January 2008 Signs of the Times Email Newsletter

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January 2008 Signs of the Times Email Newsletter

The Signs of the Times newsletter is a collection of stories and quotes from past issues of Signs and These Times.

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Doctor William Riley Nelson has given us this very interesting life history, “From the Diary of a Bible”:

“January 15—I have been resting quietly for a week. The first few nights of the New Year my owner read me regularly; now I have been forgotten, I guess.

“February 2—Clean-up day! I was dusted along with some other things and put back on the shelf.

“February 7—My owner used me for a short time looking up some references and then went to church.

“March 7—I have been dusted today and placed on the center table in the sitting room. Special company has been here, but now I am back on the shelf again.

“April 2—Busy day! My owner led a devotional lesson and had to look up some references. She had quite a time finding me and then she hunted and hunted to find the references she wanted. She’s not very well acquainted with me, you see.

“May 5—I’m here in Grandma’s lap. She is here on a visit. A tear dropped on Colossians 2:5-7.

“May 6—I’m in Grandma’s lap again this afternoon. She has spent most of her time reading 1 Corinthians 13, and the last four verses of the fifteenth chapter.

“May 7, 8, 9—I’ve been in Grandma’s lap each of these afternoons; I’m in there now. It is such a comfort to be appreciated, loved, and held tenderly. She reads me part of the time, and then she just sits and talks to me.

“May 10—Grandma’s gone and I’m back in the same old place. She kissed me before she left.

“June 4—Had a couple of four-leaf clovers tucked away between my leaves today.

“July 1—I’ve been packed away in a trunk today with some other things. They are off on a vacation, I guess.

“July 10—I’m still in the trunk, though nearly everything else has been taken out. Other things first, I guess.

“July 15—Well, I’m home again, and back in the same old place. Quite a journey we had, but I can’t see why they took me. I was not out of the trunk while we were gone.

“August 1—Rather stuffy and hot. Two magazines, a novel, and an old hat on top of me. I wish they would take them off.

“September 10—Clean-up day! I was dusted and put back. I’m lonesome—wish Grandma would come back.

“September 12—Mary used me for a few minutes today. She was writing a letter to a friend whose brother had died and she needed a suitable verse to quote.

“October 5—I was carried to church on Rally Day and held up to be counted. I’m glad to be used even that way.

“December 31—Tomorrow I expect to have a knife slipped between my leaves, by a blindfolded person who will place a finger on a verse, then the blindfold removed and the verse read. Suppose the finger should rest on John 5:39? Tomorrow the New Year will be here. I wonder if it will be as lonesome as this one has been? On the shelf, under the dust and magazines and novels, old hats, in the trunk for days and days. If only my owner would read me and get my messages of cheer and instruction. How I would like to help! Won’t you pray that I may have that opportunity?”—Our Times, January 1950.

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Don't miss the February 2008 issue of Signs of the Times: “The God Who Came to Stay”, “Searching For God”, “The Giving Ladder”, “How to Cure a “Motormouth”, “Successful End-Time Living” and other great articles. To order Signs, call: 1-800-765-6955 or online at http://www.AdventistBookCenter.com

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A number of ministers were assembled for the discussion of difficult questions and, among others, it was asked how the command to “pray without ceasing” could be complied with. At length one of the number was appointed to write an essay to be read at the next monthly meeting. This appointment was overheard by a servant, who exclaimed, “What! A whole month to tell the meaning of that text! It is one of the easiest and best texts in the Bible.”

“Well, well,” said an old minister, “Mary, what can you say about it? Let us know how you understand it—can you pray all the time?”

“Oh, yes, sir!”

“What! When you have so many things to do?”

“Why, sir, the more I have to do, the more I can pray. When I first open my eyes in the morning, I pray, ‘Lord, open the eyes of my understanding;’ and while I am dressing, I pray that I may be clothed with the robe of righteousness; and when I have washed me, I ask for the washing of regeneration; and as I begin to work, I pray that I may have strength equal to my day; when I begin to kindle up the fire, I pray that God’s work may revive in my soul; and as I sweep out the house, I pray that my heart may be cleansed from all its impurities; and while preparing and partaking of breakfast, I desire to be fed with the hidden manna and the sincere milk of the word; and as I am busy with the little children I look up to God as my Father and pray for the spirit of adoption that I may be His child, and so on, all day; everything I do furnishes me with a thought for prayer.”—By J. L. Tucker, Present Truth, Volume 26, Number 20.

Quote: “The sufficiency of my merit is to know that my merit is not sufficient.”—By Augustine, Signs of the Times, September 4, 1901.

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Read the first chapter of this book online at http://www.AdventistBookCenter.com Order online or from your local Adventist Book Center--1-800-765-6955.

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Two fellow-travelers were seated together in a railway carriage engaged in earnest conversation. It was of a religious nature, and one of them, a skeptic, was evidently seeking to excuse his skepticism by expatiating on the various evils which afflict Christendom. He was detailing, with manifest pleasure, the hypocrisy and the craft and the covetousness and the divisions found in the professing church, and then he pointed to some of the leaders, as the most markedly corrupt of the whole.

In front of them sat a Christian who was compelled to hear all this. Had he felt the accusations to be false, he might have suffered them all, as a part of the hatred the world bears towards Christ, and been truly happy in so suffering; but he knew them to be true---too true to be concealed from the most charitable mind, so all he could do was to bow his head and bear the deserved reproach.

Soon, however, the accuser, anxious to extend the circle of his audience, addressed this fellow-passenger in front of him.

“I see you are quick to detect evil,” answered the Christian, “and you read character pretty well. You have been uncovering here the abominable things which have turned Christendom into a wreck, and are fast ripening it for the judgment of God. You have spared none, but given all a good measure. Now I am a Christian, and I love the Lord Jesus and His people. Not a word shall I offer in defense, but I here solemnly challenge you to speak the first word against the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.”

The skeptic was surprised. He seemed almost frightened, and sheepishly replied, “Well, no; I couldn’t find fault with Him. He was perfect.”

“Just so,” said the Christian; “and therefore was my heart attracted to Him; and the more I looked at Him, the more I found I wasn’t like Him at all, but only a poor, sinful, guilty man. But tell me yourself if I hadn’t a right to be happy and to love Him when I found out that He had died for me? Ever since then I truly love Him, and all the evil which professed followers of His may do, can not turn me away from Him. My salvation hangs on what He has done, and not on what they are doing.”—By Horatius Bonar, Signs of the Times, January 20, 1904.

Quote: “It never rains roses; when we want more roses we must plant more bushes.”—By George Eliot, Signs of the Times, January 20, 1904.

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Place this in your church bulletin or newsletter: Signs of the Times gets results. Each year thousands request Bible studies after reading the life changing articles in Signs. So when you subscribe for a friend or neighbor you’re one step closer to getting them into the Word! Order from your Adventist Book Center. To order call: 1-800-765-6955 or online at: http://www.AdventistBookCenter.com

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A minister preached a number of years in a certain place without any visible benefit to any one. Finally, he concluded it was not right for him to preach, and in consequence thought he would give it up.

While musing on the subject he fell asleep and dreamed. “I dreamed,” he said, “that I was to work for a certain man for so much, and my business was splitting open a very large rock with a very small hammer, pounding upon the middle of it in order to split it open. I worked a long time to no effect, and at length I became discouraged and began to complain, when my employer came.

“Said he: ‘Why do you complain? Have you not fared well while in my employ?’

“ ‘O, yes!’

“ ‘Have you not had enough to eat?’

“ ‘Yes.’

“ ‘Have you been neglected in any way?’

“ ‘No, sir.’

“ ‘Then,’ said he, ‘keep to work—cease your complaints, and I will take care of the results.’ After this he left me.

“I then thought I applied my little hammer with more energy, and soon the rock burst open with such force that it woke me. Then,” added he, “I ceased to complain. I seized my little hammer with new vigor, I hammered upon that great rock—sin—with renewed energy, nothing doubting, and soon the rock burst. The Spirit of the Lord rushed in, and the result was a glorious ingathering of souls.”

In the foregoing incident we have one of the many proofs as to the Lord’s faithfulness to His promise, attached to the divine precept, “Be not weary in well-doing; for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”—Selected, Signs of the Times, January 23, 1896.

Quote: “Satan never shot a dart that did not break when it struck the shield of faith.”—Unknown, Signs of the Times, November 19, 1896.

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Compiled by Dale Galusha. Please pass this newsletter on to others. If this FREE newsletter was forwarded to you by a friend, and you would like to receive it directly on a monthly basis, email: join-signsnews@lyra.pacificpress.com