Ken Ham - Begin: A Journey Through Scriptures for Seekers and New Believers

Foreword

Many Christians today are passing out copies of the New Testament (which often include the Psalms and Proverbs from the Old Testament) in their effort to share Gods Word with others. Of course, that is a wonderful idea, but I suggest there is now an increasing problem with this approach. You see, most people who receive these New Testaments have been trained by the secular world, which comes through the influence of the news media, movies, Internet, public schools, and even many Christian schools/colleges, to believe in evolution and millions of years. They have been taught a set of foundational beliefs that cause them to doubt or even totally disbelieve the truth of Gods Word in Genesis. Ultimately, this creates doubt and disbelief in regard to the whole of the Bible, including the Gospel message of the New Testament.

When only the New Testament portion of the Bible is given to evolutionized people, they do not receive the Book of Genesis, which gives them the true account of origins. Genesis is foundational to an understanding of the gospel and all Christian doctrine. In this increasingly secularized culture, people no longer fully understand the gospel message and the origin of sin and death as found in Genesis and thus our need of a Savior. Not only that, but because of what people have been taught in regard to origins, many have great doubts (or full-blown unbelief) that Gods Word can be totally trusted.

When Christians pass out New Testaments and tell people they need to start with the Book of John to understand the gospel, something key is being missed. As people learn of the good news of the gospel, they also need to have an understanding of the bad news in Genesis: our sin in Adam, and that we are alienated from our Creator and are in need of a Savior. In todays world, people who read the New Testament only, by and large, rarely understand the gospel and the full meaning of the Christian faith because they have little understanding of the foundations of the gospel and how all Christian doctrine connects.

In addition, because of what people have been taught in their culture, as mentioned above, people are already skeptical about trusting the Bible they have been handed. In a culture that has little or no understanding of the Bible, Christians can be more effective when they start to share their faith at the beginning in Genesis so they will understand the Bibles full message of repentance and need for a Savior.

With this book, we decided to do something radical. We have sought to give readers an overview of the Christian faith and the message of the gospel in the following manner: by presenting it the way God does it in His Word, and thats by starting at the Bibles beginning. In todays world, we need to communicate a message of the true God: our Creator God. Christians need to give the account of the true history of the world concerning creation, the first man and woman, the Fall of man, the entrance of sin and death, and the promise of the Savior fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ. It is an essential approach to take in a world that knows little, for example, of the meaning and origin of sin, or why Christ, the Creator, stepped into history to be our Savior.

This book contains excerpts from Gods Word beginning in Genesis to communicate a time-line of history from the beginning of time to Christ, and then to the New Heavens and New Earth to come. The Bibles message starting with Genesis is all about what God has done for the salvation of humankind. This book, using passages from Genesis to Revelation, seeks to give that vital message in summary form so that people will get a big picture understanding of the gospel and be challenged to recognize their need of receiving Christ into their life as Lord and Savior.

I believe this book will be blessed by God to become a powerful evangelistic resource to reach a skeptical culture with the precious gospel message.

Ken Ham