Why Did I Leave Christianity? I Followed Jesus and He Led Me Out

By Donald Werner

Revelation 18:4, “And I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues”. This is Jesus speaking YHVH God’s final revelation to mankind. What is it that we are being called out of? We are being call out of ‘Babylon the Great’. Who is ‘Babylon the Great’? In this book, I will show you how and why the Christian Church today is ‘Babylon the Great’, as well as why and how we must get out.

If you were taught, as I was, that it is necessary to accept the Christian faith for salvation, then you may be wondering; why would a person who: diligently studied the Scriptures for decades, studied for years at a theological seminary, seeks after the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, would walk away from the Christian faith in his 70’s? The Scriptures tell me why I must leave, and Jesus called me out, Rev 18:4.

I’m writing this book to show, you from Jesus’ own words, that there is no salvation in today’s Christian Church, and that’s because its teachings and practices have strayed from what Jesus said was needed for salvation. While Christians 'believe in Jesus' they don't 'believe Jesus', or they would accept all he said, and they don't (Luke 6:46). Those who accept, believe and practice what the Christian Church teaches in its doctrines will, according to Jesus’ words, will not receive eternal life.

So, this book not only tells you why I’m not a Christian anymore and it will also tell you why you shouldn’t be one either. And I know those are strong and offensive statements and I don’t expect you to believe me, so I will show this is true from Jesus’ own words.

And please note; while I’m leaving the Christian Church, I’m not forsaking any of Jesus’ commands or teachings – it’s the Christian Church that has done that – and I’m just forsaking the corrupt Christian Church with its idolatrous worship and lawless doctrines. And, unfortunately, those faulty doctrines are part of the core teachings of today’s Christian faith.

How did the Christian Church forsake some of Jesus’ most important teachings and commands? There is a great deception which began in the Garden of Eden and it is causing all the world to wonder after the beast. And we were warned about that by Jesus in the Gospels and the in the Book of the Revelation. This is a book the Church wouldn't want Christians to read - but they must read it to be among the redeemed.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Jan 5, 2021
• ISBN: 9781716260049

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Copyright

Why Did I Leave Christianity? I Followed Jesus and He Led Me Out

Copyright © 2021 DONALD WERNER. All rights reserved.

Published by DONALD WERNER

ISBN: 978-1-716-26004-9

Version 60

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.  All Scriptures, unless otherwise marked are from the NKJV.

Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved

Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version® ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. 

Scriptures taken from the New American Standard Bible (NASB)

Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation

All bolding, highlighting, underlining, or other emphasizing of the Scriptures is mine.

Please note, with concerns of violating the Third Commandment, using God’s name in vain, His sacred name (YHVH) was removed from the printed Bibles and substituted with the title ‘the LORD’.  I have restored God’s sacred name of God, YHVH, back into the Scriptures which I quote, where it had been replace by the translators with the phrase the LORD. I felt that was necessary to get the true understanding of the Scriptures.  Exodus 3:15, Moreover God said to Moses, Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: ‘YHVH God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever, and this is My memorial to all generations.’."

THE PREFACE

What is the purpose of this book? The purpose of this book is to explain why I left Christianity. Someone may wonder; why a person would, such as myself, who; grew up in the Christian Church, attending church every Sunday, diligently studied the Scriptures for decades, studied for years at a theological seminary, who seeks after the Kingdom of God and God’s righteousness, would walk away from the Christian faith while in his mid 70’s?

Answering that question is what this book is all about. My reasons for leaving Christianity come strictly from the Scriptures; because of what I read in both the Old and New Testaments.

In short, Christianity has serious theological problems, as I will share, and the source of those problems is simply that it doesn’t abide by all of Jesus’ words, nor does it abide by all of YHVH’s words. Within Christianity there is a failure to submit to YHVH’s Divine authority, as expressed in His laws (Torah) and the Prophets, even though Jesus commanded that we submit to YHVH’s Divine authority (Matthew 5:17-19).

Unfortunately, the Christian Church’s teaches that a number of Jesus’ commands and YHVH’s laws are obsolete and we can set them aside and ignore them.  And the setting aside, or ignoring of YHVH’s laws is, as Jesus puts it, is ‘practicing lawlessness’.  Jesus said at the end of time angels would gather up those who practiced lawlessness and cast them into a fiery furnace (Matthew 13:41-42). 

It’s not that Christians are bad people, their ‘practicing lawlessness’ is a result of their being deceived – just as Eve was deceived.  And I know that most Christians will all say,’ I don’t practice lawlessness’.  Before you reject my statement you must read the definition of what it is to ‘practice lawlessness’, and that is in the first Chapter of this book.  Then I will explain what those damning deceptions are that cause Christians to unwittingly practice lawlessness.

The deception that results in people practicing lawlessness originated in the Garden of Eden and that same deception continues to this very day.  In this book I do share a lot more information and details about that deceptive lie which results in practicing lawlessness.

Jesus’ words are not always compatible with some of the core teachings of the Christian Church, and I will show you how and why they differ.  And if some of what Jesus taught is contrary to some of the Christian Church’s core teachings (doctrines) – we will be forced to choose between obeying what Jesus said or obeying what the Christian Church tells us.  Jesus said those who do as he said will receive eternal life (Matthew 7:24-25, John 10:27-28) and those who don’t do as he said will not receive eternal life (Matthew 7:26-27, John 8:51). 

We see that same principle in the Book of the Revelation 14, those who ‘follow the Lamb’ are among the redeemed and those who do not follow the Lamb are not redeemed.  As I will explain, we all have to choose between Jesus’ teachings and the teachings of the Christian Church.

So, this book not only explains why I’m not a Christian anymore and it will also tell you why you shouldn’t be one either.  And I know what I am saying is strong, and perhaps offensive to many Christians, and I don’t expect anyone to believe me, so I will support what I say from the Scriptures. 

And please note; while I’m leaving the Christian Church, I’m not forsaking Jesus or any of Jesus’ commands or teachings – it’s the Christian Church that has done that.  I’m simply forsaking the Christian Church’s doctrines which are contrary to Jesus’ teachings.

How did the Christian Church forsake Jesus’ teachings and his commands? I will explain in this book.  But, don’t discount what I have to share with you until you read chapter 7, where I explain from the Book of the Revelation, what Jesus and YHVH God critique the Church. The Book of the Revelation has a very powerful message that we must not ignore.

And I know that the Christian Church does retain Jesus’ name and some of his teachings, but yet, there are a number of very important teachings of Jesus which the Christian Church has intentionally set ‘aside’ and ignores. Most people are unaware of this setting ‘aside’ YHVH’s laws and the significance of it, they just blindly trust their churches, and they continue to follow their deceived religious leaders merrily on the Broad Way headed towards eternal destruction, and they singing ‘Onward Christian Soldier’ and ‘Blessed Assurance’ as they march on.

So, I’m not separating myself from Jesus, on the contrary, through my studies I have drawn closer to Jesus with a greater admiration and respect for who he was and what he said. But the closer I follow Jesus’ commands and teachings, and practice Jesus’ faith, the further I get from today’s Christian religion and the closer I draw to a Biblical form of Judaism – which was Jesus’ religion.

I honor, esteem and respect Jesus’ teachings more than those who call themselves Christians.  And I can say that because I honor him by accepting and obeying more of Jesus’ words, teachings and commands than those in the Christian Church, for I keep those teachings of Jesus which the Christian Church sets aside and ignores.

Don

THE INTRODUCTION

Who am I? I grew up as the middle of nine children in a good Catholic family on a southern Minnesota dairy farm.  After college and tech school I worked as a computer programmer and then network engineer until I retired.  But, while in my late 20’s I began to seriously study the Scriptures. After a thorough study of the Bible, I saw the glaring difference between what the Bible taught and what the Catholic faith taught and practiced. I was concerned because so much of what the Catholic Church teaches, and preaches is not from the Bible. And they claim that Catholic Church membership and accepting their doctrines are necessary for salvation, even though some of their doctrines are contrary to the teachings of the Bible. 

The Catholic Church seems to have set the Bible aside and replaced it with its man-made laws, rules, papal decrees, church traditions, creeds, and manmade doctrines, which include praying to Mary and the saints, worshiping Mary, purgatory, the Mass, seven sacraments as a means of saving grace, etc., all of which are contrary to what the Bible teaches.  The Catholic Church does teach some Bible, but only in a manner that supports their Catholic doctrines, creeds and teachings. The Catholic Church freely and unashamedly acknowledges that it believes its ecclesiastical authority and its traditions are of a greater authority than the authority of the Holy Scriptures, and that means Jesus’ words and YHVH’s words are of a lesser authority than what the Church teaches and preaches.  So, I had to decide whether to entrust my eternal life to the Catholic Church, or to God’s Word as found in the Scriptures, so I chose God’s Word.  So, around 30 years of age, I left the Catholic Church along with my Catholic family and friends to join the Lutheran Church. And I continued to study the Bible.

I found that Lutheranism followed the Scriptures much closer than Catholicism, however, after studying theology for years at a major Protestant Theological Seminary, I found that I couldn’t reconcile some of the Protestant church doctrines with Jesus’ words, yet they expected me to believe, preach and teach those doctrines.  Based on the plain reading of the Scriptures they were wrong with Sunday worship, infant baptism, rejection of God’s law, their understanding of the Lord’s Supper, their sacraments as a means of grace, ordaining of Homosexuals into the ministry, rejecting of God’s appointed feast days and then insulting God with their Easter Sunday Ham dinners. Eventually I had to choose between following Jesus and the Church, so I chose Jesus. So, I dropped out of the seminary in my senior year because of those irreconcilable differences.  So, after 18 years, I left the Lutheranism, and my Lutheran friends, and in my early 50’s, and I joined a Sabbath keeping SDA Church. 

The SDA Church followed the Scriptures even closer than the Lutheran Church, for they did adult baptisms, they kept God’s Sabbath day holy, and they didn’t celebrate Easter, but they also didn’t keep Passover or any of YHVH’s holy days which He commanded us to keep for all generations. 

However, as I continued to study the Scriptures, I found that they too fell short of following all of Jesus’ words and YHVH’s commands. It was then that I discovered that it wasn’t just the Catholic Church, the Lutheran Church and the SDA Church that failed to faithfully in following all of Jesus’ teachings and YHVH God’s words, but rather the entire Christian Church has failed – and I will share how they all fail in keeping Jesus’ words and the commands of YHVH God in this book.  Again, I had to make a decision; was I going to trust in what the Christian Church taught me, or was I going to trust YHVH’s words and Jesus’ words?  I had to forsake the Christian Church to go with what YHVH God commanded and what Jesus commanded.

So, today in my mid 70’s, I’m still following Jesus’ teachings and commands and still seeking for more of his truths. And I will not settle for the Christian Churches’ corrupt doctrines or their diluted versions of the truth.  Jesus said he was to be our only teacher (Matthew 23:10) because he will teach us all we need to know – including the truths that will set us free (John 8:32) from all damning deceptions.  And I will explain exactly what those great deceptions are in this book.

We all must follow Jesus’ words even if we have to separate from the Christian Church and walk alone on the Narrow Way that leads to eternal life.  Perhaps Jesus called it a Narrow Way because we will need to walk it alone.  It’s better to walk alone on the Narrow Way leading to eternal life than to walk in a group of nice Christian people, even friends and family, headed for eternal destruction. 

Jesus said, John 10:27-28, "My sheep continually to hear My voice (words or teachings), and I know them, and they continually follow Me.  And I continually give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand."  By our continual hearing Jesus’ words, accepting them as truth, believing them and continual following Jesus’ words, we are set free from all damning deceptions so that we may receive eternal life.

In this book I will share with you just what those damning deceptions are, and then from Jesus’ words I will share the truth that will set us free.

Now that I made some serious charges against the practices and teachings of today’s Christian Church, read the evidence that I will share in this book and you need to judge for yourself. I believe you will be amazed, enlightened and perhaps shocked by what you read, and come to the same conclusion I did.

Donald Werner, [e-mail]

Chapter 1 – UNDERSTANDING WHAT WENT WRONG

But, First Things First

Note; before we getting started in the study there is something very important that we need to know, because it will aid us in the understanding of some of what I have written.

God’s Sacred Name

We need to know that God’s sacred name in the Scriptures is ‘YHVH’.  Sometimes YHVH is pronounced: Yahoveh, Yahweh, Jehoveh, and there are other pronunciations as well.  God’s sacred name, ‘YHVH’ was removed from the printed Bibles and substituted with the title ‘the LORD’.  And that was done with the intent of preventing the misuse of His sacred name.  However, removing His name has caused people to not know His name, and a personal relationship start with knowing a name.  Also, the intentional mistranslation of the Scriptures should be considered to be a spiritual crime because it skews peoples understanding of Scriptures.  When God Himself is not identified in the Scriptures by His personal and sacred name and told us to call on Him by name – by most people don’t know His name, ‘

  YHVH gave us His sacred name; Exodus 3:15, Moreover God said to Moses, Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: ‘YHVH God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever, and this is My memorial to all generations.’."  And He told us to call on Him by name in pray, praise, worship and thanksgiving; Joel 2:32, And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of YHVH shall be saved.

So, I have restored God’s sacred name, YHVH, back into the Scriptures which I quote in this book; that is I replaced the phrase the LORD with ‘YHVH’ as it is in the original Scriptures.  I felt that was necessary to get the true understanding of the Scriptures and for that we must identify YHVH God in the Scriptures so we can know, honor and heed all He said. 

There are some Christians who have been told and trained the YHVH (Yahoveh) is Jesus, and Jesus is YHVH God.  That is certainly not true, and that is far from the truth.  The Old Testament (Deuteronomy 32:6, 1Cronicles 29:10, Isaiah 63:16, 64:8, Malachi 1:6-7 and other verse tell us that YHVH is ‘Our Father’.  That is whom Jesus told us to pray to (Matthew 6:6-7), that’s the same One that Jesus prayed to (John 17:1-3), that’s the One the Jesus told us to worship (Matthew 4:10) and it’s the One whom Jesus worshiped (John 4:22-23) and it is the One that Jesus referred to as his ‘God and Father’ and our ‘God and Father’ in John 20:17.

The Genesis of the Church’s Problem

To understand the Gospel, to understand Christianity, to understand Judaism, to know who the beast of Revelation is, to know who his image is, to understand sin and man, to understand the serpent’s and the beast’s deception, and to understand our need to keep God’s laws, we must to go back to the beginning, back to the Garden of Eden.  All of the Scriptures, after the Garden of Eden are dealing with the problem that mankind was exposed to in the Garden of Eden. The same deception that caused the problem in the Garden of Eden is now in the Churches, being taught and preached by their false prophets, the pastors and the priests. Why do I call pastors and priests ‘false prophets"? I got that from Jesus. (See Chapter 2 on Jesus’ parables).

Learning the significance of the story of mankind’s creation and their testing and fall in the Garden of Eden, is key to understanding the rest of the Scriptures.  When we understand that story we will have an understanding of mankind’s lost condition today, and the reason why God is continually testing us, and what mankind must do to pass God’s testing and to be saved (redeemed).  We do fail His tests from time to time, but He graciously gave us a way to  recover from our failed tests, and that is by true repentance.

We will see that what is wrong with the Church is related to what happened in the Garden of Eden.

Genesis 3:1-5, "Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which YHVH God had made. And he said to the woman, Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?

2 And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’

4 Then the serpent said to the woman, You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.

What We Need To Understand Begins In Eden

In the beginning God created the heaven and earth with a Garden of Eden.  It was there, in the Garden of Eden, on the sixth day that God created man and woman in His own image (Genesis 1:27). Being in God’s own image means that mankind was created with the ability to think, to reason and to make his own decisions, good or bad, with his/her own free will. 

However, mankind, like the others in that animal kingdom, also has a strong built in survival instinct, and because of that we are by nature self-centered, selfish beings and we watch out for ‘number one’ – as all other animals do.  And unless we control that selfish animal instinct, we will be just like the animals.  We read in Genesis 6:5, Then YHVH saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.  As it says in Ephesians 2 "and were by nature children of wrath and King David said in Psalm 51 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me".  And King David was not speaking about the sin of his mother, he was saying that he, as well as all of us, are conceived and born with a sinful nature – it’s in our DNA from our birth.  When we are our own greatest authorities, we are in effect our own gods.

Overcoming that selfish nature (the flesh) is a lifetime battle.  Only when we can overcome that selfish nature and become giving and selfless individuals who will we be fit for God’s kingdom.  And God helps us in that process giving us guidelines and goals to achieve, with His commandments and laws.

God expressed to Cain that he (and us) can overcome that self-centered selfishness nature that causes us to sin.  Genesis 4:7, "If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it (or overcome it)."  Sin is acting according to our selfish nature, when those actions are contrary to what YHVH God has commanded.  And we overcome that sinful nature when honor and respect YHVH so that we accept His divine authority as being greater that our own authority. Keeping YHVH’s laws and commandments requires that we set aside our selfish nature and self-will and unselfishly do His will.

YHVH God has commanded that we love Him with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength and love our neighbor as our selves.  We can only do that when we overcome ‘self’.

Throughout the Book of the Revelation we see calls to ‘overcome’ in order to receive eternal life… it’s our selfish self will that we must overcome ‘self’ so that we can submit to YHVH’s will.

Humanities Need For Testing

So, God needs to test us, not so that He will know us, but rather that we will know ourselves.  When we violate one of God’s laws or commandments, i.e., failed to submit to His Divine authority, then our guilt and godly sorrow will drive us to repentance, and hopefully pass the next test.  For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death, 2Corithians 7:10.  However, it should be noted that ‘godly sorrow’ will only happen when we know we violated a law we were expected to keep.

So, God needed to test Adam and Eve, as God has, and will, tests every human being with the same test. The test is simple and it is this; will a person struggle to overcome their selfishness and self-autonomy and then submit to YHVH’s Divine authority accepting Him as their God, or will they set aside YHVH’s laws and commandments to be autonomous, or self-ruled, an in effect, being their own god? 

Why do we need to pass YHVH’s test? YHVH God is ultimately looking for a certain type of people to populate His future eternal kingdom – they are those who love Him and are willing to submit to His Divine authority.  And in order to determine who is fit for His kingdom, requires testing.  The testing begins with the first humans, Adam and Eve. 

The Testing Of Adam And Eve

So, YHVH God initiated Adam and Eve’s testing by giving Adam and Eve a command to not eat off a particular tree in the Garden.  But, that command in and of itself, wasn’t a real test for they had no real temptations to disobey God’s command.  So, then to make it a real test for Adam and Eve, YHVH God allowed the serpent to come into the Garden to tempt Adam and Eve.  Genesis 3:1 tells us that the serpent was the most cunning of the beast, so he is the ‘serpent beast’.  We learn in the Book of the Revelation 12:9 that the serpent in the Garden is also known as the devil, dragon, or Satan. 

God is all-knowing and all-powerful, so the serpent couldn’t come into the Garden without God allowing it. It was YHVH God that orchestrated this testing of Adam and Eve for their benefit.

The goal of the serpent beast was to tempt Adam and Eve to reject YHVH God’s command and be their own gods acting in a selfish way.  The Serpent proceeded by discrediting God and making empty promises that appealed to their selfish natures. That was their test.  Who would they obey, YHVH God and refrain from eating off the forbidden tree or obey their own the selfish desires? This was ultimately a test of their love, faith and devotion to YHVH God and their commitment to serve Him. 

The Serpent Beast Uses Deception

The Serpent beast decided that best way to accomplish his task, that is getting Adam and Eve to violate YHVH’s command and thus spurn His Divine authority, was by deception. 

The Serpent beast was able to deceive Eve with a few empty promises, and appealing to Eve’s self-centered and selfish human nature – a nature we all have. 

The serpent beast told her that it was OK to reject YHVH’s command, she wouldn’t die for doing that and she would actually benefit from eating the forbidden fruit because then she could be her own god, knowing ‘good from evil’ or ‘right from wrong’ for herself – thus allowing her to be autonomous. And the fruit looked good and would be good for eating. In short, the serpent told her that she could reject God’s Divine authority and be her own ‘god’ by placing own authority over God’s authority, then she can decide for