"Heavenly Man" - Ch3 - Our Work & God's Power

Another chapter and once again more miraculous events transpire in the life of Brother Yun.  Again, while the miraculous – or at least the obvious movements of God if it be improper to label some as “miraculous” – are exciting, there are also several concrete things we can both learn and apply to our lives from this chapter.  Among them are a commitment to God’s Word (memorizing and sharing it), seeking the Holy Spirit, obedience when God directs, as well as the undeniable truth that our Theology (which is, perhaps in more ways than we realize, impacted/shaped by the songs we sing) ought to impact our lives..

These themes are important because in this chapter the “miraculous” happens (or God simply moves) in relation to what His people do.  It is relatively easy to pray and hope for “miraculous” things; it is quite another to live your life in such a way that God will “show up” in order to validate His people and therefore glorify His name.  

An amazing example of this (our work and God’s power) occurs after Yun had his long sought for Bible.  He read it daily, in spite of having only a third grade education, until he had read it cover to cover.  Yet God did not miraculously enable him to read despite his low literacy skills.  Rather, Yun had to look up most words (which are made up of characters in the complicated Chinese language) as he progressed through the Bible.  Then after having read through the Bible he started to memorize a chapter a day; after 28 days he had memorized Matthew.  Next he read the other three gospels quickly and then started to memorize the book of Acts. 

All of that is “our work” – what we can do.  Sadly, too often it seems we think we “own” the Bible just because we have purchased it, have received it as a gift, or can put it down and stop reading whenever we want.  Yet more accurately the Bible is the subject and we are the object…it pokes and prods our lives and we are to conform to it.  This is made abundantly clear in what happens a bit later in the chapter. 

Basically, Yun is told by God to go and be His witness.  God directs Yun to people who had been praying and fasting for him to come after they heard how he miraculously received a Bible.  They wanted Yun to teach them, but he did not know how to preach.  So Yun did what he could; he recited Scripture – as in the whole book of Matthew.  Yun did what he could, and what did God do?  After Yun recited all of Matthew, with his eyes tightly shut, the Holy Spirit led him to sing Scripture-based songs Yun previously did not know.  After finishing and opening his eyes he saw the people kneeling in repentance with tears running down their cheeks.   That is clearly the work of God…yet it came about as a man did what he could. 

As far as songs influencing our Theology, we will cover them in the next post.  Until then, may continue to grow in our understanding of how to appropriately handle God’s word.  

"Heavenly Man" - Ch2 - (Un)Answered Prayers

While the account of how Brother Yun received a Bible is exciting, there is a detail in it that gives me pause – to say the least.  

Basically Yun prayed for a month for a Bible; nothing happened.  Then he was told (by the former pastor who told him to initially pray for a Bible) to weep and fast while praying.  Yun did this for 100 days (eating only a small bowl of rice at night – cf. the previous post and a hunger for God’s Word).  Then one night Yun had a vision, in which, he received a Bible; it became reality very early the next morning.  It seems miraculous to me.  At least it is outside of my personal realm of experience.  On one hand it is exciting and I praise God for it, yet on another hand I am unsettled by a detail in the account.     

An evangelist, who had suffered much (including 20 years in prison) for his faith, had a vision three months before Yun got his Bible.  In the vision this evangelist saw not only Brother Yun, but also the location of his parent’s house in their village - he was told to give his hidden Bible to Yun.  Having done some quick math it was easy to see that God answered Yun’s prayer…after about 10 days, not 100.  I.e., He gave a vision to this evangelist telling him what to do.  Yet due to the evangelist’s fear it took around 90 more days (equaling the 100 days Yun says it took) for God’s answer to Yun’s prayer to materialize.  I want to be clear, I am not faulting the evangelist; my goodness he had already spent 20 years in prison for serving God.  I can understand being a bit hesitant (but it is still disobedience).  Yet I am startled by God’s response time in contrast to “the final answer” being experienced. 

This leads me to again ponder prayer and our role in it.  I often utilize the end of chapter nine and beginning of chapter 10 in Matthew to illustrate this concept.  Jesus is concerned about those without a shepherd, He tells His disciples to pray for God to send out laborers into His harvest (Mt9:36-37), and then we see Jesus calling the 12 disciples…and then sending them out.  In other words, the disciples were the answer to their own prayer. 

Rolling all of this together I cannot help but wonder; how many times has God “answered” a prayer by telling someone to go…but the answer is delayed (or never arrives) because of a hesitant (disobedient) person?  Some may scoff at the idea.  Yet this flows not only out of Yun’s personal experience – but also the Bible.  

We are at war.  I know this, but events are happening around me that are reawakening me to this reality – again.  I pray this is the last time I need reawakened; I want to stay alert and engaged.  I also pray that I do not hinder God’s answer to the prayers of others…or my own.  Give us strength O Lord.  

"Heavenly Man" - Ch2

It is a struggle to not share all the miraculous accounts Yun tells us about in chapter two.  After all, we are often drawn to the spectacular.  Yet as with any miracle, the issue is not the miracle itself but what it communicates and how we should therefore respond. 

In a land of plenty it is easy for us to take the Bible for granted.  Many homes have more than one, quite often churches have some ready for guests, and bookstores have rows of them on their shelves.  Yet when Yun came to know Jesus (itself involving a miracle) at the age of 16 back in 1974, Bibles were scarce.  In fact, Yun wanted to know more about Jesus so he asked his mother if any of His teachings remained.  She replied, “No. All his words are gone. There is nothing left of His teaching.” (p26).  What she meant was due to oppression no one had Bibles anymore (or at least if they had them, they were hidden). 

For all intensive purposes Bibles were non-existent in China.  In fact, of those in Yun’s village, only a few old believers could recall even seeing a Bible many years in the past.  A former pastor in a relatively nearby village was rumored to have one, but out of fear he would not let the young and eager Yun (still known as Zhenying) see a page of it. 

So, how did Yun get a Bible?  Well, it was miraculous, but that account will have to wait for the next time. 

Yet between now and the next time I encourage you to spend some time reading in this amazing book we call the Bible.  Sadly, we live in a culture that is too easily pacified and amused.  We are often like little children running toward the empty desserts and other unhealthy things of a smorgasbord…leaving ourselves malnourished for the task of winning the world for our King – Jesus. 

Let’s face it; we need food to survive physically.  Can we say the same about the Word of God in our existence as His children?    

Oh God, give us – give me – a hunger for Your Word.  May we long to devour it like a hungry child devours food. 

"Heavenly Man" - through Ch1 [2]

So, is a lack of hardship for churches in our culture for the good or ill of The Church here?  Perhaps progressing through Yun’s story will give us some insight, or at least another perspective, on how to answer the question. 

In light of that possibility, I will call our attention to two additional accounts in the book’s opening pages before moving further.  In the preface of “The Heavenly Man” Xu Yongze, the chairman of the Sinim Fellowship of House Church Leaders in China, says, “I believe God allowed the atheist government to destroy the old structure of the Chinese church so that he could rebuild it according to his own purposes.  He started with little and has made it much!” (p8).  Then in chapter one we learn of the timing of a Lutheran Missionary’s arrival in China from Norway (Marie Monsen) on September 1, 1901.  Christians in Yun’s home province say she was used mightily by God to strengthen churches there. 

Let us look at the account of Ms Monsen first.  The timing of Marie’s arrival becomes alarming when we learn it was a year after “The Boxers” instigated a nationwide attack against foreigners in China.  These “Boxers” massacred more than 150 missionaries and thousands of their Chinese converts (p19).  In case you missed it, Marie’s going to China was in direct response to the martyrdoms of the previous year.  Her actions were either foolish or bold.  The Gospel shows us clearly which descriptor belongs to her actions – bold.   Yet what do we do with that?  How do we apply that same boldness here? 

The comment by Xu Yongze in the preface is intriguing.  It calls to mind the providence of God seen in various places in the Bible (e.g., the second and seventh chapters of Daniel).  In light of that, is God allowing (directing?) things in the U.S. Government (or our culture) to accomplish His purposes?  Are there signs of movement toward a destruction of “the old structure of the American church so He can rebuild it according to His own purposes”?  I will lay aside my disdain for the labels “Chinese Church” and “American Church” simply because they make the above statements more poignant.  Yet I will add there is only The Church, and she transcends national labels and identities. 

With that said, are there signs of God allowing things to happen here so that we are moved in a direction He knows is ultimately for the best?  What are some possible ways we can identify these moves?  Is doing this risky?  What pitfalls should we avoid if we attempt this? 

It seems to me the clearest way to see the work of God is after the fact.  After all, Jesus was missed by everyone; even His disciples did not fully get it until the ascension – and they were still slow in coming to grips with what God was doing and had done.  Therefore, it seems it would have been difficult to convince Christians in China that the oppressive Communist Government would ultimately serve God’s purpose.  Yet it did – God is amazing like that you know?  Praise His marvelous name!!!    

"Heavenly Man" - through Ch1

About two years ago, a good friend (Shane J. Wood) introduced me to the story of “Brother Yun”.  Shortly after hearing some about Yun I promptly ordered “The Heavenly Man,” which is basically his story.  I have already read the book once, but am reading it again and will share some reflections as I progress through the book this time.

The book’s title uses the nickname affectionately given to Yun, whose given name is Liu Zhenying, by brothers and sisters in China as a result of an incident back in 1984.  While under arrest Zhenying refused to endanger his fellow believers by giving his name while being interrogated.  As he yelled “I am a heavenly man! My home is in heaven!” local believers were made aware of the danger so they could flee and avoid arrest (p13). 

The first chapter gives a brief history lesson of governmental control in Yun’s home province of Henan.  The chapter tells of atrocities committed against Christians during the Communist government takeover in the mid 20^th century.  While these accounts are awful, it is often hard for us to relate to such hardship.  However we should not ignore them.  In fact, it seems we ought to be led to ponder if a lack of hardship in America is for the good or ill of The Church here.  Granted, this may not be a popular question, yet it is worth considering.  Another way of posing it could be, “Is God more concerned about our comfort or the advancement of His Kingdom?”  Or is that too direct or inaccurate?