“Keep in mind, this is the ELCA being referred to as “Lutherans.†The ELCA is an apostate, LINO, pseudo-Lutheran group.”
It’s funny you say that considering many members of WELS and CLC would say the same thing about the LCMS. And some LCMS members think there’s something wrong with WELS and CLC.
As one LCMS pastor put it:
“The history behind the break between the LCMS and the WELS was that from the 40s on through the 60s, the LCMS became increasingly liberal, as it adopted a higher critical hermeneutic (in contrast to the historical grammatical hermeneutic which we both again now use). At that time, things like the creation account and Jonah and the Whale were discarded by some LCMS professors and pastors as “metaphoricalâ€, and in some cases, even central doctrines like the resurrection of the Body were denied. Citing Romans 16:17, the WELS withdrew fellowship in 1961. While some could say that it wasn’t until the 1973 convention where the LCMS settled this matter (at least in adopting its Scriptural and Confessional Principles), there still has been quite a bit of fallout that has yet to be cleaned up.”
http://www.worldvieweverlasting.com/2011/06/09/wels-and-the-lcms/
Also, you might want to check with your own leadership. LCMS quietly sent a delegation to the Vatican just within the last year or two. You might want to ask those running the LCMS why that happened.