When you think about heroes of the faith, what comes to mind? Great spiritual battles with demons? Fire called down from heaven? But some of the greatest spiritual battles are fought only with words. This makes the Word of God a very precious thing.
Once when I was in the Soviet Union I met a Russian Christian named Joseph. He told me that he had been in a labor camp for ten years. As we talked, I discovered that while in prison camp he had made a most unique Bible. It was his job to empty cement bags; he would tear off pieces of the thick brown paper from the cement bags and, with a pencil heâd found, write on them every Bible verse he could recall.
âI managed to fill twelve pages with these verses,â he said. âOften when I was alone in a quiet comer, I would be joined by other Christians. Then I would open my shirt, pull out my cement-bag Bible, and we would read the verses together.â
How he loved that Bible! My eyes filled with tears as he placed it in my hands for me to examine.A saying attributed to Karl Marx is, âGive me twenty-six lead soldiers, and I will conquer the world.â He was referring, of course, to the twenty-six letters of the alphabet to be found in a printerâs type bin. But those same twenty-six letters also can form the Words of Life. Seeing how valuable Josephâs cement-bag Bible was to him and how it had sustained his faith and the faith of others in a time of great trial caused me to commit myself even more deeply to helping all people have access to God’s Word.
A Battle of Words
One of the greatest battles in the Bible involved a weapon we all know: words. Itâs the story of David and Goliath told in 1 Samuel 17.
Now the Philistines gathered their armies for battle; and they were gathered at Socoh, which belongs to Judah, and encamped between Socoh and Azekah, in Ephesdammim. And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered, and encamped in the valley ofElah, and drew up in line of battle against the Philistines. And the Philistines stood on the mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on the mountain on the other side, with a valley between them.
1 Samuel 17:1-3
Imagine the situation. On one side of the valley were the Philistines, armed to the teeth. On the other stood the army of Israel-with just sticks and dubs for weapons! Why weren’t they prepared? Because the Philistines who occupied Israel had driven the blacksmiths from the Land so there would be no chance for them to forge swords or spears. When an Israelite needed to sharpen his ax or sickle, he had to go meekly down to the Philistineâs camp and pay for the sharpening. Only the king and his son had any personal armor (see l Samuel 13:19-22).
Think about the humiliation that the enemy inflicted on Godâs people by telling them they couldnât have weapons or train their young men for battle. Compare that to the spiritual situation today. How outrageous for any atheistic government to determine how many Bibles the church can have in a particular country. How scandalous that any secular authority should restrict Godâs people from training their children in the ways of the Lord. Is the enemy going to tell us, God’s people, how we are going to behave? Is the enemy going to curtail our activity so that we cannot obey God’s Word to win the world? Recognize the situation?
Almost the only thing the Israelites could do was talk.
The Power of Words
But thatâs exactly what the Philistines were doing, too. Their champion Goliath strutted out onto the battlefield, “six cubits and a span” (l Samuel 17:4). If the biblical cubit equalled eighteen inches, as most scholars think, then Goliath stood a threatening nine and a half feet tall. Yet all he hurled were words: taunts, insults, accusations.
He stood and shouted to the ranks of lsrael, âWhy have you come out to draw up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me. If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants; but if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us. … I defy the ranks of lsrael this day.”
1 Samuel 17: 8-10
Every morning, every night, Goliath shouted the same insults. He was actually insulting God for it was well understood among ancient peoples that their strength or weakness in battle was an expression of the strength of their god. Therefore, this defiance was hurled at the God of lsrael just as much as at the men in the army. We must not underestimate the impact of this kind of propaganda. For forty days, every morning and every evening, he shouted at the Israelites so that all could hear. There was no escaping it. Eighty times he delivered the same evil message: âYou can never win! You’ll never be helped! You’ll never be free from sin; you’ll always be lost. You’ll never make it; you’ll always be slaves!â I call it brainwashing, and it had a powerful effect. The Israelites were so paralyzed by fear that they didn’t even dare to name the enemy. Instead, they said, âHave you seen this man who has come up?â (1 Samuel 17:25).
Seeing through a Challenge
This situation didn’t change until a young man named David arrived on the scene. His father had sent him to the Israelite camp to visit his brothers and bring word about their welfare. When David arrived, the Israelite army was making a show of going to the battle line, but turned and fled when Goliath issued his taunting challenge. In tune with God’s will, David immediately knew that the situation was not right in God’s eyes.
This is the first step heroes of the faith must take: seeking God’s will with the intent of acting on it. If we study the Bible merely for our own salvation or just to show off our great knowledge of the Word, it won’t do us or anyone else any good. We must be in contact with God with the goal of changing the situation around us. Then we will see life as God sees it.
Once David arrived, the real battle began. Shocked by the fear of those supposedly on Godâs side, he immediately expressed his indignation: âFor who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?â (1 Samuel 17:26).
David immediately called his bluff. This giant had no part in the Kingdom of God. How did David know? By the blasphemous words Goliath spoke. David was not afraid to identify him for what he was. He made a theological issue of it because it was a spiritual battle. It had nothing to do with the Philistines and Israel simply as civil nations. There was something far more important at stake: the honor of God. A holy indignation took hold of David; he could not restrain himself any more. He got mad. There was something burning within him, and he had to act.
Only that which burns inside you will come out in action.
Keeping the Issues Straight
The good news spread quickly through the camp: someone was accepting Goliathâs challenge! Before long, King Saul heard that a hero of the faith had arrived. Was there hope for Israel after all? Saul sent for him. When he arrived, David declared, âLet no man’s heart fail because of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistineâ (l Samuel 17:32).
As has happened so often with the church, David found that Israel had gone into battle unprepared, without proper weapons. Only Saul and his son Jonathan had any weapons at all. But David focused on the real solution: to fight in the power of the Lord. That was the type of fighting he knew. But Saul had been so brainwashed that he didnât see things that way. All he could see was that David was a youth â no match for the seasoned warrior giant. David tried to give the king a vision of what it was like to fight in the power of the Lord by reviewing his past experience:
âYour servant used to keep sheep for his father; and when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb from the flock, I went after him and smote him and delivered it out of his mouth; and if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him and killed him. Your servant has killed both lions and bears; and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the living God.âÂ
Samuel 17:34-37
Again, David kept the issues straight. This was a spiritual conflict. It was the enemyâs defiance of God that elicited Davidâs action â not personal gain, not saving face, not even the physical freedom of the Hebrew people. The key to his success was that he acted on spiritual principle.
We Canât Always Prevent the Evil of Others
Davidâs review of his past history revealed another important insight. Notice that even though David was present when the lamb was taken, he couldn’t prevent it from happening. He could only take action afterward.
We all have to live in a world of realities. There really is an Iron Curtain, persecution, terrorism, famine, poverty. We havenât been able to prevent those kinds of things. Nor was David able to keep the lion and bear from coming into the flock.
What made him especially indignant, however, was that the sheep were not his, but his fatherâs. Thatâs the sense of responsibility that must be ours as well. Where are the Christians who are willing to take care of the sheep just because they belong to our heavenly Father?
Carrying Out Our Duty
We consider David to be courageous, but all he did was carry out his duty, no matter what it cost him. He was responsible for the safety and health of these sheep, and the lion and bear had no business coming into his fatherâs flock.
Itâs tempting to think, âWhatâs more important: the life of one lamb or David’s life?â That’s typical Western thinking, but itâs not how God thinks. Our life is worth nothing if we neglect our duty and fail in our responsibilities. We will never see miracles or God s intervention if we are more worried about ourselves than our calling. Davidâs perspective was: âI did it because those sheep belonged to my father.â
Often we calculate risks and then decide not to get involved, leaving the weak, the vulnerable, the threatened, to defend themselves. But they cannot. Thatâs why such a large portion of the world is suffering: under injustice, violence, persecution, and racism. Here David sets an example for us to follow.
At first King Saul was disappointed to find that David was only a youth â hardly a match, he thought, for the terrifying warrior giant. But Davidâs testimony impressed Saul. He realized he had finally found one man who would act on principle, armed with Godâs presence and power. Thatâs all it takes to be a hero of the faith. With God, we can do all things.
Inner Integrity Produces Outward Strength
Because of his personal experience, David had confidence in the Lordâs power to deliver him, and because of his inner strength, he gave faith to the king that he could succeed where everyone else had failed. His private life of discipline, devotion, and faithfulness meant that he could succeed in the public arena.
The faith that David inspired in Saul was considerable. If David failed as Israelâs champion, the terms that Goliath had announced were that Israel would become the Philistinesâ servants. It is not obvious whether that would have been any worse than the situation that already existed, but it was a serious thing to let this shepherd youth represent all Israel. Think how desperate they must have been!
Trying to be helpful, Saul gave David his own armor, which he should have been using to fight Goliath himself. We know from Scripture that Saul was a very big man â head and shoulders above most others. The fact that he even attempted to put his helmet and coat of mail on David suggests that David wasnât particularly small. But the Bible says that âhe was not used to themâ and took the armor off.In fact, Saulâs weapons were worse than useless to David; they would have encumbered him and put him at a distinct disadvantage. He didnât need Saulâs outward armament. God had called David as a shepherd boy, not a heavily-armed warrior. When God calls us, itâs to come just as we are. Donât try to do great things in someone elseâs capacity. We can only be effective in God’s service if we yield ourselves as we are, not pretending to be anything else.
Confronting the Giant
Finally, it was time for David to tackle the giant. Goliath made his eightieth appearance to taunt the Israelites and their God, but this time something was different. There was a shepherd boy in front of him, with a sling and five smooth stones.
Did you ever wonder why he picked five stones? Was he afraid he would miss the first few times and might need some more ammunition? I don’t think so. I think he chose five stones because Goliath had four brothers, including the giant who had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot (2 Samuel 21:20-22; 1 Chronicles 20:4·8). David was implying that he was not only going to challenge one enemy but he was ready to deal with all the enemies of Israel.
Heroes of the faith are men and women of God who believe in total victory. There should be no negotiated compromises with evil. With five smooth stones, David demonstrated to all of Israel that if the nation turned in faith to God, they could be delivered from all their enemies.As David walked up to Goliath, the Philistine boomed, âAm I a dog, that you come at me with sticks?â Actually, the answer was âyes!â Davidâs advance was a statement that there was no place in the kingdom for a man like Goliath, the enemy of God himself.
Spiritual Battles Require Spiritual Weapons
Goliath looked upon David with undisguised contempt, but David responded with the very weapon Goliath had used to intimidate Israel: words. Although Goliath was heavily armed with a huge spear and javelin and an armor bearer just to hold up his shield, he never had the chance to use them.Spiritual battles are never fought with material weapons but with principles. They are battles for peopleâs minds and souls, and most often they are fought with words. David didnât mince his.
âYou come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin; but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down, and cut off your head; I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lordâs and he will give you into our hand.”
l Samuel 17:45-47
Wouldnât that have been something to hear? This shepherd boy stood before an awesome fighting machine with only one special weapon: the Word of God. The battle was the Lordâs, but David still had to fight it. He fought not with just any words but with Godâs Word. The moment he proclaimed the Word of God, it became God’s responsibility to give him the victory.
The outcome of the fight was exactly as David said it would be. Goliath was killed, the Philistines were routed, and Israel was freed. But did you ever wonder why the whole Philistine army fled when only one man had gone down? From a human perspective it could have been a lucky shot from a lone boy with a few rocks. Certainly the Philistinesâ physical dominance over unarmed Israel was not dependent on one man, no matter how big he was. But the reason they fled was because the real battle was never a physical one anyway. It was a spiritual fight â between the God of Israel and the forces of evil. Therefore, Godâs victory was made all the more dramatic by the contrast between a boy with some rocks and the highly skilled warrior giant. Ancient people understood the spiritual implications of this conflict as many modern people cannot; that is why the Philistines fled in terror.
If only we Christians had that same spiritual insight! But too often we get confused and think that our security is based on the tanks and bombs, courts and economics of the countries in which we live. But it’s the proclamation of the Word of God that makes the difference in the world. Without the courage of one young man to stand up âin the name of the Lord of hosts,â Israel would have been in chains.
Something More Precious Than Life
I think of another hero, Patrick Henry, who stood in St. Johnâs Church in Richmond, Virginia, in 1775 and stated his principles, despite the cost:
Gentlemen may cry peace, peace, but there is no peace. War is actually begun; our brethren are already in the field. How can we stand idle? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God. I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death.
Itâs time that Christians all over the world commit themselves to a war of independence, a spiritual war in which our own lives and happiness donât count so much. I wrote a book about this, taking a line from Patrick Henry, and titled it, Is Life So Dear?
David didnât count his life to be so dear that he couldnât stand up for the name of the Lord God. He didn’t think and plan and scheme. As when he went after the lamb in the lionâs jaws, he knew his heavenly Father would feel ashamed of him if he ran away from danger rather than doing his duty.
Our calling is to use our wealth and knowledge and resources to spread the Word of God to nations that are enslaved, where the lion and bear have already come in. We have to admit that we were unable to prevent the situation; the world is full of realities we canât get away from. It was a reality that the Philistines were in the land of Judah, only ten miles west of Jerusalem. But there was also the tremendous reality that God had a young hero prepared to give his all.
The situation today has been given to us, but itâs our duty to change it. God wants us to become warriors. Is that what weâre doing?
The Cost of Victory
Unfortunately, I believe that too many of us are playing spiritual Monopoly instead. We throw the dice and move along the board: âGo directly to Pentecost; do not stop at Gethsemane; do not stop at Calvary; pick up your hundred dollars.â Itâs a deadly game, both for our effectiveness in the Kingdom and for the salvation of the world.
When I travel in communist countries I often meet young pastors who want to leave their country for the âfreeâ West, preferably the United States. But I always say, âDonât do it. If God has given you the responsibility to be a pastor, stay with your sheep; you should not flee. You must stay where you are and serve God. You can fight for God best where his enemies are strongest. If you flee from the battlefield and try to avoid the conflict, then you will not only be less effective, but you may also leave the place of his divine protection for you.â
The Danger of Pursuing Self-Interest
You see, I have discovered that many who leave their countries for a âsaferâ place often lose their faith. God has equipped them for the kind of fight they are in, but they are often not prepared to contend with the spiritual warfare of the materialistic society into which they go.
I once shared this advice with a congregation in Cuba. A pastor came up after my sermon, and in front of the hushed audience he said, âBrother Andrew, I have been planning to leave Cuba for America. My application papers are already being processed, but after what I heard you say about a shepherd staying with the flock, I have decided before God tonight to stay.â The congregation rose up as one and clapped their hands. They said, âGracias, Padre; 0racias, Padre.â They were so happy that this man was going to stay. I later heard that he was greatly used by the Lord in Cuba.
There Will Be Pain
To be heroes of the faith, we must come into the battle realizing that indeed there will be suffering and wounds, pain and death. That’s only being realistic. How can warfare be otherwise?
This marvelous story of David tells how one man changed the course of lsraelâs history and â as an ancestor of Jesus â our spiritual destiny as well. Admittedly, he wasnât an ordinary man, but nobody else knew that at the time. Saul, David’s brothers, and Goliath all considered him to be of no account. When we’re looking around for heroes, our tendency is to look for someone well known, above average, highly educated-certainly God has to do something great through that person. Nonsense! The heroes of the faith are often ordinary people, like you and me.
I’ll never forget the 1966 World Conference on Evangelism that I attended in Berlin. The list of speakers was most impressive. Some people required an entire page to document their accomplishments, how famous they were, how many books they had written. Yet as I paged through the scores of professors and doctors, I spotted one familiar name: Corrie ten Boom, WatchÂmaker.
Now, more than twenty years later, Iâve forgotten all the others, but I still remember Corrie. All that week, in that huge congress hall, wherever you saw a crowd of people, there was Corrie in the middle, ministering. She was not a professor, had no degrees, but she was a heroine of the faith. She knew God’s principles, had acted on them, and paid the price.
David, too, paid a price. His wasn’t an easy victory, and is pitiful little stones were certainly not weapons to impress the world. But he came in the name of the Lord, and because of that, the victory was his.
Are we willing to be heroes of the faith and proclaim the Word of the Lord, no matter what it costs us? If God could give a victory through David, he can do it through us. David had only a small part of the Old Testament to draw on, but he proclaimed it boldly. With the complete Old and New Testaments, multiplied translations, commentaries, great preachers television, and radio, why haven ‘t we conquered the world for Christ?
Letâs decide together that we will be heroes of the faith. God gives faith freely to anyone who wants to receive it and walk in his way. Are we willing to go out into a very dangerous world with only one weapon, the Sword of the Spirit? You may not be able to see it or feel its sharp edge, but it will make you invincible. No Iron Curtain, cultural curtain, or religious curtain can keep out those who move with the Word of God.
Enemies come with their pitiful weapons, but we come in the name of the Lord. The victory is ours!
This article is excerpted from A Time for Heroes, Chapter 4, by Brother Andrew with Dave and Neta Jackson, published by Servant Books, Ann Arbor, Michigan USA, © copyright 1988 by Open Doors International.
Top image is a composite of a Scripture quote and shadow of a cross, illustration from Bigstock.com, © clearviewstock, stock photo ID: 6422355.
Early life and adventure
Son of a blacksmith, Brother Andrew didnât even finish high school. But God used this ordinary Dutch man, with his bad back, limited education, without sponsorship and no funds to do things that many said were impossible. From Yugoslavia to North Korea, Brother Andrew penetrated countries hostile to the gospel to bring bibles and encouragement to believers.
Andy van der Bijl, who became known as Brother Andrew, was born in 1928 the son of a deaf father and a semi-invalid mother. Andrew was the third of six children and they lived in the smallest house in the village of Witte in the Netherlands.
In the book Godâs smuggler, Andrew describes the impact that the death of his oldest brother âBasâ had upon him. Bas, who was severely handicapped died when Andrew was just 11 years old. Andrew had wanted to die with Bas, but God hadnât let him.
As a child, brother Andrew was mischievous and dreamt of adventure. When Germany invaded, Andrew amused himself (and the rest of the village) by playing pranks on the occupying troops.
His thirst for adventure led him into the Dutch army at the age of 18 where he became a notorious commando. Andrew and his comrades became famous for wearing yellow straw hats in battle, their motto was: âget smart â lose your mindâ.
The atrocities that Andrew committed as a commando haunted him and he became wrapped in a sense of guilt. Nothing he did â drinking, fighting, writing or reading letters helped him escape the strangle that guilt had upon him.
Shot in the ankle in combat, at the age of 20, his time in the army came to an abrupt end.
A thirst for God and call to mission
In hospital, bed ridden, the witness of Franciscan sisters who served the sick joyfully and the conviction of his own sin, drove him to read the Bible. Andy studied the bible while asking many questions to a friend (Thile), who had written to him throughout his time in the army. Andrew sent questions to Thile who searched for answers from her pastor and the library. His searching within the bible did not however lead him to give his life to God whilst he was still in hospital.
Returning home a cripple to his old town, Andrewâs life was empty. He had not found the adventure he had been looking for.
Somehow however, when he returned home, he developed a thirst for God. Every evening Andrew attended a meeting and during the day he would read the bible and lookup up bible verses mentioned in the sermons he had heard. At last, one evening he gave up his ego and prayed: âLord if You will show me the way, I will follow You. Amenâ.
Soon after becoming a Christian, Brother Andrew attended an evangelistic meeting taken by a Dutch evangelist Arne Donker. At this meeting Andrew responded to the call to become a missionary. This call to share the good news of salvation started at home, with Andrew and his friend Kees holding an evangelistic event with Pastor Donker in their home town of Witte.
Before going away on mission, Andrew started work at the Ringers chocolate factory. Working in a female dominated environment which was smitten with filthy jokes, God used Andrew and another Christian, and future wife Corrie, to reach their lost co-workers. Through personal witness and inviting them to evangelistic events, many became Christians, including the ring leader of the women. The atmosphere at work changed dramatically and prayer groups were held.
Andrew excelled in his work despite being lame and Mr Ringers, the owner of the factory applauded his work and evangelistic efforts. Because of his high IQ, Andrew was trained up as a job analyst within the factory. But Andrew knew that God was calling him to mission. The big obstacle however was his lack of education.
Giving up smoking, Andrew was able to start saving to buy books. Andrew bought dictionaries and commentaries and so began studying in his spare time. One day Andrew learnt about the bible college in Glasgow run by the WEC mission. At Glasgow bible college Christians could be trained up for mission in 2 years.
Unsure of Godâs will for his life, Andrew spent a Sunday afternoon alone with God, speaking aloud with God. Through this time, Andrew realised that he needed to say âyesâ to God who was calling him to mission. Before this, Andrew had been saying âYes BUT I am lame.â âYes BUT I have no educationâ. Andrew said yes. In an amazing instant, Andrew made this step of yes, and in Godâs grace he healed Andrews lame leg.
Andrew applied for the Bible college in Glasgow and was accepted. Sponsored by no church, no organisation and lacking education, Andrew obeyed God and went despite being told by the love of his life at the time (Thile) that in going he would lose her.
Andrewâs place at the bible college was delayed by a year. Despite receiving a telegram from WEC telling him not to come, Andrew believed God was instructing him to go. In faith he obeyed God and left for England in 1952.
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 â 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.
In September 1953, Brother Andrew started his studies at the WEC Glasgow bible college. Over the entrance of the wooden archway of the college were the wordsâ have faith in Godâ. During the following two years whilst studying, Andrew learnt about having faith in God and put his faith into practice in numerous ways.
Learning âThe Kingâs Wayâ
Throughout his time at Glasgow bible college, Andy learnt of âThe Kings Wayâ in providing. Andrew saw God provide every essential need he had and always provide on time. In the book Godâs 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 manâs logic but in a kingly matter, not in a grovelling way.
One example of God providing miraculously was when Andrew needed to pay his visa. When Andrew received a visitor the day before he needed to send off his application for a visa, he was confident that the visitor would have come to give him money to pay for the visa. But the visitor was Richard, a man who Andrew had met in the slums in Glasgow. Richard had not come to give, but to ask. Andy explained that he had no money himself to give to Richard, but as he spoke, Andy saw a Shilling on the floor. This shilling was how much Andy needed to pay for his visa which would mean he could stay at the bible school. Rather than keeping the Shilling for himself, Andrew gave the Shilling to Richard. Andy had done what he knew was right, but how would God provide? Minutes later, Andy received a letter and in it was 30 Shillings! God had provided in His way, a Kingly Manner of provision.
Leaving bible college in 1955, God guided Andy to attend a Communist trip to Warsaw. This would be the first of many trips into Communist countries.
During his first trip to Warsaw, brother Andrew visited local churches, a bible shop and spoke with Christians in the country. Coming back to Holland, Andrew had lots of opportunities to share about his trip and how Christians lived behind the iron curtain.
Weeks later, the communist party arranged for him to attend a trip to Czechoslovakia. Andrew managed to break away from the organised trip to learn that the church was suffering and that bibles were very scarce. Officials were angry he had broken away from the official tour and had contact with Christians so he was prohibited from entering the country again. But his trip had opened his eyes to the needs of the church behind the iron curtain and this became his mission field.
In the following years, Andy dedicated his life to the needs of the church in the Communist countries. God provided Andrew with a new Volkswagen Beetle and with it Brother Andrew smuggled bibles and literature into the countries in need. Working alone for the first few years, Andrew worked tirelessly in serving the churches behind the iron curtain. When Andrew had finished one trip he would go back to Holland where he would share his experience and then go back to one of the countries. Each trip was full of stories of how God had miraculously provided and led Andrew to meet Godly believers.
Although serving God in this way was exciting, Andrew felt alone and wanted a wife. In the book Godâs Smuggler, Andrew describes how he prayed about a wife three times. The first two times that Brother Andrew asked for a wife God spoke to him clearly through Isaiah 54:1 âThe children of the desolate are more than the children of the marriedâ. But Andrew prayed a third time about it, and this time God answered his prayer, reminding him of a lady he worked with at the Ringers chocolate factor, Corrie van Dam. Andrew hadnât had contact with Corrie for a long time so went to visit her. By Godâs grace, Corrie was still single and over a period of several years Andrew and Corrie became great friends. Corrie and Andrew married on June 27th 1958 in Alkmaar, Netherlands.
Corrie was married to a missionary and Andrew very much continued to live like a missionary, smuggling bibles into countries closed countries. Over the years, God blessed Corrie and Andrew with five children, three boys and two girls.
Andrew kept serving God behind the iron curtain but the work had become difficult to do alone. Andrew thought about how helpful it would be to have a co-worker. This began with a man called Hans and slowly grew until a number of them were smuggling bibles into the communist countries.
On Andy van der Bijlâs 69th birthday, he was honoured by being awarded âThe Religious Liberty Awardâ which was presented by the World Evangelical Fellowship (WEF). The chairman of WEFâs Religious Liberty Commission stated:
âBrother Andrew has been the preeminent example of those from the outside who have excelled in the ministry of encouragement â the many years he has devoted himself to serving the oppressed. His exploits have become legendary as he has crossed borders carrying Bibles, which were liable to confiscation. Time after time God has blinded the eyes of the border guards, and the Bibles got through.