In December 1968, the world was in great need of a message of hope and peace. It had been a tumultuous year. War. Assassinations. Riots.

That Christmas Eve, the world witnessed history. The Apollo 8 spacecraft with its three-man crew became the first manned spacecraft to leave the earth’s orbit.

As with any journey into the unknown, there were no guarantees. The brave crew members realized their chance of becoming the first humans to see the far side of the moon was balanced against the risk they may not return home alive.

Robert Zimmerman’s book, Genesis, The Story of Apollo 8, details the events leading up to that historic Christmas Eve in 1968.

According to the book, a press conference was held a few weeks before the mission’s launch. A news reporter asked the crew members if they planned to make a “Christmas-type gesture from space,” given their lunar orbit would coincide with Christmas Eve.

The crew members didn’t have an answer. For the next several days, the question continued to nag at Frank Borman, the commander for the Apollo 8 crew. What message could they share that might help unite a world that had become divided in so many ways?

In Search Of The Right Words

With the Apollo’s launch growing close, Frank talked with his fellow crew members, Jim Lovell and Bill Anders, about what message they should share with the world once they entered the moon’s orbit. Suggestions ranged from citing the words of a prayer to reading an adaptation of ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas. The astronauts agreed, none of their ideas seemed fitting for such a momentous event, especially in light of all that had taken place in the world that year.

Help was sought from a professional writer, Joe Laitin. The challenge of finding the right words to say proved just as challenging for him. Hoping to draw inspiration from an artist’s rendering of the view that the astronauts would see from space, Joe began to write.

In the late hours of the evening, all he had to show for his efforts was a floor covered with paper wads. Then, in a moment of sudden inspiration, he thought, “Why not go to the Bible for the right words?”

Joe reached for a Gideon-placed Bible he had taken earlier from a hotel room. At the suggestion of his wife, Joe turned to the book of Genesis. As soon as his eyes landed on Genesis Chapter 1, Joe knew the words on that page would be the perfect words to mark the occasion.

The message was sent to the Apollo 8 crew. They all agreed the Genesis passage was perfect. Borman took the letter containing the Scripture and photocopied it onto fireproof paper. He stuck it inside the crew’s flight manual.

Incidentally, there were other copies of God’s Word aboard Apollo 8. After permission had been granted, Service Testaments from The Gideons International had been placed on board.

For All The People Back On Earth

At 9.30pm Eastern Standard Time on the evening of December 24th, people throughout the world tuned in for the live TV broadcast from the Apollo 8 crew’s historic lunar orbit.

As viewers watched the grainy black and white images of the moon’s surface, they heard the voice of Major Bill Anders breaking through the static.

“For all the people back on earth, the crew of Apollo 8 has a message that we would like to send to you.” Anders then began reading from Genesis 1:1,

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth…”

He read through the end of verse four, and Captain Lovell took over reading with, “And God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night…”

After Lovell finished with verse eight, Colonel Borman picked up. “And God said, “Let the waters under the heaven be gathered unto one place.” He continued through the end of verse 10, “And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas: and God saw that it was good.”

Borman signed off saying, “And from the crew of Apollo 8, we close with good night, good luck, a Merry Christmas. And God bless all of you, all of you on the good earth.”

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

On that December 24th, Scripture pulled from a Gideon-placed hotel Bible was read live to an estimated one billion people in 64 countries, one of every four people on the planet at that time. No single event had ever drawn such a large TV viewing audience.

At some point in history, a Gideon placed a hotel room Bible as part of a mission to reach the lost with God’s Word. When Apollo 8 left Earth, it was carrying Scripture pulled from that Bible. That Christmas Eve in 1968, in the dark expanse of space, those two missions came together, while the world watched and many celebrated the birth of a Saviour who came to Earth to redeem us from our sins – the greatest mission of all.

Watch the historic broadcast of the reading of Genesis by the Apollo 8 crew members on December 24th, 1968 here https://vimeo.com/195973358

The following story came from Roger Meagor in the Worcester Branch of The Gideons International and it tells of how God used a tragedy to spread the Gospel through Friends of The Gideons.

Alan, one of our church members, was knocked off his bike on the last day of March. He was airlifted to the QE Hospital in Birmingham where he stayed for two weeks. He had damaged three of his vertebrae which left him paralysed from the neck down. In spite of this he witnessed to the many people he met there, supported by his wife Janet who visited him nearly every day.

He was airlifted again by the same helicopter crew to the spinal injuries unit at the Albert Jones & Alice Hall Orthopedic Hospital at Gobowen, near Oswestry. In spite of being confined to his bed and unable to do anything for himself, he and Janet were witnessing again to the different people who were attending to him. He soon gave away the seven Gideon New Testaments he had with him.

He and Janet became Friends of The Gideons which enabled Janet to obtain a good supply of New Testaments.

As time went on he had his 65th birthday and regained some feeling in his arms and legs which meant he could be hoisted out into a purpose designed wheelchair which he operated with his chin! In August he was discharged from the hospital at Gobowen, but before he left he offered each of the medical staff he had met a New Testament & Psalms, several accepting one.

He and Janet are now living in a suitable bungalow near Cirencester with two residential carers as well as other medical personnel coming to see him. The carers change frequently but before they leave they are given a New Testament as well as being witnessed to whilst they are living there. As the carers come from a range of different countries, Alan and Janet are having an international Gospel witness without leaving the house! As Friends of The Gideons they have given away twenty eight New Testaments over the last seven months and have just asked for some more.

We have “good news that will cause great joy” to share and Alan and Janet responded to God’s call on all our lives to be witnesses for Him. As you share the good news this Christmas we trust that you will be blessed and encouraged as you join us in our mission of winning lost souls for our Lord Jesus Christ.

November 2016 saw eight members from the Doncaster Branch of The Gideons present 300 Badged Testaments and 2 Badged Presentation Bibles to Doncaster Rovers Football Club (DRFC).

It all started in May when local member Chris Axelby was invited to a Bishop’s Breakfast. Here, Chris sat down with a stranger to enjoy breakfast and some local company. The first person Chris spoke to unknowingly was the Doncaster Rovers Support Services Manager. He was shocked to be sat next to a Gideon, especially as he had recently spoken with the Chaplain to DRFC about Bibles for staff and players. He and Chris were amazed that they should be sat together that day!

The result? On Thursday 17 November, Chris and 7 other Gideons met the Chief Executive of DRFC and the Chief Operating Officer. They presented them with 2 special DRFC Badged Presentation Bibles. In reply the CEO, Gavin Baldwin, invited all the Doncaster Gideons to attend a home match with him, including refreshments! The Doncaster members then had the opportunity to present Badged Testaments to some of the players, staff, groundsmen and chefs.

Everyone from the CEO to the apprentice groundsman were thrilled to accept a copy of God’s Word with their own club badge in gold on the front and they readily started diving into the “Where to find help when…” section.

So it all started with a “chance” meeting but so far God has made available to the people of Doncaster another 302 copies of His life saving Word.

Torbay & Teignbridge Branch of The Gideons International had the wonderful opportunity recently to present Badged Testaments to Torquay United Football Club.

Branch Chairman, Rick Hillard reports, “We were made very welcome and as you can see from the photograph, all received their Scriptures with a smile and were very appreciative. The Club Captain seemed particularly thrilled. I told them that receiving the Bibles did not mean they would win the League and that God has no favourite team, they just need to play the best they can.

“We did say that we would continue to pray for them as a Club and trust that their season would go well. Helen [Hillard] showed them how to use the Helps section at the front of the Scriptures and Philip Morrison (fellow Gideon member) read the prayer we had placed in the Bibles.”

We give thanks to God for more and more opportunities to present Badged Testaments to sports clubs across the UK. Keep an eye on our Blog and social media sites to hear more!

If you would like to make a similar presentation in your area please get in touch with us at hq@gideons.org.uk

On Tuesday evening this week, members of the Rugby Branch were invited to visit the 3rd Market Harborough Scout Troop to share about the work of The Gideons and present them with a copy of the Scout Testament.

The evening was relaxed and informal and we were told to take as long as we liked as the young people were enthusiastic to learn about what we do and how we do it. We had a very blessed time sharing about the work of The Gideons, engaging in great conversations with them which finished with a great (and challenging!) Q&A session.

One of the highlights of the evening came when the boys first set eyes on the Scout Testaments; their eyes lit up and you could sense the excitement – something that we don’t think we have ever experienced on a placement elsewhere. We had the pleasure of seeing every Scout and every leader eagerly accept a Testament and we had a great sense that they appreciated the Testaments and would be showing their parents or guardians when they got home.

After we distributed the Testaments the leaders reinforced the importance of the Testaments, making particular mention that they were special and should be valued and cared for. Sadly it is sometimes the case when we visit schools that Testaments get left behind or disposed of but as we left that Scout Hut we were in no doubt that each one of those New Testaments would be taken home and treasured.

We give thanks to God for such a blessed and encouraging evening and for the excitement that it has given us since. Please join with us as we pray for those young people and their leaders as they take those Testaments home with them.

If there are similar groups in your area, whether they are Scouts, members of the Boys’ Brigade or Girls’ Brigade or whoever they may be, we would like to encourage you to seek these opportunities to visit them as we know you will be truly blessed by the time you spend with them.

Dear Sirs

I first heard about The Gideons as a child when they visited our school to tell us about their work, this was over 40 years ago. I am now a regular church goer although I cannot say that I have lived as a committed Christian.

I am now 54 years old and last week found myself in hospital in Hove, East Sussex, for a hip replacement operation. I am not brave and was very anxious indeed.

As I waited to be called for surgery, I looked in the bedside cabinet and finding a Gideon Bible, started to read the notes at the front about how to use the Bible. I was immediately very comforted and spent some time following the guidance to read certain passages. Time passed and before I knew it, I was called to theatre and it was all over.

I remain very thankful indeed for the help I received that day. I have made a donation today to help you continue your valuable work so that some others can benefit as I have.

I hope that you will be able to continue to carry out this quiet good deed into the future.

Yours faithfully

Sally

If you have been helped by a Gideon Bible in some way and would like to donate towards our work so that more people can benefit from the comfort that God’s Word brings, please click here and give today.

During the recent Mexico International Scripture Blitz, Gideons were distributing Scriptures at the National University of Mexico.

“As we were distributing New Testaments a man came down the steps wearing a Dallas Cowboys shirt,” says Fred Jenkins, a Gideon from North Carolina. “Dallas Cowboys. Bravo!” Fred said to the man.

Fred asked the man if he would like a copy of God’s Word. He politely declined. However, after the crowd thinned out a little bit the man returned and said to Fred, “Can I ask you a personal question? Why do you do this?”

Fred replied that he was a member of The Gideons International and that Gideons distribute Scriptures to reach the lost with the Gospel. Then the man said, “No, no, that’s not what I’m interested in. Why do you do this?”

Fred thought a moment and replied, “I do it because I love the Lord Jesus Christ, and He has asked us to do this.”

The man said, “I’ll be right back.”

Fred thought he’d never see the man again. However, a little while later he returned, this time with a young lady, his daughter, Sam. The man told Fred he was dropping Sam off at college and had been trying to explain to her the most important thing in life. He said his daughter believed money, cars and a good job were the most important things.

Her father, a Christian, wanted her to know Jesus Christ was the most important thing. He then asked Fred, “Will you tell my daughter about Jesus?”

Opening the New Testament to the back cover, Fred shared the plan of salvation. As he walked through the verses the Holy Spirit began to move on the young lady’s heart, revealing to her the preciousness of Jesus’ sacrifice so that by faith, she could receive eternal life. And in the moments to follow, Sam accepted Jesus Christ as her Saviour.

Both Sam and her dad then hugged Fred. As they departed, her dad said, “Now I can leave my child here at school because I know she’s going to heaven and we’ll be together through eternity.”

Gideons from the British Isles, USA, Australia, Norway, South Africa and Finland joined with members in Mexico to take part in the 2016 Mexico International Scripture Blitz in Mexico City and San Louis Potosi.

In 1978, the very first International Scripture Blitz started in Mexico City during which 45,650 Scriptures were distributed in seven days. Nearly forty years later, the target is 350,000 Scriptures in two weeks.

The teams got started early on Monday at the National University of Mexico. Students poured out of the subway and on to the campus. At first a policeman told the Gideons they couldn’t stay there but one Gideon, Fernando, started talking with him and the conversation soon was about who we are and what we do. The police officer, Benito Hernandez, started sharing about how he fears for his life almost every day in his job. So there under there a bridge, Benito walked through the plan of salvation and gave his life to Christ. He also allowed us to stay so that others could receive the Good News and by noon, almost 10,000 students had received a Scripture.

One policeman became very friendly with The Gideons and he would tell students they couldn’t come in without showing their school ID and a New Testament. The kids look stunned and went back outside to get one until he started laughing.

The relationships are so good with the community that when the police were called by one school, the officers told them, “They’re okay, they’re just Gideons.”

After a distribution at a large high school, a team was standing at a street vendor eating a snack. A taxi driver also stopped and started a conversation. The driver, Sergio, told the Gideons that he had a lot of life issues including a drug habit. He said he knows the Word of God but often feels he is being viciously attacked by a demon he can’t control. He wakes up and realises that he has taken drugs again. He uses his money on his bad habits and his family doesn’t eat. Sergio said he needs help as tears began running down his face.

The Gideons shared with him from a New Testament and after about five minutes Sergio abruptly dropped to the sidewalk and began to pray as the rest of the team gathered around him. After a few minutes Sergio got up smiling.

Teams of ladies were out in force with Grace Rivera of the Pueblo Camp leading them. “I love what we get to do every day,” she said. Grace and her team handed out over 7,000 Scriptures to the medical staff at La Raza Hospital and almost 30,000 hospital staff received a Scripture from the Mexican ladies taking part in the Blitz. The hospitals in Mexico City are huge but the ladies were bold in taking the opportunities to witness.

There were 2,200 Scriptures shared at the Santa Marta Prison. Clancy Trent, a Gideon from Kentucky said, “These are young kids, mostly under 30, and in this prison with no hope. The conditions are so bad you wouldn’t want to go back if you ever served time there. Everyone treated us kindly and that says a lot for the Gideon camps in this area who visit the prison often.”

Only six members of the team were allowed to go into the prison and they were able to witness from pod to pod in small groups. Doug Hamilton from Indiana said that one of the guards helped him translate as he preached the Gospel. The guard kept following him around all morning repeating God’s Word. Doug found out later that the guard had actually accepted Jesus Christ as his Saviour that afternoon.

One of the last testimonies from Mexico City came from a high school student who tried to burn a New Testament. During an afternoon distribution a student accepted a New Testament but then tried to burn it but had a hard time keeping it lit. That’s when the student literally felt a change in his heart and brought the Testament back to the Gideons and said, “I shouldn’t have done that.”

His name was Omar and the Gideons walked him through many Scriptures. They opened up God’s Word and this time it burned in his heart. He accepted Jesus Christ as his Saviour.

His four friends watched from afar and went over to the Gideons after Omar left and asked, “What just happened?” The Gideons told this same story and his four friends then accepted Christ.

The Blitz started with the team leader, Cal Lucas, reading from John 21 about fishing on the other side. There were three points he made about what the apostles saw. One, following God’s command is absolute. Two, God’s timing is perfect. And three, God’s grace knows no bounds. Cal reminded us the best fishing is in a moving current…so fish with endurance.

The total number of Scriptures distributed during the Mexico International Scripture Blitz was 405,000, but these testimonies of people giving their life to Christ are far more exciting.