Brother Yun

Paul Hattaway

Original edition published in English under the title The Heavenly Man by Lion Hudson IP Ltd, Oxford, England.

The Remarkable True Story of Chinese Christian Brother Yun

The Heavenly Man

Todd Luallen

A remarkable story of following Jesus under an incredibly hostile government. There is a tremendous amount of scripture presented in this book, and I love the call to take up our cross presented within. I will say that Brother Yun describes his life as one in which the miraculous is significantly more commonplace than in any other missionary / pastor book I've read to date. I am not comfortable saying that Brother Yun is exaggerating or that the events didn't happen, but I will say that many times through the book I wondered why God chose to do the miraculous in Yun's life much more so than in other believers throughout history. Granted, I have only been exposed to a couple dozen famous missionaries and pastors. But there seems to be a consistent thread in the biographies I've read; this book breaks from the mold quite a bit.

In addition there were times within the book in which I felt Yun responded toward authority in a way in which was unbiblical. Even Jesus never commanded anyone to kneel and repent. There is a call, yes, but never a command. I know we all make mistakes and we still fight the flesh, but in the book it is not presented as careless zeal, or youthful ignorance, it is presented as a righteous act.

Much of the early book reads like a Hong Kong action flick. I don't mean that in a demeaning way, I just mean that the dialogue is strikingly similar. I am willing to assume this has to do with the language and cultural differences. But my first impression was that this story was too fantastical to believe (and I'm not talking about the miraculous here, I'm talking about the way people talk to each other). As an example, I found it hard to believe that an American that was trying to meet Yun, would "weep all day" because he missed a scheduled appointment with Yun. It may seem like a small thing, but one after another little things like that stretched me to a point of uncomfortableness with the validity of what I was reading.

Having said that, the more I read, the more I liked the book, but I still hold my reservations. I don't know if I'll be recommending it, but I sincerely hope that Brother Yun and his family are indeed completely honest in all their dealings. 

If all the things in this book are true, then I'm sure God will bless the reach of this book and the impact it will have for many generations. I'm giving it 4 stars for the time being because there is such a great call to action within the pages, and I love the stated goal of evangelizing the Silk Road regions back to Jerusalem.

The Heavenly Man The Remarkable True Story of Chinese Christian Brother Yun

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