Vol. VI • 1983 http://www.creationism.org/csshs/v06n3p27.htm
Creation Evangelism: A Powerful Tool in Today's World!
Creation Evangelism: A Powerful Tool in Today's World!
Reprinted with permission from: Creation Science Prayer News, P.O. Box 302, Sunnybank, 0.4109, Australia.
Why has the Lord raised up Creation Science ministries world wide? Why is it necessary to have such an organization in Australia? One thing we have come to realize in Creation Science is that the Lord has not lust called us to knock down evolution, but to help in restoring the foundation of the Gospel in our Society. We believe that if the churches took up the tool of creation evangelism in our society, not only would we see a stemming of the tide of humanistic philosophy, but the seeds of revival sown in a culture that is becoming increasingly more pagan each day.Let us make some very real observations. When we look at our nation today, we see an increase in homosexuality, increase in support for abortion, increase in people not wanting to obey authorities, increase in people not wanting to work, people abandoning marriage, people abandoning clothing, increase in pornography, to name but a few. We also note the following - the church is not as effective as it used to be. Christians are fighting for their freedom, whereas a few years ago this wasn't so. Evangelists don't get the same response today they used to get; people don't automatically send their children (0 Sunday School like they used to. The education system no longer is considered Christian. Churches by and large are either struggling to hold their numbers or are running down - very few are increasing dramatically. Moody, in his day, could add thousands to his Sunday School, but this does not happen today. Why? What has happened in society to bring about this change? Why is it that many people today just scoff when you talk about Christ and don't seem to be open to the Gospel?
It wasn't long ago that creation was the basis of our society. Creation was taught through the universities, through the school system. A creation basis means there are absolutes - the God who is the Creator has a right to set the rules and has told us what is right and what is wrong. People automatically sent their children to Sunday School so that they would learn about these Christian absolutes. People who weren't Christians by and large respected and obeyed these laws based upon the Bible. Homosexuals were put in jail - abortion was considered murder. But, what happened? A man called Charles Darwin popularized a view called "evolution." It was promulgated as science but it is not science it is a belief system about the past. The church was caught out as they did not know how to handle the Situation. Many people believed that evolution was science - not understanding the real meaning of science - and so this view of origins began to permeate our society. People who weren't Christian readily accepted the view of evolution, as it is a belief system that says there is no God - we are a result of chance, i.e. no one owns you - you own yourself. This means that you are under obligation to no one.
People who are not Christians would accept this view because the Bible tells us that men love darkness rather than light, as they are sinful creatures. As this view became established, people started to ask questions such as - "If evolution is true, and there is no God who is Creator, then why are there laws about marriage? Why are there laws against homosexuals? Why can't we take off our clothes if we want to? Why can't we carry out abortions - after all killing a baby by abortion is like getting rid of any animal that is not needed or that you don't want?" In other words, the belief system of evolution provided a basis for the humanistic morality that says you can do what you want to do because nobody owns you - there is no right or wrong. In other words their one absolute is that there are no absolutes. The clash we see in our society at present is the clash between the religion of Christianity with its creation basis and therefore absolutes, versus the religion of humanism with its evolutionary basis and its relative morality that says `anything goes'. These two systems cannot exist beside each other for very long, for in the end one must go. When creation was the basis in society, it was the homosexuals and the abortionists, etc., who were put in jail, i.e. those who disobeyed the absolutes. Now that evolution has become accepted in our society as the basis - who will be the ones to be put in jail in the future? Those that say you must obey the absolutes from the Bible This is not over-emotionalism, but will become a reality it there is no change in the direction of our society.
Well, what can we do about it then? The Lord has provided us with a phenomenally powerful tool - creation evangelism. The reason, we believe, that the church is so relatively ineffective today is because it is not evangelizing in the right way. The church is proclaiming the message of the cross and Christ, but it is not as effective as it used to be. This is because we have needed to take a lesson from the New Testament. In Acts 14 and 17 are two specific examples of when the Greeks were approached - it was a different way from that used for the Jews. When Paul went to the Greeks, he didn't start preaching about Jesus Christ and the Cross, but by telling them about the true God who is the Creator, and from there went on to the rest ofthe Gospel about Jesus Christ. The Greeks believed in a form of evolution, and thus in their eyes, there was no God who had authority over them. We also read in the New Testament (1 Cor. 1:23) that the preaching of the cross was foolishness to the Gentiles (Greeks) and a stumbling block to the Jews. When we think about this very carefully, we can start to understand why Paul needed to approach the Greeks from the basis of creation. The Greeks, not believing in God as Creator but some form of evolution instead, had the wrong basis and therefore the wrong framework ofthinking about this world. Therefore to them the preaching of the cross was utter foolishness. Paul realized that before he could preach about Jesus Christ he had to establish the basis upon which he could build the rest of the Gospel. Thus, he established the creation basis as a foundation and from there preached the message of Jesus Christ.
Whenever the Jews were approached though, it was not with the message of creation first, but the teaching of Christ and the Cross. The Jews already had the right foundation - they believed in God as Creator - therefore they had the right framework of thinking, but refused to accept who Jesus was. It's about time that the church started to open their eyes to the fact that our society which used to be like the Jews is no longer like the Jews but has become like the Greeks. Whereas in the past the creation basis was there in society enabling you to proclaim the message of Jesus Christ resulting in great responses and effectiveness, today that basis has been all but eroded away and replaced with an evolutionary one.
Before we can effectively proclaim the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, we must first establish the creation basis - the foundation upon which the rest of the Gospel can be built. Perhaps, too, we should rethink the method prevalent in Christian circles of handing unbelievers large numbers of copies of the New Testament, Psalms and Proverbs. If these were to contain Genesis chapters 1 toll then the basis has been provided for the Gospel presentation in the same sense as Paul used it in Acts 14 and 17. We believe that there would be greater effectiveness in the lives of those who read these Bible portions.
The Lord has raised up Creation Science Ministries world wide so that the necessary tools for evangelizing our society will be available to God's people. If God's people don't take up the tool of creation evangelism and use it, then we will suffer the consequences of an ineffective method of proclaiming the truth to the population. This is why we believe Creation Science Ministries are some of the most important ministries in today's world - they deal with the founda- tions upon which our Christianity depends - the foundations that have been removed from our society. As we have preached this message throughout Australia and in other places as well, we have seen people take the materials we produce, the magazine, etc., and then challenge people in the area of creation. When challenged on that issue, they have been found to be open to the Gospel, whereas previously they would just scoff when talking about Jesus Christ. Creation evangelism works! Not only that, but when new con- verts come into a church then the first thing that should happen is that they do a Bible study on the book of Genesis so that they will know exactly what Christianity is all about and where all their doctrine has its basis. We are not saying that you don~ get results from just preaching about Christ in our society today, because there is still a remnant of the Christian basis there - but this remnant is disappearing very quickly and thus the response is nothing like it used to be. Let's wake up and use the tools that the Lord has provided for a society that has become like the Greeks, and restore the foundations of Christianity so that the structure can stand.
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