The Heavenly Man by Brother Yun, Paul Hattaway Read Free Book Online

station or bus station and see “wanted” posters on the walls with pictures of my husband, a fugitive of the law.
    It has certainly been an interesting time being married to Yun! The womanly instincts in me have often craved for a more settled existence and a structured family life, but persecution has usually made this impossible.

CHAPTER FIVE
THE PATH OF PERSECUTION
    The church in our area started to grow in grace and in number as God radically saved many people and sent them out as soul winners. Soon, however, opposition arose against us. Because so many people were believing in Christ the authorities became aroused. Before us, there had never been a Christian in our entire village.
    My mother was identified as the leader of our church and was persecuted by the authorities. They placed a large dunce hat on her head and paraded her through the streets. She was forced to attend “re-education” classes, to “help her reform her incorrect views”.
    After I took over as leader of our church the pressure diverted off my mother and onto me. The authorities frequently came to question her about my whereabouts, but she usually just ignored them and pretended not to understand a word they said! After a while they left her alone, thinking she had lost her mind.
    At the age of 17 I was arrested for the first time for preaching the gospel. In the years to follow we were often arrested and interrogated by the Public Security Bureau.
    Instead of weakening us, the persecution just made us stronger. The more pressure there was, the more fire and lovethere was to spread the gospel. We were like the children of Israel while they were enslaved in Egypt, “But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites.” Exodus 1:12.
    In 1977 my father died. He had been weak and malnourished for some time, and finally, at the age of 66, he passed into the presence of God. The cancer the Lord had healed him from in 1974, however, never returned!
    His funeral was very emotional for me. Even though I knew he was saved and in heaven, I missed him terribly. He was totally supportive of my ministry, and was proud of me, always encouraging me to serve the Lord with all my heart.
    By the winter of 1978 we started to baptize people for the first time. The only safe way was to cut a hole through the ice on the river and baptize the new believers in the freezing water during the night while the police were sleeping. On many occasions we baptized hundreds of people in the rivers and streams of southern Henan. Sometimes the Lord did a miracle so that nobody felt the freezing water. Some even commented that the water had felt warm!
    In the late 1970s multitudes of people were coming to the Lord daily. They were in great need of training and being established in the faith. Even though I was just in my early 20s, I was seen as a mature leader and one of the old Christians because I had come to the Lord in 1974!
    The year of 1980 was a phenomenal year for the church in Henan. We remember it as the year when God constantly did outstanding miracles and divine healing, and the words of Jesus came supernaturally to many people. That wonderful year saw tremendous growth in the church. Later, many of the converts from 1980 became leaders of God’s church throughout China. Henan Province became the Galilee of China, where many of Jesus’ disciples come from.
    In one meeting in the Nanyang area hundreds of people – Christians and unbelievers alike – saw a vision of a beautiful boat floating on a sea of clouds above the meeting place. Many sinners repented and gave their lives to Christ as a result of this sign and wonder.
    In Fen Shuiling (“Watershed Hill”) village, also in Nanyang, an unbeliever was dying after a protracted illness. His family had never heard the gospel. One evening Jesus appeared to that man and said, “My name is Jesus. I have come to save you.”
    Fen Shuiling village is