This is probably one of the most famous missionary stories in the world.



Five men, sold out for God, entered the dangerous territory of the Auca tribe in Ecuador in the 1950's to try and reach them with the Gospel. They never returned. Their bodies were found a few days later on a beach. Elisabeth Elliot, the wife of Jim, collated their journals and filled in the gaps with first-hand knowledge.



What struck me most forcefully was the wholehearted commitment of every one of these men to give up eve

This is probably one of the most famous missionary stories in the world.



Five men, sold out for God, entered the dangerous territory of the Auca tribe in Ecuador in the 1950's to try and reach them with the Gospel. They never returned. Their bodies were found a few days later on a beach. Elisabeth Elliot, the wife of Jim, collated their journals and filled in the gaps with first-hand knowledge.



What struck me most forcefully was the wholehearted commitment of every one of these men to give up everything worldly for the sake of Christ. This, despite pressure and opposition from many, perhaps unexpected, directions; they were well educated, with bright futures and still young!



Pete was expected to become a college professor or Bible teacher. But to throw away his life among ignorant savages. It was thought absurd.



Jim wrote to his parents: 'Seems impossible that I am so near my senior year, and truthfully, it hasn't the glow about it that I rather expected. There is no such thing as attainment in this life; as soon as one arrives at a long coveted position he only jacks up his desire another notch or so and looks for higher achievement--a process which is ultimately suspended by the intervention of death. Life is truly likened to a rising vapor, coiling, evanescent, shifting. May the Lord teach us what it means to live in terms of the end, like Paul who said, 'Neither count I my life dear unto myself, that I might finish my course with joy....



Nate wrote, It was the first time that I ever really heard that verse: 'Follow me, and I will make you to become fishers of men.' The old life of chasing things that are of a temporal sort seemed absolutely insane....As we have a high old time this Christmas, may we who know Christ hear the cry of the damned as they hurtle headlong into the Christless night without ever a chance. May we be moved with compassion as our Lord was. May we shed tears of repentance for those we have failed to bring out of darkness. May God give us a new vision of His will concerning the lost and our responsibility.



The stark contrast between the statements of these men and our, often, half-hearted commitments to the cause of Christ today are convicting and challenging. Are we called to any less, in terms of our heart devotion?



One of the men, Roger, had already experienced the hardships of a missionary life, yet still went willingly with the others believing it was of God:



A missionary plods through the first year or two, thinking that things will be different when he speaks the language. He is baffled to find, frequently, that they are not. He is stripped of all that may be called 'romance.' Life has fallen more or less into a pattern. Day follows day in unbroken succession; there are no crises, no mass conversions, sometimes not even one or two to whom he can point and say, 'There is a transformed life. If I had not come, he would never have known Christ.'...The forces of evil, unchallenged for so long, are now set in array against the missionary.



Every prospective missionary should read these paragraphs. This is the reality. Mass conversions and daily encouragements would in our day be referred to as 'fake news!' The missionary life is hard....



One of the things that makes this book is the reaction of the wives to the news that their husbands have all been killed. They had committed them to God and continue to trust that God is faithful and knows what He is doing despite their grief.



From the author, Cause and effect are in God's hands. Is it not the part of faith simply to let them rest there? God is God. I dethrone Him in my heart if I demand that He acts in ways that satisfy my idea of justice. There is unbelief, there is even rebellion, in the attitude that says, 'God has no right to do this to five men unless....



The women recognised that God allowed the terrible tragedy to unfold. They stood by the decision of their men when questions were asked as to why they had gone into Auca territory in the first place; the men had sincerely believed it was the will of God.



Events that took place afterwards reveal aspects of God's bigger plan, but that's contained in other books, so I won't spoil it for you! Eternity alone will tell how many souls were saved as a result of the sacrifice of these men either through hearing about the story or through people responding to the missionary call.



There are many spiritual lessons in this book that can be applied directly. I recommend that all Christians read this. Then, instead of just saying, "Wow, that's inspirational", or "What a sad story", take up the torch and follow wherever Jesus is leading you.



This book is clean: Free of bad language and sexual content. There is violence due to the subject matter but it isn't sensationalised.