Most sincere apologies for not having written anything for almost a month!

Last month, I read some very cool news from my dear old Wheaton.  For the full press release, you can click here.  It seems that the Billy Graham Center Archives of Wheaton College are opening up to the public more treasures from the past.

The story of missionary couple Jim and Elisabeth Elliot, who served among the Waorani people of Ecuador, is widely known to American evangelicals through their published writings as well as the movie entitled "End of the Spear," which was based upon their story. After Jim and four fellow American missionaries were martyred by the Waorani (also called the Huaorani, or the Auca Indians by non-Waorani) on January 8, 1956, Elisabeth Elliot returned to continue ministering to the people who had taken her husband's life, she edited and published his journals, and later wrote more than 20 books.

In January, the Billy Graham Center Archives made additional writings available for the first time, as the 54th anniversary of the missionaries’ murder approached. Thirty previously unpublished letters, dated from 1953 to 1959, provide insights into the relationship the Elliots had with the Williams Community Church of Williams, Oregon. The church was one of several which provided financial and prayer support for the Elliots. Williams Community Church donated the letters to the Archives last year. They are now posted at wheaton.edu/bgc/archives/docs/Elliotletters/intro.htm.  I might add that Jim and Elisabeth happened to have graduated from Wheaton as well.  :)

The story of those martyred missionaries and the glory that God brought about through their tragic deaths is a story worth remembering.  For myself, it definitely brings to mind some ideas about the theology of suffering and how God's ways are far beyond our own understanding.  Sometimes it seems that by allowing evil, God brings about an even greater good than if He had not.  (For more on this, just read some Alvin Plantinga's God, Freedom, and Evil).  Or for a Biblical reference, some good examples would include:
  • the story of Joseph (Genesis 37-50 --- see especially Joseph's statements in Gen. 45:4 and 50:19-20),
  • Job (the book of Job), 
  • Jesus (the Gospels --- Matthew, Mark, Luke, John), 
  • the early church's martyrs (the book of Acts), and 
  • Paul's words about God having allowed him to have a "thorn in his flesh" (2 Cor. 12:7-10).  
       These are just a few examples among others.

Do you have an opinion?  Leave a comment!

-RCW