During the height of the Cold War, when communist regimes persecuted Christians and made it incredibly difficult to access Bibles, Andrew van der Bijl, known as Brother Andrew, dared to do the unthinkable, smuggling Bibles across heavily-guarded borders. His mission was simple but dangerous: Deliver God’s word to believers who had no access to Scripture.

In 1957, on one of his early trips into Yugoslavia, Brother Andrew approached the border in a Volkswagen filled with illegal Bibles. The guards at these borders were notorious for their inspections—taking cars apart piece by piece in search of banned materials. Brother Andrew knew what was at stake. If caught, he faced arrest, imprisonment, or worse. But he also knew the power of prayer.

As he inched forward in the inspection line, he whispered a bold and specific prayer:

“Lord, in my luggage I have Scripture that I want to take to Your children across this border. When You were on earth, You made blind eyes see. Now, I pray, make seeing eyes blind. Do not let the guards see those things You do not want them to see.”

There was no time for clever hiding or deception. The Bibles were in his luggage and camping gear, but they weren’t especially well hidden—the guards would find them if they searched much at all. But Andrew believed that God was more powerful than border patrol. When his turn came, a guard motioned him forward, and Brother Andrew nervously drove up. The guard looked in his camping gear, and even opened his suitcase, but he didn’t see the Bibles or tracts in either location. He gave Brother Andrew his passport back and waved him through. Brother Andrew was stunned and grateful. He had just witnessed God answer his prayer in real time. 

That crossing became the first of many. Over the years, Brother Andrew smuggled millions of Bibles into closed countries—sometimes by car, sometimes by train, sometimes even on foot. One time, at a particularly tough crossing, he intentionally put a stack of Bibles in his passenger seat, praying, “Dare I ask for a miracle? Let me take some of the Bibles out and leave them in the open where they will be seen. Then, Lord, I cannot possibly be depending on my own stratagems, can I? I will be depending utterly upon You.” That time, other drivers were being pulled out, interrogated, and searched, but the guard waved him through in less than 30 seconds. Brother Andrew became known as “God’s Smuggler,” and his story has inspired believers around the world.