God's Smuggler

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After Andrew was severely wounded during his time in the army, he began reading the Bible one day and eventually accepted Christ as his Savior. After sensing the Lord calling him to ministry, he went to the WEC Missionary Training College in Glasgow, Scotland. There he learned to rely on God for everything, from food and clothing to lodging and visas. On Andy van der Bijl’s 69th birthday, he was honoured by being awarded ‘The Religious Liberty Award’ which was presented by the World Evangelical Fellowship (WEF). The chairman of WEF’s Religious Liberty Commission stated: 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.” More than Bibles Born in Alkmaar, Noord-Holland, the Netherlands, in 1928, van der Bijl became known for his efforts to bring Bibles to people in countries where the sacred book was banned. My heart was racing. Not with the excitement of the crossing, but with the excitement of having caught such a spectacular glimpse of God at work.”

I will say that the events recounted here caused me to reevaluate my own life, my own Christianity, my own faith and my attitude toward faith. I've known for some time that the phrase "my faith" is a misnomer in that we need "the faith of Christ" not "our own" faith. Brother Andrew (Andrew van der Bijl) lived that out. He did it (with God's help) in a simple low key way. From his home in the Netherlands he traveled to and through the Iron Curtain countries and later across the world witnessing and speaking of Christ. Andrew spent the first few months in England painting the WEC headquarters building (Bulstrode). While living at Bulstrode, Andrew began spending time with God at the beginning of everyday – a Quiet Time. This was something that Andrew found helpful and endeavoured to do every day of his life. Once Andrew had finished painting Bulstrode, he then moved in with Mr and Mrs Hopkins. Living with Mr and Mrs Hopkins, they developed a wonderful relationship. Andy learnt so much from the couple because they were utterly without self-consciousness and opened up their home to drunks and beggars. Thom, Mike (28 September 2022). "Brother Andrew, famous for smuggling Bibles into Soviet Union, dies at 94". CHVN Radio. Archived from the original on 1 October 2022 . Retrieved 1 October 2022.

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Throughout his time at Glasgow bible college, Andy learned of ‘The Kings Way’ in providing. Andrew saw God provide every essential need he had and always provide on time. In the book God’s Smuggler, Andrew describes how it was exciting waiting to see how God would provide at his time of need. God always provided, but did so, not according to mans logic but in a kingly matter, not in a grovelling way. He was haunted, after, by the sight of a young mother and nursing boy killed by the same bullet. He started wearing a crazy straw hat into the jungle, hoping it would get him killed. Van der Bijl adopted the motto, “Get smart—lose your mind.” He would tell us as he has told many others, “The Bible is full of ordinary people who went to impossible places and did wondrous things simply because they decided to follow Jesus.”

Brother Andrew has received many honours and awards. He was knighted by Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands and, in 1997, he received of the World Evangelical Fellowship’s Religious Liberty Award, in recognition of his lifetime service to the persecuted church. When the doors to communist Europe were opened in the 1960’s, Brother Andrew began to serve and strengthen the churches in the Middle East and Islamic world. Brother Andrew receives religious liberty award in 2007 One evening during that first visit, he went to a Baptist church in Warsaw where he was invited to speak. He tells the story in his best-selling book God's Smuggler:"At the end of my little talk the pastor said the most interesting thing of all, 'We want to thank you,' he said, 'for being here. Even if you had not said a word, just seeing you would have meant so much. We feel at times as if we are all alone in our struggle."Over the years, it was a joy to work together on a number of joint projects, including in Angola and Sudan. Frontline Fellowship helped deliver and distribute thousands of Bibles for Open Doors in war-torn Islamic Sudan. We hosted Open Doors workers and recovered and towed one of their vehicles thousands of kilometres after it was abandoned in a flash flood, in what had been a dry riverbed inside southern Sudan. Brother Andrew and I regularly corresponded. We promoted and sold his books. Anne van der Bijl, commonly known as "Brother Andrew," a Dutch missionary and founder of the Christian persecution watchdog group Open Doors. | Screengrab: YouTube/CheminNeuf NetforGod This is the story of Brother Andrew, the famous Dutch missionary who smuggled Bibles to Christians behind the Iron Curtain during the 1950s and 60s. Yet, it reads like a fiction spy novel. 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.’”