Christian journalist Dan Wooding, founder of Assist ministry in CA. USA, wrote WHO IS THE “HEAVENLY MAN” FROM CHINA WHO HAS COME TO THE WEST TO BECOME A MONEY MACHINE?
吳定丹 Dan Wooding
Back in the dark days of the Cold War, cynical Christian entrepreneurs turned the tragedy of the believers trapped behind the Iron Curtain into a way to make big bucks for themselves.
They would tour the West with people who told their heart-wrenching stories and then take up a huge offering, much of which was pocketed by the entrepreneur.
Now that the Iron Curtain (and the Berlin Wall) is down, some have turned their attention to the great revival that is taking place in China and are plastering us with sensational stories. Of course, some of the stories are true and some are.. not.
This kind of marketing of suffering and revival can lead to sensationalism also coming from the East and right from China itself. Recently, a contact from within China told me, “This has led to the situation involving a man from China called Heavenly Man who is now traveling all over the West to raise funds. This former co-worker from China’s house church movement has turned into a money machine in the West, and people in the know are disturbed with the claims made by this man.”
So who is Heavenly Man? My contact explained, “Liu Zhenying was first made known to the West in the early 90’s by Danyun’s book, ‘Lilies Amongst Thorns’, as the Heavenly Man (HM). He was an emerging, second- rank leader in the house churches of Henan Province. After the March 1997 crack down on the top level leaders in China, HM claimed that he was miraculously delivered from detention. In August 1997, he escaped to the West on falsified documents. My informant also revealed that the escape of his wife and two children was nothing more than some western missions paying bribes to the local police to smuggle them out through the channels of Yunnan to Burma.
Publicity about HM states he is “The Leader of the 58 million Christians in China’s house churches” and he is the elected leader to represent the House Church in China to the West.”
“In China, HM’s leader in the House Church movement he is involved in gave an evaluation of HM, stating that he was always a second level leader, but always trying to climb to the top. The other workers who have known HM right from the start consider him to be an opportunist and the most likely Judas who sold out the top-level leaders in the crackdown of 1999.”
Now HM claims to be the Chairman of the Sinim Fellowship — a fellowship of the house churches in China, and has 58 million believers under his leadership. The background of this is: A few years ago, the Sinim Fellowship was formed amongst the top level leaders of the house churches in China.
Because HM was available, and also being the young one who can run about between the groups, he was made the coordinator.
“He was was never elected as the Chairman of the Fellowship,” said my contact inside China. Sinim Fellowship has 58 million believers but they are not under him.
“He also claims that he was ‘appointed by China’s major house churches as the first major house church leader to represent the Chinese Church in the west.’ This was again untrue when checked with the major house church leaders in China.”
“HM now has communicated with some.. of the 2nd level leaders and has promised them monetary rewards as well as passports and visas to ‘escape’ from China. He has caused more division and damages to the house church activities inside China. His claims of his long 74 days of no food, no drink, total fast and his sensational escape from prison like Peter in the book of Acts, as well as his representation of 70 million believers in China have never been made known inside China.
“When this information was told to the leaders of the house churches in China recently, one common reaction was that ‘again the west and its materialism and greed has destroyed another Chinese brother who had impurity in his heart.'”
It is sad that the wonderful purity of the revival is China is spoiled by the greedy and those who do not care for the truth there. There are so many honest and wonderful ministries like FEBC, Asian Outreach, Open Doors with Brother Andrew, and others, that are doing such a great work there, and half truths and lies by the few are spoiling it for the many.”