tuesday martyr: missionaries to the aucas

Many of you know their story (or at least heard their names): Nate Saint, Jim Elliot, Ed McCully, Peter Fleming and Rojer Youderian.

In the mid 1950's they attempted to reach out to the Auca indians of Ecuador and were killed by the tribe. You can buy the book Through Gates of Splendor here and the movie, made a few years ago, End of the Spear here.

Here, instead of the story of these men, I will give you a taste of their passion for Christ and the unreached people of the world. (Taken from Through Gates of Splendor.)

Jim Elliot wrote

"'He makes His ministers a flame of fire.' Am I ignitable? God deliver me from the dread asbestos of 'other things.' Saturate me with the oil of the Spirit that I may be a flame. But flame is transient, often short-lived. Canst thou bear this, my soul--short life? In me there dwells the Spirit of the Great Short-Lived, whose zeal for God's house consumed Him. 'Make me Thy Fuel, Flame of God'"

From Pete Fleming:

"I am longing now to reach the Aucas if God gives me the honor of proclaiming the Name among them...I would gladly give my life for that tribe if only to see an assembly of those proud, clever, smart people gathering around a table to honor the Son--gladly, gladly, gladly! What more could be given to a life?"

And (thanks to Adrian Warnock) a challenging quote to put your faith into practice from D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones:

". . . The secret of the early Christians, the early Protestants, Puritans and Methodists was that they were taught about the love of Christ, and they became filled with a knowledge of it. Once a man has the love of Christ in his heart you need not train him to witness; he will do it. He will know the power, the constraint, the motive; everything is already there. It is a plain lie to suggest that people who regard this knowledge of the love of Christ as the supreme thing are useless, unhealthy mystics. The servants of God who have most adorned the life and the history of the Christian Church have always been men who have realized that this is the most important thing of all, and they have spent hours in prayer seeking His face and enjoying His love. The man who knows the love of Christ in his heart can do more in one hour than the busy type of man can do in a century. God forbid that we should ever make of activity an end in itself. Let us realize that the motive must come first, and that the motive must ever be the love of Christ."

May we all be filled with the holy zeal of evangelism because we are so enraptured with Christ and His call on our lives that we cannot help but comply.

-joe