Christians hold 'never-ending' prayer session to protect Bible smugglers in North Africa

A patient reads the Bible in the recovery wing of a treatment centre in a neighborhood in Freetown, Liberia.Reuters

Christians are continuing to hold a "never-ending" prayer gathering to shield volunteers from all over the world who risk their lives in smuggling Bibles into North Africa, where Scriptures are banned and believers thrown in prison for possessing them.

Global Christian persecution watchdog ministry Open Doors says the prayer meeting has been going for 13 years now, CBN News reports.

Local Christians believe that the unending prayer gathering is the ''source of the miracles they have seen, including a steady stream of Bibles coming into the country.''

Recently, a British woman known as Holly (not her real name) brought in more than 30 Bibles and other training materials for pastors in North Africa,

She told Open Doors that the literature would have been confiscated by airport officials if found in her possession, but by God's grace, her baggage was skipped by the security personnel. "Maybe God just did what he did with Brother Andrew and 'blinded their eyes' to it. It was amazing that we were the only ones who didn't get searched,'' she said.

Brother Andrew is the founder of Open Doors and is known as "God's Smuggler" for bringing Bibles into Eastern European countries during the communist era. When the Soviet Union collapsed, he shifted his work to the Muslim world, the Open Doors report says.

Holly said after they began the 24/7 prayer session in 2003, the organisation was able to bring in a bigger number of Bibles and other Christian literature into the region. "That's when they started seeing lots of people coming to know Jesus, and they were able to bring in so many more Bibles and training materials.''

Holly added: "There's never been a single moment when there hasn't been someone praying in that church. Every second is covered in prayer.''

Open Doors also documented other instances when God's miracle manifested itself.

When the materials were brought to the churches, Holly said she and members of her group had to pass through at least 20 checkpoints.

She said it was God's plan that the security people failed to look inside the boot or the bonnet or the back seat of their car where the Bibles were kept by the Christian workers.

Open Doors says the church is now growing rapidly and people are coming to know Jesus quicky.

"They need to get Bibles in as quickly as they can and as many as they can. And not just Bibles, but also training materials for pastors and church leaders," Holly said.

"That's when they started seeing lots of people coming to know Jesus, and they were able to bring in so many more Bibles and training materials," she added.