RELIGIOUS OPPRESSION AROUND THE WORLD

Religious Books Seized in Niger

Thursday, December 7, 2000

    The power of prayer moved bureaucratic mountains in Niger. When customs officials seized 16 cases of religious books destined to be given to pastors at a conference, missionaries for Charlotte, N.C.-based SIM knew they faced serious obstacles. The officials placed a hefty tax on the books, making it virtually impossible to get them in time to distribute at the conference, the ministry said.
    The only thing left to do was pray for a miracle, the missionaries said, and they asked God to make a way for the books to be released. When they visited the customs office for a "last-ditch effort" to negotiate for the books, an official pulled one of the books from a carton, read a letter explaining that they were for 300 pastors, and promptly ordered the missionaries to take the books away. "You can bet we did some rejoicing in the truck on the way back," missionary Jim Knowlton said.
    Another prayer was answered. Three and a half tons of books were stuck in neighboring Benin because of a transportation strike. Emboldened by the way God answered their first prayer, the missionaries again asked God for help, the ministry said. The container reached the Niger border and was waived through almost immediately by the same customs officials. "Normally it takes days, even weeks, to clear a container," Connie Knowlton said.

--Used by permission of Religion Today