Book Review: The Heavenly Man

The Heavenly Man

by Brother Yun with Paul Hattaway. Monarch Books,

London.

2002

Paperback, 351 pp

        The lady who first brought this book to my attention called it “life changing”. At first the title sounds presumptuous—but far from it. Brother Yun is a Chinese Christian, born into very impoverished circumstances in southern Henan Province in 1958. His mother was illiterate but had heard and responded to the gospel in the late 1940’s. With the Communist revolution in 1949, Christianity seemed to be almost wiped out. But when her husband fell sick with lung and stomach cancer, in her desperation she heard a voice say, “Jesus loves you.” She “repented of her sins and re-dedicated herself to the Lord Jesus Christ.” She then called her whole family together and they all committed to Christ, and even saw their father healed of his cancer.

        The next piece of the story is his search for a single Bible. He had never seen one, but eventually a frightened pastor from pre-revolution days showed him his.

        At only 16 years of age, Yun was on fire for the Lord. After a few years of preaching the gospel at house churches he seems to have come to the attention of the authorities and from then on, he suffered at least four lengthy imprisonments up to 2001. The mid chapters of   the book, detail the horrors of these imprisonments—the beatings, the humiliation, the pain, the loneliness, and yet he reports an unspeakable nearness to the Lord. Some of these horrors we haven’t even imaged, including transportation of human waste, electric batons discharged in his mouth, and beatings till his lower legs were almost pulp. At one point, he decided to fast—and that fast lasted 74 days, till he was so shrivelled up he was hardly recognizable as a man.

        After unimaginable hardship, disease and torture, he was finally given refugee status by Germany, and several years later his wife, son and daughter also escaped.

        There are details throughout the book that we Western Christians may have difficulty with—visions from the Lord, long fastings, dreams, and healings feature very frequently. Someone has even put up a website in Germany, just to debunk everything about Yun. In response Brother Xu (“Shoe”), who has known Yun for decades, has written a Preface that claims, “I testify that every story in this book is true.” And Paul Hattaway, the New Zealander who helped write the book, and is “an expert on the Chinese church”, has put out an 11-page “Open Letter Regarding ‘The Heavenly Man’”, in which he brings out a great deal of testimony to the sincerity and integrity of Brother Yun. I myself watched a video of Brother Yun preaching in a Kansas church, through his Finnish interpreter, and was moved with compassion.

        There is a very great deal more that could be said but in the final analysis, we can only say what the Lord said to the disciples of John the Baptist: “Go back and report…what you hear and see…Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.” Matthew 11:4-6.      

       And why was he called “The Heavenly Man”? Because, as he left a secret house church in China, he fell into the clutches of the Public Security Bureau who demanded his address. In order to warn and save the others still in the church, he shouted at the top of his lungs, “I am a heavenly man! I live in Gospel village.” (p.83)

Citizenship

     I was talking with a friend who has US citizenship and in recent years has gained Canadian citizenship as well. I envy her a little bit because it gives her the right to free access to most of North America. I do have Canadian citizenship, and I even found that, through my grandfather, I could also gain Irish citizenship, or at least an Irish passport.

       Citizenship is a big thing in the Bible too. The Roman commander in Jerusalem when Paul was first arrested, Claudius Lysias, admitted that he had to pay “a lot of money” to get his citizenship. Paul countered that he was born with his. And it was his Roman citizenship that saved him from “interrogation” (that is, a beating, see Acts 22:24-28), and got him out of prison in other places (for example, Philippi in Acts 16:37-38). In fact, it was his Roman citizenship that got him his hearing before the emperor himself. Without Roman citizenship, he might never have even gotten out of Jerusalem alive.

        But, in fact, my friend really has treble citizenship, and even I have dual citizenship. We have common citizenship with the Apostle Paul in another country. In fact, 2000 years before Paul, even Abraham had citizenship in that country. Heb.11:10 tells us that “he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.” Paul told the believers in Philippi (3:20) that “our citizenship is in heaven”

        One of the biggest responsibilities of a citizen is to support the government by paying taxes. I pay my taxes in Canada, and I’m grateful for the freedom and protection I get in return. What about our heavenly citizenship? In the first instance, the Lord Himself said about the children of the kingdom, that they don’t really owe taxes (Mat.17:26). But there may be other things our citizenship requires of us…patriotism—we love our country and its Ruler; defense—or at least explanation of why we’re in this new country; justice to fellow-citizens (and non-citizens), love for fellow-citizens…love for oppressed citizens of “the other country”—we really want them to immigrate!

        The basic principle of how we Christians should treat one another, heavenly citizen or not, is the same as the Jews treating foreigners in their midst. God says, in Leviticus 19:33-34, “When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God.”

        There is another great advantage to our citizenship. We don’t ever want to meet the ruler of this present world (Eph.2:2). But Paul tells us that “we eagerly await a Saviour” from heaven, who will “transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.” Our citizenship in the old country we came out of has nothing like this to offer us. One day we will meet our new Ruler—and be like Him.

Some thoughts about the Lord’s Supper

       Several years ago, my wife pointed out that if there is someone we appreciate, one of the first things we want to do is sit down and eat with them (or at least have coffee and a donut with them).

        Back in Genesis 18, three men showed up at Abraham’s tent door and his big concern was to get a meal for them. Joseph, in Egypt, brought his unknowing brothers to his house and said, “They are to eat with me at noon.” Gen. 43:16.

        Turning to the New Testament, one of the nastiest insults is that inflicted by those people who were invited to the king’s dinner and made excuses or just never showed up. Matt.22:5.

        Then Luke tells of a Pharisee who wanted to honour Jesus. What did he do? He “invited him to eat with him.” Luke 11:37.

        Jesus had often eaten with his followers but what was his heart’s desire in the upper room? “Eat with me!” It was kind of a graduation banquet cum farewell dinner. It was so important to him that he projected it down the ages, even to us— “Do this in remembrance of me.”

1 Cor.11:24.

        This was the “last supper”, but it was also the first “Lord’s Supper” or “Breaking of Bread”. These men were his friends, but he was also setting a precedent for believers to follow until he returns.

        After the resurrection, Jesus walked to Emmaus with two disciples and what did they ask— “Eat with us!” Also about this time, Jesus ate in front of his disciples to prove he wasn’t a ghost. Later, by the Sea of Galilee, he prepared the meal for them and again, his invitation was “Come and have breakfast.” John 21:12.

        Another classic example would be Revelation 3:20, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.” Remember Holman Hunt’s painting of Christ standing at the door and knocking. Also remember that, when someone complained that there was no handle on the door, Hunt said, “The only handle is on the inside.”

       So, the burden is on us. He won’t save us against our will and, equally, he won’t force us to “remember him” and attend the Lord’s Supper. It is our choice. But always remember this too— “We love because he first loved us.” 1 John 4:19.

“Adoption”

        My sister adopted two children, and I have two sisters-in-law who adopted as well. And they love those children fiercely! Adoption is as strong as—and perhaps even stronger than—natural birth. From God’s point of view, the bond of His adoption of a person is far stronger than the bond of His original creation of that person.

         There are several examples of adoption in the Bible:—

·         Abraham was going to adopt Eliezer as his heir. Gen.15:2, 3.

·         Jacob adopted Joseph’s two eldest sons as sons of his own, i.e., Ephraim and Manasseh were Jacob’s grandsons, but they were honoured as equal heirs with Judah, Reuben and the rest. Gen.48:5.

·         Moses was adopted by Pharaoh’s daughter. Ex.2:10

·         Esther was adopted by her cousin, Mordecai. Est.2:7.

·         Jeconiah (aka Jehoiachin or Coniah) [Jeremiah 22:30] was cursed that no direct descendants of his would ever sit on the throne. See also Matthew 1:12. This is a difficult story to follow but it seems to mean that Joseph (husband of Mary) could never be king but his adopted son, Jesus, could, by way of David’s son Nathan, and Mary.

        In the Roman world one of the most dramatic adoptions was Julius Caesar adopting Octavian (post-humously, no less, i.e., in his will) so the latter could become the next Emperor (called “Augustus”). Augustus later adopted Tiberius as his son and heir.

        When we move into the New Testament, the subject of adoption takes on a whole new meaning and brings us into the spiritual realm and into the family of God. The strongest verse on the subject doesn’t even use the word: John 1:12-13. “Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God — children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.”

        There are five main verses referring to ‘adoption’ in Paul’s letters (and only Paul uses the word):

1.      Romans 8:15. The Spirit has brought about our adoption to the Father. Before that we were not children but slaves. Now being children of God we are on such a footing with Christ that we are co-heirs with him and must expect to share his sufferings as well as his glory.

2.      Romans 8:23. Full and complete adoption includes the redemption of our bodies.

3.      Romans 9:4. “Adoption to sonship” was intended for Israel but Israel failed.

4.      Galatians 4:5. The sequence is redemption, adoption, sonship, heir.

5.      Ephesians 1:5. Paul goes even further back and tells us that believers were predestined for adoption to sonship.

        Other Scriptures come at the same subject from a different angle. The believer in Christ becomes an “heir” with Him, a “co-heir”, a “joint-heir”, simply because the Father has adopted them. Every time we say “Father” or “Our Father” we are taking the place of children adopted into God’s family.

        And this brings us to still another subject, the new birth. How does the new birth tie in with adoption? “The adopted one became, in the eyes of the law, a new creature. He was born again into a new family.” [Unger’s Bible Dictionary] He lost all rights held in his former family and, by extension, all obligations (and all transgressions) as well.

        Many of the old hymn-writers thrilled to the fact of their adoption by God. For instance, in the Believers Hymn Book alone there are at least fourteen hymns that mention this fact: We will end with two of the better known:

#249 by John Kent:

Heirs of God, joint-heirs with Jesus

Long ere time its race began;

To His Name eternal praises,

O what wonders love hath done!

One with Jesus;

By eternal union one.

 and #366 by J.N.Darby:

That love that gives not as the world, but shares

All it possesses with its loved co-heirs.

ISN’T IT GREAT BEING IN GOD’S FAMILY?

Return and give thanks!

     One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan. Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine?”  Luke 17:11-19.

        Several months after Joy and I were first married, we went to a park in the west end of Toronto. The swimming hole was just a widening of the river and there had been a heavy rain the night before so it was pretty murky. As she and I walked into the water, we noticed a few bubbles coming up to our right. We walked on in and swam for five or at the most ten minutes.

        We came back out and Joy’s foot touched something.  “There’s a body down there, there’s somebody down there!”, she shouted. So I reached down right to the bottom of the river—it was about three feet deep—and pulled out a seven or eight year old boy. I lifted him up and shouted for the lifeguard. The two young lifeguards who were on duty went to pieces, but the master lifeguard came, got the child over his shoulder and drained the water out of his stomach and his lungs; the ambulance came and they took care of him; they took my name and address and phone number. And as the ambulance left they said over the loud speaker that the little boy would be okay.

        The next morning we called the hospital and couldn’t get any information. We tried to find something of the story, but nothing—absolutely nothing. So in the end, we know how Jesus felt—we saved that boy—he was as good as dead—we saved his life—nobody ever thanked us, we never even found out any more of the story.

        That takes me back to this story of Jesus and the lepers. I was thinking that in the Breaking of Bread, we’ve done what Jesus wanted us to do. He said, “Do this in remembrance of Me.” And in doing this, we return to give Him thanks.

        There were ten lepers, and if we look around at a typical Lord’s Supper there are not huge numbers. Are there nine more out there somewhere, who have never come and given Him thanks? I believe there are.

ROMANS:

ROMANS: Encountering the Gospel’s Power

By John Stott with

Carol Nystrom

InterVarsity Press

©1998

112 pp.

       “Romans is a kind of Christian manifesto of freedom through Jesus Christ.” This is the first sentence of Stott’s Introduction to this Bible study, and it sets the tone for the entire book. A manifesto is “a written statement that describes the policies, goals, and opinions of a person or group.” I had never looked at Romans in that light before but after working my way through this study, I can see how Paul covers all the bases.

        For instance, Paul’s first six verses tell us that the message is from God, it was promised long ago, it concerns Jesus and His resurrection, and it comes to Jews and Gentiles.

        Stott’s second chapter talks about “A Downward Spiral”. Mankind has become godless and wicked. Until we see our sin, we’re not ready to hear about justification. Other chapters (not corresponding with the chapter numbers of the book of Romans itself) look at “Misplaced Confidence”, “Forgive Us Our Debts”, “Peace with God”, “Battling Sin”, “Understanding God’s Purposes”, “God’s Grief”, and “Unity, Liberty & Charity”, among others.

        Stott’s progression through the basics of the gospel is very clear, and wonderful to experience. His comments are a joy to read and his questions for study are exceptionally perceptive. For instance, in the chapter “God’s Grief”, he asks, “Make a mental review of what you have said and done in the last week. In what ways have you confessed that Jesus is your Lord?”

        Two more questions—The chapter on “God’s Fairness”, asks, “How might God’s judgment be a kindness?” and later, “What can we do to cultivate a healthy conscience?” Good questions for thought and action, not just questions of fact.

        I first came across Stott’s Bible studies in Jesus Christ: Teacher, Servant & Savior. After working my way through it twice now, I recommend it first, before Romans. You’ll worship Jesus all over again. You’ll learn more about Him than you could imagine possible. Then you’re ready for Romans, because it shows where you’ve come from, how to live now, and where you’re going.

        John Stott is a man very much worth reading. Many years ago I enjoyed Your Mind Matters, hardly more than a tract. Recently, I’ve worked my way through The Cross of Christ, 350 pages of fine print. And in between is Why I Am a Christian. Stott was a deep thinker, with a very broad base of historical and theological knowledge; above all he was a devout and conscientious Christian. He will make your appreciation for Christ grow like no author before him.

Five Words:

“The most important advice you will ever hear!”

        Recently while I was in the grocery store, I walked up to the Deli Counter. I stood there beside a large man, as I was waiting for my turn. The server behind the counter was a young girl in a white apron. She did not even notice me, because she was deep in conversation with the gentleman. They were mid conversation, and she was telling him that she was now a diabetic. “I always keep a few candies in my apron pocket,” she said, “that way if I don’t feel well, I take one and it gives me enough sugar so I don’t pass out.” He seemed to know a lot about the condition, and the conversation became quite long and deep and involved.

        I suppose I shifted rather impatiently, because I was waiting to finish shopping. They both became aware of my eavesdropping, and she attempted to wrap up his purchase, and the conversation. However, just as he seemed to be leaving he leaned over the counter, made eye contact with her, and said, “And now I am going to tell you the most important thing you will ever hear in your entire life!” I wondered, “What could this possibly be?”  I was overjoyed as I heard him tell her, “True life is in Jesus!” 

        He smiled at us both and said, “That is my five-word sermon,” and he left. But not before I smiled back at him and said, “Amen.”

Joy Wilson