Operation Auca: 60 Years Later

hi I'm Steve Saint 60 years ago right now God began writing a story that deeply deeply impacted my life as well as that of four other families and hundreds of thousands of people around the world you know Psalm 145 forces about God's stories generation after generation stands in awe of your work each one tells stories of your mighty acts the story that God started writing 60 years ago was a story about my dad Nate Saint and four of his friends Jim elliot rodger you Darien Pete Fleming and Ed McCully had decided to try to make contact with a really violent tribe of Indians living down in the Ecuadorian Amazon these people had been harassed by the Shell Oil Company and had been killing oil company employees trying to keep those employees from entering into their territory the Shell Oil Company had gone to the Ecuadorian government and convinced them that if they wanted the Shell Oil Company to find oil that together they had to get rid of this problem so dad and his friends decided to try to make a contact a friendly contact before efforts were made to try to wipe this small tribe of violent people out in the process dad and his friends were killed but that's only the beginning of the story a few years ago I was traveling with a man that we call grandfather mink ie one of the members of the tribe had killed dad and his friends and while we were traveling and speaking with Steven Curtis Chapman a contemporary Christian musician journalist from the USA Today gave me a call and said you know I'd like to interview you but then he said but first I want to ask you some questions a USA Today editor when he was interviewing us said you know I can understand possibly forgiving the man who killed your father but he said but loving him that seems almost morbid and you know it would be if it wasn't true but the answer to why and how something like this can happen is really very simple it's God's grace in the power of his word you know my dad his four friends were willing to die rather than to kill the Wow Donny when they were attacked they all had guns in the Wow Donny had Spears so I figured there's a little boy well my dad must have loved the Wow honey and then after dad was killed every night when we'd meet for family devotions my mom would pray for those people that had just brutally killed my dad and ruined my life and then a couple of years later mom told me that my Aunt Rachel who is like a second mother my dad's sister and Aunt Betty who wasn't really my blood relation but called her Aunt Betty anyway at Betty Elliot that the two of them were going to go in and try to live with the same people it just killed dad and Roger and Pete Ned and Jim I thought what a dumb thing to do they'll just kill Aunt Rachel net Betty - but Aunt Rachel net Betty went in and they weren't killed but I knew that Aunt Rachel loved those people enough that she was willing to die for but by the time I met them a couple of years later I was convinced that these were the most special people on earth I mean why would my dad and his friends be willing to risk their lives and then not try to defend themselves when they were attacked why would my mom go and praying for them and why would aunt Rachel be willing to risk her life unless these were really really special people you know I thought as our conversation my conversation with the journalist was winding down I thought you know there's an old saying hurt people hurt people well maybe it's also true that forgiving people learn to forgive people there's a there's a verse in 2nd Corinthians that I thought of - and it made me feel bad because that journalist really wanted to know if this man that that I was traveling with and and rooming with and that I loved was the same man who had killed my dad and his four friends and I had said yes but I had misled him oh he looked like the same man and he had the same general personality but he wasn't the same man let me explain it says in 2nd Corinthians 5:17 through 20 it starts out this way if anyone is in Christ or our young people might say into Christ if if anyone is into Christ he is a new creature instead of going back and finishing the verses in regular English let me try it I'm going to read it to you in Hawaiian pidgin a language which you'll understand although you probably have never read it in Hawaiian pidgin second Corinthians 5:17 through 20 says that's why whoever stay tight with Christ they one new kind of guy this is a real language don't aims no stay no more look the new Tings went come all that stuff it come from God he went bring us back the same side with him because of what Christ when do and now he tell us for work so that other people can come back together with him to that's our objective if you're a Christ follower that is our commission from Christ we were brought back the same side with God after we had strayed and now our objective should be to try to bring other people back the same side with Christ oh I don't mean forcibly but to share the good news the gospel with them so that they have a choice to live peaceably with God grandfather mink ie has told me number of times and others of the men who killed dad and Roger and Pete Ned and Jim after they became Christ followers and don't get me wrong not the whole tribe became Christ followers but when those people who did became Christ followers they actually began teaching me when I was living with that Rachel how to become a Christ follower it really is true if anyone is in Christ they become a new kind of guy

Channel: ITEC

Views: 93,270

Rating: 4.8798418 out of 5

Keywords: Nate Saint, Roger Youdarien, Pete Fleming, Ed McCully, Jim Elliot, Mincaye, aucas, Operation Auca, Steve Saint, I-TEC, misions, missionary, martyred, Ecuador, Amazon, Jungle, End of the Spear, Elisabeth Elliot, Rachel Saint, Yellow Piper Cub, missionary pilot, Jesus, Christian, Christian Martyr, BBC, News, Anniversary, Waorani, Waodani, Auca, itec

Id: 3vcv9vjNO8w

Length: 7min 25sec (445 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 07 2016