"Please open your Bibles to Genesis chapter one." With this, Dr. John MacArthur opened the 2009 Shepherds' Conference. For the next hour, he told nearly 3,200 church leaders that no self-respecting pastor, evangelical, or Christian should attempt to deny that God created the heavens and earth in six literal days. Those who have difficulty believing the historical account of Genesis, he warned, will have much more difficulty trusting the rest of the Bible and its accounts of the virgin birth, Christ's atonement for our sins, and the resurrection of the dead, all miracles that cannot--that must not--be subjected to the reasoning of finite men.

It was a blessing to hear this great Christian leader expound in his typical no-nonsense fashion that God meant what He said, that the Bible can be trusted from the very first chapter. This contrasted with a number of other conferences ICR has attended where speakers did their best to avoid the issue of the authority and accuracy of the Bible, or, sadly, compromised God's Word with evolution-based "creation" theories such as day-age, theistic evolution, progressive creation, and the like.

During 2009, ICR will continue producing resources for pastors and Christian educators who teach their congregations and students an uncompromising message of the Creator. We have distributed some 15,000 "Pastor Packs" with the updated Some Call It Science, and the newly-released 5 Reasons to Believe in Recent Creation and Exploring the Evidence for Creation. These books, along with our special February Darwin issue of Acts & Facts, will allow pastors and teachers to assess the battlefield between atheistic naturalism and biblical theism, between evolutionism and creationism.

ICR attended the Shepherds' Conference in preparation for the Demand the Evidence Conference to be held October 23-24 at Grace Community Church, where Dr. MacArthur is celebrating his 40th year as pastor-teacher. ICR will repeat these special conferences in other cities in 2009-10, such as at First Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Florida. (Contact our Events staff to invite ICR for one of these Friday/Saturday conferences in your city.)

Beginning with this April 2009 issue, Acts & Facts has been expanded to 24 pages in a move that both reduces production costs and allows more content each month. Look for new authors and new columns as we continue to upgrade and enhance our ministry publications.

On pages 13-16 is our Spring Resource Guide, updated with new books from ICR to help you in your study of the Creator and His Word. Our Impact article by Dr. Dan Criswell on pages 10-12 explores the issue of speciation, a topic that evolutionists and hybrid theorists like Hugh Ross use in their attempt to undermine the clear teaching of the Bible. Don't forget to get your copy of Old-Earth Creationism on Trial, detailing the fallacies of those who refuse to take God at His Word.

As we begin the spring season with renewed life all around us, consider renewing your commitment to the mission and ministry of ICR as we research, educate, and communicate the enduring and unfailing truths of Scripture. Your gift to us at this time will be a special blessing.

* Mr. Ford is Executive Editor at the Institute for Creation Research.

Cite this article: Ford, L. E. 2009. Taking God at His Word. Acts & Facts. 38 (4): 3.