Part five in a series on evangelism.
Ecuador, January 8, 1956 – Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, Ed McCully, Pete Fleming, and Rodger Youderian were killed by the Hoaurani (or Auca) people while trying to reach them with the message of the gospel.
These five men and their families had been ministering to two of the neighboring tribal groups, when, by air, they discovered a Huaorani village in close proximity to their base. Eager to share the knowledge of God’s salvation with these people, the missionaries quickly launched “Operation Auca”. A project which began with weeks of language studies and numerous “fly overs” to make contact with the Huaorani from the air. Finally, the five men landed on a nearby beach and prepared to meet the Huaorani in person. They were attacked and killed a few hours after.
In the midst of this tragic story, I want to draw your attention to a bewildering fact: All of the missionaries had guns in their possession, had time to shoot, and yet were speared to death without firing a single shot to defend themselves.
Why?
These men knew four things about witnessing. Four lessons played a crucial part in directing thier last decision. Through the course of this series, we have learned those four lessons. Let’s re-visit these points once again, allowing the story of “Operation Auca” to take us one step deeper in understanding how to win souls.
Revisiting Part 1 – The Missionary’s Passion
“God, I pray thee, light these idle sticks of my life and may I burn for Thee. Consume my life, my God, for it is Thine. I seek not a long life, but a full one, like you, Lord Jesus.” – Jim Elliot
Long before he faced the Huaorani’s spears, Jim Elliot surrendered his life to God. It was a full surrender, he laid everything at his Saviour’s feet, including his very life. Jim was ready to be used in any way God should see fit.
“If we are the sheep of His pasture, remember that sheep are headed for the altar.” – Jim Elliot
Like Edwrd Studd, Jim’s had one passion, a passion which had trumped all others, a passion to see souls eternally saved. He prayed that others would gain this passion as well,
“Lord, fill preachers and preaching with power. How long dare we go on without tears; without moral passions; hatred and love? Not long, I pray, Lord Jesus, not long…”
Jim’s passion – his hatred of sin, his love for God and for the lost – came from understanding what his Lord, Jesus Christ had done on his behalf. He desired others to know this gift as well.
Revisiting Part 2 – Undeterred in the Pursuit
Fear is possibly the greatest deterrent a missionary has to face when sharing the gospel. Like the Waldensians, these five friends were no strangers to its voice. Losing their lives on this mission meant leaving wives and small children behind – a possibility they had taken into consideration.
They did not go into “Operation Auca” blindly. The tribes they were already ministering to had suffered many casualties at the hands of the Huaorani people. They were called the “Auca”, meaning “savages”, for good reason. The the missionaries were warned of the danger they faced. In addition to this, it was well known that, just ten years before, the Huaorani had killed four other missionaries when they tried to make contact with them.
These men could have been paralyzed with fear, but they knew how to put fear aside. “Perfect love casts out fear…” (1 John iv. 18). Because of Christ’s love for them, the missionaries had no need to fear death. If they died it would mean only the loss of their physical bodies – their souls were secure for eternity.
As God had given them assurance of His love and faithfulness towards them, He also gave them His love for the unsaved. Jim Elliot and his colleagues knew that they could die in the pursuit of these people, but they were more afraid the Huaorani would die without the knowledge of salvation.
“Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” (John xv. 13)
As in the story of the Waldensians, they had every excuse to give way to fear. The dangers they faced were real, but so was the love which enabled the missionaries to overcome!
Revisiting Part 3 – A Bold and Clear Message
“Operation Auca” did not fail.
The missionaries did not live to tell the Huaorani people of the work of the cross, but they died demonstrating it.
Almost two thousand years before the martyrdom of Elliot, Saint, Flemming, McCully, and Youderian a similar story had unfolded. In which a single person allowed himself to be killed, when he had the ability to save himself. It was to this story that their own pointed.
When Jesus was hanging on the cross, slowly dying, the people mocked Him saying, “save Yourself and come down from the cross!” (Mark xv. 30) This He was perfectly able to do, for the cross was no match to the power of the God it held. Yet He chose not to demonstrate His power by that means. He was not battling against the cross, He was using it as an instrument to accomplish His purpose.
“And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you…” (Luke xxii. 19) The cross broke the bread of His body, giving it to save the souls of men – including those of the missionaries who stood on a secluded beach in Ecuador surrounded by apparent enemies.
Following the example of the One who had saved them, the five men did not use the guns they held. If Jesus was going to save the souls of men, He could not employ His power to save Himself. Likewise, if the Huaorani people were to be saved, the missionaries could not use the power they had to save themselves.
They knew the Huaorani weren’t ready to die – each life they took would have been a soul eternally lost. This is the realization which made the encounter, not a battle of guns verses spears but a question of the value of souls over bodies! Even without words, these men preached the gospel with boldness and clarity – demonstrating the work of salvation through their actions.
Revisiting Part 4 – One Part of a Greater Plan
God sent Epimenides ahead of Paul. He prepared a way for the people of Athens to understand the gospel message Paul would bring. God wrote a story in which Epimenides and Paul were two characters with supporting roles. God is the author and He has many characters to use in accomplishing His purposes. He uses each one perfectly in order to bring about the intended plot.
“…Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest! And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. For in this the saying is true: ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors.”.” (John iv. 35 -38)
A few years after their death, Jim Elliot’s wife, Elizabeth, their little girl, Valerie and Nate Saint’s sister, Rachel had the opportunity to go to the Huaorani people and share the gospel with them. The sacrificial live of the martyrs became the illustration they used to help the Huaorani people, including the men who had killed the missionaries, to understand God’s love!
The death of the missionaries was no mistake on God’s part, it was a necessary sacrifice – the first step in reconciling the Huaorani to God.
The Cost Of A Soul
In his journal Jim Elliot wrote,
“A man is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he can not lose.”
The five men deliberately chose not to use their guns; giving up their temporary lives to gain the souls of the Huaorani for all of eternity. Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, Pete Flemming, Ed McCully and Rodger Youderian showcased the wisdom of heaven. They left the Huaorani, and all of us, with a better understanding of the cost God paid for our souls!
“Christ came down to save us from a terrible hell, and any man who is cast down to hell from here must go in the full blaze of the gospel, and over the mangled body of the Son of God.” – Dwight L. Moody
This is the message we have been called to share – through words and through actions and though it may cost us all!
In Christ
Quiana
*Scripture references in NKJV unless otherwise noted.