From the Editor Nov/Dec 2017
Every December, my husband and I try to go to Disney World for a few days to attend the Candlelight Processional at the America Gardens Theater in Epcot. Tom likes Disney World because he says it’s the only place where he doesn’t think about having cancer. But that’s not why we go at Christmastime.
We love to sit in the large amphitheater under the stars and listen to the enormous choir as it sings traditional Christmas carols, accompanied by a 50-piece orchestra and someone who reads about Christ’s birth from the Scriptures.
Last year as I sat there, I was so overcome with joy and gratitude to God that I felt I had experienced a tiny taste of heaven—until something went wrong.
The processional was almost over. The narrator said, “Let us rejoice in the universal message of peace on Earth and good will to men.” Really? Then the choir sang, “Joy to the world, the Lord is come! Let Earth receive her King,” and the narrator read Isaiah 9:6: “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
As the orchestra played the opening strains of the “Hallelujah Chorus” of Handel’s Messiah, we all rose to our feet; and the choir proclaimed, “King of kings and Lord of lords….He shall reign forever and ever.”
A little frustrated, I turned to my husband. “We just sang about Jesus being King and Lord and how He will reign forever. And that guy just told everyone the message of Christmas is about ‘peace on Earth and good will to men.’ The message is about Jesus!”
Disney, of course, toes the politically correct line. I’m glad we don’t have to do that in Israel My Glory. We can tell you unabashedly Christmas is about God sending us the Savior. Someday, that Savior will rule over the entire earth from Jerusalem, and it will be politically incorrect to deny His existence, deity, royalty, or authority.
In this issue, we highlight the five women God has embedded in the otherwise male lineage of the Messiah. These women coped with difficulties and unusual circumstances, but God’s grace touched them all. We pray His grace will touch and bless you, too, in a marvelous way this Christmas season. Merry Christmas from all of us at Israel My Glory.
Waiting for His Appearing,
Lorna Simcox
Editor-in-Chief