5.10.2009
5.06.2009
recommended book
"The Heavenly Man" by Brother Yun and Paul Hattaway is an incredible book. I suggest that anyone that has a chance ought to read it. (Maybe you could get it through inter-library loan at your local library.)Amazon had 155 reviews for this book. Here is one of the reviews -
Surviving heaven and hell in modern China, March 15, 2004
By
Michael JR Jose (the UK) - See all my reviews The 'Heavenly Man' gets his name from a time when he was being publicly arrested by the Chinese state police for preaching (an offence for which you can still die in China), and he refused to give his name and address to avoid incriminating others. Under pressure, he shouted aloud as a warning for the village to hear, "I am a Heavenly Man". This defiance and denial of the state and assertion of his individual rights only enraged the enforcers even more, but certainly saved a few others from capture that night. The Heavenly Man's true name is Liu Zhenying, and the brothers call him Brother Yun. He was born in a mud hut house in 1958 in Nanyang County, the southern part of Henan Province, China. His peasant farmer village is very small, only 600 souls, but Henan Province has 100 million, and has been widely influenced by his preaching and leadership in the persecuted house church movement. Brother Yun is currently in exile in Europe with his family.
This account of the way things are for the oppressed in modern China is not for the faint-hearted. It is a harrowing but inspired account of his life from his conversion at the age of sixteen (with the rest of his family), up to 2002. Almost every type of miracle is recorded here. Of course, whether the reader believes any or all of them will depend on many things, but most basically it will depend on whether your worldview contains any supernatural aspect. If you go so far as to believe that there is a God and that he can intervene by his Will direct, as opposed to just working through people, then you may be inclined to accept all that he says. He is a veteran of the Chinese state prison system. Under the almost incessant vicious treatment of the communists he was attacked bodily and mentally in torture and public humiliation. It is no surprise that it took miraculous powers to bring him through: without it he simply would not have survived physically or mentally.
His family and friends also suffered terribly. As China is an honour-shame culture, the absolute rights and wrongs of individual justice and truth are as often as not of no importance in determining your public treatment at the hands of the community and authorities. Being shamed, or the fear of being shamed, is often all it takes in terms of social control and compliance. (The other side of the social compliance mechanism is the Hebrew internalised justice-guilt culture, which 'Westerners' have...so we are eclectic Easterners really. Our jurisprudence is essentially Greek. In the justice-guilt concept what matters most is the actual truth of the case, not what people think or the circumstantial evidence. Our version of honour-shame is sadly exemplified in the debased hysteria of the screaming tabloids, peer pressure in the youth, and fashion victims. But all stable cultures require a blend of both elements.)
The risks of being a Christian in China today are all too evident. Brother Yun and his co-pastors quite rightly condemn the state-controlled 'Three-Self Patriot church' as an ineffectual and neutralised collection of infiltrated collaborators. It is a running dog, paper tiger type of church. They are called 'caged birds' that enable the communists to falsely claim that religious freedom exists.
Yun's conversion starts with the night vision of his mother, desperate in plight, as their father lies dying of cancer. She is converted instantly, and the next day they pray for their father who is healed. The family become Christians. Yun needs a bible (extremely difficult to get at that time), and almost fasts and prays himself to death. The bible is miraculously provided. He shares his faith and preaches. He is then plunged into a whirl of healings, miraculous escapes, supernatural dreams and visions, conversions of almost insane death-row prisoners, and escapes from prison that read like episodes from Star Wars.
The style in which everything is reported is so dry and plain that it seems that only Yun's simplicity saves him from being accused of fantasy beyond the normal reaches of fiction. He speaks as man consumed by the truth and the passion of his convictions. I myself believe what he says, and am one of such sceptic mould that I parse every miracle report and 'word' I hear with great care. If I reject what I hear most often it is on the grounds of 'good intention' and thin evidence: the person's motive may be good but the method bad. To me it clear that Brother Yun has only survived with his life through an incessant stream of miracles.
During his final arrest he broke both his legs. As a well-known escapee he was incarcerated in a maximum-security prison and his broken legs are tortured to cripple him for life. He is warned by God that he must escape very soon or die. At the right moment he walks out of the prison like the invisible man (on the broken legs, not realising that they have been instantly healed), and he eventually escapes to Germany. His family escaped via Burma (where he survives an unspeakably vile Burmese prison), and they now live in exile in the west.
I am currently reading, "Living Water" by Brother Yun. It is a collection of Yun's dynamic teachings.
Surviving heaven and hell in modern China, March 15, 2004
By
Michael JR Jose (the UK) - See all my reviews The 'Heavenly Man' gets his name from a time when he was being publicly arrested by the Chinese state police for preaching (an offence for which you can still die in China), and he refused to give his name and address to avoid incriminating others. Under pressure, he shouted aloud as a warning for the village to hear, "I am a Heavenly Man". This defiance and denial of the state and assertion of his individual rights only enraged the enforcers even more, but certainly saved a few others from capture that night. The Heavenly Man's true name is Liu Zhenying, and the brothers call him Brother Yun. He was born in a mud hut house in 1958 in Nanyang County, the southern part of Henan Province, China. His peasant farmer village is very small, only 600 souls, but Henan Province has 100 million, and has been widely influenced by his preaching and leadership in the persecuted house church movement. Brother Yun is currently in exile in Europe with his family.
This account of the way things are for the oppressed in modern China is not for the faint-hearted. It is a harrowing but inspired account of his life from his conversion at the age of sixteen (with the rest of his family), up to 2002. Almost every type of miracle is recorded here. Of course, whether the reader believes any or all of them will depend on many things, but most basically it will depend on whether your worldview contains any supernatural aspect. If you go so far as to believe that there is a God and that he can intervene by his Will direct, as opposed to just working through people, then you may be inclined to accept all that he says. He is a veteran of the Chinese state prison system. Under the almost incessant vicious treatment of the communists he was attacked bodily and mentally in torture and public humiliation. It is no surprise that it took miraculous powers to bring him through: without it he simply would not have survived physically or mentally.
His family and friends also suffered terribly. As China is an honour-shame culture, the absolute rights and wrongs of individual justice and truth are as often as not of no importance in determining your public treatment at the hands of the community and authorities. Being shamed, or the fear of being shamed, is often all it takes in terms of social control and compliance. (The other side of the social compliance mechanism is the Hebrew internalised justice-guilt culture, which 'Westerners' have...so we are eclectic Easterners really. Our jurisprudence is essentially Greek. In the justice-guilt concept what matters most is the actual truth of the case, not what people think or the circumstantial evidence. Our version of honour-shame is sadly exemplified in the debased hysteria of the screaming tabloids, peer pressure in the youth, and fashion victims. But all stable cultures require a blend of both elements.)
The risks of being a Christian in China today are all too evident. Brother Yun and his co-pastors quite rightly condemn the state-controlled 'Three-Self Patriot church' as an ineffectual and neutralised collection of infiltrated collaborators. It is a running dog, paper tiger type of church. They are called 'caged birds' that enable the communists to falsely claim that religious freedom exists.
Yun's conversion starts with the night vision of his mother, desperate in plight, as their father lies dying of cancer. She is converted instantly, and the next day they pray for their father who is healed. The family become Christians. Yun needs a bible (extremely difficult to get at that time), and almost fasts and prays himself to death. The bible is miraculously provided. He shares his faith and preaches. He is then plunged into a whirl of healings, miraculous escapes, supernatural dreams and visions, conversions of almost insane death-row prisoners, and escapes from prison that read like episodes from Star Wars.
The style in which everything is reported is so dry and plain that it seems that only Yun's simplicity saves him from being accused of fantasy beyond the normal reaches of fiction. He speaks as man consumed by the truth and the passion of his convictions. I myself believe what he says, and am one of such sceptic mould that I parse every miracle report and 'word' I hear with great care. If I reject what I hear most often it is on the grounds of 'good intention' and thin evidence: the person's motive may be good but the method bad. To me it clear that Brother Yun has only survived with his life through an incessant stream of miracles.
During his final arrest he broke both his legs. As a well-known escapee he was incarcerated in a maximum-security prison and his broken legs are tortured to cripple him for life. He is warned by God that he must escape very soon or die. At the right moment he walks out of the prison like the invisible man (on the broken legs, not realising that they have been instantly healed), and he eventually escapes to Germany. His family escaped via Burma (where he survives an unspeakably vile Burmese prison), and they now live in exile in the west.
I am currently reading, "Living Water" by Brother Yun. It is a collection of Yun's dynamic teachings.
flowers
"In the absense of any other proof, the thumb would convince me of God's existence" - Isaac NewtonTake a minute and observe those flowers. Do you think they also point to a Infinite Creator?
( Photo taken by Sveta)
5.01.2009
Good days
VBS week
Some of the boys
Us, girls working on our life of Jesus Books
Emily with girls
Emily teachingHere are some pictures back from the VBS we had last week.
May has come. In 21 days I hop on the plane for Haiti. People ask me if I'm ready my reply is "I'll be ready in 21 days". These past few weeks have been very fruitful and busy.
A couple weeks ago, I did an intensive study on "The Pilgrim's Progress" written by John Bunyan. "The Pilgrim's Progress" is an phenomenal analogy of the Christian life ... I found it extremely well written. (Maybe that's why it has become an Christian classic :) Aaron's father lead me in that study.
The next week was followed by Vacation Bible School. The kids were on Spring break. VBS was six hours each day. Good times. Aaron and Jumar would take the boys to a park in the mornings. Emily and I had the girls here at the house. We would progressively watch part of the Jesus film and then work on our "Life of Jesus" book. The girls seemed to get into the film even though it wasn't action packed. Different people brought lunch each day. In the afternoons, we had the girls and boys together. The first two days it was rainy. That means we had all of them in the house. To say the least, it got a bit hectic. Day three, the sun decided to show it's face. That day we had lunch park and spent the afternoon there. The theme in the afternoons was - We are more than conquerors.
It is emotionally exhausting thinking about the future of all those kids. The future of these kids are bleak without God. I want to make the kids choose the decisions which lead to life. All we can do is live out the truth, pray for them, teach God's ways, and trust God to do the rest. I am encouraged by these lyrics ..."Our God is mighty to save ... Savior He can move the mountains, our God is mighty to save He is mighty to save forever, author of salvation He rose and conquered the grave Jesus conquered the grave..." I thought if God can move mountains and conquer the grave. He can save these kids too. Jesus can show them another way to live...
Last weekend, Emily and I went down to see our family's. It was a wonderful visit. I cried when I arrived and when I left. One of my favorite parts of the trip was our Sunday afternoon hike at Colum Branch. At Colum Branch, we walk up a creek a little ways then through fields and woods. At one point we were at a little pond with teams of salamanders. Some of the little ones decided play in the mud. It was just relaxing. At one piont I asked, "Emily, what do you hear?" She listen for a long time and said, "No traffic, just running water and birds" Anywhere here you can hear traffic ... Sveta has pictures on her blog.
4.19.2009
Quote
"Let my heart be broken with the things that break God's heart"
-Bob Pierce, World Vision founder
-Bob Pierce, World Vision founder
4.12.2009
Psalm 8
Psalm 8O Lord, our Lord,
How excellent is your name in all the earth,
Who have set Your glory above the heavens!
Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants
You have ordained strength,
Because Your enemies,
That You may silence the enemy and avenger.
When I consider Your heavens, the work of your fingers,
The moon and the stars, which You have ordained,
What is man that You are mindful of him,
And the son of man that You visit him?
For You have made him a little lower than the angels,
And You have crowned him
with glory and honor.
You have made him to have dominion over the works
of Your hands;
You have put all things under his feet
All sheep and oxen -
Even the beasts of the field,
The birds of the air,
And the fish of the sea
That pass through the paths of the seas.
O Lord, our Lord,
How excellent is Your name in all the earth!
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