Biography
Brother Yun, whose Chinese name is Liu Zhenying, was born in 1958 in a poor village in Henan province, in central China. His family were farmers. He grew up during the years of the Cultural Revolution, when religion was suppressed and the churches were closed. His mother was a devout believer who prayed in secret. In 1974, when he was sixteen, he fell seriously ill, and his family thought he would die. He prayed, and he says that he was healed. He took this as a sign that God was real. He began to read the Bible, which his family owned in secret, and he was soon preaching.
He became a leader in the house churches of Henan. He traveled from village to village, sharing the gospel and training others. He was arrested several times, held in prison and beaten. In 1983 he was arrested for the first time and spent over a year in jail. He describes many other imprisonments over the next years and tells of cruel tortures, including beatings and long periods in solitary confinement. He says that during one time of fasting he went many days without food or water. He continued to preach whenever he was freed.
In 1997 he was arrested again and was held in a prison in Hunan province, where he was crippled by beatings. He tells that he escaped from the prison in a way that he believes was miraculous, walking through a series of gates in broad daylight, unseen by the guards. He went into hiding and made his way out of the country in 2001, eventually settling in Germany. He has traveled widely since then, speaking in churches in many countries.
He is best known for his book The Heavenly Man, published in 2002 with the help of the writer Paul Hattaway. It is the story of his life and of the persecution of the church in China, and it has been read by millions. He also spoke of the vision known as the Back to Jerusalem movement, which holds that the Chinese church is called to take the gospel westward along the old Silk Road, to the Muslim and Buddhist lands between China and Jerusalem. This vision has inspired many Chinese believers to go out as missionaries.
It is right to say that some of the events he describes cannot be checked by outsiders, and some Christian observers have raised questions about parts of his account. He has faced criticism over the details of his stories and about some of the teaching and practices of the churches he came from. At the same time, the suffering of the house church in China is well documented. Many of the believers there have been imprisoned and have endured great hardship. His life is a window into that world.
He has said that he wishes to point to Christ and not to himself. His witness shows the fire of a church that grew under pressure. It is a reminder that the Lord is at work among the poor and that the faith of the persecuted can strengthen believers in lands of freedom.