May 2013 Signs of the Times Email Newsletter

[Stan]

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 good many years ago there was an old whaling captain who was sailing in the desolate seas of Cape Horn. “One day,” he said, “we were heading directly south in the face of a hard wind. We had been tacking this way and that all the morning, and were making very little headway. About eleven o’clock, as I stood at the wheel, the idea suddenly came into my mind, ‘Why batter the ship against these waves? There are probably as many whales to the north as to the south. Suppose we run with the wind instead of against it?’ In response to that sudden idea I changed the course of the ship, and began to sail north instead of south. One hour later, at noon, the lookout at the masthead shouted, ‘Boats ahead!’ Presently we overtook four lifeboats, in which were fourteen sailors, the only survivors of the crew of a ship that had burned to the water’s edge ten days before. Those men had been adrift in their boats ever since, praying God frantically for rescue; and we arrived just in time to save them. They could not have survived another day.”

After pausing a moment, the old whaler added, “I don’t know whether you believe in religion or not, but I happen to be a Christian. I have begun everyday of my life with the prayer that God would use me to help someone else, and I am convinced that God, that day, put the idea into my mind to change the course of my ship. That idea was the means of saving fourteen lives.”

God has many ideas and thoughts to give to us; how seldom we give him a chance! Prayer gives God the opportunity of speaking to us and revealing His will to us.—By Ella Hicks, Signs of the Times, November 3, 1931.

Quote: “Christ is the light of all Scripture, the sole Lord and life of the true church. By His Word we test all doctrines, conclusions, and commands. On His Word we build all faith. Let us neither forget nor hesitate to appeal to it always with untrembling certainty and conviction. If Christ did not know and preach the truth, then there is no truth that can be known or preached. The rock of certainty is the mind of Christ, expressed in His living words, and in His speaking life. Beyond this we need not and we cannot go. Here is the ultimatum. This is the truth we say to men, because Jesus knew it, and lived it. He is the only source of authority.”—By Henry van Dyke, Signs of the Times, March 26, 1940.

Quote: “God does not count your good deeds; He only weighs them.”—Unknown, Signs of the Times, April 1958.

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Don't miss the June 2013 issue of Signs of the Times: To order Signs, call: 1-800-765-6955 or online at http://www.adventistbookcenter.com/signs-of-the-times-magazine-yearly-us-subscription.html

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“I am bound to confess there was a time in my evangelistic work when I had an idea that Christ could satisfy the man who was down there in the slums, but I was always a bit afraid if into the inquiry room there came a man of position and culture,” said G. Campbell Morgan; “and I tell you the Lord gave me one of the most wonderful illustrations of the absurdity of my fear that I ever had. . . . .

“There came into the inquiry room a rag picker, a great, gaunt old man who had grown hoary in the service of sin and Satan. . . . There in our inquiry room he knelt, and I knelt by him, and I felt quite at home as I spoke to him of the blood that cleanseth from all sin. . . .

“I looked around; and there, kneeling next to me, was the mayor of the city, a man about as old as the rag picker, but a man who had all the marks of culture and refinement. I happened to know that some time before, the mayor had sentenced the rag picker to a month’s hard labor; he had got out a month ago. There they were side by side. Presently the light that had broken on the rag picker broke on the mayor, and I found that the blood needed there was needed here, and I found that the life sufficient there was sufficient here. When the men rose, the mayor said to the rag picker, ‘Well, we didn’t meet here last time.’ No, we will never meet again like we did the last time, praise God!”

There is no difference. One obtains his passport by humble supplication at the foot of the cross as does the other. “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.”—By Dallas Youngs, These Times, September 1951.

Quote: “No hand can make the clock which will strike again for me the hours that are gone.”—By Charles Dickens, These Times, November 1967.

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NEW from Pacific Press—Never Alone by Terry Schwartz. Terry Schwartz hadn’t included cancer in his life’s plan; but when doctors told him he had ninety days to live, he chose to embrace the disease as part of God’s plan. As a construction superintendent for Maranatha Volunteers International, Terry has helped to spread the gospel around the world through the construction of urgently needed buildings. Never Alone is the inspiring story of how one man chose to fulfill God’s purpose for his life.

Read the first chapter of this book online at http://www.adventistbookcenter.com/never-alone-7242-html.html Order online or from your local Adventist Book Center--1-800-765-6955.

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“There is a wide difference between your religion and mine,” said a Christian lady to one in whose spiritual condition she had long been interested.

“Indeed,” said he, “how is that?”

“Your religion,” she replied, “has only two letters in it, and mine has four.”

“What do you mean,” he asked, “by two letters and four?”

“Why, your religion,” said the lady, “is d-o, do; whereas mine is d-o-n-e, done. It was all done more than eighteen hundred years ago, on the cross. Christ has done all. He has put away sin, magnified the claims of divine justice, vanquished Satan, taken the sting from death and gotten the victory over the grave, glorified God in every scene in which He had been dishonored, and brought in everlasting righteousness. All this is wrapped up in these four golden letters, d-o-n-e. Who would not exchange ‘do’ for ‘done’?”—By Elba C. Voorheis, Signs of the Times, November 22, 1927.

Quote: “It is when we forget ourselves that we do things that are most likely to be remembered.”—From Grit, These Times, November 1969.

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Place this in your church bulletin or newsletter: Help your friends and neighbors find hope and meaning! Each month Signs of the Times takes on a broken world and directs hearts to Jesus for relevant answers. The result is changed lives! Send a subscription today. Order from your Adventist Book Center. To order call: 1-800-765-6955 or online at: http://www.adventistbookcenter.com/signs-of-the-times-magazine-yearly-us-subscription.html

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Law is capable of a narrow as well as a liberal interpretation. It may be interpreted according to the letter or according to the spirit. An example of the former happened in an institution a few years ago. A young man had been asked to sweep the halls, which he proceeded to do. After a while the overseer noticed that while the halls had been swept, the sweepings had been deposited in a corner. The young man was called to account.

“Did I not ask you to sweep the halls? Why have you not done so?”

“I have done so.’

“How can you say that you have done so when all the sweepings are here in the corner?”

“Well, you did not tell me to pick them up. I have swept the hall.”

The young man had failed to grasp the spirit of the command.

It was somewhat this same attitude that many of the Pharisees took in the time of Christ. They held to the letter of the law and forgot the spirit of it.—By M. L. Andreasen, Signs of the Times, February 4, 1941.

Quote: “Finish every day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and sincerely, and with too high a spirit to be cumbered with your old nonsense. This day is all that is fair and good. It is too dear, with its hopes and invitations, to waste a moment on yesterdays.”—By Emerson, Signs of the Times, May 13, 1941.

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Christian Storytelling now available after being out of print for many years!

As humans, we all relate to stories:

· When a pastor tells a story in his sermon, everyone listens.

· When the children's story takes place at church, adults listen.

· We all love a good story.

One of the most beloved storytellers ever was Eric B. Hare. Children and adults alike sat spellbound as he would share stories. Many years ago Eric B. Hare took a small book about storytelling written by another great storyteller, Arthur Spaulding, and expanded and added to it. The result was, Christian Storytelling, a classic filled with details on how to tell a great story. The book also is full of wonderful stories that can be used at church, at school, at home, and around the campfire.

This book is a MUST for all pastors, teachers, children’s storytellers, and anyone working with children.

Christian Storytelling is available at:

· Adventist Book Centers: 1-800-765-6955

· Online: http://www.adventistbookcenter.com/christian-storytelling.html

· AND as an E-Book at: http://www.adventistebooks.com/Christian-Storytelling-Eric-B.-Hare,-Arthur-W.-Spalding/ebook/9780816326570/

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James Harper, of the publishing firm, had a fund of droll wit which is well illustrated by the following incident:

On a certain occasion a clergyman, who had consumed an hour of his time in small talk, said to the publisher, “Brother Harper, I am curious to know how you four men distribute the duties of the establishment between you.”

Mr. Harper replied, good humoredly, “John attends to the finances, Wesley settles all the correspondence, Fletcher attends to the general bargaining with authors and others, and—you need not tell anybody,” he said, drawing his chair up closer and speaking in a lower tone of voice, “I entertain the bores.”—From Exchange, Signs of the Times, February 18, 1897.

Quote: “Some people have just enough religion to make them hate others.”—By Charles G. Bellah, Signs of the Times, February 17, 1931.

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Looking for a GREAT e-Book—for the best selection of Adventist e-books visit: www.AdventisteBooks.com

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Prayer for Faith

By Della A. Leitner

The bursting buds of springtime

Show faith, dear Lord, to grow,

Though wild March winds are blowing

And frosty nights they know.

While deep within the forest

Among the dead, damp leaves

The tender flowers push upward,

Oh, grant me faith like these---

A faith that does not question

Thy love and watchful care;

A faith that is completeness,

Where doubt may have no share.

So through the time of waiting

Till fullness of the days,

I’ll do Thy work appointed

And sing the while Thy praise.—Signs of the Times, March 1965.

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Compiled by Dale Galusha. Please pass this newsletter on to others.

[Naomi]