More than fifteen years ago, in a crowded neighborhood tucked away in Seoul, South Korea, I had a chance-meeting with a very secretive man from Holland who loved to tinker with new ideas, build new gadgets, and dream of ways of helping the persecuted church in closed nations. Little did I know it at the time, but that man would change the course of my life forever.
In the beginning of the 2000s, I found myself struggling with an electronic device that I was using to smuggle the audio Bible into North Korea. It was a cheap Chinese knock-off copy of the iPod Shuffle that I had bought in Shenzhen. I bought my first one for only a few dollars, loaded the audio Bible on it and smuggled it into North Korea and it worked perfectly, so I decided to buy 500 more of them and repeat the process. Unfortunately, when I bought 500 of them at one time, the units did not work properly and I could not find out why.
I worked with the factory to see if they could help me get the units to work. They could not. I took the device to software developers that I knew in China and they also found themselves at a loss. Nothing seemed to work.
Eventually a missionary friend pointed me to this shadowy Dutch figure from Holland that was living between South Korea and China. My problem felt urgent, almost desperate, so I flew to Seoul to meet him and present to him my problem. Thankfully, he agreed to meet with me.
He looked at it, worked on it for only a few moments, and discovered the problem almost immediately!
Since that day he has been someone that I have trusted to work together with on some of the most secretive Bible projects in the world.
Though he chooses to work in the shadows and will not reveal himself to the rest of the world, this gifted Dutch hacker has created secret Bibles that have put the Word of God into the hands of some of the most persecuted Christians in the world. While others seek the spot light and applause, he spends long, unseen hours writing code and carefully crafting motherboards for secret electronic Bibles, building them one by one.
Over the years the Dutch Hacker has created the Gospel Cloud unit – a mobile device used in Iran to secretly deliver the Bible and Christian teachings to mobile devices. He has created gaming units that hide the Bible in North Korea. He is also the creator of the well known pill size hologram Bible that allows the entire Bible to be read in the air!
Many of the projects that the BTJ Dutch Hacker is working on can’t even be described because of security reasons. Over the summer, he brought together a group of hackers from around the world to come and work in his secret Dutch cavern to create Bibles that were hand delivered in August to Christians in the Middle East and North Korea.
The Dutch Hacker has been truly used by God and through him, countless persecuted Christians living in closed nations have seen their prayers for Bibles answered. These small, precious devices that he dreams up and makes in his home go to places where the Word of God is forbidden or dangerous—Iran, North Korea, Somalia, and other closed nations. He does this work not for glory, but because he believes every hidden believer deserves the chance to hold Scripture in their hands.
He is the quiet reason our annual hackers conference exists. Year after year he helps gather Christian hackers of skill and heart and leads them to use their gifts to serve something greater than themselves.
I think often of the thousands of secret Christians who now open those devices in the quiet of the night, or in the hidden corners of their homes. They read words of hope they might never have received if this one man had not given his time, his skill, and his anonymity so freely. There are many who walk in darkness today who would still be without the Light of the One True God if not for him.
He will most likely never stand on a stage or hear the applause of a massive congregation in a mega church, but those of us who know the truth carry a deep and lasting gratitude for the Dutch Hacker.
Who cares about not getting applause from massive congregations in mega churches, when he’s causing countless legions of angels to rejoice in God’s heavens!
Yes indeed, and he will hear Well done my good and faithful servant by Jesus himself!
Wonderful news, like the craftsmen who worked on the temple and it’s contents God has surely gifted the Dutch Hacker with His Creative Spirit to make these devices.
May He and the others be truly blessed to continue with new and more creative designs to bring the Gospel where it is needed.
Our prayers are with them all.
Praise God.
Great!