Brother Yun

I think the only way I can rightly describe it is as one reviewer did on the back of the book: it really is like reading a modern-day version of the book of Acts. Brother Yun tells freely about his experiences leading the persecuted church in China with humility, and reading this book has deeply challenged me in my own love for Jesus and passion for the unreached. He also applies Bible passages in unconventional ways. Overall, I love the heart behind this story, and it really is one that show more gives glory to God alone. show less

Brother Yun's experience of the revival of Christianity in China results in him having a highly critical view of the western church: that it spends too much time looking inward on unimportant details and too little time focused on evangelising unbelievers. As a biblicaly literate ex-believer, I find his core message and many of his criticisms to be very persuasive.

The style of writing is pretty unappealing. Overall this is a caring gentle polemic, delivered with serious overuse of formulaic show more vague religious platitudes. I expect that believers will be able to assign some specific meaning to phrases like "rivers of living water flowing from you", but not having any personal experience of that or being able to assign to it any concrete scientific meaning, it is hard to digest other than in terms of the general qualitative feelings he is seeking to convey. show less

I felt uncomfortable when reading this book firstly due to the title. Should anyone really name themselves "The Heavenly Man?" I found the many miracles almost unbelievable and would like to have seen other sources that supported his version of events. I'm just not sure I can accept that these things really happened and as another reviewer has pointed out, several of the stories mirror things that happened in scripture down to the last detail (Yun's escape from prison)

I wouldn't recommend show more this as it may confuse a non-believer or a not so discerning believer... show less

A truly amazing testimony, encouraging and eye-opening! This must be around my fifth time reading this book, I’ve lost count. It never fails to have an impact on me!

Brother Yun tells of his experiences as one of the leaders of the Chinese house churches and the great persecution they suffer from the government: from his conversion as a teenager and the beginning of his passion for Scripture and evangelism, to his departure from China with his family to take his ministry to western nations. show more The entire book is littered with Scripture verses that encouraged, sustained, and directed Yun during his lowest moments. It reads a lot like the biblical book of Acts set in present day – miraculous healings, suffering in prison for the sake of Christ, the wildfire spread of the gospel – which just goes to show that God is the same today as He was 2000 years ago when the first-century church was established! He is still actively working miracles and transforming hearts for His kingdom. show less