Ken Ham Says Too Many Christians Are Abandoning the Bible, Calls for 'New Reformation'
Young Earth Creationist Ken Ham and his Answers in Genesis organization are calling for a "new Reformation" 500 years after Martin Luther stood up to the Roman Catholic Church, arguing that many Christians today have abandoned Scripture.
Ham noted in an AiG article on Monday that 500 years after Luther nailed his 95 theses, or complaints about "unbiblical doctrines" of the Catholic Church in 1517, it is time for Christians to stand up against compromise in the Church again.
"Many Christians are no longer allowing God's Word to be the authority, and are exalting man's fallible word over Scripture. We see this clearly when man's beliefs of millions of years and evolution are forced into the book of Genesis — the very foundation of Scripture and doctrine," Ham argued.
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"It's no wonder many in this church generation have embraced gay 'marriage,' abortion, premarital sex, and other things Scripture speaks strongly against. Scripture is no longer their authority — man's word is. As a result, we are seeing a generational loss from the Church," he continued.
Ham warned on a number of occasions throughout 2016 that biblical illiteracy "is rampant" in the United States, with surveys suggesting that as many as 40 to 50 percent of Christians refuse to take the Bible as literal in all that it presents.
Ham commented on results released by Ligonier Ministries and Lifeway Research in September 2016, which he said exposed confusion among Christians about who God really is.
"While 65 percent of Americans agree that 'God is a perfect being and cannot make a mistake' and 58 percent agree that 'God is the Author of Scripture,' only 47 percent agree that 'the Bible is 100 percent accurate in all that it teaches.' How can that be?" the AIG, Creation Museum and Ark Encounter president wrote at the time.
"Many just don't understand what it means that God is the infinite Creator God — infinite in wisdom and knowledge and that 'God is not a man, that He should lie' (Numbers 23:19)."
The survey in question pointed to a number of other conflicting results, such as that 43 percent of people who agree God is the author of the Bible also agree that modern science discredits some of the claims found in Scripture.
In his latest AiG post, Ham listed five ways in which his organization is seeking to ignite the "new reformation."
Firstly, he said that it is important for young people to have passion for the Bible, and to "stand boldly, uncompromisingly, and unashamedly on the Word of God from the very first verse."
Secondly, he called on Christians to "contend earnestly for the faith" (Jude 3) by standing up against what he called the "false teachings of our day."
Next, Ham called on Christian leaders to teach Creationism to children and teens, and to reject the belief in evolution or that the Earth is millions of years old.
Fourthly, the AiG president urged non-Christians to "seek answers to the questions that have caused them to reject God's Word."
Lastly, Ham wrote that he wants to "ignite an intense desire in parents to educate their children in accord with biblical principles and raise up godly offspring who will know what they believe concerning God's Word and why they believe what they do — and thus are equipped to defend the Christian faith against the secular attacks of our day."
Other surveys, such as a Pew Research study in 2014, have found that there are various beliefs regarding evolution among different Christian groups.
White evangelical protestants, for instance, were some of the most likely to believe that humans existed as is since the beginning, with 60 percent holding such a view; while others, like white Catholics, much more likely to believe that humans evolved due to natural processes, or through a Supreme being guiding evolution, with only 21 percent backing Creationism.
