2 Chronicles 7:22

And it shall be answered, Because they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, which brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold on other gods, and worshiped them, and served them; therefore hath He brought all this evil upon them. Cf 1 Kings 9:3. The same holds true today. A mere dead orthodoxy, without true piety of the heart, will not uphold the Church. Luther's warning regarding the swiftness with which God's pure Word is taken from the people that forsake Him in their hearts may well be heeded even at this time. Believers should never become self-reliant, for let him that standeth take heed lest he fall.