The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1925, Page 60

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60 THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

touching devotion and deep earnestness the man
attempted to propitiate the nasty god.

A festival-day to the snakes is set apart in cer-
tain sections of India in August. Offerings of milk
and rice are brought by the deluded people to

The Chapel at Arianad, Trivandrum Field, India.

This chapel-school is standing on the spot where a snake
temple formerly stood. Dedicated when Director Brand was
in India. Note the snake-stone mentioned in the article.
temples and snake-lairs. At daybreak various
images of the serpents are set up, and the religious
rites connected with the festival are performed.
Music and feasting and frequently riotous living
are an adjunct of the day. As the serpent is sup-
posed to be able to grant many high favors, it is
not surprising that its cult continues to flourish
in India.

_ This serpent worship is a travesty on the Chris-
tian religion invented by Satan. Not Krishna, but
Christ, God manifest in the flesh, crushed the head
of the Serpent. Our Savior came to deliver also

from this form of devil-worship. His victory is a

victory for the entire human race.

In the Trivandrum field in Travancore we were
permitted to preach the Gospel to people who for-
merly worshiped one of these snakes, sculptured on
a large stone. In the course of time a small con-
gregation of believers in Christ Jesus, their Savior,
was gathered. Now God has permitted us to ded-
icate a neat little chapel-school on the very site
where the snake temple formerly stood. Even the
idol-stone is in our possession and is shown the
pupils in our Christian school as a relic of the
former idolatry of their forebears. ‘The Christian
teacher in the school declares that as a child he
was taught by his parents to worship before that
hideous idol. By the grace of God he now knows
the true God and Jesus Christ, the Savior of the
world, and trusts in Him. And God is using this
teacher to bring-also his pupils to Christ.

_ Let us thank God that we have messengers of

———S—S==Sa=—__—

the blessed Gospel in India who in our name point
the heathen to Christ, who was raised up on Cal-
vary in order that all who believe in Him may not
perish, but have everlasting life.

St. Louis, Mo. FREDERICK Branpv.

Bringing the Summer Conference
Home.

Scores of Walther Leagues have learned to know
and esteem the benefits of Walther League lectures
at Arcadia, Mich. The International Convention
(Detroit, 1923) urged our districts and zones to
establish not only summer conferences and camps,
but also winter conferences. Since Arcadia has
demonstrated how inspiring and helpful lectures
on League work and League methods really are,
the Educational Department, in an endeavor to
reach more young people with their lectures, has
successfully launched at St. Stephen’s Church,
Chicago,

The First Walther League Winter Conference.

In July, 1923, the Walther League, at the De-
troit convention, decided to hold a Systematic Mis-
sion Endeavor. In August, 1924, the Northern
Illinois Pastoral Conference decided to hold a
house-to-house mission canvass of the entire north-
ern part of the State of Illinois. In the fall of
1924 the committees in charge were both hard at

The Attendance at the First Winter Conference,
Chicago, 1925.

work and in a meeting one day decided upon
cooperation. ‘This cooperation took the form of
a winter conference.

The Plan.

Pastors F. C. Streufert, P. Roehrs, and W. Wan-
gerin were the Northern Illinois Committee. Pas-
tors Umbach and Bailey were representatives of the
Walther League. They decided to hold this winter