Click on the Picture to Read World Net Daily's Great Article on Ken Hamm's new book "Already Gone"

Much coverage has been given to Ken Hamm’s groundbreaking new book Already Gone – and rightfully so. The Church has been losing young people in record numbers. The reaction of evangelical leaders has been to :
a) write books, host seminars, etc for teens & their parents on “how to remain Christian at college”
b) set up worldview camps, and training programs for older teens to try and repair the damage that is being systematically done to them through Marxist & anti-Christian education, entertainment, etc. (as if saturating someone with a disease for 12 to 17 years and then trying to give them a heavy dose of vaccinne before turning them over to be more heavily saturated with the disease could be called “preventative medicine”)
or
c) blame the liberals/ the Democrats/ the illuminati

These responses are — at best — inadequate & short sighted. The third response above is inadequate because it is hopeless, unbiblical, does not take responsibility, and ultimately reacts the same way God’s people did to Goliath (save David) or the giants in the land (save Joshua & Caleb). It is bordeline idolotry. The first two responses fall short becasuse they are reactive and try to provide a quick and reasonably painless fix a problem years after it has taken root.

That’s why I am grateful for Hamm’s book — exposong the glaring picture of the Aposte John’s explanation “they went out from us because they were not of us“. (I John 2:19). The church (and their parents) had long since lost the hearts and minds of these kids before they left physically.

I have not read Hamm’s book yet, but I have read enough exerts and commentaries by Hamm & others and heard enough interviews to get the gist of it — and know that I want to read it. However, I believe that Ken Hamm is also guilty of not seeing the forrest for the trees. Just like all of us he is guided by his presuppositions and his cause of greatest concern. This is something we are all prone to (so I’m not beating Hamm up), When I was involved in Operation Rescue, we saw abortion in every Bible verse and behind every news story; being a “3rd Party guy” I notice (find?) problems with the “big two parties” at the root of many political issues;
Hamm recognized the problem, he grasps some of the foundational issues, then he turned to one particular manifestation (fruit) to explain the whole problem (root). He starts on the right path, but ends up with “it’s all about not teaching a literal view of Genesis 1″. ( while I agree is part of the problem — a fruit — but certainly not the MAIN problem — root — or even biggest problem).

For another perspective, and sadly another example of this check out Gary Demar’s thought provoking, short read piece “Why Creation and Prophecy cannot be Separated”

This is the second of two excellent pieces dealing with this issue .

Demar’s premise is simple :
“that there are exegetical and hermeneutical inconsistencies among YECists who are dispensationalists (e.g., Henry Morris, Tim LaHaye, and Ray Comfort) and among those who speak in these churches and homeschool conventions about YECism (even though they themselves may not be dispensationalists). I contend that prophecy, because it is about the future, has a greater impact on people than does whether the earth is young or old. “

I have always found it odd that many Young Earth Creationists (in who’s camp I reside) take such issue with a hermeneutic model that places a “gap theory” in Genesis don’t have any trouble with a “gap theory” in Daniel. I suppose a muti-billion year gap in the Creation account is unacceptable, but a multi-thousand year gap in Daniel’s “Seventy Weeks” is ok .(?)

However, I still think this is a “missing-the-forrest-for-the-trees” issue. . . .

While I have not read Hamm’s book (yet) from what I’ve heard and read the book/ research brings out the fact that astonishing percentages of kids raised in church are abandoning their faith and adopting an anti-Christian worldview when they leave home.
And, that the percentages are even higher among kids that attended Sunday School/ Youth Group/ etc regularly. If I heard right, in fact, I believe Hamm argues that the more kids attend Sunday School, VBS, etc the more likely they were to abandon Church.

So far, so good, but then he turns towards his particular issue of concern as the big problem : not teaching literal, six-day creation, and thereby, teaching these kids to deny the inerrancy of Scripture and preparing them to abandon everything else. This may be true, but I do not think it is the big issue any more than I think that agreeing with Gary Demar on eschatology (which I do) is the big issue (Demar does not make this claim).

When we hear that the largest percentage of kids leaving the church are those who attended Sunday School the most regularly, we should not question only the content of what is being taught but the very concept of age segregated Sunday School — modeled after the public school system — itself.
If we do not, we are not dealing with root issues — or at the very least we are not doing complete & adequate research. Unless it can be proven that these statistics are drastically different among kids where Six Day Creation is taught –with all other factors being equal (doctrine of the church, whether the parents are Believers, government vs Christian education) then Hamm’s assertions are merely speculation or impostion.

I believe these are the questions that the research produced for the book should cause us to delve into are things like :

1) Should we be having age segregated Sunday School/ VBS/ Youth Group at all ? Is it Biblical ? Does it have a long history of success as a pattern among Bible believing churches ?
2) Is teaching even the best doctrine, worldview, etc in one hour a week Sunday School adequate — even in “family integrated” settings — if we are not submerging our kids in Truth for the majority of their time during the week ? What other factors contribute as much or more to them leaving the faith ? What other factors have shaped our worldview and how can they be rooted out as well ?
3) If we get all of the above right and don’t have a right view of God as our primary focus, how can we hope to produce good fruit and build strong churches, families, etc ? Do we want a new Phariseeism or Christianity ?
4) Since we know that many kids from families/ churches who get everything “right” rebel — and that ourh kids who have done well and are following after Christ are on that path in spite of us rather than because of us. shouldn’t crying out to God for mercy while we analize and act be of supreme importance ?

The family & our children have been under relentless Satanic attack for well over a century. The foundations of our liberty & our culture have been laid waste for even longer. Entertainment & education, culture and government — and oftentimes even the church — have been systematically (even if unintentionally) creating this crisis. We have poisoned the soil; we have rotten roots; we have rotten trees; we have rotten fruit.

We must, therefore, lay the axe to the roots, plow deeply, and rebuild the soil (restore the foundations).