When I was in school these two boys took to saying, "Your hair is on fire!", "Your hair is on fire!" every time they saw me, because I am a red-head. While this teasing was more creative than the old "carrot-top" comment, it got very old after awhile. Last Fall I did catch my hair on fire! I was in the bath and leaned back into a candle! Thankfully the burnt part was underneath and didn't show. When I do something stupid like that I always try to at least learn from it. The stench of burning hair was horrible! It made me think of what it must be like in HELL. This strengthened my resolve to "preach the Word" when it's convenient and when it's not. [II Tim.4:2] Among my large collection of books, is the book "Through Gates of Splendor" by Elisabeth Elliot. I knew the familiar story: five men were trying to reach the savage Auca's in the deep jungles of Equador and they were all murdered by them. Later Elisabeth and Rachael Saint went to the very men who killed their husband and brother and won them to Christ. In the chapter about why the men went, Elisabeth writes about Christmas time 1955 and, "Nate Saint sat at his typewriter to tell the world why they were going-just in case. In speaking these words he spoke for all: 'As we weigh the future and seek the will of God, does it seem right that we should hazard our lives for just a few savages?.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 these we have failed to bring out of darkness. Beyond the smiling scenes of Bethlehem may we see the crushing agony of Golgotha. May God give us a new vision of His will concerning the lost and our responsibility.'"
I met yet another Catholic at the little grocery store here in Byron. He said "I'm tired of hearing I'm going to hell just because I'm Catholic." I replied "You won't go to hell because your Catholic you go to hell if you reject Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior." He said nothing. I gave him a tract from "Proclaiming the Gospel", about the differences between Catholicism and Biblical Christianity and left. In another book I have ["The God I Thought I knew- My Experiences Growing up Catholic" by Michael R. Talaga] is a great illustration the author heard in Parochial school when he was in the first grade. Sister Malvina told them that in hell"there looms a super-large clock with a large pendulum that swings back and forth all the time. And when this pendulum swings it says in a loud deep voice, "Always be in" on the upside swing and "Never get out" on the downside swing. "Always be in" "Never get out" She kept repeating it." She told them that this clock never stops repeating this to the people in hell. Michael says you may think it was wrong to plant such "terrifying ideas in impressionable little children." But he says it was effective; "Not entirely accurate I am sure, but nevertheless effective." Then he says, "From that point in first grade, I was determined to understand how to keep myself out of this place called hell." It wasn't until Michael was "born again" that he realized Jesus did it ALL to keep us out of hell [and the FICTIONAL Purgatory!], all we are to do is TRUST HIM! [John 6:28-29].
As I decided to write next about Hell, Spring break came upon us and me and my husband and our five headed to Orlando. We brought my teenage daughter's friend along too! [we needed an extra kid] The first place we went was Universal's "Islands of Adventure". It was HOT and CROWDED and I looked up and there was a Dragon at the entrance to the Dueling Dragons roller coaster! [Rev. 20:2-3] The Christian group called "The Newsboys", sing a song called "Breakfast", the chorus goes, "When the toast is burned, And all the milk has turned, And Capt' Crunch is waving farewell, When the Big One finds you, Let this song remind you, That they don't serve breakfast in hell." Funny…with a serious message, like the Newsboys themselves. Why do people think Christians can't have any fun? My life is full of fun stuff, like my five children who go to Awanas and youth every week at our church and have FUN. The Devil wants people to think that Christianity is boring, but the TRUTH is if you reject Christ you will be BORED for ALL ETERNITY! And they don't serve breakfast down there either! "Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched." Mark 9:48
Claire
Jim Elliot wrote in his journal many years ago; " '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'" Hebrews 12:28-29 says, "Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire."
Copyright 2002- Susan E. Story
Bibliography and other great books:
Through Gates of Splendor by Elisabeth Elliot.
Jungle Pilot by Russell Hitt.
The God I Thought I knew- My Experiences Growing up Catholic by Michael R. Talaga.
Here's a great sermon by my pastor, which is also about these martyrs.