Greg Yoder

Many kids magazines push modern culture’s anti-Christian worldview in areas such as gender issues and evolution. In contrast, our @AiG Kids Answers magazine affirms the Bible and teaches creation apologetics and biblical worldview! There is not other magazine for kids like it. Kids Answers is loaded with photos and animal facts, from short paragraphs to more in-depth articles, fun puzzles and more so kids can learn about the amazing creatures in God’s creation. Each issue contains a science experiment complete with step-by-step instructions that kids can do at home to better understand the world we live in! Just like adults, kids need to know what they believe and why and how to defend the Christian faith.  They need to be equipped to be able to withstand the attacks on God's Word and the Christian faith in today's world. Kids Answers tackles their everyday big questions with the truth of God’s Word, the gospel and powerful answers. For more information, check out:  Kidsanswers.org/subscribe

Do you notice that Satan always takes what God has created/ordained and then perverts it. This has happened with marriage, man’s dominion, gender, work and so on. And it’s also happened with the rainbow. I caused a stir (among secularists) some time ago concerning the rainbow. Yet it wasn’t that many years ago I would not have had such scathing responses in talking about God’s rainbow. As you know, in Genesis chapter nine, God made a covenant with Noah’s family, their descendants, and the animals. God promised He would never judge the world again with a global flood. He said that whenever a rainbow appeared, it would be a reminder of that covenant. So, this special meaning of the rainbow goes back about 4,300 years—just after the Flood of Noah’s day. Since the 1970s, the rainbow (though not all of its colors) has been increasingly associated with what is called the “gay” movement—known today worldwide as the LGBTQ movement. After the Ark was opened, as part of our Christmas lights, we lit up the huge ship with a rainbow of colors. I wrote an article that declared that we are “taking back the rainbow.” I publicly reminded people that the meaning of the rainbow was given by God, for he is the one who created it in the first place. That caused something of an uproar from many secularists who were upset that Christians were using the rainbow. Now I tweeted and posted to Facebook that we installed permanent lights at the Ark Encounter to light up the ship each night with a spectacular rainbow of colors. In my posts, I also stated that we were taking back the rainbow, since it belonged to God! I was somewhat surprised at how vitriolic these people were in response to my rainbow tweets. LGBTQ people and their supporters “blew up” my Twitter and blanketed my Facebook with nasty comments. Now, that wasn’t unexpected in today’s environment of a growing secular intolerance to anything Christian. Even though I’ve seen the rising anti-Christian sentiment in our western cultures, I was somewhat surprised at how vitriolic these people were in response to my rainbow tweets. In fact, the degree of hate was off the charts compared to what I’d seen in the past. The tweets and comments were filled with hate, expletives, threats, blasphemy, and sexual perversion. This response made me realize what’s been simmering in our cultures and is now bubbling to the surface. It is erupting in ways we would never have predicted just a few years ago. It seems the LGBTQ movement, which represents such a small percentage of the population, is actually manipulating the culture in many ways—even much of the church! This furor over my news item declaring we were taking back the rainbow ended up on numerous news sites across the nation and around the world. Even many newspapers picked it up. Atheist bloggers went berserk, and, of course, gay newspapers made it a major story! A few Christian leaders called and told me of their support. They said that more Christians need to be taking such stands publicly. And we do need this boldness! Sadly, because so many Christians have not been prepared to stand boldly for the authority of the Word of God and have allowed all sorts of compromises, we are losing the once great Christian influence in the US and many other western countries. If Christians aren’t more active in proclaiming biblical authority, we will continue to lose influence (and our freedoms) as we see happening currently. Think of all the Christian symbols that have been removed from public places in the US and elsewhere. And consider the way Christianity has been largely edited out of the government education systems. Look at how secularized our western cultures have become, where an increasing number of people are calling good evil and evil good (Isaiah 5:20). I never thought I would see that verse playing out in the culture we live in. “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20) Another aspect of this rainbow story really burdened me. I met a lady at a church who said she was so pleased to see us taking the rainbow back. Then she declared how dismayed she was to find out that when she spoke to teenagers in church, they didn’t know about the covenant of the rainbow in Genesis nine. They thought the rainbow was just associated with the LGBTQ movement. Yes, this generation of young people in many of our churches is biblically illiterate! There has been such an emphasis in many churches on entertainment and shallow Bible teaching, and a lack of teaching Genesis, or on compromising Genesis with evolution/millions of years, that so many young people today really have a limited understanding of Christianity. That’s why when we opened the Ark Encounter, the AiG board laid 12 stones to represent the 12 stones of Joshua (Joshua 4)—to challenge Christians to remind the coming generations of the truth of God’s Word and the gospel. And those 12 stones are now a permanent exhibit near the entrance to the Noah’s Ark attraction. Also, the rainbow lights are now a permanent feature at the Ark—to remind us of the true meaning of the rainbow: that God keeps his Word. Actually, the Ark and the Creation Museum were built to very boldly, publicly, and unashamedly remind everyone of the truth of God’s Word and the saving gospel message. Those messages need to be heard not only by the secular world, but also the church. So many Christian leaders have compromised God’s Word in Genesis and are compromising biblical doctrines concerning marriage. As I’ve written before, Romans 1 makes it clear that a sign of God’s judgment, as people rebel against him as Creator, is that God will turn people over to their depraved minds—and men will lust after men and women after women. I personally believe there’s a supernatural aspect (judgment) to the massive influence of the LGBTQ movement, which represents only a small part of the population. However, it does represent the state of the culture—and sadly, the state of much of the church. Activists in the LGBTQ community are growing increasingly hostile, particularly toward Christians who stand on God’s Word and advocate for biblical marriage. In the past, the gay community largely claimed they just wanted tolerance. Today, however, they want everyone to celebrate and approve of their lifestyle. They are growing increasingly intolerant of those who refuse. They want total compliance and acceptance from everyone for their worldview. I certainly saw this when AiG proclaimed we were taking back the rainbow. A columnist with the Religion News Service, who says he is one of the “LGBTQ Christians,” described my posts about the rainbow as “Ken Ham’s anti-LGBT hate.” He added: “We can instead read the story as a sign of God’s covenant with Noah. “I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth,” God tells Noah. Creating covenant means full affirmation and acceptance, with extra scoops of love and mercy. LGBT-affirming churches across the Commonwealth exhibit these qualities in abundance.” Well, that’s certainly revisionist history regarding Genesis! Genesis nine teaches that the covenant specifically regarded the fact God would never judge the earth again with a global Flood. It had nothing to do with the acceptance of things like the LGBTQ movement! The columnist referred to the many churches that support the gay movement. Yes, even pastors will reinterpret God’s Word to justify their support of LGBTQ! I don’t hate those who call themselves gay. No Christian should. Yet in this day, when you disagree with this movement based on what Scripture teaches, you will be falsely accused of hate, often, ironically, in a hateful way! We still have the opportunity right now to proclaim truth and be active in taking back what the enemy has captured. The ministry of Answers in Genesis and our Creation Museum and Ark Encounter attractions are reaching millions each year across North America and around the world. My burden is to do whatever we can to reach even more people, and to be more active, more public, and more bold for the Lord and his Word. “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” (Romans 1:16) “And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness” (Acts 4:29).