The Faithful Wanderer

God’s Smuggler

In the late 1950s and early 60s, a Dutchman called Brother Andrew started traveling  into communist countries, seeking out and encouraging persecuted believers. One of the major things the Christians asked for were Bibles in their own language. So Andrew became an expert at smuggling God’s holy word past the watchful eyes of border guards.

Two Great Challenges

Entering a new country, Andrew usually faced two tough challenges. He seldom knew the name of any Christian living there. Even worse, Andrew couldn’t speak the native languages, like Polish or Czech. So by faith, he believed God would connect him up with a Christian who could act as his translator.

But one day, the Holy Spirit let Brother Andrew down.

A Novel Way to Communicate

Behind the Iron Curtain, Brother Andrew once found himself seated before a pastor and two other men in the pastor’s private study. They sat staring at each other in silence. Without a human translator, the language barrier blocked any progress.

There seemed to be no solution.

Suddenly Brother Andrew noticed the Pastor’s Bible, resting on his desk and had a unusual idea. Taking out his own Dutch Bible, he ruffled through the New Testament until he found the verse he wanted. Smiling, he pointed to the book’s name, then the chapter and verse numbers. The pastor’s eyes lit up. Quickly he searched for the verse Andrew indicated. He saw “I bring you greetings…” and grinned. Within a minute or two, the pastor ‘replied’ to Andrew, using the same technique. It became a fun game, searching the Scriptures to express ideas and trade information.

For the next hour, Brother Andrew and the pastor ‘talked’ together.

And when they went home that night, I believe all 4 men were grateful to God. Because centuries before, the Lord had caused earlier believers to develop a numbering system, which broke the Bible into chapters and verses.

Both images come from Pixabay.com. The green highlighter was added by me.