Far from home, five American missionaries died in brutal fashion: speared and hacked to death by tribesmen in the dense jungles of Ecuador.
That nightmare moment 50 years ago this month led to a remarkable reconciliation and one of the most influential incidents in 20th-century Protestant mission lore. Now the story is being retold in "End of the Spear," a feature film about redemption in the jungle with a bigger budget ($17 million) and broader release (in 1,200 commercial cinemas this weekend) than many films of its genre.
In January 1956, pilot Nate Saint and colleagues Jim Elliot, Pete Fleming, Ed McCully and Roger Youderian teamed up in a high-risk effort to contact, befriend and evangelize the violent Waodani people (also called Waorani or Auca). The five carried guns but didn't defend themselves.
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Their martyrdom became world-famous through a Life magazine feature by photojournalist Cornell Capa and subsequent books by Elliot's widow, Elisabeth, who quickly matched her husband's heroism.
She and Saint's sister, Rachel, managed to settle among the Waodani and brought them Christianity. Their example of responding to bloodshed with love inspired conversions credited with ending internal warfare among the Waodani and ensuring the tribe's survival. It also inspired generations of people to follow the call to become missionaries.
In another improbable sequel, one of the killers, Mincaye, became a substitute father to Nate's son, Steve Saint. The two are touring U.S. churches to tell their story and promote the "Spear" movie and Saint's book of the same title.
In an interview (with Saint as interpreter), Mincaye, now in his late seventies, said his band killed the missionaries because "furious" elders had the idea, "Let's not let the foreigners come to our place." The elders accused the missionaries of trying to kill tribesmen. "We knew it was a lie," Mincaye said, but the group decided, "Let's not kill each other; let's kill the foreigners."
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Mincaye said his heart "was dark" until he learned about Jesus. "Waengongi [the Creator] used his son's blood like soap," he said. "He cleaned it, and I saw a new trail."
Besides killing outsiders, the Waodani killed one another at the highest rate of any known group, said James Boster, a University of Connecticut anthropology professor. Before the missionaries came, they had dwindled to 600 and "were at the brink of cultural extinction," he said.
In a 2003 academic paper, Boster said the Waodani were desperate to halt the cycle of violence and had tried giving gifts, exchanging wives, fleeing and exterminating enemies. Before Christianity, nothing worked.
Boster is less hostile toward missions than are some anthropologists, who see evangelization as cultural imperialism. He said that "of all the ways in which native people confront the larger society, often the most benevolent and caring face of the other culture is by missionaries."
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Catherine Peeke lived among the Waodani from 1960 to 1992 for Wycliffe Bible Translators, preparing a New Testament -- they call it "God's markings" -- in their tongue. She said the population rebounded not only because warfare ended but also because missions provided basic medical care and school compounds where men were able to find wives.
Also, Peeke said, Christian teaching caused the tribe to stop killing children who were twins, were born out of wedlock, had deformities or were sacrificed after their fathers were killed.
Steve Saint got involved after his aunt Rachel died in 1994. When he attended her burial in Ecuador, the Waodani insisted that he leave his business career and take his aunt's place as their helper in dealing with the outside world. Saint now divides his time between the jungle and Dunnellon, Fla., where his nonprofit Indigenous People's Technology and Education Center devises inventions to aid jungle living and provide tribal employment.
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Saint said he declined at first to assist the "Spear" movie because the Waodani Christians opposed the project. But the Waodani changed their minds when he told them about the 1999 Columbine High School massacre. They wanted to help Americans overcome violence like they had, Saint said.
The film depicts events from the Waodani viewpoint, using a largely indigenous cast in Panama. Saint was the stunt pilot, duplicating his father's exploits. The team produced a related video documentary, "Beyond the Gates of Splendor."
Today, Steve Saint estimates, 430 of the 2,000 Waodani are baptized Christians, but he worries whether the tribe can maintain its identity. "Their existence as a church and a culture is very tenuous," he said, because of encroachments from the outside world.
David Howard, former director of the World Evangelical Alliance and Elisabeth Elliot's brother, said he has been told that missionary recruits in the United States and other nations were inspired by the martyrdom.
"This story goes on and on," he said.
Associated Press writer Adrian Sainz in Miami contributed to this report.
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