THE HEAVENLY MAN

Paul Hattaway

 

As the advert says, you'll remember where you were when you read this book. It is without doubt one of the most vivid accounts of the triumph of the faith and courage of a truly remarkable man, over sadistic persecution and cruelty at the hands of the authorities in China.

 

This is the story of Brother Yun, whose nickname 'The Heavenly Man' brings him some amusement these days. It stemmed from an incident in 1984 when during one of his many beatings from the Public Security Bureau, he refused to reveal his identity and shouted, "I am a heavenly man!" to warn a group of Christians in a nearby house that they were in danger of arrest.

 

Many of the events in the life of Brother Yun are hard to believe, they sound far-fetched, but Paul Hathaway, in his introduction to the book writes, "In researching this book I interviewed dozens of Christians in China who were eyewitnesses of, and completely verified the events contained in its pages". Paul Hathaway is a respected writer and an expert on the Chinese church.

 

Yun tells in the book of an occasion when he was arrested for preaching the gospel. For half a day he was paraded behind a slowly moving police car, through Shangnan township in the Chinese Province of Shaanxi. He had a large, red wooden cross strapped to his back. Yun was bound with strong ropes and made to kneel in the dirt while officers punched him in the face and kicked him from behind with heavy boots. Eventually he was taken to the police station and thrown into the interrogation room. He found himself alone in the room and there he remembered how the angels had opened the prison gates for Peter.

 

"The Holy Spirit spoke to my heart", he said; "The God of Peter is your God", and the rope that bound his arms suddenly snapped by itself. It was as though God had blinded the eyes of the guards as he simply walked through the middle of on-lookers in the courtyard. But the front gates were locked and the only way out of the compound was over an eight-foot wall topped with sharp glass - he decided to jump over it. "First I pulled myself up onto the wall as high as I could, and I saw that on the other side was a ten-feet wide open septic tank".

As he hung to the side of the wall he says he felt as if somebody hoisted him up and threw him over, right over the septic tank. How did it happen? "A scripture came to mind; With your help I can advance against a troop; with my God I can scale a wall". Samuel 22 v 30.

 

The Heavenly Man, is packed with all the action you'd expect in a James Bond novel, but it's rooted in reality. What makes it so readable is the down-to-earth-ness in the numerous contributions by Yun's wife, Deling, at the end of some of the chapters. It's almost as if the narrator is popping out of Yun's cell every now and then to place the whole riveting epic in context. As Deling tells of the things that are happening in her life while Yun is in prison, things of which Yun is unaware, the reader has the advantage of seeing God at work in the bigger picture.

 

The Heavenly Man is an absolute must; there's over 250,000 copies currently in print. But what makes it so special? As Rev Dr Mark Stibbe comments, "It's like reading a modern-day version of the Book of Acts. Prepare to be deeply encouraged as well as rudely awakened".

Published by Monarch Books in conjunction with Christian Solidarity Worldwide.

Reviewed by Adam Harbinson

Price £7.99

Click here to buy online

The story of Yun, the Heavenly Man, is a story that can change your life. Somehow you're left with the feeling, this is how it should be! God is not the God of the Old Testament, nor is He the God of the New Testament in the sense that He has been confined to history. He is the God of the here and now. Yun's God never failed him, even in his deepest darkest hour.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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