Gerhard and Walther

Not only is God the Lord fatherly-minded toward us, but He also has most assuredly promised in His Word that He wants to hear us when we cry out to Him.—Johann Gerhard, Schola Pietatis III:304. 

The Church of God on earth has always been a fighting one. It has always been oppressed and persecuted, both by those in the world and by those in the Church itself who spread false doctrine. These false prophets secure followers and then cause separations in the Church…. If the Church ceases to fight, it will not survive for long.—C. F. W. Walther, God Grant It!, pp. 606, 607.