Rick Green

you found your way to the intersection of faith and culture. Thanks for joining us today on the WallBuilders program. And listen. If you haven't been listening to the WallBuilders show until now, if you're brand new. We got a lot of great content in our archive section, so go check that out.

Wallbuilders.show wallbuilders.show about you know, three days a week, typically we'll have a good interview with somebody that that calls in and we get a chance to visit with them. They're either on the front lines as an attorney arguing before the supreme court, maybe a congressman or senator or legislator or school board member. Sometimes it's um, you know, it might be a pastor that's out there on the front lines, or an author with a new book that's coming out. So Monday through Wednesday check that out. And then Thursdays that's when we have our Foundations of Freedom Thursday programs. You can join us there and you can send in questions as well, and that's done at radio, at wallbuilders.com. And then, of course, Friday’s, our Good News Friday that's, I think, our most popular program, because everybody needs to pick me up every now and then, and David and Tim pile on the good news on Fridays. David and Tim Barton that's who I'm referring to, David Barton, America’s premier historian and our founder at WallBuilders. Tim's a national speaker and pastor and president of WallBuilders and I'm Rick Green, a former Texas legislator and America's constitution coach.

So again, wallbuilderscom to check it out. That's also the place you can donate. If you'd like to help us spread the word and get more truth out there, do that at wallbuilders.com. Guys, we've got Ken Ham coming on later talking about the hot topics of the day. This one, of course, non-controversial. No one disagrees on how the world began, not even within Christian circles, on whether or not it was six days or 

Tim Barton

Now wait a second, is that?

literal days. Like really 24 hours. 

Rick Green

No one questions any of this. Everyone agrees 100%.

Tim Barton

Are there different creation accounts between Genesis 1 and 2? Is that the same? And was it a young earth from the beginning or did God make it kind of old? I mean, you know these are all settled and actually we're joking right now, but there's people probably listening. They're like I can't believe you're joking about that. This is so clear. It's not controversial. We know exactly what the answer is.

Yeah, this is, you know this is a hot button topic for many people, but establishing the authority of Genesis really is the foundation for everything in a Christian worldview. Because if there was not a God that created, then nothing else lines up in this worldview. And not only was there a God that created, God created with purpose and intentionality, and even the idea of why God created man. You can go back and read in Genesis two, where God hadn't caused the rain because there was no man until the ground. And so then God makes man and says hey, your job is to tend the garden.

God made man not just to glorify him the way that the old catechism would say. I mean, certainly, yes, we're made to glorify God, but the way we glorify God is by walking in the purpose of what God made us to be. But you just start going through Genesis, and even in Genesis you get the fact that God created life and that God made male and female and God made family and God gave the freedom of religion because Adam and Eve had choice in the garden. And then you get to Genesis 12 and you have Abraham and the Abrahamic covenant and the birth of Israel. So much of Christian theology is found in Genesis, and if we can't understand and defend Genesis, then we don't have the foundation for our faith as believers, and so it really is worth spending some time on, which is also why we appreciate guys like Ken Ham, who spends so much time digging, diving in to find out what's there and finding the best answers and explanations for some of the questions.

David Barton

You know, this is something recently. We're just a couple of weeks downstream from the Republican National Convention and I was delegate there and the week before I was chosen as one of those to help write the Republican platform. So in the process of doing that, as we were getting ready for what might have been fights on the Republican platform what are the things we have to make sure we protect, et cetera we went through that same thing that Tim mentioned and, looking at it, leaders got together and said, okay, Genesis 1 through 12 lays out five things that have to be non-negotiables in our platform. Number one, that there is a God, so we have to acknowledge God. And number two God made man, so life comes from God. Number one, that there is a God, so we have to acknowledge God. And number two God made man, so life comes from God. Number three, Tim, as you pointed out, he made genders Adam and Eve and he put them together and so that's marriage. That's the fourth thing. And the fifth thing in Genesis 12, he says Abraham, you're going to have a nation. Whoever blesses that nation, I'll bless, whoever doesn't, I'll curse. So, protection of Israel, acknowledging Israel those were five big things that we sought for the Republican platform to make sure, stayed in there.

And in the process of doing that, as the Republican convention started, the night that it started I was asked to speak at a church and help kind of lay out this framework, this biblical framework for issues. And I spent a lot of time in Genesis 1, and Genesis 1 really, really struck me Genesis 1-1 in a different kind of perspective. So you take the first, it's going to be the first five words out of Genesis 1-1, but the first three words said in the beginning Okay, in the beginning, what? In the beginning? God, oh, so God is the beginning In the beginning is God? God is where everything starts and that becomes key. So you say, okay, in the beginning, what? Well, in the beginning, God. Well, what about God? In the beginning, God created, which is the fifth word in Genesis 1.1. So you have God and then God created and we're told over in John 1.3 that there's nothing that exists that didn't come from God. God created everything. He is the author of everything. Everything exists because of him, at his command, wished and behest. So God is the creator of everything. And then when you look at what God has created, you start seeing certain things, and this is where the founding fathers were so good, and I hadn't really thought about it in this way.

But what does the declaration start with? It starts with God, and then it recognizes God as the creator, and because he's the creator, he's created what they call natural law and natural rights. And so what is natural law? Well, those are the things that he put in nature. Natural law is that there are two genders. That's not a theological doctrine, that's law. That's a natural law. There's two genders.

Parental rights that's a natural law. It's the right of parents to educate and direct the upbringing of their children. Whether that's a horse or a cow, any mammal at all, the parents educate and direct the upbringing of their children. So parental rights is a natural law. I don't have to have that protected with statutory law, but statutory law should reflect natural law. And so you go through and then you have natural rights.

What is natural right? Well, natural right, that's the right of self-defense. Every mammal in nature will defend itself when attacked. That's my right to do so. And so you start seeing inalienable rights. These are inalienable rights or natural rights, things that the Declaration laid out. And so as you go through the Declaration of Independence, you really see it following that Genesis 1, chapter 1 framework, that there is a creator. The creator has established natural law and that tells us moral rights and wrongs. The creator has established natural rights. These are things that are inherent for us to do, and the creator, in Genesis 9, 6, said the purpose of government is to defend those natural rights, those inalienable rights. And so suddenly you take on the declaration. You can't understand the Declaration of Independence if you don't understand Genesis 1.

And Genesis 1 is the creation stuff. And while there are disagreements over when, how and whatever, there's not a disagreement over who, and that is God. God is. You know, Christians can disagree over whether it took 40 million years or whether it took six literal days or six age days or whatever. We don't disagree over the fact that God did it. And once you recognize the authority of God, then all sorts of other things start falling into place.

And I think that there's probably no ministry that is any better at keeping God at the forefront of everything that exists creation than what happens with Ken Ham and what they've done, particularly in Kentucky, with the museum they've created to help people understand what happened to creation, but even with the ark, where they went back into the Bible and said here's what the Bible said God told Noah to build an ark this size, and they built the ark that size and it's a wood ark and it's just awesome.

So they have taken Genesis, the book of Genesis, but particularly God as the creator, and made that the hallmark of what you have there with the museum, and so that really is a summer destination place. That's a winter destination. If you're looking for a place to go and take the kids, go there, because if you can keep God first in the entire story, then everything will flow correctly from that. And there's nobody that does it better than Ken Ham or what they've done. And there's a number of great creation ministries in the United States. We love them all, we appreciate them all, we work with many of them, but what Ken has done has done it at a visual level that is different from the others. It's just remarkable what he's been able to do.

Rick Green

Yeah, it's a first-class operation. Absolutely love the facilities there and the content and the information Just so incredibly good. Always good to have Ken Ham. We'll be right back with him as our special guest today. Stay with us. You're listening to the WallBuilders Show

Break

Rick Green

Welcome back to WallBuilders. Thanks for staying with us. Always good to have Ken Ham with us from the Ark Encounter and the Creation Museum. Ken, God bless you, brother.

Ken Ham

Hey, thanks, Rick Great to be with you again.

Rick Green

Well, David was just talking about how we've got all these battles going on in the country getting Ten Commandments back in and more religious liberty and encouraging people to get saturated in God's word so they know truth and he's like man. If they miss it at the beginning and they don't get the creation story, then the rest of it falls apart. So we've got to get Ken on and remind everybody how important this is and maybe they still got some time this summer to come out and see the Ark and Creation Museum. By the way, my son and my daughter-in-law and her whole family just got back. Absolutely loved it, as the rest of our family always has. But anyway, that's why we wanted to get you back on, just to get an update and encourage people to go visit.

Ken Ham

Oh, absolutely, and you know you made a statement there concerning the beginning, as David referred to, and let me just say this Genesis 1 to 11 is the foundation for everything and, Rick, genesis 1 to 11 is the key to being work-proof. How's that? And, of course, at the Ark Encounter, the Creation Museum, the two leading Christian-themed attractions in the world, what we're doing through all the various exhibits and all the fun things and lots of different things and teaching biblical worldview and so on, but it's helping people understand how to be equipped to defend the Christian faith, and particularly to defend the Christian faith in regard to Genesis 1 to 11, because then you've got the foundation for marriage, the foundation for the gospel, the foundation for gender, the foundation for dealing with the abortion issue, the transgender issue. It's the foundation for everything.

Rick Green

I'd never thought about it now, from now on, I'm going to say answers in Genesis, the inoculation to wokeness.

Ken Ham

That's exactly it. These are non-woke places. Do you realize that the Arch and Canada Creation Museum are non-woke places? And once you understand and believe Genesis 1 to 11 is the foundation for your worldview, for your doctrine, for everything, then that is the key to being woe-proof. Then you're not going to be led astray. I'll guarantee that those churches that go soft on LGBT and endorse gay marriage and all the rest of it, they do not believe in literal Genesis 1 to 11. Because once you do, that's it, that is the key to being woke-proof

Rick Green

It sets the whole foundation. That's it. That is the key to being work-proof. It sets the whole foundation. And, ken, I say this all the time, man, but you did such a your team, just a phenomenal, first-class job at presenting this and giving people the opportunity to experience it.

Not only my family recently going out there my son and his wife but I was in. Where was I? I was in Oregon. I was up there just last week and met a family and we got to talking about it Same thing. They just got back from visiting and just overwhelmed I mean just going through all the different things that they saw and how much it helped their not only their kids. I mean that's what's cool about this. It's not just your kids or teenagers or whatever. It's you. I'm telling you, folks, you might be 50, 60 years old you've never experienced Genesis like this and you've never been able to really envision what God did. So I just again want to thank you for what it does for people to be able to understand and to lay that foundation and to make it fun. I mean it's like you're literally walking back in time and experiencing those things. So whenever it was that God gave you the vision to do this. I believe it truly has been. Inspired.

Ken Ham

Well, you know what, Rick. It's really making the Bible come alive in a way that is very unique, very different. Like the Creation Museum is a walk through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation and answering all the questions as we go, from Genesis to Revelation and answering all the questions as we go. And then we have a planetarium and a 4D theater and an insectarium and a dinosaur exhibit and a borderland exhibit dealing with Israel and first century Jerusalem and so on, and then we have the most powerful pro-life exhibit in the world and at the Creation Museum we're opening the biggest conservatory in Kentucky exhibiting the plants of the Bible, which is nowhere else in the world does that. And we have a whole new zoo here, teaching from a biblical worldview perspective and live animal programs, other programs.

And then the ark. We've got the life-size Noah's Ark. It's a reproduction of Noah's Ark as described in the Bible, built as a truly timber frame structure 3.3 million board-feeder timber, three decks filled with exhibits. And we've also got a zoo there and animal programs. We have a conference center there and zip lines at both places, because you know what Christians can have fun too, that's right. And we have a carousel and a virtual reality experience. You know, we get about 1.5 million visits a year at both the Creation Museum and the Ark and 30% of those who come are non-Christian. And people pour in thousands every day from all over the world.

Rick Green

Wow, wow. Okay, there was one thing you flew past that. I got stuck on 3.3 million timber feet. That's a lot of wood.

Ken Ham

It is a lot of wood because the art structure you've been there and you've seen it, you know it's built 15 feet above the ground and at the bow end it's 10 stories higher and it's one half times the length of a football field, half the width of a football field, and then we have three decks filled with exhibits. You can walk through all three decks and, of course, it's all handicapped accessible, and so it is an incredible structure, just nothing else like it in the world. In fact, it is the largest freestanding timber frame structure. That's the correct terminology for it, not timber structure, but freestanding timber frame structure. It's the largest such structure in the world, and the timber frame structure itself was built by 90 Amish and Mennonite carpenters who specialized in that sort of construction method, and so it is truly unique.

In fact, even the secular media have said to me this should be called the eighth wonder of the modern world. It really is, and I remember I was taking a CBS reporter actually through the arc and we got between the second and third decks and he stopped and he looked at me this is a secular reporter and he said to me you tell me this was the quality of Hollywood. And I said yeah. He said no, no, this is not the quality of Hollywood. He said this is way above the quality of Hollywood. He said for no, this is not the quality of Hollywood.

He said this is way above the quality of Hollywood, he said for a start, the wood's real.

Rick Green

It's not a styrofoam structure. It's the real thing, wow.

Ken Ham

Exactly.

Rick Green

Man, I love it, and I don't even know. I know we can send them to answersingenesis.org. Obviously, the curriculum, the opportunity to teach your kids from a young age the truth on all these things, and even if you're not homeschooling folks which you should be but even if you're not, get some of these materials and supplement whatever your kid's learning at school. But I was going to say Ken, I don't know, of course, answersingenesis.org, but then ArkEncounter.com. That's the direct place to go ahead and get tickets and plan your trip right.

Ken Ham

Yes, and if they go to archincounter.com, that also leads you directly to the Creation Museum as well. And we actually have a three-day bouncer pass. You know bouncer because you know I'm Australian and kangaroos bounce, right, you get it. So we have this bouncer pass. A lot of people are now using that because they find that you can spend more than a day at each place, and so the three-day bouncer pass enables them to come and bounce back and forward over a period of three days. In fact, you know, the Creation Museum was built first, and even though it's not as big as the Ark, in one sense you can actually spend more time here. And the gardens are spectacular. And again, our conservatory that we're opening and our Christmas programs. Rick, you've got to come for the Christmas programs. The lights are like some of the best you'll ever see in America A laser show at the Ark, all sorts of Christmas dramas, programs, live nativity Just stunning. So you may as well just move here and live here all year long.

Rick Green

That's right. Well, and I didn't even mention this, I mean, you've always got some kind of cool special event. In fact, I remember when Kirk Cameron and I came out last year or the year before last, I can't remember, but you lit up the arc with red, white and blue. It was so awesome, it was amazing. And now you've got a lot of concerts coming this summer. I mean they're all listed at the website, folks, so you can plan your dates around some of these special events or, as Ken said, just go ahead and move out there and go to all of them.

But man, I just I'm so thankful for you, brother. I know we've talked about this before, but too often in the Christian community we just don't, you know, don't do things well. I mean, you know entertainment or whatever. It's just not done as well. You went above and beyond, you did it right, you set the standard. And I want to tell you, man, we're building our Patriot Academy campus down in Fredericksburg, texas, and my wife and I talk about you all the time and say we want to follow in Ken's footsteps, we want to do things first class, we want to make it a place, you know, where kids can come learn and do their patriotic duty and all that. And we always think of you and the way you have done the Ark and the Creation Museum and I hope other Christians do the same in whatever it is that God's called them to.

Ken Ham

Yeah, absolutely. In fact, you know, Christians have had a reputation in the past of doing things in a cheesy way, and I think that's what has astounded the secular media. It makes them take more notice of you too when you do something with excellence. And we have done things with the same sort of excellence you'd expect of Disney or Universal Studios, but we would say it's even higher than that. Many people tell us that, and we have our own design studios and fabricators and artists and sculptors and so on, and they're the same talented type people that you would have at Disney, and that's what we should do. I mean, we're on about the most important message in the entire universe.

and so why shouldn't we do things in the best way possible, if we can?

Rick Green

Hey, Colossians 3.23,. Everything we do, we do it the best that we can as unto God, not unto men. And speaking of Disney, folks do not spend a penny with Disney, not a penny more, not any money at all to Disney. And why would you want to go to Orlando and all of the fight? The no, no. Go see the Ark Encounter. Go see the ark encounter, go see the creation museum this summer's a great time or, in the fall, all kinds of great programs. Ken, appreciate your brother. God bless you. Y'all. Keep up the great work. Look forward to seeing you again soon. Okay, thanks, rick. Stay with us folks, be right back with David and Tim Barton.

Break

Rick Green

We're back here on the WallBuilder Show. Thanks for staying with us, thanks to Ken Ham, and not only for being with us today, but just incredible work. Everybody make sure you've attended If you haven't blocked off some dates and go. It's not only the ARC, but the Creation Museum as well, and you definitely want to spend several days there and not only getting the content or the education or the information. You're going to make some great memories with your family when you go there. Really, really cool place. So great to have Ken back on guys.

David Barton

And it's great to have Christian stuff. It's not cheesy. You know, we're starting to get movies and entertainment like that now and this is like going to, I don't know, a Disneyland or Six Flags or whatever. It's that quality of a presentation of content material. It's that quality of a presentation of content material and it is so key to our thinking. I mean, quite frankly, if you will believe what's in Genesis 1 through 11, you have an inoculation for being woke. You will not be woke if you can get Genesis 1 through 11 down and if you can add Genesis 12 in there with Israel, now you're a real conservative. So Genesis is really the basis of what makes people conservatives and non-woke. If you believe those teachings and you believe what it lays out and there's no better place to visualize that and see what it looks like in in life and history than what happens there at the creation museum. It's phenomenal

Tim Barton

and this is something in Kentucky. There's also a great one in Dallas called institute for creation research. There's several, there's several good groups out there and, of course, we've known Ken for years. Dad, back in the 90s, y'all were doing events together, traveling, doing worldview conferences together, and so we have. I mean, I grew up listening to cassette tapes where he was explaining things from creation. There are really really good scientists out there that can break this down.

But one of the other things I think about this too, when we're talking about understanding God's creation, and it is very fun and I'm saying this kind of full caveat it's very fun going to Kentucky, going to the Ark Encounter, seeing the scale of the Ark, imagining Noah having to build this thing. It's so many fun details surrounding it. But one of the things that the Bible is very clear on is that creation itself testifies to the Creator, testifies to the fact there is a God. Even the intricacies of the Godhead can be understood by studying creation. And one of the things I was just with some friends up in Arkansas and we were talking about what are some of our favorite national parks, the places where you can actually go and see God's creation, and so, guys, I know all three of us have done a lot of traveling. We've been to a lot of national parks and we think of places you can go and really see God's creation full display.

What are some of the national parks? For parents out there who are thinking, hey, we want a road trip. Now, if you're going to road trip, go to Kentucky, go see the Ark Encounter. It's incredible and there's so much more to do there. Rick, you've been able to spend a lot of time up there and do some Patriot Academy related things with Ken Ham over the years. But what are some of the national parks and national sites where you can really see God's creation? I'm going to throw out, I think, going to the Redwoods Sequoias. That's one of the places for me that you're looking at these massive trees where there used to be actually roads through some of these trees. I remember as a kid driving our van through one of these trees Just incredible stuff. But where are some of the national parks?

David Barton

Man, I'm absolutely going into that four-corner region of the United States. You get down into southeast Utah and you've got everything from Monument Valley, you've got Antelope Canyon, you've got Bryce Canyon, you've got Canyonlands, you have Zion. There's 12 or 13 parks down there that it looks like God just spent overtime doing what he did down there. It is awesome stuff. I think that whole Four Corner region is just phenomenal.

Rick Green

Yeah, I was thinking about Tim when you were mentioning the Redwoods. Even a few weeks ago I flew into Fresno, California, and in the airport you know they have a lot of those displays and big trees and just things that make you want to come back and see some more of God's creation. There's so much out there. And then there's also cool historical, you know, not even just museums but places you can go to kind of relive it, whether you go march with the Minutemen at Lexington on April 19th when they redo the, you know, reenact the shot heard around the world or you go visit other places that just help you to learn, because it brings it to life and part of being out in God's creation is it just has an impact on you, the vastness of it when you go see some of these cool things.

So we say it a lot, you know vacation with a purpose. Don't just pick a vacation that's going to be entertaining. Pick something that's going to impact your kids in a way that they'll never forget it. I know that worked for our kids growing up in the bus and traveling around the country and you guys in a van going all over the nation. I remember Damaris was the first one I heard it from when she said you know, we didn't homeschool, we vanschooled, and so we took that up as a moniker in our family and we bus schooled. And so we do encourage people vacation with a purpose. Bring that history to life, bring God's creation to life and it will impact your kids for the rest of their life. Thanks so much for listening today. Thanks to Ken Ham for joining us. You've been listening to the WallBuilder Show.