When my husband and I were preparing for marriage, I expressed a willingness to join his Mo Synod Lutheran church. We went to the pastor for premarital counseling, and to look into that.
The pastor said that I must be as willing to die for Martin Luther as I was for Christ. He was vey rude about it too. I could not be accepted, unless I would swear to that. We left, and never returned.
I don’t blame Lutherans for that. I blame Martin Luther. How did that get to be a Lutheran teaching? Who made him equal to Christ, in terms of a claim on my life?
I would suggest that Pastor you saw was a few eggs short of an omelet. No Lutheran teaching requires one to be willing to die for Martin Luther like one would for Christ. I find that just absolutely bizarre. If any Lutheran Pastor told me that I'd walk out too. We believe in the Augsburg Confessions, that, and Luther's Catechisms, are essential teachings of the Lutheran Faith - but that's no different than the Catholic Catechism except that we are not threatened with mortal sin and hellfire if we disagree with some of what's in it, etc.
Geez, what a disservice that Pastor did by saying something like that to you. That's just bizarre.
Any pastor who says that is not only a fool, but also quite wrong.