American Presidents and the Bible

Dr. Howard A. Kelly was the most famous medical practitioner in this country in the first half of this century. He was professor of gynecology at Johns Hopkins University, and later the head surgeon and radiologist at the famous Howard A. Kelly Hospital in Baltimore. He wrote some twenty scientific books and five hundred medical and scientific articles. It took thirty lines in his biography just to indicate his honors in Who’s Who In America.

What was the secret of his greatness? “I rise regularly at six,” he said, “and after dressing, give all of my time until our eight o’clock breakfast to the study of God’s Word. I find time for brief studies during the day and again in the evening. I make it a general rule to touch nothing but the Bible after the evening meal.”

Grasp all that he said. Here was a man who was the head of a hospital, author of 20 scientific texts, a busy surgeon, and yet he found time for studying the Word of God.

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Is he a fluke, or does the reading of God’s Word lead toward greatness in life? George Washington, the great founder of this nation, arose regularly and spent the time from five until six in the morning on his knees before a chair on which lay an open Bible. He retired every evening at nine o’clock to the same study, to the same chair, to the same open Bible.

Note what several of our presidents have said on this subject:

President John Adams, one of the Founders of our nation and its second president, said: “I have made it a practice every year for several years to read through the Bible.”

Ulysses S. Grant, eighteenth president of the United States, said: “Hold fast to the Bible as the anchor of your liberty; write its precepts in your hearts and practice them in your lives.”

Theodore Roosevelt, twenty-sixth president of the United States, said: “If a man is not familiar with the Bible, he has suffered the loss which he had better make all possible haste to correct.”

Ronald Reagan, fortieth president of the United States, said, “Inside the Bible’s pages lie all the answers to all of the problems man has ever known.... It is my firm belief that the enduring values presented in its pages have a great meaning for each of us and for our nation. The Bible can touch our hearts, order our minds, and refresh our souls.”

Dear friend, let me urge you to read the Word of God. It is the height of wisdom to read it, and to fail to read it is great folly. Many years ago, as a young pastor, I found the work of the ministry could crowd the time for reading and studying the Word of God. I became very convicted about this. I committed myself and dedicated myself before God that I would not allow a day to go by that I did not spend time in the Word.

Would that everyone who reads this would make that same commitment and do it today. You will be so grateful you have done so. Your life will be blessed; your home will be blessed; the success of your future years may well depend upon hiding the Bible’s great truths in your heart and mind.

For centuries, children in America learned the alphabet through the New England Primer. Millions of young Americans were educationally weaned on this small book, which was full of biblical principles. Each letter of the alphabet pointed back to the Bible. “In Adam’s fall, we sinned all” was how they learned the letter A. “Christ crucified, for sinners died” was how they learned C, and so on. I close with the way they often learned the letter B. It summarizes in a sentence the entire point of this message: “Thy life to mend, this Book attend.”
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D. James Kennedy, Ph.D., is senior minister of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, and president of Coral Ridge Ministries, an international Christian broadcast outreach.