Answers in Genesis: Upholding the Authority of the Bible from the Very First Verse

People love the Creation Museum presentations with Dr. David Menton as he uses his new microscope that works through a computer to show slides on a screen, or even video of live creatures under the microscope!

I’ve included some photographs of Dr. Menton conducting one of his special workshops.

CATNDOG THEOLOGY?

I had the opportunity to show a special guest around AiG and the Museum yesterday. Dr. Gerald Robinson is a VP and Speaker for an organization that encourages people to get involved in missions. I found out that I spoke at a church in Australia when Gerald pastored the church—that was over 22 years ago!—when I had brown hair!! What a small world. You can find out more about Gerald’s ministry (called CatnDogTheology) at www.CatnDogTheology.com.

I have included a photograph of Gerald and myself taken in my office.

SPECIAL VOLUNTEER AND SUPPORTER

We praise the Lord for all the volunteer help and support we receive at AiG. Today, a local resident and ‘retired’ business man, Ron Beshear spoke to the staff. He is a strong AiG advocate and supporter and is helping to train the AiG staff based on his wealth of experience in customer service etc. Thanks so much to people like Ron who help contribute towards making the entire AiG ministry as professions/first class as possible.

I have included a photograph of Ron during one of his staff presentations.

DEVOTION

This life is in His Son

(1Sam 4:3) And when the people were come into the camp, the elders of Israel said, Wherefore hath the LORD smitten us to day before the Philistines? Let us fetch the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of Shiloh unto us, that, when it cometh among us, it may save us out of the hand of our enemies.
(1Jo 5:11-12) And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.

Not by a church, nor by a catechism, nor by a doctrine, nor by a sacrament, but, only by one person, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself saves us & gives us eternal life.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying

Ken

This week we received a letter from a 12 year old (from Texas) who just loves Answers magazine. I thought you would enjoy reading his actual letter pasted in below:

Answers magazine is, as this 12 year old puts it, “a family friendly” magazine. In fact, there is even a mini children’s magazine in the middle of each issue. There is no other publication on the market for the whole family that teaches people how to defend the Christian faith in today’s world, equipping people with answers to the skeptical questions of the day, helping all ages to build a Christian worldview, and showing people how to more effectively proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The next issue has an article on global warming—to coincide with the release of our new co-produced video on global warming (which you can pre-order through our website).

Vatican Astronomer Says Genesis Poetry

A recent MSNBC article on a Vatican astronomer stated:

Brother Guy Consolmagno occupies a small space of heaven. A Jesuit brother and astronomer for the Vatican Observatory, he works at the observatory’s headquarters at the pope’s summer palace in Castel Gandolfo, a 45-minute train ride from Rome. . . .

The article later on—quoting Guy Consolmagno—stated:

“A hundred years ago we didn’t understand the Big Bang,” he says. “Now that we have the understanding of a universe that is big and expanding and changing, we can ask philosophical questions we would not have known to ask, like ‘What does it mean to have multiverses?’ These are wonderful questions. Science isn’t going to answer them, but science, by telling us what is there, causes us to ask these questions. It makes us go back to the seven days of creation—which is poetry, beautiful poetry, with a lesson underneath it—and say, ‘Oh, the seventh day is God resting as a way of reminding us that God doesn’t do everything.’ God built this universe but gave you and me the freedom to make choices within the universe.”

You can read the entire article at:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26274906/

Kids Play Creation Museum

You will enjoy this testimony from a family who has visited the Creation Museum:

Our family has come to visit a couple of times. We absolutely love the planetarium. It is one of our favorite things about the museum. What we love is how much we learn every time we visit it. Each time we come home from the museum, our children, ages 10 and 7, come right home and put on their own Creation Museum with their animals. They set up the dinosaur exhibit, the planetarium, the tree frogs, the Garden of  Eden, and they use our tickets to admit their animals.

They will play and play this. They have hanging planets in their closets, and they take the animals into the dark as their planets are glowing and repeat all of the things they have learned from the planetarium. It is wonderful to sit outside and listen in on all that they know now—from a Biblical perspective. It brings our hearts such joy! Thank you so much for all of the hard work you do to make it a top-notch museum.

Devotion

Troubles

(1 Samuel 6:9)  And see, if it goeth up by the way of his own coast to Bethshemesh, then he hath done us this great evil: but if not, then we shall know that it is not his hand that smote us: it was a chance that happened to us.

We are bent to not want to face our sins and to quickly claim that our troubles came from random chance rather than to consider God may want our repentance.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying

Ken

Our Creation Museum is becoming well known not only for its high-tech exhibits, superb videos, and excellent speakers, but also for its beautiful botanical gardens right across the lake from the museum.

Ron Wilson is a local Natorp’s-affiliated gardener with a radio program on WKRC-AM on the weekend—and he has regular features on WKRC-TV (Cincinnati) during some of their news broadcasts. His Saturday radio program is also on XM satellite radio. In his recent online newsletter, he commented:

This week I visited the gardens at the Creation Museum in N.Ky. My good friend Tim Schmitt, aka Mo Hotta [I’ll have to ask Tim what that means when I get back to the office later today!], horticulturist extraordinaire and Director of the Grounds, took me on a tour of the gardens (which surround a gorgeous lake), and it is simply wonderful! Even if you don’t visit the museum (which you should go see), the gardens are well worth the trip. And, the gardens will be expanding over the next few years, so it will be exciting to see the gardens grow in size and maturity. Nice job, Mo!

The Museum’s Beautiful Grounds

Here are a couple of photos taken recently at the museum grounds, including one showing a long trail of cars entering the museum property and passing our botanical gardens to their right. On some Saturdays through the summer, we have been blessed with over 3,000 visitors and full parking lots. Now that school is starting and the price of gas remains high, please pray for good attendance through the fall.

In another photo, you can see how we have added bridge lighting along our beautiful nature trail.

Proud of AiG

From a recent visitor to AiG/Creation Museum:

Ultimately, from our 70-something down to my 7-year-old, all had a wonderful time and remarked very favorably about the various aspects of the day. There was no weak or substandard part of the day. The presentations, planetarium, gardens, behind-the-scenes, and lunch were worth the long drive to get there! I was, once again, proud of AiG!

Church “Profoundly Impacted” by AiG VBS Program

Another comment from a ministry friend:

We used your VBS curriculum at Damascus Friends Church and were profoundly impacted. We have a medium-sized church, and we had between 155 and 162 kids each day—and we know of 23 that accepted Christ that week. Our workers, leaders, and teachers were all impacted by it! The parents couldn’t believe what the kids learned and remembered! It was powerful; so many curricula are so watered down they help no one! But this took the issues head on!

We are ecstatic to hear that you are working on a curriculum for next year, and we want you to know, Satan will try and stop you—but DON’T STOP! We are praying for you all, and right now, especially the writers! It is necessary to have this type of curriculum, especially in today’s culture! We thank you and praise God for your dedication and are recommending you to everyone serious about God’s Kingdom!

Leaving the Tropical Storm/Hurricane Behind

We left Florida this morning as Tropical Storm Fay (almost a hurricane) hit south Florida. We had tremendous responses from the ministry in Jacksonville (in the northern part of the state) at the First Baptist Church of Jacksonville. Last night one man told me AiG was instrumental in his salvation. Many told me they were coming to the Creation Museum—some people decided to change their vacation plans to come to the Creation Museum! For many people in northern Florida, they could get to the museum in one long day of driving—about 750 miles away.

Devotion

Best friend

(Romans 5:8)  But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

The best friend is the one who knows the worst about you and loves you just the same; there is only one friend like that and Jesus is His name.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

Last week, AiG speaker Mike Riddle did a series of talks in Brenham, Texas. On the first day, Mike did four different sessions for 1st–6th graders. He usually speaks to young people on topics like “The Riddle of the Dinosaurs,” AiG’s well-known “7C’s of History,” and fossils.

On the next day, Mike did four special sessions for teachers. Each presentation was geared to help instructors be better prepared to teach origins in the public schools. In addition to speaking on what creationists believe, he spoke on understanding presuppositions and assumptions in the origins debate–and using critical thinking skills. Mike also had the opportunity to meet with the Chairman of the Texas State School Board, Don McLeroy (a biblical creationist), and gave presentations to an open audience at the Brenham High School auditorium.

Mike and Don McLeroy (Chairman, Texas State School Board)

Take Us out to the Ballgame (Well, Except for Me, That Is!)

Yesterday (Sunday) was “Creation Museum Faith Day” at the Cincinnati Reds baseball game. Everything went well I hear, except for one thing: I was not there myself to enjoy it (though I was happy to be speaking at the influential First Baptist Church of Jacksonville, Florida—see the blog item below).

Just before the Reds game started, Mike Zovath, museum VP, was honored to throw out the ceremonial first pitch, with CCO Mark Looy catching—they are the co-founders of AiG along with me. It sounds as if the many AiG staff who were there at the game enjoyed watching their home team, the Reds, beat the visiting St Louis Cardinals 7–3. (Sorry, Brad Benbow, about that—he’s an avid St Louis fan and was in attendance to see his team lose; Brad is a valued ministry consultant who helped arrange for us to be the “Faith Day” title sponsors.)

The 37,000 people in attendance saw a well-played game, I hear, and they were informed about the Creation Museum throughout the day (the museum is located only about 20 minutes from the ballpark). As the crowd left the stadium, our staff passed out museum bracelets to the fans—with www.CreationMuseum.org stamped on the bracelets—as well as a variety of flyers and witnessing booklets. See the photo below.

Oh, and Mike Zovath’s pitch from the mound? It was a little high and wide—but pretty good for someone in his late 50s! (Now, aren’t you surprised that an Aussie like me even knows baseball terms like “mound” and “high and wide”?)

“Creation Museum Faith Day” was co-hosted by a locally owned Christian business called Prasco. The Grammy Award-winning Christian group Mercy Me sang after the game.

Just before AiG was to throw out the ceremonial first pitch, Ted Laughlin, Mike Zovath, Mark Looy, and Jason Goff gathered for a photo on the field as Cardinals players warmed up in the background.

Mike “in the wind up” as he throws out the first pitch, with Mark catching

AiG’s Jeff Hawkins helped at the Creation Museum booth at Great American Ballpark where the Cincinnati Reds played yesterday. Jeff’s wife Jo Ann is on the left, and Renee Looy of AiG is on the right.

AiG staff—in white T-shirts saying “Faith Day”—pass out materials to fans leaving the stadium. Click on the photo to enlarge and get a better view.

Build Their Faith Instead of Tearing It Down

Some recent museum feedback:

We recently traveled from South Carolina to visit the Creation Museum. We had been planning to visit since we first heard the news about you building it. We love AiG and support what you are doing as a ministry. We are a homeschooling family living to bring up our boys according to Deuteronomy 6 and on the authority of the entire Bible, from Genesis 1:1! Of course, family members couldn’t understand why we would want to take our boys there instead of a “fun” place on vacation. But our boys WANTED to visit the museum. We all couldn’t wait!

Well, we were blown away! I thank God for you and what you are doing as a ministry. I am now telling our homeschool friends to go to the one place that will build their faith instead of tearing it down! And, of course, that is the Creation Museum! [We] can’t wait to go back! Thanks again for turning our lives in the correct direction in our walk with God. We have chosen to be different from our culture, and you help us to stay strong in that.

Thank you!

Jacksonville, Florida

Last night I spoke to thousands of people (in a more than 9,000 seat auditorium!) at First Baptist Church of Jacksonville, Florida. I had a lot of terrific feedback, including one man who told me his father—a number of years ago—had stopped going to church and showed no interest in spiritual things. This man came across a DVD with me giving a similar message to the one I gave last night on the relevance of creation. His father was thrilled at the message and said something like, “This is what the church needs to be preaching.” He returned to church and has been going ever since!

I had a tremendous number of young people come up to thank me and ask for autographs, ask questions, etc. A LOT of the resources went out the doors last night—and we still have the second part of the conference tonight!

Devotion

Ruins

(Judges 16:21)  But the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in the prison house.

Sin ruins it all and would do to us what it did to Samson–take away our strength (to resist temptation) and sight (discernment) and service (purpose in life).

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

Some people mistakenly believe that the Stargazers planetarium inside our new Creation Museum is the first creationist planetarium of its kind. Actually, I visited one north of Atlanta many years ago, and for several years Pastor Tom Baird has been traveling the country with a portable StarLab planetarium— sharing with visitors that the heavens declare God’s glory (Psalm 19). In fact, at one of our first AiG family camps back in the 1990s, Tom brought his unique StarLab program up from Florida to the Indiana camp.

Now as far as we know, the Stargazers Planetarium at the Creation Museum is the first to have such sophisticated programs as those put together by our astrophysicist, Dr. Jason Lisle—which will eventually be used in other creationist planetariums around the world.

It was good to meet up with Tom and his wife Maggie as they visited our offices and the museum on Sunday. In the photo, Maggie is holding a stuffed-animal poodle. There is long-running joke between us about “mutant” dogs like poodles!

The planetarium takes about 25 minutes to put up and is “air-supported” (a large fan blows in air to keep the theater up). One of his two models can handle about 70 people at one time—about the same as our museum’s planetarium.

To find out more about Tom and Maggie’s creation ministry, including their Noah’s Park Dinosaur Museum and Planetarium east of Orlando in Florida (the museum comes in a portable version that travels with him) go to www.gospelfossils.com. While there, you can see what his portable planetarium looks like after it’s inflated.

FROM JAPAN TO IOWA–THREE INTENSIVE WEEKS

Carl Kerby (AiG speaker) just came off three very intensive weeks of ministry. You will be interested in his report:

I’ve been doing ministry in Japan for the last 11 years and this year God really opened doors to many of the churches there.

Mr. Horikoshi-sensei is 84 years old and very influential in Japan. He’s been a driving force behind Christian schools and built many successful churches in Japan. He also loves the Creation ministry and Answers in Genesis. He has started a new ministry called, “Inouchi Arigato no Kai.” (This essentially means ‘Be Thankful for Life’.)

His board members are seven pastors from some of the largest churches in Japan and cover the entire nation of Japan.

While I was over there I had the opportunity to meet with these men and then speak in three of their churches. The responses were huge, to say the least. As a result of the meetings they are getting behind Ken Ham’s visit to Japan next August and will distribute the DVD’s recorded of Ken’s talks when they’re finished.

In addition, before I left Japan they were so excited that they scheduled me to come back to Japan next year to speak in all of their churches. This trip will start in Hokkaido, the northern-most island of Japan and go through the entire country to the southern-most island, Okinawa. I had so many positive comments from the people as well as the Pastors. The Pastors told me over and over again, “My people really understood what you were talking about!”, “You have to promise to come back!”

I spoke every day in Japan except for 2. I spent over 15 hours on the trains as well as over 30 hours on planes. It was worth it!

Two days after getting home from Japan I had to go to Des Moines. My wife Masami went with me on this trip thankfully. We were able to stay with friends of the ministry while there and the ministry was amazing.

On Monday we went to the Iowa State Fair, sort of! We worked at a booth that is sponsored by Regular Baptist Churches in the Des Moines area. The friend that Masami and I stayed with has been sponsoring this booth for a long time now and has had fantastic ministry with it. You just can’t believe how many folks are walking through there! They’ve done a fantastic job on making the booth attractive and it really stands out.

As you can see, one can’t miss the pictures of dinosaurs and the questions that are so visible. Questions like: “If there really was a world-wide flood, what would the evidence be?” (Sound familiar?) and “Where Did The Dinosaurs Come From?”

While there I had the opportunity to share with a number of folks. One of the major tools they are using in this outreach is a scale model of Noah’s Ark with a train running around underneath of it. This really shows how big the Ark really was. Children love to come and see the train. While they are there we had the opportunity to share with the parents about the Ark and how it wasn’t just a tiny little boat with giraffes sticking their heads out of the chimney. There are dinosaurs on the ark—a great teaching point! On more than one occasion I heard children asking their parents about dinosaurs on the ark. We had the opportunity to share with the whole family what the Bible teaches on this topic and how what we see in the world around us is absolutely consistent with what we read in the Word of God. For those that can’t stay for long conversations hundreds of AiG’s booklets that give answers to a variety of questions are given away.

We had teachers, preachers, parents, and students. There were people from all walks of life. It was a very encouraging time of sharing the truth in the secular world. I was very encouraged by the number of folks who came up and told me that they had already visited the Creation Museum. I also had a lot of additional folks tell me they were planning to come visit in the near future as well. One lady is planning a bus trip next June. She told me how she took 6 people with her to visit the Museum last year, 18 this year, and now she wanted to fill a bus! It makes me feel so good to hear how excited people are about their faith as a result of AiG’s various ministries.

JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA

Today I begin speaking at a two day AiG conference in Jacksonville, Florida. You can obtain all the details from our website.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying

Ken

Some of you may have seen the Duggar family (17 children—now with another on the way) on television. To date they have been featured on five Discovery Health & TLC documentaries entitled “14 Children and Pregnant Again!” “16 Children and Moving In!” “Raising 16 Children!” “On The Road With 16 Children!” & “Duggar’s Big Family Album.”

Well the Duggars (with the TV crew following them) came to visit the Creation Museum this week. I’ve included four photographs:

1. The Duggars and me

2. The Duggars and the TV crew in the Voyage Room (a Noah’s Ark museum exhibit)

3. The TV crew interviewing Jim Duggar

4. AiG’s Buddy Davis entertaining the Duggar family

Look for the Duggars as they go through the Creation Museum on one of their future TV programs! Air dates have not been announced.

Jim Bob & Michelle Duggar married July 21, 1984. Through a series of circumstances explained on their website, they tell us that “They asked God to bless them with as many children as He saw fit in His timing. Right after that, Michelle got pregnant with twins! To date they have been blessed with 17 children, (10 boys and 7 girls) Joshua, Jana & John-David (twins), Jill, Jessa, Jinger, Joseph, Josiah, Joy-Anna, Jedidiah & Jeremiah (twins), Jason, James, Justin, Jackson, Johannah, Jennifer (and #18 due in January 2009—and they told us what the child will be, but we’ll keep that to ourselves!). As a family project, the Duggars built a 7000 sq. ft. home debt free! Both Jim Bob and Michelle are licensed real estate agents. Jim Bob served in the Arkansas House of Representatives from 1999 to 2003 and was a candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2002.”

You can find out more about the Duggar family from their website: www.duggarfamily.com. When it was announced in a staff meeting that the Duggars were coming to the museum, so many nodded their heads or smiled—indicating that they had watched them on TV. The family has become very well-known in America.

INDIA REPORT

On Thursday morning, Dr. Dave Crandall (Director AiG WorldWide) gave the AiG staff a stimulating report on the recent AiG conference and videotaping sessions held in India. I’ve included a photograph of Dr. Crandall as he talked to the staff last Thursday, and one of me as I interviewed AiG AV/Media Director Ben regarding his interesting experiences while in India.

BACK TO COLLEGE

On Friday night, I took some of our (grown-up) children out for dinner as a special treat for our daughter Kristel who returns to her studies at college as a Junior this year. I have included a photograph of myself, Kristel and Danielle taken at one of our favorite restaurants.

DEVOTION

Let nothing draw us away

(1Sam. 7:10) And as Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel: but the LORD thundered with a great thunder on that day upon the Philistines, and discomfited them; and they were smitten before Israel.

We are the most helped by God when we set ourselves to let no urgency or must do first draw us away from our daily quiet time worship of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying

Ken

I thought you would enjoy this photograph sent to me from Australia. It was taken at Australia Zoo—the zoo of the famous Crocodile Hunter, the late Steve Irwin. (See the sculpture of the Irwin family.)

I hope no evolutionist tries to sue the Kangaroo! Actually, we’ve had quite a few visitors from Australia at the Creation Museum.

Radio Friends at the Museum

A group from the Dayton, Ohio, area was here on Tuesday—co-hosted by our friends at Christian radio station WFCJ. That station was here 12 months ago to do radio programs originating from our newly opened museum. Bill Nance, the general manager, was here again this week. We have appreciated his support over the years in getting out the word about the museum in his listening area (about one hour north of the museum).

Bill wrote us a note the next day:

We had a full busload from Cross America Tours—58 people. Most had never been to the museum before, and all found it most enjoyable! We spent much of the day there, from 9:30 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. Many visited the walking gardens and petting zoo. WFCJ promoted the trip on the air, and Melody Morris and I hosted it.

In the photo, Bill is in the second row (towards the middle, in the blue shirt) and Melody is directly in front of him wearing a striped white blouse.

Denying Course Credit to Christian Schools That Teach Creation

Fox News reports:

A federal judge has ruled the University of California can deny course credit to Christian high school graduates who have been taught with textbooks that reject evolution and declare the Bible infallible, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

You can read the entire story at this link:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,402761,00.html

We have posted a preliminary response about this court decision to our website, and will elaborate on it in our News to Note feature this weekend.

Devotion

Tremendous capacity vs tremendous void

(1 Samuel 2:1–2)  And Hannah prayed, and said, My heart rejoiceth in the LORD, mine horn is exalted in the LORD: my mouth is enlarged over mine enemies; because I rejoice in thy salvation. There is none holy as the LORD: for there is none beside thee: neither is there any rock like our God.

God made the eye for light, the ear for sound, the mind for truth, and God made man with a tremendous capacity for God and a tremendous void without God.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

We affectionately call it his newest “toy,” but Dr. David Menton’s brand-new high-tech microscope is anything but—yet he enjoys using it so much, that it has brought out the youngster in him. It’s called an Olympus BX41 compound microscope, and multiple donors (two of them in Australia) paid for it, understanding the incredible outreach that can be accomplished with it.

The microscope has a range of 40X magnification to 1000X mag, and it has a microscopic video capability to watch things live under the microscope and then be projected on a large screen live (much better than just looking into the viewfinder). And it also comes with a high-resolution digital camera.

Dr. Menton has a PhD in cell biology (from Brown University) and has always marveled at the complexity of even the so-called “simple” cells. On Monday, he hooked up his new microscope to a video projector/screen and showed museum guests the incredible complexity of life.

In this photo, he gives a presentation to teachers from nearby Calvary Christian School—16 teachers and its head administrator, Dr. Don James—who were here for their ongoing professional development. The Calvary Christian teachers group also heard Dr. Terry Mortenson speak on the topic of the so-called “ape-men” (see the two photos) and also attended the anti-racism lecture by Dr. Georgia Purdom on the origin of all the people groups around the world.

Dr. Menton says this about his new “toy”:

When I retired from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri, I had a passion to use my knowledge and experience to encourage Christians and to challenge unbelievers. While teaching at the medical school, I used a microscope with an attached video camera to prepare medical students for their microscopic anatomy lab. Knowing how effective this direct mode of teaching is, using real specimens in real time rather than pictures, I was keen to use this technology to give a very different sort of creation presentation.

I will be using our new microscope here at the museum to show the marvels of the human body (and many other living things including plants) at a level suitable to people of nearly all ages. I see it as complementing the museum planetarium in the sense that we can go from seeing God’s handiwork in the big things He has made in the heavens, to viewing through a microscope the small things that make up our living body. Having spent 34 years teaching microscopic anatomy to medical students, I assure you “God is in the details.”

The microscope will be equipped with special optics (phase contrast) that will allow me to show living-swimming microscopic animals in pond water. I know from experience what a thrill this is for children. We will collect water from various locations on the museum pond and show our visitors what marvels God has hidden there. They will learn that these little one-celled animals are not “simple,” as some insist, but rather manage to do with one cell all of the basic things we do with 30 trillion cells.

I especially hope to influence Christian young people to enjoy science and even consider science for a career. Sadly, young Christians are often reluctant to pursue science out of fear of evolutionary intimidation, but God can protect and bless them even as He has done for me. Indeed, the biblical perspective makes science intelligible in a way that the unbeliever cannot appreciate. Certainly, we very much need Christians in science, medicine, and the allied health areas. Who knows what impact I may have on young people with the microscope you made possible with your generous gift?

At the museum, Dr. Menton will soon be giving talks using this new microscope called “Life in a Drop of a Jungle.” He will take little drops out of our ministry’s lake (it’s so lush around it now that it resembles a jungle) and show pond amoeba and such. Check back at www.CreationMuseum.org for these talks.

“Day” Talk Coming to Museum

Indeed, one of the great bonuses we’re offering at the Creation Museum is our speaker series, featuring our excellent speakers like Dr. Menton and Dr. Tommy Mitchell (and many others). In the photos here, you can see that Tommy gave a presentation last week in the museum’s SFX theater on the topic “Jurassic Prank: A Dinosaur Tale.”

Dr. Mitchell is a medical internist and a very dynamic lecturer for AiG. Last week his “Jurassic Prank: A Dinosaur Tale” included clips from the film Jurassic Park—it was all done to show the truth and fallacies about dinosaurs.

Many of the lectures are free with paid museum admission or museum membership.

The next time guests can hear Dr. Mitchell will be on Wednesday, August 20 at noon when he will speak on “Why Can’t a Day Mean a Day?” For more information about Dr. Mitchell, please visit our website at:

http://www.answersingenesis.org/events/bio.aspx?Speaker_ID=51

Devotion

Leaving and becoming

(Ruth 2:11) And Boaz answered and said unto her, It hath fully been shewed me, all that thou hast done unto thy mother in law since the death of thine husband: and how thou hast left thy father and thy mother, and the land of thy nativity, and art come unto a people which thou knewest not heretofore.

For some like Jews & Moslems, coming to the Lord Jesus Christ means leaving father and mother and becoming a part of a strange, new people, Christians.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

We are already receiving email feedback from the AiG conference in India. Here is an exciting one:

Greetings to Ken Ham and his team which visited India last week. It’s been a life-changing experience for me at the conference. I strongly believe that God has sent the AiG team to clear [up] my doubts which were tormenting for a decade or so. I am looking forward to [taking] the message of Ken Ham to the millions of my Indian brothers and sisters who have to be equipped with the answers to tackle the questions posted by the outside world—specifically I want to reach out to the younger generation. [P]lease help me and guide me on my decision to spread the message and the vision of AiG.

While I Was Gone

As I was flying back from India yesterday (now, that’s a long trip back!—18 hours of flying with two connections, but we and our luggage all made it home safely—praise the Lord), we had a very special staff meeting. We showed a clip of our new global warming DVD, which should be out in early September—produced along with a companion book. In this photo, you can see our VP of Media & Marketing, Dale Mason, speaking to the staff and showing one of our web pages that promotes the DVD/book. For more information, and even to pre-order, visit the product page on our online bookstore.

Also that morning, we gave a 10-year service award to Ted Laughlin. Ted is now the Operations Director for the museum. It was shared with the staff that Ted was hired 10 years ago to help us in our Events Division, often traveling with me and other speakers to set up our meetings. Because of an eye problem (frankly, Ted was not the greatest driver to travel along with for a time!), he eventually helped start the prayer outreach at AiG (which eventually led to such things as a new ministry website, www.AiGprayer.org) and then to the museum where he plays such a vital role. Thanks, Ted.

Many Churches and Ministries Feeling Insecure

Last week at our staff meeting, AiG’s head of security talked about the tragic shooting in a Knoxville, Tennessee, church over two weeks ago. Jeff had the opportunity to be interviewed more than a dozen times by various media outlets. Jeff is the author of a new book entitled An Introduction to Security & Emergency Planning for Faith-Based Organizations, and so he became an ideal guest to discuss security at churches and ministries.

To listen to a clip of a part of an interview he did with the K-LOVE Radio Network, go to (and you may have to register first):

http://www.klove.com/listen/?href=/broadcast/stream.aspx?href=/audio/podcasts/klovenews_podcast2124_20080808.wma&title=K-LOVE+Podcast&author=K-LOVE+Radio&onespeed=True

In this photo, Jeff is seen speaking to the AiG staff last Thursday about the need for Christian organizations and churches to be vigilant in these increasingly violent times.

AiG Conference in Florida This Weekend

This weekend I will be speaking at a series of meetings (with special talks for young people and college-age men and women) at the First Baptist Church of Jacksonville, Florida. For a detailed itinerary of all the speaking times and topics, go to:

http://www.answersingenesis.org/events/details.aspx?Event_ID=6101

Devotion

Deadens

(Judges 16:20)  And she said, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he wist not that the LORD was departed from him.

The first action of sin is like an anesthetizing neurotoxin that deadens our sensitivity to the presence of the Lord.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

Last week, several AiG scientists and other staff drove five hours to Pittsburgh to attend the Sixth International Conference on Creationism, a gathering of scientists and researchers (and some lay people) that occurs every 4-5 years. Dr. Andrew Snelling of our staff was a key person at the ICC—not only did he present three papers (on methods used to date the Grand Canyon, one on radiohalos and research in Australia, and another on radiohalos in England—who says that creationists don’t do research!?), but he was also the ICC’s editor-in-chief. In previous years, Andrew has won the top technical paper twice in the past three ICCs. AiG’s Dr. Georgia Purdom also presented a paper—on bacterial adaption.

Over 350 full-time attendees plus 50 speakers came from around the world (e.g., Nigeria, Korea, Sweden, plus the major European countries—and Mexico and Canada) to hear the latest in creation research. In the evening, attendance—including local residents—swelled to about 650 people. As usual, the Creation Science Fellowship hosted the event, and this time ICR was the co-sponsor. The photo shows AiG’s Walt Stumper (left) with ICC board member Stu Chandler at the AiG exhibit located next to the meeting room.

Dr. Terry Mortenson, one of our researchers and popular speakers, returned from Pittsburgh last week. Here is what he shared with me:

Over 400 people attended to hear 37 peer-reviewed technical papers presented. They covered such diverse topics as beneficial mutations in bacteria, a powerful computer program for studying mutations and natural selection, radiometric dating of a geological formation in England, bioethics and the image of God, a young-universe cosmology, the length of the Ice Age, details of the Hebrew text of Genesis 1 that refute a popular old-earth view, the creation of cosmic magnetic fields, the structural stability of Noah’s Ark, the erosion of Niagara Falls, and many other interesting topics.

The technical quality of many of the papers was high and there was plenty of discussion after each paper, sometimes rather lively as creationists from different perspectives work to unravel the many mysteries of God’s creation.

These papers have helped to develop and strengthen the Creation-Flood model, but with each paper we see how much more research needs to done. It was encouraging to see a number of graduate students there who are doing creationist research at secular universities—one session was devoted to discussing how we can encourage, mentor, and help provide funding for more Christian students to join the battle by getting their PhD in an area that can advance the creation model.

God has made an almost incomprehensibly complex creation for scientists to study. Though lots of questions remain, two things are clear. One, true science powerfully confirms the literal truth of Genesis chapters 1–11. Two, evolutionary stories are fatally flawed in explaining the cosmos, the rock layers of the earth with their fossils, and the origin and diversity of living things. Of course, that is no big surprise, since the Bible is the inerrant propositional revelation of the Creator.

I was personally encouraged by many people who came up to me to say that my research on the 19th-century origin of the idea of millions of years—and of the church’s compromise with that idea—has been very helpful to them, both through my one-hour DVD and two-hour DVD and my book.

We press on in the cause of Truth.
—Terry

Creation in Costa Rica

While in India, I received this highly encouraging report from someone I met at the Creation Museum who told me he had used AiG resources in Costa Rica recently. Here is Scott’s account:

Hello from Lima, Ohio. Our 10-member team from Meadowbrook Baptist Church has returned safely from Costa Rica. As you asked, here is a quick summary of how God used us and the materials from Answers in Genesis.

I’ve attached some photos from our trip showing us using the VBS “Amazon Expedition” posters to teach the kids in Spanish. As you might be able to see in the photos, we changed the words from the VBS posters from English to Spanish so they could understand. We did AiG’s “7 C’s of History” in Spanish, which fortunately, was still 7 C’s, even with the translation!

First, our U.S. church did AiG’s Amazon Expedition for 5 nights of VBS at our home church in June—to 25 children. The lessons were fun and informative, and sparked some good questions from the children. We had one known salvation decision made at the end of the week.

Then our team of 10 went on our missions trip to Costa Rica in last month. It was exciting to be used by God as well as seeing how God is using and working thru pastors, missionaries, and others down in Costa Rica. We ended up being part of 4 church services, did two days of VBS, layed down a concrete floor for a new Christian school at a church in Carpio, and instructed and encouraged 5 Costa Rican pastors and their families during a 3 day pastors’ conference.

Here is how Answers in Genesis was a part of our missions trip:

1. In Cartago, we passed out AiG Spanish tracts to adults and children in a public park. We passed out around 500 in only 20 minutes. Tracts included “Is there really a God?”, “Dinosaurs and the Bible,” and “Where did the Races come from?” Unlike in America, the people were polite and accepted them gladly. Some people asked for more for friends and family. We saw several people sitting right there in the park and reading them. We prayed that someone will be impacted by these tracts handed out that day.
2. We were involved in 4 church services, one teen service, and 3 regular church services. During the regular church services, many from our group were allowed to run the children’s church portion of the service. We did games, crafts, and songs (in Spanish), but we also taught the 7 C’s of History. One of our team members, Carmen, speaks Spanish, and did all the children’s lessons so we wouldn’t need a translator. Carmen did a wonderful job going through the 7 C’s with the children. I was excited and proud of her the way she discussed dinosaurs being created on day 6, and dinosaurs on the ark. The kids had not heard these ideas before. One child spoke up and said that they had been taught about the Big Bang in school, and that we come from monkeys (even in Costa Rica). Carmen did great explaining the truth to these youngsters. Another child expressed disbelief about the dinosaurs on the Ark, but again Carmen was firm and told him it was so. I was also impressed about the way she taught “Confusion” [the Tower of Babel event]. She made a special effort to teach the kids that there is only one race, and that we are all the same color, just different shades of the same color. She also explained why we speak different languages, which was perfect for this environment.
3. We distributed more of the AiG Spanish-language tracts at each of the church services, and left several tracts with the pastors of these churches to hand out. There was a youth soccer tournament going on in the afternoon following a Sunday morning service at one of the churches. The pastor asked if he could use our tracts to hand out to the mostly un-churched soccer players later that afternoon. We gave him all we had with us that day.
4. A wife of one of the pastors we ministered to told us that the 7 C’s lesson we taught the children was the best lesson they’d ever been taught by all the groups that have come down to Costa Rica. She was very impressed that her daughter knew all the 7 C’s and was reciting them for her that night.
5. We did a two-day VBS for children ages 4–12 in Carpio, where we laid the concrete floor. We had as many as 245 kids in one session, and ended up ministering to over 400 kids during the week in VBS and the children’s church programs. Again, Carmen taught the 7 C’s of History. We also tried teaching the children the 7 C’s song in Spanish, which goes:
   

   Creacion, Corrupcion, Catastrofe,
   Confucion, Christo, y la Cruz.
   Consummacion es la ultima C,
   las siete C’s de la historia.

It was an exciting, yet tiring, 10 days. But it was worth it. Thanks to AiG for being a part of this trip. Please pray for us that we’ve made an impact on the people of Costa Rica.

One of the photos is of Pam and me holding the creation poster and the verse poster for the creation lesson. As you can see, we had the posters changed into the Spanish language.

I will definitely be in prayer for you in India, and as always, for the ministry of Answers in Genesis. Thanks.

—Scott Trochim, Ohio

Motorcycle Leap of Faith

Now, why are we mentioning the first annual “Crabfest”—August 30 in Blanchester, Ohio (about 50–60 miles from AiG and our museum)? There is an interesting background to the big crab involved in all the festivities, including a motorcycle jump.

Crabfest is a one-day event at an AiG-supportive church—Freedom Worship Baptist Church in Blanchester. In addition to music, food, and games, it will be the site of a remarkable motorcycle jump (with Evel Knievel connections) over a large model of a horseshoe crab, which was donated by AiG to the church many years ago (after we had obtained it from a museum on Baltimore’s harbor). The church calls this the “World’s Largest Horseshoe Crab” (I doubt there are many competitors, though!), and motorcycle jumper Gene Sullivan will attempt this leap over the crab.

Mr. Sullivan was the bodyguard of famed motorcycle daredevil Evel Knievel (in fact, he presided over the services of Knievel’s funeral last November). His jump over the crab will be filmed for use during a feature special on TBN doing a look at Sullivan’s career and this tour.

The biggest challenge with this jump? Sullivan will not be able to see the landing ramp on the other side of the model crab due to the size of the crab. The horseshoe crab has become something of a roadside attraction, as it measures over 68 feet long, 24 feet wide, and 13 feet tall. The “Crab” has been host to everything from weddings to cover shoots for CD albums—and can seat as many as 65 people under its shell.

For information and photos, go to the Crabfest information page.

Devotion

Our strength

(Ruth 3:18) Then said she, Sit still, my daughter, until thou know how the matter will fall.

When hearts race with anticipation for what will happen and urge says to jump in, our strength is to sit still and see how our Lord Jesus makes the matter fall.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken