Calling the Church and Culture back to the Authority of God’s Word

In AiG’s bold mission statement, you can read: “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.”

Yes, one of our priorities is to help bring reformation—reformation to the church. Since I began in this ministry 35 years ago, I have always had the conviction that there was a great need to call the church (as well as the entire culture) back to the authority of the Word of God.

In a sense, then, part of AiG’s mission is to “evangelize” the church!

I want to remind you of some exciting ways that this mission is being carried out. But, first, I want to relate a sad state of affairs that I was contemplating as I was writing this letter to you.

In recent times, we have observed an increasing number of conferences held by churches, Christian colleges, and ministries that are focused on influencing Christians to reject a literal Genesis and instead accept evolution and/or millions of years.

I have also noticed that the topic of creation/evolution/age of the earth is surfacing at various denominational conventions. And sadly, we see these church denominations opening the door more and more to condoning compromise when it comes to Genesis.

Aligned with an Atheist

One unfortunate situation that recently caught my attention concerned an atheist who is working with churches to get them to believe in evolution!

You may have heard of the “Evolution Weekend” and “Clergy Letter Project” founded by atheist professor Michael Zimmerman.

“In fact, I too am an atheist. And I’ve been one for 40-years . . . .”

I find it incredible that so many churches will align themselves with this atheist! That’s what the Bible calls being “unequally yoked” (2 Corinthians 6:14).

Of course, the reason this atheist wants churches to believe in evolution is so that these congregations will eventually reject the Bible altogether. At the same time, another atheist, Richard Dawkins, has stated that there is an incompatibility between evolution and Genesis, and theologians who think they are compatible are, he says, “deluded.”

Dawkins even admits he has a “niggling sympathy” for the creationists (like AiG), as they have been continually pointing out this incompatibility. He also states that the “writing is on the wall”—in other words, theologians will eventually have to give up the entire Bible if they reject Genesis.

Letting the Wolf In

Zimmerman recently wrote an article for the politically liberal website Huffington Post. He stated the following about the Book of Discipline of the United Methodist Church:

“At the last Quadrennial General Conference, the three following motions passed demonstrating that the United Methodist Church membership understood that religion and science need not conflict and that faith does not define scientific fact:

1. The sentence, ‘We find that science's descriptions of cosmological, geological, and biological evolution are not in conflict with theology,’ was added to the section on ‘Science and Technology’ in the church’s Book of Discipline;
2. The Clergy Letter Project and Evolution Weekend were explicitly endorsed by the United Methodist Church; and
3. The Conference adopted a resolution explicitly opposing creationism in all of its forms: ‘The United Methodist Church goes on record as opposing the introduction of any faith-based theories such as Creationism or Intelligent Design into the science curriculum of our public schools.’

“I hasten to add that all three of these motions were adopted overwhelmingly.”

A Push Back to the Bible

In spite of this “success,” Zimmerman is now very upset about a Bible-believing Methodist pastor who has written articles for AiG’s website. This pastor is trying to get the United Methodist Church not to compromise Genesis.

So, this atheist writes:

“But now, just four years later, forces are organizing to retract these strong statements. A resolution has been introduced to remove the word evolution from the Book of Discipline. Another has been introduced to retract the endorsement of The Clergy Letter Project and Evolution Weekend. And still a third has been introduced to delete the Church’s clear opposition to creationism in the science classroom.

“The latter two resolutions were offered by Reverend Gale [sic] Shunk from Pennsylvania. He’s affiliated with the money-making operation known as Answers in Genesis, the group responsible for the theme park in Kentucky known as the Creation Museum and the group that promotes the belief that humans and dinosaurs playfully cavorted together about 6,000 years ago.

“Reverend Shunk has explained his position clearly in two essays he published on the Answers in Genesis web page. In the first of the two, Reverend Shunk makes it clear that he is a young earth creationist who believes ‘that God created the universe in six solar days.’

“But the good reverend goes further than merely expressing personal opinions that are in opposition to those held by the world's scientific community as well as the teachings of his own denomination. He attacks the very premise of science, the premise that has permitted scientific inquiry to dramatically advance our understanding of the natural world since the scientific method was established.

“He boldly asserts, ‘We all would do well to hold on to the changeless eternal Word of God and not put our faith in scientific principles that change constantly when a better theory arises.’”

Here we have an atheist, someone who ultimately wants people to reject the entire Bible and have them totally embrace a statement that affirms evolution! But a Bible-upholding pastor, who is working hard to influence his denomination to return to God’s Word, is blasted by this atheist who is working hard to get churches to believe evolution.

Once again, this church compromise demonstrates the desperate need to call both church and culture back to the authority of the Word of God.

On Two Fronts

AiG is heavily engaged in this battle through teaching apologetics in churches and Bible conferences; producing Bible-defending resources and curricula (like the coming Answers Bible Curriculum); an award-winning website (1 million visits a month); the Creation Museum (1.6 million visitors in 5 years); and the coming Ark Encounter outreach (an evangelistic project that will attract up to 2 million people per year).

You can definitely see we have a battle on two fronts—the world and also within the church!

Please prayerfully consider what you can do to help this crucial creation/gospel ministry. You know how we are fervently engaged in this spiritual battle. We need to continually produce “weapons” (various resources and outreaches) for this struggle.

And I am convinced that the future full-size Noah’s Ark will take this battle to a whole new level, as more and more people will be challenged with the truth of God’s Word . . . and the gospel.

Thank you for your partnership with us!