The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1932, Page 19

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

THE LUTHERAN PIONEER 19

culties for the servants of God. If we do not sow
the seed of the Gospel on the wide and open fields
of the world, the devil surely will sow his tares.
We dare not rest, for the devil never does.

New Dangers.

It is true that in many parts of the heathen
world not a few of those who belong to the better-
educated classes have grown tired of their idols
and cast them away in the pride of their new-found
knowledge. Dissatisfied with the old, they are
seeking for something that will satisfy their wants.
Such souls Satan is watching with the intention of
bringing them even more into his possession than
they have been; and while the Church is neglecting
its opportunities, the Prince of Darkness is bringing
additional evil spirits to possess the souls of such
seekers, with sevenfold disaster as the result. While
the Church is sending forth only one out of five
thousand Christians to carry the Gospel to the
heathen world, Satan’s agents are especially con-
centrating their activities upon the more advanced
non-Christian countries, for example, India, China,
and Japan, poisoning the minds of the young men
especially with Western skepticism and unbelief
before our missionaries have come to them with the
message of the Gospel. Other regions, on a cul-
turally lower level than China, India, and Japan,
the slaves of Satan, have been flooded with the
drink that only too often drowns reason and dulls
conscience.

Our Solemn Obligation.

We have the Gospel that can bring happiness to
our fellow-men, and this blessed possession puts us
under a solemn obligation to bring this Gospel to
them. We have no right to exclude any one because
he lives at such and such a place, because he does
not feel his need, or because the trouble and ex-
pense it may mean for us to bring him the life-
giving message are too great. The fact that we
have the remedy that can help any one is sufficient
reason for us to bring him that remedy. We have
the means by which our fellow-men may be brought
into the right relationship with Christ, the only
Savior of men. We know that there is salvation
in none other than Christ. Therefore we must
bring him this Gospel of salvation through Christ.
We are to be concerned about the salvation of the
man near us, and the man living far away from us
must also be the object of our concern; for the
needs of both are alike, and both can be saved only
through the same Christ. We have that which the
world needs, and this makes us the world’s debtors.

Only a very little thought on our part can convince
us of this fact; it really should not have been
necessary for Christ to have given the command
which imposes this duty upon us. Christ no more
than gave voice to what the heart of a true Chris-
tian bids him do when He told His disciples to
preach the Gospel to every creature. The Christian
believer answers the question, “Does my fellow-man
need Christ?” by asking in return, “Do I need
Him?” And the believer’s desire to bring others
the glad tidings of salvation in Christ will be in
proportion to his own conviction that he needs the
Savior.

“I Have Compassion on the Multitude.”

This love of Christ also constrains the followers
of the Savior. Our own certainty of God’s grace in
Christ and love for our Redeemer must make us
desirous to seek the happiness of others. To this
must be added compassion for our poor fellow-men,
who are much like the man that fell among thieves
and by them was left half dead. The more we read
of their distress, the louder their sad condition cries
out to us, “Come over and help us!”

And besides this we have God’s gracious assur-
ance that our work shall not be in vain. We know
that the Gospel of Christ is the power of God among
whites and Negroes, among Chinese and Hindus.
Were we to doubt this, we should cease to be
Christians.

Let us look upon the world, not as a cemetery,
but as a harvest-field; let the unconverted world
be to us not dogs, but lost sheep whom we should
seek and bring into Christ’s fold. God give us
love, courage, and zeal to do what we can to have
our prayer answered, “Thy kingdom come!’

F. J. 1.

“‘The Forgotten House.”

One of the most-visited sections in New Orleans
is that part of the city which is known as the French
Quarter. People from all parts of the world visit
this section to view those things which remain from
the: time when New Orleans was in its making.
With eager eyes they look at the French Market,
where more than a century ago merchants from

‘far and near plied their trade; they cast curious

looks upon the old auction block before which many
a poor Negro slave was sold; they view the historic
buildings with their hand-wrought balconies and
their courtyards. Surrounded by these and other
objects that attract their attention, the interested

rn