Lynn Camp: The “Lost And Found” Bible

In July 1961, I boarded the Danube Express at Vienna’s West Train Station, traveling to Budapest behind the Iron Curtain. What a contrast between free Austria and Communist-occupied Hungary—so dark and drab! Businesses were closed, signs were banned, and people hardly dared to speak or smile. Carefully contacting names accumulated in Vienna, we met Ivan Martos, an officer of the National Bank of Hungary. He traveled to Vienna twice

each year for bank conferences. On one of these trips, I arranged to meet Ivan at West Train Station. When he arrived, he looked like he had lost his best friend and, in his estimation, he had. This is how he related his bitter experience: Guards had boarded the train at the next-to-last stop on the Hungarian side. Checking all passengers, they came to Ivan and found that his ID and travel documents were in order. But one guard made Ivan open his briefcase. Finding Ivan’s personal Bible, the guard held it up for all to see and angrily shouted, “What is a man in your position doing with a Bible?” Before Ivan could respond, the guard threw the Bible out the window of the moving train. About two years later, at another Vienna meeting with Ivan, he was as upbeat as he was downcast before. He had received a postal package in Budapest—it was his Bible! An apologetic note accompanied the Bible:

Our children were playing one day along the railroad tracks and found your Bible. Not knowing what it was, one of them took it to his grandmother who immediately recognized it as a Bible. Word quickly spread through the little village on the border. Some of our older people had possessed Bibles before they were banned and remembered the significance and power of the Word of God. We decided to conceal the discovery while those who so desired would make handwritten copies. That joyful task lasted two years. Please forgive our keeping your Bible so long. But you might like to know that we are now a secret band of about 30 who have baptized each other and seek to follow Jesus in our daily lives.

God’s Word is powerful and accomplishes His purpose! This conviction has led to Bible distribution ministries like Eastern European Mission and World Bible School.

Shower, O heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain down righteousness; let the earth open, that salvation and righteousness may bear fruit (Isaiah 45:8).