He determined he would ask God to guide him to the one person who was ready for the gospel. Instead of spending his time calculating and strategizing, he would follow the guidance of the Spirit.

He spent two years studying to be a missionary at the Worldwide Evangelization Crusade school in Glasgow, Scotland. On Andy van der Bijl’s 69th birthday, he was honored by being awarded ‘The Religious Liberty Award’ which was presented by the World Evangelical Fellowship (WEF). The chairman of WEF’s Religious Liberty Commission stated: This is the story of an ordinary Dutch man who went undercover for God. He smuggled Bibles into the most closed and dangerous countries of the world, risking his life over and over again. His life of faith and surrender is such a testimony and inspiration. Do we love and see God’s Word as precious as he did? The people receiving these Bibles sure did. In "God's Smuggler," Brother Andrew tells his own story of smuggling Bibles to Christians behind the Iron Curtain. When he first started this ministry, he just went alone and carried Bibles and literature with him. He began to see just how limited religious freedom was in many of the Communist countries, and his burden grew to get as many Bibles to as many people as possible. In some cases, he found churches with no Bibles in their possessions. Just bringing one single Bible to such a fellowship would bring tears of gratitude and appreciation. It is indeed moving to read of these people who thirsted for Word of God and were not allowed to have it. God's Smuggler Brother Andrew with John and Elizabeth Sherrill is one such story. Brother Andrew was one who risked his life to bring Bible and the gospel behind the Iron Curtain.His organization, Open Doors, continues his legacy. We know it best for its annual World Watch List of nations that persecute Christians. Open Doors’ tribute calls Brother Andrew “a fearless follower of Jesus [who committed] his life to strengthen the body of Christ in places where faith costs the most.” First off this is a Christian read, know that going in. While it has value as a read about the Cold War era it is told from the point of view of a Christian missionary (and those involved with him. Over time, he came to include what Open Doors labeled a “ trademark prayer” to go with the Bibles: “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.” The missionary seminary in Glasgow that would force it’s trainees to go out on local missions with only one pound and without being able to ask for money. This would teach them to trust in the faithfulness of God for all of their sustenance. Brother Andrew learned this lesson well and constantly relied and even looked forward to seeing how God would provide for him in bleak circumstances.

The measure of celebrity he acquired from God’s Smuggler and the various sequels meant that his days of personally delivering Bibles to oppressed areas were curtailed. Instead, he embarked on tours of North America and western Europe, including several visits to Britain, evangelising, telling the story of his work and raising funds for Open Doors.There’s no specific accounting of how many Bibles van der Bijl smuggled across the Iron Curtain — even he wasn’t concerned with numbers — he and his friends brought so many Bibles to people in Communist countries that a Brother Andrew joke made the rounds in the ’60s: “What will the Russians find if they arrive first at the moon? Brother Andrew with a load of Bibles.” Anne van der Bijl, a Dutch evangelical known to Christians worldwide as Brother Andrew, the man who smuggled Bibles into closed Communist countries, has died at the age of 94.