Busy in Britain

Introduction

Almost every year for the past 15, Ken Ham, AiG–US president, has conducted a speaking tour of the United Kingdom. Last year at this same time, Ken’s talk at a school—which was both privately and government funded—created such a stir around the country, that even Prime Minister Tony Blair commented about the school during “question time” in Parliament (see Ken Ham Stirs up England). Even though the school merely rented its auditorium for Ken’s lecture, this outraged some of Britain’s prominent evolutionary humanists (including the nation’s most famous scientist and evolutionist, Dr Richard Dawkins), declaring that because the school received tax monies, it should not have allowed the event.

Currently, Ken is on another speaking tour of the UK, and has met with some resistance on this trip, but not as severe as 2002. The large crowds and warm welcomes (especially by students) which have greeted Ken along the way have been very encouraging. Below is the report that he called in earlier this week; please pray for the effectiveness of the rest of his meetings in Britain.

Our first couple of days were spent touring places like the British Museum of Natural History and Science Center. I stood there and watched the thousands of school kids filing through that place, looking at some of the latest displays that declare things like:

1. the Flood of Noah is a myth

2. the world is 4.5 billion years old

3. evolution is a fact

4. dinosaurs evolved into birds—there is absolutely no doubt

5. humans are not special—basically stating that we are no different to a chimpanzee or a fruit fly, and their genes are much the same.

It just gave me that burden once again to get out the creation message, and to get the Creation Museum built.

The children and adults are being indoctrinated at these museums—told that the Bible’s history, geology, and biology are wrong.

A few days later, we visited the site of the famous “Piltdown Man,” a former “ape-man” that was later found out to be a fraud. We took some photographs of the monument there and the gravel pit where it was found.

The first meeting we held was in Brighton on Saturday. It was one of the most beautiful days that you could have in England—blue sky and sunshine. I thought, Are people here going to come out on such a sunny Saturday afternoon? Well, the conference was full—about 500–600 people! Even the pastor was amazed, and many people seemed eager to get the materials and books.

The next day, about a thousand people turned out on a Sunday morning, and in the evening, the church had twice as many as they normally have!

Wonderful testimonies

One man came to me and said, “I have twin children, a daughter and son who are 15. My daughter said to me after the morning service that she wanted to come back to hear you at church that night.” She was just so enthused; he had never seen her “grow” so much. Her eyes lit up and she said, “He answered my questions, and this makes sense of the Bible.”

The girl’s twin brother spent a lot of his own money buying books. He said, “Dad, all the questions that they ask me at school—the things they throw at me in school because I’m a Christian—and I’ve never had answers. He gave me answers.”

The father turned to me and said: “I just want you to know that if nothing else, your whole visit over here to the UK was worth it just for these two young kids of mine. You have done so much for their faith, so much … given them that faith in the Scriptures that they need, and to help them stand up for what is right. I just see a change in them, after hearing you speak, and getting these materials.”

One evening we held a meeting in a rented public school auditorium (there are not many auditoriums in this area of Southampton). Sadly, the organizers had to turn a few people away. There were just too many people. They came from miles around—a phenomenal response.

A non-believer came up to me tonight and said, “I’m a non-Christian, but you really challenged me, and if I have more questions, can I e-mail you?”

A couple came to me and said, “We just want you to know that we are homeschooling our children as a result of your previous teaching; it has made such a difference for our children. And we just want to thank you. You have changed our lives.”

Another lady said, “I heard you years ago, and my daughter, who’s here, is 11 now—she was just a baby then. Because of hearing you, I was able to train her up with the right foundation.” Her daughter just loved the night and thought it was fantastic.

The young people here have such a hunger

Sunday night, there were probably 800 people in attendance. I would say 90% were young people. Saturday, probably 50–60% of the audience was made up of young people, including college students. They are just really hungry for this ministry.

We’re getting a phenomenal response across the nation. Last year’s controversy generated by Richard Dawkins' newspaper articles against AiG aided the publicity this time around. Interestingly, Richard Dawkins recently submitted an article to the Times of London, in which he said he was never going to do that anymore because he realized that creationists got a lot of publicity last year. So he may not say anything about our visit this time.

But there is a man—a humanist—who has been trying to stir up some trouble. He has been calling various places where we are speaking, trying to get them to cancel our meetings, and trying to get schools to refuse us the use of their auditoriums. So there has been some of that “behind the scenes” activity.

NOTE: Please pray for the AiG office in Leicester, England, as it follows up these exciting meetings. Pray, too, for Dr Monty White, who directs the AiG office there, as he speaks throughout Europe as well (including Bulgaria in a few weeks). He’ll also be involved in the preparations for AiG’s major creation conference in Budapest, Hungary in 2004—check this Web site from time to time for details on this 23 September–26 September 2004 conference.