It is high time that people in general, and Bible-believing
Christians in particular, recognize the foundational significance
of special creation. Creation is not merely a religious doctrine
of only peripheral importance, as many people (even many evangelical
Christians) seem to assume. Rather, it is the basis of all true
science, of true Americanism, and of true Christianity. Evolutionism,
on the other hand, is actually a pseudo-science masquerading
as science. As such, it has been acclaimed as the "scientific"
foundation of atheism, humanism, communism, fascism, imperialism,
racism, laissez-faire capitalism, and a variety of cultic, ethnic
and so-called liberal religions, by the respective founders
and advocates of these systems. The creation/evolution issue
is, in a very real sense, the most fundamental issue of all.

Foundation of True Science

Evolutionist presuppositions permeate the writings,
of modern scientists. Stanley D. Beck says: "No central
scientific concept is more firmly established in our thinking,
our methods, and our interpretations, than that of evolution"
(Bioscience, V. 32, October 1982, p. 738).

But it was not always thus. Beck himself, after
defining and discussing the basic premises of science (that
is, the existence of a real world, the capability of the human
mind to understand the world, the principle of cause-and-effect,
and the unified nature of the world), admits that "each
of these postulates had its origin in, or was consistent with,
Christian theology" (Ibid., p. 739). That is, since
the world was created by a divine Creator, and man was
created in God's image, therefore nature makes orderly sense,
man is able to decipher its operations and true science becomes
possible. If the world is merely the chance product of random
forces, on the other hand, then our human brains are meaningless
jumbles of matter and electricity and science becomes nonsense.
Consequently, the great founding fathers of true science (Kepler,
Galileo, Pascal, Newton, Boyle, Brewster, Faraday, Linnaeus,
Ray, Maxwell, Pasteur, Kelvin, etc.) were almost all creationists
and believed they were glorifying God as they probed His works.
Yet today such scientists, would not even be considered scientists
at all, because they believed in the primeval special creation
of all things by God!

Foundation of True Americanism

Although not all of America's great founding fathers
were Bible-believing Christians, almost all of them were true
creationists, believing that God had created the world and man
and all natural systems. The colonies had been settled and developed
largely by Christian people who had come to this continent to
gain freedom to believe and do what the Bible taught, and they
all acknowledged that the foundational belief was belief in
special creation. The historian Gilman Ostrander reminds us
that: "The American nation had been founded by intellectuals
who had accepted a world view that was based upon Biblical authority
as well as Newtonian science. They had assumed that God created
the earth and all life upon it at the time of creation and had
continued without change thereafter" (The Evolutionary
Outlook, 1875-1900, Marston Press, 1971, p. 1).

Note that these great pioneers were intellectuals,
not ignorant emotionalists. They laid great stress on education
and science, founding many schools and colleges, in confidence
that true learning in any field must be Biblically governed.
Christian historian Mary-Elaine Swanson, says: "in colonial
times, the Bible was the primary tool in the educational process.
In fact, according to Columbia University professor, Dr. Lawrence
A. Cremin, the Bible was 'the single most primary source for
the intellectual history of colonial America.' From their knowledge
of the Bible, a highly literate, creative people emerged."
(Mayflower Institute Journal, August 1983, p. 5.) In
a July 4 address in 1783, Dr. Elias Boudinot, then president
of the Continental Congress, stated that his reason for advocating
an annual Independence Day observance in America was the great
precedent set by God himself. "No sooner had the great
Creator of the heavens and the earth finished his almighty work,
and pronounced all very good, but he set apart (not an anniversary,
or one day in a year, but) one day in seven for the commemoration
of his inimitable power in producing all things out of nothing."
(Address to the' New Jersey Society of the Cincinnati, July
4, 1783).

The fact of creation was also clearly implied
several times in the Declaration of Independence itself ("endowed
by our Creator," "created equal," "Nature's
God," etc.). Attorney Marshall Foster has pointed out that
at least the first 24 state constitutions recognized Christianity
as the religion of their states (Mayflower Institute Journal,
August 1983, p. 1).

Yet today, the Bible, Christianity, and creationism
have been banned from the schools of the states which had been
founded to teach these very truths! All this has been done in
the name of a gross distortion of the First Amendment. The amendment
which was intended to prevent the establishment of a particular
national denomination (e.g., Catholic, Anglican), has instead
been so twisted as to establish evolutionary humanism as the
quasi-official religion of our public institutions.

The Foundation of True Religion

The true religion must necessarily be based on
worship of the world's true Creator. Other religions may deify
great men, or man-made systems, or the world itself, but these
are all merely variant forms of humanism as men "worship
and serve the creature, rather than the Creator" (Rom.
1:25). It is highly significant that all such religions and
religious books begin with the creation, rather than the Creator,
except the Bible! That is, they all start with the universe
already in existence, and then try to delineate how the primeval
space/matter/time universe somehow developed into its present
array of complex systems. This attribute characterizes both
ancient paganism and modern humanism; these and all other atheistic,
pantheistic or polytheistic religions are merely various forms
of evolutionism. Only in Genesis 1:1 (the foundation of all
foundations!) is there a statement of the creation of the universe
itself. Without this foundation, true religion is impossible.

Now although creation is the foundation, it is,
of course, not the complete structure. Orthodox Judaism and
Islam, like Christianity, believe in one eternal Creator, as
revealed in Genesis 1:1, but they have rejected Him as Savior.
In addition to the general revelation seen in the creation,
God has explicitly revealed Himself through both His Word and
His Son. Those who reject either or both, even though they believe
in one God as primeval Creator and, like Christianity, are monotheistic,
cannot know God in His fullness. He must be known as gracious
Redeemer as well as omnipotent, but offended, Creator. Thus,
Biblical Christianity is the only truly creationist religion.

Foundation of Christology

By the same token, neither can one know Christ
as He really is if one knows Him only as Redeemer. Faint-hearted
Christians often justify their lukewarm attitude toward creation
by saying that it is more important merely to "preach Christ."
They forget that we are preaching "another Jesus"
(II Cor. 11:4) if we do not preach Him as He really is, along
with His complete work. The threefold aspect of the Person and
Work of Jesus Christ is beautifully outlined in the majestic
declaration of Colossians 1:16-20.

The great scope of this threefold work is "all
things in heaven and in earth." Jesus Christ was Creator
before He became the Sustainer (or Savior) and Reconciler, and
the awful price of reconciliation, "the blood of His cross,"
is the measure of mankind's terrible offense against our Creator.
That offense, furthermore, consists essentially of rejecting
His Word, and thus denying that He is really the Creator. One
truly "preaches Christ" only when he first of all
presents Him as the Almighty Creator, from whom man was alienated
when he repudiated God's veracity in His Word. Only when this
is first understood is it really meaningful to speak of God's
forgiving grace and saving love, His incarnation and redemptive
sacrifice as Son of Man.

Foundation of Faith

The great message of Christianity is that "the
just shall live by faith" (Heb. 10:38), speaking of "them
that believe, to the saving of the soul" (Heb. 10:39).
But exactly what is this living faith—this saving faith?
Faith in the abstract is only naive sentimentality; it must
be faith in something and/or someone to have any substance.

The faith of which the apostle speaks, of course,
is outlined in the verses immediately following, in the great
"Faith Chapter," Hebrews 11. It is the faith of Abel,
offering an acceptable sacrifice; it is Enoch's faith, pleasing
God in obedient witness; it is Noah's faith, believing and acting
on God's word; and Abraham's faith, stepping out on God's promises.

But, first of all, it is the foundational
faith of Hebrews 11:3, the faith by which "we understand
that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things
which are seen were not made of things which do appear."
This affirmation clearly tells us that any meaningful faith
for salvation and the Christian life must be founded, first
of all, on faith in God's special creation of all things, not
out of already existing materials but solely by His omnipotent
Word!

Foundation of the Gospel

Many Christians, who either ignore or compromise
the Biblical doctrine of creation, have urged creationists just
to "preach the Gospel—not creation!" But this
is impossible, because the saving Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ
is squarely founded on creation. The wonderful threefold work
of Christ (creation, conservation, consummation) as outlined
in Colossians 1:16-20, is identified as "the gospel"
in Colossians 1:23. The very last reference to the Gospel in
the Bible (Rev. 14:6, 7) calls it the everlasting Gospel (thus,
it could never have been any different) and its message is to
"worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea,
and the fountains of waters."

While it is surely true that the central focus
of the Gospel is on the substitutionary atonement and victorious
bodily resurrection of Christ (I Cor. 15:1-4), it also includes
His coming kingdom (Matt. 4:23) and His great creation. Any
other gospel is "another gospel" (Gal. 1:6) and is
not the true gospel. Without the creation, a supposed gospel
would have no foundation; without the promised consummation,
it offers no hope; without the cross and empty tomb, it has
no saving power. But when we preach the true Gospel, with the
complete Person and Work of the Lord Jesus Christ as they really
are, we build on a "sure foundation," can promise
a "blessed hope," and have available "all power
in heaven and earth" through Christ who, in all His fullness,
is "with us, even to the end of the world" (Matt.
28:20).

*Dr. Henry M. Morris is Founder and President
Emeritus of the Institute for Creation Research.