Walter A. Maier
1893 - 1950
"What a glorious Lord of
unlimited power He is for us in all our needs! Compared with a star of
the first magnitude, you and I are truly less than one-millionth part
of a grain of dust; yet how deeply the Lord loved us, insignificant
specks in the universe that we are, when He gave His own Son for our
redemption! Marvelous as these mightiest stars are, they do not mean as
much to our Father as your soul. Jesus Himself declared, 'What is a man
profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?'"
Seen by some as a modern day
Jeremiah, Dr. Walter A. Maier was the most dynamic preacher in the
world during the 1930s and 40s. Beginning with a small attic
transmitter His ministry and outreach grew so rapidly that by the time
of his death over 1200 stations carried his broadcast worldwide, in a
number of different languages. The power of the Word penetrated hearts
and stirred souls in a mighty way as the energetic and vigorous
preaching of Dr. Maier called the world to heartfelt repentance and
faith in Jesus Christ. Preaching for exactly 19 minutes every Sunday,
his broadcasts reached an estimated 20 million people over the Mutual
Broadcasting System and independent stations around the world. He
condemned sin without compromise while calling modern adulterers,
cheats, crooks, hypocrites, worldlings, and all unbelievers to turn
from their wicked ways. "You are all sinners, unforgiven and without
hope in this world or the world to come if you haven't repented of your
sins and taken Christ as your Saviour," Dr. Maier warned. A manuscript
was before him, but his message came from the heart as he comforted the
repentant, warned the unrepentant of God's wrath and in every broadcast
exalted Christ as the only hope of a lost and dying world. He often
received 25,000 letters a week. It took 70 women to handle all the
mail. Yet Dr. Maier did not accept one dime for his Lutheran Hour
broadcasts. His outreach was a work of faith and a labor of love for
lost souls. His only income was a professor's salary (of O. T.
Exegesis) supplied him by Concordia Theological Seminary. Born in
Boston in 1893 to devout parents who prayed daily for and with their
children. He was the author of fifteen volumes of radio sermons, a
598-page work on marriage and the Christian home, entitled "For Better,
Not for Worse", and an unequalled commentary on the Prophet Nahum.
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