Technology for Good and Evil

Ken Ham’s new DVD set, Foundations.

Many years ago, an elderly lady wrote to me. She was terribly upset that we were using color in our children’s books. This lady had grown up using Sunday school material that was all in black and white.

She chastised me for using what “the world uses”—color. Because the Devil used secular books with color, she explained, it was for evil purposes. Color was therefore evil.

I remember replying and saying something like, “Well, the Devil may use books with color, but remember: God invented color! We should be using what God has given us for good purposes.”

When God gave man the directive to have dominion over the earth (Genesis 1), a part of that includes gaining an understanding of God’s creation—so this knowledge can be used for God’s glory and man’s good. The Lord has allowed mankind to accumulate knowledge to develop the incredible technology we see today. That technology can be used for both good and evil purposes. Whether it be television, the internet, books, radio broadcasting, etc., all can be used for either good or evil.

As Christians, we need to take the technology the Lord has allowed us to develop, and use it as best we can to proclaim the truth of God’s Word.

At Answers in Genesis, we use this technology in the Creation Museum (e.g., animatronics, state-of-the-art planetarium, a Special Effects Theater), with our award-winning DVDs, various websites, and so on.

Because of the technology the Lord has enabled us to have today, we are able to reach millions of people with the soulsaving message of the gospel.

This month, we are thrilled to announce that the major presentations I give at live conferences are being released in a new set of DVDs. Our talented production team has used the latest software tools and other technologies to upgrade my presentations to a whole new level.

To be honest, I am a little embarrassed when people tell me today that they have watched my current video set (taped twelve years ago) and mention the change of my hair color—and that I look older! One person asked me (tongue in cheek) if that was my son in the videos! So, yes, the DVD set needed an upgrade. I wasn’t about to dye my hair!

I remember an unusual incident in the 1980s—in the days of the old VHS video tapes. I suggested to one of my colleagues (who gave talks on Genesis) that we needed to have our talks taped and then sold as VHS tapes. This person was taken aback. He replied: “But if my talks are put on video, then people won’t want me to come out and speak live anymore.”

I explained that the opposite would be true—that he would actually see an increase in speaking requests. Not only that, I said that the need for the creation/gospel message was so huge, and with younger generations growing up in a video culture, there would never be saturation.

We found out that as we used new technologies like videos to distribute the vital message God had given us, the more we were asked to present our talks live in their churches.

Today, we need to use the wonderful technologies available to us as strategic weapons in fighting a spiritual war that is raging around us.

At the same time, I wanted to assure you that as the technologies change and we produce higher-quality videos (and even distribute them as digital downloads) one thing will not change. As someone recently noted to me: “I want to say how encouraged we are that although I heard you speak over 15 years ago, you have not compromised your message. Yes, it has matured, but AiG’s stand on God’s Word and heart for the gospel has not changed.”

The person added: “So many ministries and Christian leaders, as the years go by, water down their message. Some lose the fervor they once had. I praise the Lord that this has not happened at AiG. In fact, if anything, you are even more passionate than ever in presenting biblical truths.”

If you have one of my old video sets and compare the presentations to the new DVD series we are launching this month, I believe you’ll see a confirmation of what the person above observed. The basic biblical message we proclaim—that the Bible is reliable and authoritative—has not changed. After all, God’s Word does not change. Yet our messages are needed more than ever as our Western world continues to lose its once Christian base.

So we are more passionate and fervent than ever to proclaim the truth of God’s Word and oppose the false philosophies of our age.

We praise the Lord for the technologies available today. And even though there are many who use them for evil, we at AiG are doing our best to use them to reach our church, culture, and the world with the truth of God’s Word beginning in Genesis. Please see the special insert that’s stapled in the center of this newsletter to read more about this exciting new DVD series.