The Anvil

The Anvil

The Anvil of God’s Word

“Last eve I passed beside a blacksmith’s door,

And heard the anvil ring the vesper chime;

Then, looking in, I saw upon the floor

Old hammers, worn with beating years of time.

“How many anvils have you had,” said I,

“To wear and batter all these hammers so?”

“Just one,” said he, and then, with twinkling eye,

The anvil wears the hammers out, you know.”

And so, thought I, the anvil of God’s Word,

For ages sceptic blows have beat upon;

Yet, though the noise of falling blows was heard,

The anvil is unharmed - and hammers gone.”

                                                       Anonymous.

Throughout the centuries many men have come against Christianity. Many have said Christianity will one day fall. Yet today it continues to grow even in countries where it is horribly oppressed.
Kenneth Scott Latourette, former President of American Historic Society
In A History of Christianity wrote of Christ,
“It is evidence of His importance, of the effect that He has had upon history and presumably, of the baffling mystery of His being that no other life ever lived on this planet has evoked so huge a volume of literature among so many people and languages, and that, far from ebbing, the flood continues to mount.”
“As the centuries pass by, the evidence is accumulating that measured by its effect on history, Jesus is the most influential life ever lived on this planet. The influence appears to be mounting.”
“No other life lived on this planet has so widely and deeply affected mankind.”
The book of acts records that when some disciples of Jesus were put on trial for preaching the gospel a wise man a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law stood up and said,
“Therefore, in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail.  
But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.” 
               Acts 5:38,39.
Christianity has stood the test of time. It has gone out from ancient Israel and spread to the entire world. Two thousand years later it is the largest religion in the world. At this writing there are about two point two billion Christians in the world and the numbers are growing.
Dictators, and armies have done their best to stamp it out yet it continues to grow. For me that is evidence that it is from God.
Think about it.