On March 12, 2014 an explosion occoured in East Harlem, Manhattan, New York. The explosion is suspected to be due to a gas leak. There were two buildings with five stories containing 15 residential apartment units and a Latino Evangelical Church on the ground floor.
The Church had a Bible used by founders of the Storefront Church, a Harlem fixture for 80 years. The church was destroyed in the blast and while clearing the rubbles, the Bible was found intact unhurt by fire and the blast. A miraculous recovery from the ruins.
Rev. Rick Del Rio of Abounding Grace Ministries said, “The Word was preserved”. “The building has come down, but the spirits are alive, we thank God for that” he said.
Carmen Vargas-Rosa, Financial secretary of the small Evangelical Church offered prayer of thanks and said “I thank God. It was wonderful. I really didn’t think that anything that was paper would survive.”
The FDNY discovery of the bible from rubbles reflects a passage from the Bible, “When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.”