On September 27, 1933, the national synod of the German Evangelical Church met in Wittenberg, Germany. A parade of clerics in dark robes processed along the town’s main street, passing the Stadtkirche where Martin Luther used to preach. The metal crosses hanging around their necks shone in the light of day. It was only a short walk to their destination: the Schlosskirche in which Luther and his fellow reformer Philip Melanchthon were buried, and whose door Luther had struck with a nail that bore his Ninety-Five Theses.

The chief business of the hour was the selection of a new Reichsbischof. Up to this point, the Protestant churches of Germany had existed in more than two dozen regional variations, but now they would be integrated into a single, unified body, with the new bishop serving as its public head. There at the heart of Lutheranism on earth, Ludwig Müller was elected to this prestigious post. The next day, he gave a speech at the Stadtkirche dwarfed by the backdrop of Lucas Cranach’s Reformation altarpiece.

The synod participants were jubilant, for this was a moment of national renewal. They had witnessed the decline of Germany’s traditional Christian culture for years under the reign of a leftist government that had encouraged all manner of sexual perversion to emerge in the nation’s cities. It was a time of decadence punctuated by a series of economic disasters. The nation had become a laughingstock on the world stage, utterly weak and tarnished. But the union of the Protestant churches was the crowning achievement of a national spiritual revival. There was even a renewal of interest in Martin Luther and his theology.

It might have been a lovely story, except those clerics who walked to the Schlosskirche were flanked by Nazi stormtroopers. Müller was elected in a heavily criticized process engineered by the Nazi government, and he would be doing the bidding of Adolf Hitler. The very place where the Reformation began was now decorated with swastikas. Read more»

Amy Mantravadi | “We Would Have Been Them | June 22, 2026

RESOURCES

• Subscribe to The Heidelblog!
• Download the HeidelApp on Apple App Store or Google Play
• Browse the Heidelshop!
• The Heidelblog Resource Page
• Heidelmedia Resources
• The Ecumenical Creeds
• The Reformed Confessions
• The Heidelberg Catechism
• The Heidelberg Catechism: A Historical, Theological, & Pastoral Commentary (Lexham Press, 2025)
• Recovering the Reformed Confession (Phillipsburg: P&R Publishing, 2008)
• Why I Am A Christian
• What Must A Christian Believe?
• Heidelblog Contributors
• Support Heidelmedia: use the donate button or send a check to

Heidelberg Reformation Association
1637 E. Valley Parkway #391
Escondido CA 92027
USA
The HRA is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization

Post authored by:

• Heidelblog

  

  The Heidelblog has been in publication since 2007. It is devoted to recovering the Reformed confession and to helping others discover Reformed theology, piety, and practice.

  More by Heidelblog ›