Tuesday, July 1, 2025

It is the 1st of July 2025. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis. 

The Bible is the best-selling book of all time.

The Bible is the book given away freely more than any other book. Perhaps the lesson is if you’re going to buy a Bible, just wait… or next time you are in a hotel, check the nightstand.

How did the Bible on the hotel room nightstand become one of the most ubiquitous items in the world?  

Let's head back to 1898 and the Central Hotel in Boscobel, Wisconsin (that’s the city Boscobel, not the adjacent town with the same name). There was a lumbermen’s convention in town (don’t ask, I’ve never been to one), and it got rowdy.

John Nicholson from Janesville, Wisconsin, was in town hoping to drum up business for his stationery company, and when he arrived at the Central Hotel, it was raucous- lumbermen and all that, I suppose. Also, there were no rooms left. As was the case in those days, there were rooms that could accommodate more than one. Nicholson was told he could take the extra bed in Room 19, the room already taken by Samuel Hill, another traveling salesman. Nicholson went to the room and was glad to see Hill was quietly working. As the story is told, when Hill got ready for bed, Nicholson asked, “Mr. Hill, will you pardon me if I keep the light on just a little longer, because I always make it a practice to read from the Word of God and have a little chat with Him before I retire?”

Hill responded that he, too, was a Christian and asked Nicholson to read the Scriptures aloud. The two ended up talking about their shared faith well into the early morning and the temptations that traveling businessmen can succumb to. They talked about starting a ministry for traveling businessmen, but the two went their separate ways. The following year, the two ran into each other on the street in Beaver Dam (also the city, not the adjacent town of the same name- it’s a weird thing across the Badger state). Determined not to drop the ball, they decided to set the date for the first meeting of The Christian Commercial Traveling Men’s Association- it would be at the Janesville YMCA on this, the 1st of July in 1899.

John and Samuel both went and were joined by… exactly one more person. William J. Knights of Wild Rose, Wisconsin. The three appointed themselves as the officers of the unnamed group and then knelt in prayer to ask God for both a name and a mission. Knights grabbed a bible and opened to the 6th chapter of the book of Judges and the story of an unlikely leader: Gideon. The story is of the youngest son of the idolator Joash, whose actions helped lead the Israelites into bondage under the Midianites. With only 300 men armed with trumpets and pitchers with torches, Gideon defeated the Midianites. The Christian Commercial Traveling Men’s Association would be called “the Gideons,” and they would identify themselves with a lapel pin with a two-handed pitcher and a torch. By the following year, they had 600 members. They began as an evangelistic association, and in 1907, at their convention, it was suggested they distribute Bibles to every hotel room in America. In 1908, their convention adopted this proposal, and later that year, Archie Bailey, traveling in Superior, Montana, asked if he could leave a Bible behind in his room. The owner said he could and asked if he would do that for every room. Archie obliged, and the Gideon Bible in the nightstand took off. From the three at the first meeting, there are roughly 300,000 members today, and they have distributed over 2.5 billion Bibles.

The color of the Bible tells you for whom it is intended: Orange is given out on the street, Green at colleges, camouflage for the military, etc They initially used the King James and then updated to the new King James. When the rights to the New King James were passed on to Harper Collins, Gideon’s contract wasn’t renewed. They now have a contract with Crossway to use the ESV- but a special version of the ESV with over 50 alternate readings from the Greek textual tradition behind the King James (that’s the Textus Receptus). The Gideon Bible will also contain John 3:16 translated into a variety of languages and a guide for finding verses based on various life situations and problems.

So, next time you are in a hotel, check the nightstand- and if you’d like a version of the ESV with the longer ending of Mark or the Trinitarian formula in 1 John 5… You would be one of the over 2,000 people that Gideon’s claim to reach with each Bible. We remember that fateful meeting of three at the Janesville YMCA that was held on this, the 1st of July in 1899.

The Last word for today comes from Ephesians 5 and Paul’s addition to Isaiah 60:

Everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light. 14 This is why it is said:

“Wake up, sleeper,
    rise from the dead,

    and Christ will shine on you.”

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 1st of July 2025, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man just up the 43 from the Janesville YMCA, he is  Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man who insists on using “the” before the number of a highway because I’m a normal human being- I’m Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.