The Newport, Tennessee, couple had no choice but to abandon everything to save themselves.

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"Pretty much everything that we own is gone," Wagner said to the TV station.

Everything except for the Bible.

A friend who was helping the couple clean up the fire Wednesday found the remains of a Bible in the ashes. He found the book opened to a passage from John 3:16 that said, "For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life."

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Fulton County Sheriff Patrick Labat gives a tour of Fulton County Jail in  2023. (Natrice Miller/AJC 2023)

Credit: Natrice Miller/AJC