Non-stop prayer sessions shield Bible smugglers in North Africa

Chiqui Guyjoco Thursday, May 12, 2016

Holy Bible Holman Christian Standard | Creative Commons/John

A prayer session started in 2003 that was supposed to last for only a week is still going on 24/7 for the past 13 years and is credited for providing protection to Bible smugglers in North Africa.

International Christian persecution watchdog ministry Open Doors is helping this ceaseless prayer gathering live in an unidentified North African country where Christian-related materials are banned. Those who are caught in possession of such items are at risk of facing at least two years of imprisonment.

Partners of the ministry face difficulties in fulfilling their task of Great Commission but are confident that the unending prayer will deliver them in trying situations.

"[The Open Doors partners] were telling us that when they take the materials backs to their churches and to whoever needs these books, they have to go through 20 checkpoints, and at every single checkpoint they could be searched," a British volunteer by the pseudonym Holly told Christian Today. "The whole car can be searched; they might look inside the boot, under the bonnet, even cut open the spare tire if there's one in the back and look inside it to see if there's anything illegal in there. But it was amazing because [the Open Doors partners] said, 'We can keep the Bibles on the back seat of the car, they'll just never see them.'"

Holly said that the partners attribute all this to the continuous prayer meeting they started thirteen years ago. They claim that the church has always had someone praying for every second since then.

Holly herself claims that she managed to safely smuggle 30 Bibles into the country. She also recounted a close incident when airport security checked everyone's bags but hers. She thought what happened was amazing that only her bag wasn't searched and credited God for her rescue.

The volunteer also explained that the church leaders in this country have only a few pages of scripture; the church is growing rapidly, and people are getting to know Jesus quickly that they just need to supply more Bibles and training materials for pastors and church leaders as quickly as they can.