What about Rocky Raccoon? He checked into his room. Only to find Gideon’s Bible. Gideon checked out, and he left it no doubt, to help with good Rocky’s revival.
If you’ve never heard that Beatles song, it is worth a listen. Gideon’s Bible is a key player there, in the Black Mountain Hills of Dakota, as it went.
But what about Gideon’s Bible? Well, it is a version of the Bible. But it comes with some background. In fact, an entire organization.
Gideons International is an Evangelical Christian association for men. It was founded in 1899 in Janesville, Wisconsin, by a couple of guys. Regular Joes. Their names were John H. Nicholson and Samuel E. Hill, both of Wisconsin. They were two traveling salesmen and they met when they were staying in a hotel room they shared at the Central House Hotel in Boscobel, Wisconsin. They must have been out selling. Out traveling.
For whatever reason, they started talking about forming an association of the religious variety. After a couple of meetings, they determined the goal of their association would be to unite traveling salesmen for evangelism. As part of this, they decided it would be a good idea to distribute Bibles. Gideon Bibles. Open almost any hotel room drawer, and you will find a copy. This practice got rolling in 1908 when the first Giddy Bibles were placed in the rooms of the Superior Hotel in Superior, Montana.
According to their website, Gideon International is all about “encouraging each other to do the work of the Lord, focusing on who they are before God, and strengthening the power of their personal testimony for the Lord Jesus Christ.”
And, of course, they put those Bibles everywhere. Worldwide. Those Bibles are dropped around all sorts of places in 200 different countries — in over 108 languages. They don’t stop at hotel/motel rooms. The Gideons also distribute to hospitals and other medical offices, schools and colleges, military bases, as well as jails and prisons. And they give away a lot of books. GI currently averages a distribution of over 70 million Bibles every single year.
The Gideons have 269,500 members around the world.
If you find one of those Bibles, the cover might be orange, or green, or even periwinkle. The different colors all mean something. Orange covers are given in sidewalk distribution. Brown copies are for jail and prison facilities. A friend recently saw a Gideon Bible in a doctor’s office. Those Bibles are supposed to have white covers. Hotel room Bibles are a crap shoot — anything from black, dark blue, gold, burgundy, and on.
If you are particular about the version, Gideon Bibles usually uses the King James version for their distribution. As a note, the King James version used to be the most popular / widespread. In past years, that has shifted. Here are the 2022 rankings.
1. New International Version
2. New Living Translation
3. English Standard Version
4. King James Version
5. Christian Standard Bible
So, the next time you are in a hotel and pop open the nightstand drawer, you may find a Gideon’s Bible. And now you know. It is not just a Bible, but a whole bunch of people putting it there to save your soul, right along with Rocky Raccoon.
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In the Bible, it says they asked Jesus how many times you should forgive, and he said 70 times 7. Well, I want you all to know that I’m keeping a chart.
— Hillary Clinton
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The Bible is one of the most genocidal books in history.
— Noam Chomsky
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I was thinking about how people seem to read the Bible a whole lot more as they get older; then it dawned on me – they’re cramming for their final exam.
— George Carlin
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Gideon. No doubt.
