Book #3: God's Smuggler by Brother Andrew with John and Elizabeth Sherrill
Number of pages: 310
During the 1950s, Brother Andrew smuggled Bibles into Eastern Europe, which was at the time under Communist rule. This is the sixtieth anniversary edition of the book, and also includes an interview with Brother Andrew at the end, and I found it fascinating. Brother Andrew, as I found out, is also the founder of the Christian charity, Open Doors.
I found this autobiographical account compelling from the start, as Brother Andrew opens with his experiences serving in the army, and there are some very harrowing images regarding real-life things that have happened in conflict situations. A few chapters in, he tells of his conversion to Christianity and how he ended up in Eastern Europe.
The book then tells of how Brother Andrew realised how Christians living behind the notorious "iron curtain" were deprived of Bibles, and how even some preachers did not have their own Bibles, which was what led him to start bringing them into the country, despite this being illegal in Communist Europe. I found the stories of how he did this compelling, particularly how he came close to being caught several times, and was able to get a good sense for all his emotions as he witnessed examples of real-life religious persecution first-hand. I felt that it was a good inspiration to keep going in sharing my Christian faith in spite of any adversity that I might experience.
Next book: Shardik (Richard Adams)