IMG is Born

Editor’s Note: Following is the birth announcement of Israel My Glory. It arrived in December 1942, when all humanity was embroiled in war and the Jewish people of Europe were crying out in anguish as Hitler executed his cruel and systematic plan to exterminate them from his envisioned worldwide empire of the Third Reich. This article was taken from the original titled “An Introduction, Explanation, and Appeal” by Dr. Joseph Taylor Britan, secretary of what was then The Friends of Israel Refugee Relief Committee, Inc.

The Friends of Israel Refugee Relief Committee, Inc., greets you with this first issue of a pamphlet or magazine we are naming Israel My Glory.

We are naming the periodical Israel My Glory to call attention to the fact that God is not through with the Jewish people. He has promised that one day He will endow Israel with spiritual power and zeal and use the people of this nation as powerful preachers when Christ comes to Earth to establish His Kingdom. For 1,900 years the Jews have, as a nation, rejected Christ as their Messiah. One day they will accept Him. It is difficult, therefore, for us, remembering their past history, to believe that God should ever call them His “glory.” But this He has done; and in naming our quarterly Israel My Glory, we desire to remind ourselves of God’s irrevocable promises to the Jewish people and of His benevolent purpose in choosing them to be the human channel through which Christ should come and the channel also of future blessing to the world.

Changing Our Name
For about four years we have operated as The Friends of Israel Refugee Relief Committee, Inc. We are changing the name of our organization to The Friends of Israel Missionary and Relief Society, Inc. There are no more refugees. Emigration from any of the oppressed and conquered nations is now impossible except as the Nazis forcibly deport men from their native lands to work in Germany’s factories and mines. Immigration to the “lands of the free” has ceased, and those who have succeeded in escaping from their oppressor are now known as newcomers. The word refugee is therefore practically outmoded and obsolete.

As we face the future and attempt to visualize the conditions that will surely prevail after the war is over, we can be sure that the sorrows and needs of the Jewish Christians will be intensified and pitiable in the extreme. Hitler’s plan is to rid Europe of all Jews—and Jewish Christians are regarded as Jews in his sadistic program. Professional and business Jews and Jewish Christians have been forcibly ejected from their homes and businesses, and Nazi tradesmen have taken possession. These usurpers and robbers are living in stolen homes and are reaping the profits from businesses built up by the skill and careful work of others through the years. After the war is over—no matter who conquers—it will be impossible for the Jew or Jewish Christian ever to recover his lost estate. The “Nordics” will hold on to all confiscated property and ill-gotten gains. The Jew and the Jewish Christian will still be without a country and without home or business. If the condition of the persecuted children of Israel is tragic now, what will it be when Europe is further decimated and destroyed by war, famine, and pestilence?

Ecclesiastical statesmen realize, as did the apostle Paul, that “a great door, and effectual, is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries” (1 Cor. 16:9). The current conditions of the persecuted present a challenge to the Christian church. We must not let the adversaries frighten us.

Today the Friends of Israel Missionary and Relief Society, Inc., has contacts and friends over a large part of the earth, and our substantial help has been sent to many. We rejoice in what God has permitted our committee to do through the cooperation of our many friends, but we believe that God is calling us to a more intensive interest in the persecuted members of His church.

Again and again, in letters received from persons assisted, we have this or equivalent sentences: “I have no other help.” “You alone of all the people on Earth can help me.” Thus many true Christians of Jewish origin appeal to us. And your help has been the means of reviving courage, renewing faith, satisfying hunger, and saving souls.