Brother Andrew - Visits To Communist Countries

Visits To Communist Countries

In July 1955, he visited communist Poland, "to see how my brothers are doing", referring to the underground church. He signed up to a Communist youth group, which was the only legal way to stay in the country. In that time he felt himself to be called to respond to the Biblical commission "Wake up, strengthen what remains and is about to die" (Revelation 3:2). This was the start of a mission leading him into several Communist-ruled countries where Christians were persecuted - those behind the "Iron Curtain".

In 1957 Van der Bijl travelled to the Soviet Union's capital Moscow in a Volkswagen Beetle, which later became the symbol of Open Doors, the organization he founded. An older couple that mentored him had given him their new car, because it could hold several Bibles and spiritual literature. Although Van der Bijl was violating the laws of some of the countries he visited by bringing religious literature, he often placed the material in plain view when stopped at government checkpoints, as a gesture of trust in God's protection.

Brother Andrew visited China in the 1960s, after the Cultural Revolution had created a hostile policy towards Christianity and other religions. It was the time of the so-called Bamboo Curtain. He came to Czechoslovakia, when the suppression by Soviet troops of the "Prague Spring" had put an end to relative religious freedom there. He encouraged fellow believers there and gave Bibles to Russian occupying forces. During that decade he also made his first visits to Cuba after that country's revolution.

In 1976 some African countries came under atheist rule. He wrote a book about the spiritual struggle on this continent and in congresses called upon local Christian leaders to strengthen their communities.