Through Gates of Splendor

This is a memoir written by a missionary, about her now deceased husband and four other missionaries in his team. The five-member missionary team died in 1956 in the middle of their attempt to befriend aborigines living in Ecuadoran jungle. They were killed by the aborigines. I've heard this five-member team mentioned in church sermons, and I know their story was made into a movie The End of the Spear. The book gives a deeper, more realistic, and more detailed account of the lives of the five men and their mission work. Not as melodramatic. More thoughtful. I like it a lot. My favorite parts are the excerpts from the diaries and letters written by the five men in various stages of their lives. You get this really intimate encounter with show more the hearts and minds of these men of faith. I also really like the second epilogue written in 1996, in which the author communicated it is over-simplistic to say it was worth it for the five men to die since people from that aboriginal tribe received the Christian faith through continued missionary work, some performed by two of the five widows. She says there were problems with the missionary work she engaged in as well; things were not picture perfect. But God is sovereign; God is the God of human history. And to rest in that understanding and trust, instead of looking for an over-simplified, positive interpretation of tragedy is what she got out of this experience, 40 years after the incident. This is a book I would ask my kids to read some day, along with The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom.

But there is A LOT of details on jungle life and the daily dealings of a missionary living in the jungle. They teach, they treat the sick, the drive airplanes around the jungle to deliver necessities, they build things, the airdrop gifts to yet unreached people groups, they build houses, they build runways for airplanes.....No exciting adventure here. In this sense, the book was not a page turner. show less

Through Gates of Splendour tells the story of five American missionaries to Ecuador to evangelise the Auca (or Huaorani) people. The Huaorani during the time of the missionaries' visit in the 1950s were locked in a violent blood-feud against their own clan members and outsiders, yet the five missionaries were steadfast in reaching this previously un-contactable tribe. Yet as it is already known, the missionaries' friendly overtures were met with violence and the five were killed.

Written by the widow of Jim Elliot, Through Gates of Splendour tells of unconditional love and obedience to God, and the importance of evangelisation and how important these are to the Christian no matter where they are. The book also continues the story of the show more Huaorani tribe and later missionaries' efforts to evangelise them. This edition also contains an excerpt from End of the Spear, written by Nate Saint's son who tells of his return to the jungle and to the tribe who killed his father.

Through Gates of Splendour is still a powerful and poignant work of Christian literature and still has the power to move, inspire, and encourage Christians today. show less

One of the most gripping missionary sagas of our time. Five missionaries went into the land of the savage Aucas. Their offer of friendship was rejected, and the Aucas killed the missionaries. Elisabeth Elliot, wife of one of the martyrs, her daughter and Rachel Saint would not give up and eventually lived among and brought the Gospel to the Aucas. Narrated by Elisabeth Elliot, Through Gates of Splendor is an effective demonstration of God's grace at work during an unforgettable moment in modern missions history.

A book that strongly influenced me when I was in college. Elliot grandly tells the story of five men who gave their lives for the gospel. Even more powerful knowing one of them was her own husband. To learn that she and her daughter and at least one of the other wives stayed shows the power of God.

A moving account of five men with a passion to bring the Gospel to a primitive, unreached tribe in Ecuador and were speared to death as they attempted to make contact. The story is told by Elisabeth Eliot, widow of one of the men who with her little girl went herself a few years later into the jungle to live with this same tribe, the Aucas, now called the Waorani. Elisabeth Eliot in later years went on to write many books and become a well known speaker.

Five men entered the jungle in search of a savage tribe . . . and never returned.

In January 1956, a tragic story flooded headlines around the world. Five men, spurred by a passion to share the good news of Jesus Christ, ventured deep into the jungles of Ecuador. Their goal: to make contact with an isolated tribe whose previous response to the outside world had been to attack all strangers.

At an agreed-upon time, their five young wives sat by their radios, waiting for a message that never came. . . .

"Through Gates of Splendor, " the story of Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Pete Fleming, and Jim Elliot, was first recorded in 1956 by Jim's widow, Elisabeth. Decades later, its story of unconditional love and complete obedience to show more God still inspires new readers. This edition contains subsequent developments in the lives of the families and the Waodani tribe.

"Through Gates of Splendor, " Elisabeth Elliot's first book, has become the best-selling and most powerful missionary story of the twentieth century. Elliot has gone on to become a popular speaker and the author of several books and a host of magazine articles.

Read about the continuing story of the Waodani and the missionaries' families: This edition includes two preview chapters from "End of the Spear, " the new book by Steve Saint (Nate Saint's son), about his return to the jungle and the people who took his father's life. This story is now a major motion picture. show less

Jim Elliot & 4 other young men dared to make contact with a stone-age tribe in jungle of Ecuador to bring the Word of God to these people Jim wanted to win the Auca tribe for Christ . But after the 5 of them made a seemingly friendly contact with them, the Aucas descended on them & killed the missionaries with spears. At the age of 27 Elizabeth became a widow. The world thought the price too high, but it pointed to one thing in the Auca story. God is God. If He is God, He is worthy of my worship.