Who Are The Gideons

    In the fall of 1898, two traveling men, strangers to each other met in a Wisconsin, U.S.A., hotel.  Discovering each other to be a Christian, they held their evening devotions together.  The Lord impressed upon them the idea of forming an association of Christian traveling men and the following July these two met with a third man for that purpose.  After prayer together, the name of the Gideons was selected for the group.  This name was taken from the story of Gideon in the sixth and seventh chapters of the Bible book of Judges, the leader of a small band of men dedicated to the service of God, through whom God accomplished much for His people.
    The Gideons are laymen from various evangelical denominations, Christian business and profession men with a vital testimony for the Lord.  Each Gideon is an active member of some local church and the Gideons as a Association work in co-operation with evangelical churches and denominations.  The primary object of the Gideons is to win others for the Lord Jesus Christ, and an effective means to this end has been the wide distribution of the Word of God.
    The Gideons seek to spread the Bible, the Word of God, and to encourage its use as widely as possible.  The Lord has opened doors for the placement of His Word among many strategic groups of the population and in places through which large and important streams on national life pass from day to day.  Bibles are placed in the rooms of hotels and motels and in other public places.  Large New Testaments are placed in hospitals, beside each bed.  Individual copies of the New Testament, with Psalms and Proverbs, are given to the members of our armed forces, to the young people in schools of the land, to nurses, and to others.
    In recent years, the Lord has opened doors for similar work in many lands. so the Gideon Associations organized with nationals now exist in more than 175 countries.
    The Bible distribution program is financed primarily through the help of Christian people in the local churches.  The Gideons are essentially a non-sectarian missionary arm of the church, sowing the precious Seed, the Word of God, in the field of the world.  As such, thousands of evangelical churches support the work by their prayers and contributions.
    God has promised to bless His Word and to cause it to bear fruit that will honor Him.  Gideons have seen many evidences of His blessing upon their work, and know that He is keeping His promise.  It is their sincere prayer that each reader of this particular copy of His Word will also find the individual instruction and blessing that he may need, as he reads in the wonderful Book of God!

    This document was copied from inside a Bible placed by the Gideons in a stateroom of the Carnival Ship "Liberty," in the winter of the year 2012 while on a cruise on the Caribbean Sea.

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