Brother Yun

Brother Yun from China is my hero since his life was filled with plenty of opposition and persecution, yet he always yielded to God and even thanked Him for every day. While this man of God was young, his father died from a lengthy sickness. A few years later Yun had a dream from God telling him to go west and south to preach the gospel. He obeyed and started out on what was a long and tiring journey. Since his family was extremely poor and half-starving he had no money or food of his own. All he had to stay warm was a coat from childhood and a shaggy old blanket. Right from his youth he had to depend totally on God just to survive. God never once let him down.

Yun was only a teenager when he became a house church leader and had the police pursuing him for preaching the gospel. Even when the Public Security Berea posted signs of him saying that he was a “wanted criminal,” he persevered. For almost two years he traveled from town to town preaching to the secret house churches. Since the police were looking for him, it was not safe for him to stay in a town for more than one night at a time. When he was in his mid-twenties, he married Deling. Just before their first baby was born, Yun was found and taken to prison. The next time he would see his wife and the first time that he would see his boy would be in five years after his escape from brutal interrogation. I honestly found him having to leave his wife and child that was to be born in just a few days tough to think about, especially when he did not know when he would see them, if ever. This man’s life is a fantastic example for me to follow as he did not care for his own earthly safety but was committed to follow whatever God had in store for him.

This man of God was taken to prison a total of three times. Once it was twenty years before he was set free! Each time he had to leave his family and go through interrogation that usually knocked him senseless. One of the many parts of Yun’s life that truly amazes me is that while in prison he fasted for seventy-two days! Since that is not possible for a human alone to do that, it really shows that God was right beside him even in the darkest of times. For the numerous years that Yun was in prison, it did not stop him preaching, and he would spread the good news no matter where he was. Yun’s ministry ended in 2002, only six years ago, due to the fact that it was becoming too dangerous for him to keep spreading the gospel.