Below are four items that I referred to in the clip on our Facebook page.
The first two are from James’s own record. The second two are the main Scriptures that I’ve used.
- James’s record of his census of the Lisu towns and villages in the Yunnan Mountains around 1920.
“On his return, James sent a 14-page report to Mr. Hoste in Shanghai. In the northern area alone, there were 300 towns and villages, and a population of 10,000 Lisu, and even greater numbers of Kachin. The Shan area he had not yet begun to chart. James was deeply moved at the extent of the need.” - The words from the booklet that James read as a student in London that changed the direction of his life.
“If our Master returned today to find millions of people unevangelised and looked, as of course he would look, to ask for an explanation, I cannot imagine what explanation we should have to give. Of one thing I am certain – that most of the excuses we are accustomed to make with such good conscience now, we shall be wholly ashamed of then.”
(Source: Mountain Rain, a biography of James O. Fraser by Eileen Fraser Crossman.) - Matt 24:14:
“And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.”
In Matthew 24:14, the Greek word translated as “nations” is ἔθνεσιν (ethnesin), the dative plural form of ἔθνος (ethnos). This term is rich in meaning and contextually significant. Originally, ethnos referred to a group of people bound by shared customs, culture, or ethnicity – essentially, a people group or nation in the broadest sense.
So when Jesus says the gospel will be preached “to all nations,” the phrase implies a universal mission – not just to political entities or modern nation-states, but to every distinct ethnic or cultural group across the inhabited world.” (biblehub.com). - Rev 7:9-12:
v9 “After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands,
v10 and crying out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
v11 All the angels stood around the throne and the elders and the four living creatures, and fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God,
v12 saying: “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom, thanksgiving and honour and power and might, be to our God forever and ever. Amen.”
