Did you ever wonder where those books came from?

Secret Society

In many places, especially in the United States, it is common to find copies of the Bible in hotel and motel rooms. Next time you stay somewhere, check. Chances are the room’s bible will be sitting on a nightstand, or in a drawer. Most likely the cover will bear the words “Gideons International,” along with a logo consisting of a two-handled pottery jar or pitcher with a flame on top.

People have wondered for over a hundred years now who these “Gideons” are. Now and then they appear in popular culture. There are several old jokes about them. Marilyn Monroe’s character in “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” sings of staying in her hotel room with “that book by Mr. Gideon.” Are they some kind of cult? Does some eccentric tycoon bankroll them?

I first heard about the Gideons when I was growing up. Once a year my father, the pastor of our church, would turn the Sunday pulpit over to a local Gideon for a presentation to the church. The speaker would always talk about who the Gideons were and what they did, share some stories of people whose lives had been changed by exposure to the Bible, and ask for donations. Sometimes individuals would give money through an offering at the end of the service. Sometimes the church would vote to provide a lump sum.

Dad has always spoken very highly of the Gideons and their work. So does Mom. I eventually learned that her own father was a Gideon for a time. It was from Mom that I first learned that a local Gideon group is called a “camp.” I’ve never found out why. It may be a martial metaphor of the sort the Salvation Army has been known to use. The biblical Gideon was an Old-Testament war hero. Or perhaps it is an allusion to the temporary character of life on earth, likened in the New Testament to a tent that will one day be taken down.

At any rate, they got my attention when I was young. As an adult I’ve sometimes given to support their work. In recent years I’ve met some of the Gideons in the local “camp.”

So who are they? Essentially the Gideons are a religious equivalent of such community service organizations as the Rotary Club and Kiwanis. They tend to attract the same sorts of members as these clubs. In fact, I met some of our local Gideons through the Rotary Club chapter to which I belong. They are about as cult-like as any other ordinary bunch of Rotarians. The only thing “secret society”-ish about them is the fact that they don’t make a point of going around telling people that they belong to the Gideons. Church members often learn that somebody they know is a Gideon only when he gives a Gideon presentation at their church. I’ve also on occasion overheard Gideons who belong to the Rotary club discussing Gideon work among themselves before leaving a Rotary meeting.

It’s an international organization with camps located all over the world. The Gideons are not a creation of any particular church denomination, but draw their members from many different churches. The most recent Gideon speaker I heard spoke of there being about three hundred thousand members worldwide.

Their primary purpose is to distribute copies of the Bible and New Testament. They don’t engage in any sort of political activism, nor do they distribute other types of religious literature. In addition to leaving Bibles in hotels, they distribute New Testaments at schools, hospitals, prisons, on the streets, and anywhere else the relevant authorities permit it. They go only where they are granted permission.

Gideon speakers assure members of churches to which they speak that all of the money they receive in donations goes to print and distribute copies of the Bible and New Testament. Their travel and administrative expenses are paid by the Gideons themselves. The organization’s financial reports are posted online for all to see.

My current pastor—also a great supporter of the Gideons—has told me that they may actually raise more money from among their own ranks than they do in their church presentations (Incidentally, neither he nor any other pastor belongs to the Gideons. They are a strictly lay organization that does not admit members of the clergy. Members who are called to preach have to leave. I suppose this is a way of keeping any one local church from having too much influence over the camp). Members of the local camp have told him that some of them meet each Sunday morning for breakfast to pray for each of the many pastors and churches in town. In their church presentations they usually request prayer for their work in addition to financial donations.

Why do I support the Gideons? In part I suppose it’s the librarian in me. Books are a big part of my business. Books—or at least one in particular—are the centerpiece of theirs.

But what most impresses me about them is their faith in the power of the Bible itself. Although they’ll talk to people about Jesus, they don’t preach to them. They give them copies of the Bible and encourage them to read it for themselves. They trust that God can and will use the Scripture to change their lives. I know from my own life that it can. I’ve heard people first-hand tell of how they themselves found their lives changed after reading a Gideon New Testament. Giving somebody the Bible means handing them the power to change their lives, if they choose to use and be used by it.

The only thing I’ve ever heard about the Gideons that I don’t like is that they make a very old-fashioned distinction between Gideons proper and the Gideons Auxiliary. The latter consists of wives of Gideons. Apparently they don’t have much of a place for women who are not wives or widows of male members. I suppose they make this distinction because some members speak in churches, and some churches simply will not allow a woman to speak to the congregation. While I appreciate their desire not to give offence, it’s sad that they seem to be missing out on the services of single women who could be helping them in their work.

But as a wise writer once said, the fact that we don’t agree on every point does not mean that we have nothing in common. I once knew a female pastor who supported the Gideons’ work and welcomed them at her church. Some things are too important to let disagreements get in their way. To me, making copies of God’s Word available to all who accept it is one of these. As long as the Gideons make this their business, I’ll be willing to support them.

*Applauds loudly*

I really enjoyed reading that - thank you!

Thanks, Simon. I was hesitant about posting that. Some people seem to find the Gideons and their activities offensive. But it also occurred to me that a lot of people who have seen Gideon bibles didn't grow up hearing about them in church, and simply don't know anything about them. I suspect it would be easy to imagine that they're a cult, or that they have rich backers, or that they're associated with the kind of people who leave religious tracts lying all over the place (A perennial problem at our library). And they're not any of those things.

I first heard of them via the Beatles' song Rocky Raccoon.

I recall asking my Dad what that meant (the lyric about "Gideon's Bible") and he just explained that The Gideons left Bibles in hotels rooms for people to read. That was his take on them.

All I know is in Tom Cruise's first Mission Impossible movie, Jim Phelps had nothing good to say about them.

That was great. Thank you for that.

It also inspired me to go back and look at the story of Gideon. Lots of broken jars and trumpets. And yelling, and swords. I also see that Gideon had 70 sons of his own, so perhaps placing bibles in motel rooms is a very appropriate choice.

The only thing I fear now is some TV drama or horror movie entitled "The Wives of Gideons."

Good on you, Daphne!