The Lie

The Lie: Evolution/Millions of Years

AiG VP Dale Mason interviews Ken Ham, president and founder of AiG and the Creation Museum, about how The Lie came to be written.

Twenty-five years ago, Ken Ham, president and founder of Answers in Genesis and the Creation Museum, published The Lie: Evolution. In The Lie, Ken drew attention to the destructive effects that evolutionary ideas and millions of years have on the gospel, the church, and scriptural authority in the culture as a whole. This year, Ken decided to revise, expand, and update this bestselling book. He also retitled it to The Lie: Evolution/Millions of Years. But the question still stands: What exactly is the lie?

“Did God Really Say . . . ?”

The lie is not just a book title. And it does not simply refer to evolution or millions of years. No, the lie has led to a far deeper issue—one that has plagued society since Adam and Eve took that first bite of the forbidden fruit. It begins with the question, “Did God really say … ?” (Genesis 3:1), otherwise known in The Lie as the “Genesis 3 attack.” Man, in his sinful pride, has elevated himself to a position of authority, disregarding and even rewriting the Word of God. Our culture is answering the question “Did God really say … ?” with a resounding “No!” As Ken explains in The Lie, the lie itself has led to man’s denial of the full authority and accuracy of the Bible from its very first verse. And man’s denial has had devastating effects.

Without Genesis … Our Worldview Is Based on Death and Suffering

Get The Lie to learn the importance of Christians taking Genesis as literal history and not compromising God’s Word with evolution or millions of years.

To begin with, as Ken points out in The Lie, our handling of Genesis impacts not just our understanding of Scripture but also our worldview. Every doctrine of Scripture is ultimately founded on Genesis. When believers dismiss Genesis 1–11 as myth or as unreliable, on what foundation can biblical doctrines stand? We are left with opinions, which at the root are just man’s ideas lifted up as an authoritative standard.

Furthermore, when believers attempt to add evolution and millions of years to Genesis, they lay down a foundation of death and suffering on which to build their worldview. However, Jesus Christ and the Apostle Paul treat Genesis 1–11 as literal and affirm that death entered the world through Adam’s sin—were they lying or misinformed? Hardly. But if Christians believe the lie that Genesis cannot be trusted, they are paving the way for the trustworthiness of the gospel message to be called into question.

Without Genesis … Our Children Learn the Bible Cannot Be Trusted

When our church leaders teach believers, especially youth, that Genesis 1–11 is untrustworthy, they are teaching (unwittingly or not) that the Word of God is not authoritative. While it may seem hard to believe that the denial of 11 chapters from just one of the 66 books of Scripture could have such a negative impact on people, it has been confirmed by the research presented in Ken’s book, Already Gone. Two-thirds of our children are leaving the church by the time they reach college age. And the majority of them do not believe that Genesis 1–11 is accurate or reliable. Church leaders’ compromise on Genesis, including their incorporation of evolution and millions of years, is teaching our children that the Word of God lacks authority—and our children suffer the most from the results of such thinking.

Without Genesis … Barriers to the Gospel Remain

Finally, the message of The Lie is creation evangelism. Ken explains that evolutionary ideas and millions of years are some of the biggest barriers to people being receptive to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Thus, Genesis is critically important to presenting the gospel effectively. Creation evangelism starts at the very beginning of Scripture, removes those barriers, and opens people’s hearts and minds to the gospel. But if believers give in to the lie that Genesis can be mixed with evolution and millions of years, those barriers will remain firmly in place.

The Attack Has Not Changed

Challenging the reliability of the first eleven chapters of the Bible is the Genesis 3 attack of our day, as The Lie makes apparent. Read The Lie: Evolution/Millions of Years. You will find that the attack is no different than it was twenty-five years ago; indeed, it has not changed since the temptation in the Garden of Eden. Compromise does not stop on its own. As Christians, if we want to leave a legacy of faith to our children and grandchildren, we must rescue them from the faith-destroying compromise happening all around us. To do this, we must restore the right foundation to the gospel—the authority of God’s Word from the very first verse—and stand our ground in defending the truth of the entire Bible.

The creation message has matured over the past three decades, as the discernment and understanding of creationist leaders has matured. More and more, the emphasis is on the foundational issue: compromise of Genesis ultimately undermines the gospel itself.