# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_Januar 1933 ff. masthead not in scan _S267
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

267

Postage Stamps. On this point the "Ev.-Luth. Gemeindeblatt" writes: "In recent years, especially in the postwar years, governments have gotten into the habit of frequently issuing a new series of postage stamps. This does not happen out of need, but for the sake of business. They count on the stamp collectors, whose number in the world today exceeds one million. It pays then to have new stamps printed; for one can rely on this market, especially since many stamp collectors acquire the stamps by the sheet. Now Germany too has recently decided to issue a new series of stamps. At this the Evangelical Youth League in Germany is bringing its influence to bear to the effect that one of the stamps under consideration should bear the picture of Luther. Possibly this wish will be granted, and Luther's picture will be displayed on one of the new stamps. In what attire would Luther now look most fitting there? In any case with a mourning cloak around his shoulders!

"The Soviet government in Russia will likewise have new postage stamps printed, and indeed these are to bear nothing but anti-Christian pictures. The Pope intends to protest against this and to turn to the League of Nations and to the Universal Postal Union, so that these may at least prevent the Russian government from having such stamps with anti-Christian pictures produced for foreign mail. But how can the Pope protest, since he himself is anti-Christian?"

The matter is not as unimportant as it may appear to the reader at first glance. Our modern postage stamps remind us of what is important for the hour. Now the 450th birthday of Luther calls his great work to mind again; and the world has great cause to let itself be reminded of Luther and his Reformation. The writer of the article complains about the Soviet government in Russia and about the Pope, who are both anti-Christian. That is true. Both hate the Gospel with equal hatred; both are subverters in State and Church, though from different points of view. So the world has need to learn anew that the Gospel is the only remedy for humanity infected by sin. Where the Gospel is held in honor, there neither the Pope can maintain himself nor the atheists; there the fear of God flourishes and faith rules; and there God also gives his earthly blessing, so that things go well with such a pious, God-fearing people. One could also let oneself be reminded of this again by a postage stamp with Luther's likeness.

J. T. M.

Foreign Countries.

What Do the "German Christians" Want? The so-called "German Christians" in Luther's fatherland are causing a great deal of talk about themselves. Much that is contradictory is being written about them, and besides this also much that must fill all faithful Lutherans with concern. The profound agitation that shows itself in German politics makes itself noticeable also in the field of religion. Calmly, but fearlessly, therefore, all confession-true Christians in Germany should confess their faith and not let themselves be swept away by the whirlpool of the agitation of the times. According to an interview printed in the "Tägliche Rundschau," Military District Pastor Müller said recently about the reorganization of the church, among other things: "We stand for the complete preservation of the confessional position of the Reformation, but demand a further development of the German evangelical confession in the sense of sharp defensive measures against all modern false doctrines. The Church in its mission as the German Reformation church is to supply us the weapons for our struggle against everything un-Christian and un-German in character. The eternal truth of God, as Christ has taught it, is to be proclaimed in a language and manner understandable to the German soul. We stand for churchly German custom and discipline in city and village, for the sanctification of Sunday, for Christian schools and the cultivation of every good, pious German custom rooted in our race and our national character. We stand for the vigorous development of Christian works of love within our Church. We pledge ourselves and demand this pledge from all evangelical men and women to service in our congregations. We want to serve through untiring recruiting for our worship services, through chivalrous advocacy for the poor and those in need of help, through defense of our faith where it is attacked or called into question, and through faithful evangelical confession in all publicity. I emphasize once more: the most important and decisive thing for the form of the German evangelical Church is its unanimous confessing. When this foundation has been laid, the unified outward structure that the present time demands can also be erected."

These lofty words of Müller can be interpreted in many ways, and not always in the right one. In any case, the reorganized church is to serve the German State as it now exists; hence the deep earnestness that lies in Müller's words. To be sure, the reorganized church will be built entirely on a Unionistic foundation. Müller writes: "When what is common to the various historically developed confessions of the evangelical churches of Germany has been found by qualified organs of the Church, the 'German Christians' have the task, through missionary proclamation of this inwardly common element, of helping to build the spiritual foundation upon which alone a new building of the Church is possible."

But what is the "inwardly common element" of the evangelical churches of Germany? In this country the Federal Council has long since sought the "inwardly common element" of the evangelical churches of America. But what people finally believed they had found as such was nothing other than works-mongering and hostility toward all decided Christian confessions. According to Fosdick, this is the "inwardly common element" of the evangelical churches, that one does not worship JESUS, does not acknowledge him as God-man Redeemer, does not hold the Bible to be God's inspired Word, rejects the miracles of the Bible, and seeks salvation through good conduct. Will it not go the same way with Military District Pastor Müller?

J. T. M.

Hitler's Book Burning. People in many circles have made hearty fun of the burning of books that took place in Germany some time ago at Hitler's instigation. And certainly, some books were probably burned wrongly, while many godless books continue to be read in spite of the measure carried out by Hitler. But the Hitlerian book burning was only a sign of the position of his party against Bolshevist and Communist books. It was a sign that people no longer wanted to tolerate what long since should no longer have been tolerated. What earnest-minded Christian men and women in Germany have wanted for many years, namely to cleanse the land of book filth, has been called into the soul of the public by the Hitlerian book burning. How much filth and refuse there was in Germany on the book market is told by the editor of the Northwestern Lutheran of the Wisconsin Synod, who traveled through Germany in the year 1931. He writes: "We were astonished at how many Marxist, Bolshevist, Communist, indeed atheistic books were on display in the market, books that must ruin Christian culture not only in Germany but also in the whole world. We bought ourselves a book titled 'Der Kampf gegen Gott,' in which are set forth the doctrines, aims, and methods that are now being carried out by the Marxists and Communists in