CHRISTIANITY IN GERMANY

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22108, 2 June 1937, Page 8

CHRISTIANITY IN GERMANY

TRIALS INDICATED IN LETTER "CHRIST THE ONLY LEADER" Difficult times for Christians in Germany, who are "confronted anew by the great 'either-or,' Christ or anti-Christ, and called on to confess our Lord as the only Leader/' are mentioned in a letter received by the Assembly Clerk of the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand. The letter is in reply to fraternal greetings sent by the New Zealand Church to the Confessional Church in Germany. "As frequent reference appears in press news to strained relations between Church and State in Germany," writes the Assembly Clerk (the Rev. F. W. Robertson), "the enclosed letter will be of interest. It is thought advisable to omit all names. . . ." The letter is as follows: "We rejoice in this fraternal greeting, affording as it does in this year of the approaching worjd conference at Oxford and Edinburgh a fine proof of Christian unity. And to learn of this open confession by the sister Church in New Zealand that God alone is Lord, and Jesus Christ the only Leader, fills us with sincere thankfulness to the Lord of the Church. We pray that it will be given to her to hold fast immovable to this faith and to witness fearlessly before all the world to the pure Gospel of the Reformed Confessions. "The Only Leader" "From this solemn resolution we receive the assurance that we do not stand alone in our struggle. In these difficult times that is a precious consolation, doubly valuable just at this present hour when we see ourselves confronted anew by the great either-or, Christ or anti-Christ, and called upon to confess anew our Lord as the only Leader, and to witness that 'Jesus Christ as the Holy Scriptures testify of Him, is the one Word of God Whom we have to hear and in life and death trust and obey.' "More than at other times we have this year experienced that we must depend only on the grace of the triune God Who has borne and guided us hitherto. To that grace we commend also the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand, together with all churches and congregations who are named with the Lord's Name, and cease not to pray that when He comes again in the Judgement we may all be found faithful r :rvants. "Greetings to the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand! "In the bonds of true Christian faith, I " »»