Through Gates of Splendor :: RtK Book Club June

Things got thrown off a bit with the conclusion of the June book club read. It was a scurry to the finish line! You'll recall that we were reading to discuss Through Gates of Splendor. I'm still reading it but Barbara, who is hosting this month, did manage to get it finished.

Here are her thoughts:

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Five missionaries working in different outposts in Ecuador in the early to mid-1950s became burdened for a tribe of killers known then as the Aucas. Early encounters with the white man had not gone well when the rubber hunters came to harvest while also “plundering and burning the Indian homes, raping, torturing, and enslaving the people” (p. 14). But the Aucas killed not only white men, but any outsiders and even their own people. “Could Christian love wipe out the memories of past treachery and brutality?” (p. 14). The missionaries hoped so and longed to be a part of reaching this tribe with the love and gospel of Christ. Upheld by the truth that “Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation” (Revelation 5:9b), they began to plan and strategize as to how best to reach these hostile people.

Through Gates of Splendor by Elisabeth Elliot is the story of how these five men came to the Lord, came to be called to the mission field, their marriages, and how each was led to become part of “Operation Auca.” It’s no spoiler to say the operation ended in the death of the five, because that fact was known long before the book came to be and was probably a great impetus in it’s writing. But then it is not right, either, to say that is how Operation Auca ended, because God used it in the lives of the Aucas themselves as well as of people all over the world in the decades since. But knowing how the story “ends” lends a poignancy to the men’s lives and words.

Read the rest of Barbara's thoughts HERE.

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Did you read along with us last month?  (Or are you, like me, still reading!?) If so, please leave a link to your blog post in the comment section below. Or, if you do not have a blog, please feel free to share your thoughts on the book directly in the comment section.