodness, good, bad, right, wrong, truth—even mean?
Now, we all see our Western world changing before our eyes. That change includes an exodus of young adults from the church. Overall church attendance is dramatically lower than previous generations, and we recognize that the younger generations (even many who were brought up in the church) are very secularized in their thinking.
The culture as a whole is not only more secularized, but it’s also less tolerant of Christianity. We see atheist groups (even though they are a minority of people) bullying schools, counties, and public figures to remove any vestige of Christian thought from the public arena. What a mess it’s all become!
One of the ways this shift has happened (and we have documented it from research conducted for my co-authored books Already Gone, Ready to Return, and Already Compromised) is by evolutionary indoctrination. This has come about largely through the secular education system and media. Not only that, we even see rampant compromise within much of the church and in many Christian organizations/academic institutions regarding evolutionary beliefs.
The answer to these problems, of course, is God’s Word and the gospel.
And the great news is that more people than ever are reading AiG resources and using them in churches and colleges. Increasing numbers of people are accessing AiG’s websites and visiting the Creation Museum and the Ark Encounter. We’re continually receiving testimonies from people whose lives have been changed, including people saved, as a result of God using AiG. The spiritual impact of the ministry increases daily!
And so, this is our 2019 declaration:
At Answers in Genesis, we will continue to stand uncompromisingly on God’s Word beginning in Genesis. We will never stop proclaiming the truth of the Word and the saving gospel. We will be bolder than ever in presenting this message to the world.
AiG will engage in the spiritual battle daily, and we promise that regardless of what happens, we will do the business of the King until he comes (Luke 19:13). We will produce more books, web articles, exhibits for the Creation Museum and Ark, teaching programs, and more—and do whatever we can on a human level to equip God’s people, challenge non-Christians, and reach generations with God’s Word and the message of salvation.
To encourage you in this effort as we continue through 2019, we have produced a new book entitled Glass House that we want you to read.
As the old saying goes, “Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones.” And that’s what makes Glass House: Shattering the Myth of Evolution a perfect title for this new book. Evolutionists frequently attack creationists, trying to convince people that their evolutionary worldview is built on solid foundations. But they should not be throwing stones, for evolution is nothing more than a glass house—a myth. And the glass is breaking!
Most contributors to Glass House are part of the AiG’s amazing research and outreach teams that speak regularly at the Creation Museum (and soon at the Ark Encounter’s new Answers Center) and at churches/conferences in the US and around the world.
Did you catch the ending of Seth Andrews’ post? “May 2019 bring us toward a more rational world.” This statement implies that Christianity is irrational. Our book’s contributors would disagree. AiG, the Creation Museum, and the Ark Encounter train the heart, soul, and mind!
Here are just a few of our faculty and speakers who contributed to Glass House: Dr. Tommy Mitchell (MD, Vanderbilt University); Dr. Georgia Purdom (PhD, molecular genetics, the Ohio State University); Dr. David Menton (PhD, biology, Brown University); Dr. Terry Mortenson (PhD, history of geology, Coventry University); Dr. Nathaniel Jeanson (PhD, cell development biology, Harvard University); and others.
What is also great about this cutting-edge new book—one that shatters the glass house of evolution—is that it is written at the laymen’s level. It counters the scientific arguments for evolution one by one. It’s a powerful work!
We want to help you engage in the battle through your reading Glass House and/or giving it away to a friend or family member who needs to read it. Let’s pray the book impacts the culture as you and so many others share copies. Glass House also presents the true meaning and purpose of life, with the message of sure hope found in Christ.
Thank you for praying for and supporting AiG as we boldly honor his Word and unashamedly proclaim the gospel message.
Answers in Genesis is an apologetics ministry, dedicated to helping Christians defend their faith and proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ.