I Sincerely Love All Muslims

Today I've had a very interesting meeting with Anne van der Bijl (a.k.a. Brother Andrew, founder of Open Doors International) and the American author Al Jansen. Together we've discussed plans for a new book about Christians in the Muslim world.

Last year we - Ark Boeken Publishing House - have published the Dutch edition of Light Force (see cover picture above - please click here for more information about this excellent book!)

Brother Andrew and Al Jansen are still in the writing process and it is too early to give you more information about this new publishing project. However, I can tell you that a meeting with Brother Andrew is always a special experience, because this man is a true follower of Christ! He travels around the globe, visits persecuted Christians everywhere and does everything he can to support them, even if this means risking his own life! (And this extraordinary man is 77 years old... and still going strong!)

I highly respect Brother Andrew because of this, but also because he is not taking sides in political debates (although he is brave enough to speak up for the oppressed people, the 'underdogs' of this world). His priority is strengthening the world-wide body of Christ (i.e. the Christian community, the Church as a whole), especially in those countries where Christians are persecuted and struggling to survive.

Brother Andrew and his organisation Open Doors used to focus on the former Soviet Union and the communist world for many decades. (You've probably heard about God's Smuggler - a famous book about Bible smuggling during the cold war period - a must read if you want to know more about these times!)

While everybody was still concentrating on the situation in the communist world, Brother Andrew started working in countries that belong to the Muslim world. After the Iron Curtain fell, people in the West discovered that most former 'enemies' actually were decent human beings that were not 'out to get us'. Brother Andrew tries to show us that the same is true for most Muslims. He spells ISLAM as: I Sincerely Love All Muslims!

The Bible teaches us that God so loved the WORLD that He gave his only Son John 3:16 and Muslims are not excluded from our Father's love! But many Christians - especially after all the recent terrorist attacks in our part of the world - have to be reminded of this truth...

Brother Andrew always stresses that most Muslims are devout, sincere and peace loving people. As long as we keep looking at each other as the enemy, there will never be mutual respect and understanding. If we want to stop the violence from extremists and fanatics, we should start with trying to understand the position of people from 'the other side'. If we are not willing to take this first step, we will never get the opportunity to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with people of good will. This is exactly what Brother Andrew is doing and what he is asking his fellow Christians to do!