God's Smuggler [Paperback]

Brother Andrew (Author), John Sherrill (Author), Elizabeth Sherrill (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 1964

"Brother Andrew is living evidence that even in a world composed more and more of sophisticated softies there is still room fo revangelical derring do"..........The Austin Statesman.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

A true-life thriller that will leave you breathless!

As a boy, Brother Andrew dreamed of being an undercover spy working behind enemy lines. As a man he found himself working undercover for God. His was a mission filled with danger, financed by faith, supported by miracles.

Told it was impossible to minister behind the Iron Curtain, Andrew knew that nothing was too hard for God. Crossing "closed" borders, he prayed, "Lord, in my luggage I have Scripture I want to take to Your children. 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." And they never did.

For thirty-five years, Brother Andrew's life story has inspired millions to step out on their own journeys of faith. This young Dutch factory worker's near-incredible adventures testify of God's step-by-step guidance and hour-by-hour provision--available to all who follow His call.

Far from being over, Brother Andrew's current adventures are his most challenging yet. In a new prologue and epilogue, his story is carried into the new millennium with an account of Andrew's work in the "closed" societies of Islam. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

About the Author

Brother Andrew is a missionary who founded Open Doors International, now a worldwide ministry to the persecuted church. His first autobiography, GOD'S SMUGGLER, told of his courageous Bible-smuggling exploits in Eastern Europe during the Cold War, and became an international best-seller with over ten million copies sold in English. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: New American Library (December 1, 1964)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451151232
• ISBN-13: 978-0451151230
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (68 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #947,254 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Faith, Trust, Prayer, and Sacrifice..., September 21, 2006

By 

Drew B. Moser "(www.drewmoser.com)" (Archbold, OH USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: God's Smuggler (Paperback)

I just finished the missions classic, God's Smugger, by Brother Andrew. Holy cow...read this book! It takes the reader through the journey of Brother Andrew's early life as an 'adrenaline junkie-heavy drinking-reckless Dutch soldier' turned Bible smuggling missionary to the nations of the Iron Curtain.

Each chapter is a gripping real life account of Brother Andrew's travels. It's like reading a good suspense novel. Brother Andrew doesn't gloss over his own shortcomings, nor his fears and trepidations about his work. He simply just tells the miracles as they happened, and gives God the complete credit.

I won't spoil the story for you but I will say that certain books have come into my life at certain times. I believe it's for a reason: to encourage me, teach me, and strengthen my faith. God's Smuggler is serving as one of those books. There are a few themes that run through the entirety of the book:

* The power of faith--The book is so full of miracles...There are countless occasions when Brother Andrew should've been arrested, or killed, or stranded or (you get the picture), but God intervened in a miraculous way.
* The power of prayer--Prayer was undoubtedly the fuel for this dangerous work serving God under Communism's oppression. Brother Andrew and his coworkers were prayer warriors.
* The power of trust--Brother Andrew didn't, upon sensing God's call to work in the Communist countries, apply to an already established missions organization. He simply trusted God, day by day, to provided for his needs, so long as He was following His call. His trust for provision is incredible, and would probably be considered crazy by today's standards.
* The power of sacrifice--Brother Andrew has lived a life most today would deem unlivable. He gave up multiple chances for 'the good life', and forsook even the most basic items that we today take for granted, all so that we could continue the work he felt called to.

Faith, prayer, trust, and sacrifice...much needed lessons for me in the 'here and now'.

30 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Transparent, unflinching account of one man & his God, May 2, 2005

By 

Sean R. Strickland (Valley Lee, MD United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: God's Smuggler (Paperback)

This book has inspired me greatly! There have been times I have read this book and felt the uplift of inspiration. The best thing about the narrative is that its real to life with a transparency that is familiar to anyone who has ever prodded through life wandering about life, God, purpose, and destiny. Let me share from one story in the book. I truly believe there is no other book that has inspired me to be challenged in my faith as this by Brother Andrew.

"One night I went out for a long, solitary walk. On several occasions students had warned me not to 'go into Patrick.' Patrick was the slum sitting at the bottom of our hill. It was, they said, the home of addicts, drunks, thieves, even murderers, and walking its streets was unsafe. And yet this area drew me now as if it had something to say.


All around me were the dirty gray streets of Patrick. Litter blew across the cobblestones. The September air was already raw. Before I had gone five blocks I was accosted two times by beggars. I gave them all the money I had in my pockets and watched as they moved without pretense toward the nearest pub. I knew that these drifters, begging in the streets of the Glasgow slums, would receive a better income than the missionaries-in-training at the top of the hill.


I could not understand why this bothered me so. Was I greedy? I didnt think so. We had always been poor in my family, and I had never worried about it. What was it then?

And suddenly, walking back up the hill toward the school, I had my answer.


The question was not one of money at all. What I was worried about was a relationship.

At the chocolate factory I trusted Mr. Ringers to pay me in full and on time. Surely I said to myself, if an ordinary factory worker could be financially secure, so coud one of God's workers.


I turned through the gate of the school. Above me was the reminder 'Have Faith In God.'

That was it! It wasn't that I needed the security of a certain amount of money, it was that I needed the security of a relationship.

I walked up the crunchy pebblewalk feeling more and more certain that I was on the verge of something exciting. The school was asleep and quiet. I tiptoed upstairs and sat by the bedroom window looking out over Glasgow.

*******************************************************
If I were going to give my life as a servant of the King, I had to know that King. What was He like? In what WAY could I trust Him? In the same way I trusted a set of impersonal laws? Or could I trust Him as a living leader, as a very present commander in battle? The question was central. Because if He were a King in name only, I would rather go back to the chocolate factory. I would remain a Christian, but I would know that my religion was only a set of principles, excellent to be followed, but hardly demanding devotion.


Suppose on the other hand that I were to discover God to be a Person, in the sense that He communicated and cared and loved and led. That was something quite different. That was the kind of King I would follow into any battle.


And somehow, sitting there in the moonlight that September night in Glasgow, I knew that my probing into God's nature was gong to begin with this issue of money. That night I knelt in front of the window and made a covenant with Him. 'Lord,' I said, 'I need to know if I can trust You in practical things. I thank You for letting me earn the fees for the first semester. I ask You now to supply the rest of them. If I have to be so much as a day late in paying, I shall know that I am supposed to go back to the chocolate factory.'


It was a childish prayer, petulant and demanding. But then I was still a child in the Christian life. The remarkable thing is that God honored my prayer. But not without first testing me in some rather amusing ways."

The story continues in a fascinating exploration of faith in God:


"The first semester sped by. Mornings we spent in the
classrooms studying systematic theology, homiletics,
world religions, linguistics--the type of courses
taught in any seminary. In the afternoon we worked at
practical skills: bricklaying, plumbing, carpentry,
first aid, tropical hygiene, motor repair. For several
weeks all of us, girls as well as boys, worked at the
Ford factory in London, learning how to take a car
apart and put it back together. In addition to those
standard trades, we were taught to build huts out of
palm fronds and how to make mud jars that would hold
water.

And meanwhile we took turns in the kitchen and the
laundry and the garden. No one was exempt. One of the
students was a doctor, a German woman, and I used to
watch her scouring garbage pails as though she were
preparing a room for surgery.

The weeks passed so fast that soon it came time for me
to head out on the first of several training trips in
evangelism.

'You're going to like this, Andy,' said Mr. Dinnen.
'It's an exercise in trust. The rules are simple. Each
student on your team is given a one-pound banknote.
With that you go on a missionary tour through
Scotland. You're expected to pay your own
transportation, your own lodging, your food, any
advertising you want to do, the renting of halls,
providing refreshments--'

'All on a one-pound note?'

'Worse than that. When you get back to school after
four weeks, you're expected to pay back the pound!'

I laughed. 'Sounds like we'll be passing the hat all
the time.'

'Oh, you're not allowed to take up collections! Never.
You're not to mention money at your meetings. All of
your needs have got to be provided without any
manipulation on your part--or the experiment is a
failure.'

I was a member of a team of five boys. Later when I
tried to reconstruct where our funds came from during
those four weeks, it was hard to. It seemed that what
we needed was always just there. Sometimes a letter
would arrive from one of the boys' parents with a
little money. SOmetimes we would get a check in the
mail from a church we had visited days or weeks
earlier. The notes that came with those gifts were
always interesting. 'I know you don't need money or
you would have mentioned it,' someone would write.
'But God just wouldn't let me get to sleep tonight
until I had put this in an envelope for you.'

Contributions frequently came in the form of produce.
In one little town in the highlands of Scotland we
were given six hundred eggs. We had eggs for
breakfast, eggs for lunch, eggs as hors d'oeuvres
before a dinner of eggs with an egg-white meringue
dessert. It was weeks before we could look a chicken
in the eye.

But money or produce, we struck fast to two rules: we
never mentioned a need aloud, and we gave away a tithe
of whatever came to us as soon as we got it--within
twenty-four hours if possible.

Another team that set out from school at the same time
we did, was not so strict about tithing. They set
aside their ten percent all right, but they didn't
give it away immediately, 'in case we run into an
emergency.' Of course they had emergencies! So did we,
every day. But they ended their month owing money to
hotels, lecture halls, and markets all over Scotland,
while we came back to school almost ten pounds ahead.
Fast as we could give money away, God was always
swifter, and we ended with money to send to the WEC
work overseas.

There were times before the end of the tour, however,
when it looked as though the experiment were failing.
One weekend we were holding meetings in Edinburgh. We
had attracted a large group of young people the first
day and were casting about for a way to get them to
come back the next. Suddenly, without consulting
anyone, one of the team members stood up and made an
announcement.

'Before the meeting tomorrow evening,' he said, 'we'd
like you all to have tea with us here. Four o' clock.
How many think they can make it?'

A couple dozen hands went up, and we were committed.
At first, instead of being delighted, the rest of us
were horrified. All of us knew that we had no tea, no
cake, no bread and butter, and exactly five cups. Nor
did we have money to buy these things: our last penny
had gone to rent the hall. This was going to be a real
test of God's care.

And for a while it looked as though He was going to
provide everything through the young people
themselves. After the meeting several of them came
forward and said they would like to help. One offered
milk; another, half a pound of tea; another, sugar.
One girl even offered to bring dishes. Our tea was
rapidly taking shape. But there was one thing still
missing--the cake. Without cake, these Scottish boys
and girls wouldn't consider tea tea.

So that night in our evening prayer time, we put the
matter before God. 'Lord, we've got ourselves into a
spot. From somewhere we've got to get a cake. Will You
help us?'

That night as we rolled up in our blankets on the
floor of the hall, we played guessing games: How was
God going to give us that cake? Among the five of us,
we guessed everything imaginable--or so we thought.

Morning arrived... Read more ›

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Penny Dropped, March 5, 2002

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: God's Smuggler (Paperback)

In 1968 I received this book as a bonus from the Farm Family Book Club. I started to read it in the evening and read until I was finished at 4:00 a.m. The next day I said, "If Brother Andrew can trust God for 365 days a year, I can trust Him for one day, no matter how foolish it makes me look." I did, and I did look foolish. But I found out that He is faithful. My life has never been the same.