More to be Desired than Gold: A Collection of True Stories told by Christy Wilson

by J. Christy Wilson Jr.

"Countless successful preachers of the Gospel have used illustrations to help listeners better understand and come to experience God's presence in their everyday lives. These stories serve to illustrate that the real-life experiences of Chrstians both at home and abroad are stanger than fiction..." Billy Graham

Genres: Christian, Nonfiction

179 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Born of missionary parents in Iran, Christy came to Princeton as Lawrenceville's valedictorian and was a distance runner in cross country and captain of varsity track at Princeton. After Princeton Theological Seminary and a PhD in Islamic studies at Edinburgh, Scotland, he went to Afghanistan, where for 22 years he taught English in public schools, tutored the crown prince, was chaplain for the foreign community, and built the first Christian church after a personal assist from President Eisenhower. He then spent time at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in S. Hamilton, Mass., and returned on several occasions to help Afghan refugees. After 18 more years at Gordon-Conwell as professor of world evangelization, he retired in 1992 to Duarte, Calif., where he died.

Reviews

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful, simply told stories of powerful experiences of God amidst humble, faithful lives.

[Chasen Robbins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simple and inspiring stories of God working through faithful people and using some unexpected characters to fulfill his will. It is very evangelical in its approach but very internationally minded in its story telling. It inspires me to pray for other constantly and be grateful.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great collection of testimonies from both ancient and modern times, showing the power of God working in the world.

[Tyler Raleigh · Rating 2 out of 5]

Most of the book's testimonies are very interesting, such as John Birch, a missionary to China who gave the Gospel to both China and Japan during World War II, and Dr. Josef Tson, a former Communist from Romania who earned his theological degree from Oxford and went back to Communist Romania to start a church.

There is one small bio on John Sung in the first chapter that seems unbelievable.
Considering that the introduction states that this collection of Christy's testimonies was published as a surprise gift for his 70th birthday from one of his students makes me wonder if More To Be Desired Than Gold needed more editing.
According to the book, Sung came to the United States in 1920 to get his theological degree from an unnamed seminary. While he was a student there, he went to a church where he dedicated his life to Christ and returned to the seminary to hand out Gospel tracts to students and faculty. So far, so good.
The theological seminary's administration reacted to Sung's Christian faith by deciding that he had a nervous breakdown and had him committed to a mental institution where he spent 6 months in a cell.
Was due process a luxury human right back in 1920s America?
During that time, the book says Sung read his Bible from cover to cover more than 40 times in 6 months.
Read Whole Bible. At least 66 books without the apocrypha. More than 40 times in 6 months. If it's even possible, how do you get anything out of the Bible by speed reading?
Then the book says Sung was finally released when he passed a note to the janitor who gave it to one of Sung's friends who came and got him out. Yeah, right.
I keep going back to that little bio after reading further along, wondering if things weren't exaggerated here and there throughout the book.

[F · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wish I could rate this book higher... I really wanted to like it. Some of the stories are great, some are good, some are questionable and well... you get the idea.

While saying he believes the Bible is God's Word he thinks "infallible" is a negative word.

Worse than that- when the Bible goes against his experience or feelings he is quick to side with the latter rather than the former. For example- though the Bible is quite clear a Christian cannot be demon possessed he says, in chapters 3 & 7, they can- because of his experiences. He never seeks to answer how a Christian, indwelt by the Holy Spirit, can be possessed by a demon - he just affirms that it is so. The Scripture indicates otherwise- Mt. 12, Luke 11, 2 Cor. 6, Eph. 2, 1 Jn. 4:4. The obvious answer to his dilemma is that the people he knew were professing Christians only- and weren't really saved. He would rather cast doubt on the teachings of Scripture than on the questionable profession of people.

This tendency is also seen in his positive portrayal of people who are members of cults and other pseudo-Christian groups without a hint that these organizations are actually hindrances to the cause of Christ. Overall, I cannot, in good conscience, recommend this book.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection of true stories by Dr. J. Christy Wilson, a beloved missionary who lived in Afghanistan before the days of the Taliban. He’s passed on and is now fully present with the Lord, and in this book he passes on his stories and wisdom from a lifetime of missionary service. These are little nuggets taken from his various lectures and talks, and I found them to be great for reading before bed.

[Josh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Encouraging brief stories about God working on the missions field. Made me more conscious of God working through everyday "coincidences." It was also encouraging to hear about Gordon College's background in missions and evangelism. Made me feel good about my role promoting that through involvement with Campus Crusade and Campus Outreach as well.

[Josiah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though J. Christy Wilson's stories are not really connected to one another (except for a few here and there), the overall theme of this book is that God is alive and is working to bring people to Him in every part of the world. Written very informally, Wilson's thoughts nevertheless provide an interesting look at the work of Christians around the world seeking to bring Him glory.

[Carol Bakker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good stuff in this book, but poorly written; oh, how it needed to be edited. I was excited to read this after The Kiterunner made me so very interested in Afghanistan.