THE HEAVENLY
MAN
The Testimony of Brother Yun
Brother Yun memorized a chapter a day from the Bible shortly after he began following Jesus. Here are a few of the things that I remember Brother Yun saying:
My first official certificate of ministry was an arrest warrant.
My first vacation house was a Chinese prison.
To succeed as a servant of God you must be willing to die for Christ.
We want to bring the gospel from the Great Wall of China to the West Wall of Israel.
Man can put you in prison, but no one can isolate you from the presence of God.
Jesus hears every individual voice of His sheep.
Your prison is Real, but Jesus is the TRUTH…stand up and walk out!
No matter how real your problems are, they are no greater than the truth of Jesus Christ.
When speaking on his prayer life, Bro. Yun said, He speaks in a way we can understand.
It doesn’t matter what others say Jesus is, YOU must know who Jesus really is for yourself.
Before I traveled to the West I had absolutely no idea that so many churches were spiritually asleep. I presumed the Western church was strong and vibrant because it had brought the gospel to my country with such incredible faith and tenacity. Many missionaries had shown a powerful example to us by laying down their lives for the sake of Jesus.
On some occasions I've struggled while speaking in Western churches. There seems to be something missing that leaves me feeling terrible inside. Many meetings are cold and lack the fire and presence of God that we have in China.
In the West many Christians have an abundance of material possessions, yet they live in a backslidden state. They have silver and gold, but they don't rise up and walk in Jesus' name. In China we have no possessions to hold us down, so there's nothing preventing us from moving out for the Lord.
The pursuit of more possessions will never bring revival. The first thing needed for revival to return to your churches is the Word of the Lord. God's word is missing. Sure there are many preachers and thousands of tapes and videos of Biblical teaching, but so little contains the sharp truth of God's Word. It's the truth that will set you free.
Not only is knowledge of God's Word missing, but obedience to that Word. There's not much action taking place. You can never really know the Scriptures until you're willing to be changed by them.
All genuine revivals of the Lord result in believers responding with action and SOUL WINNING. When God truly moves in your heart you cannot remain silent. There will be a fire in your bones, like Jeremiah, who said, "His word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot." Jeremiah 20:9 - from THE HEAVENLY MAN, p. 295-297
Brother Yun's book, THE HEAVENLY MAN, is an amazing story of God’s miraculous provision and sustaining power in the lives of some truly heroic believers in the Chinese house churches. Brother Yun describes not just his own remarkable miraculous experience but I will never forget how Bro. Yun told of the training certain missionaries receive from their efforts:
Each missionary receives training in several main subjects. These include:
1. How to suffer and die for the Lord. We examine what the Bible says about suffering, and look at how the Lord’s people have laid down their lives for the advance of the gospel throughout history.
2. How to witness for the Lord. We teach how to witness for the Lord under any circumstance, on trains or buses, or even in the back of a police van on our way to the execution ground.
3. How to escape for the Lord. We know that sometimes it is the Lord who sends us to prison to witness for him, but we also believe the devil sometimes wants us to go to prison to stop the ministry God has called us to do. We teach the missionaries special skills such as how to free themselves from handcuffs, and how to jump from second-storey [sic] windows without injuring themselves.
This is not a normal seminary or Bible College! (p. 290)
To me it is no wonder why their lives are filled with the awesome power of the Holy Spirit and the rapid spread of the gospel in the house Churches of China. Their hearts are set on the spread of the gospel no matter the cost to themselves. This is a far cry from most American Christianity, especially the health, wealth, gain-is-godliness gospel.
I would encourage everyone to read Bro. Yun's THE HEAVENLY MAN. We all need such a look at what being a Christian means in many parts of the world. Brother Yun's book is truly the sort of eye salve that can help all of us see more clearly what will make a difference, and how that difference is made by the Power of Christ IN us.
With a heavenly calling, no difficulties can destroy your future.
If I am going to be a Christian, I want to be the BEST Christian.
You may be locked in prison, but never allow the prison to be locked in your heart.
It was pain, but it wasn’t suffering. (spoken in regard to his receiving electrical shock torture in prison)
When you share the gospel, you are promised God’s presence.
The American church is too much like a Supermarket, you always want the best “deals.”