God's Smuggler

by Brother Andrew

God revealed a need I could meet, and I did what I could.

If Open Doors can help strengthen the Church in the midst of persecution, that is what we do.

Islam has already been around for 1,400 years.

The challenge of Communism is the stupid proclamation “There is no God.” The challenge of Islam is “Who is God?”

We know that many Muslims are motivated to die for their faith. If we don’t come up with an answer, Islam will continue to grow and attract more volunteers willing to ...

One reason Muslims are so angry at the West is because seven-eighths of the Muslim world was occupied and ruled by “Christian” nations until the end of World War II.

We had teams that modified trucks and vans and created ingenious spaces to hide Bibles—many more than my little car could hold.

Time magazine wrote a story about it, calling Project Pearl a bold expedition “executed with military precision.”†

One of our staff had a vision to smuggle one million desperately needed Bibles into a certain Muslim country—I can’t reveal which. It took several years but was a huge success.

As you can see, this clearly isn’t my story. It is God’s story, and a lot of staff and volunteers have participated.

I made several trips to Egypt—until they blacklisted me.

“Lord, cut the power and shut down all these evil voices.”

In Muslim culture a deaf person is considered demon-possessed.

Remember, our mission is called Open Doors because we believe no doors are closed to the Gospel.

“I have put my house in order. I am fully prepared to stay here and take the place of this man. He has suffered enough. Chain me to the radiator and let him go.”

“This is the spirit of Jesus,” I answered. I stood and spread out my arms to demonstrate. “He died on the cross to let us go free. He died so we could live. Now I’m ready to give myself up so my friend can go free. That is what Christianity is all about.”

“You need to go back to the book!”

“What kind of person does each book produce?”

As long as we see any person as an enemy—whether Communist, Muslim or terrorist—then the love of God cannot flow through us to reach them.

He introduced me to Palestinian Christians, and I discovered that there were ten times more believers among Palestinians than there were Messianic believers.

I am not pro- or anti-Israel. I am not pro- or anti-Palestinian. I am pro-Church, and my calling is to go where the Church is persecuted and struggling to survive.

Strengthen what remains and is at the point of death—that was God’s message from Revelation 3:2

I wondered what it would mean if every Christian considered their home a church.

Four years later, I fulfilled that request and spoke to hundreds of students, faculty members and Hamas leaders.

We earned the right to give the Gospel because I went and visited the Hamas leaders in their time of need.

“Andrew, when they kill me, it will not be for being silent.”

Blasphemy Law. Anyone who is accused of insulting the prophet Muhammad is automatically given a death sentence.

He boldly witnessed for Jesus every chance he had, knowing each day that it could cost him his life.

the battle is first and foremost spiritual.

God did not call us to defend ourselves or our Church or Christianity in general. He calls us to be on the offensive.

In other words, we must do everything possible to reach people and advance the cause of the Gospel. The very first generation of Christians did just that. That is why they were unbeatable!

Each one of us can be Jesus to Muslims in our community.

there is no more exciting mission than following Jesus wherever He leads us.

Our work has expanded from the communist countries of Eastern Europe to China, North Korea, the Middle East, North Africa, Central Asia, India . . . wherever Christians suffer for their faith.

Open Doors works with churches and local partners to “strengthen what remains.”

“The work of the church is not survival. She exists to fulfill the Great Commission. Her work is making disciples of all nations.”

training church leaders and other believers to stand firm in the face of persecution;

giving persecuted Christians the skills to earn an independent living and to escape poverty—including literacy programs, employment training and micro-loans so that they can start their own businesses;