How Ray Comfort and Ken Ham Ended up as Friends

Real friendships don’t just happen. They evolve over a long period of time—maybe weeks, months, and sometimes years. When I first became a Christian, instead of having New Year’s resolutions, I had this thought: “I wonder what meaningful friendships I will make in this new year? I’m going to meet people I’ve never met before and grow to love them.” This thought always gave me a sense of excitement for the coming new year.

I first met Ken Ham in the mid-1990s. We were in his area, and he kindly gave myself and Mark Spence a tour of his not-yet-evolved Creation Museum. That was way before he had even thought of building his boat (he hates me calling his ship a “boat”).

But our friendship really picked up years later, after we released Evolution vs. God. He called and said that he loved it. To be honest, I was surprised. This is because I didn’t consider myself to be an expert on the subject, and he was. Soon after it was released, he and some of his staff visited Living Waters here in Southern California, and we went out for lunch.

“Real friendships don’t just happen. They evolve over a long period of time—maybe weeks, months, and sometimes years.”

Share on twitter Share on facebook

As our friendship further evolved, he kindly hosted a number of our movies, including The Atheist Delusion and The Fool. From then on, we became even closer friends, and we’ve sent each other tens of thousands of texts (our record for one day was around 220).

I’m a New Zealander, and Ken is Australian. Both countries are big rivals when it comes to sports. If you ask most Aussies for a Kiwi joke, you’d better brace yourself. And yet, Ken and I are not rivals (maybe just a little). We instead have a great friendship in Christ.

Here’s something else most people don’t know about Australians. They’re not like Americans. They don’t find it easy to show affection. If you’re fortunate, they may punch you on the shoulder and say, “I like you mate, even if you are an idiot.” That’s about all you’re going to get. Pride won’t let them show affection without an insult.

And so, every day I get texts from Ken What’s-his-name telling me that I’m short, ugly, old, stupid, dumb, a drongo, a twit, and a nitwit. We swap memes, send each other news items, and argue about who has the best weather—beautiful California or humid Kentucky. And this has been going on daily for about five years. E.Z. (the president of Living Waters) is on the thread, and so he brings into play both adult sobriety and his own form of Arab insanity.

I must add that Ken is a very kind person. He sent me a dinosaur head designed by the brilliant Buddy Davis. You’ll find that big head in the Living Waters in-house store, along with a stuffed skunk he sent (because I wanted one). Every time I look at the skunk, I think of Ken. It’s a great reminder.

He also sends me free copies of his books. The latest was a signed copy of his signature book, The Lie: Unraveling the Myth: Evolution/Millions of Years. Ken writes well, and I thoroughly recommend it to anyone who has trouble sleeping. There are more than 400,000 copies in print, so it’s a widespread problem—for which he is wonderfully fulfilling a real need.

Every day when I pick up my phone, his is the first text I read. This is because once in a blue moon, he makes me laugh. I have to admit that I really like him. Even if he is a twit.