Ken Ham - Why Wont They Listen?: The Power of Creation Evangelism

Why Won't They Listen?

The Power of Creation Evangelism

Ken Ham

Copyright Information

First printing: July 2002

Fifth printing: November 2007

Copyright 2002 by Master Books. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations in articles and reviews. For information write: Master Books, P.O. Box 726, Green Forest, AR 72638.

ISBN-13: 978-0-89051-378-1

ISBN-10: 0-89051-378-3

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2002105381

Printed in the United States of America.

Please visit our website for other great titles:

www.masterbooks.net

For information regarding author interviews, please

contact the publicity department at (870) 438-5288.

Dedication

This book is dedicated to all my special friends in the town of Dalby, Queensland, Australia especially the Jiggens and Munro families who have been such a blessing to my family and our ministry. My first teaching appointment was at Dalby State High School. This is also where I first became actively involved in creation evangelism.

Acknowledgments

First of all, I would like to thank the many people who, over the years, have encouraged me to put in writing my lectures on creation evangelism. I believe that this publication will not only help Christians be more effective in their witnessing, but will also help many more people realize that ministries like Answers in Genesis are not just involved in a debate about creation versus evolution. The creation ministry is ultimately an evangelistic outreach that defends the authority of the Word of God against secular humanism and proclaims the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Secondly, I would like to specifically thank those whose invaluable help enabled me to complete this publication. My sincere thanks to Geoff Stevens and Mark Looy for editorial advice; to Dave Jolly for his hours of research to provide the footnotes; to artist Dan Lietha for using his God-given talents to draw the illustrations; and to many of the secretarial staff at AiG who carried out various tasks to facilitate this project.

Contents

Foreword

I sat in the audience as Ken Ham, renowned creation lecturer and author, asked a question "Is America as a nation more Christian or less Christian than it once was?" Without hesitation, a resounding "less Christian" was heard from those present.

Ken went on to say that he receives this same answer whenever he asks this question across America, England, Scotland, Wales, and even countries like his homeland of Australia which has never had as much of a Christian basis.

Ken then paused, the audience waiting in expectation for his next statement. In a serious but forceful tone, Ken went on to say, "Do you realize that America has the greatest number of Christian radio and TV stations in the world, the greatest number of Christian bookshops and Christian resources, the greatest number of churches, Christian colleges, Bible colleges, and seminaries, and sends out 80 percent of the missionaries in the world?"

Ken paused once again as a deathly silence fell across the audience. "Friends," he said, "why is it that the nation that has the greatest Christian influence in the world is becoming less Christian every day? Consider the country of England. Before the last war, somewhere around 40 percent or more of the population attended church. However, today the number is more like 5 percent. What happened to England is what is happening to America. And where England is today spiritually, with hardly any vestige of biblical Christianity left in the culture, America will be tomorrow and for the same basic reasons."

Ken continued, "Now it is true that many in the Church in America realize there is a problem. They know that for some reason, there is an ever-widening gap between the church and the culture. Many are trying to bridge that gap by watering down the teaching of the Word of God and increasing entertainment programs to make the Church look more like the world. And it is true that as a result, some 'mega' churches are arising, seemingly reaching large numbers of people. However, if one stands back and looks at the big picture, there's no doubt, as you told me earlier, that this culture is becoming less Christian every day. Whatever the Church is doing doesn't seem to be working. There is something fundamentally, in fact, foundationally, wrong."

Everyone was deep in thought. Ken then made this very insightful statement, "I believe the main reason the church is not 'touching' the culture like it used to, is because, by and large, the culture has 'touched' the church. Most of the church has allowed the authority of the Word of God to be undermined beginning in Genesis by compromising with evolutionary ideas and/or millions of years. After years of such compromise, the foundational basis of the culture, the absolute authority of the Word of God, has been replaced with a different foundation one that makes fallible man the ultimate authority. As a result of this foundational change, which the Church itself helped to bring about, the culture has changed in structure from a Christian one to an increasingly secular one."

Ken then challenged the audience with these words: "If we are going to reach the culture of today with the unchanging saving message of the gospel, we have to adopt a different method by which to present the gospel, one in accord with an understanding of this foundational change. If the Church continues on its present road of ignoring the foundational issues that have changed the culture, it will become increasingly ineffective in 'touching' this culture. The slide into secularism will continue to escalate, and America will become the England of tomorrow."

"Why won't they listen?" is what people in the Church ask of today's culture. In this powerful book for the Church today, Ken Ham not only outlines the foundational reasons as to why evangelism doesn't work today as it used to generations ago, but gives the solution from Scripture as to how Christians can begin to turn the culture around.

The power of creation evangelism is set forth in this book to equip and challenge the church to use God's method of evangelism to reach a culture that, by and large, no longer has a Christian basis.

Ken's heart is to see the gospel proclaimed and lives changed as a result. However, today we need people like those specially mentioned in 1 Chronicles 12:32, "And of the children of Issachar, which were men that had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do."

We need Christians today who understand the times so they'll know what to do. Why Won't They Listen? will teach you how to understand the times and what to do as a result. You will never think the same way about evangelism again after reading this challenging and thought-provoking book. I believe its message has the potential to change the face of any nation where God's people have "understanding of the times."

Tim Dudley

President

New Leaf Publishing Group

Chapter 1

A Worrisome Trend

Back in 1975, I was teaching biology and general science in the public (government) school system in Australia. At that time, some of the older teachers were complaining that the students weren't as easy to control as they were in years past. These young people didn't seem to have the same respect or show the required courtesy as previous generations had. No one seemed able to put their finger on it but all agreed that the behavior of the students reflected an overall change that had occurred in the culture.