Well, I had a lot of spare time today (I'm in Wichita at my dad's place) and therefore finished The Heavenly Man. It was an entirely easy read, even though it was a fairly long book filled with many, many stories. It was exciting to hear about the many miracles Brother Yun witnessed, and yet at the same time, it felt terribly predictable. There is a neat section near the end about the Chinese vision for evangelism called "Back to Jerusalem". Some things I didn't appreciate - Brother Yun seems to take an almost aggressive attitude toward defining doctrine, recounting how the Chinese house churches had been unified until Westerners started to send more theological literature. Also, Yun seemed perfectly content with staying in house churches permanently. He even says that he had no intention of building church buildings, because the house churches were working out so well. I think there is a time for house churches, but I don't believe this is ideal by any stretch of the imagination. Finally, he doesn't want the persecution to end. He seems to think that persecution is necessary to awaken churches. While it is true that persecution is one way to make a church's congregation members rely more on their faith in God, I again don't think this is ideal, and I will continue to pray that God eases the persecution of his people in foreign countries.
The Heavenly Man: C
The Heavenly Man: C
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