# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1941_S438
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

438 Two Radio Addresses

people look forward to the day when the earth shall be more and
more subject to the sovereign will of God; when every ma
woman, and child shall possess.to the utmost the freedoms fo
which governments have been instituted among men. The Syn
recognizes that the days in which we live are confused and. evil’
disturbed by fears, hatreds, and suspicions. It is recognized that
subversive forces threaten the security of our country and the
principles upon which our Government has been established. Sai
the Synod: “We as a Church reaffirm our unreserved loyalty to
our country and its institutions, our flag and the principles of
government guaranteed to us by the Constitution of the United
States.” In this connection the Convention was informed that the
Missouri Synod had brought to 43 the number of chaplains on‘:
active duty in the Army and Navy Reserve Corps serving its more
than 7,000 Lutheran young men in 269 camps and Navy bases. |
The Synod was then urged to encourage congregations to make the
necessary sacrifice by granting their pastors leave of absence should
it become necessary to call them into service. The Synod then‘
went on to declare that “the relation of a Christian towards his
government and the question of war is clearly set forth in the
Augsburg Confession, adopted more than four hundred years .
ago; that Scripture teaches clearly that wars and the concomitant
evils of wars are the result of sin and that God permits wars to
come upon nations as a punishment of sin.” The President of the
Synod, Dr. Behnken, was formally requested to set aside “for the
entire Church a solemn day of humiliation and prayer and that ;
he call upon the members of this Church humbly to confess their
sins before God.” All pastors and members of churches related —
to the Missouri Synod were urged to pray that the “heavenly
Father, the Ruler of nations, might give wisdom and guidance to
the President and the Congress of the United States and all others
in authority, so that peace, good government, the freedom of con-
science and worship, and all those other priceless blessings which
they as citizens and as members of their Church have enjoyed ;
in the past might be preserved for themselves and for their chil-
dren.” It seemed to this commentator as though Martin Luther
had emerged from the dust of the centuries to petition Almighty
God that its princes and rulers of the earth might hearken unto
the voice of Him who in the beginning shaped the hills and the
valleys, that He might cause wars to cease, that men might once
more pursue the paths of peace.

Issued by the Synodical Press Committee

Ap. F. Meyer, Chairman
Wm. F. BrRuENING, Secretary
J.F.E. Nicke.sspurc, Treasurer