The Heavenly Man (9 page)

The prisoner who had carried me there jumped to his feet and protested, “From the day Yun entered prison he has suffered severe pains in his head and chest. He hasn’t eaten anything for more than ten days.” There was nothing my persecutors could do except order me to be carried back to my cell.

All the other prisoners in my cell witnessed these events. They saw that I didn’t eat or drink a thing. Most of the time I just lay down in the corner of the cell and said nothing. My hands were tightly manacled for much of the time. The prisoners started to wonder how I could continue to live without eating or drinking anything. As the days and weeks passed my fellow prisoners started to discuss among themselves, “What does this man’s life stand for?”

My body was getting smaller and weaker, but my spirit was enlarged and strong.

From 25 January to 2 March 1984, I had not eaten or drunk anything.

On the evening of the 38th day of my fast, the devil tempted me, “Yun, Jesus fasted 40 days. How can you as a servant do more than the Master? Are you going to fast longer than Jesus? Will you try to outdo your Master?” Suddenly dark clouds filled my heart. I had never experienced such desperation. I was in an intense spiritual battle.

It was as if thousands of demons surrounded me and attacked me with all their strength. I felt discouraged and hopeless. I was so weak in my body and mind that I even contemplated suicide. I hadn’t spoken for so long that when I tried to pray out loud I discovered my voice had become a faint whisper. I asked, “God, what shall I do?” At that time the Lord didn’t say anything to me, but I knew he was watching over me. I asked, “Lord Jesus, why are you allowing me to be buffeted like this? Please receive my spirit.”

After a long night of struggle I again came before the Lord. He told me,
“I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.” Revelation 3:8.

When I heard these words my heart was filled with joy! I felt like a little boy whose father has taken a stand for him against bullies. “Yes, Lord, you know my deeds!” I cried.

God’s voice impacted me like thunder from heaven. My tears burst forth. That moment I had a powerful vision. I saw a series of iron gates open, one after another.

Amultitude ofmenandwomenfromvarious nationalities, arrayed in beautiful colourful clothing, were worshipping together before the Lord. My heart filled with light and strength. God gave me a joyful spirit. In the vision I sang to the Lord with a loud voice,
“I will praise the Lord all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.” Psalm 146:2.

The vision continued and I saw my life as a boy flash in
front of me. It was like a curtain being pulled back and I clearly saw that from birth God had called me to himself.

In the vision I exclaimed, “Lord, I don’t have any chance to go out and preach the gospel. Even if you opened the gates of the prison this very moment, I’m so weak that I couldn’t even crawl out of the door.”

But the Lord revealed his will to me through two Scriptures that I hadn’t paid special notice to before this time,
“For God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable”, Romans 11:29,
and
“I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.” John 14:12.

The Lord released the pain in my heart and dispelled the darkness from my soul. Like living water welling up inside me, a spirit of joy filled my heart.

I felt I had passed through the valley of death. The Lord had sustained me.

I continued to fast.

The devil continued to put many bad thoughts into my mind. He asked me, “Who will take care of your family when you die? Where is your God? Has he forsaken you and left you to die?” I meditated on God’s Word to counteract these attacks, such as Micah 7:8–9,

* * *

DELING
: After my husband was arrested there were many brothers and sisters who helped me every day. Of course I had the burden and the pain of having my husband imprisoned while I was pregnant, but the believers eased the weight of my burden and it wasn’t a terribly dark experience for me. The unbelievers in our village constantly tried to put me down but I paid no attention to them.

Yun was brought back from Wuyang to Nanyang in a van. He was tortured at the local police station for eight months. All the reports we received indicated that his sentence was going to be one of two things: execution or life in prison. Even Yun’s own brother said his crimes were so severe that he would be executed.

The believers outside the prison heard that Yun was suffering terribly, and that he had taken a stand of uncompromising trust in the Lord. Some people who were allowed to visit their relatives in prison passed on rumours to us about a miracle man inside the facility who lived without eating. Many people around town were talking about this strange event.

Thousands of house church Christians continued to pray and fast for my husband day and night. Meanwhile the churches continued to grow. Great miracles and signs and wonders took place regularly, causing thousands to be added to the body of Christ.

The devil tried to tempt me through my relatives. The wife of my elder brother came to my house and advised me to divorce Yun and find another man while I was still young. Others also placed pressure on me to divorce him, especially when it was believed he would be put to death anyway.

I refused to listen to them.

Many Chinese preachers have been forsaken by their wives while they were in prison for the gospel. One brother, Li, was sentenced to many years in prison. The moment the sentence was read out in the courtroom his wife stood up and shouted, “I divorce this man!”

I didn’t want to do such a thing.

During the fast I was very weak in my body, yet my spirit was alert and I continued to trust in the Lord. I knew that his grace was sufficient for me.

Because of what God had told me, I kept fasting longer than 40 days. I continued to pray constantly and sought God’s forgiveness and mercy for my family, our church, our country, and for myself. I often quoted Psalm 123:1–2,
“I lift up my eyes to you, to you whose throne is in heaven. As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maid look to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God, till he shows us his mercy.”

In this way, God accepted my heart’s desire to continue to fast and pray. I entered into a very intense spiritual war, the kind of which I’d never experienced before.

Let me take a moment to explain what it’s like when I receive a dream or vision from the Lord. These don’t happen
frequently, but usually only when there is something important or urgent God wants to impress on me. All the visions I’ve received are very short, often lasting just a second or two. Often a picture or scene flashes into my spirit and mind, yet it is so vivid and real I know it’s from the Lord.

As Christians we are not to live by any vision or dream, nor should we seek after them. We must only live by the Word of God and seek the face of Jesus. But we should also be open to allow the Lord to speak to us in these ways if this is how he wants to. Any vision or dream we receive needs to be carefully weighed against the Scriptures, as nothing from God will ever contradict his Word.

God spoke to people through dreams and visions all the way through both the Old and New Testaments. In these end times the Bible declares,
“I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams; your young men will see visions.” Joel 2:28.

Out of the various dreams and visions the Lord has given me over the years, only once or twice have I received a vision that I saw with my eyes open – an actual scene that was visible to my eye and not just an inward impression. One such vision happened on the 40th night of my fast.

I saw a great yellow sandstorm that had been whipped up from the desert. It carried a swarm of millions of poisonous hornets, vipers, scorpions and centipedes. The wind lifted the roof off my house. The foundations of my home stood firm, even though the roof was lifted off and the walls cracked. The poisonous creatures started to attack me.

At that moment, in my vision, I turned around and saw a naked prostitute. She opened her shirt to expose herself, and called out for me to come to her for refuge. I was confused. On one hand I longed to flee from the painful creatures that
were stinging me, yet I didn’t want to run into the arms of a prostitute.

I wondered what I should do. Suddenly, in my vision, my mother appeared in front of me. Her face was shining and peaceful. She lovingly said, “My son, lie down quickly.” She gave me a large loaf of bread and instructed, “Son, eat it immediately.”

Those thousands and thousands of hornets, snakes, scorpions and centipedes continued to attack my body. I couldn’t stand the pain any longer and shouted, “Lord, help me!” My own voice awakened me from the vision. I found it was already midnight and I was still in the prison cell.

The experience was so real to me that I could hardly believe it had only been a vision.

Later that night after I had gone to sleep I received another dream from the Lord. This one was brief and I didn’t comprehend its meaning. I saw myself carried away to a white-walled room. White sheets surrounded me. A man dressed in white clothes told me, “Stretch your hand out on the sheet.” When I did so, a red bloody handprint appeared on the sheet. I didn’t understand how it got there because there was no ink or anything else on my hand.

When I woke I couldn’t figure out what this dream meant, but I knew the Lord would show me in due time.

I put my hand on Brother Li, who was next to me in the cell. I whispered, “Tomorrow I’m going to have another trial and I will suffer more for Jesus. Please pray for me.” Brother Li mumbled something and fell back to sleep.

At about 9 a.m. the next morning I heard a voice calling, “Bring Yun out!” The steel hinges on our cell door creaked open.

Brother Li carried me to the interrogation room because I was too weak to walk. Li was a new Christian. Before he
came to the Lord he was known as a violent man and a ruthless robber. He was assigned to watch me closely, and to report everything I did to the guards. I knew the government had placed Li in my cell as an informant.

After living with me for some time he realized I was just a Christian pastor. He saw the consistency of my life and witnessed God’s sustaining power during my fast. He saw that I lived what I taught and was not a criminal. One day as Li carried me back to the cell he leaned forward and whispered, “I now believe in your Jesus.” He became my very dear brother.

Before the interrogation began I sensed the Lord was standing beside me and was my strength and joy, as the Psalmist wrote,
“I have set the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure.” Psalm 16:8–9.

The more I meditated on God’s grace the more faith I received.

As Brother Li carried me he prayed under his breath, for I had told him a great trial awaited me. The officers directed him to place me on the ground. They told Brother Li to sit down and wait.

That day two new officers came to interrogate me. I refused to talk. I just closed my eyes and lay down. One of the men kicked me and shouted, “Yun, you will speak today!” The other officer forced my eyelids open and said, “Look around, Yun! We have methods to deal with people like you. If you don’t want to speak we’ll make you!”

This time they had brought various instruments of torture with them, including whips and chains.

Another officer approached me with an electric baton. He turned the voltage up to the highest level and struck my face,
head and various parts of my body with it. Immediately my body was filled with overwhelming agony, as if a thousand arrows had pierced my heart.

The Holy Spirit encouraged me with three Scriptures from the Bible: “
He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.” Isaiah 53:7.

“To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.” 1 Peter 2:21.

“Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.” James 1:12.

By meditating on the Word of God, the Lord strengthened me to endure. I realized any suffering I was to go through was nothing compared to what Jesus had suffered for me, and that no pain I could ever experience was beyond the understanding and compassion of the Lord Jesus.
“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet was without sin.” Hebrews 4:15.

The Lord didn’t allow me to feel as much pain as I should have. The officers stood on my hands and my feet, electrocuting me again and again. They pulled my eyelids, lips, ears and other body parts to humiliate me.

I still refused to speak. I was a half-dead pile of skin and bones lying motionless on the cold cement floor.

Realizing their approach wasn’t working, one officer suddenly changed his attitude and adopted a “silk glove” method. He said, “Stop! Wait a minute! Yun, I’ll give you another chance. This day, if you admit your crimes against the government, we’ll release you if you agree to attend a Three-Self Church. We can even let you become the Chairman of the regional branch of the Three-Self Patriotic
Movement! We’ll stop investigating your previous crimes and will forgive you.”

He kicked me again and asked, “Yun, did you hear what I said? Do you accept my offer? Answer me immediately!”

Before I opened my mouth to answer, I was reminded of the vision of the prostitute trying to lure me to safety.

Suddenly my spirit was taken away from my body and I saw the vision again of the snakes, scorpions, hornets and centipedes that had attacked and almost killed me as I lay on the ground. I realized why God had shown me the vision the previous night.

The officers tried brutality, then seduction, in an attempt to conquer me, but the Lord enabled me to repel their efforts.

Seeing their methods were not producing the desired results, they instructed Brother Li to carry me to the prison’s medical clinic.

A short, fat man dressed in white entered the room and told the four guards who had accompanied me, “Please leave me alone as I examine Yun.” After they left the room the doctor told me, “Yun, if you won’t talk, I can make you talk.” He smiled with an evil grin. “This needle will help cure you of your problem. It will make you talk.”

The guards were called back in. They spread my hands and feet and held me down on the bed. Then they separated my fingers and held them palm-down on a wooden board. The doctor took a large needle, labelled number 6, from his bag. Starting with my left thumb, he jabbed the needle under my fingernails one at a time.

I can’t describe how I felt. It was the most excruciating agony I’ve ever experienced. Intense pain shot through my entire body. I couldn’t help but cry out. Lapsing between consciousness and unconsciousness, I couldn’t tell if I was in my body or separate from my body.

By the time the doctor reached my middle finger the Lord mercifully allowed me to faint and not feel the pain being inflicted on me.

When I awoke I had no feeling in either of my hands or fingers. I felt a terrible surging pain running through my entire body. Despite the cold weather I was covered in sweat from head to toe. I understood the dream I’d received from God of my red handprints on the white sheets.

Later on Brother Li told me he didn’t know what had happened. Forced to wait outside at the other end of the corridor, he’d heard the doctor shout, as he started to torture me, “Yun, take your stubborn mind and go and see your God!”

When Brother Li heard me scream like a wounded animal he could do nothing but pray for me, so he bowed his head and asked God to preserve my life.

After I returned to the cell the other prisoners asked what was wrong with me. Brother Li fell on his face and sobbed uncontrollably. When he managed to compose himself he explained what had taken place. They all felt pity for me. Even those hardened criminals had tears in their eyes when they heard what had happened.

Thank God he protected and preserved me through these trials. I knew that God was using the wrath of evil men to accomplish his purposes in me, to break down my self-centredness and my stubbornness. He taught me how to wait on him, how to patiently endure hardship, and how to love the family of God in a more real way.

After these tortures I felt just like David described in Psalm 102:4–5,
“My heart is blighted and withered like grass; I forget to eat my food. Because of my loud groaning I am reduced to skin and bones.”

Even though the officers and doctor had stabbed me, kicked me, and electrocuted me, they didn’t get what they
wanted. They were furious. After a few days they devised a new plan. One morning I heard the prison gates open. One of the men in my cell climbed to the window and looked out. He saw a few well-dressed PSB officers enter. They ordered the guards, “Bring Yun out!”

They ordered Brother Li to wrap my blanket around me and carry me out. A motor-tricycle with a sidecar was outside the prison gate, waiting to take me to the Nanyang Hospital, where a doctor examined me and concluded, “Yun does not have any serious medical problems except that he’s badly dehydrated. We must give him an IV, so fluids can enter his body.”

A nurse prepared two bottles of saline liquid for the IV. I closed my eyes and heard cameras clicking as the nurse inspected my arm. The doctor told the nurse, “He’s too thin to find a vein. We’ll just have to stab the needle into his arm.” The doctors and nurses were acting for the reporters and cameramen who’d been called in to witness this staged performance.

They still couldn’t find my vein so they made me lie down on a bed in the hallway. Many people walked past me and despised me.
“All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads: ‘He trusts in the Lord; let the Lord rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him.’” Psalm 22:7–8.

I was a pitiful and dreadful sight. Like the Apostle Paul said,
“We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to men…. Up to this moment we have become the scum of the earth, the refuse of the world.” 1 Corinthians 4:9,13.

Finally the nurse stabbed the needle into my arm muscle because she was frustrated at not being able to find a vein. The reporters were waiting and the medical staff had grown flustered by the delay. Two bottles were emptied into the
muscle tissue of my arm. Immediately it swelled up and I was in great agony.

The doctors and nurses didn’t care if I lived or died. They just did the performance for the newspapers to “prove” that the state had been concerned for me. The authorities were certain I would soon die and wanted to show they had tried to “help” me.

I was returned to the prison, where another session awaited me in the interrogation room. I closed my eyes but the officers again forced my eyelids open with their fingers. They played with me and mocked me, but they couldn’t make me speak.

Two officers took me back to my cell. They threw me onto the cement floor, took away my blanket, and used two electric batons to electrocute and beat me again.