People do not read Luther's sermons anymore. The Shrinker crowd loves all their clown emergent leaders, so they do bad imitations of sleazy wolves.
The somewhat confessional crowd hates the Shrinker agenda, so they are flipping coins whether to join Eastern Orthodoxy or the Church of Rome. They quote their favorite obscure theologians, carefully avoiding Luther and Chemnitz. Nothing impresses their crowd like citing Theodore of Mopsuestia in a conversation. No one will counter, except to mention a letter from Jerome about dancing girls.
Neither group quotes Luther - except to pull out an occasional rabbit's foot phrase.
We are truly living on the Planet of the Apes, a planet created by our generation. The vast majority of clergy are aping the role of a shepherd. The DPs are wolves aping the role of bishop. Supervise doctrine? They do beat downs with their shepherd's crooks, but only against the orthodox.
Clergy vie for the job of Synod President for many years, then announce upon their elevation that they have no power to change anything for the better.
I agree with that. They do not believe in the power of the Word of God, so they are never going to wield the Sword of the Spirit. Nevertheless, they will accept the salaries and benefits for doing nothing except watch the decline speed up.
The laity fund the Planet of the Apes, so they must like the results.
