Brother Yun (云弟兄) a.k.a. Liu Zhenying (刘振营), in his book named "Tianshang ren" (天上人), (born 1958) is an exiled Chinese Christian house church leader, evangelist, and proponent of the Back To Jerusalem movement. Brother Yun was instrumental in the development of the Christian house church networks in China during the 1980's and 90's. Accounts about his life and ministry are to be found in his autobiography, The Heavenly Man.
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Yun's book claims both extreme persecutions and miracles of deliverance similar to ones found in the Bible. Despite a life of poverty in China, he since has spoken to thousands internationally, possibly millions, with the gospel message. Seen as a rebel among some Chinese for not joining the 'official' government-controlled Christian organization (see: Three-Self Patriotic Movement), he was imprisoned and tortured by the government authorities. His book claims that he became a highly wanted man across several provinces.[1] He was finally arrested and sentenced to many years in prison. However, Yun continued his ministry while in prison, with more miraculous results. As a result, many prisoners and even some prison officials became born-again Christians.[2] While he gained increasing favor from some officials, he also became a target of increased persecutions by others. He was repeatedly beaten and became severely malnourished. While in prison, Yun writes about undertaking a total fast without food or water for 74 days.[3]
After many years in prison, he escaped from Zhengzhou Maximum Security prison from which it is reported that nobody had previously escaped.[4] He described how he heard the voice of the Holy Spirit, telling him to simply walk out the heavily guarded prison gate. Risking being shot to death on the spot, he wrote later that he obeyed the voice, and walked straight through several prison doors that were somehow left open in front of many prison guards, across the prison yard and finally out of the main gate. Yun stated that it was as if he had become invisible to the guards who stared straight through him. Although many expressed doubts that such a thing could happen, some prison guards had lost their jobs for this 'embarrassing mishap.' It is reported that the official investigation by the Chinese Government concluded that "Yun received no human help in his escape." These reports have been also confirmed by numerous prisoners who occupied the same prison cell as Yun. He remains the only person to have escaped from this notorious maximum security prison.[5]
His ministry struggled briefly when Chinese Christians became increasingly fearful of housing him because of the potential repercussions from government authorities. After escaping from China, Yun took asylum in Germany in 2001 and has since been continuing his ministry from there. His ministry since has expanded around the globe. As a leader of the "Back to Jerusalem Movement", Yun seeks to send thousands of missionaries out from China into the least-gospel-reached countries of the world, most existing between China and Israel.
He is married to Deling with whom he has two children.
The book The Heavenly Man was awarded the "Christian Book of the Year" in 2003.[6] The title comes from the name by which Brother Yun was known amongst the house church networks. He gained that name from one night of interrogation when he would only answer "I am a heavenly man!", instead of revealing his true name, in order to protect other Christians from the police.
Released in February 2003, the book is co-written and translated by Paul Hattaway and published by Monarch Publications.
Samuel Lamb (Lin Xiangao) has stated that Yun falsely claimed to have fasted without food and water for nearly twice as long as Jesus, and falsely claiming to represent 58 million house-church Christians, and raising large sums of money in many countries. He also insists that Yun in no way represents the house-churches in China[7], although Lamb admits he has never met Yun nor read Yun's autobiography[8]
Yun comes from the Born Again Movement (BAM) of China which is widely regarded by many house-church leaders in China as extreme, if not a heretical departure from Christian orthodoxy.[9]
This controversy has not been without defence. Paul Hattaway, the co-author of the book has published an open response[10] that claims the attacks on the credibility of Brother Yun are rumours originating with Titus Pan in Hamburg. Various Chinese House Church leaders have again expressed their love and respect for Brother Yun.[11]