The Heavenly Man (5 page)

Even my own wife couldn’t go home. The police went to our homes and confiscated all our belongings. Our ministry became nocturnal. We met in the night-time and slept during the daytime, so that our chances of being identified were minimized.

We all received much encouragement from the example left for us by the early church. We realized what was happening to us was not new. Multitudes of believers had suffered similar trials over the centuries and yet had patiently endured to the end.

The Word of the Lord comforted and strengthened our hearts.
“Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you stood your ground in a great contest in the face of suffering. Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. You sympathized with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions.” Hebrews 10:32–34
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For many centuries the gospel struggled to gain a foothold in the stubborn land of China. Our soil was too rocky to accept the root of the gospel, but in his time God accomplished his purposes and established his church. Suffering,
persecution and imprisonment made his gospel rapidly spread throughout China. If our lives had been more comfortable we’d probably have stayed in our home villages. But because we were always fleeing to new places the gospel spread to many areas that had never heard it.

The PSB posted a warrant for my arrest. I was charged with “Disturbing the Social Order”. Every bus and train station noticeboard, and hundreds of telegraph poles and walls carried “wanted” notices and pictures of us. The PSB placed plain-clothed officers in all public places to search for us.

I was arrested on several different occasions at this time, but the Lord allowed me to elude capture and escape each time.

On one occasion we held a large meeting in a barn on a remote farm. The Holy Spirit moved so powerfully that the believers couldn’t help but stay up to worship God all through the night. One night I needed to sleep. To get away from the barn, where the singing was very loud, I decided to lie down in the cornfield some distance away from the meeting place.

I was fast asleep when the PSB arrived and started to arrest the other leaders. They were herded into vehicles and taken to the police station for questioning. Somehow they knew I had been speaking and they were eager to find me. They were told I was asleep somewhere but nobody knew I was in the field.

The officers searched all the rooms and buildings but couldn’t find me. Then they got the idea that if they turned off the loud diesel generator they might be able to locate me in the stillness of the night.

Soon they heard a noise coming from the cornfield. I was snoring loudly!

The officers’ steel-capped boots woke me. However,
because I was sleeping and wasn’t in the barn, the authorities couldn’t prove I was involved in the meeting so they had to let me go.

These incidents were the first of many years of trials and suffering. The Lord started to teach us how to walk along the path of persecution.

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DELING
: In the early 1980s none of us had a Bible. Between all of our hundreds of church members we had just one New Testament. A little later we started to receive Bibles as a result of Operation Pearl, when foreign Christians boldly brought one million Bibles into China on a boat. The Bibles we received were all wet and we had to dry them in the sun and separate the pages, but we didn’t care. These gifts were more precious than gold!

In those days, when Yun took a stand against the government-controlled church, I received a vision from the Lord. In this vision I saw myself walking towards a mirror on a wall. When I looked into the mirror I saw that I had two Bibles stacked on top of my head.

In the vision I discovered that I was able to fly like a bird. I was so free! I landed on a rock, with the Bibles still sitting on my head. As I stood there on the rock a large number of evil men and women hissed at me and threw dirt at me. They wanted to devour me, but I could safely fly away in the Spirit at any time I needed to.

The Lord showed me that this was the kind of life I would experience with my husband. On one hand we would be free in the Spirit, yet on the other hand we would have many enemies who wanted to destroy and persecute us. We would be able to fly in the Spirit but any time we landed we would experience this kind of life.

It was a clear revelation about my life to come. I didn’t understand this vision at the time, but as the years have unfolded I’ve seen that it has happened exactly as the Lord showed me.

In 1983 a crime wave exploded across China, with rampant murders, kidnappings, extortion and prostitution. The government saw they were losing control and launched an anti-crime campaign. Hundreds of criminals were publicly executed.

Unfortunately, the house churches were also considered illegal by the government because of our refusal to register with the Three-Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM), so we became targets in the campaign. Unregistered Christians were labelled “spiritual pollutants” by the authorities and the TSPM. Hundreds of house church leaders were rounded up and sent to prison labour camps. In Henan many believers were executed for their faith in Jesus.

During this wave of terrible persecution, Brother Xu shared with me some important thoughts. He said, “The future of our Chinese house churches needs careful consideration. We should be faithful in small things while believing for big things from God. We have to learn whatever the Lord wants to teach us from his Word, from life, from our experiences, and from our sufferings. Therefore we should initiate a prayer effort and look to God’s mercy and revelation. Let’s set up training centres and take the gospel to all
parts of our nation. We need to be better prepared to equip the troops in order to establish God’s Church.”

Brother Xu wrote a booklet called
Building up the Chinese House Church.
In this booklet he outlined seven main biblical principles that we should focus our activities on. I thanked God that we now had a more definite plan for the house churches to march forward. Until that point we didn’t really have a nationwide plan to win all of China. From 1983 until today the gospel has spread and thousands of workers have been sent to strategic unreached areas.

Being obedient to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we turned our focus on Shaanxi Province, which had received little gospel witness. The few rural churches there were in great need of solid teaching and encouragement. Shaanxi is the home of Xian, China’s ancient capital city. The province had a reputation for being more resistant to the gospel than most other Chinese provinces.

When I joined a prayer meeting in Henan, the leaders told me they had received a letter from the Shaanxi church, begging us to send workers into their midst to train them how to plant new churches. They told me, “For the last few days we’ve been fasting and praying about their request. Brother Yun, we believe God wants you to go to the west, to Shaanxi. We want you to take two of our co-workers immediately to Shaanxi. Although these two sisters have no preaching experience, you can teach them on the way. They are warriors of the gospel, wholeheartedly dedicated to saving souls.”

Before we left for Shaanxi that evening we asked God to prepare the hearts of the people to receive his Word. While praying, I suddenly saw a terrible vision that shook my soul. The others told me I startled them when I shouted out, “Hallelujah! Jesus’ blood has overcome you!”

Everyone stopped praying and asked me what the matter
was. With sweat on my brow I told them, “I saw a terrible evil vision. A black, heinous creature came after me. It had a horrible twisted face. It pressed me down on the ground and sat on my stomach so I couldn’t get up. With one of its hands it grabbed my throat and started choking me. With its other hand it grabbed some steel pliers and tried to shut my mouth with them. I could hardly breathe. Then I saw a great strong angel fly toward me. With all my strength I poked my fingers into the eyes of the evil creature. It fell to the ground, and I was carried away to safety by the angel. I shouted, “Hallelujah! Jesus’ blood has overcome you!”

After telling what I’d seen, we prayed and shared the Lord’s Supper together. We committed ourselves to the care of the Lord. The three of us – the two young sisters and I – arrived in Shangnan County in Shaanxi. Shangnan is an isolated mountainous district in the extreme south-east of the province. Most of the impoverished people there had never seen outsiders before.

The local believers were informed of our arrival and three days of meetings were hastily arranged. Leaders from several counties gathered. On the first day I shared the history of the cross throughout church history and mission. On the second day, around 1 p.m., I lost my voice. The believers suggested I take a rest and let my co-workers share in my place. I asked Sister Juan to preach on the salvation of the cross.

Neither of these two women had spoken in public before. They’d never even stood in front of a crowd! Sister Juan was so nervous she fell down on her knees and cried. Her Bible fell to the ground. Everyone had compassion on her and prayed for her.

I was taken to a room so I could rest. When I lay down I meditated on the message I’d shared that morning.

Suddenly I heard a loud noise! Several PSB officers kicked down the door to my room. They grabbed me and held me down on the bed. One officer lay on me, pinning me down with his weight. With one hand he held me by the throat. With his other hand he reached into his pocket and pulled out his ID card. He shouted, “I come from the Public Security Bureau. Where do you come from?”

Immediately I remembered the vision I had seen of the dark monster.

Two other PSB officers took a rope and tightly bound my arms behind my back, as well as binding the rope around my chest, back and waist. One of the officers noticed a red wooden cross that was attached to the wall, with the words “For God so loved the world” inscribed on the horizontal piece of the cross. On the left and right were written, “He hung on the cross” and “He took our sins upon himself.”

The officers read those words and laughed loudly. They tore the cross from the wall and tied it to my back with the ropes. Then they started to kick me furiously. Blows rained down on my legs, arms, chest and ribs.

The owner of the house came and knelt down before the officers, begging them to release me. He said, “This man is a good man. He’s done nothing wrong. Please arrest me in his place.”

The officers kicked and pushed him out of the room, shouting, “You can never pay this man’s debt.”

For the first time I had the honour of literally bearing the cross of Christ on my body! They triumphantly marched me off, bloodied and bruised, to Shangnan township. I was reminded of the verse,
“For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like men condemned to die in the arena.” 1 Corinthians 4:9.

When the townspeople saw me bound with rope and that
I was carrying a big red cross, a story began to circulate that “Jesus from Henan” had come. Many people crowded around to witness this remarkable sight.

As I was paraded through the streets, a police car drove slowly in front. Through a loudspeaker they proclaimed, “This man came from Henan to preach Jesus. He has seriously disturbed the peace. He has confused the people. Today the Public Security Bureau has captured him. We will punish him severely.”

I was made to kneel down in the dirt while officers punched me in the chest and face and repeatedly kicked me from behind with their heavy boots. My face was covered with blood. The pain was unbearable and I nearly lost consciousness as I lay on the ground.

They lifted me up and made me stagger down another street. They were determined to make an example of me to as many people as possible.

I lifted up my head and caught glimpses of people in the crowd. Some pitied me and wept. When I saw this it really strengthened my faith. When I had the chance, I softly told one woman, “Please don’t feel sorry for me. You should weep for the lost souls of our nation.”

When the onlookers heard my voice they cried even more loudly. I was paraded through the streets for half a day. When night fell they took me into a big courtyard inside the police station.

They didn’t loosen my ropes, but they did take the wooden cross off my back. They locked me inside a large interrogation room. I noticed the door was made of iron and the windows had iron bars on them.

Some evil-faced officers came in. They questioned me with great gravity in their voices. The Lord spoke to my heart, “In the hidden place your Father shall protect you.”

They shouted at me, “Where exactly do you come from?”

“Henan,” I replied.

Then I remembered that I was a wanted man in Henan. I didn’t want to tell them the name of my home county or town because I would get many believers into trouble, so I shut my mouth and determined not to answer any more of their questions.

I felt that God wanted me to pretend I was crazy, like David had done in the Bible. I lay down on the ground and acted insane. I rolled my eyes back in their sockets and spat like a madman. I didn’t say a word. The PSB were frightened and were convinced I was crazy.

Many spectators had crowded outside the window and looked in.

One officer went to another room and made a telephone call to Henan, to try to find out who I was from the authorities there. The other interrogators went with him to hear what was said. They left me alone in the room and shut the door. I was still tightly bound by rope so they saw no chance I could escape. The onlookers also gave their attention to the telephone call, and crowded outside the window of that room to listen.

At that moment, with everyone’s eyes off me, the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart, “The God of Peter is your God.” I remembered how angels had opened the prison gates for Peter to escape.
“Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?” Hebrews 1:14.

The rope that bound my arms behind my back suddenly snapped by itself! I didn’t tear the ropes off, but kept them loosely in place. I decided to try to escape, and if caught I would claim I was trying to go to the toilet. With my arms still positioned behind my back, I used my mouth to turn the door handle and I walked out of the room!

At that moment God gave me faith and courage. I reminded myself that the blood of Jesus Christ protected me. I walked through the middle of the onlookers in the courtyard. Nobody stopped me or said anything to me! It was as though God had blinded their eyes and they didn’t recognize who I was.

I walked through the courtyard to the toilet block in the northern part of the compound, about 30 feet away from the interrogation room. As quickly as I could, I pulled off the rope from around my body. My hands, arms and shoulders were still numb from being bound by rope for so long.

Because the front gates had been locked, the only way out of the compound was over an eight-foot high cement wall. The wall had sharp glass embedded in the top. I stood there for a moment, stared at the wall and prayed, asking the Lord to heal my hands and body.

I decided to try to leap over the wall. I saw no other choice. I was trapped and at any moment the officers would come and grab me. What happened next is not possible from a human perspective, yet God is my witness that what I am about to tell you is the truth.

First I pulled myself up onto the wall as high as I could manage. I looked over the top and saw that on the other side was a ten-feet-wide open septic tank.

As I hung grimly onto the side of the wall, all of a sudden I felt as if somebody hoisted me up and threw me over! I jumped so far that I even cleared the septic tank! A Scripture came to mind,
“With your help I can advance against a troop; with my God I can scale a wall.” 2 Samuel 22:30.

The God of Peter wonderfully helped me leap over the wall and escape! I believe the same angel I had seen in my vision helped to lift me up.

Darkness had fallen in the mountains. I ran blindly through the hills and forests. I had no idea where I was
heading, but just sought to put as much distance between the police station and myself as I could.

As I ran I spoke out the Psalms with a thankful heart to the Lord,
“Even in darkness light dawns for the upright, for the gracious and compassionate and righteous man…. Surely he will never be shaken; a righteous man will be remembered forever. He will have no fear of bad news; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord. His heart is secure, he will have no fear; in the end he will look in triumph on his foes.” Psalm 112:4,6–8
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Many times as I ran through the darkness I slipped over, but God guided me with his abundant mercy. After several hours I’d climbed over two mountains and crossed a river. Suddenly in the darkness I heard someone shouting, “Brother Yun, where are you going?”

A man approached me and asked, “Brother Yun, why do you look like this?” He saw the blood and scars on my hands and cried, “What has happened to you?”

It was about midnight. I couldn’t see who it was, so I asked him quietly, “Do you believe in Jesus? Do you know me?”

The man replied, “Yesterday and this morning I attended your meeting, but this afternoon when you lost your voice I ran back to my farm to do some work.”

He hadn’t heard about the arrests earlier that day. In God’s provision he had enabled this man to leave the meeting just minutes before the PSB came. This brother was a hardworking farmer who had many chores to attend to each day. He was working in the field at midnight, spreading fertiliser on his crops, trying to catch up with the time he had lost while attending the meetings.

I told him, “I was captured by the PSB this afternoon but the Lord has rescued me from their hands. He helped me escape over the police station wall. Where am I? Can you help me?”

This dear brother told me, “Come to my home and change your clothes.”

“No!” I protested. “There’s no time. The most important thing is that you take me to see my co-workers and your church leaders.”

This brother’s farm was a long way from our meeting place. He immediately put his load on the ground and led me down a very narrow pathway until finally we came to the house where I’d been arrested the previous afternoon.

When we arrived we heard people loudly praying. They were crying out for me before the Lord, interceding for my release. When they saw me they could scarcely believe their eyes! They were amazed that the Lord had rescued me from the hands of evil men. They changed my wet clothes, bathed my scars, and lovingly wiped the blood from my face and hands.