Brother
Andrew: God’s Undercover Agent (1999)
by Alan Millwright
I’ve seen his book before,
God’s Smuggler (1970), but always
said, Someday, someday, I’ll read it.
It’s been many years since – hundreds of books later – I finally read Brother
Andrew’s biography and surely I’m gonna find and buy or borrow God’s Smuggler. What a life!
Andy van der Bijl, who
became known as Brother Andrew, was born in 1928 the son of a deaf father and a
religious mother. Andrew was the third of six children and they lived in the
smallest house in the village of Witte in the Netherlands. Andy believes in the
existence of God, but he doubts God’s goodness. Many times he asked God why He
lets his brother Bass, handicapped, died.
When he was young he was
rebellious, mischievous, and dreamt of adventure. During World War II, when
Germany invaded, Andrew amused himself by playing pranks on the occupying
troops. Soon he became an informer. Then joined the Dutch army and became a
notorious commando. Andy and his friends have this motto while going to war: “get smart – lose your mind.”
As a soldier, Andy killed
people. He was a drunkard too. Then in one of the combat battles, he get a shot in
the ankle… his time in the army came to an abrupt end. While he was in the
hospital, with nothing to do, he read the Bible that his mother gave to him before
he joined the army. He was amazed and surprised by the Bible he never read
before. He became curious but he still have his doubts. Only when he returned home, he developed a thirst for God. He went to Christian meetings and would
read his Bible over and over again until one day he prayed: “Lord if You will show me the way, I will
follow You. Amen.”
And what happened in
between you got to read his biography for yourself. His (bad) past doesn’t
become his stumbling block, rather, it becomes his “training ground” for what
God has equipped him to do in the future. “Equipped
with a fearlessness honed in the Dutch Underground and the post-war jungles of
the Dutch East Indies and trust in God that nothing is impossible, Andy
became one of the first westerners to evangelize behind the Iron Curtain. And
as more doors to Eastern Europe began to open, Andy, now known as Brother
Andrew, knew God’s purpose for his life: to deliver Bibles to people everywhere
in the world who are starved for His Word!”
On his first mission as
God’s smuggler, when he wants to smuggle the Bible, he was stopped by
Communist armies stationed at the border of Yugoslavia. There he prayed his
famous prayer: “Lord, in my luggage I
have Scriptures that I want to take to Your children across the border. When
You were on earth, You made blind eyes see. Now, make seeing eyes blind. Do not
let the guards see those things You do not want them to see.” You know
what? The armies checked all over his car and they didn’t see anything
suspicious! This and many more miracles, how God protects Andy and his friends
from smuggling Bibles to Communist countries and even Muslim countries – the
Persecuted Church – become a norm for them. God continues to work thru Open Doors International founded by Andy
or now known as Brother Andrew.
Four (4) quotes from
Brother Andrew that give encouragement and challenge me in my Christian faith:
#1 “The bigger the darkness, the easier it is to spot your little light.”
#2 “Of course it’s dangerous. But it’s a lot more dangerous for all of us
if we don’t do it. Even in a conquering army, there are casualties. Safety is
not the issue when we look at the Great Commission. The purpose of the church
cannot be to survive, or even to thrive, but to serve.”
#3 “Christians need a new filling of the Holy Spirit to love those who
disagree with them. And the greatest expression of love is to share with them
the most precious thing a Christian has, which is the good news of the
salvation of Jesus Christ.”
#4 “God does not choose people because of their ability, but because of
their availability.”
Please, please, get to
know this man of God.
THINK BIG.
START SMALL. GO DEEP.
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