"I agree with you, the Bible is no different than the other sacred scriptures of the world. Jesus Christ was only a good man. But I cannot tell my parents. At least, not for a while."

Adoniram Judson, honor student at Brown University, was talking to his closest friend, Jacob Eames, an avowed atheist. Adoniram's father, pastor of Third Congregational Church in Plymouth, Mass., had sent him to Brown with great hopes. Adoniram had consistently led his class in grades. He had, however, gotten into company with Jacob Eames and a few of his friends, all professed atheists and persuasive unbelievers, which led to his own total rejection of Christianity.

After graduation, back home in the parsonage, young Adoniram opened the Plymouth Independent Academy. All the while, he played dual roles. On the outside, he piously took part in family worship and church attendance. On the inside, he denounced everything he had been brought up to believe spiritually.

Bored with life in Plymouth, he announced one day to his parents that he decided to go to "the big city" and write for the stage. There was, however, no fame or fortune there for him in New York. After a few weeks of a vagabond's life, he traveled back to his uncle's home, secured a horse, and headed west. One night, he took lodging in a local inn.

Adoniram was tired and needed rest, but rest did not come. Throughout the night, he heard sounds in the next room--low voices, people moving about on the creaking floor, but most of all agonizing cries of despair and desperation, obviously coming from a dying man. Adoniram could not stop thinking about death. How would he face this enemy that his own father would welcome as the doorway to God? His philosophy offered no answers beyond this earthly life.

At sunrise, Judson inquired, "How is the sick man?" "Dead," the innkeeper replied. "Too bad," Adoniram replied respectfully. "Did you know him?" "No," the innkeeper replied. "He was a young man from the college in Providence. He registered as Jacob Eames." That reality sent Adoniram's mind reeling. He wondered about the eternal destiny for such a man without hope. Suddenly, he had the feeling that his father's God was true: The beliefs of Jacob Eames that he too had accepted were empty and failed him at his greatest hour. He left the inn that morning headed for Plymouth.

Back home, after weighing the arguments for and against the Christian faith, he was convinced in his mind and convicted in his heart that the Bible was true. On a bleak December New England day, Adoniram committed himself fully to God.

His dedication led him into ministry. The largest church in Boston sought him as its pastor, but his commitment went further afield. Twelve days after his marriage to Ann Hasseltine in 1812, he sailed with his new bride to India. Refused entry, they sailed on to Burma. After laboring under inhospitable conditions for seven long years, the couple rejoiced in their first convert. Today in Burma, there are 3,905 Baptist congregations with nearly 663,000 baptized believers.