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| You wondered what happened to your hippie nephew? |
I find a lot of news on the collapse of the mainline denominations, not just the radical Left National Council of Churches - home of the RSV, NRSV, and ESV - but also semi-hemi-quasi-conservative groups (LCMS-WELS-ELS-CLC).
The Midwestern Lutherans thought they would grow from people fleeing the ELCA. However, the ELCA began with 5.3 million members in 1987 and dropped to under 3 million today, without donating members to the Midwestern synods, who were eagerly copying ELCA in every way. That might be a reason.
The LCMS-WELS-ELS-CLC went ga-ga for Fuller's Church Growth toxins, which were eagerly promoted also by ELCA. I remember one WELS leader talking about the ELCA leaders he knew quite well, not exactly the icy and threatening Left Foot of Fellowship advertised by WELS. Through Fuller and Thrivent, all these men and women worked together on the same identical, anti-Christian ideas. To be fair, it was leftover Calvinism and mendacious marketing, but that always leads to rejection of the Scriptures and the efficacy of the Word.
The Midwestern attempts to have newer, bigger, more Calvinistic hymnals has been a ruse to sell more books and make some money.
The Midwestern Lutherans also reject the KJV and embrace the RSV, ESV, NRSV, and NIV - the Evil Four. I laugh when people offer up the ESV as an improvement over the NIV. That is like choosing a better and more nutricious slice of roadkill for supper.
Nothing in the works is going to help the Lutheran synods. Their corporate leadership is corrupt, dishonest, and always eager to cover up crimes. The intellectual (sic) leaders are antagonistic toward the Lutheran Reformation, the KJV, and Biblical doctrine.
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| B16 ached to wear the papal tiara, the symbol of his power over all nations - at least in his mind. Many Lutheran leaders fashion themselves as popes or mini-popes: infallible, all-powerful, humorless. |
