Jim Elliot: When Faith Demanded Everything

Many of us have heard the story of Jim Elliot and those four other men who were speared on January 8, 1956, by the Huaorani tribe. There are many accounts that cover this story, including Wikipedia and numerous other ministries that pulled from Jim Elliot's journals. This is a collection of some of those accounts.

Jim Elliot was born in Portland, Oregon, on October 8, 1927. He was brought up in a firm Christian home where he was taught to live according to scripture. From that place grew his love for God and his firm beliefs in the Plymouth Brethren. He enrolled at Wheaton College in the fall of 1945. Throughout his time in college, he was deeply involved in missions, and when he graduated in 1949, his desire was to preach the gospel to people who had never heard it. In 1950, God opened the door for him to go to Ecuador. There, he was told about a tribe, deep in the Amazon Rainforest, who were considered savages and isolated from the rest of civilization. He immediately started planning to make contact. His only obstacle was finding others to go with him. Originally, there was someone planning on going with him, but that man got married and forfeited his spot. Jim then spent the winter and spring of 1951 working with another candidate, running a radio program, preaching in prisons, holding evangelistic rallies, and teaching Sunday school. Then, that summer, the man he was working with also got married. Jim Elliot went back to his family for the summer and kept looking for someone to go with him to Ecuador. Then he met Elisabeth Howard, who would later become his wife, and Pete Fleming, who decided to go with Jim to Ecuador. In February 1952, Jim Elliot and Pete Fleming went back to Ecuador to preach the Gospel. They started preparing while ministering to Ecuador's Quechua people, learning the languages and culture of the tribes, and evangelizing. The next year, 1953, Jim married Elisabeth Howard. Over the next two years, others joined their mission, including their only child, Valerie. By 1955, God provided a plane and four additional members (Ed McCully, Roger Youderian, Pete Fleming, and their pilot, Nate Saint). This group of men would fly over the tribes' camps and lower gifts in baskets while shouting out with a loudspeaker words of blessing in their language. The men knew what type of people the Huaorani were, and they also considered the possibility of losing their lives. However, they were resolute in what they knew God had called them to do. Jim wrote in his journal this phrase that is now a timeless message, "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." He knew that obeying God was worth dying for. After several months of flights and gifts, the men decided to build a base on the riverfront. While building, three Huaorani came up to them, and they flew one of them around over the forest. This was very encouraging for the men, and they prepared for the next visit with excitement. The next day, on January 8, 1956, ten Huaorani met them on the shore. The Huaorani the previous day questioned those who had gone to visit the men, and though their reports of the men were good, an elder in the tribe convinced them that the foreigners were evil and that it would be best if they killed them. They ran the missionaries through with spears and threw their dead bodies into the river. Jim Elliot, Ed McCully, Roger Youderian, Pete Fleming, and Nate Saint gave their lives that day. The men had brought guns, but they did not fire at their killers. After they were dead, the Huaorani were terrified and convicted. Their accounts say that they saw the men being received into heaven and beautiful music was heard, causing the Huaorani to run and hide. When the men's wives heard about what had happened, they went to the Huaorani tribe to forgive them. The Huaorani did not think that the women were a threat, so they let them into their camp, and upon learning that these were the wives of the men they killed, they feared them, and many of the tribes heard and saw God's love for them, and many became Christians. Elisabeth Elliot and Rachel Saint stayed and ministered with the Huaorani, with many others, including Steve Saint, who is still with them today.

We know of this story because of what the Huaorani told the women and because of the video that the camera caught when it fell out of one of the men's hands. Later, Elisabeth took the journals of Jim Elliot and published them, giving us insight into the heart of Jim Elliot and understanding of who he died for. Their deaths were not in vain, and their story will never be forgotten. The tribes that were once filled with violence and fear are now filled with the love of Christ. Now these men's killers know the God that they died for.

Their story has been shared all over the world, and it has forever left its mark.