Then I grew up. Each year as I observed the celebrations, I would ask myself the question, “How can it be that all of these thousands of voices can mindlessly sing about Britannia being free from slavery when in fact bondage had long ago slipped in the back door and throttled the whole system?”

“A breeding ground of Darwinian evolution and atheism . . . and more recently spreading Islamization . . . England has been recognized as falling away from its Christian heritage for generations.”[1] Not even the head of the Church of England, Queen Elizabeth II, can halt the spreading moral virus which has infected the land of Wesley, and Spurgeon, and Tyndale, and Wycliffe.

However, there seems to be hope—or is there? Evidently, there was a poll headed up through Oxford University, which discovered that a significant segment (43 percent) of the public thought that Christianity ought to be taught in the classroom as a “building-block” of the nation’s religious heritage. However, thanks to the British Humanist Association, which wants to make sure that nothing evangelistic might squirt out in the mix, the desired result must be an academic curricula that displays Christianity as a “historical and cultural platform.”

So, is it true today? Can the Brits and all those who still have some pride in the Union Jack ever sing with full understanding, “Britons never, never, never shall be slaves”? It seems doubtful that this can happen until another John Bunyan steps forward and gives identity to the kind of spiritual bondage we are really in and points the nation to the only Name given among men whereby we must be saved (Acts 4:12).

In Christ,
Steve Fazekas

[1] Poll: Britain Wants to Return to Its Christian Roots, http://onenewsnow.com/culture/2012/12/01/poll-britain-wants-to-return-to-its-christian-roots

The first chapter of Daniel helps us see some very key points about the time of the exile of Israel to Babylon. God gave Israel into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, who was determined to bring about a society that was integrated in all matters, including education and worship.

Nebuchadnezzar stamped his authority by taking away the Hebrew names of the young Israelite men taken to Babylon and replacing them with names associated with his own false gods. He also took important items from the temple and placed them in the house of his own gods.

The response from Daniel comes in the way he reacts to the dietary requirements given for the young men in Babylon. Instead of eating that which would defile him as a Hebrew worshiping the one true God, Daniel, by faith, requests a test through which God graciously provides a way for him to continue walking in holiness.

Everything in the first chapter of Daniel reminds us that Daniel and the other young Hebrew men with him were taken into exile in an evil land. We are reminded that this land took the holy things of God and made them into detestable things, put in detestable places. Daniel is living in a land not his own and is living under the oppression of an anti-God government oppressing the faithful with anti-God policies.

Whenever I read Daniel, I think of the world in which we currently live. I also think of our times when I read the letters of Peter and James, who wrote to Christians who were in the dispersion. They wrote to the faithful who were dispersed among the different parts of the world, living in a land not their own. We are constantly reminded in Scripture that we are to live “in the world but not of the world.” In fact, with the increasing influence of Bible-doubting belief systems such as evolution and millions of years, the world is becoming more and more antagonistic toward Bible-believing Christians and the gospel of Jesus Christ. Yet, just as we are shown in the lives of people like Daniel and Joseph in Scripture, God is sovereign and our true security is in Him. No matter how much hatred toward God and His Word increases, we can constantly be reminded that nothing, including death, can separate us from His love in Jesus Christ (Romans 8:38–39).

What does all this mean for the worldwide ministry of Answers in Genesis? Well, simply this: here in the USA and all over the world there are people living under the worldly oppression of anti-God regimes. Christians need to be strengthened in their faith to know and defend the truth of God’s authoritative Word and to have a firm foundation to live with full conviction in the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Persecution for standing on the authority of the Word of God and pointing people to Jesus Christ is likely to become more pronounced, and the call for God’s people to remain faithful has never been more important. There is no more important time than now in which we must give real answers to the attacks on the credibility of God’s Word for a lost world and point them toward Jesus Christ. The true home for every Christian is not the dirt on which we now live but it is in the kingdom of Christ.

Just like the people in the time of Daniel, Christians are living in exile awaiting the day when we will be taken home. Just like the education systems of the Babylonian empire that Daniel was forced to learn in, the philosophies of our time are being taught to our children in the secular education facilities in state-run institutions in every country. They are designed to rob our children of their knowledge of their true home in Christ’s kingdom. Parents need to think very seriously about the education options for their children and work tirelessly to ensure the next generation understands a true Christian worldview.

The importance for parents to teach their children the truth of Scripture from the very first verses in Genesis is exponentially increasing. The faithfulness of the next generation will depend upon their ability to see through the godlessness of the philosophies of the world we live in, just like Daniel did. The church needs to see through the secular philosophies of our time and stand strong on the authority of God’s Word and the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The worldwide ministry of Answers in Genesis in its support role to the local church has never been needed more than now. God’s Word is true and His gospel is the only way of salvation in a world that openly and aggressively rejects Him. The last verse of Daniel 1 reminds us that Daniel lived through the reign of oppressive Kings. Ultimately, God will continue to bring His witness until the day Christ returns. It is God who is sovereign, not any single or cumulative power on this earth or any principality or power in the spiritual realm. Christ is King.

Steve Ham, Senior Director,
Worldwide Outreach

When I’m in a situation like that, I often ask a little about the history. Many people have heard about the Welsh revival and its association with the preacher Evan Roberts. Two men who influenced Roberts were the brothers Frank and Seth Joshua. Frank Joshua was indeed the founder of the Welsh church that I spoke in. The connection was that Seth Joshua had offered a prayer that Evan Roberts had responded to in kind. Apparently, in 1904 Seth Joshua prayed, “Oh God, bend us,” to which Evan Roberts replied in prayer, “Oh God, bend me.” This prayer was the commencing influence of the famous Welsh revival.

A very short walk from this same church is a building with a plaque on the wall dedicated to another major influencer in the town of Neath. This man was Alfred Russel Wallace. Wallace was a contemporary of Charles Darwin and had, in fact, already developed his own thoughts on evolution prior to Darwin’s release of Origin of Species. Wallace and Darwin were at one time close associates as they shared thoughts with each other on evolutionary ideas, and Wallace’s contributions to evolutionary thought also prompted Darwin to publish his book On the Origin of Species.

It does seem, however, that Wallace and Darwin were at odds in one area. Wallace was a spiritualist. Wallace noticed a difference in humanity to the rest of the “natural world” he observed. Humans had wit and humor, an artistic genius and a moral conscience. Wallace believed there must be something in the unseen spiritual world associated with the differentiation between animals and what he had seen in humanity. Yet, Wallace remained an unbeliever. While he appreciated a religious sense in humanity (something Darwin and Huxley both disliked), Wallace believed Christianity to be nothing more than doctrines developed from childhood stories leading to blind faith rather than proceeding from truth.

If only Wallace had realized that his evolutionary philosophies were bounded in his own faith in naturalism. Wallace completely rejected the confirmable biblical history God has given us in His Word, and as a result he had no reason to account for the major differences he found between humans and animals—apart from some nebulous concept of spiritualism.

It was a privilege to speak in the church at Neath. In one respect I was just like the original founders of that church. I was preaching in Neath with a heart to see the men and women of Wales come back to the word of God and to know the saving reality of Jesus Christ. In another sense I was teaching everything that Alfred Russel Wallace had missed in the history of God’s Word while he was trying to understand aspects of speciation and the great variety in animal kinds. Because of the philosophies of people like Wallace and Darwin, millions of people all over the world have been misguided in their understanding of science and history and have been blinded to the truth of our Creator and Savior.

Until next time, pray for a new revival in Wales. Pray that the people of Wales will come back to the Word of God and to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

Steve Ham, Senior Director
Worldwide Outreach

This morning I was listening to The Briefing podcast by Dr. Al Mohler as part of my normal morning drive to work. Dr. Mohler alluded to a New York Times report of panic in Russia concerning the supposed end of the world. The prediction is that the Mayan calendar points to the end of the world on December 21, 2012. As a result of the doomsday rumors, there have been particular reports of a “collective mass psychosis” in a women’s prison and other concerning behaviors from individuals within the Russian community.

Through the years of communism, the truth of Scripture had been effectively suppressed by Russian government. Today, while there is more of a tolerance toward the preaching of biblical truth, and while many in the church have no longer needed to remain underground, the Russian people have remained a superstitious people, blind to the foundational truth in the Word of God. How then do they deal with the new age superstitions about the Mayan calendar?

Here is a distinct example of the importance of the translated AiG Foundation series for the people of Russia and other Russian-speaking countries that were a part of the former Soviet Union. When we can know and defend the literal history in Genesis, we can know that the Word of God is reliable and authoritative. The Bible tells us that we rebelled against our Creator but this Creator actually stepped into history to become our Savior by taking our punishment for sin and dying on the Cross for us. We also know that Jesus is risen and that He is coming back to judge the world and bring about the new heavens and new earth, which will again be perfect but without any possibility of corruption because Jesus has eternally dealt with sin on the Cross.

Knowing about God’s perfect original creation can give us great confidence in the future restoration of all things in Jesus Christ, and in the perfect new creation to come. The ability to defend the history of God’s Word gives us also the ability to know the reliability of His message of hope. The foundational message of Answers in Genesis is a perfect counter for these end-of-the-world superstitions. The AiG message of biblical authority helps people understand that although there is no foundational confirmation for a Mayan calendar’s end date, there is a reliable history in the Word of God telling us the true plans for the future of this world.

People in Russia should definitely be concerned about the end of the world, but not because of a Mayan calendar. No one knows the day or the hour when Christ will return, and those who have trusted Christ for salvation can look toward that coming day with eager expectation and confidence, being secure in a glorious eternity. Until Russia knows Christ, no other truth or comfort can be given to ease the minds and hearts of those joining the collective mass psychosis in turmoil over the end of the world. Yes, the end is coming. More than likely it is not going to be December 21 but it does draw closer every day. The answer to our problem is found only in Jesus Christ and His gospel, given in His authoritative, reliable, and confirmable revelation—the Bible.

In our Creator who is Savior,
Steve Ham

While I was in the UK, an article appeared in The Economist that was titled “No God, not even Allah.” The article identified that the majority of Muslim countries actually treat atheism as a crime, and many would deem it punishable by death. The report was inspired by news of an atheist being jailed for two and a half years in Indonesia for writing “God does not exist” on a Facebook page. Reading this article while I was in the UK stirred my thinking toward the current religious climate of the UK. The two fastest-growing religions in the UK are, in fact, atheism and Islam. Those calling themselves Muslim in the UK are increasing by 2.2 percent each year, and those claiming atheism are increasing by 2.8 percent per year. Meanwhile, those embracing the name of Christian are decreasing in the UK by .8 percent every year (statistics from Operation World, IVP).

While many would not accept atheism being classified as a bona fide religion, it fits all the categories of a religious faith. In this sense, the Economist article that I read described one religious faith persecuting another. However, I have noticed that in the UK there is a general acceptance of all worldviews—and any religion, in fact—as long as it is not Christian. The media is becoming increasingly hostile to biblical Christianity. In my short visit to England and Wales, I noted that many “giants” in the Christian faith—such as Owen, Wesley, Whitefield, Bunyan, and others who impacted the world with the gospel—are merely a dim shadow from the past.

What is quite astounding to me is that real persecution of Christians may not be far off in the UK. Christians are already being censored for standing on God’s Word when it comes to creation, marriage, sexuality, abortion, or other moral issues. A return to the climate of persecution for simply holding to a biblical faith is not at all unthinkable. Yet the Bible teaches Christians to love their enemies and do good to those who hate them and spitefully use them.

We are commissioned to bring the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ for salvation to every individual—and this includes everyone in the great United Kingdom. The message of Answers in Genesis combats the hateful attitudes of the secularists and those who espouse intolerance toward believers who confess that Jesus is Lord. The message is that we have an authoritative Word of revelation from our Creator. This message gives us a credible and confirmable historical account, which points to its authenticity as a reliable revelation of God. This message also announces the hope of salvation in Jesus Christ alone for everyone who believes. What an incredible opportunity exists for the AiG message to strengthen the church in the UK as we stand to deliver the gospel to those who walk in the darkness of their unbelief.

In Christ our Creator who is Savior,
Steve Ham

Consider the gospel writer John late in his life, as an old man in exile. No doubt, recollections of his divine Friend flooded his heart as he labored on Patmos in a Roman stone quarry. Over and over again he may have thought, “I saw Him. I heard Him. I lived and walked with Him for three years. We ate together. We were the best of friends.” Yet how interesting it is that this same John saw his old friend years later. It was a kind of homecoming—a reunion of sorts.

Whenever we see old friends and renew an acquaintance, it’s all about a good time. We talk about our jobs, or the kids, or how the ball team is doing. But with John it was totally different. There was no rush to embrace, no excited exchange of greeting, no mutual slap on the back. Instead, John says, “His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength . . . and when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead” (Revelation 1:16–17). This vision of the glorified Son of God put him on his face as though he was struck dead. Surely this was similar to the view of God that gripped the prophet Isaiah: “Woe is me, for I am undone! For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.” (Isaiah 6:5)

One common attack of the atheists comes as an accusation that the God of the Bible, if He does exist, is the consummate egoist—always worried about how He appears. Yet one aspect of the hope of the believer is a shared glory. Listen to the words of the Son of God, spoken before He sacrificed His life on the Cross: “And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one . . . that they may behold My glory” (John 17:22, 24).

The hymn writer said it so well. “Turn your eyes upon Jesus; look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.” Those “things of earth” surely include all of the things that cause us to regard ourselves more highly than we ought.

Steve Fazekas, AiG–U.S.

We have recently looked at the subtle nature of gnostic thinking and pointed to its ability to permutate and modify. Gnostic an ancient-sounding word, descriptive of something from the second century. Yet it carries its baggage right through the front door of today’s evangelical church, comfortably parks itself in the front pew, shakes hands with the visitors, hugs little old ladies, and kisses babies. The gnosis—or knowledge that saves—is an elitist faith. At its root it is narcissistic, exclusive, and self-absorbed.

Valentinus, a second-century mystic and teacher of gnostic thinking, writes as though he stepped into our time and addressed a large audience at the downtown civic center. Here he is quoted by one of his followers:

“Spirit is present in man, but it is dormant. Only the word of Christ, which awakens and reveals it, can lead to self-knowledge . . . Valentinus provided us with a very original approach (to Christianity) which is not the Word and the Spirit, or the Word and the Sacrament, but the Word and the Self.” [1]

Maybe it’s not such a bad idea to usher in the Christmas season on the heels of Thanksgiving. The prophet Isaiah called upon the whole of the human race race to consider how spiritually self-admiring we really are.

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
(Isaiah 53:6)

It’s really all about Him, isn’t it?

Steve Fazekas, AiG–U.S.

[1] Valentinus, as quoted by Quispel, as cited in Philip J. Lee, Against the Protestant Gnostics (New York: Oxford University Press, 1987), p. 10.

In glorious distinction, the light of the God-man Jesus Christ has permeated the darkness of this fallen world and floods the gloom with moral brilliance. As the Scripture so beautifully states, “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined” (Isaiah 9:2) and “The Lord will be to you an everlasting light, and your God your glory” (Isaiah 60:19).

Over against all monotheistic systems of religion that set forth their deity as a solitary unity, the triune Christian God dwells in a shared reciprocity of attachment and delight, of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—of one heart, perfectly open to one another, identical in purpose and plan, an eternal fellowship of love and community and light. No wonder Jesus could step into history and unambiguously proclaim, “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12).

Light is diffusive. Light is penetrating. Light is searching. Light is revealing. It is at the very beginning in Genesis, when God calls out for light to be. It is at the very end in Revelation 21:23, where we read, “The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light.”

From Steve Fazekas, AiG–U.S.

P.S. Please pray for Steve Ham as he visits the UK to assist our sister AiG ministry there.

I got a sense of the oppression against the church in this country when I turned on the television on the first night after I arrived. There was a program airing called Fear and Faith. This program, hosted by a well-known illusionist, was promoting the idea that all religious belief comes from a human susceptibility to psychological techniques. The host brought a lady who is an atheistic scientist on to the program and used manipulative techniques inside a church building to bring about an overwhelming emotional response. It wasn’t until the airing of the program that he uncovered to this lady that her emotional response was all based on the manipulative techniques he was using. He then went on to propose that the human need for God was an invention by subhuman cave men who wanted the comfort of accountability. He also said that people who go to church should not go because God actually exists but rather because we feel good about going, having been exposed to psychological techniques that enhance our emotions.

What a contrast to the message we are preaching at Answers in Genesis. Far from asking people to come to Christ because of some emotional benefit, Answers in Genesis is helping people to see that the history in Genesis is consistent with everything we observe in the world. We have an authoritative basis of truth that helps us understand the world we live in and our human condition before our Creator. We show people that, as a result of the fall, the consequences of sin have brought death and judgment. God will not tolerate our rebellion, so we are under His wrath.

We have need of salvation, not of an emotional high. God never promises us an emotional elevator ride of feeling good. He has told us the truth of biblical history and our position so that we might see His grace displayed in Jesus Christ, who came to take our place under God’s wrath. Through faith in Christ alone can we be saved. The eternal joy then experienced in Christ is an everlasting satisfaction based on confident hope founded in truth, not a feeble feeling that temporarily excites our emotions.

As I observe the spiritual environment in the UK, I see a country that has been devastated by the humanistic dogma of evolution and millions of years. This dogma has even invaded the church, and the next generation are left without real answers to the most dangerous programs on televisions such as the Fear and Faith program I watched.

Alternatively, I am more and more thankful that the Lord has placed faithful servants in the AiG ministry in the UK. These people are standing their ground on the Word of God and hoping to see the saving message of Christ rescue our children.

Neil, Gary, and Dorinda of AiG–UK staff

Until next time.

In our Creator who is Savior,
Steve Ham

The direction we are taking this brief discussion is simply to remember that each generation must fight old battles over and over again. Some of the sharpest conflicts have centered upon the creation of a material world along with the existence of evil, and a perfectly good God who is all-wise, omnipotent, and yet immaterial. How can a material world with all of its atrocities proceed from a good and loving God? At some point we must admit that we simply do not have all the answers. However, we do have the best answer, and it lies in the Christian doctrine of creation and redemption.

In Genesis we read that God created a perfect world and the problems we see in creation have occurred only because of the curse as a result of mankind’s sin. To equate matter as being evil in itself is to reinterpret this history. In his first epistle, the writer John reminds us that the everlasting Creator God became the God-man. In a huge act of humiliation He became the “stuff” that we are made of, yet He remains fully God, holy and pure. As one Christian writer puts it, ’He emptied Himself by addition, taking to Himself something He never had before, which is a true humanity, with all essential properties and common infirmities, yet without sin.” Here is where reason must kneel at the feet of revelation.

It’s a true message of hope for the world. Yet, many Christian scholars are embracing worldly philosophies of millions of years and evolution that place the effects of the curse (e.g., death, disease, and suffering) prior to the fall of man. By teaching this, they are opening the door to a gnostic belief system that views matter as evil, considering that God supposedly created this way. They are also playing with the human philosophies of “higher knowledge” from the community of secular scientists. gnostic thinking breeds in a world that embraces a less than perfect original creation. To uphold the gospel in global mission, Answers in Genesis is taking the message of a reliable history in Genesis and a perfect original creation to the world.

Please pray for our global efforts against the gnosticism of our day.

From Steve Fazekas, AiG–U.S.