BOMB WRAPPED IN CANVAS

The Japanese conquerors of Corregidor during World War II permitted each American prisoner to carry only one blanket into prison camp. Instead of a blanket, one soldier carried a Bible wrapped in canvas. He had found the Bible in a bombed-out Philippine chapel.

The soldier carried the Bible on the terrifying death marches which took the lives of so many prisoners. It accompanied him on the prison ships and finally into the prison camp at Cabanatuan. There he gave the Bible to the prisoners’ church.

What was the result? According to the American Bible Society, the Book was read Sunday after Sunday to sick and half-starved men by the chaplains. Many received hope in Christ before succumbing to disease and starvation. By the end of the war, 1500 prisoners had declared their faith in Christ and received Christian baptism.

—James C. Hefley

[Reproduced with permission from Encylopedia of 15,000 Illustrations, by Paul Lee Tan,
Communications, Inc., Dallas, TX, 1998, #1851]

This material is published by the Faith Committee of the Character Council of Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky. Reproduction and Adaptation is encouraged.