Nobody Knows what they don’t Know (until someone tells them)
When Christian workers spoke at his boyhood church in Portland, Oregon, Jim was always saddened to hear about people living and dying without ever learning about Christ. He grew up to be a resolute young man who drank daily from the Scriptures, and then intimately conversed with their Author. This, fueled his concern for others. Many have confirmed that even in high school, Jim relentlessly capitalized on opportunities to talk to people about Jesus.
When he was a senior at Wheaton College, Jim served as president of the Foreign Mission Fellowship, a campus fellowship which encouraged students to consider becoming global workers. That he desired to serve Christ in this way, surprised none of his friends who knew the man prayed like this: “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.”
After college he spent 3 months learning language skills at the Summer Institute of Linguistics’ base in Oklahoma. There he learned of hidden and violent tribes in South America. After seeking the Lord’s direction, he and his like-minded friend Pete headed to Ecuador to learn Spanish, and then the language of the indigenous Quichua people. It was while working on their Quichua that they learned about the more remote and dangerous Huaorani people (known as the Aucas at the time). Despite their history of plaguing rubber harvesters and killing oil company employees, this group became Jim’s obsession.
Jim laid out his intent to make contact with the Huaoranis, and was soon joined not only by Pete, but Ed, Roger, and a Mission Aviation pilot named Nate who flew a yellow, fixed-wing Piper 14-A Family Cruiser. After numerous exploratory flights, Nate first spotted some of the Huaoroni in September, 1955. In October, the team successfully lowered gifts to some of the people from the plane. Elated by the apparent response, the men made plans to return to the area. They intended to land the plane on a sandbar on the Curaray River, set up camp, and pray that God would provide them with a positive encounter.
It started as planned. Nate safely landed on a sandbar they christened “Palm Beach.” It was in early January, 1956, and at first, everything seemed to go well. Until it didn’t. Two days after an initial contact and some friendly visits, a group of agitated Huaoranis (who had been lied to by one of their own) emerged from the jungle with spears. It was too late for the men to save themselves without discharging the rifles they had. Which they had agreed they would not do. Soon, all five men were dead, a tragedy which made international headlines.
With the deaths, five young wives became widows. Nine children were left fatherless. As Jim’s widow Elizabeth Elliot wrote many years later, The world noted their death[s] with awe, with cynicism, with indifference. No explanation is needed for the cynicism and indifference. Reading the tragic account in Life magazine or in their local newspaper led many readers to be horrified at what seemed to be such a pointless waste of life. Why the risk?
While that’s an understandable response for an unbeliever, it shouldn’t surprise followers of Jesus that these men did what they did, or that their wives were cheerleaders for an effort that ended so tragically. To obey Jesus is not to be assured of “success.” Rather, it is to be assured of God’s approval. Obeying God’s leading—even when it is a dangerous undertaking, is to “take up your cross and follow Jesus.” Being from a culture so attached to safety and comfort, this makes no sense. But the Bible prepares believers to suffer: “…don’t be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you. Instead, be very glad—for these trials make you partners with Christ in His suffering…” (1 Peter 4:12-13)
Three years after the killings, Jim’s wife Elizabeth Elliot, their daughter Valerie, and pilot Nate Saint’s sister Rachel moved in with the Huaoranis. Elizabeth stayed for two years, while Rachel ministered among them nearly 40 years. Today, between 20-40% of the 2000 Huaorani people are believers. Like our churches, theirs have problems. But we will share all eternity with these who were led from darkness into light through the efforts of five men they killed. Men who wanted to tell them what they didn’t know that they didn’t know. Why? Because they loved Jesus that much.