Gov. Ron DeSantis took his oath of office Tuesday afternoon on the steps of the state Capitol building in Tallahassee. His inauguration came months after a landslide reelection win with nearly 60% of the vote.
While the building and the victory behind him are historic, so was the Bible on which the Republican governor was sworn in for his second term. The Aitken Bible, on loan from nationally syndicated radio host and co-founder of Blaze Media Glenn Beck, was the same on which great patriots — without whom there might not be an America today — swore their allegiance in the days of the nation’s founding.
Glenn Beck unveiled the American Journey Experience in 2020. The AJE is a state-of-the-art museum and research library replete with documents and antiquities speaking to America’s rise and greatness. Among the collection is Franklin D. Roosevelt’s wheelchair, the original script for Orson Wells’ “War of the Worlds,” and original letters written by George Washington.
The collection also boasts one of the rarest books in the world: an Aitken Bible from 1782, personally owned by Glenn Beck.
The Aitken BibleCourtesy: WallBuilders
It is this very Bible, called the “Bible of the Revolution,” that DeSantis swore his oath on today.
Beck noted that he offered this Bible along with Mary Todd Lincoln’s Bible for use by DeSantis, but thought the governor would select the Aitken Bible due to its connection to America’s Founding Fathers and “the men who fought for American independence.”
“I offered Gov. DeSantis the use of these Bibles for his use at his oath of office ceremony in Florida, as I believe his work in the state has real historic significance. It is the beginning of a renewal of the principles for which our Founders fought,” said Beck.
DeSantis has made significant strides to safeguard parental rights, remove radical leftist educators, protect children from mutilation at the hands of activists, and bolster voter integrity. Extra to keeping Florida free and open during the pandemic, DeSantis has emphasized that he is working to ensure that “Florida is where woke goes to die.”
The Bible on which DeSantis will swear his oath today, along with Lieutenant Gov. Jeanette Nuñez, serves “as a reminder of where we came from.”
This Aitken Bible was endorsed by the Founding Fathers in the U.S. Congress in 1782 and is the first and only edition ever so authorized.
In addition to being the last Bible commissioned by Congress, this King James translation also happens to be the first English Bible printed in North America. Previously, the only Bible printed in North America was the Eliot Indian Bible in the Algonquin language.
According to the Heritage Post, when the Revolution began, Americans could no longer rely upon England to print their Bibles.
Beck underscored how “one of the rights new Americans fought for was the freedom of religion, which, at the time, was tightly controlled by the king.”
The British government had regulated the publication of the Bibles and had previously forbade the printing of English-language Bibles without special licenses from the regime. Facing a shortage of the printed word of God, Congress was petitioned to print or import more, because “unless timely care be used to prevent it, we shall not have Bibles for our schools and families and for the public worship of God in our churches.”
When America won the War of Independence, the printer Robert Aitken took it upon himself to print the first Bible. This was particularly fortunate, as the thousands of books the U.S. attempted to import from Holland did not make it over.
The Founding Fathers in Congress agreed, stating in July 1777, “The Congress desire to have a Bible printed under their care and by that encouragement.”
“The Founders understood where our rights came from,” said Beck. “This Bible … is a reflection of that understanding.”
By swearing upon this Bible, aware of its significance, DeSantis appears to have signaled a continuation of that understanding and the survival of the Founders’ revolutionary spirit. He has also sworn on the first and only Bible endorsed by Congress and printed during the War of Independence.
“No revolution can be successful and lead to greater peace, harmony, and expansion of the human spirit without God and the truths found in the Bible. It teaches us to fight FOR those things that are truth with love, not against with hatred,” added Beck.
The conservative broadcaster underscored that “many of the issues we face today are due to the loss of truth. It has happened before, and until we return to the eternal truths which Rudyard Kipling called the ‘Gods of the Copybook Headings,’ we will continue to, as a nation, and as individuals, struggle. The Bible played an essential role in our Founding, and if we are to remain a nation of individual rights, it must play the same role in our Re-Founding.”
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