National Bible Week
Floor Speech
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Mr. ALLEN. Mr. Speaker, it has been a privilege to serve with Doug, and I thank him for his great service to our country and for emphasizing the importance of the Bible.
It is an honor to stand here, but particularly tonight to commemorate National Bible Week along with my friends and colleagues. I am here to talk about what the Bible has meant to me and its impact on our Nation's history.
There are divisions across our country, including in this Chamber, that highlight the challenges that we are facing.
I was baptized in a small, rural church at 9 years of age and my parents raised me in the church there. I had a few other priorities in college, but after my marriage to my wife, we found a church home in Augusta and that church home has meant the world to our family.
However, it was almost 30 years later that I realized that maybe my priorities were not in order. I decided that I would make Bible study and prayer a priority in my life.
I started Bible study with a friend about 6 months later, and I realized that God was writing His Word on my very heart. I had this urge to know God and study His Word and understand His purpose and will for me. All of my life, as I look back, I had relied on God's Word for truth.
Twenty-three years ago, I joined a Bible study fellowship in my hometown of Augusta. It is an intense Bible study, but I am telling you it was life changing. I am currently reading the Change Your Life Study Bible with the Lead group here in Washington, D.C., and I am constantly reminded of the answers this book provides and to the current issues that we are dealing with today facing our Nation.
Since my time in Congress and meeting with people across the Nation and folks in our own district, unfortunately, we are becoming a Bible ill-literate society.
Just above our flag here in this body, we have ``In God We Trust,'' but how do you know how to trust God if you don't know God and don't know His Word?
I look at the full face of Moses in this House Chamber and I am reminded of the first five books of the Bible, the moral law.
George Washington himself in his farewell address said:
Morality and faith are the pillars of our society. We confess these pillars are being eroded in an increasingly materialistic and permissive society.
And that is continuing today.
One of the Scriptures I memorized early on was Joshua 1:8. It says:
Do not let this Book of Law depart from your lips. Meditate on it night and day. Be careful to do what it says and what is written in it, for then you will make your way prosperous and you will have success. This is a great promise from God.
This is a special time of year. There are over 11 times in the Old Testament starting 1,500 years ago predicting the birth, the life, the death, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ whose birthday we celebrate here at this time.
Starting off in Genesis 3:15: ``And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.''
That was written 1,500 years ago.
In closing, Mr. Speaker, we are about to witness another historic and important inauguration.
As I talk to you currently, most Americans believe our Nation is in serious moral, spiritual, and financial decline. Emotional health has become an epidemic because many do not know where to turn for hope.
I love the Bible, I love to pray, and I love to pray with those who believe in the values and the Founding Fathers' values in the truth that we behold in this country.
Especially during this important season, keep the hope and trust in Him and His Word. He will change the direction of this country and He will write His Word on your heart.
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