Standing Against the Secularists Who Want to Outlaw Christia

[Lady Vizsla]

by Ken Ham

Back in 1986, I was filmed for a movie called The Genesis Solution. In my presentation, recorded in front of a live audience, I stated:

Our declining society is an outward expression of an inward rejection of our Creator. And our freedoms are being eroded as Christianity is being slowly eliminated. Christians may wake up one day to find Christianity outlawed.

Now, there were people back then, 30 years ago, who said to me, “Christianity outlawed in America? No way.” But actually, little by little, Christianity is. Think about it:

By and large the teaching of creation, the Bible, and prayer have been outlawed from most public schools.
Christian reminders like crosses, Ten Commandments displays, and Nativity scenes are being outlawed from public places.
The word Christ is being outlawed from Christmas in some places.
Lawmakers in California have been attempting to introduce legislation that would affect whether or not religious colleges can continue to uphold their tenets of faith on marriage and human sexuality in codes of conduct, housing policies, and employment, and still participate in state programs such as the “Cal Grant” (which helps many families in the state afford higher education). Their latest effort did not succeed.
We’ve already seen many instances where people have not been able to carry out the free exercise of their Christian convictions in their businesses.

The list could go on and on quite extensively. As I’ve said many times, in essence the secularists little by little have been imposing their anti-God religion on the culture. Christians need to wake up to what is happening regarding their legal rights.

Another example of hostility toward Christianity pertains to the Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF) and its recent attack on the Ark Encounter. The FFRF is bullying public schools in an attempt to outlaw students from having the opportunity to visit the Ark Encounter themed attraction.

Now what the FFRF claims is not correct, and in fact what it advocates is illegal. But because its lawyers constantly bully educators and threaten lawsuits, most school administrators just cave in because of the hassle (and cost) to legally contest the issue.

Their bullying letter (which was also a fund-raising tool for the FFRF) states:

The Ark Encounter, which is opening this week in Kentucky, is a Christian ministry run by the creationist Ken Ham, who also built the notorious Creation Museum.

And why are we so notorious? Well, this is why:

Ham has been clear . . . “Our motive is to do the King’s business until He comes. And that means preaching the gospel and defending the faith, so that we can reach as many souls as we can.”

And yes—we’ve always said that! Indeed, the Ark and Creation Museum present the Christian message! But then the FFRF states:

Ham is free to erect monuments to the bible, but public schools are not permitted to expose the children in their charge to religious myths and proselytizing. So, public schools cannot organize trips for students to either the Creation Museum or the Ark Park. Doing so would violate the students’ rights of conscience and the U.S. Constitution.

Note the emotional language: “religious myths” and “proselytizing” (as if we are forcing our messages on people). But is it really correct that government-run schools would be in violation of the law if students were brought to a Christian facility as part of their school curricula?

Not at all. Attorneys for the Center for Religious Expression, who battle such cases all the time, sent me this statement:

Once again, FFRF is wrong. Public schools are free to take students on field trips to any place they find educationally beneficial, which can include parks, museums, and even churches that have religious connotations. The Constitution demands the state be neutral—not hostile—toward religion. To deny students the unique opportunity to see and experience a full-scale model of Noah’s Ark—just because its existence is described in the Bible—would be decidedly hostile.

It’s the same reason we won the federal court case earlier this year against the state of Kentucky. The Ark Encounter was refused the right to participate in the state’s tourism tax-incentive rebate. As the judge ruled, the government cannot be hostile toward religion!

Little by little, the secularists have been outlawing Christianity from the culture. Through misinformation, bullying, and intimidation, they have been succeeding. And because so many Christians have been so secularized by the public education system, they have largely not put up a fight.

And if this trend keeps happening, do you want a picture of where America is headed in the future? Just look at England. Consider these eye-opening comments from the well-respected publication The Economist (August 13, 2016):

Britain is unusually irreligious, and becoming more so. . . . THE final parish meeting of the Holy Trinity Church, in the centre of Bath . . . is listed for sale on the Church of England website, with offers invited. . . .

Last year the church reported a “sharp upturn” in such disposals . . . a milestone that Britain reached in January, when figures for weekly church attendance fell below 1m [million] for the first time, as well as one passed in 2009, when the proportion of Britons saying they had no religion (49% in the latest data, for 2015) overtook that saying they were Christian (43% in 2015) in NatCen’s British Social Attitudes survey.

A 65-country study by WIN/Gallup last year found a lower proportion of people are religious in Britain than in all but six other countries. . . . Meanwhile other religions, like Islam, are growing—albeit not nearly fast enough to slow the growth of non-religious Britain.

The country is littered with evidence of the change. Everywhere deconsecrated churches are reopening as bars and restaurants. Five hundred churches were turned into luxury homes over five years in London alone. Shrinking congregations and growing repair bills are typically the fatal combination: about a quarter of Sunday services are attended by fewer than 16 parishioners.

Well, the sad article ends with this comment:

The Pew Research Centre (whose research goes beyond pews) projects that Australia, France and the Netherlands will lose their Christian majorities by 2050. Even in America, the non-religious part of the population rose from 16% to 23% between 2007 and 2014. Britain is just farther down the road to a post-religious society than most. It must lead the way.

Warning! What is happening in the United States has already happened in Britain. That’s where America is heading.

I would say the decline is happening for the same basic reason: God’s people didn’t stand on God’s Word from its beginning. In this era, the compromise between evolution/millions of years and Genesis began in England and spread around the world. Really, what’s happened to the church throughout England is actually the outworking of a church that has compromised God’s Word with man’s fallible ideas. Furthermore, the church has largely handed over the education of generations to the state.

This same compromise is rife in the church in the United States. At the same time, generations of children in America have been educated in schools that have increasingly outlawed anything Christian.

I believe this is why the Lord has raised up ministries like Answers in Genesis, the Creation Museum, and the new Ark Encounter. God is using these outreaches to equip Christians to stand against the secular attacks of our day and to challenge (in a very public and bold way) non-Christians with the truth of God’s Word and the gospel.

God has allowed AiG to build the Creation Museum and the Ark because I believe there are many godly people who will take a stand on the authority of the Word of God.

While we still have the freedom to boldly proclaim the message of God’s Word to the world, I pray you will support us in prayer to do whatever we can to embolden God’s people and reach millions with the saving gospel. I urge you to help us to stand against those who would try to completely outlaw Christianity from the culture.

You probably recall the famous quote by Edmund Burke, an 18th century British statesman, parliamentary orator, and political thinker: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

God said it this way in His Word:

I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints (Jude 3).

If God’s people don’t contend for the faith, we will see Christianity outlawed even further in our culture! I implore you to stand up for your faith. In a very public way (with an increasing number of scoffers trying to stop us), AiG is contending for the faith through many ministries like the Creation Museum and now the Ark Encounter.  

[cristobela]

edited

I see God taking down false images in a number of these "attacks":

Nativity scenes (making images of God, whom they have never seen [but still try to depict] i.e. Deuteronomy 4:15-18 and not allowing Him to mold us into the image of His Son, thus we ourselves giving off a false image), displays of the Ten Commandments (even though Christians are not living up to what they say, neither in Spirit nor in Truth), and Crosses (same as the previous, not picking up their cross to follow Jesus, just doing whatever they want). Why should God allow us to put up a false image to show the world? We are not accurately representing Him and what all His Commands tell us to do (or not do). To live holy, not give honor to the practices of other beliefs and pagan religions, by what we partake in or adopt (e.g. Teutonic nature worship with that evergreen tree inside the house, not speaking the truth about the night of His birth by assigning it a Dec 25th date, etc).

Quite frankly, and realistically, there should never be a Christian majority. If that ever happens, then we have false converts (not surprisingly, all the false practices going around in Christ's Name).

• Matthew 7:13-14 (NIV)
  
  13 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

Not sure what they have in mind to combat this, but what would help AiG / the Ark Encounter is to stop breaking Commands (especially the ones addressed in my reply to this topic [Ark Encounter’s Impact—Responding to Misinformation]); they are profaning His Name, and He punishes that by raising up opposition against us:

• Psalm 89:30-32, 42 (NIV)
  
  30 “If his sons forsake my law
      and do not follow my statutes,
  31 if they violate my decrees
      and fail to keep my commands,
  32 I will punish their sin with the rod,
      their iniquity with flogging;
  
  [...]
  
  42 You have exalted the right hand of his foes;
      you have made all his enemies rejoice.
  

He will send attacks against us when we persist in our straying from the Commands. Instead of strengthening us, He strengthens our enemies so we do not have victory in our endeavors / whatever we put our hands to (as I further covered here: [The Divine Judgments of God]). Even if it's done in His Name, He won't lend us favour, but disfavour (because we're being disobedient; ergo, He does not accept whatever we're voluntarily doing for Him in His Name and attacks us).

• 1 Kings 8:33 (NIV)
  
  33 “When your people Israel have been defeated by an enemy because they have sinned against you, and when they turn back to you and give praise to your name, praying and making supplication to you in this temple,
  
  
• 1 Samuel 15:22-23 (NIV)
  
  22 But Samuel replied:
  
  “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
      as much as in obeying the Lord?
  To obey is better than sacrifice,
      and to heed is better than the fat of rams.
  23 For rebellion is like the sin of divination,
      and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.
  Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,
      he has rejected you as king.”
  
  24 Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned. I violated the Lord’s command and your instructions. I was afraid of the men and so I gave in to them.

The only reason The Ark Encounter is breaking those Commands is because they fear man's words over God's.

And to include Christians on a larger scale: if the USA doesn't want to end up like Britain, then it's necessary to turn away from Commandment-breaking / stop disagreeing with what God says to do (unlike Britain who didn't/hasn't—and look where they ended up). Repentance is the answer for all of the above.

• 2 Chronicles 7:14 (NIV)
  
  14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
  
  
• Nehemiah 1:7 (NIV)
  
  7 We have acted very wickedly toward you. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees and laws you gave your servant Moses.

How great is their unbelief if they don't believe God will raise up opposition in response to their disobedience. This is the judgment that He promised to send a long time ago, as recorded in the Scriptures / His Word. We can't disobey Scripture in the name of teaching Scripture. We are not suppose to disobey God in order to teach about God or so-called "honor" God. Hypocrites. Their actions and ways of interpreting the Commands nullify obedience to what is written.

• Matthew 15:1-9 (NIV)
  
  15 Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, 2 “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!”
  
  3 Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’[a] and ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’[b] 5 But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is ‘devoted to God,’ 6 they are not to ‘honor their father or mother’ with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. 7 You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:
  
  8 “‘These people honor me with their lips,
      but their hearts are far from me.
  9 They worship me in vain;
      their teachings are merely human rules.’[c]”
  
  Footnotes:
  
  a. Matthew 15:4 Exodus 20:12; Deut. 5:16
  b. Matthew 15:4 Exodus 21:17; Lev. 20:9
  c. Matthew 15:9 Isaiah 29:13
  
  
• Matthew 23:1-3 (NIV)
  
  23 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: 2 “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3 So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.

According to Jesus, we must obey what is read from Moses' seat, the Commands of God.

Repent, Ark Encounter. Repent, USA. Or God will fight you—whether He uses I.S.I.S. or a group of atheists (and both are militant) as the tool of attack.