February 20, 2025 • 7 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, if you want to know about the history of America, it is imperative that you know the Bible's role in shaping our country. Our Founding Fathers—Christian and non-Christian—were heavily influenced by the Bible. Here to share another story is Robert Morgan, author of 100 Bible Verses That Made America.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories,
the show where America is the star and the American people,
and we love to hear from you and your story.
Send them to our American Stories dot com. There's some
of our favorites. If you want to know about the
history of America, it's imperative that you know the role
that the Bible played in the shaping of our country.
(00:33):
Our founding fathers, both Christian and non Christian, were heavily
influenced by the Bible. Here to share another story is
Robert Morgan, who's the author of one hundred Bible verses
that made America. For finding moments that shaped our enduring
foundation of faith, take it away, Robert.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
I vividly remember Christmas Eve of nineteen sixty eight. I
was a high school student preparing for college in troubled times.
The Vietnam War was ripping American pieces. Campuses were battle zones,
cities burned from race riots, and the land was violent.
I registered with the local draft board and worried about
(01:18):
my future. Martin Luther King Junior and Robert F. Kennedy
had been slain. Lending Johnson abandoned hopes for re election
that Democratic National Convention in Chicago was engulfed in teargas,
and in November Richard Nixon won the presidency. That the
Soviet Union was threatening America both on Earth and in space.
(01:42):
On December twenty one, a Saturn five rocket lifted off
with Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and Bill Anders strapped into
a small capsule known as Apollo eighth. Many within the
NASA community wondered if they would ever return. Experts gave
(02:06):
the mission a fifty to fifty chance of success, and
Frank Borman's wife, Susan prepared his eulogy. Some officials worried
openly that if the astronauts perished in lunar orbit, no
one would ever look at the Moon or at Christmas
in the same way. But John F. Kennedy had set
a deadline to take men to the Moon by the
(02:28):
end of the decade, and NASA was determined to keep it.
The astronauts traveled faster and further than anyone before them
in history, and we effectively won the space race as Americans.
As Frank Borman gazed at the window at the receding
marble of Earth, he thought to himself, this must be
(02:49):
what God sees. Robert Curson wrote in his book Rocket
Men to Andrews, earth appeared as a Christmas tree ornament,
hung radiant blue and swirling while in an endless black knight.
From there, it was no longer possible to pick out
countries or even continents. All a person could see was
(03:12):
the Earth. And it occurred to Anders and this last
week of nineteen sixty eight, this terrible year for America
and the world, that once you can see the boundaries,
you started to see something different. You saw how small
the planet is, how close all of us are to
one another, and how the only thing any of us
(03:32):
have in an otherwise empty universe is each other. On
Christmas Eve, we all stopped their suppers and celebrations and
gathered around our television sets for one of the most
extraordinary moments in television, a worldwide broadcast from lunar orbit.
(03:56):
No one knew what the astronauts would say, not even
mission control, but at eight thirty Central Time, the American
networks interrupted their programming as granny black and white images
appeared on the screen through the static of space. Borman said,
this is Apollo at coming to you.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Live with the booth.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
We all heard that, though we could hardly believe it.
The men aim their camera at the moon, at the earth,
and at the stars, as they described their sights and
their sensations. Then Anders said, where now.
Speaker 4 (04:34):
Booking letter ran, and for all the people back on earth,
a pearl of Apollo ape.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
And we would like it.
Speaker 5 (04:44):
Then you.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
There was a pause, and then he began reading from
Genesis one.
Speaker 4 (04:51):
In the beginning, God created and the earth, and the
earth was without form. Avoid it. And when the bond
the made the beneath.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
One by one, the astronauts passed a far proof copy
of Genesis chapter one, taken from the Gideon Bible, and
they read the creation account.
Speaker 4 (05:14):
And God said, left there be light, and there one light,
and God thaw the light. They went good, and divide
the light from the darkning. And God called the late day,
and the darkness he called night. And then the morning
with the bird day.
Speaker 5 (05:36):
And God let them be of the water, and let
it divide the water from the water. And God made
the permit and divided the war which were the words
which grew, and.
Speaker 4 (05:53):
God called them.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
And then in the morning with the second day, and
God let the heaven be gethered together at one point,
and let the dry land appear.
Speaker 4 (06:06):
And it was so, and God called the dry land earth,
and the gathering together of the water and colleen same,
and God thought that.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
It was good.
Speaker 5 (06:19):
Well.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
After Borman finished verse ten, he ended the broadcast saying, and.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
From the girl the boy we called with good night,
good luck a Mary Griffin, and God by following you.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
All of you on the good Earth, and mission controls,
scientists and engineers openly wept. We all wept, and estimated
one billion people in sixty four countries had heard the message.
And all around the world, men and women and children
(06:55):
went outside and gazed into the sky, wondering at the
words and sides we have just witnessed from two hundred
and forty thousand miles away.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
And a terrific job on the production and editing by
our own Greg Hangler. And a special thanks to Robert Morgan,
who's the author of one hundred Bible verses that made America,
defining moments that shaped our enduring foundation of faith, the
story of Apollo eight and the special Christmas Eve rendering
of Genesis. Here on our American Stories. Here at our
(07:31):
American Stories, we bring you inspiring stories of history, sports, business, faith,
and love stories from a great and beautiful country that
need to be told, but we can't do it without you.
Our stories are free to listen to, but they're not
free to make. If you love our stories in America
like we do, please go to our American Stories dot
com and click the donate button. Give a little, give
(07:53):
a lot, help us keep the great American stories coming.
That's our American Stories dot com.
This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories,
the show where America is the star and the American people,
and we love to hear from you and your story.
Send them to our American Stories dot com. There's some
of our favorites. If you want to know about the
history of America, it's imperative that you know the role
that the Bible played in the shaping of our country.
(00:33):
Our founding fathers, both Christian and non Christian, were heavily
influenced by the Bible. Here to share another story is
Robert Morgan, who's the author of one hundred Bible verses
that made America. For finding moments that shaped our enduring
foundation of faith, take it away, Robert.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
I vividly remember Christmas Eve of nineteen sixty eight. I
was a high school student preparing for college in troubled times.
The Vietnam War was ripping American pieces. Campuses were battle zones,
cities burned from race riots, and the land was violent.
I registered with the local draft board and worried about
(01:18):
my future. Martin Luther King Junior and Robert F. Kennedy
had been slain. Lending Johnson abandoned hopes for re election
that Democratic National Convention in Chicago was engulfed in teargas,
and in November Richard Nixon won the presidency. That the
Soviet Union was threatening America both on Earth and in space.
(01:42):
On December twenty one, a Saturn five rocket lifted off
with Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and Bill Anders strapped into
a small capsule known as Apollo eighth. Many within the
NASA community wondered if they would ever return. Experts gave
(02:06):
the mission a fifty to fifty chance of success, and
Frank Borman's wife, Susan prepared his eulogy. Some officials worried
openly that if the astronauts perished in lunar orbit, no
one would ever look at the Moon or at Christmas
in the same way. But John F. Kennedy had set
a deadline to take men to the Moon by the
(02:28):
end of the decade, and NASA was determined to keep it.
The astronauts traveled faster and further than anyone before them
in history, and we effectively won the space race as Americans.
As Frank Borman gazed at the window at the receding
marble of Earth, he thought to himself, this must be
(02:49):
what God sees. Robert Curson wrote in his book Rocket
Men to Andrews, earth appeared as a Christmas tree ornament,
hung radiant blue and swirling while in an endless black knight.
From there, it was no longer possible to pick out
countries or even continents. All a person could see was
(03:12):
the Earth. And it occurred to Anders and this last
week of nineteen sixty eight, this terrible year for America
and the world, that once you can see the boundaries,
you started to see something different. You saw how small
the planet is, how close all of us are to
one another, and how the only thing any of us
(03:32):
have in an otherwise empty universe is each other. On
Christmas Eve, we all stopped their suppers and celebrations and
gathered around our television sets for one of the most
extraordinary moments in television, a worldwide broadcast from lunar orbit.
(03:56):
No one knew what the astronauts would say, not even
mission control, but at eight thirty Central Time, the American
networks interrupted their programming as granny black and white images
appeared on the screen through the static of space. Borman said,
this is Apollo at coming to you.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Live with the booth.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
We all heard that, though we could hardly believe it.
The men aim their camera at the moon, at the earth,
and at the stars, as they described their sights and
their sensations. Then Anders said, where now.
Speaker 4 (04:34):
Booking letter ran, and for all the people back on earth,
a pearl of Apollo ape.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
And we would like it.
Speaker 5 (04:44):
Then you.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
There was a pause, and then he began reading from
Genesis one.
Speaker 4 (04:51):
In the beginning, God created and the earth, and the
earth was without form. Avoid it. And when the bond
the made the beneath.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
One by one, the astronauts passed a far proof copy
of Genesis chapter one, taken from the Gideon Bible, and
they read the creation account.
Speaker 4 (05:14):
And God said, left there be light, and there one light,
and God thaw the light. They went good, and divide
the light from the darkning. And God called the late day,
and the darkness he called night. And then the morning
with the bird day.
Speaker 5 (05:36):
And God let them be of the water, and let
it divide the water from the water. And God made
the permit and divided the war which were the words
which grew, and.
Speaker 4 (05:53):
God called them.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
And then in the morning with the second day, and
God let the heaven be gethered together at one point,
and let the dry land appear.
Speaker 4 (06:06):
And it was so, and God called the dry land earth,
and the gathering together of the water and colleen same,
and God thought that.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
It was good.
Speaker 5 (06:19):
Well.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
After Borman finished verse ten, he ended the broadcast saying, and.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
From the girl the boy we called with good night,
good luck a Mary Griffin, and God by following you.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
All of you on the good Earth, and mission controls,
scientists and engineers openly wept. We all wept, and estimated
one billion people in sixty four countries had heard the message.
And all around the world, men and women and children
(06:55):
went outside and gazed into the sky, wondering at the
words and sides we have just witnessed from two hundred
and forty thousand miles away.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
And a terrific job on the production and editing by
our own Greg Hangler. And a special thanks to Robert Morgan,
who's the author of one hundred Bible verses that made America,
defining moments that shaped our enduring foundation of faith, the
story of Apollo eight and the special Christmas Eve rendering
of Genesis. Here on our American Stories. Here at our
(07:31):
American Stories, we bring you inspiring stories of history, sports, business, faith,
and love stories from a great and beautiful country that
need to be told, but we can't do it without you.
Our stories are free to listen to, but they're not
free to make. If you love our stories in America
like we do, please go to our American Stories dot
com and click the donate button. Give a little, give
(07:53):
a lot, help us keep the great American stories coming.
That's our American Stories dot com.
Host
Lee Habeeb
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