DID GOD FAIL THEM

 

 The "Auca Martyrs": Their Lives Were Like Bright, Short-Lived Flames. jim elliott, nate saint, roger youderian, pete fleming, ed Mccully

Jim Elliot, Pete Fleming, Roger Youderian and Ed McCully were college friends working as missionaries in Ecuador. Before deciding to serve God as missionaries they were doing well in different fields and had great potentials in life. Jim was both a wrestler and a writer. Ed, president of his college class, had played football and won his senior oratory contest. Everyone had expected him to go to law school. Pete was a missionary and Roger was a veteran of the World War II paratroopers.

While working in a nearby tribe they heard about the Auca Indians and their need for Christ. For years they prayed for this primitive group. Then they decided to move into their region in an attempt to learn the Auca language, translate the Bible, and share the gospel. The four men teamed up with Nate Saint a missionary pilot for Missions Aviation Fellowship.

 They began making regular over flights to drop gifts from the plane. The Aucas signaled their understanding and desire to continue the exchange by tying on gifts of their own. After making 13 weekly gift drops, Nate located a small sandbar on the Curaray River. On January 2, 1956, he flew the men in and they set up camp on what they called "Palm Beach."

They made repeated flights back and forth to the Auca settlement so that the people would figure out that the plane was landing in their territory. After three days of waiting on the beach, two women suddenly stepped out of the jungle onto the opposite bank. Two missionaries waded out into the river to greet them; soon after a man joined them. The three acted in a friendly manner before going back to the jungle.

On Sunday, January 8, 1956, from his plane, Nate spotted a party of ten Aucas on their way to the beach. He radioed to his wife "Looks like they'll be here for the Sunday afternoon service. This is it! Pray for us, will contact you again at 4:30." As soon as 4:30 came without word from the always punctual Nate, his wife knew something was wrong and contacted the other missionary pilot.

The pilot flew over the beach the next morning, spotting one body in the river. The Aucas had killed all the missionaries with spears on the beach. Four days later a weary but tense ground party made up of missionaries, Quechua Indians, and military personnel arrived at that beach. They found the bodies in very bad shape, identifiable only by their personal effects. So they dug a hole on the beach and buried them.

In the search team was Drown, 88,a  friend of the missionaries. At an interview later, Drown recalled “After I came back home, we had three days of rain .I had time to think the whole thing through. God could have stopped it anytime along the way. If we just had a big shower there wouldn’t have been a sand beach for them to land on. After landing the tire was ripped and the tube was showing. God allowed those men to go and to die.

The Aucas could not understand what happened on that beach that Sunday afternoon. As they repeatedly discussed the incident, one question haunted them: why hadn’t the missionaries used their guns to defend themselves? Two of the Indians had been wounded, but the Aucas were certain that the superficial wounds were unintended. One was hit only after his mother grabbed a missionary’s arms and the other knew no one saw where she was hiding.

These wounds were actual evidence that the missionaries were capable of defending themselves but chose not to. That was the major reason that the Aucas later agreed to allow Rachel (Nate’s sister) and Elisabeth (Jim's wife) to live with them. The killers had to know why the outsiders would let themselves be killed rather than kill, as any normal Auca would have done. Rachel took the apostle Paul's words as a personal promise "Those who were not told will see, and those who have not heard will understand."

The story of what happened on that January day in 1956 , first told in newsweeklies and Life magazine and then in numerous books and documentaries became a primary narrative for the young evangelical movement, reinforcing and illustrating to the world the missionaries core ideals. Their heroic and noble sacrifice inspired a generation of Christians some to go to the mission field and many more to live a more mature and sacrificial Christian life (Ambassadors for Christ)

Paul had always longed to go to Rome. He had a plan in mind, a plan that God was soon to revise. His plan was to travel to Jerusalem and then Rome. He was eager to preach the gospel in Rome, as well as to minister to the saints who were there, before he set out for Spain (Rom. 1:10-15, 15:23-25). He did get to Rome, but in a very different way from what he had planned. He wanted to go to Rome as a preacher; instead he went as a prisoner.

The final chapters of the Book of Acts, beginning in chapter 21 gives details of what happened. When Paul got to Jerusalem some people started some rumors that he had taken a Gentile into the holy part of the Temple. Paul was beaten and almost killed. The authorities arrested him thus saving his life. He was then taken to Caesarea, where he was held in prison for two years, awaiting trial.

He appeared before Governors Felix and Festus, and eventually before King Agrippa. Paul appealed to Caesar, he was sent to Italy by ship. After a terrible shipwreck, he was finally brought in chains to Rome where he was kept under house arrest in his own hired house for two years, as he waited for his trial before Caesar. And for those two years Paul received all that came in unto him, preaching with all confidence, no man forbidding him (Acts 28: 30-31).

His situation in Rome might have shaken the faith of some believers. Some may have concluded that Paul’s imprisonment was a serious blow to the advance of the gospel. What did Paul feel about all these things? In the letter to the Philippians written at the time, Paul does not sulk or speak a word of complaint about his situation. He does not ask “I’ve served God faithfully and done his will all these years! Why is this happening to me?

Instead he wrote “But I want you to know, brethren, that the things which happened to me have actually turned out for the advancement of the gospel, so that it has become evident to the whole palace guard and to all the rest, that my chains are in Christ; and most of the brethren in the Lord, having become confident by my chains, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.” (Phil.1:12-14).

Paul explained that while his imprisonment seemed a serious blow to the advance of the gospel, God was using his bonds to advance the Gospel. The word “advance” is a military term used of engineers who went ahead of an army to cut a road through a forest opening the way for the army to advance into new territory. While it appeared that Paul had been removed from active service and was no longer effective in global ministry, just the opposite was true. Amazingly God was using his excruciating difficulty to bring about unexplainable progress of the gospel.

Paul goes on to give two examples of how his imprisonment advanced the gospel. First he says the whole Praetorian Guard has heard the gospel and seen it lived out. During this "house arrest" soldiers of the Praetorian Guard were assigned to him throughout. The shift changed every 6 hours, so each day there would be 4 different soldiers chained to Paul. The Praetorian Guard housed in the emperor’s palace, consisted of a powerful and strategic group of men, who in the future would have a great impact for God.

God wanted to reach the Praetorian guards; but the guards would not come near the places where the gospel was preached. So, God arranged for Paul to be jailed so that he could take the gospel to where they were. Every day, for two years Paul grinned to himself as one of the Praetorian Guards had to stay chained to him for six hours as a captive audience. The guards observed Paul’s life in prison. They noted his courage, gentleness, loyalty to Christ and deep inner conviction.

They observed Paul’s joyful attitude as he prayed and sang praises to God. They overheard what he taught others and Paul may also have tried to preach to his captive audience.  The guards came to realize that Paul was no “hardened criminal” as he was charged by the Jewish religious leaders. His imprisonment did not damage his testimony; instead it enhanced his standing in the eyes of unbelievers, and paved the way for the proclamation of the gospel to them.  

The gospel spread from guard to guard, to the families of the guards, and then to Caesar's household. In Philippians 4:22, Paul writes “all believers here send you greetings especially those in Caesar’s household”. Little did the Romans realize that the chains they affixed to his wrists would advance the gospel in an amazing way!  He wrote during a later imprisonment, “I suffer trouble, as an evildoer, to the point of chains; but the Word of God is not chained” (2 Tim. 2:9).

 In God’s sovereignty, he ordained Paul’s imprisonment in Rome so many people would hear the gospel who would not otherwise have heard it. By being a prisoner Paul was able to reach men that other Christians would not have access to. It was an avenue for Jesus Christ to be presented in previously impenetrable areas. And like he had written to the church in Rome before he arrived Those who were not told about him will see, and those who have not heard will understand”(Rom 15:21).

God uses your painful circumstances to advance His gospel. Are you in a similar situation -chained to some circumstances? Take heart. If it’s God who has placed you there, remember he makes no mistakes. Paul, sitting in prison, knew this to be true. Similarly, you may not like your job, your neighborhood, or your marriage, but God has you “chained up” to some people who need Christ. He is advancing His kingdom through you!

 

 

 


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