God's Smuggler

Product Information

Over time, he came to include what Open Doors labeled a “ trademark prayer” to go with the Bibles: “Lord, in my luggage I have Scripture I want to take to your children. When you were on earth, You made blind eyes see. Now, I pray, make seeing eyes blind. Do not let the guards see those things You do not want them to see.” Brother Andrew, founder of Open Doors, passes away". Eternity News, www.eternitynews.com.au. 28 September 2022. Archived from the original on 1 October 2022 . Retrieved 1 October 2022.

Within a year, Mao Zedong had died and most of the conference participants were able to start working once again in the People’s Republic of China. That young man became known as Brother Andrew. And his trip changed the world. Strengthen that which remains... God's Smuggler by Brother Andrew with John and Elizabeth Sherrill: Young Reader's Edition is quite an interesting read.I couldn’t not put this book down. Story after story of his putting Bibles into hands of the Chinese, Germans, Hungarians, Russians, and so many more was so compelling. His prayer life and listening to that still small voice was so convicting. The point of this is, thanks to you ministry and the way you reached out to folk – countless others have been reached and saved and seen miracles happen b the Grace of God. I will love meeting you in heaven and if you will let me, i would love to give u a big hug then. God Bless you! louise haddaway Reply He made his first trip to Cuba in the late 1960s and went on to visit several other Latin American countries. In 2001 he met leaders of the Colombian rebel group AUC (Autodefensas de Colombia) and urged them to lay down their weapons. Within a year 15,000 members of AUC surrendered their guns – in exchange for Bibles. The book inspired numerous other missionary smugglers, provided funding to van der Bilj’s ministry Open Doors, and drew evangelical attention to the plight of believers in countries where Christian belief and practice were illegal. Van der Bijl protested that people missed the point, however, when they held him up as heroic and extraordinary. In his tribute to Brother Andrew, Dr. Albert Mohler reminded listeners that “the power of God’s word is such that, once it is in the hands and it is read with the eyes, the Holy Spirit does the work of taking that word read with the eyes into the heart and bringing about a transformation that only the word of God can bring.”

Andy van der Bijl, who became known as Brother Andrew, was born in 1928 the son of a deaf father and a semi-invalid mother. Andrew was the third of six children and they lived in the smallest house in the village of Witte in the Netherlands. It gives you an overview of the life of 'Brother Andrew, as he later became known, he was a Bible smuggler. There wasn’t much faith in my prayer,” van der Bijl said. “I just said, ‘Lord if you will show me the way, I will follow you. Amen.’” Giving up smoking, Andrew was able to start saving to buy books. Andrew bought dictionaries and commentaries and so began studying in his spare time. One day Andrew learnt about the bible college in Glasgow run by the WEC mission. At Glasgow bible college Christians could be trained up for mission in 2 years. I can’t recommend it strongly enough. Really, except for that one part of the story my mother censored, this book is acceptable for any age. The risks taken and the price paid for the faith are very delicately shown. Only as I grew up and learned more about the Soviet Union did the full implications of those hints start to gain their full force.Brother Andrew, who in 1993 was knighted by Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, married Corrine in 1958. She died in 2018 and he is survived by their five children.

a b c d e Casper, Jayson (29 September 2022). "The Light Force of God's Smuggler: Arab Christians Mourn Brother Andrew". Christianity Today. Archived from the original on 1 October 2022 . Retrieved 1 October 2022. During the Second World War he became involved with the Dutch Resistance, undertaking acts of sabotage against the occupying Germans such as adding his mother’s precious sugar ration to the petrol tank of a general’s car. It is so important for believers to know and therefore be strengthened by the stories of the Lord's faithfulness. This is an amazing true tale which gave me a shot of hope where faith has been limping along like Brother Andrew's war-torn foot. After a failed missionary attempt, I have spent years struggling with the aftermath of how that failure affected my faith. Reading this book has reawakened my trust in the Lord and strengthened my soul. One example of God providing miraculously was when Andrew needed to pay his visa. When Andrew received a visitor the day before he needed to send off his application for a visa, he was confident that the visitor would have come to give him money to pay for the visa. But the visitor was Richard, a man who Andrew had met in the slums in Glasgow. Richard had not come to give, but to ask. Andy explained that he had no money himself to give to Richard, but as he spoke, Andy saw a Shilling on the floor. This shilling was how much Andy needed to pay for his visa which would mean he could stay at the bible school. Rather than keeping the Shilling for himself, Andrew gave the Shilling to Richard. Andy had done what he knew was right, but how would God provide? Minutes later, Andy received a letter and in it was 30 Shillings! God had provided in His way, a Kingly Manner of provision. God calls Andrew behind the Iron curtain After he graduated from the college in 1955, his first trip behind the Iron Curtain came when he had the opportunity to attend a Communist youth rally in Warsaw, Poland. He wasn't there to learn about Communism though. He was there to find out firsthand what religious freedom was really like there and spread the gospel wherever he went. After this trip, his interest in the Christians behind the Iron Curtain grew into a calling to serve them.Brother Andrew; Sherrill, John; Sherrill, Elizabeth (2001). God's Smuggler. Chosen Books. ISBN 0-8007-9301-3. He spent two years studying to be a missionary at the Worldwide Evangelization Crusade school in Glasgow, Scotland. Open Doors still distributes hundreds of thousands of Bibles and Christian books every year. But we also train and support persecuted Christians in other ways. While recuperating in a Catholic hospital he began to read the Bible. As he continued his recovery in the Netherlands he committed his life to following God – wherever that would lead him.