2023: The 40th Annv of “Yr of the Bible” Part 1
In Scripture, 40 years has continued significance. For that reason, I want to bring up that the year 2023 will be the 40th anniversary of President Ronald Reagan’s official, governmental proclamation of 1983 as The Year of the Bible.
I think it would do us much good to consider 2023 as a new “Year of the Bible.” I want to offer President Reagan’s original proclamation, below; his words are extremely wise and compelling!
Charles Spurgeon
"A bible that is falling apart usually belongs to someone who isn't!"
By Charles Spurgeon
"A bible that is falling apart usually belongs to someone who isn't!" By Charles Spurgeon
Throughout 2023 (I know, I’m getting a bit of a head start), I plan on posting interesting, educational, inspiring insights and quotes about the one book that has brought — by far — the greatest change, hope, restoration, reconciliation, education, and freedom wherever its words have been received and acted on — than any other book in history.
It is way past time for our culture and world to go back to the Bible. By so doing, we can see the urgent change we need across the nation and world. But unless we do, our sick and dying culture will grow even worse than it already stands today.
“Of the many influences that have shaped the United States of America into a distinctive Nation and people, none may be said to be more fundamental and enduring than the Bible.” Pastor Brad
Deep religious beliefs stemming from the Old and New Testaments of the Bible inspired many of the early settlers of our country, providing them with the strength, character, convictions, and faith necessary to withstand great hardship and danger in this new and rugged land.
These shared beliefs helped forge a sense of common purpose among the widely dispersed colonies—a sense of community which laid the foundation for the spirit of nationhood that was to develop in later decades.
The Bible and its teachings helped form the basis for the Founding Fathers’ abiding belief in the inalienable rights of the individual, rights which they found implicit in the Bible’s teachings of the inherent worth and dignity of each individual.
This same sense of man patterned the convictions of those who framed the English system of law inherited by our own Nation, as well as the ideals set forth in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
For centuries the Bible’s emphasis on compassion and love for our neighbor has inspired institutional and governmental expressions of benevolent outreach such as private charity, the establishment of schools and hospitals, and the abolition of slavery.
Many of our greatest national leaders—among them Presidents Washington, Jackson, Lincoln, and Wilson—have recognized the influence of the Bible on our country’s development. The plainspoken Andrew Jackson referred to the Bible as no less than
“The rock on which our Republic rests.”
Today our beloved America and, indeed, the world, is facing a decade of enormous challenge. As a people we may well be tested as we have seldom, if ever, been tested before.
We will need resources of spirit even more than resources of technology, education, and armaments.
There could be no more fitting moment than now to reflect with gratitude, humility, and urgency upon the wisdom revealed to us in the writing that Abraham Lincoln called
“The best gift God has ever given to man . . . But for it we could not know right from wrong.”
The Congress of the United States, in recognition of the unique contribution of the Bible in shaping the history and character of this Nation, and so many of its citizens, has by Senate Joint Resolution 165 authorized and requested the President to designate the year 1983 as the “Year of the Bible.”
PROCLAMATION 5018—FEB. 3, 1983 97 STAT. 1545
Proclamation 5018 of February 3,1983
Year of the Bible, 1983
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
“NOW, THEREFORE, I, RONALD REAGAN, President of the United States
of America, in recognition of the contributions and influence of the Bible on our Republic and our people, do hereby proclaim 1983 the Year of the Bible in the United States.
I encourage all citizens, each in his or her own way, to reexamine and rediscover its priceless and timeless message.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this third day of February, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eighty-three, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and seventh.”
RONALD REAGAN
“A Heart After God, Bible Teaching Ministry: Reaching Africa & Beyond!”
