"Yesterday while I was in the Middle East I was saddened to hear that Elisabeth Elliot—wife of missionary martyr Jim Elliot—passed away," he wrote on his Facebook page. "She was close friends with my parents and visited in our home. She authored numerous books, served on the mission field herself, and blessed many as an inspirational speaker through the years."

After Elisabeth's husband was killed in 1956 while trying to share the Gospel to an unreached tribe in Ecuador, Elisabeth channelled her pain and turned it into something positive. She wrote the book "Through Gates of Splendor," which Graham said has been used "to call thousands to a life of missionary service." ...