July 2009 Signs of the Times Email Newsletter

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July 2009 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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A young lad one day very happily held a string in his hands. An elderly gentleman, passing near the field in which the boy played, asked him what he was doing with the string. The lad answered enthusiastically: “I have a kite on the end of this string.”

The stranger looked upward intently. Low clouds hung overhead. “I can’t see any kite,” he protested.

“Well, come over here and take hold of this string,” the lad invited.

The gentleman crossed over to the boy and took hold of the string, and, as he did so, he felt the pull of the unseen kite as it surged and tugged, borne on the air currents far above the ground. The gentleman could make no further protest. There was a kite on the end of the string.

It is even so with God. We cannot see God. And yet, a thousand times and in a thousand ways we have felt His tugging at our heartstrings, drawing us to Him with tender cords of love and whispering in our wayward ears: “I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee.” Jeremiah 31:3.—By Benjamin Maxson, Signs of the Times, January 31, 1939.

Quote: “Stars may be seen from the bottom of a deep well when they cannot be discerned from the top of a mountain. So are many things learned in adversity which the prosperous man dreams not of.”—Charles Spurgeon, Signs of the Times, January 10, 1939.

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Don't miss the August 2009 issue of Signs of the Times: “How the World Will End”, “What is God Like?”, “Miracles: How to tell the True from the False”, “The Book That Saved a Nation” and other great articles.

To order Signs, call: 1-800-765-6955 or online at http://www.AdventistBookCenter.com

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An elderly woman going through a forest came to a crossroads. She stopped and threw her walking cane up into the air several times. A man with a wagon was traveling behind her. He saw the woman standing there throwing her cane up in the air. Finally she took the road to the right.

After a while the man with the wagon caught up with the old woman. He invited her to ride with him, and she stepped up into his wagon. After a little while he told her that he had seen her standing at the crossroads throwing her cane up in the air, and he wondered what the purpose of that exercise had been.

The woman confided to him that in her walking through the forest she often came to crossroads. Inasmuch as she did not always know which road she should take, she divined the right course by throwing her cane up into the air. In whatever direction the head of her cane pointed when it came down, that road, she said, she took. Then she added quickly, “But sometimes I have to do it more than once.” She had already made up her mind which road to take, and kept on throwing her cane until it pointed in her chosen direction. To individuals with predetermined decisions God does not unveil His will.

God is eager to guide His committed servants, even in the minutiae of life. He is willing to direct you and me, not only in the big decisions of life, but also in the small ones.—By Arnold V. Wallenkampf, These Times, April 1970.

Quote: “Christ and His apostles taught the people in the tongue that was best known to them. Why should men not do so now?”—By John Wycliffe (1320-1384)—first translator of our complete English Bible, These Times, August 1980.

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NEW from Pacific Press—Mayday Over the Arctic! by Dorothy N. Nelson. This is the moving story of one woman’s discovery of expanding horizons and unlimited challenges—including the dramatic retelling of an emergency landing in the Arctic—that demonstrates God’s providence and leading in our lives.

Read the first chapter of this book online at http://www.adventistbookcenter.com/olink.tpl?sku=0816322910 Order online or from your local Adventist Book Center--1-800-765-6955.

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A school teacher was giving a lesson in fractions. “Johnny, suppose there were seven in your family: five children, plus mother and father—a total of seven. And suppose there was pie for dessert. What fraction of the pie would you get?”

Johnny answered, “One sixth.”

“But you don’t understand,” replied the teacher. “Don’t you know about fractions?”

“I know about fractions and I know about mothers, too,” remarked Johnny. “Mother would say she didn’t want any!”

Quote: “If God has called you to be a missionary, I would hate to see you shrivel down to be a king.”—By Spurgeon, These Times, August 1961.

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Place this in your church bulletin or newsletter: Signs is attractive and EFFECTIVE. Each year thousands request Bible studies after reading its life changing articles. Bring a friend or neighbor one step closer to Jesus by getting them into the Word! Order today by calling: 1-800-765-6955 or online at: http://www.AdventistBookCenter.com

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Dwight L. Moody, one of the most prolific evangelists of modern times, always had an eagerness to learn, to progress, to grow.

During one long preaching tour, he was traveling by train with a singer named Towner. In their car, a drunk with a badly bruised eye recognized Moody and started bawling out hymns. Not wanting to deal with the man, Moody said, “Let’s get out of here.” But Towner told him all the other cars were full.

Then a conductor came down the aisle. Moody, still irritated, stopped him and pointed out the drunk. The conductor first gently quieted the man. Then he bathed and bandaged the man’s eye, and finally, he led him back to a seat—where the man fell asleep.

After reflecting on what had happened, Moody told his companion, “This has been a terrible rebuke to me.” The conductor had acted like the good Samaritan, Moody said, while he, on the other hand, had responded like an indifferent Pharisee. During the rest of that preaching tour, Moody included this story in his sermons.—By Mark Finley, Signs of the Times, August 1995.

Quote: “Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us, or we find it not.”—By Emerson, Signs of the Times, June 23, 1953.

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

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There are certain truths that are never obsolete. There is a very old story of a sailing ship that was crossing an ocean. The captain asked a younger sailor to take the wheel for a few hours while he slept. The captain’s instructions were, “Keep in line with the North Star.”

Several hours later, the captain returned to the bridge to find the vessel off course. He asked the young man, “Where’s the North Star?”

The sailor replied, “We passed that long ago.”

There are some fixed points in human experience. God, Christ, the Bible, and the destiny of man are among these “absolutes.”—By Norval F. Pease, These Times, September 1971.

Quote: “Someone told a reformed alcoholic, ‘I see you have the mastery of the devil at last.’ ‘No,’ came the quiet answer, ‘but I do have the Master of the devil.’ “—By Leighton Ford, These Times, January 1966.

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Little Things

We should mind little things—little courtesies in life, little matters of personal appearance, little extravagances, little minutes of wasted time, little details in our work.

The first hint Newton had leading to his most important optical discoveries was derived from a child’s soap bubble.

The art of printing was suggested by a man cutting letters in the bark of a tree.

The telescope was the outcome of a boy’s amusement with two glasses in his father’s shop.

Goodyear neglected his skillet until it was red hot, and the accident guided him to the manufacture of vulcanized rubber.

The web of a spider suggested to Captain Brown the idea of a suspension bridge.

Henry Ford’s idea about a perfect watch plant gave him a plan for his giant motor industry.

J. L. Kraft’s idea to put cheese in a sanitary package was the start of his enormous business.

Watching a spider weave its web gave Robert Bruce the courage to try again.

Little things! Every one a little thing. Yet how important they proved to be to the man who had the wit to correlate these little things with the idea in his head.—Church and Home, Signs of the Times, November 10, 1953.

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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