January 2016 Signs of the Times Newsletter

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January 2016 Signs of the Times Email Newsletter The Signs of the Times newsletter is a collection of stories and quotes from past issues ofSigns and These Times. ***************************      A college boy, from a Christian home, a little inclined to be sporty and very popular with his companions, had the walls of his room lined with questionable pictures such as come in cigarette packages; but when the holidays came his good old Christian mother sent him a portrait of Hofmann’s head of the Christ. After the holiday vacation one of his chums came into his room and, looking around in astonishment said, “Dick, what’s become of all your pictures?”      Dick hesitated a moment and then said, pointing to the Christ, “They didn’t seem in place in His presence.”—Association Men, Signs of the Times, April 18, 1911. Quote: “The devil knows more about the second coming of Christ than do many modern preachers, for ‘he knoweth that he hath but a short time.’” Revelation 12:12—By Charles G. Bellah, Signs of the Times, February 25, 1919. *************************** Don't miss the February 2016 issue of Signs of the Times: To order Signs, call: 1-800-765-6955 or ONLINE! ***************************      Major Gordon Cooper was on the seventeenth course of his twenty-two-orbit flight around the earth. It was the night of May 15-16, 1963. A hundred miles below him lay the Indian Ocean. A canopy of stars stretched infinite distances above him. Overwhelmingly impressed by God’s guidance as he moved serenely through the vastness of outer space, he pushed the button of his tape recorder and recorded a prayer for himself and for all who had to do with the building and launching of his space capsule.      Here is his prayer:      “Father, thank You, especially for letting me fly this flight.      “Thank You for the privilege of being able to be in this position; to be up in this wondrous place, seeing all these many startling, wonderful things that You have created.      “Help guide and direct all of us that we may shape our lives to be much better Christians, trying to help one another, and to work with one another, rather than fighting and bickering. Help us to complete this mission successfully.      “Help us in our future space endeavors, that we may show the world that a democracy can really compete and still is able to do things in a big way, and is able to do research, development, and can conduct many scientific and very technical programs.      “Be with all our families. Give them guidance and encouragement, and let them know that everything will be okay.      “We ask in Thy name. Amen.”—By Charles E. Weniger, These Times, February 1964. Quote: ”Thank God every morning that you have something to do, whether you like it or not. Being forced to work and forced to do your best, will breed in you temperance and self-control, diligence and strength of will, cheerfulness, contentment and a hundred other virtues the idle never know.”—By Charles Kingsley, These Times, September 1971. *************************** NEW from Pacific Press—Rebellion and Redemption by David Tasker is the Sabbath School Companion Book for the first quarter of 2016. It is a must read to understand God’s wonderful dealings with humanity.   CLICK to read the first chapter of this book online FREE! Order ONLINE or from your local Adventist Book Center--1-800-765-6955. ***************************      George Renton was a poor man, and often said “If I were rich, I would show people how to give.”      In a dream he saw a pyramid of dollars—all new, bright, and beautiful. Just then a voice said to him, “Now is your time; you are rich at last; you now have an opportunity to exercise your generosity.”      So he arose from his seat and went to the pile to take some money for charitable purposes. But the pyramid was so perfect that he could not bear to break it; he walked all around it, but found no place where he could take a dollar without spoiling the heap. So he decided that the pyramid should not be broken, then awoke to know himself, and to see that he would be generous only while comparatively poor.—Selected, Signs of the Times, December  23, 1903. Quote: “No man who is in a hurry is ever quite civilized.”—By Will Durant, These Times, August 1969. *************************** Place this in your church bulletin or newsletter: A new year brings new opportunities to share your faith. Why not use Signs of the Times® to help your friends and neighbors find hope and meaning? Each monthly issue takes on a broken world and directs hearts to Jesus for relevant answers. The result is changed lives! Send a subscription today. Go to www.AdventistBookCenter.com or phone 1-800-545-2449. ***************************      One of the strangest cases of jurisprudence in American history was the criminal case of George Wilson, who was condemned to die because of robbery of a mail train near Reading, Pennsylvania in 1829. On the fourteenth of June in 1830 President Andrew Jackson granted him a pardon, but because of the antipathy that he held toward the president, the condemned man refused to accept the pardon.      Because he refused to accept the pardon, the courts then faced the dilemma as to what ought to be done in such a case. Here was a man who was pardoned for a crime and refused to accept it. Should the pardon be forced upon him?      The Supreme Court of the United States, in reviewing this case, made the decision that “a pardon is a deed to the validity of which delivery is essential; and delivery is not complete without acceptance; it may then be rejected by the person to whom it is tendered; and if it be rejected, we have discovered no power in a court to force it on him.”      George Wilson went to his death because he stubbornly refused to accept the presidential pardon. Strange as this may seem, and foolish as we might think this decision to be, yet how many there are who go on and on in their lives rejecting the only provision that will ever help them when they have their day in court.      Therefore let us by faith lay hold upon this great provision, knowing full well that “if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and He is the propitiation for our sins.” 1 John 2:1, 2—By Lucretia L. Harmon, Present Truth, Vol. 26, No. 18. Quote: “Happiness is where you find it. One doesn’t have to go away from home to look for it.”—By Carey Williams, These Times, March 1964. *************************** CLICK here for a FREE packet of sharing materials! Offer good in the US and Canada, and expires on January 15, 2016. ***************************      Roger Morneau was facing a real-life test of his driving ability. Winter had arrived in full force in western New York State, and some of the snow had thawed during the day and then frozen again as the sun went down, leaving the road extremely slippery. Just keeping his car on the highway took all the skill he had.      The road descended a gentle slope that led into a curve. Morneau let the car coast down the slope, touching neither the brakes nor the accelerator lest he lose control. As he approached the curve at the bottom of the slope, he hoped that no cars or trucks were coming the other way. Rounding the curve revealed no other vehicles; but there was something nearly as threatening—a large horse stood in the middle of the road. Morneau had time for only the briefest of prayers: “Dear Jesus, help me!”      Instantly, a force outside of himself took control of the steering wheel and guided the car toward the animal’s front legs. Just as the car was about to hit them, the horse reared onto its hind legs and pawed the air. Morneau ducked to avoid the hooves that he feared would smash through the windshield, but the animal’s feet cleared the top of the car, and it did not drop down on all fours again until the car had passed completely by.      Morneau is convinced that God intervened with a miracle.—By Cezar Luchian, Signs of the Times, May 1997. Roger Morneau was known as a man of prayer. Charmed by Darkness is an incredible book available at the Adventist Book Center. CLICK to order! READ first chapter FREE online! Quote: “What God is in Himself, not what we may chance to feel Him in this or that movement to be, that is our hope.”—Unknown, Signs of the Times, January 8, 1902. *************************** CLICK to see a great selection of Adventist eBooks! ***************************      Aunt Flora was making some walnut creams that last afternoon in March. She had to crack the nuts very carefully to get them out whole, and some halves of shells were not broken at all. Jack’s sharp eyes discovered them in the coal bin.      “Oh, goody!” cried he, “they’ll be just the thing to fool Teddy with tomorrow, Aunt Flo. I’ll stick them together and he’ll think they are regular walnuts.”      “I wouldn’t,” said Aunt Flora. “He is such a little boy, and he will be so disappointed; I wouldn’t Jack.”      But Jack would. He picked out shells enough to make three walnuts; then he got the glue bottle and stuck them together so carefully you wouldn’t have known they were cracked.      “Don’t they look just good enough to eat?” laughed he. “Now, when they get dry I’ll put them in a paper bag, and give them to Teddy in the morning.”      Then he ran out to his play, whistling; and he played so long and so hard that he didn’t think of the walnuts until he came home from school next day at noon. Aunt Flora had put them away for him, however. She told him where to find them.      “On the second shelf of the dining room closet, in a paper bag,” said she.      Jack’s face had a sober look. He thought, perhaps, Aunt Flora didn’t like his joke.      “Maybe I hadn’t best fool Teddy,” said he. “Guess I’ll take them out and fool Johnny Wilson. I haven’t been fooled today, Aunt Flo.”      But Aunt Flo did not answer, and when Jack got to the dining room he found Teddy there. It did seem too good a chance to be lost. Jack took the bag of walnuts from the closet shelf.      “Hello, Teddy!” he said, “have some nuts?”      “Oh, yes!” cried Teddy, running to get the tack hammer. He liked walnuts almost better than anything else. “You’re the bestest boy, Jack,” he said.      At this Jack looked sober again. I think he felt a little bit ashamed. After all, it wasn’t the best of fun to fool a little five year old boy, and his own brother, too. But he gave Teddy the bag.      In less than two seconds down came the hammer on the first walnut. It cracked very easily, indeed, and it had the funniest kernel you ever saw in a nut—a bright, new dime! It didn’t take long to crack the other two, you may be sure; and there were thirty cents—enough to buy two whole pounds of walnuts.      “Oh! Oh!” cried Teddy, astonished beyond measure. “Are they mine? Where did they come from?”      Jack’s face was aa red as a rose. He was almost ready to feel cross about it; but looking up, he saw Aunt Flo standing in the doorway, and laughed instead, a little sheepishly.      “I guess I’m like the story you told about the man that threw the boomerang, Aunt Flo, and it came back and hit him,” said he. But I’m glad of it, just the same.”—Selected, Signs of the Times, December 9, 1903. Quote: “You may juggle human laws, you may fool with human courts, but there is a judgment to come, and from it there is no appeal.”—By Orin Philip Gifford, Signs of the Times, August 1986. *************************** This last piece is not from Signs of the Times. I found it this week in a back corner of a drawer in my office desk. It was on a yellowing piece of paper, clipped and saved by someone before the desk had become mine. It is a good reminder for the new year! Do It Now! Life is short and time is fleeting,      Days are here and quickly gone; Though we think it worth repeating,      Time has ruled it must go on. We can’t save a single minute,      Precious though it seems to be; Though a world of joy be in it,      It must pass for you and me. Life must never be tomorrows,      Dream your dreams, but live today, Putting off will bring you sorrows,      Much is lost along the way. If a task is worth the doing,      Do it now, and do not wait; Heed life’s fast and certain ruling,      “Sometime soon” may be too late. Take the years that life is giving,      Make each day a day worthwhile; Troubles are a part of living,      Always, you can find a smile. God His promise is fulfilling,      Wasted time He won’t allow; Keep a heart and mind that’s willing,      If you’d do it, do it now!—Selected. *************************** Compiled by Dale Galusha. Please pass this newsletter on to others.