But is Bible smuggling still necessary in China today?

Rev. Jason Woolford, President of Mission Cry, says, “You look at the restrictions that the [Chinese] government has on the Bible, the amount of printing that they allow…of the Bible, with much oversight, is about 150,000 copies annually.

“So can you imagine the billions of people there that are waiting or wanting the Bible and are in secret sharing one page of the Bible amongst each other? There is a desperate need.”

Mission Cry works with Chinese nationals to smuggle in Bibles from Hong Kong. These local believers have good scores on China’s social scoring system and can travel within the country. They are willing to risk it all for access to more copies of God’s Word.

(Photo courtesy of Mission Cry)

Woolford says, in Hong Kong currently, “There are 6,000 Bibles. We’re purchasing those and we’re bringing our folks back down from the north and bringing them into Hong Kong. Then yet again, they will be risking their life and everything that they have to smuggle these Bibles back into Communist China, into the thick of the wickedness of it to those that have no Bible and/or are secretly underground.

“We know that every time that a book is given to somebody, over its life cycle it will be read by 20 people. So you take that 6,000 and times it by 20, that’s 120,000 people that will have heard the Word of God through this operation.”

You can support this critical Gospel work at Mission Cry’s website here.

Woolford adds, “My hope is that people will pray for our team. Pray for them [who] are willing to risk all to do this.

“Pray for the rest of the funds to come in for the purchase of these Bibles, and then also the money that we’re paying too for our team to bring them down their travel expenses and send them back.”

Header photo of Chinese Bible. (Photo courtesy of Chris Liu/Unsplash)

“People’s lives will be hanging in the balance because of their belief and wanting to get the Word to northern China,” Woolford says.

Here’s where the action movie plot comes into play.

Woolford says, “We have 15 people coming from the north who have good social scores to be able to travel, [who are] willing to risk their life to smuggle these Bibles back to northern China, to give the Word of God to people who are in desperate need of it.”

Previous shipment from Mission Cry to China. (Photo courtesy of Mission Cry)

Communist rules are strictly enforced in northern China, so Bibles are hard to come by. “Communist China is worried about what the Word of God can do, will do, and is doing.”

Christians pay a high price for following Jesus. Woolford says, “[In] the north, you have real religious persecution, imprisonment, people being starved, [or] losing their life.”

Mission Cry sends used Bibles and Christian books around the world to believers who cannot afford them. For situations like this one, Mission Cry develops specialized Christian resources such as Bibles and Christian books in simplified Chinese.

First and most importantly, pray for this mission to be successful, and “for those that are traveling, that they would be invisible to the police [or] those that might be checking.”

Consider also helping Mission Cry cover the $25,000 needed for shipping and travel costs. Click here to give to Mission Cry.

Header photo courtesy of Zhang Kaiyv/Unsplash.

That’s why Joe helps smuggle Bibles into Iran.

How it works

Regular smugglers get the Bibles across the border, along with the rest of their contraband. Joe says, “They do this as a business. We’re not concerned about them turning anyone in because that’s their business. They don’t want to lose money.”

From there, Christians distribute them among their own networks. Joe says, “They also distribute into other networks of believers that we haven’t met. They use secure drop-off points where no one meets each other so that they can be secure themselves.” The Bibles come as books or on SD cards.

Joe has no qualms about being involved in work that breaks Iranian laws. “We’re supposed to render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s. Whenever Caesar starts opposing God and His love, I’m willing to step beyond Caesar at that point.”

Iranians open to the Good News

Joe says Iranians are remarkably open to hearing the good news of Jesus. “I believe it’s due to the oppression and the persecution that they’ve endured. They’re rebelling, and within that rebellion, they meet Christ Jesus. They feel freedom and the love of God.”

Ask God to protect the smugglers and the Christians distributing the Bibles throughout the country. Joe says, “Pray we would continue to be emboldened to trust in Him as we go forth. Pray that many people would come to faith, that many people would receive the Word of God and be called out of darkness into His light.”

Header photo courtesy of Peggy und Marco Lachmann-Anke from Pixabay.

But this, as you likely already know, is not the case in other areas of the world. In some Middle Eastern countries, it is illegal to possess a Bible. Being caught with one could mean prison–or death, depending on who finds it.

How do people even acquire Bibles in these nations then? It's not easy. It's a dangerous process that often looks something like this: The Bible-seeker must have a contact who can share information about a bookstore that sells Bibles. The contact must then introduce the Bible-seeker to the shop owner, so the shop owner knows that this is not an undercover government official. Then the shop owner takes the Bible-seeker to a back room, since the Bible cannot be on public display.

It is therefore extremely difficult and dangerous for a person even to get their hands on the Scriptures, much less hand them out. Many people aren't ready to take the risk of providing God's Word.

Biblica has a brave contact, however, who plans to put his life on the line for the sake of the Gospel.

The manager of one bookshop in a Middle Eastern nation requested that Biblica send as many Scriptures as possible to him, certain that there is a great window of opportunity in his country to share the Good News. In response, Biblica endeavored to send 11,000 Scripture pieces to the store owner.

Typically, Biblica can only get about 30 or 40 pieces into such a hostile nation at a time. In addition, the ministry certainly did not have the $70,000 it would cost to provide and distribute the materials in their budget. The Lord overcame both of these hurdles, however, when a ministry partner offered to pay half of the cost, and another organization offered up empty space in their containers to send the large shipment.

The materials are now all going to stock an underground bookstore that could reach tens of thousands with the Word of God in a nation that is seldom able even to see one copy of it.

Biblica establishes bookshops to make Christian materials available in Gospel-resistant countries. This year, Biblica will establish bookshops in four countries, with a potential to reach 150,000 people. Within three years, these shops will become self-sustaining wellsprings of hope in the form of God's Word.

To get involved with this exciting work, click here and scroll to "Streams in the Desert."