Bible Smuggling

[Syreth]

Well, I suppose this might be a good time to write a thing or two about what God did this summer.

During this semester of Bible College, there was a group started that met weekly called "missions fellowship," where students would get together and talk about missions: the needs of foreign countries, how to pray for them and what God is doing. I had the feeling that I should be going, but I didn't start to go right away.

The semester before that, I was spending some time in prayer and God was putting China on my heart. I wouldn't have been thinking about it so much, except my sister-in-law's brother and his wife are missionaries there. I felt as if God was somehow calling me to China.

Last semester, China was further pressed on my heart as I read "Hudson Taylor's Spiritual Secret." Hudson Taylor is a vessel that God used to spread the gospel in China and a large amount of Christians are related to people who were witnessed to by Hudson Taylor in the old days.

So, back to missions fellowship. I heard one morning in the anouncements that someone was going to give a testimony about China in missions fellowship. Since it was about China, I went without hesitation. A man's wife gave her testimony about a mission trip where they smuggled Bibles from Hong Kong into China. After the testimony, the man invited me to go on a trip that they were going on during the summer to smuggle Bibles. Excited, I agreed to go. I learned later that they had been praying that God would send whoever else that was supposed to go on the trip before I came.

So I went. It was amazing. It was such an awesome opportunity! It's an opportunity for nearly everyone. It's completely safe for anyone to do it except for the Chinese. A Chinese person caught trying to smuggle Bibles would be arrested, beaten, tortured or possibly killed. This is why we go.

The Chinese people need the word of God. The production and distribution of Bibles is completly under the government's control. The only legal church in China are the churches that are under the control of the government. This makes it extremely hard for anyone who is part of the underground church to get Bibles. The government's church outlaws the teaching of certain books of the Bible and there are many other restrictions placed on "legal Christianity." Because of this, the real work of God that is going on in China is happening in the underground church movement. These churches need Bibles. You can't just go to a government church and ask for the great number of Bibles that the Chinese people need. They must be brought in. The people that have these Bibles delivered to them are getting a Bible for the first time.

As I was crossing the border, I was definately not as nervous as I thought I would be, but this was to my disadvantage. I had kind of a "whatever happens, happens," attitude about getting across and wasn't so serious about my prayers. I might have prayed something like "God, if it's Your will, please get me across, but I know that if I get stopped, it's okay." The first week of crossings was terrible. We were getting stopped extremely often. One day, after our group was frustrated, our leader encouraged us to pray and to have faith. After this I realized that I wasn't praying fervently. I was praying as if it didn't matter at all if God's word got accross that border, but it does... it does so much. My prayers changed to something like, "God, please grant me the grace to get across this border to bless Your people with Your word!" We had tremendous success after that.

However, the last week, I took ill. I came down with a high fever and was sick in bed for 8 days. It was then that God essentialy told me, "Now, be fervent in Your prayers." He spoke to me and said that even though I can't see what's going on and even though I may not be able to be part of what's going on, I have to labor in my prayers to the same intensity. This is true with us here in America. We should always remember to pray for what we can't see, whether it's work for the kingdom of God oversees or whether it's the unseen spiritual battle going on all around us.

Well, despite the length, I hope you were blessed. Thank you for reading. I really appreciate your prayers for those of you who might have remembered me, even though I often leave for long periods of time.

[jazz]

wow, that sounds amazing! what you said about praying like it didn't matter about God's word getting across the border. wow, i'm so guilty of that. well, not exactly, but you get the idea. too often i find that i am very indifferent as to what happens... which can be an okay thing at times, i guess. but i think there's a difference between not caring about the outcome, and having faith that God's will shall be done.

anyway, sorry, i'm beggining to ramble. the point is, thank you very much. that was a very good, and much needed reminder.

[CreatureArt]

Thank you for sharing that testimony, Syreth. It was really edifying and yes, I was blessed. It is a real eye-opener. I'd kind of heard some things about Bible-smuggling but hadn't really thought about it or prayed about it, which is what I'll try to do now.

[Alice]

I read the book "God's Smuggler," by Brother Andrew. It is rather old, but nonetheless excellent. It has the most touching conversion story I've ever read (he was in war, and... well, it was just good ). The smuggling took place behind the Iron Curtain. It didn't know stuff like that still happened... wow!

You're right, it's certainly something I should be praying about, now that I know.

[Syreth]

"God's Smuggler," is a title I've heard of from some people who were on my team. I need to get a copy of that. Something I've also been wanting to read is, "The Heavenly Man," but I can't remember who the author is. Second title is about a man in China who went through some CRAZY stuff.

It's good to hear you guys were blessed and even better to hear you guys are praying about possibly going! Let's see... I normally don't like to talk about numbers, but the trip was about $2,100 for it all, spending three weeks over there. We ended up bringing about 13,000 Bibles in, averaging over 1,000 Bibles per person or so. If you figure this, then it's about $2.00 per Bible that goes into the hands of a Christian, hungry for the Word of God, who has never owned a Bible in their life. It's well worth it.

[Hephzibah]

Heavenly Man and God's Smuggler are AWESOME books. I've read both, and they were really touching and made me more aware of the underground church. I suggest you read them

Btw, that testimony was powerful! Esp about being fervent in your prayers; that's something I've been lacking I think. God bless you matie!

[CreatureArt]

I've read the Heavenly man and I agree with you, Talame. An excellent, inspiring book that I definitely recommend as well.

Definitely, definitely worth $2 a Bible.

[phinny5608]

I think God has been calling my attention to China or at least the Far East. I could definitely believe He wants me to do something over there some day.

http://www.thebiblesite.org
Click every day to help donate Bibles to persecuted Christians!

[Syreth]

That's awesome, man. You should definately pray about going and keep an eye out for those open doors. You can do other stuff, but Bible Smuggling is a huge need that especially westerners (or any foreigner to China) can fit very well. Personally, I hope to go back again to smuggle Bibles in the near future.

[Souba]

Wow what an awesome testimony, Syreth! I'm so glad to be reminded just how important it is to pray.
God Bless,
Souba

[Sakura15]

I know im late on replying to this.

But, wow...that is so awesome! prayer is very important ^-^

I feel God tugging on my heart to do some kind of missions..but Im not sure what yet. Guess I need to pray about it more.

[KA1-EG13]

I'm late replying to this too, but Jeez Leweez it is amazing what the power of prayer (which I have not been doing enough lately) can do.

I'm not sure wether or not God wants to call me to the missionary missionry but I am sure that the root of the most of my problems.

I've read Brother Andrew too, and it is an awsome book.

Thanks for the testiomony and God bless the ministry.

[Syreth]

Yeah, it's been awhile now since I've been on this trip and I still need to remember to pray for the persecuted church much much more. Wow, they are so much a part of our family and they need so many prayers, both the saints in prison and those that are just trying to live their lives. Yeah, I would encourage you both to really pray and prepare for the ministry. We are all called to the ministry, you know. Some are called to be plumbers and mechanics, others are called to be pastors and missionaries. Let's lift each other up in prayer so that we can always be in the place that God wants us to be in, yeah?

[KA1-EG13]

Amen.

[Syreth]

You guys! Praise report! China customs have seriously cut back on how strict the borders are. A team that went to China for the winter break has gotten in TWICE the normal amount of Bibles. Thanks, all you guys who have prayed for this and praise God that He's bringing His word to the Chinese! Here's something my friend wrote me who went:

"...So yeah, we had an amazing three weeks here. We were able to get double the amount of bibles in because China opened the customs checkpoint so they would only randomly select people to go through scanner. We got tons in, it was the Lord's plan's and provisions though. The very day we arrived and started bringing bibles over, the customs checkpoint opened up wide. The fulltimers said they've never seen anything like it before. God has done amazing things here, it was unbelievable to put my "Huge rollers" on the scanner, and yet pick em up and walk away without any guards stopping me. Many other team members also have the same type of stories."

Praise God!!!

[kaiser]

Wow..... and I though persecution was over...

I was really impacted by that testimony.... I am comfortably at home while so many people endure things like those chinese do for following God....

Is there a way to help you or others who are part of the underground church?

[Syreth]

Yes! You can help! You can go and smuggle for them! If you're interested I can get you a contact and see if something can't be worked out. I'm thinking about looking into going to Vietnam or another country that isn't allowed to print Bibles. But we'll see.

[Syreth]

It is really unfortunate how Christianity was more or less stifled after the first missionary attempt to Japan. While they have freedom, it seems like hearts are very hard to Christ. Maybe we should pray for a sort of revival in Japan.