Furnace of the Lord

by Elisabeth Elliot

Furnace of the Lord Elliot, Elisabeth

144 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1969

About the author

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.

Reviews

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

old, yet very perceptive about issues even more exaggerated today.

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very eye opening book. Hard to find.. not Elisabeth's usual subject manner. It is her experience in Israel.. a challenging perspective to what I had been raised in the church to believe. A must read in these days of conflict if we are to understand the true day to day strife of the Middle East.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a person who has an interest in Israel, the land and it’s history. This book was published over 50 years. It is an interesting commentary from Jewish and Arab residents and their respective experiences. An interesting book to read

[Rebekah]

This book on reflections from Elisabeth Elliot's trip to Israel brought back a lot of memories of a previous trip of mine. I found myself asking some of the same questions and having some of the same experiences.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was interesting and not your usual book on Israel. Elliot focuses mostly on Jerusalem and is interested in the Arabs there. Like many, she wishes there could be peace, but doesn't see how it can happen here. In the God will be the sifter and all will be judged.