Happy September, and Happy Labor Day! To encourage glad Septembral tidings and celebrate The Fool’s Gold’s five-month birthday, I will be giving away a free copy of “The Heavenly Man” by Brother Yun with Paul Hattaway.

Giveaway Details:

Between now and midnight on Tuesday, September 2 (Central Standard Time), send an e-mail to thefoolsgoldblog@gmail.com. In the e-mail, include your name, the name and address of your blog (if you have one), what you do during the day, a book you’ve read recently, and the best or most unusual job you have ever had. I will then randomly select an entry and e-mail the winner to ask for his or her mailing address. The winner will be announced sometime on Wednesday, September 3.

About the Book:

Brother Yun is a Chinese Christian who has had an influence, under God, in the growth of the Chinese house church movement. He has been imprisoned and tortured for the sake of the gospel in his life, and has seen God work in miraculous ways to advance the gospel in China. “The Heavenly Man” is an autobiographical recounting of God’s providence in Yun’s life and the life of the Chinese church.

Here’s an excerpt from the introduction of the book to whet your appetite:

Brother Yun is known throughout China as “the Heavenly Man”. This nickname stemmed from an incident in 1984 when he refused to tell his real name to the authorities. Divulging his true identity would have endangered local Christians. In reply to the threats and beatings of the Public Security Bureau to reveal his name and home address, Yun shouted, “I am a heavenly man! My home is in heaven!” The local believers, who were still gathered in a nearby house, heard his shouting and knew he was warning them of danger. They all fled and avoided arrest.

As a mark of respect for his courage and love for the body of Christ, house church believers in China have called Yun “the Heavenly Man” to this day.

Yun is the first to admit that there are parts of him that are not heavenly! Like all of us, he struggles against temptation and weakness, and deeply realizes that, apart from the grace of Jesus Christ in his life, he amounts to nothing. He once told his wife Deling, “We are absolutely nothing. We have nothing to be proud about. We have no abilities and nothing to offer God. The fact that he chooses to use us is only due to his grace. It has nothing to do with us. If God should choose to raise up others for his purpose and never use us again we would have nothing to complain about.” (pg. 13)

Currently Yun is involved in promoting the Back to Jerusalem movement, an effort of Chinese house churches to take the gospel from China through the hard places of Central Asia all the way back to Jerusalem.

I was really challenged by reading about Yun’s life and the suffering he has experienced for the gospel. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to revel in God’s passion to gather worshipers from all nations.