Where Do We Go from Here?

Actually, I wrote this letter at the end of October, right before election day. Because of the lag time between writing a letter, getting it printed, producing the envelopes, forming the mailing list from our data base, and sending to a mailer as well as published on the website, it all takes a few weeks. And because of the COVID shutdowns, there’s even more time needed to schedule with our printers (who have had their own struggles).

However, let me answer the question for you.

What are we going to do now? We are going to do what we’ve always done. We are going to do what Jesus taught in the parable in Luke 19:13. We are going to “engage in business” until he comes. In other words, we are going to do all we can to engage in the business of the King of kings by proclaiming the truth of God’s Word and the gospel until he returns as he promised he would.

So no matter who won the election, this will not change our mission, our courage, our boldness, or our uncompromising stand on God’s Word and our burden to proclaim the saving gospel.

Election battles are a part of the spiritual battle that’s been raging for six thousand years since the temptation and Adam’s rebellion.

But let me also say this: the election is not really over. I believe that more than ever before election battles are a part of the spiritual battle that’s been raging for six thousand years since the temptation and Adam’s rebellion. And that same spiritual battle will continue to rage—and there’s no doubt we’ve seen it heating up in this culture and the entire Western world.

No Fear

But as Christians, we shouldn’t be fearful, no matter what happens. It’s good for us to be reminded of what the prophet told the people in Isaiah 8:11–13:

For the LORD spoke thus to me with his strong hand upon me, and warned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying: “Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. But the LORD of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.”

I like what Barnes states in his commentary on this verse: “Say ye not—Do not join in their purposes of forming a confederacy [conspiracy]. Do not unite with the king and the people of Judah in their alarms about the threatened invasion by the kings of Syria and Samaria, and in their purpose to form an alliance with the king of Assyria. The reason why they should not do this, he states in Isaiah 8:13, where he exhorts the nation to put confidence in the Lord rather than in man.”

All the way through Scripture, we are reminded to trust God and not fear man. Consider Proverbs 29:25: “The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is safe.”

And no matter who won the election, and what may or may not happen as a result, we need to keep our eyes focused on the Lord Jesus and his Word. As one of my close friends often says, “God has yet to make his first mistake.” The point is, everything that happens is in the control of our sovereign God. Whatever happens, God has not made a mistake. He is in control. He is the sovereign God.

As Job said, “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted” (Job 42:2).

In Lamentations 3:37–39, God sovereignly speaks and commands in history. When he speaks, things happen as they did when he spoke creation into existence.

Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has commanded it? Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that good and bad come? Why should a living man complain, a man, about the punishment of his sins?

He was in control of Jerusalem’s destruction. God sends judgment, but only for just reasons because of people’s sin. And in judgment, he provides a way of salvation. When he judged sin with death, he promised a Savior. When he judged with a flood in Noah’s day, he had Noah build an ark of salvation so those who went through the door were saved.

we need to remind ourselves over and over again to rest in the fact that God is in total control.

So if we truly trust God as we should—even though we will have all sorts of earthly battles that we have a responsibility to deal with—we need to remind ourselves over and over again to rest in the fact that God is in total control.

To me, it’s like what we see when Jesus came to the tomb of Lazarus. Jesus could have made the stone disappear and immediately raise Lazarus from the dead. But he told the people to roll the stone away—that was their responsibility; it’s what they could do. Then Jesus did what man couldn’t do—and that was raising the dead.

So we need to do all we can possibly do to fight the spiritual battle that rages around us. Our responsibility is to “contend for the faith” (Jude 1:3). We are to do all we can “to make a defense [give answers] to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3:15). And we are to use the talents and opportunities God gives us to proclaim the saving gospel to as many as we possibly can (Mark 16:15). But then we know God will do his sovereign work.

What’s in Store?

The spiritual battle may even heat up more in 2021!

We are getting close to the end of 2020. I know we all want to put 2020 behind us. But remember, God has been in total control of all that’s happened in 2020. And I have news for you: the spiritual battle may even heat up more in 2021!

Now the end of the year is a time in America when God’s people plan to give special end-of-year gifts to ministries they support. Thank you for being a supporter of Answers in Genesis. As you may know by now, a family foundation stepped forward to provide the largest matching gift challenge ever in Answers in Genesis history—$3.5 million. They knew because of the COVID shutdown we weren’t able to store up finances as we normally do to get us through the slow winter months.

Also, they were excited about some of the projects we wanted to complete. So will you consider the challenge of this family foundation and help us to raise the funds for these projects and needs:

1. Providing the financial means to get through the slow winter months.
2. Taking our popular Answers Bible Curriculum, designed for Sunday schools, and producing a homeschool curriculum.
3. VBS production. Because most churches could not do an in-person VBS in 2020, we provided a free digital edition that upwards of 10,000 churches and homes have used. But this also means we will basically skip a year, as the churches who were going to do this year’s VBS will do it next year. Going without VBS sales this year means we have a need to be able to move ahead and produce the 2022 VBS, which is going to be so powerful in dealing with an issue that is plaguing our culture.
4. Expanding and enhancing Answers Bible Curriculum to make it better than ever (ABC has been used in various ways in over 10,000 churches!).
5. Providing high-quality content for our Answers TV streaming platform, which already has thousands of subscribers. God provided a miracle to enable us to have this streaming service built during the shutdown. We don’t have the billions of dollars that pagan companies like Netflix and Disney have (and we keep the cost down to make it affordable for everyone!). These worldly streaming services increasingly contain sexually perverse content and push the LGBTQ agenda on kids. We wanted to offer individuals and families something God-honoring. Answers TV now has over 2,500 pieces of content, and we add more each week. But we can do so much more to add high-quality content—we have the people to do this but need the financial resources for equipment, etc.
6. Our design team has put together an extraordinary project to build a new exhibit at the Creation Museum about Israel at the time of Jesus, called Borderland. This will contain material most people are unaware of. And I personally believe after seeing plans for this exhibit, it will not only help people have a better understanding of the context of the New Testament but also inspire people to read their Bibles.

Moving On

So, regardless of what’s going on around us, we move ahead in faith, knowing it’s God who is in total control, and it is he who opens and shuts doors:

And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: “The words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens.” (Revelation 3:7)

The Lukewarm Church

So we move ahead—full steam ahead! There’s many on the broad way who need to hear God’s Word and the gospel. There are many lukewarm churches and Christian institutions that need a new reformation to return to the absolute authority of God’s Word beginning in Genesis.

One of the main aspects of our mission, and something I have always been burdened about, has been to call God’s people back to God’s Word because there has been so much compromise with evolution/millions of years, etc. in churches and Christian institutions. Sadly, many churches have resorted to entertainment more than teaching the Word and equipping people to stand boldly for the Christian faith as they should be doing.

The church needs to heed God’s warning.

Personally, I think much of the church in the West today is like the lukewarm church described in Revelation 3—and the church needs to heed God’s warning. In many ways, I think God has used 2020 to give a strong warning shot across the bow, so to speak, to churches. Think of how freedoms were basically lost overnight!

I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot!

So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. (Revelation 3:15–18)

In all that we are doing at AiG and through our two attractions, we are working hard to grow our generational impact. We recognize the need to impact the younger generations so they will be a witness to coming generations and the world.

Thank you for standing with us, praying for us, and supporting what I believe to be a cutting-edge ministry to impact the church and culture in our day. Be assured the investment you make financially in AiG receives a phenomenal spiritual return.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,
Ken

This item was written with the assistance of AiG’s research team.