By Erwin del Rosa
I’m so blessed and grateful to have shared a table with a brother. It was at a membership fellowship dinner of the Gideons International last December in Rosales, Pangasinan, where I got to meet this profound fellow. His name is Arnold, and I’m glad to have met him.
I had looked forward to this dinner; I have been a part of this brotherhood since 2000. The Gideons International is a brotherhood, fellowship, and organization of Protestant and Evangelical Christian professionals and businessmen. We raise funds for printing copies of the Bible and have them placed in schools, offices, hotels, motels and hospitals, among others.
The Gideons is a very disciplined organization, and puts a high premium on time. If you arrive at 6.05 for a 6 PM dinner you will no longer be served. That is how disciplined this organization is.
I arrived on time and immediately took note of the brothers who were already there. You could tell from the crowd who the Gideons are because of their countenance and their bearing. Most of the elder Gideon brothers I know exude an air of nobility and dignity in them. They have a certain gentleness, calmness and dignity that is very noticeable.
It has always been my habit to pray and feel for God’s leading even in the most mundane things. I prayed for a seat and waited in my heart for an impression. I was led to the table second from the front.
To my front left sat a man with pomaded hair and wore clear eyeglasses. The fellow introduced himself as Brother Arnold. He is from Aguilar, from Gideon Dagupan Camp. During the course of the evening he narrated that he owns a farm in Aguilar; that he was once involved in politics; that he used to work with the judiciary; and that he studied at UP Los Banos.
When he asked me what I do I told him that I teach college. He then started sounding professorial, which created a profound impression in my heart. He spontaneously enthralled me with books and bits of history he had read.
“The Bible is the greatest dispensation of God to man,” quoted Brother Arnold from the philosopher Immanuel Kant. It was then that I learned that Immanuel Kant was a Christian. I enjoy Kant’s philosophical tenets but I never knew that the philosopher was a Christian. For this I am grateful to Brother Arnold.
“Where are my friends?” Napoleon Bonaparte said. “I conquered the world through war and arms, but this Jesus, he conquered the world with love and yet until now, many are being conquered by his teaching and many are willing to die for him even if they did not see him. Now I am incarcerated, I ask, where are my friends?” Brother Arnold quoted poetically.
He offered this anecdote along with his quotes of scripture and famous people. It tells of a male college student who stayed at the dorm of a university. It was the 1970s, and the mini skirt was in fashion. This male student could not help but feast and look at the beautiful legs visibly offered by this trend. Along with it came the insatiable lust for such a visual feast but he started wondering if what he was doing is wrong.
One day while in the dorm he opened the Bible, and there he realized that “whosoever looks on a woman with lust in his eyes has already committed adultery in his heart”. These words were enough to convict and change him. He started reading the Bible on a daily basis as his life’s textbook; there he came to know Christ. That college student was Brother Arnold.
He is among those who have a deep sense of conviction and wisdom – those who create a lasting impression. We could have talked more but time would not allow. I am grateful that I sat with him. It was another blessed moment of Serendipity.
Indeed, “all scripture is God breathed or Spirit-inspired and useful for teaching, rebuking, reproof, and for instructing (sic) in the Christian life.”
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