An Argentine evangelical pastor was born again when a psalm book he was holding deflected a bullet fired at close range, officials in the western province of Mendoza said.

Mauricio Zanes Condori, 38, was trying to talk two thieves out of robbing his church, located in the town of Rodeo del Medio, some 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) west of Buenos Aires, local judicial authorities reported.

One of the thieves aimed his handgun at Zanes Condori's chest and fired at a distance of two meters (about seven feet).

The criminals immediately fled, and churchgoers who were watching the event unfold in horror called an ambulance.

The bullet however hit the psalm book that Zanes Condori was holding to his chest.

A medic who arrived

at the scene said that the book slowed down the bullet and deflected its trajectory, so in the end it only scratched Zanes Condori's chest.

The official report said that a Bible had stopped the bullet, but Zanes Condori later clarified that it was a psalm book.

"That leads me to beieve in a God that takes care of me," Zanes Condor told the online publication Los Andes.

впоследствии оказалось, что это не Библия, а Псалтирь