Liu Zhenying, better known as Brother Yun, is driven by one goal: fulfill the vision God gave him at 16 years old to preach the gospel. Because of that vision, Brother Yun played an instrumental role in developing China’s network of house churches in the 1980s and ’90s.
“The heavenly man”—as Brother Yun has been affectionately called—is well-acquainted with suffering for Jesus’ sake. He has been in jail three times for his faith (his testimony is that he simply walked out of prison and all the doors opened) and was even exiled from China. But he is also well-acquainted with the power of God. Brother Yun is more passionate than ever to see the church bring the gospel to all races and all nations, especially Israel.
Charisma has written about Brother Yun several times. In fact, he appeared on Charisma‘s cover in 2007. In our cover story about him, we take an in-depth look at Brother Yun’s life and ministry; the imprisonments, torture and false accusations he has endured; and his supernatural escape from a high-security prison. Click here to read the entire article, and if you haven’t done so already, click here to subscribe to the magazine.
While at Heidi Baker’s Live to Love conference in Orlando, Florida, God allowed me to interview Brother Yun. I could hear the passion in his voice as he shared the vision God gave him to fulfill the Great Commission.
“I was called by the Lord when I was 16, and He had given me a very clear vision to preach the gospel to the West and the South,” Brother Yun told me with the help of an interpreter.
He also told me that more people need to pray for the church in China. Lately, as the Chinese government has lessened its religious persecution, the church has let its hunger for God and spreading the gospel weaken.
“First thing, we need a lot of prayers for the church in China so we can also resurrect that sense of urgency to bring the gospel back to Jerusalem, to have that sense of mission and that sense of fear—but not in a scary way but rather a reverence for the Lord,” he says.
Brother Yun is a steadfast proponent of the Back to Jerusalem movement, which started in the late 1940s when mainland Chinese house churches felt burdened to preach the gospel and establish Christian fellowships between China and Jerusalem. Believers from these churches started traveling on foot from Eastern China toward the West, preaching as they went. But as they approached the Western border of China, the Cultural Revolution started (Mao Zedong’s communist takeover), and they were accused of being revolutionaries. They were sentenced to jail, where some stayed as long as 30-40 years. Sadly, some even died there.
“For the sake of this vision, I was imprisoned for a third time in China, but by the grace of the Lord, He has brought me out of prison again,” Brother Yun says. “After I came out of prison for the third time, I heard the Lord telling me, ‘Your time in China is up. I’m taking you out of China to another country. I’ll be taking you to a foreign land, where all the faces will look different and they will speak a different language, but do not be afraid.'”
And God is fulfilling that prophetic word. Now, Brother Yun’s followers are spreading the gospel not only in Western countries but also in Muslim and Buddhist countries. Believers are preaching throughout the 10/40 window—and each country with its own challenges.
“China has its own cross to carry,” Brother Yun says. “But outside of China, there’s a different cross. The crosses might be slightly different, but the weight of the cross is the same.”
But he points out that in order to fulfill the vision God gave him, the church must rise up and take advantage of its power in Christ.
“I firmly believe our Lord is a resurrected God, just as Paul said,” Brother Yun says. “He became flesh and was buried and was resurrected. And that same power has been given to us to trample on our enemy. I firmly believe God will establish his church in the darkest places of the world, and no power in hell, or no political power, no dark forces can overcome the power of Christ.”
I couldn’t agree more. I hope every Christian will soon understand the Holy Spirit’s power as Brother Yun does. Be sure to listen to my entire interview with Brother Yun below, and share this article today with another brother or sister in need of encouragement and inspiration.
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