in this Olympic year of 2008 when China will
be so high-profile.
As
we have written these notes, we have sought to focus the prayer
topics to be in line with the lessons coming through in the chapter
being read. Sometimes that may suggest specific prayer for China
and sometimes not, but we hope that whenever you are praying using
these notes as guidelines, you will always include prayer for the
church in China and for the Chinese people. However, we believe
there are crucial lessons coming through the book and so we would
encourage you to focus on the specific topics coming through in
specific chapters.
b)
Dangers of Unbelief when reading the Book
As
we have prepared these notes, we have been concerned for various possible
negative responses in readers which might hinder those objectives.
Please consider carefully, therefore, the following comments, so that
you may not have negative responses and can be a vessel for the Lord
to flow through in prayer, for the blessing of both our own lives
and the lives of those in China.
It
is our opinion that, for most of us who are Christians in the West,
it is probable that we have never encountered or experienced much
opposition, far less outright persecution, and therefore we may read
the pages of The Heavenly Man with an (unwitting) attitude
of unbelief that either:
-
romanticises these events and unthinkingly
glorifies the ‘wonderful experiences of deliverance' of the Chinese
Christians (refusing to enter into the terrible nature of them)
or
-
denies these things happened, as
the Chinese authorities will no doubt have done, or think of ‘fanatical
Christians' who brought these things on themselves, and who ‘probably
exaggerated anyway!' or
-
says “Well it might have been like
that three decades ago but it isn't like that now!”
Please
overcome those expressions of unbelief. There are four answers to
the last two:
- First
read the book carefully and you see it goes into the twenty first
century and,
- Second,
watch the news carefully and gauge the ongoing nature of the authoritarian,
anti-Christian government that still maintains its opposition
to believers, and
- Third,
read some of the closing chapters carefully to see how they specifically
counter these suggestions of unbelief.
- Fourth,
note the following words from the ‘Open Doors' organisation, a
well known and respected organisation that helps persecuted Christians,
from one of their leaflets earlier in 2008:
“Christians
in China are experiencing an unprecedented level of persecution
and repression. In cities where Bibles have previously been readily
available, they are suddenly in short supply. House churches have
been subject to raids and arrests, and foreign Christians have been
expelled from the country. Local newspapers have singled out local
Christians for abuse and local officials have forbidden Christians
to meet.”
c)
Emotional responses to the Book
Two
other responses that some in the West may experience are:
•
To shrug off the awfulness of what happened and to be unmoved by
it, because we have allowed ourselves to be desensitised to violence
by modern Western TV and films, or
•
To become overwhelmed by the violence and have nightmares, and even
doubts about our faith.
We
need to ask for God's grace to avoid these two extremes and ask Him
to help us enter in with tears to the experiences of our brothers
and sisters in such circumstances, while at the same time appreciating
and rejoicing in the wonder of God's provision for His children –
even in the midst of such things.
d)
Theological Questions raised by the Book
i)
Persecution
This
then brings us to the theological aspects of what happened and does
happen, when we consider the sovereignty of God. There will be some
who will read the pages of The Heavenly Man and ask, why
didn't God protect him from all the awful beatings he received? For
the simple answer to that you have to go to your Bible. Joseph unfairly
ended up in slavery and then prison. Job suffered loss of everything.
Daniel ended up in a lion's den and his friends in a fiery furnace.
Paul's category of unpleasant experiences might make some of us run
a mile from being an apostle! In the book of Revelation, those in
the church at Smyrna were warned that some of them would be put in
prison, while at Pergamum, Antipas had been martyred, but in Philadelphia
they were told they would be spared the hour of trial coming. In Acts
7 Stephen was martyred and many in the church fled the persecution.
In Acts 12 James the brother of John was killed by Herod, yet God
sent an angel to release Peter from prison. Of the remaining eleven
of ‘the twelve', ten died for their faith.
The
truth is that God in His wisdom decides the fate of His servants.
Some He takes through trials and others He takes around trials. Some
die prematurely of violent deaths, others die of old age. There is
no set rule! James established a teaching that trials are to be received
joyfully for what they achieve in us (Jas 1). The message of Job was
that it is not our goodness that sees us through but God's grace and
mercy. When Paul cried out to God in his weakness, he was told by
the Lord, “My grace is sufficient
for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." (2
Cor 13:9). Paul warned Timothy, “everyone
who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”
(2 Tim 3:12) Jesus taught his disciples, “If
they persecuted me, they will persecute you also.” (Jn
15:20). Yun himself saw the various things he went through a means
of purifying him.
We
thus need to understand that persecution is common – even if we ourselves
have not encountered it. It is legitimate to pray to avoid it, or
for it to be stopped, or for God's grace to be available to us in
it. We may not always pray aright, but as we seek to be led by our
Lord, we must simply trust Him and pray accordingly.
ii)
Wisdom from Teaching
There
will be some of us from the West who will struggle with some of the
things which happened in this book. You will see two completely different
prison experiences, the second one being because he took the words
of the Lord about speaking with gentleness and respect and because
he blessed those around him with care for their needs. Why you might
ask, didn't he do that in the first regime and make life much easier?
Later
on you will read about the poverty of his family and wonder about
the inability of the local church and all those he ministered to,
to provide for him and his family. You will read Deling's loyal words
about how he 'generously' gave away her two precious crosses but you
may also catch her anguish at her husband's insensitivity to her needs.
Why didn't the church realise their responsibility to these servants
of God? Why didn't Yun be sensitive to the inner needs of his wife?
May
I suggest that if you do think like that, then it is likely that:
a)
you take for granted the good teaching you receive from your own churches
in the West, and
b)
you haven't taken in some of the fundamental issues involving the
church in China in this period, and
c)
you haven't read on and seen the growth and change in both Yun and
the Church.
For
instance when you read (p.26) about how his family came to the Lord,
you will see that, "My mother had never learned to read
or write" and, "couldn't remember much of God's word."
The very existence of the growing church was almost a miracle in itself
in that it grew without the resources of the Bible that we so take
for granted. You will also note that Yun's main focus was on preaching
the Gospel and seeing salvation come, with very little reference to
wider teaching at that time - and this from a man with very little
education. Whereas many of us can testify to the benefits of teaching
from so many great men of God from around the world, this resource
was denied the church in China until they started having Western contact,
and even then it was limited.
You
may also find yourself struggling from time to time, with Yun's shear
humanity. He was not and is not perfect - but then none of us are!
In chapter 21 you will read of him leaping out of an upper storey
window seriously damaging his legs. It is easy from our positions
of ease to be critical of actions brought about by fear that were
clearly unwise. Similarly you may wonder why he did not enter
into dialogue with his captors, explaining that neither he nor the
Church was a threat to the State. Again it is too easy to be critical
when we have not walked that path. In hindsight these things can be
seen but, as is true of all of us, we don't get any warning at the
time and perhaps don't respond with the wisdom that perhaps we could.
It
is also worth bearing in mind that this was (and is) a church in the
throws of revival, when the Lord was moving very powerfully in salvation
and signs and wonders, and in such conditions it is often humanly
difficult to maintain balance of Gospel preaching and subsequent teaching.
In the chapters that followed, this need for teaching was being addressed.
Moreover, as noted above, as the book develops there is a clear and
obvious development of the church's teaching, especially about caring
for our own family.
Never
lose sight of the fact that this was an embryonic church with very
little teaching input. If these thoughts go through our minds, also
recognise various challenges:
1.
If you wonder about the inability of the church to provide for its
ministers - do you?
2.
If you wonder about Yun's insensitivity to his wife - are you?
3.
If you wonder about the focus on the Gospel and on salvation - do
you have such a passion?
4.
If you wonder about their lack of teaching, do you appreciate your
teaching, value and apply it?
5.
If you wonder about their simplicity and lack of teaching, cry for
the same power they knew.
6.
If you wonder about their slow development of teaching, is your knowledge
& understanding growing?
7.
If these needs of the Chinese church have impacted you, can you join
in meeting their need?
8.
If these examples of the Chinese church have impacted you, have you
learnt through them?
e)
The Chronology of the Book
We
believe it will help the reader to be aware of the time-scale covered
by the book and have produced the following to help you see WHEN various
things happened and to catch an overview of the contents:
| Event
|
Date
|
Chapter(s)
|
| China
becomes a Communist nation |
1949
|
1
|
| Missionaries
leave, pastors arrested |
Early
1950's |
1
|
| Yun
born |
1958
|
1
|
| Deling
(his future wife) born |
1962
|
2
|
| Yun
converted at age 16 |
1974
|
2
|
| Yun
first arrested for preaching when he was 17 |
1975
|
5
|
| Yun's
father died |
1977
|
5
|
| Deling
converted at age 18 |
1980
|
2
|
| Yun
invited to join Three-Self Church but refused |
Dec
1980 |
5
|
| Yun
& Deling married |
Nov
1981 |
4
|
| Yun
arrested but escaped and on the run |
Early
1982 |
4
|
| Great
wave of persecution across Henan province |
1983
|
6
|
| Yun
arrested and badly beaten in Wuyang |
Dec
1983 |
8
|
| Yun
identified and taken to Nanyang – start of 4 year sentence
|
Jan
1984 |
8
|
| Started
long fast |
Jan
25th 1984 |
9
|
| End
of miraculous 74 day fast |
Apr
7th 1984 |
11
|
| Sent
to prison labour camp |
|
15
|
| Released
from camp, after 4 year imprisonment |
Jan
1988 |
16
|
| Bibles
brought in by Westerners |
Mar
1988 |
16
|
| Tiananmen
Square massacre made many disillusioned with Communism &
students & Govt. workers turned to Christ |
June
1989 |
16
|
| New
wave of persecution against House Churches |
May
1991 |
17
|
| Yun
arrested again & given 3 year sentence |
Mid
1991 |
17
|
| Transferred
to labour camp |
Oct
1991 |
17
|
| Released
early after serving 2 years |
May
1993 |
19
|
Development
of teaching in the church |
Late
1993 on |
19 |
| Shown
need to unify the House Church networks |
Early
1994 |
20
|
| First
five leaders of Sinim (China) networks met |
Nov
1996 |
20
|
| Yun
arrested again in capital of Henan Province |
Mar
1997 |
21
|
| Miraculously
walked out of top security prison and escaped |
May
5th 1997 |
22
|
| Left
China to fly to Germany |
Sept
28th 1997 |
23
|
| Arrested
in Myanmar, imprisoned & given 7 year sentence |
Feb
2001 |
27
|
| Released
from prison & returns to Germany |
Sept
2001 |
28
|
f)
Other Studies of the Book
Alternative
studies the reader may like to carry out are to take note throughout
the book of:
•
the many dreams or visions Yun received from the Lord to prepare
or guide him,
•
the number of references to revivals or large numbers being saved
throughout the period in question in China, despite the authorities'
efforts to prevent preaching.
In
such ways you may be able to more fully appreciate the moving of the
Lord in the life and service of this man of God and his wife, and
in the life of the Church in China.
g)
What you will find in the Book
In
this book you will find challenges. It is the story of a Church under
a repressive government, and the beatings and imprisonments imposed
by that government, specifically against this man (although many others
are mentioned). In that respect it is a very unpleasant book.
It
is also a book about the goodness of God, and as you go through it
may we suggest you mark your copy of the book with a marker pen to
highlight the number of times that the Lord gave guidance and direction
to His servants and provided miraculously for them.
It
is also a book of great human courage as this one man draws on the
grace of God in the most terrible of circumstances. However, to provide
a balance perhaps, it is also good for revealing human frailty and
imperfection as he and his wife struggle with circumstances that few
of us in the West even dream of. Sometimes they got it wrong and confess
their frailty.
It
is also a book that you CANNOT do nothing about. If you dare read
it, if you dare work your way through these sixty days of prayer,
you will never be the same again. The challenges are too great!
h)
What you need to be able to read this Book and pray for sixty days
Frankly,
if you are going to read your way through this book, day by day for
sixty days, and also pray using this guide throughout that time, you
are seriously going to need the grace of God.
It
is for this reason that at the beginning of each day's guidance notes
we remind you to pray to ask for help. If you don't do that you ARE
going to struggle and in fact we suggest you WON'T finish the course!
You will need God's help to cope with what you read. You will need
God's help to pray daily. With that help you are in for an amazing
sixty days. May it be so! Be blessed!