I’ve been sitting on this story for about six weeks, wondering what to do with it. I wasn’t an Elvis fan although I did appreciate some of the hymns he recorded. The man could sing. At any rate, here’s the official announcement of one of his personal bibles going up for auction:

Elvis Presley’s Personal Holy Bible on His Nightstand the Night He passed W/Underlined and Book Marked Passages (Comes W/Letter From Patsy Presley) – This Holy Bible (World Edition) was personally owned by Elvis Presley, and was on his nightstand in his bedroom at Graceland on the night he passed. The Bible is embossed with “Elvis Aaron Presley” in gold, and contains a large amount of book marked pages and underlined passages that seemingly spoke to Elvis. One of these underlined passages in particular is from the book of Job, 31:24-26, which reads, “If I have made gold my hope, or have said to the fine gold, Thou art my confidence; If I rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because mine hand has gotten much; If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness.” This Bible comes with a handwritten letter from Elvis’ cousin Patsy Presley, with whom he was very close. The letter states in part, “Shortly after Elvis’ passing my uncle Vernon (Elvis’ dad) and I went up into Elvis’ bedroom at Graceland to organize and pack many of his personal belongings. This Holy Bible was one of three that Elvis had on his night table. After packing them Uncle Vernon had me take them home for safe keeping and eventually gave them to me.” It is well known that Elvis was an avid reader and a deeply spiritual man. Of all of Elvis’ Bibles sold over the years, this particular book has a truly touching story and fantastic provenance. – Official Notice of Auction, Lot # 2D: Elvis Presley’s Holy Bible on His Nightstand the Night He Passed

Elvis not only read the Bible, he “read and marked,” just like I teach. He realized that God’s creation was “very good” as recorded in Genesis 1, and he knew the dangers of trusting in wealth, from Job 31.

But what’s the lesson for us? My first thought was that for all I talk about making daily Bible reading and meditation part of our lives, more than reading and marking is required. Maybe the warning in 1 Kings 9 applies as does James’ admonition:

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. (James 1.22, NIV)

And maybe Elvis tried to obey, I don’t know.

The other thought comes on the heels of yesterday’s text, the last half of 2 Kings 17. I wonder if Elvis wanted both.

So they feared the LORD but also served their own gods, after the manner of the nations from among whom they had been carried away…So these nations feared the LORD and also served their carved images… (2 Kings 17.33, 41, ESV)

Here are some snippets from a report from CBN:

“He was a Christian, and most people don’t know that,” Presley’s stepbrother, Billy Stanley told Faithwire. “When I say ‘Christian,’ he was a Bible-carrying Christian…wherever he went, he took the Bible with him.”

Stanley, who worked for Elvis when he was on tour, was tasked with carrying the performer’s Bible and shared that he often observed his stepbrother praying before performances and singing gospel songs afterward.

“He read the Bible almost every day,” he said.

Stanley authored The Faith of Elvis: A Story Only a Brother Can Tell, which reveals other unique details of Elvis’ faith and life.

“Nobody can really imagine the position Elvis was in…here you have a man that really changed culture,” Stanley said. “I always thought…he had the devil on one side, and he’s got God on the other side, and there was a constant battle going on inside of his head.”

Tragically, Elvis died at the age of 42 due to heart failure, but Stanley says that without a shadow of a doubt, Elvis remained connected to God. 

“I would hear people say, ‘You’re the king.’ He said, ‘No, no, I’m sorry. There’s only one true king, and that’s Jesus,'” Stanley told Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, adding, “He was not afraid to show his faith.”

Elvis, a Bible-reading believer in Jesus, dead at 42. Maybe the Apostle Paul’s warning from the experience of the Israelites in the wilderness applies, I don’t know:

The same thing could happen to us. We must be on guard so that we never get caught up in wanting our own way as they did. And we must not turn our religion into a circus as they did—”First the people partied, then they threw a dance.” We must not be sexually promiscuous—they paid for that, remember, with twenty-three thousand deaths in one day! We must never try to get Christ to serve us instead of us serving him; they tried it, and God launched an epidemic of poisonous snakes. We must be careful not to stir up discontent; discontent destroyed them. These are all warning markers—DANGER!—in our history books, written down so that we don’t repeat their mistakes. Our positions in the story are parallel—they at the beginning, we at the end—and we are just as capable of messing it up as they were. Don’t be so naive and self-confident. You’re not exempt. You could fall flat on your face as easily as anyone else. Forget about self-confidence; it’s useless. Cultivate God-confidence. (1 Corinthians 10.6 – 12, MSG)

PS The auction was held Memorial Day weekend, and the Bible was sold for $150,000.