Reason

On February 3, 1983, President Ronald Reagan proclaimed 1983 as the Year of the Bible. The Proclamation is as follows:

Proclamation 5018 -- Year of the Bible, 1983

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.

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.''

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

I remember that little was made of this Proclamation in 1983. Twenty-five years later, we find conditions worse than they were then. Any week, in any city, we just wonder how things can get any worse. Arrests made for illegal activities on the streets; killing, rape, illegal drug sales and this past weekend, a female public school teacher found on the street in her car with the seat down in sexual activity with a 15-year-old boy. Last month, a 45-year-old man was sentenced in the local court for the raping of a 95 year old black woman who had opened the front door of her house to get her newspaper off the front porch. One girl, was raped in the churchyard of a local church; a church that has served as a hospital during the Civil War and has been a bulwark of stability in this community.

This totally blind, 100% disabled, service-connected veteran of 40 years did enjoy getting out in the sunshine and walking around the block on which he lives. After all, I like some fresh air and sunshine, but, uniformed Sgt. Buster Yotes came to my house on orders from Police Chief Wadman and told me, in no uncertain terms, that I was to stay in my house with the doors locked. In other words, those who have defended the country, those who pay the taxes for the support of the country, those who have behaved themselves, went to school, stay out of jail, worked hard, which at one time exemplified the American spirit, now stays in the house with the doors locked, while the criminals roam the streets.

Since I am totally blind and can not drive my car, if I were to send my driver, in my car, to one of my buildings on which I pay much tax, and at a traffic light a criminal got in the car, my driver would not be able to defend himself or my property. But the criminal, with a weapon, could do what he pleases; and if by chance, he got caught, my tax dollars would be used to defend him. Twice in one year, the telephone wires to my house were cut. Evidently, because someone trying to get into my house knew that the security system was connected to the telephone system, and I could not get the local police or sheriff's department to do anything about it. Both the Sheriff's Deputy and the local police officer said, “If someone gets into your house and kills or disables you further than you already are, then we will be able to do something about it.”

It took 30 years (I am known for being persistent) for me to get the Army to install the security system in my house; a system to which I'm entitled due to my rank and to my disability (total blindness). For 30 years, I put cement blocks at my exterior doors each night in an effort to keep an intruder out; at least until I could call for help. There is nothing more frightful, for a person in total darkness, than to hear someone in your house, or for you to think there is a fire in the house. Finally, the VA put a sophisticated security system in my house, but it has never worked, even though the company was paid a tremendous amount of money. (As in most installations these days, installed incorrectly) Since law enforcement would do nothing anyway, I have given up on the whole idea. Your government, is more interested in the torture of foreign criminals than the security of disabled US Veterans!
Young men are much more interested in their golf game than their country; and young women are much more interested in dish pan hands than their country. It has not occurred to them yet what has happened this year as the nudge was given in November towards the nationalism of every area of American life. Sixty million Russians died in the Russian Revolution, as the Communists took over, before those still living realized what was happening. The frog is in a pan of cold water, the heat is being turned up very slowly, and in a short time, the frog is being cooked without him realizing what has happened. Lee Iaccoca made the statement some years ago, “As GM goes, so goes the Nation.” General Motors has now disintegrated. Other areas of the American economy, automobile, banking, Wall Street, insurance, are either in transition to disintegration or have already imploded. When will the average American citizen awaken?
A dilemma in this country is the number of firearms available. A Methodist minister, here in this town, one of these 'sissy', 'do-gooder' pacifists, decided to pay $10 for each handgun turned in to him. I don't know how many law abiding citizens turned in their guns, (the criminals are going to keep theirs!) but one man told me, that he got his $10 to make payment on a more expensive, more powerful weapon. We often wonder how easily the communists took over in Russia, China, Cuba, etc. “One man with a gun can control 100 without one.” Vladimir Lenin You can be sure, in the future, you will need or wish you had a gun to defend yourself and your family. Al Capone said, “You can get much farther with a kind word and a gun than you can with a kind word alone.”

The American people have stood very still, sat very quietly, have not raised one eyebrow, as the most raw pornography, hatched in the very pits of hell, have moved from the 'back streets' of Americana into their living rooms where, like the forbidden fruit in the garden, their most precious possessions, their children, are peeking at it and in many cases, males and females who know better, are spending much time with it. In a recent survey, 30% of all college students, both male and female, stated that they watch pornography. Ted Bundy, one of the most notorious pornographic and evil connoisseurs, known for his bludgeoning, strangulation and necrophilia, made the following statement: ...that, while pornography did not cause him to commit murder, the consumption of violent pornography helped "shape and mold" his violence into "behavior too terrible to describe." He alleged that he felt that violence in the media, "particularly sexualized violence," sent boys "down the road to being Ted Bundys.".

Each time I've been in Boston over the years, I made sure The Old North Church was still in its sanctum on the Charles River, where the lantern was hung April 18, 1775 telling Paul Revere and the defenders of our great republic, that the British and King George were anxious to erase this last and greatest refuge of freedom on earth. What do you think would have happened if these early colonials had not had their muskets, weapons, to defend themselves and their families? What do you think would have happened if these early colonials had not had the patriotism to defend this republic? Suppose they had been stuck in lethargy and apathy as today's young citizens.

I firmly believe, upon the authority of God's inerrant word, the history books I have been privileged to study, the observations that anyone with normal IQ can make in studying the spiritual, academic, commercial and governmental climate of this country; that the total loss of manhood in most American males has resulted in an attitude of pacifism, which leaves us in a state of the rapid expansion of collectivism. Our enemies, both foreign and domestic, know the nonchalance, the decadence with which our country seeks to compete on the world stage.


President Clinton and Janet Reno, did not call in foreign troops to massacre the 85 innocent women and children at the Davidian Compound in Waco, TX which began February 28, 1993. It was not a foreign power that almost assassinated President Ronald Reagan on March 30, 1981. And even though the President of the United States is one of the most protected people in the world, like JFK, a few years earlier, was shot. Unlike JFK, Reagan survived. It still amazes me, that a man had time to take off his shoe to throw at President George W. Bush at a news conference. I was taught early, when advised about correct decorum around national leaders, that you would probably get shot by the Secret Service if you put your hands in your pockets.

If the head of state of a superpower can not be protected, what can the citizens and the children of citizens of this country expect? Particularly, when you have proponents of euthanasia, nation's highest ranking women (Clinton, Pelosi, Sebelius) in power. Just imagine, Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services, architect of the nation's health resources, proponent of the deaths of the most innocent of children; think of Catholics such as Biden, Pelosi, Kennedy (hero of Chappaquiddick), proponents of abortion and euthanasia... Does anyone suspect why young people have such little regard for the church and the hypocrisy emanating therefrom? There are many things today's young people do not recognize, such as the disappearance of the traditions and the integrity of their country. But they are specialists in the recognition of hypocrisies. Perhaps this is the reason 75% of all young people, even from religious homes, have nothing to do with religion after college. Perhaps this is the reason that 50% of young people believe that Socialism is the answer to our problems.

Blaise Pascal, famed French mathematician, physicist and philosopher, said, “All of our reasoning ends in surrender to feeling.”