The Heavenly Man (20 page)

The unity movement continues to this day, although in 2002 the leaders decided to drop the title “Sinim” and just meet as brothers in Christ without an official name. Several more house church networks have joined. At a special meeting in January 2000, the leaders for the first time estimated the number of believers in their networks. The combined total was 58 million.

In March 1997 eleven house church leaders gathered together in Zhengzhou City, the capital of Henan Province. We planned to meet on the second floor of an apartment building. An elderly American-Chinese sister was invited to attend, but it appears government agents followed her to the meeting.

We didn’t know it, but Brother Xu and several of the other leaders had already been arrested and taken away before we even got to the apartment. Armed Public Security officers then hid in the apartment and waited for the rest of us to arrive.

It was a rainy, overcast evening. I telephoned the apartment to enquire if Brother Xu had arrived yet. A voice I didn’t recognize answered and said, “Oh, please come up. Please come up!”

When we arrived we found the apartment door ajar. We walked in and were faced with an array of guns pointed right at us! The officers started to take our belts off and bind our hands behind our backs. The only thought in my mind was to escape. Before my hands had been bound, I backed up towards the window. In a flash I opened it, shouted “Run!” and jumped out, feet first.

I never expected the PSB would have about a dozen officers waiting below the window. I awkwardly crashed to the ground and, because of the height of the fall, badly injured my feet. The officers on the ground never imagined someone would be bold enough to jump out of the window, so for a brief moment I looked at them, and they looked at me, and we both shouted in shock and surprise!

The officers rushed at me, held me down and viciously kicked and beat me. They stamped on my legs and chest with their heavy boots, and pulled my hair back and pistol-whipped me. My bones crunched and snapped under their savage blows and kicks. They then produced a dreaded electric baton and tortured me with electric shocks.

I was thrashed so severely that all I could do was curl up and focus on Jesus, trying not to pay attention to the blows. Finally, I lost consciousness.

The incident was so savage that it was a miracle I wasn’t killed. Later I was reminded of the words of the Psalmist:
“If the Lord had not been on our side when men attacked us, when their anger flared against us, they would have swallowed us alive; the flood would have engulfed us, the torrent would have swept over us, the raging waters would have swept us away. Praise be to the Lord, who has not let us be torn by their teeth. We have escaped like a bird out of the fowler’s snare; the snare has been broken, and we have escaped. Our help is in the name of the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.” Psalm 124:2–8.

When I awoke I was in a holding cell at the Zhengzhou City Public Security Bureau headquarters. Brother Xu and the other leaders were with me. I was covered in mud from the officers’ boots, my ears were swollen from being beaten, and I couldn’t hear properly.

We learned the order to arrest us had come all the way down from the central government in Beijing. They had
somehow learned that we were planning to unite. The house churches were already a thorn in the flesh of the atheistic Communist state, and to think about what could be accomplished if we were unified brought terror to the highest levels of the government. The order from Beijing forced the Henan provincial authorities to treat our case extremely seriously. Not understanding that God’s kingdom is not a kingdom of this world, they feared our unity talks would result in the formation of a political opposition party that would threaten the stability of our country.

The authorities videotaped and photographed the arrest. News of the incident leaked out of China and became known around the world.

We were all tortured horrendously. We were handcuffed and tied together with rope, then beaten with sticks and batons. We expected to be taken out and executed at any time.

The authorities tried to gather evidence against me, so just three days after our arrest they travelled to my home town of Nanyang. When they arrived they found a large church meeting already in progress with about 120 believers present, including my wife Deling. They were all arrested. The main leaders from that meeting were identified and sent to prison, including Deling. Most of the other believers were ordered to pay fines and then released after being interrogated and beaten.

At my court hearing the judge said, “Yun, I’m sick of you. For many years you’ve opposed our government and turned our society upside down. You’ve escaped from custody on numerous occasions. This time you jumped out of the window and fractured your legs. Tell me Yun, if you have the opportunity to escape again, will you take it?”

I thought about it and answered truthfully, “Judge, that is
a good question. I don’t want to lie to you. If I have an opportunity, I will try to escape. I’m called to preach the Good News all over China, and I must do all I can to obey the call God has placed on my life.”

The judge, court officials and guards were all furious at my answer. The judge snarled, “How dare you, you delinquent! I’m going to break your legs permanently so you’ll never escape again!”

I was taken to an interrogation room where several guards forced me to the floor and made me sit with my legs apart. I begged them not to beat my fractured legs, but one sinister-looking man hardened his heart and pulled out his baton. To ensure I would never be able to escape, he struck my legs between my knees and feet repeatedly. He destroyed my legs until I could stand the pain no more. I lay on the ground screaming like a wounded animal. Excruciating pain surged through my body and mind. All I could do was try to focus my thoughts on the Lord Jesus and his suffering on the cross.

I thought I was surely going to die but the Lord sustained me because he wasn’t finished with me. My legs below my knees turned completely black and there was no feeling in them at all. My entire body ached and was bruised from head to toe.

When my torturers carried me back to my cell, however, I wanted to show them defiantly that they could never break my spirit, so I laughed and told them, “I want to thank you for the wonderful massage you gave me today. I feel much better. Thank you!”

After my court hearing I was transferred, along with the other brothers, to the Zhengzhou Number One Maximum Security Prison. I was placed in solitary confinement. My cell was near the duty officer’s room, and shared a wall with Brother Xu’s cell. The guards thought I’d lost my mind and gave me two nicknames, “crazy” and “cripple”.

At the start, I was beaten and questioned non-stop from eight o’clock in the morning until the evening of the next day. The interrogators took shifts so that they could keep up the pressure on me and beat me throughout the night. I wasn’t given any food or water the whole time.

Whenever the guards beat me I repeatedly shouted, “Jesus, save me! Help me, Lord Jesus!” This was the only way I knew to distance my thoughts from the punishment and pain being inflicted upon me.

After that initial experience, we were locked inside our cells except when we were taken for interrogation every second day. Despite my condition, they still regularly tortured me, hoping to break my spirit. Sometimes we were driven back and forth to the Dingshui Police Station for interrogation, at other times to the Zhengzhou Number Nine Public Security headquarters, so we could “taste two flavours” of torture. They especially beat us on our heads, hands and legs.

I had no Bible with me, so I meditated on God’s Word from memory and prayed in tears for the churches. I shouted out Bible verses at the top of my voice, clinging to God’s promises such as Psalm 27:1–3,
“The Lord is my light and my salvation – whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life – of whom shall I be afraid? When evil men advance against me to devour my flesh, when my enemies and my foes attack me, they will stumble and fall. Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even then will I be confident.”

I sang out loudly day and night. On one occasion the on-duty guard was mad at me. He asked, “Are you going to spend the rest of your life in here, you professional criminal?”

I replied, “No! When the Lord’s time has arrived I’ll be released immediately.”

At least on the outside I acted courageously and boldly, but inwardly I was grieving and in great pain. During one interrogation the officers told me I would either be sentenced to life in prison, or, if my attitude improved, I might receive a ten-to fifteen-year sentence.

Faced with such a dim future, I grumbled and complained to the Lord, and even accused him, “O God, I just want to serve you and spread your gospel, but now I’m stuck here in this cell and cannot even walk. You’re weak and failed to protect me!”

Because I couldn’t walk, three different Christian prisoners, including Brother Xu, were given the job of carrying me between my cell, the torture room, and the toilet. I was in a separate cell from the other leaders so we eagerly longed for these brief moments of fellowship.

The torture room was three floors away from my cell, so that afforded us the longest opportunity to talk. Brother Xu didn’t want to carry me to that room, but I told him not to worry, as they would just provide someone else to do the job if he didn’t. Often the few precious minutes we had together strengthened me to endure the beatings and humiliations meted out inside that dark room.

Brother Xu is a softly spoken man. He didn’t tell me what he was going through, but one day I saw him returning to his cell. He has a very powerful build and is a fast runner, but that day he could barely hobble along the corridor. I realized that he too was being tortured.

A young guard carried me around on certain occasions. He saw I was in great pain, and knew I’d received no medical treatment. This young man sympathetically told me, “I am seeing a man truly suffer for Jesus’ name.”

Surprised, I looked into his face. He continued, “After I graduated from the police academy I came to work here. I
come from a Christian family but we’re not strong believers like you. Why should anyone believe in Jesus and preach for him, if this is what you get in return?”

I told him, “You might not see any benefits in my life right now, but in the future I will receive a great blessing from Jesus because of these sufferings.”

This young man continued reluctantly to beat me as his job required, but he always targeted the parts of my body that would result in the least damage to me.

A “false criminal” was placed in Brother Xu’s cell. He pretended to be a Christian but it was obvious he was in the cell to spy and gather as much information as he could. He often acted sympathetically towards me in front of the other prisoners, and would ask Brother Xu, “Do you think Yun will try to escape?” Despite my crippled legs, the authorities were still afraid I would try to escape when I had the chance!

One day it was time for the prisoners to go to the toilet. The spy had fallen gravely ill. His face was pale and it looked as if death was knocking at his door. I told the guard, “I have some experience as a masseur. Please give me five minutes with that sick man and he’ll feel better.”

The guard had me carried into the cell. When I entered, Brother Xu looked at me with eyes of fire. He nodded his head and started to pray. I prayed for the sick man in the name of Jesus and laid my hands on his head. After a few moments he exclaimed, “I feel a hot breeze inside me!”

A few minutes later the guard returned. He asked, “How is the massage going?”

The sick man replied, “It’s going well. I’ve almost recovered.”

The Lord totally healed that man. To show his gratitude, he used some of his money and influence to give me good
food. After this incident even some of the prison guards asked me to massage their bodies when they were in pain, so they started to treat me better.

Even though that man had been sent to spy on us, God used him to bless me greatly. He claimed to be a believer, and said his wife had managed to smuggle a Bible into the prison for him. More likely, the authorities had given him a Bible to help him appear a Christian, so he could win our confidence. Because he didn’t have any interest in reading his Bible, I borrowed it and studied every evening and morning. I wrote down many Scriptures on small pieces of paper and passed them to the brothers to strengthen them by God’s Word.

Some days later Brother Xu carved a picture on the toilet wall to teach the believers we should be faithful and not deny the Lord. I added the words, “Blood, Death, Testimony” under the picture.

Later, Brother Xu wrote a few Scriptures and some words of encouragement on a piece of toilet paper. He rolled it up and placed it inside a
mantou
, then threw it to me across the prison hall. He wrote, “From the beginning of the church until today, all who follow Jesus have had to take up their cross and pay a high price.” Brother Xu also hinted to me that he thought I should try to escape if I had an opportunity.

As the weeks slowly passed, I became more and more depressed at my situation. It seemed as if the Lord had rejected me and left me to rot in prison forever. My legs were crippled and my spirit crushed. Each night I propped my lame legs up against the wall to try to lessen the pain.

My beloved wife Deling was in the women’s prison, and I had no idea what had become of my two children.

It was the lowest point of my life.

* * *

D
ELING
: Because of our abnormal lives, it has been extremely difficult at times for our children, but they’ve also experienced so much love from fellow Christians to help lessen their pain.

No boy of Isaac’s age should ever have to deal with the kind of pressures he has faced. The most difficult time for him was in March and April 1997, when both his parents were in prison for the gospel. Isaac was just 13 years old.

When both parents are imprisoned in China the state tries to take control of the children and place them in a “protective environment”. This means they brainwash them with atheistic teaching, and try to alienate them and cause them to hate their parents.

When both Yun and I were in prison, Christian friends moved Isaac and Yilin from our home village to Nanyang, where they attempted to go to school under assumed names. But the security police were searching for them so they were moved to Zhengzhou City, capital of Henan. But even there it was unsafe, so our children were sent to faraway Shandong Province, where a Christian family took care of them.