An Encounter in the Colombian Jungle

“Do you want to know something?” a Gideon asked a guerrilla groups chief who abruptly and not very gently stopped the Gideons in the Colombian jungle as they were on their way to an evangelical event.

“What is it?” he asked.

“We have something in common,” the Gideon said.

“What can you and I have in common?” he yelled.

“You have no fear because of those guns you carry everywhere, and we have no fear because we carry God’s Word every place we go. We were told you were around here,” he continued, “and because we have no fear,here we are. You see, you need God just like anybody else. You may be a guerrilla chief commander, but you are no exception. You also need God! And your men need God!”

As he was talking, the Gideon began to slowly distribute New Testaments to the men, and the Gideons who had come with him did the same to the 30 or so guerrilla men surrounding them. Then the Gideon said,“Commander, I know your troops are very numerous. I would like to empower them with God’s Word also. What do you think?”

“Are you serious?” he asked.

“Indeed I am, Sir,” the Gideon replied.

The chief gave two conditions: he would select a second Gideon to participate, and no pictures could be taken. The first Gideon was happy. As for the second Gideon, the chief unknowingly selected a man who loved to pray.

The guerrillas carried the 20 boxes of New Testaments as the Gideons walked through the sunny jungle for three hours. Once on the site, the chief ordered his 1,600 men to get into formation, after which the Gideons distributed the New Testaments. When the distribution was finished, the Gideon recalled his own days in the military and ordered the men to be on attention and to raise their right arms with the New Testaments in hand. The Commander joined in as they went through the plan of salvation and received Christ as their Savior.

—Colombia