Understanding the Times

An urgent call to return to our biblical foundations

Ken Ham

Cover photo: The Lickingville Church, Lickingville, Pennsylvania, USA;  © Copyright 2012 Kyle Yates Photography. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

Understanding the Times was recorded live during Creation College 3 at the Creation Museum in 2009. The DVD is available from Answers in Genesis, a worldwide apologetics ministry at the forefront in supporting churches to achieve the Great Commission. © Copyright 2010 Answers in Genesis - USA. All rights reserved.

Contents

Introductions

1. 1 Chronicles 12:32   “Understanding the times”

2. 2 Corinthians 11:3   “Beguiled…through subtilty”

3. Psalm 11:3   “The foundations…destroyed”

4. John 3:12   “If…ye believe not”

5. Proverbs 30:5-6   “Every word of God is pure”

6. 1 Peter 3:15   “Ready always to give an answer”

7. Judges 21:25   “Right in his own eyes”

8. Mark 16:15   “Preach the gospel”

9. John 7:38   “Rivers of living water”

10. Genesis 26:18   “Philistines had stopped them”

11. Matthew 12:30   “Against me”

12. Romans 1:16   “Not ashamed of the gospel”

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Chapel Library Resources

Introduction

We live in interesting and difficult times. It is increasingly important that we come to an understanding of just how difficult and challenging they really are. We live in times in which we see increasing violence, immorality, and economic uncertainty in the Western world. But greater than the economic problems, there are major spiritual problems in this nation and across the globe. We live in times where we are seeing before our very eyes the collapse of Christianity in Europe and North America!

But there are answers for Christianity and for Christians. The answers are centered in the Scriptures. We will consider twelve passages of Scripture that sum up how biblical truth depends on a firm foundation, and how, in this era of history, all Christians can stand up for this truth in an antagonistic world. We will deal with each of these twelve verses individually, in order to understand—and respond biblically and effectively to—the times in which we live.

1)  1 Chronicles 12:32, “…the children of Issachar, which were men that had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do.”

2)  2 Corinthians 11:3, “I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.”

3)  Psalm 11:3, “If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?”

4)  John 3:12, Jesus talking to Nicodemus about salvation, “If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?” (Joh 3:12)

5)  Proverbs 30:5-6, “Every word of God is pure…Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.”

6)  1 Peter 3:15, “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness [gentleness] and fear [respect].”

7)  Judges 21:25, “In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.”

8)  Mark 16:15, “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.”

9)  John 7:38, “He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.”

10)  Genesis 26:18, “And Isaac digged again the wells of water, which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father;  for the Philistines had stopped them.”

11)  Matthew 12:30, “He that is not with me is against me;  and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.”

12)  Romans 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth;  to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.”

These twelve passages of Scripture relate to why we need a return to an emphasis on a biblical understanding of creation in this era of history, as a firm foundation for Christians again to influence our world.

1.   1 Chronicles 12:32   “Understanding the times”

“The children of Issachar, which were men that had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do.”

The children of Issachar understood in their day that it was time for David to be king. Today, we need to understand the times because they are far more perilous. I have traveled to the United Kingdom and across Europe many times. I have spoken throughout England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, and Northern Ireland. One of the things that I have noticed in the United Kingdom is the fact that, whereas before the last war fifty percent or more of the population attended church, now church attendance is way down.

Once Christianity and Christian thought permeated[1] England. There were great revivals there in the past;  we think of Spurgeon,[2] the Prince of Preachers, and people like Wesley[3] and Whitefield[4]—whose preaching saved England from a fate similar to the French Revolution. Yet in the last few years, there are news sources reporting situations such as this: only “7.5 per cent of the population goes to church on Sundays [in England now]. In the past 10 years—billed by the churches as the ‘Decade of Evangelism’—church attendance dropped by an alarming 22 per cent!”[5] For all that is being done in the name of Christianity in England, church attendance is dropping! The referenced news report goes back just a few years. It continued, “The Christian church in this country will be dead and buried within 40 years. It will vanish from the mainstream of British life, with only 0.5 per cent of the population attending Sunday services of any denomination.”[6] Another recent news report said that if people keep leaving the Church of England at the current rate, within 30 years there won’t be a Church of England! Another news report of just a few years ago said that attendance at Britain’s mosques has outstripped the number of regular worshipers in the Church of England for the first time. When my wife and I were there in March of 2009, the headline of the newspaper the day before we left was about a Muslim cleric calling for jihad in England. It said he wanted to see the Muslim flag flying over Downing Street![7] Certainly things are happening quickly in that nation.

Even in Australia just a few years ago, a professor from a university said this: “Within the next 10-20 years, most of the mainline churches will be appropriately down on their knees praying for their own survival.”[8] That is how the secular world sees it!

In recent history, America has been the greatest Christian nation on earth. It has the largest number of seminaries, churches, colleges, Christian radio and TV stations, and other Christian resources. Just visit any Christian publishing convention, and you will see an incredible number of resources—at this time there are more Christian resources in America than ever in history. But for all of that, America is becoming less Christian every day. It does not matter what country in the Western world we look at, whether you look at Australia, England, or anywhere in Europe: the churches have more Christian resources than ever before in history. And yet, for all this, the Church is not affecting the culture as it used to. In fact, what has happened is the culture is invading the Church!

What do we see happening as a result of this? The President of the United States said it in his autobiography, published before the 2008 election: “Whatever we once were, we are no longer just a Christian nation;  we are also a Jewish nation, a Muslim nation, a Buddhist nation, a Hindu nation…a nation of non-believers.”[9] He is not just talking about a nation where you have freedom of religion;  he really means that America is no longer a nation that builds its thinking on the Bible. For instance, he declared June 2009 to be gay-lesbian-bisexual-transgender month and called upon Americans to support homosexual rights and marriage. In other words, he is saying that we do not build our thinking on the Bible anymore in this nation. Newsweek’s cover in April 2010 was “The Decline and Fall of Christian America”;  an article inside was entitled, “The End of Christian America.” Who would ever have thought this would happen in America? The article mentioned a Time Magazine poll that had similar results to one by USA Today;  it said, “The percentage of self-identified Christians has fallen 10 percentage points since 1990.”[10]

We see Christianity waning[11] in America. Who would ever have thought you would see these issues permeating this nation? In the 1930s, for example, who would ever have thought that courts would be ordering the removal of the Ten Commandments from public places. There is now a court case over the Capitol Visitor Center, in which the engraving of “In God We Trust” is being debated. The secular humanists say they will not allow such a statement in Washington, D.C.

Who would have ever thought that they would throw Creation, the Bible, and prayer out of the public schools? Who would have ever thought that abortion would be legalized across this nation or that gay marriage would be becoming legalized? Who would have ever thought that America would be where it is today? But do we understand the times? Do we know why this is happening? George Barna, a researcher in Christianity, said in 2000 that two-thirds of young people were going to walk away from the Church. In 2006, he confirmed that 61% of young people was indeed walking away from the Church! Why is this happening?

2.   2 Corinthians 11:3   “Beguiled…through subtilty”

“I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.”

I believe we have not taken heed of this warning in Scripture. To paraphrase,[12] Paul basically says this, “I want to warn you that Satan is going to use the same method on you as he did on Eve, to get you to a position of not believing the things of God.” Now, if Satan is going to use the same method on us as he did on Eve, do you not think we should go back and find out about that method? Of course we should;  we must!

In Genesis 2:16-17, Adam received this instruction: “Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 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.”

“Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said…?” (Gen 3:1), i.e., “did God really say…?” Now, what actually happened back there? What was the method that Satan used on Eve? It was to create doubt in regard to the Word of God—it was an attack on the very Word of God. And here is the main point: God’s Word has been under attack since Genesis 3.

The attack was and is just this:

·      You can decide truth for yourself.

·      You can be as gods.

·      You do not have to listen to what God said.

·      You can reinterpret His Word the way you want to reinterpret it.

“Did God really say…?” Doubt ultimately leads to unbelief. This attack has never really changed. The attack has always been the same. What has changed, however, is the way in which that attack manifests itself. Let me explain.

If you were to go back to the days of Peter and Paul, for instance, do you think anyone came up to them as they were preaching about the resurrection and asked, “Hey, Peter, Paul—it is all very well to preach about the resurrection, but what do you do with carbon dating?” That simply was not an issue in their day;  it was a twentieth century invention. Do you think anyone came up to Martin Luther[13] as he nailed his 95 theses on the door of the church and said, “Hey, Professor Luther, it is all very well to talk about this justification by faith, but I want to know how you explain dinosaurs.” The word dinosaur was not even invented until 1841. Whether it is Peter, Paul, Wesley, Whitefield, Spurgeon, Luther, or whoever, there are constant, relentless attacks on God’s Word. Even among the early Church fathers there were ferocious attacks from Gnosticism[14] and Montanism[15] and many others.

But we need to understand something. We live in a different era of history, and there has been a new and more vicious attack on God’s Word. It is the same attack as in Genesis 3;  I call it the “Genesis 3 attack.” It is to create doubt regarding the Word of God—to undermine the authority of the Word. We all must understand the nature of this attack, and it is this: We get the message of the gospel from the Word of God. So if you attack the Word of God, if you can undermine the authority of the Word, you are undermining the gospel—because the gospel itself comes from the Word of God. This is the point that we need to understand.

We live in an era of history that is called The Scientific Age. We live in an age in which, when we think of science, we think about technology: space shuttles, jet airplanes, cell phones, computers, etc. However, the word science means “knowledge.” You gain knowledge by observation, and this is what ultimately builds our technology. But when it comes to knowledge concerning origins—concerning the past, concerning history—that is very different. Unfortunately, when many people hear the word science, they immediately think about technology, and then when somebody says “millions of years” or “evolution,” and they use the word science, then people think, “Well, the science of our technology works;  therefore, I had better believe them when they talk about the science of origins, the ‘millions of years’ and evolution.” They do not realize that origins are very different from technology.

Throughout the public education system and the media, we are being taught geological history, biological history, anthropological[16] history, and astronomical[17] history that totally contradicts the history in the Bible. Now, the Bible is a book of history. Histories that conflict cannot all be correct. People often say to me at this point, “But the Bible is not a science textbook.” And I say, “You are right, and I am glad about that;  if it were, we would be in trouble—because science textbooks change every year!” The point is that the Bible is a book of history, and it does not change. It does not tell us how to make a motorcar or how to build a jet airplane. It is a book that tells us who we are, where we came from, why everything is here, what is wrong with this world, why there is death in the world, and what the solution is to our problem. It also gives us the right foundation to build a right way of thinking to understand reality. But the history that is being taught in our education system and through the media contradicts the history in the Bible.

We can summarize the history in the Bible according to seven Cs, as we do at the Creation Museum. These seven periods encompass all of Genesis to Revelation. The first four Cs—creation, corruption, catastrophe, confusion—are really the history in Genesis chapters 1 through 11. That is the geological, biological, anthropological, and astronomical history of the universe;  it is foundational to the rest of the Bible, to the gospel, and to all Christian doctrines.

In our day and age, there has been an incredible attack on that history. Sadly, much of the Church has succumbed[18] to that attack. I can tell you from thirty years of experience in this ministry and from other surveys, that the majority of Christian leaders will not take a stand on the history in Genesis 1-11 as literal history. The majority of Christian leaders will not take a stand on the six days of creation as literal ordinary days. The majority of Christians, not just the leaders, the majority of people in our churches will not take a stand on Genesis as literal history. They say, “Well, it doesn’t matter,” or “Who cares?,” or “You can believe in millions of years or evolution, it doesn’t matter. The most important thing is that you trust in Jesus.” But the message of Jesus comes from that Book, the Word of God. If you undermine the authority of that Word, eventually you will undermine the whole of biblical truth!

3.   Psalm 11:3   “The foundations…destroyed”

“If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?”

An old country barn is a good example of what is happening in our society. The barn’s foundation is crumbling;  and when the foundation finally crumbles, the barn comes down. When the foundation collapses, the structure collapses. The foundation is essential;  it must be protected at all costs.

Now, the Book of Genesis, and particularly the first eleven chapters, is the foundational history for the whole of the rest of the Bible. It is the foundation for the structure. Let me explain.

When Jesus was asked about marriage in Matthew 19:3-4, He said, “Have ye not read…?” In the common vernacular,[19] it would be like this: “What is wrong with you people;  haven’t you read your Bibles?” When Jesus was asked about marriage, He said,

“Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female.” [20] (Mat 19:4)

Jesus quoted from Genesis 1:27,

“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him;  male and female created he them.” (Gen 1:27)

Then Jesus said,

“For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh.” (Mat 19:5)

This is the meaning of marriage: two people shall become one flesh. Jesus quoted from Genesis 2:24,

“Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.” (Gen 2:24)

In Genesis 2, we have the account of the fact that God took dust and made a man, and then took his rib and made a woman. The two become one because they are one flesh: the woman came from the man. How many times do I hear pastors and clergy all over the world say that you can believe in evolution as long as you say that it was God Who did it. But if you believe in evolution, you have just destroyed marriage—because then the woman came from an ape woman;  she did not come from the man. You have destroyed the oneness in marriage. And by the way, here is Jesus, Who is the Truth and the Word, Who is quoting from the Word in Genesis as history. He thereby builds the doctrine of marriage as one man and one woman. You cannot get any clearer than that. The meaning of marriage is built upon the history in Genesis chapters 1-11, as Jesus Himself taught us.

By the way, it is not just marriage that is at stake! Do you realize that, ultimately, every single biblical doctrine of theology directly or indirectly is founded in Genesis 1-11? Why did Jesus die on a cross?—Genesis 1-11. Why is He called “the last Adam” (1Co 15:45)?—Genesis 1-11. Why do we sin?—Genesis 1-11. Why is there death in the world?—Genesis 1-11. Why do you have a seven-day week?—Genesis 1-11. Why do we need new heavens and a new earth?—Genesis 1-11. Why is marriage between one man and one woman?—Genesis 1-11. Is it therefore important? Genesis 1-11 is the foundational history for the whole rest of the Bible!

Over the past thirty years, I have been asked by the media many, many times questions such as this:

“Oh, but there are many church leaders that say that you don’t have to take Genesis as literal history. They say you can believe in God, and you can believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ;  but you don’t need to believe in Genesis as literal history.”

You certainly can be a Christian and believe in “millions of years” and believe in evolution. Yes, you can, because there are many that believe in “millions of years” who are Christians. If you think about it, Romans 10:9 does not say, “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, and believe in a young earth and six literal days, and don’t believe in evolution, you can be saved.” It does say,

“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” (Rom 10:9)

It is faith alone in Christ alone that saves you;  that is the doctrine of Scripture.

But then people say, “Oh, so it doesn’t matter what you believe about Genesis. It doesn’t matter if you believe in ‘millions of years’ or evolution or that Genesis is literal history.” Please hear me: I did not say it did not matter;  it does matter, for the reason that follows. I had somebody recently say to me, “The gospel does not rise or fall on the six days of creation.” And I said, “You’re right. The gospel rises or falls on the authority of Scripture.” Right! But now here is the essential question: Does the authority of Scripture rise or fall on the six days of creation? This is the key question.

This is the fundamental question facing us today for the following reason: If you are taking Genesis as Jesus took it, as literal history, and then you say, “But it doesn’t really mean what Genesis says, even if it clearly says it,” then you are reinterpreting the Scriptures on the basis of man’s ideas! You are unlocking a door to say, “You don’t have to take the Bible as written”! It is the Genesis 3 attack. It is the Genesis 3 attack of our day, and the Church has succumbed to it!

If Genesis is not literal history, then—

·      Who are we?

·      Where on earth did we come from? There is Adam and Eve, but they are not real. So am I a descendent of Adam? If I am not a descendent of Adam, who am I?—a descendent of an alien, a “Klingon,”[21] or something like that?

·      Why are we all sinners?

·      Why is the gospel for every tribe and nation?

Paul answers all these questions for us in Romans 5 and 1 Corinthians 15: it is all because every human being is a son or daughter of Adam and Eve. We are all sinners because Adam sinned;  we all sinned in Adam.

“Oh, but Adam and Eve are not real,” someone might say. If that is so, then for whom is the gospel? The gospel is for someone, is it not? But who? You see, it is important what you believe about the Book of Genesis.

4.   John 3:12   “If…ye believe not”

“If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?”

When Jesus was talking to Nicodemus about salvation, He said in effect, “Nicodemus, if you don’t believe the earthly things, how can you believe the heavenly things?” Dear reader, let us apply this today to understanding our times. If you do not believe the history in Genesis 1-11, how can you believe the heavenly things, the spiritual things, that are based on that history? In this age we live in, we do not have the same sorts of questions as Peter and Paul had put to them, or that Martin Luther had put to him—but it is the same attack. There is a Genesis 3 attack on the authority of the Word!

This attack masquerades itself with a word called science. It is a masquerade because people are not defining what they really mean by “science.”[22] We could all agree on the same science when we are talking about observational science, the things we can demonstrate and prove by experimentation, using the “scientific method.” But it is when we talk about history—that is where the difference lies. And there is a history being taught as fact today that totally contradicts the Bible’s history. Now, much of the Church has agreed with what the world is teaching. It has said, “We don’t need Genesis 1-11;  it doesn’t matter anyway,” which means what they are really saying is, “We don’t care about this part of God’s Word! You can reinterpret it;  it doesn’t matter. But this part over here concerning the gospel, oh, we care about that.” But excuse me, is it not allthe Word of God? This is key: when you succumb to this Genesis 3 attack, that Genesis 1-11 does not need to be believed as literal history and true, then do not be surprised when the next generation gives up the rest of the Bible also, which is what is happening across the Western world today.

This particular Genesis 3 attack actually started in the late 1700s and early 1800s. There were Deists[23] and Materialists[24] who did not believe in Jesus Christ or the Word of God. They looked for a so-called “scientific justification” for rejecting the Bible as an authoritative book. And they came up with this belief—this idea, this theory—that the sedimentary rock layers with the fossils in them had to be laid down over millions of years. They did not see the layers being laid down;  nor did they dig them up with little labels on them saying, “Hi, I’m so many millions of years old.” It was simply a belief that they held to;  they simply said that it must have taken a long time.

Now, there were some Christian scientists who said, “No! You can believe God’s Word in this area of history.” But there were also far more church leaders in England who said, “Oh, we can take the ‘millions of years’ and just add them into the Bible—but we’ll need to reinterpret the six days of creation.” So they came up with the so-called “Day-Age Theory.”[25] Another man in the 1800s came up with the idea to fit “millions of years” in between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2, now referred to as the “Gap Theory”—if you have a Scofield Reference Bible,[26] this theory is in the notes—but not in the text, which is an important distinction![27]

Then those church leaders in effect said, “We’ve got a problem here, because if all the layers with the fossils were laid down over millions of years, how can you have a global flood?”—which would have ripped them all up and re-deposited them. In the 1800s, to handle this problem with the “millions of years,” they started postulating[28] a local flood, which, when you picture it, doesn’t make a lot of sense. I have seen actual commentaries from the 1800s in which theologians said that God supernaturally upheld the water, as in the image, for five months or so during the flood!

Then along came Darwin, who popularized the idea that one kind of animal changes into another, and ape-like creatures into people. Do you know what the church leaders said? Many of them said, “Oh, we can believe in that;  we’ll just say that God used evolution.” Then along came the Big Bang Theory. “Oh, we can believe in that,” people said;  “We’ll just say that God used the Big Bang.”

I go to churches all across the world and have people tell me, “Our pastor believes in a local flood,” or “Here, we have many people who believe in theistic evolution,” or “We believe in the Day-Age Theory here,” or “We believe in the Framework Hypothesis,” or “We’re progressive creationists,” or “Actually, we take the position of the Gap Theory.” Then they say to me, “So what is your position?” And I say, “The biblical one,” because not one of the others comes from the Bible. Do you realize that they are all imposed on the Bible, and all for one common factor: the “millions of years” theory, which is the Genesis 3 attack of this age. “Millions of years” permeates our culture. And I suggest to you, even more than evolution, the “millions of years” has so permeated the culture and so influenced the modern Church that we have abandoned the authority of Scripture.

5.  Proverbs 30:5-6   “Every word of God is pure”

“Every word of God is pure [flawless]…Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.”

Millions of years

I will never forget a pastor saying to me one Sunday, “But look, surely the majority of scientists couldn’t be so wrong about the age of the earth.” And I said, “Well, pastor, just because the majority believes something does not mean it is right.” How many times in history have we found the majority has been wrong? “Yes,” he said, “but surely the majority couldn’t be so wrong about the age of the earth.” I said, “Well, you know, the Bible says ‘men love darkness rather than light’ (Joh 3:19), so we shouldn’t be surprised at that, should we?” “Yes,” he said, “but surely the majority couldn’t be so wrong about the age of the earth.” These circular sort of arguments can be frustrating, so I finally said to him, “You know what? The majority of scientists did not survive the flood either, remember that!” The majority were wrong in Noah’s day. Every word of God is pure;  we must not add to His words!

I suggest to you that one of the greatest compromised positions of the Church in this age—one of the greatest attacks on the authority of Scripture today—has been when the Church succumbed to the “millions of years” [argument] and reinterpreted the days of creation. “Millions of years” permeates our culture. Go to the Smithsonian, and you see nothing but “millions of years.” Go to Yellowstone National Park, and all you see is “millions of years.” “Millions of years” permeates our culture. And if you are going to adopt the “millions of years,” where are you going to fit it into the Bible? You cannot fit it into those genealogies, where so-and-so begat so-and-so, and millions of years later so-and-so begat so-and-so—it just does not work! It would destroy those genealogies. When you think about it, the only place you can fit it has to be before those genealogies—before Adam, which means in the six days of creation.

This is why we end up with the Day-Age Theory and the Gap Theory. Actually, when we look at the commentaries and at many in the Church—our theologians and our Christian scholars, particularly since the late 1700s and early 1800s—we find that the major reason men do not believe in six days of creation has nothing whatsoever to do with Scripture itself. It has everything to do with starting from man’s ideas of “millions of years” and then reinterpreting what the Word clearly teaches to make it fit those ideas. That is the bottom line!

People question the word day.

Let me explain. A lot of people say to me, “But surely the majority of theologians couldn’t be wrong about saying we don’t know what the word day in Genesis 1 means.” I had a man say to me on a live radio program, “You know what? I agree with you that evolution’s not true”—but then he said, “Yet I don’t believe the days of Genesis were ordinary days.” I said, “Oh, you don’t?” “No.” I said, “Ah, well, can you tell me when the word day does mean an ordinary day?” He said, “What do you mean?” I said, “Well, if you know the word day doesn’t mean an ordinary day in Genesis 1, you must know when it does mean an ordinary day—in order to know when it doesn’t mean an ordinary day. Now, I’d like to know when it doesn’t mean an ordinary day, and in order to do that I need to know when it does mean an ordinary day, so I can figure it out too.” And he only replied, “Huh?” Many, many people have come to me in churches and said, “I don’t believe the word day means an ordinary day in Genesis.” And I say, “When does the word day mean an ordinary day?” And they consistently give the same response: “Huh?” The logic of this argument regarding the word day is totally missing!

A pastor once said to me, “But the word day can mean something other than an ordinary day.” I said, “That’s true, but it can also mean an ordinary day.” He said, “But it can mean something other than an ordinary day.” I said, “That’s true, but it can also mean an ordinary day.” And he said, “But it can mean something other than an ordinary day.” I said, “So what? It can also mean an ordinary day. And the point is, pastor, not that the word day can mean something other than an ordinary day, which it can. What we need to know is, when does the word day mean an ordinary day.”

What does day mean?

The Hebrew word for day in the singular and plural form is used 2,301 times in the Old Testament. Sometimes it can mean “a particular time or time period,” such as in the “day of the Lord” or the “time of the judges.” If you use the phrase “days of days,” it can mean years. In fact, it is like the English word day, which also has different meanings. For example, back in my father’s day (meaning “time”), it took ten days (ordinary 24-hour days) to drive across the Australian outback during the day (the daylight portion of a 24-hour day). That sentence uses the word day with three different meanings. Another example is that some of you are sitting at the back, and you may have a sore back and have your back against the back of the chair, and I hope you come back later on—this has the word back with a number of different meanings. You see, many words can have two or more meanings depending upon the context in which they appear. There are language rules, of which we are all aware, that show us when a word has a particular meaning.

Here is the interesting thing, however: the Hebrew word for day is used over 2,300 times in the Old Testament;  and we profess to know what it means everywhere it is used except in Genesis 1. I want you to think about that for a moment. You do not go to the passage where Joshua marched around Jericho (Jos 6) and say, “How long did he march around Jericho? Was it a million years? Was it 100,000 years? Really, how long did it take to march around Jericho?” We do not even ask those questions;  we know the word day means a 24-hour day in Joshua 6. We know what the word day means when the Scriptures say the “day of the Lord” or the “time of the judges”—but when it comes to Genesis 1, suddenly we have a brain freeze!

Why is Genesis 1 the problem? Because it is the place where we see most clearly the reality of God Himself and His creation of the world. Unbelieving men therefore avoid dealing with the one true God by trying to fit the “millions of years” into Genesis 1. In the name of science, they try to convince the Church that it is legitimate to so distort the plain meaning of day in Genesis 1. And the Church largely succumbs to this distorted view of so-called “science.” That is why Genesis 1 is the only place in the entire Bible where we are made to believe the use of day causes a problem!

Some of you might have heard of the classic Hebrew lexicon[29] by Brown-Driver-Briggs. It gives examples of the different meanings of the word day. The first example for day, as an ordinary 24-hour day, is the first day of creation, Genesis 1:5. There is a new Hebrew lexicon by Koehler &  Baumgartner that came out not long ago. I thought, “This is going to be interesting, what will this ‘new’ one do with ‘day’ ”? I looked up the word day, and they actually had, for the second heading in bold, “day of twenty-four hours,” with the first example: Genesis 1:5.

Perhaps you may have seen the Ankerberg Show with Dr. Jason Lisle when he and I debated Hugh Ross and a theologian from Gordon College. When I quoted Koehler &  Baumgartner, the response from the theologian was, “So much for Koehler &  Baumgartner! So much for Brown-Driver-Briggs!” I didn’t want to be nasty on the program, but the reality is, if we say that, we must also say: “So much for the Word of God!”

Now, here is the question for us: Why do Brown-Driver-Briggs and Koehler &  Baumgartner state the first example of an ordinary 24-hour day is Genesis 1:5? Because, in context, here is what we plainly understand in the Hebrew language from the usages outside of Genesis 1.

·      Whenever the word day is used with a number, 410 times, it always means an ordinary 24-hour day with no exceptions!

·      Whenever the phrase “evening and morning” in the same passage is used, 38 times, it always means an ordinary day with no exceptions.

·      Whenever the words evening or morning are connected with the word day, 23 times each, they always mean an ordinary day with no exceptions.

·      Whenever the word night is used with the word day, 52 times, it always means an ordinary day with no exceptions.

Therefore, we can conclude with certainty, that we in fact know outside of Genesis 1 when day means an ordinary 24-hour day.

What does the word day mean in Genesis 1?

So many theologians, Christian scholars, pastors, and others today do not know what day means in Genesis 1, it must be very difficult to know. But in fact, we do know what the word day means: 1) “day” used with numbers is an ordinary day, 2) “evening” and “morning” is an ordinary day, 3) “evening” with “day” and “morning” with “day” is an ordinary day, and 4) “night” with “day” is an ordinary day.

So, knowing with scholarly certainty what day means in the rest of the Hebrew Scriptures, let us go to Genesis 1 and see if we can get even a hint of what it might mean there.

5   And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. In the first day, there is “Night,” “evening,” “morning,” and a number with “day.” It must mean a 24-hour day!

8   And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day. In the second day, there is “evening,” “morning,” and a number with “day.” It must mean a 24-hour day!

13   And the evening and the morning were the third day. In the third day, there is “evening,” “morning,” and a number with “day.” It must mean a 24-hour day!

19   And the evening and the morning were the fourth day. In the fourth day, there is “evening,” “morning,” and a number with “day.” It must mean a 24-hour day!

23   And the evening and the morning were the fifth day. In the fifth day, there is “evening,” “morning,” and a number with “day.” It must mean a 24-hour day!

31   And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. In the sixth day, there is “evening,” “morning,” and a number with “day.” It must mean a 24-hour day!

My friends, do you know what God is saying? I think He may be saying, in effect,

“These people in the twenty-first century are going to be so thick that I am going to make sure I emphasize it over and over again, so we are going to use ‘night’ with ‘day,’ ‘evening’ with ‘day,’ ‘morning’ with ‘day,’ number with ‘day,’ then we are going to use ‘evening,’ ‘morning,’ and a number with ‘day’ for each of the other five days. And even after all this, do you know what is going to happen? They are still not going to get it! I have already emphasized it to you over and over again. What is wrong with you people?”

You know what is wrong with us? It is this: We would rather listen to the fallible words of men than the infallible Word of our God! That is what is wrong with us!

Think about this: from where did we get the idea of our week? The day comes from the rotation of the earth on its axis, the month comes from the moon’s rotation around the earth, the year comes from the earth’s rotation around the sun. But where does the week come from? The week comes from the Bible, from the Genesis 1 account of the six days of creation and the one day of rest! Now, when we impose modern science on this obvious fact, then we have this: in six “millions of years” God made everything and rested for one “millions of years,” which is why your week will be six “millions of years” long with a “millions of years” rest. This just does not make any sense!

2 Peter 3:8

Now I must make a confession: sometimes people come to me who drive me nuts! These are the people who come and say, “Oh, but 2 Peter 3:8 says a day is like a thousand years.”

“But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.”

But please, read the rest of the verse: it says a thousand years are like a day. The last part of the verse cancels out your objection from the first part of the verse. You cannot impose your logic on one part of the verse and ignore the implications of your logic on the other!

By the way, where the verse also says, “one day is with the Lord,” they ask, “But isn’t that referring then to the days of creation?” No! It is not;  that has nothing to do with the days of creation! The days in Genesis were written in Hebrew. You cannot have a phrase in the New Testament determining the meaning of a Hebrew word—that would be nonsense, you cannot do that by any standard of biblical interpretation. What 2 Peter 3:8 is telling us in the phrase “with the Lord” is that God is outside of time;  God is not limited in any way by natural processes or time.

Let us add this important note regarding consistency. When people say that “a day is like a thousand years,” meaning that we should interpret the biblical word day to mean a very long period of time, they say it only in regard to Genesis 1. Have you noticed that? If they are at all consistent, they would say, “Jonah had to be in the great fish 3,000 years. After all, a day is like a thousand years.” But they are inconsistent;  they do not do that. And why not?—it is, they say, only Genesis 1 with which they have the problem. By the way, six “days” meaning a thousand years for each day, or 6,000 years in total, is not going to help you if you are trying to fit “millions of years” in anyway. People who seek to apply 2 Peter 3:8 to Genesis 1 simply must have never thought it through.

Theological issues

What about the theological issues? Let us look at one that is extremely important. Our God told Adam and Eve to eat fruit and the animals to eat plants.[30] They were all vegetarian, and everything was very good. But remember what happened? God also told Adam that if he ate of a particular tree, then he would surely die.[31] When Adam took the fruit, what happened? Everything changed: death came into the world and God withdrew His sustaining power, so that God’s perfect order no longer existed. Then appeared all sorts of horrible things in the world. But, at the same time, the Bible tells us that God made clothes for Adam and Eve from the skins of animals;[32] animals had been sacrificed in order to cover Adam and Eve after their sin. This is one of my favorite parts of the creation account: the skinned animals with Adam and Eve. Do you know why? Because it is God in effect saying, “There is a solution for you: there is going to be One to come Who will take away your sin by blood sacrifice.” God commanded the Israelites to sacrifice animals over and over again, in anticipation of that One to come, Jesus Christ, the Son of God. And when Jesus stepped into history, He died once and for all (Heb 10:10). In the garden, things changed because of sin. In Genesis 9:3, God said, “Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you;  even as the green herb have I given you all things,” which is why we eat all kinds of different meats today.

Now I wanted to say all that to you for this reason, and this is a big issue in the Church: I want you to think through the implications as a Christian for believing in “millions of years.” According to the secularist, the fossil record is supposed to be a record of millions of years before man’s existence. And many Christians have said, “Well, you can believe that as long as you also believe that God is the One Who caused it to happen.” But the fossil record is a record of death;  it is a record of animals eating each other. Millions of years before man, supposedly, there is evidence in the fossil record of animals eating each other. But wait a minute;  they were all vegetarian to start with, were they not? If you take God at His word, they were (Gen 1:29-30). There is evidence of diseases in the bones of some of the fossils, like cancer and brain tumors and arthritis. How could God call that “very good”? There are many examples of thorns in the fossil record, said to be hundreds of millions of years old—hundreds of millions of years before man and the curse. But the Bible says that thorns came after the curse: “Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee;  and thou shalt eat the herb of the field” (Gen 3:18).

You see, if we take God at His word and we then judge the “millions of years,” we recognize there is a problem. If you believe in “millions of years,” then you have to say, “God got it wrong about thorns, God got it wrong saying that everything was very good, and God got it wrong about animals being vegetarian originally. God got it wrong about a lot of things here.” And then you would be justified in concluding what cannot be: “Maybe God got everything wrong—we should just throw the Book away!”

The Bible tells us the whole of creation groans because of sin (Rom 8:22). It was a [very good] world, but now it is groaning. One day it is going to be [very good] again;  there is going to be a restoration. Acts 3:21 tells us about the restoration of all things: “…the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.” A restoration is necessary because today’s world is a fallen and corrupt world. But if you believe in “millions of years,” there is nothing wrong with today’s world;  it has been going on like this for millions of years, so what could be wrong with it? What is wrong with it is that sin has changed everything.

In London’s British Museum are archaeological artifacts from many prior centuries and from all around the world. Many of the statues are broken—but we can still see the beauty in them, and we stand in awe of the sculptors. I remember some people standing before one of these broken statues, saying, “Marvelous! Wonderful! Beautiful! Inspiring!” And a little boy nearby said, “What are you talking about? It looks broken to me!” We have to be careful as Christians because a lot of times we tell non-Christians, “Look at the beautiful world God made!” But you know what? It looks broken to me because, even though there is a remnant of beauty in it, we must remember: it is not all beautiful because it is a fallen world. So, if you believe in “millions of years,” there is a huge problem, because then it would not be a fallen world—and the human race would not need a savior!

Some people say, “Well, wait a minute. You said there was no death before Adam sinned, but plants died.” There is a Hebrew word nephesh that is used for animals and also for man—it means a life spirit. But nephesh is not used for plants;  plants are not alive in the same sense that animals are. Plants were given for food;  they are very distinct from animals in our consciousness. We can sense this in everyday experiences. For example, we might walk into the woods and perhaps see these beautiful mountains or a sunset, and we might sit on a dead log there and enjoy the view. But would you ever say to a friend, “Oh, let’s go sit on that dead decaying animal and enjoy the view”? No;  there is something different about animal death!

These two things cannot be true at the same time. You cannot have millions of years of death, animals eating each other, thorns, and diseases—all before man’s existence—when the Bible says everything was very good to start with and [both humans and animals were] vegetarian. It is because of man’s sin that things have changed. If we judge the “millions of years” against the authoritative Word of God as Christians, we must conclude that either the “millions of years” is wrong or God’s Word is wrong.

6.   1 Peter 3:15   “Be ready always to give an answer”

“But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness gentleness and fear [respect].”

One of the problems in the Church is that we have not given answers as we should have.

We did some research recently. We published it in a book entitled Already Gone,[33] which I authored with Britt Beemer from America’s Research Group. We wanted to find out why two-thirds of our Christian young people are leaving the Church. We interviewed about 1,000 young adults between 20 and 29 years old who used to go to church as kids and no longer go to church. We only interviewed those who had attended a conservative church because we wanted to skew the results: these would be the best they could be. We wanted to find out why they left the Church. Most of those interviewed had attended public school. This is true in our culture, 90% attend public schools;  and 85.9% of children from church homes go to public schools.

When we asked them, “At what age did you really begin to question the contents of the Bible?” their answers were surprising. It was not in college. 42% are already questioning the Bible by the end of middle school and another 45% by the end of high school.

Then we asked them, “If you don’t believe the Bible, when did you first start to have doubts?” They were not having doubts in college—we lost them long before college. 40% of them were having doubts by the end of middle school and another 44% by the end of high school.

Then we asked, “Would you say questioning was the beginning of your doubt in the Bible?” 56% answered, “Yes.” Questioning, questioning—it is the Genesis 3 attack! They go to public schools, watch television, and are taught about “millions of years” and evolution. Then they come home to their parents or go to their pastor or Sunday school teacher, and they ask about “millions of years” and evolution—and they are told, “You can believe that if you want;  it really doesn’t matter. Just trust in Jesus.” And then we wonder why we are losing them!

Here is the answer to why we are losing our children: the problem is our Christian education! The research found that we are not teaching the Bible as a book of history and that we are not teaching our children before they leave home [how] to defend the Word. We have not taught them to answer the skeptical questions of this age. We have not taught them apologetics.[34] We have taught devotion, spirituality, and morality, which is what you hear a lot of times from the pulpits—relationships, spirituality, morality. But we have not taught the Bible as actual history, and we have not taught how to defend the faith against all manner of skeptics in this modern age.

The research also divided respondees into two subgroups: those who attended Sunday school regularly and those who did not. Do you know what we found? Those who attended Sunday school were actually worse off than those who did not! We found that those who attended Sunday school were more likely not to believe so much that is so important:

·      more likely not to believe that the accounts of the Bible are true

·      more likely to doubt the Bible because it was written by men

·      more likely to doubt the Bible because it was not translated correctly

·      more likely to defend abortion

·      more likely to defend premarital sex

·      more likely to accept gay marriage

·      more likely to believe God used evolution

·      more likely not to believe the earth is young

·      much more likely to question the Bible because of the age of the earth issue

·      more likely to believe dinosaurs died out before people

·      more likely to view the Church as hypocritical

·      much more likely to have become anti-church

·      more likely to believe good people do not need to go to church

·      and more likely to have heard a pastor or Sunday school teacher teach that Christians should believe in millions and billions of years

This is one of the reasons why I believe we have these results: young people hear a church authority figure tell them, “I want you to believe this part of the Bible in this place, but you don’t have to believe that part of the Bible that is so old”!

In addition, we have taught our children all the Bible stories, but the word story in this day and age comes across as a fairytale. We must stop using the word story in this context. We have got to use [phrases] like “these records” or “these historical accounts” because that is what they are!

The reason why those who went to Sunday school were worse off than those who did not, is that we have not taught our children apologetics. Without basic apologetics, our young people are not able to defend themselves against the Genesis 3 attack. We have reached the stage where we must radically change what we are doing in the churches!

7.   Judges 21:25   “Right in his own eyes”

“In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.”

In Judges 21:25 the Bible tell us, “every man did that which was right in his own eyes.” If God’s Word is the absolute authority, then you do not do what is right in your own eyes. It is God Who determines what is right and what is wrong, what is good and what is bad. But if you raise up generations who believe it is man who determines truth—when you in the Church have told young people, “You can believe what the world teaches and reinterpret the early part of the Bible”—then you have made man the authority, and not God. So why should the world not do the same with morality?—which is exactly what it is doing!

We can understand why there is right and wrong and what it is, only from the foundation of God’s Word—the absolute authority of God speaking through His Word, and from that foundation alone. Marriage is a good example. The Bible clearly teaches that it is for one man for one woman, as instituted by God in Genesis (1:27;  2:24).

But if man determines truth, then why not do whatever you want to do? What we see in America, and all across our Western world, is amazing: 1) a collapse of Christian morality, 2) an increase in secular humanism, 3) an increase in moral relativism.

Do you know why? The foundation of our thinking has changed from God’s Word to man’s word! That change has occurred in our government, it has occurred in our courts, and it has occurred in the schools—where judicial activism and teachers’ unions have thrown out God’s Word. They said it is man who determines truth. If you open up any biology textbook in any public school in America, it will tell you how you can explain the whole of life by natural processes. This is nothing less than the religion of naturalism or atheism.

But here is the problem, a problem most Christians do not recognize. We are fighting the battle in the wrong places—that is why we are losing. Let me explain. We Christians rightfully start with the foundation that God’s Word is true;  the whole superstructure of Christianity is built upon that foundation: its doctrines, discipleship, evangelism, etc. On the opposite side is the world’s way, the world’s wisdom, in which man determines truth—it is the castle of secular humanism that is raising all these issues in attack against Christian biblical, unchanging values. The secular man-centered world is prompt to label standing for biblical values as “narrow-mindedness,” “intolerance,” and even “hate.” The onslaught of their issues include gay marriage, abortion, the Bible out of public schools, hate crimes legislation, moral relativism, even so-called “freedom from religion.”

Here is the key: the Genesis 3 attack in our age has viciously and relentlessly undermined the Bible’s authority in Genesis;  and much of the Church has responded by saying, “We don’t need that bit of the Bible. We’ll keep the rest and keep our structure.” But, dear friends, the structure of Christianity, all the doctrinal truth about God and Jesus Christ, requires the whole foundation of Genesis in order to stand.

To make matters worse, we then look up at the battle, and we say, “Look at all the problems in the culture: abortion, gay marriage, etc.,” and we try to fight against all these cultural issues. But they are not the real, essential problem: they are only the symptoms. Dear friends of the faith, one of the issues in America is that we spend millions of dollars trying to fight the moral issues in this nation. But has it worked? The answer is “No!” Do you know why? We fail in our fight against the moral corruption of our times because, ultimately, moral corruption and all that goes with it are not the real problems. Much of the American Church has worked hard for a political solution, but you cannot have a political solution for a spiritual problem. You must have spiritual solutions for spiritual problems!

“If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” (Psa 11:3).

8.   Mark 16:15   “Preach the gospel”

“And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.”

The Bible does not say, “Go into all the world and change the culture.” The Bible says, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel.” Do you know why the culture has changed away from Christian values? It is because hearts and minds changed in regard to the Word of God—its authority over all of life. Do you know how to change the culture back? To see hearts and minds changed in regard to the Word of God. That is what changes the culture. And it has got to start in our homes and in our churches. But we have let generations of children from the Church have their hearts and minds changed by the system, by the world. That is what fundamentally has changed the culture. And we helped, as the Church, when we accommodated the world’s teaching. Just as the Israelites took the pagan religions of the age and incorporated idolatry into their thinking, so we have done the same: evolution and “millions of years” are actually the pagan religion of this age—and the Church has adopted it. We are no different than the Israelites—therefore we should expect no difference in regard to what God does in dealing with us.

To summarize, there has been an attack in our age. The Church is reaching out to the world, preaching the gospel, and conducting all its programs;  but there has been a vicious Genesis 3 attack upon God’s truth, casting doubt upon the creation historical account by asking “Hath God said?” This attack comes under the guise of “millions of years.” In response, much of the Church said, “At least it didn’t hit the cross, so we are OK.” True enough, it did not hit the cross directly, but it hit the Word from which the message of the cross comes.

Much of the Church continues to say, “It didn’t hit the cross.” Had this attack of the world upon the foundations of Christianity been a direct attack on the cross, they would have said, “Oh, this is an attack on the gospel.” Instead they have said, “You know, this ‘millions of years’ attack on Genesis is just a side issue.” No!—this attack is hitting the very Word of God itself, from which the gospel comes.

And then the attacks multiply and come stronger and faster: evolution, “millions of years,” ape-men, and so on. For the world, it is a direct hit on the essential foundation of Christianity. “Aha!” the world says, “We’re undermining the Word of God. We shall be free from all its negative limitations at last!” And much of the Church continues to respond with only, “But it didn’t hit the cross.”

Now, what happens in America as this unbelief sweeps across the nation, and in the rest of the world as it sweeps across the globe? Most Christians continue just to say, “All we need to do is trust in Jesus.” But why are people in the world going to believe the message of Jesus, which comes from the Book that has been totally undermined in their eyes? Then many Christians say, “We have got to get the Bible back into the schools.” But how can you get the Bible back into a system that does not believe the Book itself? Then many Christians say, “We have got to get the Ten Commandments back into the schools.” But how can you get the Ten Commandments back into a culture that does not believe the Book from which they come?

One of the things I have noticed about American churches is that, for a lot of people, they are more concerned about “future things.” They say, “Oh, Jesus is coming back again.” Now, don’t get me wrong, eschatology[35] is important. But the problem is just this: millions of Americans bought the “Left Behind”[36] series, but most of those millions of Americans did not buy creation books—because that is considered “not important.” They say, “Beginnings don’t really matter,” and yet the issue of origins is exactly where we have lost the authority of God’s Word in this age.

The solution is that we must be restoring the foundation of the authority of the Word of God. We must be boldly confronting the false foundation that believes it is man who determines truth.

“And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations;  and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.” (Isa 58:12)

We need to take hearts and minds and see them changed in regard to the Word of God, to stand on the Word of God, to have a consistent Christian worldview. When true Christians, equipped Christians, get into politics and on school boards, the culture changes. Out of the heart a man speaks what he believes to be true.

Now, to help the church with this incredible challenge;  to help her fight the good fight of faith consistently, effectively, and successfully;  to help her rebuild the firm foundation of God’s authority in Genesis 1—along comes a ministry like Answers in Genesis, an apologetics ministry for this age. We look upon the resources that we have, hundreds of books and DVDs, as Christian “Patriot missiles”[37] to deal with the attacks. We want to see God’s people, the Church, equipped. God has raised up this specialist ministry to equip the Church in these times to deal with those attacks, so the Church itself will be able to use those same “missiles” to counter the attacks from the world, and be able to preach the gospel boldly and effectively in the world. When the Church does this, our God will bless His Word with success;  it never returns to Him void, but always accomplishes the purposes for which He sends it (Isa 55:11).

9.   John 7:38   “Rivers of living water”

“He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.”

In the Scripture, we often see the Word of God equated with water—the water of the Word (Eph 5:26);  the “living water” (Joh 7:38);  the gospel, that living water that flows and changes hearts and minds as it did the woman at the well (Joh 4:10). The water of the Word flowed in this nation abundantly in its beginnings and flowed throughout the Western world also—we had wells of that water. Not all of the founding fathers in America were Christian, but many of them were. They built their thinking on the Bible;  they dug wells, as it were, so that the water of the Word would flow across this nation. You can see it today on the monuments in Washington, D.C., and many other places in the nation’s capital. You can see the remnants of the past. This heritage has been given to us by God. He has used it richly for His gospel purposes in the world. It is a heritage centered in the Word of God as authoritative in the lives of men. We dare not reckon the Genesis account as somehow less authoritative without destroying the power of the living water in our day.

10.   Genesis 26:18   “Philistines had stopped them”

“And Isaac digged again the wells of water, which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father;  for the Philistines had stopped[38] them.”

When we read about Isaac, the Scripture tell us that he dug again the wells of his father because “the Philistines had stopped them up.” Today, the Philistines can represent the unbelieving majority in our nation and around the world. I trust you can see the parallel now: the Philistines have stopped up the wells of living water in this nation. They have thrown the Ten Commandments and nativity scenes out of public places;  they have thrown God, the Bible, and prayer out of public schools;  and they have legalized abortion and gay marriage. Yes, the Philistines have stopped up the wells! They have taken generations of our children away the Church, away from the authority of the Word of God and have given them instead a different foundation and a different worldview.

We Christians and the Christian churches are losing them. We need to dig again those wells. We need to dig again those wells of living water so that we can see it flowing across this nation once again.

The other interesting thing about Isaac is this: not only did he re-dig the wells of his fathers, Genesis tells us that he also dug another well, then another, and then another. He dug many new wells (Gen 26:21-22). Brothers and sisters, not only do we need to re-dig the wells of our fathers so that the water of the Word will flow again across this nation, we need to dig new wells. We dig new wells by understanding the times we live in, recognizing that we have to deal with issues in this era of history that others have not had to deal with in other eras. It is the same attack of old, a Genesis 3 attack;  it is the same attack on the Word of God—but it has manifested itself in our era in a different way. That new attack is this incredible “millions of years” and evolution attack on the authority of the Word of God. So we need to be digging new wells;  we need to be coming up with answers, teaching creation apologetics and Bible apologetics, and answering directly this modern attack—so the water of the Word will flow across this nation and around the world once again.

Yet there is an additional problem in the Western world today to which I need to alert you. One of the news agencies’ reporters was standing in the main hall of the Creation Museum when it opened. He looked at me with narrow eyes full of suspicion and said, “So what is your real motivation? What are you really trying to do here?” And I said, “What are we trying to do?” “Yes, what’s your real motivation?” And I said, “Our motivation is to stand on the authority of the Word of God, to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, to see people saved, so that they may be won to the Lord and be in heaven with us.” Then he looked at me with pause and said, “So you admit it then?” And I had to ask, “Admit what?” He said, “That you’re really just trying to get people saved!” I said, “That’s right. Are you saved?” But what he said to me then is the surprising part;  he said, “Well, that’s refreshing.” I said, “What do you mean?” He said, “Well, we interview a lot of people that are fighting the abortion issue or the gay marriage issue or the creation in school issue. We know most of them are Christians and go to church. But when we ask them, ‘What’s your real motivation? What are you all about?’, the usual answer is, ‘Oh, we just want what’s good for the culture’, or ‘we just want what our founding fathers wrote about’, or ‘we just want traditional family values.’ They never come right out and say they’re all about the Bible!”

This is the problem in our culture today. We are fighting moral issues politically, but far too many in the Church accept the “millions of year” and evolution. It is time for Christians everywhere to come right out and say that we are all about the Bible: its authority, its reliability from cover to cover, and its wonderful proclamation of salvation for lost men through Jesus Christ our Lord.

11.   Matthew 12:30   “Against me”

“He that is not with me is against me;  and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.”

This scripture tells us of yet another problem in this nation: it is this idea that there is a neutral position. We have been lulled[39] into thinking there is a neutral position on the issue of separation of church and state. People say, “Oh, they’ve thrown God out of the schools, and that means they’ve thrown religion out;  so now schools are neutral.” Dear friends, when they threw God, prayer, and the Bible out of the schools, they did not throw religion out, they threw Christianity out and they replaced it with the religion of atheism. When you open up any biology textbook, you will find it stating as a fact that the whole of life is explained by natural processes without God. It is a religion of naturalism or atheism. There simply is no neutral position. God’s Word says, “He that is not with me is against me” (Mat 12:30). If you are not gathering, then you are scattering. If you are not walking in light, then you are walking in darkness! There is no neutral position;  there is no middle ground!

The other point we cannot forget is this: “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom 10:17). We have this idea today that if we are going to fight the secularists, then it is acceptable to fight them on their terms. They tell us that, if we use the Bible, then we are using religion. They say with confidence that we must not use the Bible, that we have got to fight them on the “neutral ground” of science and secular knowledge. But when you agree to that, you are actually walking over onto their ground! At that exact point, they have won. They have won at that point because there is no neutral ground. We let them throw God, the Bible, and prayer out of the schools. What did we do? We succumbed to thinking that there is a neutral position. “Oh,” we said, “I guess I’m religious. If I use the Bible, I’m religious. If they don’t use the Bible, then they’re not religious. I guess I’ll need to discuss this with them without using the Bible.”

But why do you think they want “In God We Trust” off the American currency? Why do you think they want to ensure “In God We Trust” is not on the Capitol Visitor Center? The atheists do not want it because they do not believe in God, that is why—it has nothing to do with a supposed concern for separation of church and state! It is like two knights fighting, and one knight saying, “Before we begin, throw down your sword.” “Oh, what a great idea,” the other says, “I’ll throw down my sword now.” It is like a Christian and a non-Christian in a discussion. The latter says, “We can talk about the origin of the universe, but let’s just talk about the science of it, and so let’s leave the Bible out of it.” Many reply, “Oh, OK”! No, we must always remember that God’s Word is authoritative: “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”

12.   Romans 1:16   “Not ashamed of the gospel”

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth;  to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.”

There are many Christians that have embraced the ideas of the Intelligent Design movement. They believe that Intelligent Design is the answer to creation issues in the schools. But please remember, the Intelligent Design movement is not a Christian movement. Because of our sin nature, if you tell people there is an intelligence behind the universe, and you do not tell them Who that intelligence is, then you have left them nowhere. They may say, “We don’t want the God of the Bible.” But remember, “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom 10:17). It is God’s Word that is sharper than a two-edged sword (Heb 4:12);  it is God’s Word that convicts, not man’s word. Paul tells us, “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth” (Rom 1:16).

My dear friends, if we as Christians want to be successful in changing this nation, it is time that God’s people were mobilized. It is time that we stand on the authority of the Word and that we preach the gospel with authority—because we believe the Authority from which it comes. Let us raise up a generation who will stand on the Word, defend the Word, have answers to the skeptical questions of this age, and be able to change this culture—because we stand on the authority of the Word and preach the Word unashamedly. We need to be unashamedly Christian, unashamed about the authority of the Word of God. The reason we doubt, and the reason we do not preach with authority, is that we have been influenced by the world. Do we really believe this Book? Do we really stand on its authority? Or have we let the world cause us to doubt? If we doubt the Bible in any place, it dampens what we do as a Church and as God’s people. Let us repent of our compromise, let us repent of our doubt, and let us stand unashamedly as God’s people: to let this nation know that the history of the Bible is true, that the history of Genesis 1 is true, and that therefore the gospel is true. This is what will change our nation to turn it back to our great and gracious God!

About Answers in Genesis

Ken Ham is CEO and President of Answers in Genesis and one of the most in-demand Christian speakers in North America. A native Australian residing near Cincinnati, OH, Ham has the unique ability to communicate deep biblical truths and historical facts through apologetics. He is the author of numerous books on evangelism, dinosaurs, and the negative fruits of evolutionary thinking, including The Lie: Evolution and Already Gone.

Answers in Genesis is an apologetics (i.e., Christianity-defending) ministry, dedicated to enabling Christians to defend their faith and to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ effectively. We focus particularly on providing answers to questions surrounding the book of Genesis, as it is the most-attacked book of the Bible. We also desire to train others to develop a biblical worldview, and seek to expose the bankruptcy of evolutionary ideas, and its bedfellow, a “millions of years old” earth (and even older universe). In this, we have developed hundreds of resources to assist families and the churches.

AiG teaches that “facts” do not speak for themselves, but must be interpreted. That is, there are not separate sets of “evidences” for evolution and creation—we all deal with the same evidence (we all live on the same earth, have the same fossils, observe the same animals, etc.). The difference lies in how we interpret what we study. The Bible—the “history book of the universe”—provides a reliable, eye-witness account of the beginning of all things, and can be trusted to tell the truth in all areas about which it speaks. Therefore, we are able to use it to help us make sense of this present world. When properly understood, the “evidence” confirms the biblical account.

The Creation Museum is a state-of-the-art 70,000 square foot museum that brings the pages of the Bible to life, casting its characters and animals in dynamic form and placing them in familiar settings. Adam and Eve live in the Garden of Eden. Children play and dinosaurs roam near Eden’s Rivers. The serpent coils cunningly in the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Majestic murals, great masterpieces brimming with pulsating colors and details, provide a backdrop for many of the settings.

The Ark Encounter is a breath-taking, full-size replica of Noah’s Ark according to the biblical dimensions, with many interactive exhibits inside depicting life in the ark and how our creative God answered all its special needs. Its scheduled opening is in 2014.

The Video Conference Ministry of AiG offers your church, school, or other group a cost effective alternative to hosting a live speaker event. When you request a video conference, we will send a Video Conference Coordinator to present DVDs featuring Ken Ham or other of our well-qualified speakers, giving the same messages as recorded at a live AiG seminar. All coordinators are trained at Answers in Genesis. They will work with your group leadership in determining what your needs are and work out all details in presenting the program. After the presentation, resources will be available for sale to further equip attendees to defend their faith.

Video topics to choose from include Genesis, the Key to Reclaiming the Culture, Why Won’t They Listen? and many others. The video conference is offered at no cost to you. The coordinators are volunteers who give their personal time to this ministry. A love offering designated for Answers in Genesis is received at the end of the conference. Please email or phone for additional information to schedule an Answers in Genesis Video Conference: Video Conference Ministry Coordinator;  Answers in Genesis;  PO Box 510;  Hebron, KY 41048;  Phone: (859) 727-2222, ext. 253;  www.answersingenesis.org/events/cvvcc/

Answers in Genesis

PO Box 510

Hebron, Kentucky 41048

Street address and the Creation Museum:

2800 Bullittsburg Church Rd.

Petersburg, KY 41080

Phone: (859) 727-2222

Customer service: (800) 778-3390

www.AnswersInGenesis.org

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[1] permeated – spread throughout.

[2] Charles H. Spurgeon (1834-1892) – English Baptist preacher;  history’s most widely read preacher (apart from those found in Scripture). Today, there is available more material written by Spurgeon than by any other Christian author, living or dead.

[3] John Wesley (1703-1791) – Anglican minister and theologian;  Wesley is largely credited with founding the English Methodist movement.

[4] George Whitefield (1714-1770) – best-known evangelist of the 18th century;  an ordained minister of the Church of England and known for passionately preaching the necessity of regeneration. He was mightily used of God in England and the American Colonies during the “Great Awakening.”

[5] The Independent, “Church ‘Will Be Dead in 40 Years Time,’ ” www.independent.co.uk.

[6] Ibid.

[7] Downing Street – the official residence of the British Prime Minister, London.

[8] Dr. David Tracy, associate professor, religion expert at Melbourne La Trobe University, quoted by Elissa Lawrence, “Losing Our Religion,” Sunday Mail, Sunday Extra Section, Adelaide, Australia, December 29, 2002, p. 48.

[9] Barack Obama, The Audacity of Hope (New York: Crown Publishers;  2006), 218.

[10] Jon Meacham, “The End of Christian America” (Newsweek;  April 13, 2009), 34.

[11] waning – decreasing in power or importance.

[12] paraphrase – express the same message in different words.

[13] Martin Luther (1483-1546) – German Roman Catholic monk, theologian, university professor, and church reformer whose ideas inspired the Protestant Reformation and changed the course of Western civilization. His push for reform spread rapidly after he posted 95 theses in 1517 on the door of the church at Wittenberg, Germany, where he was a professor of theology.

[14] Gnosticism – (from the Greek gnosis, meaning “knowledge”);  an early Greek heretical movement of broad proportions that was influential in the second-century churches. The word gnosticism comes from the Greek term gnosis, which means “knowledge.” Gnostics believed that followers gained a special kind of spiritual enlightenment, through which they had attained a secret knowledge that was not attainable to the uninitiated.

[15] Montanism – second century heresy claiming that Christ’ sacrifice was just one stage in the history of salvation, in which founder Montanus’ own supposed filling with the Holy Spirit in AD 155 was the most significant event.

[16] anthropological – relating to the scientific study of human beings and their way of life.

[17] astronomical – relating to the scientific study of the universe, especially of the motions, positions, sizes, composition, and behavior of heavenly bodies outside of the earth.

[18] succumbed – given in under pressure.

[19] vernacular – the everyday language spoken by the ordinary people of a region.

[20] In light of his views (in 2009) regarding same-sex marriage, the President of the United States apparently had not read this verse. Whatever the President, the Vice President, the leader of either political party, or anyone else says, Christians must examine their policies by the Word of God. Furthermore, we need Christian leaders in the U.S. that will stand for what is right, who will stand on the authority of God’s Word, and who will call our leaders to account!

[21] Klingon – fictional race of superior alien beings from the Star Trek television series.

[22] There are a number of Ph.D. scientists on the staff of Answers in Genesis—most, if not all, of whom went to secular universities to receive their degrees. They believe in science!

[23] Deists – one who believes in the existence of a supreme being, specifically of a creator, who does not intervene in the universe. Deism is used chiefly of an intellectual movement of the 17th and 18th centuries that accepted the existence of a creator based on reason but rejected belief in a supernatural deity who interacts with humankind.

[24] Materialists – those who believe that nothing exists except physical matter, while denying the existence of spirit.

[25] Day-Age Theory – the theory that Genesis 1 can include the concept of “millions of years.” It assumes the word day, as used in Genesis 1, refers to a long period of time. See also Evolution or Creation?, available from CHAPEL LIBRARY.

[26] The Scofield Reference Bible finds its roots in the mind of John N. Darby (1800-1882), the Plymouth Brethren father of modern Dispensationalism. Upon close examination, one finds that Scofield’s notes are an attempt to systematize Darby’s clearly unorthodox thoughts and doctrines and to present them as though they had always been part of orthodox Christianity! See Scofield or the Scriptures by Paul E. Sisco;  available from CHAPEL LIBRARY.

[27] When we look at study Bibles, we must remember that the notes are not inspired like the text, and that the text is the authoritative commentary on the notes.

[28] postulating – assuming or suggesting that something is true, especially because of a theory or an argument.

[29] lexicon – dictionary, especially of an ancient language.

[30] And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed;  to you it shall be for meat. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so. (Gen 1:29-30)

[31] And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 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. (Gen 2:16-17)

[32] Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them. (Gen 3:21)

[33] Already Gone (Master Books;  www.newleafpublishinggroup.com/mb.php;  2009) 176 pages.

[34] apologetics – from the Greek apologia, apologetics is the branch of theology that makes a defense of the faith.

[35] eschatology – the part of systematic theology that deals with the end times of the future.

[36] Left Behind series – fictional series of 16 books and three films from 1995-2007, by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins, about the end times of the future from a dispensational theological perspective, including the rapture of the church, the antichrist, and the Great Tribulation.

[37] Patriot missiles – advanced technology defensive missiles, used to hit and explode incoming enemy missiles in the air, before they can do any damage. First used in combat to defend Israel from Iraq’s Russian-built SCUD missiles during the first Coalition-Iraq war in 1990.

[38] stopped – plugged up.

[39] lulled – quieted by deception;  deluded into a sense of security.

Table of Contents

Introductions

1. 1 Chronicles 12:32   “Understanding the times”

2. 2 Corinthians 11:3   “Beguiled…through subtilty”

3. Psalm 11:3   “The foundations…destroyed”

4. John 3:12   “If…ye believe not”

5. Proverbs 30:5-6   “Every word of God is pure”

6. 1 Peter 3:15   “Ready always to give an answer”

7. Judges 21:25   “Right in his own eyes”

8. Mark 16:15   “Preach the gospel”

9. John 7:38   “Rivers of living water”

10. Genesis 26:18   “Philistines had stopped them”

11. Matthew 12:30   “Against me”

12. Romans 1:16   “Not ashamed of the gospel”

About Answers in Genesis

Chapel Library Resources

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