5 July 2015
Dear Phyllis,
In 1955 a young Dutch brother had just graduated from a Bible school in England and was praying about what the Lord would have him do in serving Christ. One day he saw an advertisement for a communist student rally in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. In those days the Iron Curtain so tight it was like trying to look inside a submarine. On a whim Brother Andrew applied as a student to attend this communist rally and got a visa. Once inside Yugoslavia his main interest was not the communist rally but an attempt to contact Christians. They told him of the desperate condition of Christians in communist countries and begged him if there was any way he could get Bibles to them. That was the birth of Open Doors Ministry. No one had ever thought of smuggling Bibles into these countries in suitcases. On his first run, when Brother Andrew faced the custom inspection he prayed, “Lord, when You were here on earth You made blind eyes to see; now I ask You to make seeing eyes blind.” Miraculously the custom inspector never saw the Bibles in Brother Andrews suit case. For the next four years Brother Andrew was busily engaged in smuggling Bibles into many communist countries in the Soviet block and wrote the epic book God's Smuggler. When I read that book in 1960 I thought that was the most incredible book I had ever read, but thought the man must be mad to be so involved in this clandestine ministry and then write a book telling all about it and how he did it. But on the last page he wrote, “As one man I have been able to do this much, but if this was multiplied a thousand times by tourists going in these countries think how much more could be accomplished.” That was perhaps the most significant statement of the 20th century. His vision has been fulfilled ten thousand times over. For the next 50 years this has been the life line supplying the church in closed countries with the life-giving Word of God.
When an unprecedented revival broke out in China in 1980 there was an insatiable demand for the Word of God and the only way this could be met was by someone bringing them in from the outside. In response to this need several hundred courageous young people volunteered and congregated in key distribution centers. It has been my great privilege for the past 17 years to know and work with many of these warriors for Jesus.
One was a slender brother from Illinois. Bob had been in Vietnam and suffered serious emotional damage, but he was as courageous as they come. He worked full time out of Hong Kong making hundreds of runs carrying Bibles all over China. His stories range from the most hilarious to the most miraculous. Bob weighed about 135 pounds but he had a special coat with dozens of hidden pockets on the inside. In these pockets he could carry over 50 New Testaments. It was so bulky that he looked like the Michelin man and he waddled like a duck. It is hard to imagine what the custom inspectors must have thought when this slender man waddled up to inspection in this enormous coat. Another brother followed Bobs technique except he had special pants with dozens of hidden pockets. The story is told that one time this brother walked up to custom inspection and when the inspector asked to see his bags his pants fell down. The custom inspector was so embarrassed he turned his head while the poor man pulled his pants back up.
Bob told of one time he was up in Tibet. A basic principle is that you never stay in the same town where you are working. One morning Bob went to a neighboring town to a busy market. He had a handful of tracts that he was cautiously passing out. When the crowd saw what he was doing, suddenly a mob formed so thick he feared he would get crushed. Simply to protect himself he threw all the tracts in the air. The police noticed this sudden mob and put two and two together that the gaijin (foriegner) must be responsible. A policeman stopped him and demanded his passport. The Chinese policeman was bewildered by the American passport and didn't know how to read it. Bob demanded in English, “Am I arrested?” The policeman had no idea what he was saying as Bob kept pointing to his watch. Then suddenly Bob grabbed the passport from the policeman's hand and, stuck it in his pocket, and walked away. The policeman was so stunned he didn't know what to do. Bob briskly walked to a corner and then took off on a dead run. By that time the policeman had recovered his senses and started chasing him with two or three other policemen. As Bob was running through the market he saw an old Tibetan man sitting behind a low table with a blanket over it. Bob dove under the table. The old man sat there like nothing had happened and the policemen went dashing by. They knew they had him trapped in the market but couldn't find him. From time to time Bob looked out from under the blanket looking at shoes. After half an hour the police gave up the search and Bob crawled out. He got to the bus terminal and got back to the guest house where his partner was staying. His partner asked, “Did you have any trouble. An hour ago I saw a dark cloud over you and was praying for 30 minutes.”
Another friend of mine was leading a large group on a Bible delivery in central China. The delivery had been successful and the team was coming back riding in a bus when the bus had a head-on with a truck. Astrid went through the windshield but was not injured. There were 30 in that team. None were seriously injured but some did have to stay in the hospital and the rest she put up in a hotel. That night the police came to their hotel room and asked who the team leader was. They all pointed to Astrid. The police took three or four of them down stairs to an interrogation room and asked them what they were doing in China. The others answered, “Oh, we are just tourists buying things to take home.” Then the police suddenly became totally ballistic slamming their fist on the table demanding, “What are you doing here? All your suit cases are empty!” It got real quiet. Then Astrid began to speak in Chinese. The atmosphere totally changed. The police relaxed and reached in their own pockets to give them some money. The other team members were tremendously impressed. As they went back to their room they asked, “What in the world did you tell them?” Astrid replied, “I have no idea. I don't speak Chinese.”
There are myriads of these stories most of which have never been told. It has been my great privilege to work with these people and hear these stories over a cup of coffee or while riding in a bus. And thank God I have a few of my own to tell.
Thank you Jesus,
bill
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