February 2009 Signs of the Times Email Newsletter

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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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The story is told that a king’s son who was taken prisoner, was to be released on condition that he submit to being led at the hour of noon through the streets of the city.

“O!” said the young man, “how can I bear to see the mocking of the people?”

“You do not yet know how you will be led,” answered the king.

When the hour arrived, he gave him a vessel filled to the brim with milk to carry, saying that as soon as he spilled a drop he must die. Close behind him walked the executioner, dagger in hand, ready to carry out the terrible penalty.

From far and near the people had gathered to behold the prisoner upon his perilous journey. The streets were lined, and windows and even the roofs were crowded with spectators. When the young man had passed through the terrible ordeal, the king beckoned to him and said:

“Well, what kind of faces did the people make?”

“O king,” said the youth, “I saw not one! I only saw my life in my hands, and death behind me.”

“Thus,” replied the king, “walk through life.”

The lesson is a good one; we should not go through life all the while thinking, “What will folks say?” “How will it look?” and the like. Let us be like this youth. Let us not look around, but, taking care to ourselves, see that we walk very carefully, ever heeding the divine Voice that says, “This is the way, walk ye in it.”—Selected, Signs of the Times, March 5, 1896.

Quote: “There is no failure in Christian work, the only failure is in not doing it.”—By Bishop Whipple, Signs of the Times, January 6, 1904.

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Don't miss the March 2009 issue of Signs of the Times: “Sabbath: A Day of Rest”, “How to Recognize True Repentance”, “What Will Heaven Be Like?”, “Overcoming Dieting Pitfalls” and other important articles. To order Signs, call: 1-800-765-6955 or online at http://www.AdventistBookCenter.com

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Some years ago there died in London a woman who was said to be the best-dressed lady in all Europe. She possessed one thousand expensive dresses, scores of hats, and many, many pairs of shoes. A thousand gorgeous frocks, but eyes that saw not the needs of millions of half-clothed people about her. Hundreds of dresses, but ears deaf to the cries of distress and suffering on every side. Shoes she could not wear, but heedless of the millions of hungry, helpless, and almost hopeless souls nearby. Thousands of garments to clothe a heartless body.

In the same city, lived a man who had only one suit of clothes, a plain, dark-blue serge, with a red collar about the neck. This man was Bramwell Booth, leader of the Salvation Army. He had only one suit, but he lived a thousand lives. Every day he spent in ministry to the poor of London. He was concerned about clothing, fuel, and food for the poor and suffering in that great metropolis. Through his unselfish service he reached out and touched others and led them to God.

One person, with a thousand lovely, expensive dresses, lived one empty, useless life. Another, with only one suit of clothes, lived a thousand lives in that he reached down and out to bless thousands, yes, millions, of needy, helpless men and women. One lived for self; the other forgot self and gave his all for the uplift and blessing of others. When asked the secret of his success, General Booth said it was because God had had all there was of him.

The size of our bank account, the number of garments in our wardrobe, our position in society, do not determine our usefulness. Tangible things may be used wholly for our own selfish aggrandizement.

Mankind shall remember us, and heaven, too, not by what we were able to accumulate for our own selfish use, but by what we gave, by what passed through our hands for the help and blessing of others.—By C. L. Paddock, Our Times, May 1948.

Quote: “When religion is good, it will take care of itself; when it is not able to take care of itself, and God does not see fit to take care of it, so that it has to appeal to the civil power for support, it is evidence to my mind that its cause is a bad one.”—By Benjamin Franklin, Our Times, July 1948.

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NEW from Pacific Press—The Character of God Controversy by Steve Wohlberg and Chris Lewis. This book seeks to demonstrate that God’s character is a mixture of love, mercy, and justice. The authors purpose in writing the book is to refute the controversial claim prevalent within the church today, that because of His character of love, God neither kills nor does He directly punish evil. The Character of God Controversy presents a consistent picture of God and is not afraid to deal with tough questions. It deals comprehensively (through Scripture and Ellen White’s writings) with God’s character – His love, mercy, and righteousness, as well as His justice and wrath. Each of the nine chapters is followed by questions for study and reflection.

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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When Abraham Lincoln, newly elected to the Presidency, bade farewell to his Springfield neighbors on his departure to Washington, he said in part, “I cannot succeed without the same divine aid which sustained our first President. On the same mighty God I place my reliance for support, and I hope that you, my friends, will pray that I may receive His divine assistance.” Here was a great man laying hold of the conquering power of faith.

During the dark days of the Civil War this same President was overheard in prayer by a house guest, who wrote of this experience: “I saw the President kneeling beside an open Bible, and then I heard him cry out, ‘O Thou God who heard Solomon in the night that he prayed for wisdom, hear me! I cannot lead this people without Thy help. O God, hear me, and save the nation.” Faith in God was Lincoln’s indispensable aid to successful statesmanship. I conquered in times of stress and strain.—By A. J. Hirsch, Present Truth, Vol. 26, No. 24.

Quote: “Many people put off their salvation until the eleventh hour and die at half past ten.”—By Charles Spurgeon, Present Truth, Vol. 27, No. 8.

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Place this in your church bulletin or newsletter: Would you like to win that friend or neighbor to Jesus? Try sending them Signs magazine. It will reach out to them all year long. Order from your Adventist Book Center. To order call: 1-800-765-6955 or online at: http://www.AdventistBookCenter.com

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“Sire,” said a lad, coming down to one of the wharves in Boston, and addressing a well-known merchant, “have you any berth on your ship? I want to earn something.”

“What can you do?” asked the gentleman.

“I can try my best to do whatever I am put to do,” answered the boy.

“What have you done?”

“I have sawed and split all mother’s wood for nigh on two years.”

“What have you not done?” asked the gentleman, who was a strange sort of questioner.

“Well, sir,” answered the boy, after a moment’s pause, “I have not whispered in school once for a whole year.”

“That’s enough,” said the gentleman, “you may ship aboard this vessel; and I hope to see you the master of her some day. A boy who can master a woodpile and bridle his tongue, must be made out of good stuff.”—Selected, Signs of the Times, January 16, 1901.

Quote: “If you would not fall into sin, do not sit by the door of temptation.”—Unknown, Signs of the Times, August 23, 1883.

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Read articles from previous issues of Signs of the Times at: http://www.SignsTimes.org

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On May 8, 1902, the city of Saint-Pierre on the island of Martinique was destroyed by an eruption of the great volcano of Mount Pelee. In the morning Saint-Pierre had a population of 33,000, but when the sun went down that night in a fury of strange fire, everyone was reported dead. It was found later that one man in the center of the city did survive that awful avalanche of death. It is said that metal melted and ran in the streets like wax, yet one man lived!

Joseph Ludger had been locked up in one of the strong cells of a prison, but it was that cell which saved his life. He heard strange noises,--an immense and terrible uproar,--but no one came to release him. He did not know what was happening, and did not dream that 33,000 people were dying.

He thought the prison was on fire, for intense heat began to seep through the fort-like masonry of his cell. His clothes did not catch fire, but his flesh began to blister. Soon the roof of the prison split open, but he could not climb out—the cell walls were too high even had he not been too weak to make the effort. He knelt to pray, and the stones of the floor burned his knees. He fell over on his back, and the hot flags scorched his flesh. He beat upon the iron door, but it only seared his hands. There was no food, no water; and no human being heard his cries.

At last two members of a rescue party arrived at the ruins of the prison. They found Ludger still alive and, after many hours of effort, they freed him from the wreckage and carried him to the hospital beyond the town. There he lay for eighty-one days and then walked forth to tell the world his story—the only creature then known to survive of the 33,000 who saw the sun rise over Mount Pelee on that fateful day of May 8, 1902.

He was but one man saved from the destruction of a city; but, from the power of death and the ruin of a world, God will redeem “a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues.” Revelation 7:9—By H. M. S. Richards, Signs of the Times, March 16, 1948.

Quote: “I ascribe to Bible study the help and strength which I have had from God to pass in peace through deeper trials in various ways than I had ever had before; and after having now above fourteen years tried this way, I can most fully, in the fear of God, commend it. . . . A man has deprived himself of the best there is in the world who has deprived himself of intimate knowledge of the Bible.”—By Woodrow Wilson, Signs of the Times, June 1, 1948.

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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