Friday, 11 August 2023
“Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the LORD has promised to those who love Him” – James 1:12 NIV
“His book reports that he became a highly wanted man across several provinces. He was finally arrested and sentenced to many years in prison. However, Brother Yun continued his ministry while in prison, with more claims of miraculous results. As a result, many prisoners and even prison officials are reported to have become born-again Christians. While he gained increasing favor from some officials, he also became a target of increased persecution by others. He was repeatedly beaten and became severely malnourished. While in prison, Brother Yun writes about undertaking a total fast without food or water for 74 days. After many years in prison, he escaped from Hangzhou from which it is reported that nobody had previously escaped. He described how he heard the voice of the Holy Spirit, telling him to simply walk out the heavily guarded prison gate. Despite the risk of being shot, he wrote later that he obeyed the voice, and walked straight through several closed prison doors in front of many prison guards, across the prison yard, and finally out of the main gate” (Wikipedia: The Heavenly Man).
In my Christian walk, I’ve read three books and would highly recommend only two of them. One of them is, “The Heavenly Man: Brother Yun”. Unfortunately, I couldn’t finish the book because at the time, it made me feel like I wasn’t serious about my walk, and I didn’t appreciate the Gospel. After his salvation, he prayed for weeks for GOD to give him a Bible and GOD did just that. Because the persecution in China was so great that they couldn’t risk someone getting arrested and his Bible being confiscated, so what they did is, they tore out all the pages from the Bible and distributed them amongst the saints. He would for instance get the whole of Matthew for a week, and in that week he would memorize it word for word. After a week he’d give it to someone else, and he’d then get Corinthians for a week. He’d also memorize it and then also pass that along. Because he had never heard a teaching, during the secret meetings they had, he would just recite the whole of Matthew or John, and people would become born again.
After Pentecost, the church was full of the Holy Spirit and power. They enjoyed gathering together to pray and break bread. More and more people were added to their number as a result. Life was so good that some forgot their mandate, and as a result, GOD allowed great persecution to bring them back to their senses (e.g. the stoning of Stephen). During this persecution, the saints were forced to flee from Jerusalem to the neighboring cities and countries, and as a result, the Gospel was spread throughout the world. In their suffering for the Gospel, multitudes heard and received the Gospel, something that would not have happened had GOD allowed them to stay in Jerusalem.
“We think you ought to know, dear brothers and sisters, about the trouble we went through in the province of Asia. We were crushed and overwhelmed beyond our ability to endure, and we thought we would never live through it. In fact, we expected to die. But as a result, we stopped relying on ourselves and learned to rely only on GOD, who raises the dead” 2 Corinthians 1:8-9 NLT. Sometimes GOD allows suffering to remind us that He is GOD, the great I AM. We sometimes put our trust in our networks and friendships, and GOD reminds us that He is our provider and our exceedingly great reward (Genesis 15:1). In the same way Joseph, after receiving a vision from GOD, became pompous and started lording it over his brothers, and as a result, GOD allowed the suffering to not only humble him but to also prepare him for his calling. There is NO AMOUNT OF HUMILITY that would make you forgive your own brothers for trying to kill you. Yet he was able to, because of the sufferings and persecutions he endured so that he may easily forgive and move on. Only the sufferings can prepare your heart like that.
“Search me, O GOD, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts. And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” Psalm 139: 23-24. While I was in a foetal position on the floor, under the barrel of a gun held by a messenger of satan, that GOD had allowed, I heard a young girl next to me praying to GOD, asking Him to forgive the hoodlums that were mugging us. She didn’t know whether they were going to kill us or not, yet in that moment of “uncertainty” she was praying for their salvation. Sometimes GOD allows suffering to reveal your innermost thoughts and your true heart, a test the young lady passed with flying colors.
So in every single persecution and suffering, we experience, our hope and assurance is in the knowledge that GOD is always in charge and in control. And that ALL THINGS work out for our good. It’s one thing to confess your love for Him when things are going well, but it’s another to still stand when everything around you is falling into pieces. Peter promised to never leave Him, yet when persecution came, he deserted Him. It’s in the sufferings that GOD reveals us to ourselves, and those who stand will receive what He has promised (James 1:12).
So in every single persecution and suffering, we experience, our hope and assurance is in the knowledge that GOD is always in charge and in control
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