The World and Everything in It: December 20, 2023

PREROLL: The World and Everything in It is made possible by listeners like you and me.

Happy Wednesday and Merry Christmas to you! I’m Lynn Vincent, executive editor of WORLD and creator of the Lawless podcast.

This is WORLD’s December Giving Drive.

Now, I work at WORLD, but I’m also a WORLD donor. That’s because I’m deeply committed to our mission — sound journalism grounded in facts and Biblical truth.

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I hope you enjoy today’s program.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Good morning!  The Senate extends its session to negotiate foreign aid and border security. How likely is that to happen?

NICK EICHER, HOST: We’ll talk about it today on Washington Wednesday. Also today, WORLD Tour. And the gift of hospitality for military families at Christmastime.

AUDIO: God has provided for each one of us because I can’t imagine going through this alone even just like the daily things.

And music that showcases God’s love for His people: Handel’s Oratorio. Commentary today from WORLD’s Janie B. Cheaney.

REICHARD: It’s Wednesday, December 20th. This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Mary Reichard.

EICHER: And I’m Nick Eicher. Good morning!

REICHARD: Up next, Kent Covington with today’s news.

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: Colorado high court boots Trump from ballot » For the first time in history, a court has invoked the U.S. Constitution’s insurrection clause to disqualify a presidential candidate — namely Donald Trump.

In a 4-to-3 decision, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that Trump’s name should be removed from the state’s primary ballot.

Justice Melissa Hart heard here:

HART: For purposes of this case, what we need to do is figure out whether what happened on Jan. 6 constituted an insurrection.

When asked if the breach of the Capitol in 2021 was, in fact, better described as a riot … Trump attorney Scott Gessler responded:

GESSLER: We think it’d be properly characterized that way and not as insurrection.

The ruling overturned a district court's decision, and it applies only to the primary ballot and not the general election - for now.

The decision is on hold until the U.S. Supreme Court addresses the issue.

Numerous lawsuits seek to bar Trump from primary ballots in other states as well.

Red Sea task force » Warships from the U.S. Navy and from other nations will patrol the Red Sea to protect commercial shipping lanes from attacks by Iran-backed Houthi militants. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin:

AUSTIN: We have launched Operation Prosperity Guardian under the umbrella of combined maritime forces.

The Yemen-based Houthi rebels have terrorized commercial vessels with drone and rocket attacks along a critical trade route in the Middle East. And allowing that to continue could harm the global economy.

Countries taking part in the new task force include Canada, Spain, Norway, France, and Bahrain.

China, despite its regional naval presence, has not joined.

Israel latest » Meanwhile, family members of more than 130 Israeli hostages still held by Hamas met Tuesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Ruby Chen was among them.

CHEN: The prime minister gave us hope in the meeting. It was a very intimate meeting with a small number of families.

Chen added though that at the end of the day, the prime minister is the one responsible for getting their loved ones home safely.

Western leaders have continued to work with Israeli officials behind the scenes, talking with mediators from Qatar in hopes of brokering another deal to free more of the hostages.

O’Connor funeral » President Biden was among those paying final respects Tuesday to a trailblazing Supreme Court justice.

BIDEN: Sandra Day O'Connor, daughter of the American West, was a pioneer in her own right, breaking down the barriers in legal and political worlds and the nation's consciousness.

The president heard there at the Washington National Cathedral near the close of two days of memorial services for the high court’s first female justice.

U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts also honored the late justice.

JUSTICE ROBERTS: She had to demonstrate excellence as the 102nd member of the Supreme Court, all the while setting a model as the first woman on the job.

President Ronald Reagan nominated Sandra Day O’Connor in 1981, and the Senate unanimously confirmed her. She retired from the court 25 years later.

She died earlier this month at the age of 93.

Suit of Texas border law » The liberal activist group, the American Civil Liberties Union, is suing to halt a new Texas law that gives state police the power to arrest and deport illegal immigrants.

The White House blasted the law on Tuesday. Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre:

Jean-Pierre: This is an extreme law that will not and does not make the communities in Texas safer. It just doesn't. 

The lawsuit claims the law is unconstitutional arguing that immigration law enforcement is strictly a federal responsibility.

Gov. Greg Abbott says the Biden administration has abdicated its duties, leaving Texas to fend for itself.

Tesla/Elon/Disney » A feud between Disney CEO Bob Iger and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, continues to escalate as the two business leaders stake out ground on opposite sides of the culture war. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin has more.

KRISTEN FLAVIN: Tesla has apparently removed the Disney-Plus app from the entertainment systems in its cars.

That follows Iger’s decision to pull advertising from Musk’s X platform, formerly Twitter, after Musk reposted a controversial message that many saw as anti-Semitic. Musk later sought to clarify his stance and visited with leaders in Israel.

He suggested Iger’s move was more political than ethical. He noted that Disney still advertises on the Chinese-owned TikTok, which has faced heavy criticism over its content.

Over the weekend, Musk ramped up criticism of Disney:

MUSK: I think they should be asking themselves, “what would Walt Disney think of Disney today?” I think he’s turning in his grave.

He said Disney is deeply infected with what he called the “woke mind virus,” and has become a haven of left-wing activists.

Iger himself recently conceded that Disney had begun to prioritize pushing left-of-center social messages over creating quality content.

For WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

I'm Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: Washington Wednesday. Plus, giving soldiers a seat at the holiday table this Christmas.

This is The World and Everything in It.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: It’s Wednesday the 20th of December, 2023.

Glad to have you along for today’s edition of The World and Everything in It. Good morning, I’m Mary Reichard.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. It’s time for Washington Wednesday.

Last week, Members of the House of Representatives left Washington for their Christmas vacations. But Majority Leader Chuck Schumer had other plans for the Senate.

CHUCK SCHUMER: If we believe something is important and urgent, we should stay and get the job done. That is certainly the case with the supplemental.

REICHARD: The audio from C-SPAN. The “supplemental” he’s referring to is a bill that would authorize spending on a variety of things, including aid to Ukraine and Israel. Senate Republicans have said they’ll only go along with the plan if it includes policy changes to border security. South Dakota Senator Mike Rounds:

MIKE ROUNDS: I'm a firm believer that we should be funding Ukraine, we should be funding Israel, we should be taking care of the issues in the Pacific Rim region. But we're going to start with finally providing security at our southern border. And that that is not a negotiable issue in this particular case.

EICHER: Is it possible to negotiate a deal in time for Christmas, or will the Senate put it off until next year.

Joining us now to discuss it is Eric Teetsel, VP of government relations at the Heritage Foundation. He’s a former Senate chief of staff, and he writes for WORLD Opinions.

REICHARD: Good morning, Eric, welcome.

ERIC TEETSEL: Hi, Mary, thank you so much for having me.

REICHARD: Eric, what do you make of the talks around border security and immigration so far?

TEETSEL: Woof, here we are into the year, and Congress is doing what Congress tends to do, which is wait until the very last minute to try to shove through a bunch of the priorities that they ought to have been working on all year long. This year, unlike most years, it's the supplemental that includes border security. So here we are.

REICHARD: Who are the main players in all this? Who is negotiating?

TEETSEL: Right, so the players here are the White House on the one hand, and then you have the Senate, where Senate Republicans and Senate Democrats are negotiating over a bill. And then you have the House, and the house is not involved in the negotiations directly. However, obviously, in order to pass a bill, it's going to have to get through the Republican-controlled House of Representatives. And so a lot of the dialogue surrounds the dynamic between the House and the Senate, and Senate Republicans, led by Senator Jim Lankford from Oklahoma, are sort of operating on the basis of that understanding that this may not be entirely about what we want directly, but we're aware of what our colleagues over on the House side are going to demand.

REICHARD: Our newsfeeds are flooded with footage from border checkpoints like Eagle Pass, Texas, where the U.S. has now suspended rail service to respond to yet another migrant surge. How did we get to this point?

TEETSEL: It's a complete and total catastrophe at the border. And it's the result of, of policy choices and management. There have been no laws that were passed or undone between the end of the last presidency under President Trump and the Biden presidency here three years in. What's changed is the people who are in charge of implementing those laws and enforcing them, and the Biden administration has chosen to pursue policies that encourage and incentivize immigration, illegal immigration, the abuse of our amnesty policies, and so on and so forth. And that has resulted in month over a month over month record after record after record of illegal border crossings and people showing up at the border claiming amnesty and so on and so forth.

REICHARD: And how is all this tied to aid for Ukraine?

TEETSEL: Where to start? So there's a process under which the federal government is supposed to decide how it's going to spend its money every year, you have a budget, and that's sort of the policy side. And then you have an appropriations process. And that's where they figure out how they're going to pay for the policies that were included in the budget. And there are 12 appropriations bills, each of which is supposed to go individually through this entire legislative process for consideration, and if you get funded, then you get to move forward. That's never how it works, because Congress is dysfunctional and entirely broken. And so this year, they've decided to use something called a supplemental funding request. So that's a request for federal spending that occurs entirely outside and in addition to the standard appropriations process. And in this supplemental request, the Biden administration included many things, including more than $60 billion for Ukraine, about $14 billion for Israel, and border security, and additional money for things like defense needs in the Indo Pacific region. Now, all of that could have been done through the standard appropriations process. And you could argue that Israel's an actual emergency, no one saw October 7 coming and so maybe it's reasonable to do a supplemental request on that one. But on all these other issues, all of this should have been done through the standard process. They chose not to, and instead to go this route, and they chose to tie them all together because some of these items couldn't pass on their own, or it'd be much more difficult to pass them on their own. The House, for example, has already passed a border security bill. It's called HR-2. The Senate has declined to even bother considering it. The House has also passed Israel aid, and the Senate has declined to do anything with that bill. The reason is that they want Ukraine money, and they believe that the only way to get the Ukraine money that they want is to tie it to things that they see being other priorities like Israel. So it's just one big negotiating trick, and it's certainly not working.

REICHARD: Well, let's talk about the presidential election just for a minute. Back in 2020, then-candidate Joe Biden campaigned on halting construction of a border wall while also promising immigration reforms. He’s said as president that he may return to a Trump-era policy to expel asylum seekers. Democrats are accusing him of going back on his word. Yet a new poll released this week shows only 38 percent of registered voters approve of Biden’s immigration positions. A majority of respondents said they aligned more with Trump’s policies. So what is the politically expedient move for President Biden as he seeks reelection?

TEETSEL: Yeah, no doubt the American people are seeing what's happening on their TV screens and are completely dissatisfied. And it feeds into a broader narrative about President Biden and his administration, the question of whether this is a guy who's up to the task of governing the country. People are looking at the economy, nobody can afford gas or groceries or rent, inflation is at record highs, and you have a mess at the border, and you have our strongest ally in Israel suffering under these attacks, the war in Ukraine, people feel like things are just sort of falling apart. And so it is certainly in the administration's interest to demonstrate that it can govern. Now, there are some problems with that. One is it's been three years, and I think Republicans and others rightly say, you had three years to deal with a very legitimate problem, why should we bail you out now on the eve of a presidential election cycle, when the American people are finally paying attention? And they reasonably believe that the White House will pass a bill and sign it and that there will suddenly be all of these new laws and authorities that they will simply choose to ignore as they've ignored the law to date. And so there's a question as to whether passing a bill even means anything given an administration that has repeatedly chosen simply to ignore or not enforce the law. So you get a political benefit without actually solving the problem. Why would you do that? For some Republicans, the answer is well, we do believe that the Biden administration will ignore these laws, they will use it as a headline without actually changing anything, but if there's a Republican president to come in, in 2024, then those laws will be in place and that person can use them to actually do something to fix the border. That's probably the main motivator for the Republicans who are currently engaged in in these negotiations.

REICHARD: Eric Teetsel is vice president of government relations at the Heritage Foundation and a contributor to World Opinions. Eric, thank you for joining us.

TEETSEL: Thank you for having me.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: WORLD Tour with our reporter in Nigeria, Onize Ohikere. 

AUDIO: [Cheering crowds]

ONIZE OHIKERE, REPORTER: DRC vote — We start today in the Democratic Republic of the Congo where voters are heading to the polls today after weeks of campaigns.

Incumbent President Félix Tshisekedi is running for reelection. He has centered his campaign around the M23 rebel group, which has displaced thousands of people in eastern Congo as the group continues with an offensive. Other rebel groups also plague the region.

TSHISEKEDI: [Speaking French]

Tshisekedi tells voters here that he needs their support to continue to fight for the country’s liberation.

The ongoing unrest will likely keep some Congolese from voting.

OFFICIAL: [Speaking French]

This electoral commission official says they won’t open polling stations in the town of Masisi, since only about one percent of expected voters registered.

Other presidential candidates include Nobel-winning Dr. Denis Mukwege, opposition candidate Martin Fayulu, and businessman Moïse Katumbi.

The electoral commission is expected to release provisional results by December 31.

AUDIO: [Waiting crowds]

Australia flooding — In Australia, heavy downpours have brought flooding and triggered emergency evacuations in the northeast.

Authorities rescued more than 300 people overnight on Sunday. In the tourist hub of Cairns, floodwaters completely covered major highways. The city closed its airport on Monday. Railway services were also suspended.

Local officials in the rural town of Ingham said residents spotted crocodiles in the floodwaters.

Steve Zsombok is deputy commissioner of the Queensland Ambulance Service.

ZSOMBOK: We've seen people on roofs isolated, we've seen people actually waiting to be rescued, some of those have been removed, and we still currently have people out in the community who are waiting to be evacuated from some of those locations.

Tropical Cyclone Jasper made landfall in northern Australia last week. Strong winds caused only minor damage, but heavy rain has continued to drench the region.

AUDIO: [Cheering]

Chile reform vote — Cheering voters in Chile have welcomed the outcome of a Sunday vote on whether to change the country’s dictatorship-era constitution.

More than 55 percent of Chileans voted against the proposed conservative constitution. It included changes like reducing state intervention and deepening free-market principles.

Last year, a majority of voters also rejected a different proposal from left-leaning lawmakers. Proposed changes sought to add environmental protections and the right to elective abortion into the constitution.

Chile began the constitutional reform process in 2019 after mass protests against social inequality.

FONT: [Speaking Spanish]

Chilean President Gabriel Boric Font says here that the country will continue with its 1980 constitution.

AUDIO: [Choir singing]

Lebanon celebration — We close today with Christmas celebrations in Lebanon.

Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group has increasingly exchanged fire with Israeli troops along the southern border since the Israel-Hamas conflict began in October.

Lebanon is also still in the midst of a record four-year financial crisis with banks essentially shutting customers out of their accounts.

Yet Christmas decorations and costume-wearing singers have brought a festive mood to parts of the country.

WOMAN: [Speaking Arabic]

This Beirut resident says the Lebanese people don’t break and will hold onto their festivals as a source of hope.

That’s it for today’s WORLD Tour. Reporting for WORLD, I’m Onize Ohikere in Abuja, Nigeria.

NICK EICHER, HOST: With apologies to the astronaut Neil Armstrong, it was one small twitch for Taters, and one giant leap for high-speed communications in space.

NASA: We got Taters? We got Taters. Yay. (laughter) That’s fantastic!

Taters is an orange tabby filmed fruitlessly trying to catch a laser. But forget about that. Taters is not important.

What’s important was how quickly NASA could transmit the ultra high definition video of Taters point to point … 19 million miles between them. That’s a long way. And when you have to communicate to deep space, speed matters.

It took only 101 seconds to transmit the whole video clip. For comparison the amount of data NASA was able to transmit in a day, the Magellan mission to Venus sent slightly less and that mission was four years.

And you thought dial-up internet was slow.

It’s The World and Everything in It.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Wednesday, December 20th. Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day. Good morning. I’m Mary Reichard.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher.

Today on the 50th episode of Concurrently: The News Coach Podcast, Kelsey Reed and Jonathan Boes explore their Top Ten Words of the Year. These difficult terms have cropped up all over the news of 2023. But are we using them correctly? Here’s a preview:

REED: We are going to be next looking at the word fascism. So we're jumping straight into the deep water here. Unfortunately, this term has been all over social media, all over news commentary, and even in some more scholarly sources, how it's being used. It's often hyperbolic in nature. It's again, a chance for doing some mudslinging and trying to really cut the knees out from under a political opponent. It's not thoughtfully applied. It's kind of a part of, you know, this, this culture of cynicism, and a weird kind of youth humor, where sometimes you're hearing, oh, you're just fascist.

BOES: When it comes to how we should use it. I think the idea of using it sparingly is really important because it wouldn't be our 50th episode, if I didn't quote CS Lewis, of course, but he said, Men do not long continue to think what they have forgotten how to say. I think that if we miss you as fascism as a term and just turn it into anything that is scary and authoritative. The real risk is that we won't see actual markers of fascism when they arise.

You can hear the entire episode of Concurrently today wherever you get your podcasts. And find out more at concurrentlypodcast.com.

REICHARD: Coming next on The World and Everything in It: home for the holidays.

The U.S. has more than 170,000 soldiers deployed around the world. For them and their families back home, the Christmas season can be an especially tough time of year.

WORLD Feature Reporter Grace Snell went home for the holidays and brings us this story about what it’s like celebrating Christmas alongside soldiers and their families.

SOUND: [Cars rushing by]

GRACE SNELL, REPORTER: There’s a little gray house on the banks of the Black River. It sits just off the road—a ten-minute drive from the U.S. Army base at Fort Drum, New York.

SOUND: [Canadian geese honking]

Fort Drum isn’t exactly what soldiers here would call a “garden spot.” It’s dark, cold, and remote. About an hour south of Canada.

SOUND: [Door opening]

Right now, it’s 4:30 p.m. —and already the sunlight has vanished.

AUDIO: [People talking and arriving]

But inside the house it’s warm and bright—the windows making glowing squares against the night. Christmas wreaths adorn the walls and grace the banisters.

This is my home. But on nights like this, for the nearly sixty people gathered, it’s their home, too. That’s the reason my parents, Matt and Meredith Snell, moved up here in the first place.

MATT: Because our mission is to share the gospel and our lives with the military community…

They run a home-based ministry to service members and their families.

MATT: We just invite people naturally into the things we’re already doing, whether that’s lighting an Advent wreath, and reading a short devotional, or you know, whether it’s the way we do Christmas presents or anything like that…

It’s a ministry that takes on a special significance around Christmas time.

MEREDITH: That’s not a holiday meant to be spent alone…And if people are away from family, we want to be the friends who are like family, just invite people in and give them a place to be.

That’s why everyone’s here this evening. For a Christmas party. We’ll have our more solemn carol-sing next week. But tonight is just for fun.

AUDIO: [People grabbing snacks, talking]

The kitchen island is buried under a spread of cookies, cheese and crackers, and chex-mix.

SOUND: [Utensils]

People heap their plates high while catching up with friends.

SOUND: [M&Ms clattering]

Then, it’s time for the games to begin. Things like sorting M&Ms with straws…

AUDIO: [Starting count, wrapping paper rustling, yelling]

Wrapping gifts blindfolded…

SOUND: [Dice, talking, applause]

And some kind of relay race with oven mitts, cellophane, and a pair of dice…

SOUND: [Games, laughter]

All of the games end in laughter…which is good, because most people here can use a laugh right about now. “Block leave” —Army vacation time—starts next week. But, for many, it’s been a grueling push to get to this point. Long weeks of work and training. There’s a feeling of relief and excitement to have made it this far.

SOUND: [White elephant stealing, laughter]

But, not everyone can be here tonight. Seventeen photos hang in the dining room upstairs—reminders of our deployed soldiers who won’t be home for the holidays.

Kristina De La Cruz is a mom of three. Her husband, Alvin, is deployed to Korea right now.

DE LA CRUZ: So Christmas this year, Alvin will be gone. And I think we’re just gonna have to learn how to make the best of it…

Their family hails from the Pacific island of Guam—almost eight-thousand miles away.

DE LA CRUZ: For one ticket, it’s like $1,600 to $2,000 to fly, and so there’s four of us. And so going home is just not an option.

So, they’re celebrating with us this year.

DE LA CRUZ: It kind of adds some excitement, like, “Hey, we are doing something different this year because Dad’s gone, but we’re going to do everything different. God has provided for each one of us because I can’t imagine going through this alone even just like the daily things. But Christmas especially…

Erin Hutchinson and her five kids landed here six months ago. They’ve spent the last decade hopping the globe…from Fort Knox, Kentucky to Okinawa, Japan.

HUTCHINSON: The main Christmas tradition we have as a family is that Chet and I cook breakfast for our kids. We basically make, like, a little restaurant, and they get to order off of a menu.

Her husband always dons his wedding tuxedo—to look like a waiter. But this year, Chet will have to FaceTime in from the Middle East.

HUTCHINSON: So that part is a little bit sad. But we are. I mean, we’re really thankful for the community here that provides a lot of activities and opportunities to do things you would do with family, even when you’re not near them.

The grief of missing family makes it seem all the more important to celebrate. My dad pulls out his beloved copy of Every Moment Holy, puts on his glasses, and reads a passage from the liturgy, “For Feasting with Friends.”

MATT: “To gather joyfully is indeed a serious affair, for feasting, and all enjoyments gratefully taken are at their heart acts of war.” And I think that’s part of what we think about is, in this time of Christ’s coming, that the darkness is being pushed back. And we’re inviting the light in and pointing people to Jesus as the light.

After a short devotional and a spirited white elephant exchange, the scheduled portion of the evening is over. But most people stick around for a while…

MATT: At the holidays, people tend to linger. And so there’s just those times for those longer conversations where you really get to hear people’s heart and get to know what’s on their minds.

The last guests don’t leave until well past midnight. But that’s alright with us. It’s why we’re here.

MEREDITH: Holidays are different because I think people are more open. They’re historically times again, that you spend with family and friends. And so there’s just a longing to be together. They’re looking for a place to be and we’re really thankful that we get to, to be that place.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Grace Snell in Watertown, New York.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Wednesday, December 20th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Nick Eicher.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard. If you Google Handel’s Messiah, the top video result is this ABC classic video from 2019 at the Sydney Opera House in Australia. 600 singers in formal attire accompanied by piano, cellos, violins, and more. It’s a powerful performance.

MUSIC: And the government shall be upon His shoulders. And His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.

EICHER: WORLD Commentator Janie B. Cheaney reflects on the oratorio’s effect on her life.

JANIE B. CHEANEY: My first performance in Handel’s Messiah took place in a university production augmented by community members. I was one of the latter--a college dropout in my late twenties who liked to sing. The director (I'll call him Dr. Gunther) was passionate and volatile and had already alienated half the faculty. His Catholic faith was a bounding spring of inspiration but no use in curbing his ego.

Over weeks of rehearsal Gunther exhorted and molded the choir into a mean Messiah machine. On performance night, he told us, "I don't care what you believe, but tonight--just for tonight--sing like you believe this."

I already believed this, but was beginning to wonder why. Was faith entirely a choice, or did the Holy Spirit just muscle in to claim this territory for Christ? The performance didn't answer that question but showed me what (or Who) mattered more.

The first chorus proclaims, "And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed." Gross darkness covers the people, the bass informs us (accompanied by low strings swirling like fog). "But the Lord shall arise upon them." Dawn comes as his voice climbs the scale and the minor tone brightens.

With the announcement to lowly shepherds of God's promise fulfilled, the air fills with rustling wings as though the angels are too excited to hold still. "Glory to God in the highest!" bursts out of the heavenly band, with "Good will!" tossed about in joyful benediction. The last angel leaves the sky, in a quiver of violins, and the Word becomes flesh and gathers his flock. "Come unto him, all ye that labor . . ."

But then, "Behold the Lamb of God," covered in blood. The music, with its staggering intervals and lashing chords, lays on the stripes. Meanwhile, "All we like sheep have gone astray"--can't you hear it? Giddy, foolish sheep, turning each to his own way, dashing madly toward the pit--until the basses drag the bleeding lamb forward again: "And the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all."

The resurrection happens offstage, as it were; the tenor reminds us that God "did not suffer his holy one to see corruption." The King of glory enters heaven to a tune both regal and merry, blazing a trail for his people. Soon "The trumpet shall sound" (in a stirring duet with the bass soloist) and we shall be changed into incorruptible creatures shouting, "Worthy is the lamb." The final "Amen" layers the voices of a multitude, of every tribe and nation, pitch and tone, woven into perfect harmony.

As our performance ended, the choir was pumped. Meanwhile the orchestra was murmuring that Dr. Gunther was a terrible director and the alto was fuming over the looks he’d given her. I just sat on the risers, an emotional wreck. I'd been given a surround-sound refresher course in the gospel, plus a glimpse of heaven.

The coming of faith is when Christ inhabits time, with all its controversies and daily grinds, and makes it glow. He was there, and my belief was neither a willful act nor involuntary takeover. It was Him, and it will always be Him, forever and ever. Amen.

I’m Janie B. Cheaney.

MUSIC: [MESSIAH] Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Tomorrow: Iran-backed militants are getting brazen in attacks on American soldiers and ships in the Middle East…we’ll talk about what’s going on. And, a live nativity, even when the weather doesn’t cooperate.

That and more tomorrow. I’m Nick Eicher.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard.

The World and Everything in It comes to you from WORLD Radio. WORLD’s mission is biblically objective journalism that informs, educates, and inspires.

The Bible says: And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols. —1 John 5:20, 21

Go now in grace and peace.

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.