Thus began the radio program called Gateway to Joy, hosted by Elisabeth Elliot.
I don’t know if anyone who reads my blog is familiar with Elisabeth Elliot. If not, I'd like to introduce you to her. She is the widow of Jim Elliot, whose journal I quoted from in my last post. She and Jim were missionaries in Ecuador. Jim and four other missionaries were killed in an attempt to take the Gospel to a tribe of people who were so fierce the headhunters were afraid of them! A few years after Jim's and the other missionaries' deaths, she wrote a book about it called Through Gates of Splendor.
Elisabeth continued her missionary work for a few more years, and even, with her daughter (born a few months before her father's death) and the sister of one of the other missionaries, went to work for about two years among the tribespeople who had killed her husband. Eventually Elisabeth returned to the US and became a highly respected Evangelical author, speaker, and radio host.
I have never met Elisabeth Elliot, but if I ever get the chance, I will. Her writings have had a great impact on my life, and I hope they continue to do so. In many ways she has been a spiritual mother to me. You know how God is sometimes referred to in the Bible as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? Well, a few years ago, as I was going through a time of great doubt and trouble in my life, I could only pray to God as the God of Jim and Elisabeth Elliot. I wasn't sure if God was with me, but I knew He had been with them.
Elisabeth Elliot is no longer on the radio. In August of 2001 her program went off the air. When she announced that she was discontinuing the show, I cried! The website is still up, but it's not as good as it used to be (it's under constant construction lately). There used to be audio archives on it, but I think Mrs. Elliot asked that they be taken down. I miss those archives! There are transcripts of the broadcasts on the web site.
May God bless Elisabeth Elliot with many more years of life and ministry! Amen and amen!
Here are some links (some of which have been provided in the above paragraphs):
Elisabeth Elliot's web site
Gateway to Joy web site
Elisabeth Elliot on Wikipedia (contains a bibliography)
3 comments:
Her brother wrote a nifty book called, "Evangelical Is Not Enough"
Doug, welcome to my blog.
I've got a few of Howard's books. I'm reading On Being Catholic right now. He uses words I've never heard of. I read it sitting in front of my computer so when I come across one of those words I can go to Merriam-Webster online and look up the definition!
I wonder if anyone has a few original Gateway to Joy recordings they could post to youtube. I would be happy with just a clip of her intro and greeting from an actual broadcast: "You are loved with an everlasting love. That's what the Bible says. And underneath are the everlasting arms. This is your friend Elisabeth Elliot,"
I have scoured the internet looking for such a clip. If anyone has such a clip, please email it to kingjamesiii@juno.com
Thanks!
(If anyone posts any of these to youtube, please let me know at the email)
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