(Here’s a book I want to read. Rowland). THE HEAVENLY MAN by Brother Yun with Paul Hattaway

“The Heavenly Man”, the Christian Booksellers Convention Book of the Year 2003, is the remarkable life story of Brother Yun, a Chinese Christian who first came to know the Lord as a young man in 1974 towards the end of the Cultural Revolution. It is a story full of amazing miracles, extraordinary church growth and horrendous suffering, which sums up many of the experiences of China’s house churches over the past thirty years. Brother Yun’s own words are interspersed with short testimonies from his wife, Deling, and with occasional contributions from other top Chinese house church leaders.

Brother Yun’s testimony can be summed up in his own words, which describe his feelings after serving a four year prison sentence: “I had experienced so much in those four years, but God had been faithful. I’d suffered some horrible tortures, but God had been faithful. I’d been dragged in front of judges and courts, but God had been faithful. I’d been hungry, thirsty, and had fainted from exhaustion, but God had been faithful. Through it all, God was always faithful and loving to me. He had never left me nor forsaken me. His grace was always sufficient and He provided for my every need.”

Although many of Brother Yun’s experiences will be alien to most believers in the West, the lessons he learns are very relevant to us all. He is honest and humble enough to admit his mistakes, and his stories of disobedience to the Lord’s instructions, burnout from overwork, and the problems caused by putting ministry before his family should ring bells for Christians wherever we live.

After all that he has suffered to bring to the Gospel to the unreached, Brother Yun has certainly earned the right to challenge us about our faithfulness in reaching the nations. Towards the end of the book, he shares concerning the vision of the Chinese house churches to take the Gospel “back to Jerusalem” and encourages us to join with them in this task. He comments: “I believe the best way for the Chinese church to remain strong is to keep it motivated to reach out to the nations of the world. When believers focus on serving the Lord and reaching the lost, God blesses them and the church remains sharp. When we become self-centred and critical of each other, Satan has won already and the church will become a blunt, useless instrument.” That’s certainly a lesson that can be applied to all our churches.