With all that’s going on in Alabama in the fight over the stone monument of the 10 Commandments, I came across an interesting chapter in Grant Jeffrey's book "The Handwriting of God." The following is from his book.
In light of growing secularist groups, such as the American Civil Liberties Union and People for the American Way, to banish the Bible from the courts, the schools, and any public place in our society, it might be enlightening to examine the attitude displayed toward the Word of God by the great leaders of the past who served as Presidents of the United States. A small sampling of their publicly expressed views on the supreme value of the Bible is quite instructive.
The first president of the United States of America, George Washington, wrote, "it is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible." John Quincy Adams, the sixth president of the United States, wrote, "So great is my veneration of the Bible, that the earlier my children begin to read it the more confident will be my hope that they will prove useful citizens of their country and respectable members of society."
Adams also declared, "I have for many years made it a practice to read through the Bible once a year. My custom is to read four or five chapters every morning immediately after arising from my bed. It employs about an hour of my time, and seems to me the most suitable manner of beginning the day. In what light so ever we regard the Bible, whether with reference to revelation, to history, or to mortality, it is an invaluable and inexhaustible mine of knowledge and virtue."
President Andrew Jackson referred to the Bible as the foundation of the nation: "That Book, sir, is the rock on which our republic rests."
In a letter to his friend Mr. Speed, written during the tragic years of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln wrote, "I believe the Bible is the best gift God has ever given to man. All the good from the Savior of the world is communicated to us through this Book." Lincoln also gave this suggestion to those who wondered how they should approach the Word of God: "Take all this Book upon reason that you can, and the balance of faith, and you will live and die a happier and better man."
President Woodrow Wilson declared in a speech he gave on May 7, 1911, "A man has found himself when he has found his relation to the rest of the universe, and here is the Book in which those relations are set forth."
President Wilson was so committed to the importance of the Bible to the life of this republic that he called for daily Bible reading by all citizens to strengthen the moral fiber and destiny of the American nation: "I ask every man and woman in this audience that from this day on they will realize that part of the destiny of America lies in their daily perusal of this great Book." President Herbert Hoover suggested that the key to the unique strengths of American democracy and her stable institutions is to be found in the pages of the Holy Scriptures.
Hoover wrote, "The whole of the inspiration of our civilization springs from the teachings of Christ and the lessons of the prophets. To read the Bible for these fundamentals is a necessity of American life."
Another president, the beloved Dwight D. Eisenhower, indicated his own profound love for reading the pages of the scriptures: "To read the Bible is to take a trip to the fair land where the spirit is strengthened and faith renewed." Many more examples could be given but these quotations reveal the profound understanding of these great military and political leaders of the United States. This nation was founded upon the principles of the Word of God.
By George Konig
Christian Internet Forum
www.georgekonig.org
Sept. 7, 2003
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