God's Smuggler for Missions

Brother Andrew

Who is Brother Andrew? Andy van der Bijl, now known as Brother Andrew, was born in 1928 in the Netherlands. Still alive today, Brother Andrew is known for his mission to bring the Gospel behind the Iron Curtain and then to persecuted nations all around the world. He drastically surrendered his life to the Lord and then risked everything he had for the Great Commission. He spent his life bringing Bibles to the persecuted and lost. Brother Andrew is still serving the persecuted church today through his Open Doors ministry. 

Brother Andrew was born during a hostile time in the world. As he entered into adulthood, he chose to fight against the injustices of communism. Communism restricted Christianity, and the Christians were strongly persecuted against.

Andrew was crippled in a hospital, with no one but nurses to take care of him.

These nurses happened to be Franciscan nuns, who were so joyful that it caused Andrew’s curiosity to wonder. Upon asking them why they were so joyful all of the time, the nuns replied,

“It’s the love of Christ. Why it’s right here in the book beside you.”

— Franciscan Sister

Andrew realized the nun was motioning towards his mother’s Bible.

This experience convicted Andrew. It also spurred on questions inside of him that he had not recognized before. Brother Andrew was wondering about the Gospel.

After leaving the army, Andrew felt purposeless. And when the Dutch lost the war, he simply wanted to die. But he remembered those nuns, and he remembered his mother’s faith in the Lord

In missionary training, Andrew had to have a great deal of faith for God’s provision.

Each student was given 1 Pound and was sent out into Scotland for missions. The students did not have a place to stay or any food provided for them. They had to rely on God and his provision for their every need. At the end of a month, each student, including Andrew, found that they had more than enough. Even after tithing, they had more money than what they started with.

“In the years of living this life of faith, I have never known God’s care to fail.”

— Brother Andrew, God’s Smuggler
Brother Andrew

Working Among the Cannibals

John G. Paton

Born in Scotland in 1824, John G. Paton was a Christian missionary to the cannibals on the New Hebrides Islands of the South Seas until he died in 1907. His life was filled with many trials, as his first wife and their child soon died after their arrival on the island of Tanna, and Paton had to flee for his life almost on a daily basis from the natives.

Paton’s faith withstood testing and he continued to work among the Aniwan people and preach the gospel for several years while also raising support for missionary work and writing his own story. He would later be known fifty years later by Charles H. Spurgeon as the “king of the savages”.

John G. Paton (1824-1907) was a Scottish Christian missionary for 49 years to the former cannibals in the South Sea Islands. He was alone on an island for four years with the hostile natives and his life hung in the delicate balance of constant danger. However, John trusted that he was immortal until God saw fit for his work to be done. Today, the impact of his life and dedication to faith in Jesus Christ can be seen in Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu.

John learned early on that prayer was to be involved in every aspect of life. Before John was ever punished for an act of disobedience, his father first got on his knees and prayed. This taught John and his siblings the importance of inviting God into every area of life.

John Paton was also greatly influenced by the faith of his mother when she prayed. In one particular year, there was a severe crop failure and the family had run out of food. Amidst all their struggles in rearing a family of eleven, this was the hardest time they had ever had.

Seeing that there was no food, John’s mother encouraged all the children to rest, telling them that she had told God everything and that He would send them food in the morning.

The next day, being moved by God and not knowing anything about the family’s circumstances, John’s grandfather sent a present to his daughter. He sent her a bag of new potatoes, ground meal, and some homemade cheese–plenty of food for the large family to survive. John’s mother, seeing the children’s surprise for how God answered her prayers, had them kneel with her on the ground to thank God for his goodness, and said:

“O my children, love your heavenly Father, tell Him in faith and prayer all your needs, and He will supply your wants so far as it shall be for your good and His glory.”

This phrase, “so far as it shall be for your good and His glory,” would stick with John until his dying breath.

 

Working among the Cannibals