October 2010 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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A young man became tired of home and ran away. But he soon grew tired of hogs and husks and hunger; yet he was afraid to go home. Driven at last to desperate ends by a false, cruel world, he said to himself: “I am sure father won’t let me come back, but I’ll write a letter to mother.” He wrote like this: “Dear Mother: I am going by our farm on the noon freight. If you want me to come home, hang up a sheet in the back yard, and I will see it and come.”

Did that poor boy know his mother’s heart? Indeed he did. Both parents had gone nearly wild from wondering where he was and why he did not write. The mother was saddened by his evident distrust when she received his letter, but her heart was overjoyed to learn that he was coming home. And she was so fearful that he might not see one lone sheet in the back yard that she took all she had and all she could borrow from her neighbors, and hung the whole yard full of sheets.

“And as feeble babes that suffer,

Toss and cry, and will not rest,

Are the ones the tender mother

Holds the closest, loves the best.

So when we are weak and weary,

By our sins weighed down, distressed,

Then it is God’s greatest patience

Holds us closest, loves us best.”—By Sherman A Nagel, Signs of the Times, December 11, 1923.

Quote: “When a man has not one good reason for doing a thing, he has an excellent reason for not doing it.”—Unknown, Signs of the Times, January 4, 1883.

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Don't miss the November 2010 issue of Signs of the Times: “The Fountain of Youth,” “5 Steps to Salvation,” “A God Who Sings,” “Spending Sabbath With God,” “Is the Devil Real?” and other important articles. To order Signs, call: 1-800-765-6955 or online at www.pacificpress.com/signs

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As he left one of the few religious services he ever attended, Samuel Clemens (aka Mark Twain) is said to have greeted the minister with the words, “That was a good sermon, parson, but I have a book at home that contains every word of it.”

The minister was surprised and puzzled. “Really, Mr. Clemens?” he asked. “I’d certainly like to see that book.”

“I’ll be glad to send you a copy as a gift,” Mr. Clemens replied, with perhaps a mischievous twinkle in his eyes.

A few days later the minister received a package from his visitor of the previous Sunday. He hurriedly opened it and examined the book inside. It was a large dictionary.

If it was true in the days of Sam Clemens, it is doubly true now that this is the age of the big word and the complicated, incomprehensible statement. A pain pill with aspirin as its chief ingredient is said to contain “the most effective analgesic, acetylsalicylic acid.” One professor defined a kiss as “an anatomical juxtaposition of two orbicularis oris muscles in a state of contraction.” And a noted theologian has defined sin as “deviation from a . . . standard . . . authoritatively set . . . with a demand to conform to it . . . (or from) an ideal perceived by the moral sense.”

In the midst of all this confusion, a book written many years ago by inspired men cuts through the verbal fog with clear, unequivocal statements. In simple and understandable language it presents a message that will save men and women from the results of sin.

The message of the Bible for these days can be divided into five areas:

1. God, who created all things, has set a standard for mankind in its relation to Him and to each other.

2. Man has sinned.

3. Jesus Christ has given Himself as an offering for man’s sin after living a perfect life in obedience to the law of God.

4. He offers life to all who will accept Him as their Savior, and will provide them with power to enable them to fulfill the requirements of His law.

5. He is coming again to reward those who have accepted Him into their lives and allowed Him to save them from their sin.—By Eugene Lincoln, These Times, April 1972.

Quote: “No pleasure is comparable to the standing upon the vantage-ground of truth.”—By Francis Bacon, Our Times, February 1949.

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NEW from Pacific Press—101 Questions About Ellen White and Her Writings by William Fagal and The White Estate. If you could ask one question of Ellen G. White, what would it be? Every day The White Estate gets questions about Mrs. White: her work, her life, her ministry, and her beliefs. In this volume, you’ll find answers to the 101 most frequently asked questions about this amazing lady. Questions like, “Did Mrs. White say the General Conference was Babylon?” or, “Must we always kneel when we pray?” or how about, “What was Ellen White’s favorite hymn?” Some answers won’t surprise you, some will. Either way, your faith in Mrs. White’s prophetic gift will be strengthened.

Read the first chapter of this book online at http://www.adventistbookcenter.com/olink.tpl?sku=081632378X Order online or from your local Adventist Book Center--1-800-765-6955.

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Once a Bible was baked in a loaf of bread. That was in the country of Austria. Some men came into the house to find the Bible and burn it, but the woman who owned it was just going to bake bread; so she rolled up her Bible in a big loaf and put it in the oven.

When the men went away, she took out the loaf and the Bible was not hurt a bit. That was a good place to hide a Bible, wasn’t it? But I’ll tell you a still better place. David knew of the place when he said, “Thy Word have I hid in mine heart.”—Selected, Signs of the Times, May 7, 1902.

Quote: “Hospitality is for service, not for show.”—By Bishop Hamilton, Signs of the Times, May 7, 1902.

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Place this in your church bulletin or newsletter: In a challenging world Signs of the Times gives hope and direction. Each month it takes on current issues and leads people to Jesus for relevant answers. Each day lives are changed. Send a subscription today! To order call: 1-800-765-6955 or online at: www.pacificpress.com/signs

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A Spanish artist was once employed to paint the “Last Supper.” It was his object to throw all the sublimity of his art into the figure and the countenance of the Lord Jesus; but he put on the table in the foreground some chased cups, the workmanship of which was exceedingly beautiful. When his friends came to see the picture on the easel, everyone said, “What beautiful cups!”

“Ah!” said he, “I have made a mistake; these cups divert the eyes of the spectator from the Lord, to whom I wish to direct the attention of the observer;” and he forthwith took up his brush and blotted them from the canvass, that the strength and vigor of the chief object might be prominently seen and observed.

Thus all Christians should feel their great study to be Christ’s exaltation; and whatever is calculated to hinder man from beholding Him in all the glory of His person and work should be removed out of the way. “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ.” Let the sentiment and language of Paul be ours.—Unknown, Signs of the Times, January 13, 1881.

Quote: “There is nothing in the world that hurts a man so much as the habit of grumbling. Some people are like snarling dogs that never see a stranger, whether he be friend or foe, without snapping at his heels. The good in life is never good enough, and the bad is always worse than it is. An old sinner once confessed on her knees that she had had a heap of trouble in her life and that most of it never happened. It is a good rule not to suffer from the toothache until the tooth begins to ache.”—Selected, Signs of the Times, March 5, 1885.

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You may remember an unusual news story that came out of Brooklyn some years ago. A mother decided to hide her son from the army. With his cooperation a cubicle was built in the attic. For some time the boy submitted to voluntary imprisonment in that confined space, and the mother fed him and took care of his needs through a small opening.

Finally, however, the mother became ill, and the neighbors heard the boy’s call for help. The police were summoned, and the secret was out. As they opened the boxlike prison, a dirty, dazed, disheveled boy stepped out.

After questioning him, the police asked, “What do you want to do now?”

Bewildered, the boy turned slowly and, looking toward his familiar retreat, replied, “Go back in!”

What a tragedy to become so accustomed to a wretched environment as to desire nothing better! Yet who will say that some of us are not guilty?—By George Vandeman, These Time, October 1968.

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 1949.

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Read articles from previous issues of Signs of the Times: www.pacificpress.com/signs

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The re-creating power is well illustrated by the story of a converted man in Asia as told by himself in a praise service:

Before I was converted, I was restless and so unhappy. I felt as if I were down in a deep, muddy slimy ditch, and with every effort to get out I only sank the deeper.

While I was in this plight Confucius came along, looked down at me, and said, “Well, you’re in quite a predicament, but if you had obeyed my law you would not have been there,” and he went on.

Soon Buddha came by, looked down, and said, “You are in quite a mess; but happiness is only a state of mind, so don’t worry about yourself, and soon you won’t mind it.”

A woman came next. She said, “You think you are in a sad plight, but you are not; you are just in error, and as soon as you correct your thinking you will be all right.”

Finally Christ came along. He lost no time in idle conversation, but reached down His hand, and, with that all-powerful pull, helped me out and up to a higher plane of living; and today I cannot praise Him enough.”—By Fannie V. Donnelly, Signs of the Times, November 19, 1929.

Quote: “It is much easier to be critical than to be correct.”—By Benjamin Disraeli, Our Times, September 1949.

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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