This
 is
Why      

A Lutheran Pastor
Explains His
Resignation

AFTER being life-long members and serving
in the Lutheran pastorate for 6½ years, my
wife and I resigned from the Lutheran
Church.   We did this under definite convic-
tion from the Lord.   The move was not in
any wise a departure from the true faith,
but rather one of obedience to it.

   We definitely believe the entire Bible to
be the Word of God, the only basis for our
faith and life, and inspired in eternity.   We
firmly believe that Jesus Christ is the center
of the Bible and our only hope of salvation.
He is our Saviour, our Lord, our Life!   We
love Him with all our heart and believe that
there is salvation in none other (Acts 4:12).
The only hope for anyone is found through
faith in His death for our sins, His burial,
His resurrection, and His bodily return in
glory.   It is because we hold to this so firmly
that we felt compelled to resign.

Spiritual Deadness

   In the first place, we found a great spir-
tual deadness in the Lutheran Church.
Christianity in not merely a doctrinal system
to be memorized and assented to.   It is pri-
marily a personal relationship with God
through Jesus Christ (John 17:3).   One can
agree with the whole Bible and not have this.
He can be an active church member and not
have it.

   A real Christian can say with Paul,
"Christ liveth in me" (Gal. 2:20).   To him
all things are new (2 Cor. 5:17).   Reading

the Bible is a joy.   Prayer is an inner neces-
sity.   Talking about the Lord is a pleasure.
Witnessing to others is an unshakeable bur-
den.

   The reason so many fail at these so com-
pletely is that they have never been born
again into the family of God by true faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ.   Christianity not
only involves doctrines to be believed but a
Person to be received (John 1:12; Rev. 3:
20).   Have you definitely and personally re-
ceived the Lord Jesus into your heart
[life]?

Contradictions

   In the second place, we found the Luth-
eran Church to be contradictory in her teach-
ings and principles.   We cite two examples.

   1) She claims to stand on the Bible
alone.   You may condemn the Roman Cath-
olics
for their tradition, but have not the cat-
echism and the Lutheran Confessions taken
the same position in the Lutheran Church?
A Lutheran pastor is obligated to teach the
Bible according to the confessions and not
vice versa.   Lutheran people are usually in-
structed in the catechism rather than the
Bible for church membership.   Because the
Ten Commandments are first in the cate-
chism, many are misled into thinking that
they are the ladder to heaven.   Many hold
and teach them as a guide for living rather
than a mirror to reveal sin and drive broken
sinners to the Saviour.

   2) The Lutheran Church teaches the

priesthood of all believers.   Does this mean
only that you can make laymen do church
work, or does it mean that every Christian
has immediate access to God through Jesus
Christ?   Yet there is a strong tendency to
elevate the clergy ever higher with specific
garb, titles, and privileges.   And worship is
degenerating to the external, ritualistic type
of the Roman Church instead of the Spirit-
led, simple worship of the New Testament
(John 4:24; 1 Cor. 14).   The less you have
on the inside, the more you need on the out-
side!

Principles in Opposition

   In the third place, as we searched the
Scriptures we came to see that justification
by faith and salvation through sacraments
are completely opposed to each other.   If one
is saved "by faith in Christ alone," as Luther
[supposedly] maintained, baptism and the Lord's Supper
have nothing to do with salvation.   Yet the
catechism says baptism "works forgiveness
of sins, delivers from death and the devil,
and gives eternal salvation to all who believe
this, as the words and promises of God de-
clare."

   A person is born again by faith in Jesus
Christ, and that alone.   That is why many
have been "baptized" but never born again.
"For God so loved the world, that [H]e gave
[H]is only begotten Son, that whosoever be-
lieveth in [H]im should not perish, but have
everlasting life"
(John 3:16).

   Likewise the catechism says concerning
"the Sacrament of the Altar" (the Lord's
Supper): "What is the benefit of such eating
and drinking?   That is shown us by these
words, ‘Given and shed for you for the re-
mission of sins’; namely that in the Sacra-
ment forgiveness of sins, life and salvation
are given us through these words.   For where
there is forgiveness of sins, there is also life
and salvation."

   The glory of Jesus Christ has been given
to rites!   Only God can forgive sins!

   With these facts in view, we had no al-
ternative but to resign from the Lutheran
Church in order to be true to the Word of
God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.

Peace and Joy

   Since our departure from Lutheranism
the Lord has graciously opened doors of ser-
vice to us in a New Testament fellowship.   It
is such a joy to serve Him in His way.   We
cannot praise Him sufficiently!

   It is the desire of our hearts to see peo-
ple come to a full knowledge of the truth as
it is in Christ, and through such knowledge
to abundant life in Him.   God has given us
such a peace and joy in our hearts which we
could neither derive from nor convey to our
former church affiliation.

   We want you to have the same sweet
assurance of acceptance with God, the for-

giveness of sins, and a place in Heaven,
which God has given us in Jesus.   If you
are concerned regarding this, or if you are
not sure of your own salvation, we would be
happy to correspond with you about it.

                          --Donald D. Schaeffer.

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