He was shot twice in the chest but was saved by a Bible

Chicago: Divine intervention! A man in the US was shot twice in the chest from point blank range but survived the attack as the Bible he was carrying absorbed the bullets that would have otherwise killed him.

Rickey Waggoner, a 49-year-old bus driver in Dayton, Ohio, was making a mechanical fix outside his bus yesterday when three assailants approached him and shot him in what appears to have been a gang initiation.

Waggoner was shot twice in the chest at close range, but a contemporary version of the Bible, titled "The Message," absorbed the bullets that would otherwise have killed him, according to police documents cited by Dayton Daily News.

"There was obviously some kind of intervention involved in this incident because (Waggoner) should probably not be here," Dayton Police Sergeant Michael Pauley told the paper.

Eugene H Peterson, author of "The Message," told Fox News that he was thrilled to know his book stopped bullets.

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"That's wonderful," said Peterson, who is 81. "I've heard stories about that happening during the second World War. I'm glad to be in the club."

Waggoner reportedly told police that one of the assailants was heard telling another to kill the man "if you want to be all the way in the club."

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He was shot in the leg after he tried to wrestle the weapon away from one of the suspects, while another assailant stabbed him in the arm.

Waggoner was able to grab both the gun and knife, prompting the suspects -- described as being 15 to 18 years old -- to flee. He then sought refuge inside his bus, from where he managed to call police.

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