34. Wala ka sa Lolo ko. He has been a smuggler, yes, God's Smuggler.

28 September 2020

A servant of Jesus Christ giving witness testimony to the Lord's goodness in his life, an OFW attending Filipino Christian Church in the Middle East.

Matthew 27

Jesus Before Pilate

11 Meanwhile Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

“You have said so,” Jesus replied.

John 18

Jesus Before Pilate

36 Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.”

37 “You are a king, then!” said Pilate.

Let's repeat it, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.”

How does that sound to you?

Then, how do you imagine a servant of Jesus, the only begotten Son of God?

The response of Jesus to Pilate is out of the box, in today's term.

A servant of Jesus Christ thinks out of the box, out of the ordinary.

I believe you've heard of God's servant David, Shepherd King of Israel, the man after God's own heart.

There is another man, God's servant, man after God's own word. Yes, the man after God's own word.

Acts 1

8 “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

To be Jesus Christ's witness is to bring God's word to the ends of the earth, by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Let me share with you how I got know about this daring man, Jesus Christ's witness bringing God's word to unchartered “ends of the earth”.

This servant of Jesus Christ is referred as to “God's Smuggler”.

It must be in 2014 that my wife Marlou and I were asked by our Dear Pastor Clem to represent our church, Proclaim His Name Christian Fellowship or PCF, in a thanksgiving dinner to be hosted by one of the missions organizations that PCF has been giving support. From the tithes and offerings that the church receive, counterpart tithe or ten percent of said monies is allocated to give support to some missions or parachurch organizations.

The thanksgiving dinner was hosted by Open Doors Philippines 

(http://www.opendoors.ph/) part of Open Doors Worldwide which was founded by a missionary from the Netherlands named Brother Andrew as he is referred to. It was at the dinner that I heard for the first time about this man who earned the nickname “God's Smuggler”

From Wikipedia. Anne van der Bijl (known in English-speaking countries as Brother Andrew) is a Christian missionary born on 11 May 1928 in Sint Pancras, the Netherlands, and noted for his exploits in smuggling bibles into communist countries at the height of the Cold War. For his activities, he earned the nickname to “God's Smuggler”.

“God's Smuggler”, Brother Andrew, the man after God's own word, founded Open Doors. (Photos and details used here with permission from Open Doors Philippines)

He is known for having prayed “Lord, make seeing eyes blind” when he was stopped at the border of a communist country for his car to be inspected.

Here's the video of the beginnings of Open Doors with Brother Andrew.

Later, I would read the book entitled “God's Smuggler”. It says, Brother Andrew began taking Bibles to Christians behind closed borders in 1955.

In 1967, the first edition of God's Smuggler was published, written with John and Elizabeth Sherrill.

Brother Andrew's guts, in my own words, makes him the man after God's own word, bringing Bibles into “ends of the earth”.

Now, how does the above relate to me?

It was about eight years earlier, before I got to know the story of Brother Andrew, that I myself smuggled Bibles into the Middle East, the home of the Muslim faith.

I became a Christian about two years earlier, when I had the opportunity to work as an OFW in the Middle East. There I was attending a Filipino Christian Church. We had midweek Bible study lessons.

Many of the other OFWs attending the Bible study did not have Bibles. Some of them became Christians there and had not been home for years to save on airfare.

In my case, I would go for home leave almost four times a year. So I said, I will try to bring Tagalog Bibles when I come back from home leave. I saw the thirst of people in our Bible study group for the word of God, and their desire, if possible to have their own copy of the Bible. Smartphone mobile apps for Bibles were not yet available at that time.

In short, it may be twice, as I can remember, that I brought in about fifteen Bibles each time, and gave them away to OFWs in our group. I would say, those Bibles are still in the possession of OFWs at this time.

I went through inspection at the airport without untoward incident. I was just calm during those two occasions I brought in Bibles.

Yes, one day, my children's children would say, wala ka sa Lolo ko, he has been a smuggler, he has been “God's Smuggler”.

It was a privilege to be Jesus Christ's witness to bring God's word to the ends of the earth, by the power of the Holy Spirit.

During that time, I have not heard such moniker for Brother Andrew, much also I did not know then that I would one day write about such privilege of mine as a messenger of God's word to fellow countrymen in the Middle East.

I give back the glory to God, a way to put into action the gratitude in my heart, that I was rock bottom years ago, in famine and affliction between 2000 and 2005, then the Good Lord worked a miracle in my life; He restored my health, He restored my life, He did not give me over to death. 

I am humbled to be used by God to quench the thirst of OFWs for God's word.

It was in that Filipino Christian Church that I heard the worship song, I Just Came To Praise The Lord, which I found so solemn.

“I just came to praise the Lord

He came into my life one very special day
He came into my heart, and showed me a better way
He said He'd never depart; that's why I say
I just came to praise the Lord”

May this message of mine give inspiration for each one of us to be messenger of God's word, “witnesses in our own community, our Jerusalem, or in all our cities and provinces, our Judea and Samaria, if not to the ends of the earth.”

My Dear Friend, if after reading this, you are inclined to be a witness for Jesus Christ, maybe not as God's Smuggler, physically at that, well you can still be one, that is by heart.

You may reach out to Open Doors Philippines (http://www.opendoors.ph/) or other missions organizations, as the Lord may be calling you as well to be God's Smuggler by heart, in order to strengthen those who physically go to the mission field.

Please share this message with people who you believe will be blessed as well.

Maraming salamat po.