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Bible smuggling and translation

Alfred was a Bible smuggler during the Cold War

By Samuel

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Ulla and Alfred Jensen welcome you to their cozy apartment in Lyngby, where they have lived since Alfred worked in the Danish European Mission from 1975 to 1987, from 1978 as Secretary General. The occasion for the conversation is the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, which provides an opportunity to remember the work for persecuted Christians during the Cold War. The now 84-year-old Alfred Jensen enthusiastically talks about his experiences.

What was the greatest thing about working at the Danish European Mission?

One of my greatest experiences was being on a Bible smuggling trip to China in 1981, where I was allowed to return to the country of my birth. My parents were missionaries in Yunnan-provinces. 

Image: Alfred with the handkerchiefwhich the Chinese family gave him as thanks for the smuggled Bibles.

During the trip, we were almost constantly watched by some "shadows" that followed us. The night we were to visit a Christian family who had been forcibly relocated by the authorities from Beijing (Peking) to Inner Mongolia, we prayed hard to God that they would not discover us, and they did! The "shadows" were not there! The family we were going to visit had previously been a prosperous family with a high social status. Now they had become so poor in their exile that they had to borrow chairs and tableware from other Christian neighbors. The reason for their exile was that the mother had testified to others about her faith in God. However, when she came to Inner Mongolia, she continued witnessing and over the years she had helped build 30 house churches in Inner Mongolia.

The family was happy for ourIt nightly visits, and they told us how the Lord had provided for them day after day. The father said: "The authorities thought I would give up my faith in Christ when they took everything from me, but instead they helped me to stop worrying about everything earthly". The family thanked him so much for bthe apples that we brought for them. They immediately hid them in their bedroom in a secret compartment in the floor. The Bibles were to be distributed to Christians who did not yet own a bibel. We felt that these bibler was like a drop in the ocean, but it was said with tears of joy: "Just one of these bibler is worth your entire journey from Europe to here!" When they prayed, it was so urgent and so heartfelt that it went straight to the heart! As we were about to leave them, they said to me: "Now that you were born in China and have come all the way out here to us, we want to give you a gift." They gave me this handkerchief, which I've kept to this day," says Alfred Jensen, showing it off.

We felt that these bibler was like a drop in the ocean, but it was said with tears of joy: "Just one of these bibler is worth your entire journey from Europe to here!" 

UN condemned human rights violations in Albania

Another highlight was in 1983. When the Danish European Mission raised the issue of religious freedom in Albania, at the United Nations Commission on Human Rights on 07.03.1983, as item 25 on the agenda.

Danish politicians who were interested promised that they would present the case to the Commission if they received relevant information. So I spent several months writing a memorandum in English of about 30 pages. I wrote about the atrocities that had taken place with a long list of the many Albanians who had been martyred. This contributed to Albania being officially condemned - for the first time in UN history - for human rights violations - not only in practice, but also for legislation that prohibited all religious practice.

God's Word was translated into many languages in the Soviet Union

Third, I was closely associated with the Bosnian Christian poet and linguist, Borislav Arapovicwhich the Danish European Mission chose to support in 1973 - by financially sponsoring the founding of IFB: "Institut For Bibeloversættelse" in collaboration with Light i East in Stockholm and Mission statement container The Iron Curtain in Oslo.

In collaboration with IFB, Dansk Dansk supported Europamissions donors during the Cold War the translation and publication of BThe following minority languages in the former Soviet Union: Armenian, Azerbaijani, Estonian, Georgian, Kyrgyz, ComiSarjansk, Latvian, Lithuanian, Moldovan, Russian, Tajik, tjuvinsk, Turkmen, Ukrainian, UebekianGaugasic and Uzbek. Over the years, these language projects have had a huge impact. 

A fourth highlight was conferences where we met ours collaborators. Sometimes I traveled alone and other times with Dansk Europamissions founder and working chairman, Hans Kristian Neerskovwho is now at home with the Lord. It was very rewarding to be involved, and I was also able to contribute to the meetings myself.

Mobilizing prayer in Denmark

Alfred says several times in the conversation that one of the most rewarding parts of missionary service was sending minions We had divided the Soviet Union into zones so that Danish churches could have their own zone and pray for it. We also heard amazing testimonies about how the prayer worked," concludes Alfred Kronborg Jensen.

How encouraging it is to talk to the faithful servant of the Lord, Alfred Jensen. He attaches great importance to prayer, and after the conversation, we'll read a word from the Bible and pray together. It inspires us to also emphasize prayer in our work today.

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