God’s Smuggler

Brother Andrew, born Anne van der Bijl in the Netherlands in 1928, grew up under Nazi occupation and later served in the Dutch army in Indonesia. After a profound conversion to Christianity, he felt called to support believers facing severe persecution. In 1955, he traveled to a Communist youth congress in Warsaw, Poland, discovering isolated Christians desperate for Scriptures in Soviet-bloc countries. He began smuggling Bibles and Christian literature across heavily guarded borders during the Cold War, often in his blue Volkswagen Beetle—known as the “miracle car” for its repeated survival of breakdowns and inspections. He prayed boldly at checkpoints: “Lord, when You made blind eyes see on earth, now make seeing eyes blind” to hidden cargo. Miraculous escapes protected him countless times, allowing him to deliver encouragement and Bibles to underground churches across Eastern Europe and beyond. His daring faith led to founding Open Doors, a global ministry aiding persecuted Christians that continues today.