Where are the blacksmiths who would sharpen the swords of this generation and the next? Where are the blacksmiths, the leaders and fathers in the church who would restore holiness and purity to the church? Where are the blacksmiths, the leaders and fathers in the church who would kill greed and covetousness among ministers and restore the dignity and integrity of the church?
It was Abraham Lincoln who once said, “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” Traditionally, blacksmiths are associated with the sharpening of axes in the furnace of fire. The sharper the axe, the more effective the instrument. Conversely, the duller the axe, the weaker the axe. In fact, the book of Ecclesiastes 10:10 says, “If the axe is dull, And one does not sharpen the edge, Then he must use more strength; But wisdom brings success”.
In this article, I refer to leaders and fathers in the gospel as the spiritual blacksmiths of heaven. They are the disseminators and interpreters of truth and doctrines. They are the leaders of the church in every generation. They are the ones entrusted with the responsibility to bake the souls of the next generation in the oven of truth and righteousness. They are the ones endowed with unique graces and capacities to travail in the place of prayer, until Christ is fully formed in the souls of the present generation and those coming after them.
Sadly, for the nation of Israel, on the day it mattered most, there were no blacksmiths in the land to sharpen the swords of the soldiers.
Where are the real blacksmiths that this generation desperately needs, those who will bake the souls of men in the fiery oven of the undiluted truth of God’s word without fear or favour? Pastors and church leaders whose ministries will produce the so much desperately needed revival fire that will break down the most hardened sinners and turn our churches into mini-crusade grounds…
Blacksmiths, the true ones whose passions are rooted in the protection and preservation of the sacred name of Christ and His will on earth, are thinning out in the body of Christ. For the most part, genuine blacksmiths have been replaced by compromisers and empire builders. Sadly, the remaining ones in town are already aging; they are thinning out. In a recent documentary by Evangelist Perry Stone, he stunned the audience when he released a heart-rending statistic: more than four hundred pastors passed away in the United States in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, most of who were the faithful blacksmiths of America. These were solid servants of God whose ministries were built on prayers and the word; men who understood prophecies and the heart of God. And to make matters worse, Dr Perry Stone went further to alert his audience that many more genuine servants of God in this “blacksmith generation”, have continued to depart this sinful world in a manner that seems like God is deliberately withdrawing the righteous leaders in preparation for what is coming upon the earth.
Where are the real blacksmiths that this generation desperately needs, those who will bake the souls of men in the fiery oven of the undiluted truth of God’s word without fear or favour? Pastors and church leaders whose ministries will produce the so much desperately needed revival fire that will break down the most hardened sinners and turn our churches into mini-crusade grounds, where the rubber of “truth” meets the “road” of repentance. Where are the blacksmiths? The days of battle are coming upon the world. The clouds are gathering. The rain will soon fall.
In the time of Israel, the day of battle came upon them at a time there were no swords in the hands of the Jewish soldiers, simply because there were no blacksmiths to sharpen their swords.
At a time in the history of the United States, in the 17th century, God raised a blacksmith for the nation of America, by the name of Jonathan Edwards. He was the blacksmith who preached what is widely known as the greatest evangelistic message in modern history, “sinners in the hands of an angry God”.
“So it came about, on the day of battle, that there was neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any of the people who were with Saul and Jonathan” (1 Samuel 13:22).
The day of battle Is coming upon the world, and very imminently from now. Prophecies upon prophecies are getting fulfilled at alarming rates. Prophetic clocks are ticking, tick tuck, tick, tuck, tick, tuck. Where are the blacksmiths? Where are the bakers of the souls of men in the oven of truth? At a time in the history of the United States, in the 17th century, God raised a blacksmith for the nation of America, by the name of Jonathan Edwards. He was the blacksmith who preached what is widely known as the greatest evangelistic message in modern history, “sinners in the hands of an angry God”. It was Dr David Jeremiah, while pondering on the backsliding state of the church, who recently said, “this generation would make Jonathan Edwards’ sinners in the hands of an angry God message to be reworded into “God in the hands of angry sinners”.
Sadly, for the Jews, the Philistines ensured that there were no blacksmiths in the land of Israel, leaving the Jews with the only option of sharpening their swords in the land of the philistines. What an irony! Sharpening your swords in the house of your enemy. Alas! Many of our pastors have now gone to the philistines to sharpen their sword, joining different occultic groups for power, fame and wealth. Many have now been totally subdued by mammon, to the peril of our nations. For the most part, many of their God-given blacksmiths failed them. Where are the blacksmiths who would sharpen the swords of this generation and the next? Where are the blacksmiths, the leaders and fathers in the church who would restore holiness and purity to the church? Where are the blacksmiths, the leaders and fathers in the church who would kill greed and covetousness among ministers and restore the dignity and integrity of the church? Where are the leaders and fathers who would restore love to the body of Christ, true love that births true compassion, empathy, sympathy, and ultimately, unity of faith and doctrine? Where are the blacksmiths?
Ayo Akerele, a leadership and system development strategist, and minister of the word, writes from Canada and can be reached through ayoakerele2012@gmail.com.
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