The Heavenly Man Brother
Yun shares his miraculous story
At age 17, Brother Yun
received a calling from the Lord to go and preach the Gospel. He was
committed to doing whatever it takes to advance God’s Kingdom in spite
of the danger of expressing his faith in communist China. His dramatic
story is the subject of the autobiography, The Heavenly Man, and
he visited Saddleback last month to share his inspirational message of
courage and hope.
“When I began to preach the Gospel, I just spoke about the
greatness of Jesus,” he said. “I told people that the Bible I carried
in my hand was received after a long time of fasting and praying for it.
People were really excited and interested. They wanted me to read from
this holy book. When I recited Bible passages from memory, I saw that it
worked in people’s hearts.�
He told people how God had miraculously cured his father’s cancer,
and soon people started coming to him to pray for healing. God worked
miracles through him to increase people’s faith. “I hadn’t received any
education about how to heal people,� said Yun. “But I did what the Bible
says and put my hands on people and prayed. And Jesus healed them.�
His Mission
When the communists came to China in
the last century, the churches were destroyed and pastors and ministers
were sent to prison. Since then China has been a dangerous place to
proclaim the Gospel. Brother Yun soon became a wanted criminal for his
faith. “I could hardly believe how much money they were willing to pay
for my capture,� he said. “But you know, China is very big. If you are
wanted in one county, there are 10,000 other counties to go to and start
again. I became like a bird in the wilderness without a nest, laying
eggs all over the nation.�
After Yun had been preaching for a couple of years, the Lord told him
it was time to multiply and disciple others to spread the Gospel.
“I will never forget my first discipleship training course,� he
recalled. “I had more than 100 people there and didn’t know what to do.
So I made up my training plan and decided we would memorize the Bible,
one chapter per day, starting with the book of Acts.
“Our discipleship training courses in China are totally different
than the ones you go through,� explained Yun. “We emphasize five
important things. First, every disciple is always ready and active in
prayer. If you really want to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, you have to
be a person of prayer every hour of your life. Second, you always have
to be ready to witness about Jesus. Third, in China you have to be ready
to suffer and go to prison in the name of Jesus. And because of
circumstances in China, you always have to be ready to die in the name
of Jesus. And the fifth thing is that you always have to be ready to
escape for the sake of the Gospel.�
Imprisoned for His Faith
During one of the
discipleship meetings, a man prophesied that some of the believers among
them would be arrested within three days. That prophesy came true and
Yun was sent to prison with a long sentence.
“On the evening of the third day we finished the training and started
to send people to different parts of China to establish the Kingdom of
God. The Lord brought fulfillment to the prophecy. The local police came
and surrounded our farmhouse and we were captured,� said Yun.
“It was the middle of winter. They ripped off our clothes and asked,
‘Who are you? What have you come to do here? Where do you live?’ The
police captain came to me and asked for my name. Somehow the Holy Spirit
gave me words I never would say otherwise and I shouted, I am a
heavenly man! He said they didn’t need a heavenly man in China.�
Weeks after his capture, the police discovered Yun’s identity from a
“wanted� criminal poster. They contacted the authorities from his
village and Yun was brought to prison there.
After repeatedly torturing Yun without getting him to betray his
co-workers for Christ, the prison guards squeezed acid under his nails
with big number six needles. The pain was excruciating and Yun lost
consciousness. “I didn’t know if me spirit was still in my body or not,�
recalled Yun. “I disappeared and was floating around somewhere
unconscious.�
After he had been in the prison awhile, the Lord came to Yun at the
lowest point of his life and said, “My son, I know all the suffering you
are going through. I am going to open a door for you that nobody will
be able to shut.� Yun had a vision of the prison gates opening. He could
see far and wide to outside of the prison. And he saw tens of thousands
of people from different nations praying and worshiping Jesus.
A Miraculous Escape
After his release, Yun
continued to preach the Gospel in China as a leader of the house church
movement. He remained a wanted man and was eventually captured again and
thrown into a high-security prison. Again he was tortured and asked to
name his co-workers in Christ, but he endured the suffering without
betraying them.
That time Yun tried to avoid capture by jumping out of a window. In
the process he badly injured both legs. The arresting officer asked if
Yun was still considering escape given his condition. Yun answered,
“Whenever God gives me a chance, I will escape.� In order to ensure that
never happened, the policeman crushed both his legs and ankles with a
hammer. Another prisoner had to carry Yun back to his cell.
There came a point in this intense suffering when Yun began to curse
God. “We always think the Lord can only use perfect people, but I am not
perfect,� said Yun. “I have lost my heart many times in my life. I tell
you, you have been more victorious in your life than I was in that
moment cursing God.�
Yun soon repented for cursing God and cried out for forgiveness. He
prayed, “Lord Jesus, you know my heart. Forgive all that I have said. Lord, have compassion and forgive me. If you
don’t rescue me, I am going to die in this solitary cell.� Something
started to happen as he began to repent. The cursing spirit that was
taking hold of his heart left and he started singing and worshiping the
Lord. Throughout the night Yun cried out to God and asked to be set
free.
“The Lord was listening,� he said. “And early in the morning, a
miracle happened. A light came into my cell and Jesus walked in this
light and stood in my cell. I couldn’t walk, but Jesus said, Now is
the time of salvation for you. Stand up and walk out of this prison.
“The first thought in my mind was, ‘This is a top security prison.
You don’t walk out of places like this.’ But Jesus replied, ‘Your prison
is real. But I am the truth and the truth will set you free.’�
Another miracle started to happen in the prison at the same time. The
Holy Spirit spoke to another prisoner and said, “You need to tell
Brother Yun that I’m setting him free today.� This co-worker of Brother
Yun’s managed to get this message of encouragement to him at a critical
moment.
“In obedience, I started to walk out of the doors,� recalled Yun.
“And at the second doors I met another brother who was on the way back
in. The warden couldn’t see me, but he could see me. He said, ‘Are you
going to let them to kill you this morning? Where are you going?’
The Lord continued pushing me to walk out of the prison. I didn’t
have any secret keys or remote controls in my pocket. As I walked
towards the final set of doors, they were opened for me and I walked out
of that top security prison to freedom! Hallelujah!�
Brother Yun concluded his testimony with a message of hope for all
believers. “The Lord has keys to millions of doors in this world. He can
open every door. He can open the doors of hopelessness. He can open the
doors to the Muslim world, the Buddhist world, the Hindu world. He has
keys to every door. There is no security door that can stop Jesus.
“I know there are things binding the people in this audience,� he
continued. “There are drugs, pornography, and many other things that are
keeping you from being free. No man can set you free. Only Jesus Christ
can set you free. He will unlock the chains holding you back and set
you free. His Word says he has come to set the captives free.�
How this book transformed me into the christian I am today:
I finished reading “The Heavenly Man” last month and I can truly say that this book changed my life. After reading this book I have challenged myself to be more, to do more with Christ than simply going to church and being a boring christian. Jesus was never found in the church, instead he was constantly on the move visiting villages and walking the streets helping the poor and the needy. I have realized for myself that until I truly needed God to survive, I boxed God in and depended on the things of this world to solve my problems. You see, we are surrounded by STUFF!!! We are surrounded by so much stuff that we become less dependent on God and more dependent on all of our stuff to take care of our needs. After reading brother Yun’s book I realized, we don’t need so much stuff; we need God.
Brother Yun’s story is an amazing example of what we as Christians are supposed to be like daily with Christ. I’m not saying we are supposed to be tortured on a regular basis; but we should expect persecution on a daily basis.
Anywhere you go in the world, no matter where it is, there is someone who does not believe in Jesus Christ. What I mean by following Brother Yun’s example is seeking God daily, breathing in Abba, and exhaling I belong you to.
There is no possible way brother Yun would have been able to endure all of the pain and torture he did without the help of almighty God. Because brother Yun listened to the voice of God starting at the young age of 17, hundreds of thousands, possibly even millions of people have heard the gospel of Jesus Christ. Yun never turned down an opportunity to share God’s love and the gospel to those who needed Christ.
Even while Yun was in prison being tortured almost daily with electric batons being stuck in his mouth, being beaten with blows to the head and his knees; Yun still shared the gospel with his fellow prison mates.
My prayer for myself is to have the same personal connection brother Yun possessed with the lord on a daily basis. A great example of someone who seeks after God and hears his voice on a daily basis is brother Todd White. Todd has spoken several times at my home church and has inspired me to be more than a mere christian who is blessed to be lazy; instead I am blessed to be a blessing!!! Brother Todd has shared many stories of miraculous healing take place because he listened to the voice of God.
If we (the body of Christ) truly want to change the world we must first change ourselves. We must leave behind childish thoughts and listen to the voice of the lord. I pray that the mindset of me, me, me, it’s all about me transforms into; it’s all about you lord.
If you have the opportunity to read this book I would encourage you to do so. It changed me and helped me break some mindsets which were not in tune with God. Let’s be changed, let’s be transformed, let’s be the man/woman God intended us to be.
Thanks for reading,
Philip Cron
