Bibles and Cross Found Untouched After Blaze Destroys Church
In the Bible, there’s an interesting part where Jesus looks out over Jerusalem and weeps. Why? Because he foresaw destruction coming for the city.
In the book of Luke, he says, “For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you.”
That indeed came to pass. In 70 A.D., General Titus destroyed Jerusalem, showing that even holy spots must sometimes suffer destruction.
That seemed to happen to Mount Sinai Family Life Christian Center in Portsmouth, Virginia, on June 14, 2017. According to the Virginian-Pilot, a neighbor heard a loud bang before the scent of smoke started to waft in.
Though first responders initially thought that lightning had struck the church. It turned out, though, that the century-old structure had caught fire and eventually burned to the ground.
But Frances Thompson, the pastor’s wife, refused to lose heart, saying, “Just because the building is gone doesn’t mean the church is gone. The church is us.”
Indeed, sometimes it seems as though God leaves behind tangible reminders so that we don’t forget that the building isn’t the most important thing. The Washington Times reported that Spanish Christian Church in New York’s East Harlem district had burned to the ground in 2014.
Yet they discovered something in the rubble. There’s was a single Bible that had survived.
“One of our members found a Bible, the original book they tell me of the founders of the church,” Fire Commissioner Salvatore Cassano said. “It was singed, but it meant an awful lot to the pastor because at least we have a remnant of the church.
“It showed the pastor they’ll be rebuilding. This church is resilient.”
An even more dramatic sign appeared at Freedom Ministries Church in Daniels, West Virginia. According to WVNS, a fire broke out in the middle of the night on March 3.
It consumed everything inside of the structure — or almost everything. Firefighters said that the blaze left all the Bibles and the church’s cross untouched.
The Coal City Fire Department wrote on its Facebook page, “Though odds were against us, God was not. Picture this: a building so hot that at one point in time, firefighters had to back out.”
“In your mind, everything should be burned, ashes. Not a single bible was burned and not a single cross was harmed!”
“Not a single firefighter was hurt! Prayers for the pastor and the congregation today.”
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