Died: Brother Andrew, Who Smuggled Bibles into Communist Countries

sermonindex Sep 28, 2022

Anne van der Bijl, a Dutch evangelical known to Christians worldwide as Brother Andrew, the man who smuggled Bibles into closed Communist countries, has died at the age of 94.

Van der Bijl became famous as "God’s smuggler” when the first-person account of his missionary adventures””slipping past border guards with Bibles hidden in his blue Volkswagen Beetle””was published in 1967. God’s Smuggler was written with evangelical journalists John and Elizabeth Sherrill and published under his code name "Brother Andrew.” It sold more than 10 million copies and was translated into 35 languages.

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.

"I am not an evangelical stuntman,” he said. "I am just an ordinary guy. What I did, anyone can do.”

C

ccchhhrrriiisss Sep 28, 2022

Wow, I was just thinking about him over the last couple of days. After converting to Christ, I avoided many Christian books and focused upon reading through and familiarizing myself with the Bible. When I finally did read some books, I read things like The Cross and the Switchblade, The Hiding Place, No Compromise (the biography of Keith Green), Tortured for Christ and God's Smuggler.

God's Smuggler was particularly interesting to me. I'll never forget reading about his life before and after meeting Christ. I was amazed by his prayer when, while smuggling Bibles into communist countries, he would leave them in full view. Remembering how God made blind eyes to see, Brother Andrew prayed for God to make "seeing eyes blind." When asked by border guards about what he was carrying, he replied that he was only carrying what they could see.

Later, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, he simply refocused on other places (such as the Muslim world) where Christians are persecuted. I suspect that we'll meet other believers in Eternity who first heard the Good News through some of the modest efforts of this wonderful brother.

A

AbideinHim Sep 28, 2022

Thank you for posting Brother Greg. I remember reading God’s Smuggler back in the 70’s and I still remember the miracles that God did causing the Communist guards to be blinded to a Volkswagen full of Bibles. Brother Andrew is truly a hero of the faith!

B

Benaiah9 Sep 29, 2022

Thanks Greg. Sorry to see a great man of God gone, but he is with the Lord now. What an incredible testimony he had in the way the Lord worked in and through that man. We need more like him.

I

InTheLight Sep 29, 2022

Sorry to hear of his passing.

If anyone here has not read God's Smuggler, please do. You will be encouraged in Christ.

B

BranchinVINE Oct 1, 2022

Audiobook:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3ZayKD18JY

Truly, Brother Andrew is a letter of Christ written with the Spirit of God to be known and read by all.

Ps. 91:4 ”“
He will cover you with His pinions,
And under His wings you may seek refuge;
His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark.

J

Jeremy221 Oct 2, 2022

Brother Andrew was a good man. He visited the international fellowship in Sanaa, Yemen, when I was in junior high. One year he visited at Easter and taught during the sunrise service. He had incredible boldness to preach where others feared to go. I remember reading "God’s Smuggler” in college and being both amazed and disappointed because there are so many intangibles even exposition cannot communicate.

Another brother who did similar work, Tom Hamlin from the UK, also passed away recently. May we be faithful till our final day or found ready full of faith at His appearing.