In a recent article, Justin D. Long emphasized the above statement when he writes, “During this century, we have documented cases in excess of 26 million martyrs. From AD 33 to 1900, we have documented 14 million martyrs.” He did add, however, that thankfully martyrdom has been on the decline for the past decade. "The current rate is 159,000 martyrs per year -- down from 330,000 per year at the height of the cold war. With the demise of the Soviet Union and its sponsored communism, religious freedoms have opened up. Although there are still numerous restrictions and some persecution, martyrdom -- in the form of executions and assassinations -- has been significantly curtailed."
During the height of the cold war, a high-water mark for persecutions, there where men like Brother Andrew. Brother Andrew is an ordinary looking man, weathered a bit, but his eyes still glimmer with youthfulness even in his 80’s. A Dutchman by nationality and former soldier, he was converted to Christianity after reading the Bible upon his mother's death. He was a missionary under the iron curtain. For decades he risked it all to get bible in the hands of those that wanted it.
Brother Andrew was born Andy Van Der Bijl, in 1928 the son of a deaf blacksmith father and a semi-invalid mother. Andrew was born in the smallest house of a small village in the Netherlands, called Witte. Such little beginnings brewed in him a thirst for adventure. At age 18 he left his home for military service in the notorious Dutch Commando. As a commando Andrew committed many things that haunt him. Nothing he did - drinking, fighting, writing helped him escape the despair that haunted him. Shot in the ankle in combat, hospitalized and bed ridden, the witness of Franciscan sisters influenced him to study the bible.
Returning home a cripple to his old town, Every evening Andrew attended a meeting and during the day he would read the bible at night. One evening he gave up his ego and prayed: 'Lord if You will show me the way, I will follow You. Amen'. He gave himself to God and became a man with no borders.
Not long after his conversion, Brother Andrew attended an evangelistic meeting. At this meeting Andrew responded to the call to become a missionary. But it delayed. In God’s time, God opened Andrew to the realization it had not delayed but he had. He was living in the land of “but I”. He needed to say 'yes' to God who was calling him to mission. Before this, Andrew had been saying 'Yes BUT I am lame.' 'Yes BUT I have no education' ‘Yes BUT I don’t have the money’. Andrew simply said yes and begins to live from the land of ‘amen’. In an amazing instant, Andrew made this step of yes, and in God's grace he healed Andrew’s lame leg.
In his book God Smugglers, He tells of his ministry of smuggling bibles in to closed countries. He wrote about times when he would have Bibles on the front seat of his car, and the border guards of these communistic countries would take the hubcaps off his car and the lining up in the trunk looking for contraband (that included bibles) and never see those Bibles. He would pray, "God, you have made blind eyes see, now would you make seeing eyes blind?" And it happened.
In 2007, on His 69th birthday, Brother Andrew was honored by being awarded ‘The Religious Liberty Award’ by the World Evangelical Fellowship (WEF) In the presentation speech the chairman of WEF's Religious Liberty Commission stated:
“Son of a blacksmith, Brother Andrew didn't 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… Brother Andrew has been the preeminent example of those from the outside who have excelled in the ministry of encouragement - 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.”
Brother Andrew lives his life to the max, straight forward, out there living for God. We all can learn much from this true life real hero. He is still going strong at 80 with Jesus when most people are content to warm church pews. After the fall of communism in Europe, Brother Andrew shifted his focus to the Middle East. He has worked to strengthen the church in the Islamic world. He believes in the word and believes it should available to anyone desiring to read it. He is a man without borders.
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