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Shadow of the Almighty: The Life and Testament of Jim Elliot

elisabeth elliot

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"He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." So wrote Jim Elliot at age 22, sweating over Greek roots and patristics at Wheaton College. "Seven years later," writes his widow Elisabeth, "he and four other young men...sat together on a strip of white sand on the Curaray River, deep in Ecuador's rain forest, waiting for the arrival of a group of men whom they loved, but had never met, savage Stone Age killers, men now known to all the world as Aucas."

The circumstances of the death of these men are by now known throughout the world in one of the great missionary adventure stories of modern times. But this is the first account of the whole life of one of them, a life that, though "hid with Christ in God", was in part revealed in some of the most poignant and moving spiritual writings of our time. Shadow of the Almighty is a tremendous biography of an adventurous and inspirational life.

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1,1958

This edition

Format
256 pages, Paperback
Published
September 29, 2009 by HarperCollins
ISBN
9780060622138
ASIN
006062213X
Language
English

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About the author

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elisabeth elliot

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From the Author's Web Site: My parents were missionaries in Belgium where I was born. When I was a few months old, we came to the U.S. and lived in Germantown, not far from Philadelphia, where my father became an editor of the Sunday School Times. Some of my contemporaries may remember the publication which was used by hundreds of churches for their weekly unified Sunday School teaching materials.

Our family continued to live in Philadelphia and then in New Jersey until I left home to attend Wheaton College. By that time, the family had increased to four brothers and one sister. My studies in classical Greek would one day enable me to work in the area of unwritten languages to develop a form of writing.

A year after I went to Ecuador, Jim Elliot, whom I had met at Wheaton, also entered tribal areas with the Quichua Indians. In nineteen fifty three we were married in the city of Quito and continued our work together. Jim had always hoped to have the opportunity to enter the territory of an unreached tribe. The Aucas were in that category -- a fierce group whom no one had succeeded in meeting without being killed. After the discovery of their whereabouts, Jim and four other missionaries entered Auca territory. After a friendly contact with three of the tribe, they were speared to death.

Our daughter Valerie was 10 months old when Jim was killed. I continued working with the Quichua Indians when, through a remarkable providence, I met two Auca women who lived with me for one year. They were the key to my going in to live with the tribe that had killed the five missionaries. I remained there for two years.

After having worked for two years with the Aucas, I returned to the Quichua work and remained there until 1963 when Valerie and I returned to the U.S.

Since then, my life has been one of writing and speaking. It also included, in 1969, a marriage to Addison Leitch, professor of theology at Gordon Conwell Seminary in Massachusetts. He died in 1973. After his death I had two lodgers in my home. One of them married my daughter, the other one, Lars Gren, married me. Since then we have worked together.

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julescore
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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Undoubtedly one of the more powerful books I have ever had the pleasure of reading. Read this book off and on over the last year and every time I have come back to it it has been a genuine source of both encouragement and challenge. Clear on every page is a life lived in service of the King. Jim Elliot was utterly convinced of the truth and the life changing implications of the gospel in a way that challenges me. I am too often too comfortable and too often aspire for comfort. The last chapter of the book is titled 'Mission Accomplished' and opens with words of Jesus from John 12:25 "Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life". Jim Elliot lived life believing those words, will we?
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FuchsiaBear
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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I loved this quote which beautifully sums up Jim’s deep and unwavering devotion to the Lord, “Be on guard, my soul, of complicating your environment so that you have neither time nor room for growth.”
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scxrvd
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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Kata Pengantar(oleh Elisabeth Elliot-istri dari Jim Elliot, martir )

Jim Elliot dan para pria lainnya yang mati bersamanya disanjung sebagai pahlawan "martir". Aku tidak setuju. Mereka juga tidak akan menyetujuinya.

Apakah perbedaan antara hidup bagi Kristus dan mati bagi-Nya begitu besar? Bukankah yang kedua merupakan kesimpulan logis dari yang pertama? Lagipula, hidup bagi Tuhan berarti mati bagi Tuhan "setiap hari", sebagaimana yang disimpulkan oleh Rasul Paulus. Itu berarti menanggalkan segala sesuatunya agar kita bisa mendapatkan Kristus.

Dengan demikian berarti kita harus menyerahkan hidup kita agar kita bisa menemukan kehidupan.

Hubungan antara manusia dan Allah merupakan hubungan yang sangat praktis. Lingkupnya terdapat dalam kehidupan sehari-hari. Janganlah kita lupa bahwa setiap relasi apapun antara manusia dan Allah hari ini, terletak pada kenyataan bahwa Allah pernah hidup sebagai seorang manusia biasa-yang lahir di palungan, berkeringat di bengkel tukang kayu, berkhotbah dari perahu nelayan, duduk kelelahan di samping sebuah sumur dan bercakap-cakap dengan seorang pelacur, makan dan minum serta berjalan bersama orang-orang biasa, dan menundukkan diri pada kematian yang hina- supaya kita bisa mengenali-Nya. Tak seorang pun yang menyebut-Nya sebagai pahlawan atau martir. Ia hanya melakukan apa yang diperintahkan oleh Bapa-Nya untuk dilakukan-Nya dan melakukan itu dengan sukacita.

Orang yang ingin mengenal-Nya harus berjalan di jalan yang sama dengan-Nya. Inilah arti dari kata 'martir' secara Alkitabiah, yang secara sederhana berarti "saksi". Dalam kehidupan seperti halnya dalam kematian, kita terpanggil untuk menjadi "saksi" - untuk " memiliki meterai Kristus".
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Farhan733
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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Really cool and inspiring story with some beautiful lines (although I can tell Jim was so young) but I just don't prefer biographies made entirely of letters and journal entries instead of narrative.
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Lathaw
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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Jim Elliot was such an inspirational person. I desire to have the faith he had, and to be as single minded in my service to God as he was!
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Minkyung
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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Incredible missionary biography that gives a glimpse into the preparation and waiting that Jim Elliot went through, before he reached the Aucas.
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