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When Iron Gates Yield
254 pages
254 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1960
7 people are currently reading
134 people want to read
About the author
Geoffrey T. Bull
26 books6 followersGeoffrey Taylor Bull was an English Christian missionary and author.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
June 8, 2017
Review…
This is a beautiful testimony to the sustaining power and love of God. What do we do when all our plans, even the plans we were sure were God’s will for our lives, fall apart? What do we do when we are alone, really alone? Could you lose everything, down to the shirt on your back, nearly lose your mind; and still say, as Bull did, “Thy way is perfect”?
At first, I thought this book was moving really slowly. Then I started to see the picture Bull was painting. Without bragging, he was showing how God was shaping and strengthening him through the daily struggles to face the upcoming trials. It got hard to put it down as it moved on. It is the story of a man struggling daily to deny himself and follow Jesus. In return, God is there for him through years of solitary confinement and persecution.
It really is a most encouraging and convicting read.
Other thoughts…
I didn’t realize, till I read this book, just how much the last biography I read had disheartened me. Both books end with the missionaries leaving their field before they planned to go. Both struggled with loneliness. Both had their faith tested. However, the differences couldn’t be more striking. Bull’s book is filled with the Scriptures that encouraged him, hers with man’s wisdom. His focus is on accepting God’s will. Hers focuses on her attempt to create a manageable life. It was so encouraging to read of God’s strength and comfort that sustained him through everything he went through.
This is a beautiful testimony to the sustaining power and love of God. What do we do when all our plans, even the plans we were sure were God’s will for our lives, fall apart? What do we do when we are alone, really alone? Could you lose everything, down to the shirt on your back, nearly lose your mind; and still say, as Bull did, “Thy way is perfect”?
At first, I thought this book was moving really slowly. Then I started to see the picture Bull was painting. Without bragging, he was showing how God was shaping and strengthening him through the daily struggles to face the upcoming trials. It got hard to put it down as it moved on. It is the story of a man struggling daily to deny himself and follow Jesus. In return, God is there for him through years of solitary confinement and persecution.
It really is a most encouraging and convicting read.
Other thoughts…
I didn’t realize, till I read this book, just how much the last biography I read had disheartened me. Both books end with the missionaries leaving their field before they planned to go. Both struggled with loneliness. Both had their faith tested. However, the differences couldn’t be more striking. Bull’s book is filled with the Scriptures that encouraged him, hers with man’s wisdom. His focus is on accepting God’s will. Hers focuses on her attempt to create a manageable life. It was so encouraging to read of God’s strength and comfort that sustained him through everything he went through.
October 6, 2013
I had heard of Geoffrey T. Bull for years and had been recommended his book 'When Iron Gates Yield', but only managed to pick up a second-hand copy a couple of years ago.
Mr Bull's story is quite amazing! a young man called by God to bring the gospel of Jesus Christ to Tibet, but who instead, after just a short while in Tibet, finds himself captured by the invading Chinese People's Army and subjected to imprisonment, psychological torture and torment, and eventual release, for no apparent reason - except, the will of God. Mr Bull does not reveal in the book why he thought all these things happened to hi, except for the fact that he believed it was God's good will. And so it is in many of our lives, which is why I also found the book very encouraging personally.
Mr Bull is candidly honest about his personal spiritual struggles, the challenges to his faith and his severe temptations to compromise his faith. As a fellow-disciple of Jesus Christ I can so readily identify with these issues, albeit not in the same trying circumstances as he.
In many respects the book is a travelogue of where Geoffrey Bull was, who he met, what happened there and what opportunities he got, and took, to share the good news of Jesus Christ. His faithfulness to God in the small things is quite noticeable, and I found this thread very encouraging, as most of our lives, and certainly mine, revolve around 'small things.'
This is not a gung-ho, daring-do type of missionary story, but a grim (you can almost feel the Tibetan and Chinese dirt and squalor), honest (sometimes to the point of self-denigration) and inspiring!
A 5-star recommendation to all!
Mr Bull's story is quite amazing! a young man called by God to bring the gospel of Jesus Christ to Tibet, but who instead, after just a short while in Tibet, finds himself captured by the invading Chinese People's Army and subjected to imprisonment, psychological torture and torment, and eventual release, for no apparent reason - except, the will of God. Mr Bull does not reveal in the book why he thought all these things happened to hi, except for the fact that he believed it was God's good will. And so it is in many of our lives, which is why I also found the book very encouraging personally.
Mr Bull is candidly honest about his personal spiritual struggles, the challenges to his faith and his severe temptations to compromise his faith. As a fellow-disciple of Jesus Christ I can so readily identify with these issues, albeit not in the same trying circumstances as he.
In many respects the book is a travelogue of where Geoffrey Bull was, who he met, what happened there and what opportunities he got, and took, to share the good news of Jesus Christ. His faithfulness to God in the small things is quite noticeable, and I found this thread very encouraging, as most of our lives, and certainly mine, revolve around 'small things.'
This is not a gung-ho, daring-do type of missionary story, but a grim (you can almost feel the Tibetan and Chinese dirt and squalor), honest (sometimes to the point of self-denigration) and inspiring!
A 5-star recommendation to all!
May 23, 2021
From the inside left flap
"...kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the Church unto God for him... the iron gate opened... of his own accord. He said, 'Now I know of a surety that the Lord...delivered me...from all expectation of the people',..." Acts 12
The deliverance of Geoffrey Bull from a Chinese prison was miraculous. His story is one of endurance founded on faith in God's purpose and the power of prayer, the only foundation strong enough to withstand the pressure of an all-powerful materialist domination. His survival to tell this is one more witness to the over-ruling hand of God in the modern world.
Yes, read the book!
"...kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the Church unto God for him... the iron gate opened... of his own accord. He said, 'Now I know of a surety that the Lord...delivered me...from all expectation of the people',..." Acts 12
The deliverance of Geoffrey Bull from a Chinese prison was miraculous. His story is one of endurance founded on faith in God's purpose and the power of prayer, the only foundation strong enough to withstand the pressure of an all-powerful materialist domination. His survival to tell this is one more witness to the over-ruling hand of God in the modern world.
Yes, read the book!
July 15, 2023
On the first night of reading this l stress-dreamt I was in Tibet with the Communists invading.
The book parachutes in to Bull’s missionary journey with absolutely no context, but it doesn’t really matter. His faithful resolve and his willingness to be broken for Christ speak for themselves.
It would’ve been interesting to hear about Christians worldwide praying and campaigning for his release from China, and how his imprisonment affected his life afterwards. But this is a punchy acorn of truth on its own, dying to bear fruit.
The book parachutes in to Bull’s missionary journey with absolutely no context, but it doesn’t really matter. His faithful resolve and his willingness to be broken for Christ speak for themselves.
It would’ve been interesting to hear about Christians worldwide praying and campaigning for his release from China, and how his imprisonment affected his life afterwards. But this is a punchy acorn of truth on its own, dying to bear fruit.
January 30, 2012
This book was awesome. It looked unpromising--like an old fashioned missionary story, and it started a bit slowly with lots of descriptions of the China frontier with Tibet which is very unfamiliar to me. But the characters introduced and the rough 1950s missionary life of this missionary gradually came to fascinate me. That a young Western missionary could get so deep into the culture and languages was phenomenal. While some aspects of the culture appear primitive, namely the modes of transportation and living arrangements, on the whole the author portrays a description of high culture and powerful individuals.
I appreciated the way the religious views of the people were presented by the author. He saw their emptiness and futility but also showed his deep comprehension and sensitivity to them. He also does a great job of showing the difficulties of presenting Christian truth to mind-sets so radically foreign to Christianity.
But Bull's recounting of his captivity and brain-washing by the Communists ('51-53) has to be one of the outstanding accounts of such imprisonment. The fact that he survived is a miracle, and that he came through without hating everything Chinese is amazing.
Although not written in a modern novel-like form like "Unbroken," this book easily deserves a place on the shelf with it.
I appreciated the way the religious views of the people were presented by the author. He saw their emptiness and futility but also showed his deep comprehension and sensitivity to them. He also does a great job of showing the difficulties of presenting Christian truth to mind-sets so radically foreign to Christianity.
But Bull's recounting of his captivity and brain-washing by the Communists ('51-53) has to be one of the outstanding accounts of such imprisonment. The fact that he survived is a miracle, and that he came through without hating everything Chinese is amazing.
Although not written in a modern novel-like form like "Unbroken," this book easily deserves a place on the shelf with it.
January 28, 2024
A friend sent this to me last fall, and I began reading it then, but it was not easy reading—pacing is slow. Several times I asked myself why I was continuing, but I have felt strongly drawn to the stories of faithful believers. Perhaps the other two I have recently read gave me added incentive, along with another friend's emphasis on the significance of our stories. No one else but the individual can adequately tell God’s story in his/her life. So I kept reading.
Though I had never heard of Bull, I’m thankful God knew him. Born in England, Bull went to China, with hopes of sharing Christ in Nepal. The first part of the book is devoted to Jan/Oct. of 1950 (I was seven years old.), recording God’s ways with Bull in his life and work alone among the Tibetans, his entry into Tibet, and then the invasion of Tibet by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army. The second part is a detailed account of his arrest and the subsequent three years and two months of captivity spent in the prisons and detention centers of the People’s Government of China, where he was subjected to notorious brainwashing. The power of God’s Word in sustaining him sends me to study—and memorize!
The same friend who sent this book to me has recently reread it. Though it has been many years since I read it, Bull's faithful testimony of God's power remains strong in my memory. (January 27, 2024)
Though I had never heard of Bull, I’m thankful God knew him. Born in England, Bull went to China, with hopes of sharing Christ in Nepal. The first part of the book is devoted to Jan/Oct. of 1950 (I was seven years old.), recording God’s ways with Bull in his life and work alone among the Tibetans, his entry into Tibet, and then the invasion of Tibet by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army. The second part is a detailed account of his arrest and the subsequent three years and two months of captivity spent in the prisons and detention centers of the People’s Government of China, where he was subjected to notorious brainwashing. The power of God’s Word in sustaining him sends me to study—and memorize!
The same friend who sent this book to me has recently reread it. Though it has been many years since I read it, Bull's faithful testimony of God's power remains strong in my memory. (January 27, 2024)
December 6, 2012
Mr. Bull was in China serving as a missionary when the Communists moved in. Things were going so well and then it all fell apart. He found himself incarcerated and down at times. He is real in what he felt and tells us so, yet we find His God is real. The Lord made Himself known in ways large and small. When one need would be met, another would quickly arise. Any old book by Mr. Bull will be worth your while.
February 11, 2015
Apologies to all my friends. Again I got one book mixed up with another. I read "Through Gates of Splendor" and "When Iron Gates Yield" many years ago. When I wrote my review of "Gates of Splendor" I had this book, "When Iron Gates Yield" in mind. I liked both books but this book, "When Iron Gates Yield" was the one that stayed with me all these years. This is a very inspiring book and is the one that taught me gratitude as a young Christian around 1968.
September 11, 2013
Geoffrey Bull's own account of a missionary journey through Tibet in late 1940's & his subsequent three year incarceration, torture & attempted brainwashing at the hands of the red Chinese authorities. Great descriptive writing of the people, landscape & social upheaval encountered; but also a tremendous testimony of one ordinary man's faith in God.
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August 23, 2011It is amazing that so few people today know this man's story. Dedicated to his faith and the Tibetan people, he is imprisoned by the Chinese when they invade Tibet. This is the story of his journey of faith and freedom. This is an important story for Christians to read today.
June 5, 2017
Higher life, but still an amazing story. Geoffrey T. Bull
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews