Bible Smuggling

Bible Smuggling for Jesus (Names have been changed for security reasons)

Sometimes in life God gives us rare moments to take extreme risks for His Great Name. It was last summer that Chris and I were headed to the UAE for a meeting with Christian hospital directors inquiring about future ministry opportunities. We were thrilled at the thought of entering this nation and simply being able to step foot on desert soil and pray for the Rain of His glory . In the process of us planning our trip we were looking for airline tickets to go from Egypt to the UAE. In our search we found a route that would take us through Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Now if you don’t know us well, it is important for me to let you know that Saudi Arabia is the nation God has laid most on our hearts. It is our desire in the future to live in this nation full time, so the very chance of having a small layover in the Riyadh airport was huge! It took us about 30 seconds to pray if we were supposed to take this route, when we already knew, this was it! We purchased the tickets and readied ourselves to enter the Mecca of Islam. Covered in prayer and swelled with extreme excitement, we started our journey. Given the fact we were coming from Egypt, we decided to line our carry-on bags with Arabic Bibles. An Arabic Bible in Saudi Arabia is unheard of. It is illegal to distribute, to talk about or even profess Christianity. If caught distributing Bibles the Mattawa (Religious Police) could flog you, imprison you and deport you.

No matter what the consequences were; we knew, this is why God ordained this leg of the flight..

Arriving in Riyadh, a security guard met us as we departed from the plane. He took us straight to customs to search us and our bags. I don’t think I have ever been so scared in all my life, but the rush of walking in faith is bigger than you, well you know—There is nothing like it!

I went to the ladies quarters and Chris to the men's. They searched our bodies then took us to search our bags. When the officer opened the bag, we saw one of the Arabic Bibles starting to slide out of the side pocket. Time stopped! Chris & I looked at each other, then at the officer and again at the Bible.

All we could do was Pray!

Then all of a sudden, the officer slammed the bag shut and said, “Get out of here!” We knew then that God had blinded his eyes. It was a miracle! We proceeded and then distributed the Bibles all over the airport. We may never know what happened to the Bibles we left behind, but we pray God has used them for His glory! BB Missionary