Here I Stand, I Can Do No Other

Diet of Worms- April, 1521

CHANCELLOR OF TREVES:  “You have not answered the question put to you.  You were not summoned hither to call in question the decisions of councils.  You are requested to give a clear and precise answer.  Will you, or will you not, retract?”

LUTHER: …”it is unsafe for a Christian to speak against his conscience.”  And then looking round on this assembly before which he stood, and which held his life in its hands, he said:  “HERE I STAND, I CAN DO NO OTHER; MAY GOD HELP ME!  AMEN!”

Nearly five centuries have passed since the bold monk of Wittenberg uttered this most famous quote of the Reformation.  A prisoner of his own conscience and bound by his faith, Martin Luther “could do no other” but stand by his convictions, and thus joined the ranks of the thousands of saints and martyrs that had gone before him.  Unwilling to surrender his faith to the secular authorities and the worldly church of his day, he counted the cost and willingly offered himself as a sacrifice for the truth – he could do no other.  

As the evangelical church of our day slips further into compromise and spiritual darkness, I wonder where our Martin Luthers are.  I wonder where our reformers are who might transform the church of today and not allow it to continue on its present path toward apostasy.  I wonder where those true saints are who by their lives declare, “Here I stand, I can do no other.”  

And as I wonder about these things, I find myself more and more afflicted by the continual decay of the moral standards of today’s church.  I am pressed on every side as I watch an apostate form of Christianity subtly, yet rapidly, infiltrate our churches and claim both preacher and church member as its converts.  Yet as this darkness increases, I for one am stirred to fight against it.  I have counted the cost; I am ready for war.  So in the spirit of Luther:  Here I stand, I can do no other.

I can do no other but to reject a Christianity that does not require a man to “deny himself, take up his cross and follow Christ.”  Christianity is and must be a full surrender to Jesus Christ.  Here I stand.  

I can do no other but despise a “salvation” that tolerates and excuses drunkenness, fornication, and immorality among professing Christians.  If the drunken and immoral are embraced as true Christians in today’s church, I want no part of it.

Here I stand for a gospel that transforms the sinner’s moral character from self indulgence to self denial, from unholiness to purity, from darkness to light.  If the New Testament promotes something less, I am unaware of it.  

Here I stand against the modern church’s weak message of love and forgiveness - a message that omits love for God and offers forgiveness without repentance.  I can do no other but disdain this modern “gospel,” which is entirely consumed with temporal happiness and cares little for the honor and glory of God.  

Here I stand against the modern prophets and evangelists who “wear soft clothing,” who “love to be called ‘Rabbi’,” and “receive glory one from another,” who “suppose that gain is godliness,” and “devour widows’ houses,” all while promising a hundredfold return.  I can do no other than reject both their visions and teachings.

Here I stand against the adulterous church leaders who cannot overcome their weaknesses, but indulge themselves with “silly women laden with sins.”  If you must be an adulterer, do it elsewhere and leave the pulpit to those who fear God.

I can do no other but oppose and reject anyone or any church that is sympathetic toward homosexuality.  Any preacher or church that declares that a practising homosexual has eternal life, I oppose.  Here I stand.  Cut me, bleed me, burn me, but I will never bend on this point – I can do no other.

Finally, I can do no other but to call black, black and white, white; to “abhor that which is evil and hold to what is good;" to “judge a tree by the fruit it bears;” and to “hold faith and a good conscience.”  This is where I stand.

How about you?