AIG Newsletter—April 1998

• Feedback
• Didyaknow?
• Evolution setback in New Mexico!
• What the Bible tells us about money
• Leaving the land of the dying

Feedback

Dear Ken:

I love the information you put out on your Answers program on WPFF in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. (I used to believe that) God created through evolution.

I love your show!

—J.K., Sturgeon Bay, WI

Dear Mr. Ham:

Last week, my children and I came up to AiG headquarters from Lexington, KY. The reason for our visit was to pick up 40 copies each of The Answers Book and Bone of Contention in Russian. AiG donated these so that we could send them to a missionary in Russia.

I cannot thank you enough for this generous donation; we wouldn’t have been able to afford to purchase that many books and pay for postage. They are now on their way to Penza, Russia!

—D.B. (by e-mail)

A marvelous website!! Thank you, thank you, thank you. After one week on the Internet I was becoming disillusioned with some of the garbage that I accidentally brought onto my screen. I remembered that you had a website.

I’m so glad for all the work that you people are doing!

— D.A., Puerto Rico

Dear Ken:

Your materials have—during the last year—helped me find more answers than any other source during the last 10 years. With great thankfulness, I urge you to never give place in your mind to a temptation to think that your [ministry] is not making a difference.

—T.L. (by e-mail)

Dear Ken:

I was listening to a broadcast of (a nationally known television preacher on the West Coast) and he was talking about Genesis. I was dismayed to hear him make reference to “so-called evangelicals and their hokum”; right away I guessed he was talking about you, because he started praising fallible men and their “overwhelming evidence for an old Earth.”

I am writing to let you know that this new word used to describe your ministry is a badge of honor. I also want to encourage you to keep on telling it “like it is”: that Scripture interprets Scripture, and science falsely so-called can never be trusted to override the plain meaning of Scripture.

Your ministry has set my soul on fire and I’ve learned to trust the Bible in all areas of my life. Your ministry is obviously calling back Christians to a straight-forward interpretation of the Bible.

— S.V., Glen Burnie, MD

Dear AiG (by e-mail):

We enjoyed (an understatement) the recent AiG seminar in Greensboro. While the host church, Hunter Hills Baptist, is well-known for its support of discipleship programs and training, I consider the three-day seminar to be the most influential I have experienced!

Thanks to you for working hard to make this possible!

—S.V., NC

Dear AiG:

I just viewed [Ken Ham’s] Monkey Trial video last night with great enjoyment, yet with surprise: there is such a great extent of rejection of a literal interpretation of Genesis among many Christian leaders.

What Ken stated about the Church needing to be evangelized is so true. I am happy to see the boldness of your organization in spreading the literal truths of the Bible. I hope to use your resources to become equipped enough to boldly stand in my community.

—D.S.

I am a biology major and am constantly bombarded with evolutionary theory. I must admit that my faith was very much damaged until I came across your ministry on the radio. This type of exposure really helped restore my faith.

Thanks again for confronting evolution head on and in doing so giving honor to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Thank you for all the things you do.

—J.S.

I was so blessed by your seminar in Anchorage last year. I came away with so much more information in my “arsenal.” It was so exciting to learn so much in such an enjoyable and clear presentation.

—TM, Anchorage, AK

I have gotten rid of my TV so I use Christian radio a lot. I listen to you over CDR Radio (Ohio). I want to thank Ken Ham and the staff for this show. God bless you all!

—K.S., Bainbridge, OH

I love listening to you on WPFF in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. This stuff needs to be heard and seen by the general public, not just the saved!

—J.K., Sturgeon Bay, WI

Didyaknow?

Did you know that penguins were on the Ark?

Unfortunately, some “progressive creationists” insist that they were not on board. Here’s one such quote from a prominent progressive creationist:

Given that human beings had not civilized and inhabited Antarctica, there would be no need for God to flood Antarctica because there’d be no sin there…There’d be no need for God to kill off all the penguins because those penguins had no contact with reprobate humanity. And in that case, I don’t think Noah took any penguins aboard the ark.

First of all, fossil penguins have been found in the Himalayas and New Zealand. Even today, penguin rookeries can be found along the coast of South America and South Africa. Also, large colonies exist in Australia, New Zealand, and many Pacific Islands (including the famous Galapagos). Therefore, his example of the Antarctica is totally invalid scientifically.

Biblically, he’s also wrong because we’re told in Genesis 6 that God sent the Flood to destroy all life on land (except for Noah’s family and the animals on board). He is also wrong because the Bible tells us that sin affected everything everywhere!

He’d have known better if he had started with the answers in Genesis instead of compromising with evolutionary teaching!

(Taken from the April 16, 1998 broadcast of the Answers…with Ken Ham radio program.)

Evolution setback in New Mexico!

Triggered by a very large seminar that AiG conducted in Albuquerque, New Mexico, three years ago, a number of creation scientists, educators, and lay people in the state attempted to change the science education standards in the public schools.

In rewriting the science standards, the State Board of Education deleted any mention of evolution as fact at the primary grades, and simply inserted that for the high school level, students will know and understand various theories of biological origins. This, of course, was met with emotional responses from evolutionists, who claimed in typical rhetoric that “eliminating evolution” (which was not done) would “ruin” the scientific credibility of the state’s public schools.

In an attempt to undo the new standards, many evolutionists approached New Mexico legislators to sponsor, in essence, a pro-evolution bill. Public opinion, however, was overwhelmingly in support of the Board’s actions, and sound science prevailed.

In the new standards, the State Board insisted that evidence both for and against evolution be taught. This requirement is now a part of the science standards in all 89 school districts in the state. The new standards in the area of biologic origins demands a rigorous application of the scientific method and the encouragement of developing “critical thinking skills.”

At the local level, the State Board of Education is encouraging districts to develop a curriculum in which texts such as Darwin’s Black Box, Evolution: A Theory in Crisis, Of Pandas and People, etc. (which share the fundamental problems with evolution) will be included.

This effort—starting with the AiG seminar in January of 1995—is the consequence of countless hours on the part of State Board of Education members and many others in the state. School Board member Roger Lenard, a physicist, commented: “It does reflect the fact that when people of sound mind and character become involved in the process, public institutions can be changed for the better.”

As a follow up to these efforts, Dr. Gary Parker of AiG conducted an “Understanding Genesis” seminar in Albuquerque on March 9-10, co-hosted by the Creation Science Fellowship of New Mexico and radio station KFLQ. Over 2,000 people attended!

What the Bible tells us about money

King Solomon, in Ecclesiastes 5:10-11, tells us that wealth can never satisfy our carnal nature. And he ought to know. No doubt he lived this:

He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: that is also vanity.

When goods increase, they are increased that eat them: and what good is there to the owners thereof, saving the beholding of them with their eyes?

And even if wealth did satisfy, Job 1:21 reminds us: Naked came I…naked shall I return..the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away… Translation: you can’t take it with you!

Is God first in your life? Do you believe God when he promises to supply all your needs (Phil. 4:19)? I pray that we put God first in all our pursuits. Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. (Hebrews 13:5)

Wealth clearly does not satisfy, but what it can do is to help get out the Word of God!

—Paul Laude, ext. 302

Leaving the land of the dying

A tribute to Phil Chivers

All of us at AiG wept last month when colleague, friend, husband, father, and grandfather, Phil Chivers, was called home to Glory.

Nearly two thousand years ago, Jesus wept at the grave of Lazarus (John 11:35). The Bible states that Jesus, groaned in the spirit, and was troubled (John 11:33). Scholars who have studied the language of this passage point out that Jesus had two reactions to the death of Lazarus:

1. In his humanity, Jesus had an emotional reaction, clearly showing that He could empathize with us. He totally understands our human nature. He knows exactly how we feel when we lose a loved one.

2. The language tells us that Jesus was angry at death itself. You see, Jesus knew that death was an enemy: The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. (I Corinthians 15:26). When Jesus Christ created all things (Colossians 1), the Creation was described as very good (Genesis 1:31). There was no death, bloodshed, disease, or suffering in the world. All the animals and the first two people were only given plants for food (Genesis 1:29, 30).

Death is an intrusion into this world—it IS an enemy. But why did this horrible thing enter this world? God is HOLY—without sin—so when our ancestor Adam rebelled against God by taking the forbidden fruit, then he (as the head of the human race) forfeited the right for humanity to live. God had warned Adam that the penalty for rebellion had to be death (Genesis 2:17: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.).

Because God IS just and holy, He had to judge sin, and so death entered this previously perfect Creation. Everything changed! Romans 8:22 tells us that the whole of Creation was affected: For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.

But as I sat at the bedside of my dear friend Phil, together with his wife and daughters, many thoughts were going through my mind. I could imagine the skeptics saying, “The Bible says God is a God of love—but look at how Phil is suffering. Look at his diseased body. He traveled far a wide with you helping to spread the message of the Gospel—where is your Christian God now?” I’ll answer that in a moment.

But, first, you should know that Phil was a tireless worker for the Lord. I would like to share with you two verses that, to me, sum up Phil’s life:

1. And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all. (Mark 10:44)

If only more people had the servant attitude that we all saw in Phil. Whatever it took, no matter how long or how tired he was, it would get done. If one were to even try to count the hours Phil (and his wife Mary) put into getting the Gospel message into the hands of thousands upon thousands of adults and children over the past four years at Answers in Genesis, it would put many of us to shame.

2. Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. (Colossians 2:8)

There are not many in the Church today who would be prepared to stand for the authority of God’s Word as Phil did. I think one of the many things that brought me close to Phil was a quality of his that reminded me so much of my father: not wanting in any way to knowingly compromise the Word of God.

When Phil stood before his Heavenly Father in Glory, no doubt he could say “Lord, I plead guilty to believing your Word as written!” If only more people -- and particularly our Christian leaders -- were “guilty” of putting the authority of God’s Word above the words of men, rather than the other way around.

I’ll NEVER forget the time during one of our seminars when our colleague Buddy Davis got up to sing to the thousands of young children who had gathered for our special children’s program. I looked over at Phil, and tears were running down his cheeks. “What’s wrong, Phil?” I asked. He looked at me and said, “Look at all these dear children we are influencing for the Lord—influencing for eternity. Isn’t this great?”

Phil’s selfless dedication to seeing people hear the truths of God’s Word and its Gospel message was seen when he continued to work hard at seminars, even though his body was tired. In fact, he was involved in ministry right up until the night he was admitted to the emergency room. In many ways, Phil reminded me of Moses—a man who didn’t retire from active ministry until the Lord took him home.

But how do we answer the skeptics who mock at Christians when they see such a godly man suffer and die?

As I sat there pondering these things, and watching my friend draw his last breaths, I realized anew why he was suffering. It’s because of me—and all of you, too! It’s our fault! Why? Because we are all descendants of Adam: when Adam sinned, we sinned. Paul makes this abundantly clear in Romans 5. The sufferings and groanings of this present world are collectively OUR fault!

People who don’t understand the origin of sin and death (as only Genesis tells us) could easily get angry at God, and say something like, “God—why did you take him? Why?” But when we understand the true history of the world, and the origin of sin and the real reason for death, we should fall down on our knees and shout:

O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? (Romans 7:24)

You know what else hit me? Sadly, generations of people in our churches have by and large been brought up to compromise the book of Genesis with evolutionary teaching. They’ve been taught that the death, disease, and suffering we see have all gone on for millions of years—that these are the processes by which God created! No wonder so many don’t understand what death is all about; no wonder they don’t understand the nature of sin; no wonder so many are quick to question God when tragedy occurs; no wonder the world can’t “see” the Christian God of love. Most of the Church has the wrong foundation!

When Phil’s body died, we deeply felt the separation. Oh how this should remind us of the separation that occurred between us and our God because of sin! We are thus reminded of the awfulness of sin that God had to judge. At the same time, we are reminded that God is a God of love: But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)

The reason Phil died is because God IS a God of love. He loved us so much, that He sent his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to suffer the curse of death, so that we could be restored to a perfect relationship with our Creator:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)

Four years ago, Phil and his wife, Mary, left their family and friends on the West Coast to help us begin the ministry of Answers in Genesis. During this time, they were both involved in helping this ministry reach thousands upon thousands of people with this wonderful message of the truth of the authority of God’s Word and the saving Gospel.

Because Mary, their daughters, and their families worship and serve the God of Creation as Phil did, they know that they will see him again. They understand that there’s a time coming when there shall be no more death (Revelation 21.4). They grasp the truth that this present world is a dying one; it’s Phil who is now in the land of the living.

As that great preacher Charles Haddon Spurgeon once said in a sermon entitled, “For the Christian, the Best Wine Comes Last“:

A saint was once dying, and another who sat by him said—“Farewell, brother, I shall never see you again in the land of the living.” “Oh,” said the dying man, “I shall see you again in the land of the living that is up yonder, where I am going; this is the land of the dying.” Oh brethren and sisters, if we should never meet again in the land of the dying, have we a hope that we shall meet in the land of the living, and drink the best wine at last.”

Let me leave you with this question: do you know for sure that you are going to the “land of the living” as Phil has?

Sincerely,

Ken Ham