Someone let escape this non-secret about the mainline denominations being just as bad as the Leftwing politicians.
Long ago AAL and Lutheran Brotherhood competed in publishing their bonus moneys given to the LCA-ALC-LCMS-WELS-Fuller gatherings. Hiding the Fuller brand, the synods bragged about various failures being funded generously (?). I attended the seminary graduation events of WELS and the LCA - both offering the insurance gifts of cheesy little communion kits for visitation.
AAL and Lutheran Brotherhood had to merge because the numbers were so bad, huge losses three years in a row. They may have stopped sending - free! - the pastors' desk diaries with the Roman Catholic ecclesiastical 3-years marked.
"Why did we switch from the historic one-year readings to the papacy's three year?"
"Shut-up!" the district presidents, circuit pastors, and seminary professors explained. Another miracle of insurance money would solve their problems, especially if all the cool guys got free trips to Willow Creek, Fuller, and they added some in-house copycats like Dr. Waldo Werning and Dr. Paul Kelm.
I have watched this a bit over 50 years. The Lutherans and Mainlines are like the secular Leftwing politicians. They are bankrupt in dogma, support, and upcoming disasters. For decades they have repudiated the
- Efficacy of God's Word,
- The Means of Grace and
- Justification by Faith.
They could not even recognize the Reformation's 500th Anniversary. Instead, they sold moronic trinkets and shouted "Grace, grace, grace!"
