Inside Story: Bangladesh
Floating Red Book
By Andrew McChesney, Adventist Mission
Toroni Kumar Tripura was thrilled to receive a Bible with a beautiful red cover in his remote village in southeast Bangladesh. The Bible arrived as a reward for completing a series of Bible lessons by mail.
Image © Pacific Press
But Toroni had to be careful.
His father served as a priest in the family’s traditional religion, and he would not be pleased that his son had a Bible about the God of heaven.
Toroni, however, wasn’t worried. He had studied the Bible lessons every night while his parents slept, and he also intended to read the red Bible at night.
The plan seemed to work.
Toroni tended Father’s cows during the day and, after returning home at night, waited until his parents were asleep to eagerly switch on a tiny flashlight and read about God.
One night Father caught Toroni reading the Bible. He was furious. After his son left the house the next day, he seized the red Bible and threw it into the muddy water of Chengi River.
Toroni was distraught when he realized that his red Bible was missing. He quickly understood what had happened.
What could he do? He couldn’t afford to buy another Bible. The correspondence school probably wouldn’t send him a second Bible. But he longed to read more about God.
Some time passed. One afternoon Toroni was swimming in Chengi River when he saw something floating on the water. He had seen plastic bottles and other garbage in the river, but this looked different.
He swam closer.
Reaching out, he grabbed the object with his hand and hastily swam to shore. Climbing onto the riverbank, he raised his hand to see a dripping red Bible.
He couldn’t believe it. It was his missing Bible.
Toroni placed the book on the grass in the hot sun to dry. It took fourteen days to dry the Bible, and then he began to read it again. As he read, he fell in love with God.
Even though he risked angering his father, he couldn’t keep the new-found love to himself. He told other villagers about the God of the red Bible that wouldn’t sink in the river. The astounded villagers asked to know more. Today most of the villagers, including many of Toroni’s relatives, worship the God of the red Bible.
Produced by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission.
Find more mission stories at adventistmission[dot]org
I am so glad to know God’s intervention did not stop at the Old and New testament. God is still working in people’s life. Inspiration is still leading us to greater truth.
Do I listen? Do I obey what I heard?
3 Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear and obey what is written in it, because the time is near. Revelation 1:3
Amen to Bro Toroni- Jesus knows our hearts and nothing, no evil form against us that will prosper. His words will live on and on, humans cant destroy the words of Jesus.