The Heavenly Man (21 page)

This was a very stressful time for Isaac and Yilin. In just a few months they had to change schools and move three or four times. Isaac had a lot of responsibility resting on his young shoulders. He had to look after his little sister, all the while trying to understand what had happened to his mother and father.

Later we were told that in Shandong, Isaac walked around looking down at the ground all the time, hoping to see some money that might have been dropped. The family who hosted them was very poor and could hardly afford to buy food.

After my release from prison I was secretly smuggled out of Henan and taken to see my children. When I first saw Isaac, he told me, “Mama, I have great burdens in my life now.”

I asked, “Isaac, you are just a child. How can you carry heavy burdens at your age?”

My 13-year-old son replied, “Father is in prison again. How are we going to survive? I worry about the future.”

It was at this lowest point of my life that I bitterly complained to the Lord.

I was 39 years old but saw no hope or future for me. I told the Lord, “When I was young you called me to preach your gospel in the west and south. How can I do that now? I’m sitting here in this prison with crushed legs and I’m resigned to rot in this place until the day I die. I’ll never see my family again. You have cheated me!”

Rumours abounded as to what would happen to us. Even outside the prison, believers knew our arrest was extremely serious because the order had come from the central government.

And now, Brother Xu was suggesting to me that I should try to escape! I know Xu is a man of God who listens closely to God’s voice, so I politely told him, “My legs are smashed and I am locked in my own cell with an iron door. I cannot even walk! How can I escape? Your legs are fine. Why don’t you escape?”

On the evening of 4 May 1997, like every evening for the previous six weeks, I reached down and took hold of my
limp legs. Pain raced through my body as I propped them up against the wall. I found this was the best way to minimize the agony. By diverting the blood flow away from my legs they became numb and I could sleep fitfully throughout the night.

The very next morning, in my depressed and hopeless condition, the Lord encouraged me with a promise from Hebrews 10:35,
“So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.”
I awoke with these words in my mind.

As the prison slowly stirred to life, I started to read the Book of Jeremiah. The Lord related it to my injuries and my situation in a very powerful and personal way. It was as if the Holy Spirit was speaking to me directly through his Word:
“Let my eyes overflow with tears night and day without ceasing; for my virgin daughter – my people – has suffered a grievous wound, a crushing blow…. Have you rejected Judah completely? Do you despise Zion? Why have you afflicted us so that we cannot be healed? We hoped for peace but no good has come, for a time of healing but there is only terror…. For the sake of your name do not despise us; do not dishonour your glorious throne. Remember your covenant with us and do not break it.” Jeremiah 14:17,19,21.

I felt just like Jeremiah. I was overwhelmed and it seemed as if the Lord had abandoned me to rot in prison forever. I cried out to the Lord, echoing Jeremiah’s words, “Oh God, why have you afflicted me so that I cannot be healed? I hoped for peace, but no good has come. Please Lord, do not despise me.”

I continued reading,
“Alas, my mother, that you gave me birth, a man with whom the whole land strives and contends! I have neither lent nor borrowed, yet everyone curses me.” Jeremiah 15:10.

Once again the words seemed to leap off the paper and
into my spirit. It was a very holy time, as though God Almighty himself had descended into my cell and was dealing with me face to face.

I had so much grief stored up inside me, and it all started to gush out before the Lord. I sobbed, “Lord Jesus, just like Jeremiah said, everyone strives against me and curses me. I can’t take any more. I’ve reached the end of myself.”

I wept so hard that my eyes became swollen from all my tears.

My Lord comforted me like a loving father holding his little boy. He reassured me with the next verse,
“The Lord said, ‘Surely I will deliver you for a good purpose: surely I will make your enemies plead with you in times of disaster and times of distress.’” Jeremiah 15:11.

From my inmost being I cried out to the Lord from Jeremiah 15:16–18,
“When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart’s delight, for I bear your name, O Lord God Almighty. I never sat in the company of revellers, never made merry with them; I sat alone because your hand was on me and you had filled me with indignation. Why is my pain unending and my wound grievous and incurable? Will you be to me like a deceptive brook, like a spring that fails?”

Many times I asked him why I was in such pain. I could bear it no more. My heart was downcast and I was ready to give up.

God’s Word came again to me with both a severe warning and a promise,
“Therefore this is what the Lord says: ‘If you repent, I will restore you that you may serve me; if you utter worthy, not worthless, words, you will be my spokesman. Let this people turn to you, but you must not turn to them. I will make you a wall to this people, a fortified wall of bronze; they will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you to rescue and save you,’ declares the Lord. ‘I will save you from the hands of
the wicked and redeem you from the grasp of the cruel.’” Jeremiah 15:19–21.

As soon as I read these verses, a powerful vision suddenly came to me even though I was wide awake.

I saw my wife Deling sitting beside me. She had just been released from prison and was preparing some medicine. She lovingly treated my wounds. I felt greatly encouraged and asked her, “Have you been released?”

She replied, “Why don’t you open the iron door?”

Before I could answer she walked out of the room and the vision ended.

The Lord spoke to me, “This is the hour of your salvation.”

Immediately I knew this was a vision from the Lord, and that I was meant to try to escape.

My solitary cell shared a wall with the cell containing Brother Xu and some of the other believers. We had a pre-arranged signal that if any of us were in trouble and needed urgent prayer we would knock twice on the wall.

Brother Xu heard my knock.

I called to the guard. He came to my door and asked me what I wanted. I told him, “I need to go to the toilet right now.”

Because it was Brother Xu’s job to carry me around, the guard opened his door and ordered him to carry me to the bathroom.

Whenever prisoners were allowed outside their cells, an iron gate in the corridor was locked, so there would be no chance of escape. A stairwell leading down to the floors below was on the other side of the gate. We were still completely closed in. The gate opened for people on the outside coming back in, but could not be opened from the inside.

Each floor of the prison was protected by an iron gate. Normally two guards were stationed on either side of every
gate, so to make it to the prison courtyard I would have to go through three iron gates on three floors, and pass six armed guards.

Brother Xu came to my door. As soon as he saw me he commanded me, “You must escape!” He then went back to his own cell, and collected his toothbrush and towel so the guards would think he was about to use the bathroom.

When Brother Xu returned, he again solemnly ordered me, “Yun, you must escape!”

I was dressed only in my underwear, so as quickly as I could I pulled my trousers up. I had written Scriptures from the Gospel of John and 1 Peter on a long piece of toilet paper. I fashioned it into a belt of truth, fastening the Word of God around my waist. I prayed, “Lord, you have shown me that I must try to leave this prison. I will obey you now and will try to escape. But when the guards shoot me, please receive my soul into your heavenly dwelling.”

It was now more than six weeks since my legs had been smashed. Even putting a little weight on them caused tremendous agony. But I believed God had told me in three different ways that I was to try to escape: through his Word, through the vision I’d received that morning, and through Brother Xu.

I have learned that when the Lord tells us to do something there is no time for discussion or rationale, regardless of the situation we face. When we are sure God has told us to act, as I was on this occasion, blind obedience is called for. Not to obey God implies that we are wiser than him, and that we know better how to run our lives than he does.

It was just before eight o’clock in the morning of 5 May 1997. To the natural mind, this time of day was the worst possible time to try to escape! There was normally so much activity throughout the prison, with all the guards at their posts.

I shuffled out of my cell and walked towards the locked iron gate in the hallway. My mind was solely focused on obeying God. I looked straight ahead and prayed beneath my breath with every step I took.

A guard who pushed a button when he wanted the gate to open and close sat at the top of the third-floor stairwell. It was impossible to see to the other side because the gate was made of iron and the small windows were covered with black cloth. At the exact moment I reached the gate, another servant of the Lord, Brother Musheng, was returning to his cell and the gate was opened for him. That morning he had been ordered to sweep the prison courtyard. As Musheng passed me I told him, “Wait! Don’t close the gate.” I walked through without even breaking my stride! The Lord’s timing was perfect!

As we passed, Musheng asked in a whisper, “Are you leaving, Brother Yun? Are you not afraid to die?” Then, with an astonished look on his face, he returned to his cell.

There had been a guard accompanying Musheng back to his cell, but at the exact moment he opened the gate for Musheng, a telephone rang in an office down the hallway and the guard turned and ran to answer it.

I noticed a broom leaning against the wall in the stairwell. I picked it up and continued walking with it down the stairs to the second floor. An armed guard was positioned at his desk facing the second iron gate. That gate was sometimes left open. Because an on-duty guard was assigned to watch the gate day and night, it wasn’t considered a risk to leave it unlocked. At that moment the Holy Spirit spoke to me, “Go now! The God of Peter is your God!”

Somehow the Lord seemed to blind that guard. He was staring directly at me, yet his eyes didn’t acknowledge my
presence at all. I expected him to say something, but he just looked through me as if I was invisible!

He didn’t say a word.

I continued past him and didn’t look back. I knew I could be shot in the back at any moment. I continued to silently ask the Lord to be ready to receive my spirit, thinking these moments were to be my last in this world.

I continued walking down the stairs, but nobody stopped me and none of the guards said a word to me!

When I arrived at the main iron gate leading out to the courtyard I discovered it was already open! This was strange, as it was usually the most secure gate of all. There were normally two guards stationed at the first-floor gate, one on the inside and one on the outside, but for some reason neither of the guards was present and the gate was open!

I discarded the broom I had carried with me from the third floor and walked out into the courtyard. The bright morning light made me wince. I walked past several guards in the yard but nobody said a word to me. I then strolled through the main gate of the prison, which for some strange reason was also standing ajar!

My heart was pounding! I was now standing on the street outside the Zhengzhou Number One Maximum Security Prison! I was told later nobody had ever escaped from that prison before.

Immediately a small yellow taxi-van pulled up next to me, and the driver – a man in his late 20s – opened the passenger door. He asked, “Where are you heading?”

I got in and replied, “I need to go to my office as quickly as possible, so please drive fast.” I gave the driver the address of a Christian family I knew in Zhengzhou and we drove away from the prison. I told him that if we came to a traffic jam to drive around it, and not to stop for any reason.

All of these events seemed to happen in just a few moments. It was like a daydream. I was unsure if the whole thing had really happened or if I was dreaming. I don’t know how the Lord did it or why all those iron gates, usually so tightly locked, were standing open for me. All I knew was I was sitting in a taxi and we were heading to the home of my friends.

When we arrived I asked the driver to wait while I went to borrow some money to pay the fare.

I climbed the stairs to the third-floor apartment and rang the doorbell twice. One of the daughters of the family looked through the security hole in the door and immediately recognized me. She excitedly said, “Oh Brother Yun, you have been released from the hospital (meaning, prison)!”

I told her, “Yes, I’ve left the hospital, but I didn’t do so by the normal procedure. Can you please lend me some money so I can pay my taxi fare?”

She was so excited to see me that she forgot to open the door! Finally she returned and gave me the amount. I quickly ran downstairs to the waiting driver and paid him.

The precious Christian family warmly welcomed me inside their home. One of the daughters told me, “The whole church has been fasting and praying for you and your co-workers for more than a week. Yesterday the Holy Spirit told my mother, ‘I will release Yun and the first place he will stop will be your home. He will stay for a short time and will pray with you.’

“My parents told us to expect your arrival and we have organized a secret place for you to hide. Nobody else knows about the place except us. My mother has already prepared some food and clothes for you. Come, change your clothes and we’ll take you there.”

After we prayed together, I was given a bicycle and one of
the family members rode on the back, directing me to my hiding place, wisely travelling down small alleyways to avoid the roadblocks being set up on the main streets because of my escape.

The moment I started to pedal the bicycle was the first time I realized the Lord had healed my feet and legs! My mind had been so focused on obeying the Lord and preparing to be shot that I never even noticed that God had healed me. I never felt any healing power. From the time my legs were smashed with a baton until the day I escaped, my legs had remained completely black and unusable. I couldn’t even stand up, let alone walk. The most I could do was crawl a short distance by grabbing hold of the wall.

Brother Musheng told me later that when he passed me on the third floor I was walking normally, so it seems the Lord must have healed my legs while I was still in the prison cell. As I rode along on the bicycle I was reminded of God’s Word,
“Make level paths for your feet, so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.” Hebrews 12:13.