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"He is no fool, who gives what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose." These are the words of Jim Elliot, one of the most famous martyrs ever known.
Jim Elliot was born in 1927, in Portland ,Oregon. Ever since he was very young, he had a passion for God, and knew that he wanted to be a missionary. What he didn't know, however, was how far his dream would go.
In 1953, Jim Elliot married Elizabeth Howard, and then began working with the Quechua Indians. Soon, though, he learned through whispered legends of a feared group of Indians called the Aucas. The Quechuas were terrorized by the Aucas, for whom spearing was a popular way to get revenge. "Going in Auca territory is the same as killing yourself," they told Jim and Elizabeth. "They will spear you!" Jim Elliot didn't doubt this--stories were circulated on how oil company employees had been murdered by the Aucas. But Jim Elliot felt a strange tugging on his heart for the Aucas.
By 1954, Jim Elliot knew that he wanted to reach the Auca Indians. In 1955, Nate Saint, his good friend, spotted an Auca village. Using a yellow plane, Nate Saint dropped gifts to the Aucas on a bucket line. Breakthrough came when the Aucas returned a parrot on the bucket line.
Jim Elliot then decided it was time to make contact. Despite the fear that the Aucas would murder them, Elliot refused to let his quest fail.
Months later, Elizabeth Elliot, and her daughter Valerie, made a drastic decision. They chose to return to Auca territory in hopes of Christianizing the Aucas. Elizabeth knew that carrying on her martyred husband's quest could end with multiple spears in her body, but she had made her decision. When she arrived in Auca territory, Elizabeth actually received a warm welcome from the Aucas, who felt extreme remorse over spearing the five missionaries, who hadn't done anything to provoke the Indians. This opened up a chance to share about Christ, and the quest eventually ended with the Aucas becoming Christians.
In the end, Jim Elliot's death didn't mean failure.
One day, Elliot and four companions flew the airplane down to the beach on the Cuararay river. Soon, three Aucas arrived, and the five missionaries made friendly contact, even taking one of them up for a ride in their airplane.
When the five missionaries died, everyone thought that their quest had failed, but had it really? Did they have to die?
It turns out that each of the five missionaries was armed with a gun, but they did not use them when speared, because they wanted to represent Jesus to the Aucas. Big difference from the Spanish conquistadors, huh? This had a pretty big impact on the Aucas. "We speared, but they didn't spear back," says one of the Indians. Never before had they seen anything like the behavior of the five martyrs.
After successfully making contact with the Aucas, the five missionaries radioed their wives and told them that they would be staying at Palm Beach in hopes of making contact again. "We'll radio you at four," they said. But four o'clock p.m. rolled around, and the radio was silent. What happened? The whole world was waiting and wondering what had happened to Jim Elliot and his companions. After extensive searching, the bodies were found at the bottom of the Cuararay river. Apparently, the Aucas had speared them to death not one week after supposedly friendly relations. Had Jim Elliot's quest failed?