A review of Ken Ham’s new book
Already Compromised is, in a sense, a sequel to Ken’s best-seller, Already Gone. In the earlier book, Ken showed how many young people have “already gone” from the church in their heads when they are as young as 11 or 12 years old, even if they physically attend church with their families. Much of the blame for this can be attributed to inadequate training for Sunday School teachers and inadequate provision for Sunday School curricula.
Ken now takes this important message a step further. Many Christian parents want to send their young people off to Christian colleges and universities after they graduate from High School. The shocking message of this book is that even schools, which have a conservative and biblical statement of faith and a claim to believe in the inerrancy of scripture, are often undermining the faith of vulnerable young people, many of whom have not yet personally found salvation.
Most readers will know I have an interest in such a book as this. I was formerly the manager of the UK branch of the ministry, which Ken founded and leads so ably. And, like Ken, I am a former High School teacher. I almost wish Ken’s analysis wasn’t true—as I am sure he does, too. But his argument is compelling and detailed, and backed up by meticulous research. The background research once again has been carried out by Britt Beemer and his America’s Research Group. Beemer sent and received questionnaires from leading figures in Christian universities. The charts reproduced in the book are sobering. ARG’s clever questions indicate the surprising importance of language. For example, 74% or respondents say that they believe in the inerrancy of scripture (p.30), but only 59.6% believe that God created the earth in six literal days (p.22). So, my math suggests that a whopping 14.4% believe that the strong word “inerrancy” does not imply that Genesis 1 is correct! Ken, with his razor-sharp, but godly, sarcasm exposes these inconsistencies with the skill of a master surgeon.
Ken is joined by his co-author, Greg Hall, who is the president of Warner University, Florida—a university that bucks the unfortunate trend of compromising evangelical standards by adhering to a firm line on biblical truth. Even there, in refreshingly honest prose, Dr. Hall admits that sticking to this strong biblical line has not always been easy. (See p.44)
It should be a matter of concern to all believers that compromising, supposedly evangelical colleges are turning out our pastors of the future. Indeed, many of our present problems are caused by young, and not-so-young, pastors, who do not understand the foundational importance of the literal historical-grammatical reading of Genesis.
Get this book and read it. Get your pastor to read it. And get your church discussing it. This book is not intended to be a “stock-market” report over which we can cluck and tut, knowing that there is nothing that we can do. Instead, it is a call to action for Christian families, churches, young people, educational institutions and fellow creationist ministries like CSE. Let’s pray that, if the Lord tarries, Ken can write a follow-up book in ten years’ time, in which he can report that the situation has improved. Because if the situation just stays as it is, let alone gets worse, I fear for the future of Christianity in our society. I believe that God has raised Ken up to speak prophetically to our society through books such as these. He is to be commended for doing so.
