# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1934 masthead not in scan _S409
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

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of cutbacks. They said: "You will see that the LORD will make everything possible for us; we all stand by you, even if things should get harder still. We have received no salary from you for nine months. But we hold out and hope together with you in the LORD. He will put us all to shame and not leave us in the lurch; for through him we have been put to the work."
J. T. M.

"Evil Signs of the Coming Antichrist." Under this heading a writer in the Sunday-school Times points out that the well-known dictatorial powers in Europe could make up the "coming Antichrist." They all, he says, have a great power such as no ruler has possessed before. Each of them has a special sign: Kemal Pasha in Turkey the crescent, Mussolini the fasces, Stalin the hammer and sickle, and Hitler the swastika. The writer of the article is personally inclined to regard Hitler as the prophesied Antichrist.

The spiritual blindness that shows itself in such an interpretation is deplorable, not only because it proves a great ignorance of Holy Scripture, but also because it shows above all how little people recognize the true Antichrist, the Roman papacy. Is Luther's whole mighty testimony against the pope then to have been in vain? Is it to mean little that the pope curses the basic doctrine of the Gospel, the doctrine of the justification of a poor sinner by grace alone, through faith in Christ's work of reconciliation, and teaches in its place human doctrine and human wit, salvation by good works, which is indeed heathen? Truly, the ways of the Reformed Fundamentalists lead far away from those which we Lutherans tread. We must keep reminding ourselves of this. A great gulf separates us, the same gulf that lay between Zwingli and Luther, the great gulf that lies precisely between fanaticism and childlike faith in the Bible.
J. T. M.

Lutheran Countries. In Germany the Lutheran Reformation was damaged and hindered in many places by the Roman Counter-Reformation and the counter-working of the Reformed. The situation took a different shape in the so-called Scandinavian countries, where even today most of the inhabitants belong to the Lutheran church. In Denmark in the year 1930 98 percent of the population, about 3,370,000 persons, belonged to the Lutheran church. Of the 6,190,364 inhabitants of Sweden, 5,880,941 are members of the Lutheran church. Iceland has a population of 111,555; the Lutheran church there counts 107,358 members. In Norway the population in the year 1930 was 2,814,194; of these 2,722,735 had themselves enrolled as Lutheran church members. Unfortunately the Scandinavian state churches have not preserved the old faith pure. In many places unbelief has even spread so widely that the chief articles of Christian doctrine are no longer believed. This is true also in Finland, where of 3,667,067 inhabitants 3,580,027 are Lutheran.

Nothing is sadder than when the pure doctrine of the Gospel is no longer valued. God punishes this by allowing the devil to send all kinds of false prophets into the land, who plague the people with fanaticism. In the Scandinavian countries the Roman church is now trying most zealously to gain influence, and sects and fanatics of every kind are nesting there. Adventists, Baptists, Methodists, and other sects speak in their periodicals frequently of fields there that are ripe for harvest. Read the solemn words of 2 Thess. 2:10-12.
J. T. M.

Pictures from the Holy Land.

2. On the Mount of Olives and at the Dead Sea.

The main sights in Jerusalem we described in our first article. But we must not take our leave without having paid a visit to the mountains that surround the city.

There in the north, on Scopus, was the camp of the Roman general Titus and his legions, who in the year 70 after Christ conquered Jerusalem. Even today this mountain reminds one of war; for here is the burial place of English soldiers from the time of the World War, hundreds of graves lined up side by side, each grave provided with a neat stone; among them are also seventeen graves of German prisoners of war who have found their last resting place here. On the highest point of Scopus stands the new Hebrew university, an imposing building, erected by the Zionists with the money of rich American Jews. Between Scopus and the Mount of Olives is the house of the Empress Augusta Victoria Foundation, a sanatorium and hospice from the pre-war period.

A little farther south stands the Mount of Olives, the holiest of all mountains. Here King David found a refuge when his rebellious son Absalom sought his life; here David's Son, our Savior, spent whole nights in prayer with his heavenly Father; from here his ascension probably took place. We had a splendid view here. Since a clear, cloudless day had been granted us, we had a comprehensive view and a still more comprehensive distant view. Quite near, a little more than half a mile away, we have the charming cityscape of Jerusalem, to which gently rising heights form the beautiful frame. Far to the west, lying lower, shimmer the blue waters of the Mediterranean Sea. Far in the east we see the plain of Moab, from which the mountain peak Nebo stands out, from where Moses shortly before his departure was permitted to behold "the whole land," Deut. 34. In the southeast a less charming picture. Across the former wilderness of Judah the Dead Sea shimmers glaringly, 3,900 feet lower than where we now stand. Is the trip to Palestine worthwhile? Dear reader, whoever was granted to stand on the Mount of Olives and to enjoy this splendid view will answer this question with an unmistakable Yes.

Olive trees in Gethsemane.

Fortunately it is impossible to disfigure an entire mountain; yet the craze for erecting buildings at most of the holy places of the Mount of Olives has in no way beautified the summit and the slopes. Here we also find a chapel of the Ascension, the property of the Mohammedans, who however generously permit those of other faiths to hold services here.