November 2016 Signs of the Times Newsletter

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November 2016 Signs of the Times Newsletter

November 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. ***************************      I once heard about an old minister who was dying. A young man who was also a minister came to visit him and offered to read to him from the Scriptures.      “Do you have any favorite scripture you would like to have me read?” he asked.      “Yes,” said the old man. “Please read the first chapter of First Chronicles.”      The young man read the chapter of genealogies with a labored tongue. It was hard work pronouncing the some two hundred fifty unfamiliar names in the fifty-four verses. The old minister listened with eager attention to every name. When it was finished, he uttered a fervent Amen.      “Thank you, my son; that was so comforting.”      The young man was frankly puzzled. “Please tell me,” he said, “what is so comforting about the chapter?”      “Ah,” said the old minister, “just to think that God knew them all by name!”—By Leonard C. Lee, Signs of the Times, June 26, 1956. Quote: “In coming to the throne of grace, the size of our receptacle will be the measure of our supply.”—Unknown, Signs of the Times, January 12, 1915. *************************** Don't miss the ­­­­­­­­December 2016 issue of Signs of the Times: To order Signs, call: 1-800-765-6955 or ONLINE. ***************************      You are familiar with Jacob Riis’s fable of the spider that dropped from the branch of a tree, spinning a strong cable behind it. Making an anchorage on either side, it wove its web at the intersection and set up business.      The spider had chosen a good location where many succulent flies and moths passed. It became fat and prosperous. Then looking up and noting the cable, it said, “I don’t need that anymore,” and cut it off.      That is only a fable. No spider would be so foolish. It would know that everything depended on that cable. Only man is so foolish as to do a thing like that.—By Avery A. Shaw, These Times, March 1961. Quote: “The Christian is not a person who is better than someone else, but one who is better than he would be if he were not a Christian.”—From Arkansas Methodist, These Times, January 1965. *************************** NEW from Pacific Press—Uriah Smith by Gary Land. Interrupted on his path to Harvard, a young Uriah Smith threw in his lot with the first Sabbath-keepers. Soon his talents became indispensable to the growing church. He was put in charge of the church paper, theAdventist Review and Sabbath Herald, and his sharply worded opinions became familiar to thousands of readers. Gary Land creates a detailed portrait of this brilliant writer and inventor. We see how he frustrated other church leaders—including the Whites—and yet was always able to mend fences with those he had angered. We see how his understanding of justification by faith changed and how his statements on prophecy have held up over time. A great biography of one of the major personalities in the early Seventh-day Adventist Church. Order ONLINE or from your local Adventist Book Center--1-800-765-6955. ***************************      A story is told of an English minister, who, being called to pray by the bedside of a dying man, sought to take him by the hand, in token of their agreement in offering united prayer. The sick man withheld his hand, keeping it under the bedclothes, and the minister prayed without it. Presently the man died and then as his hand was uncovered, the mystery was explained—he was holding in his hand, with the grasp of death, a key—the key of his safe where his money was kept.      The Lewiston Journal tells of a man in Durham, Maine, who was very penurious and a very determined man. He died at an advanced age. On his death-bed he kept his right hand closely clutched. As he drew his last breath he tightened his hold. Everybody there knew what he held in that hand. It was the key to the chest in which he kept his gold.      As his nerveless hand unclosed, the key dropped from it, and clattered against the bedside. As if to hold it even after he was dead, the miser had tied the key about his wrist by a strong cord, which he grasped as long as life remained.      He could not take his gold with him, but he kept the key. They buried him as he was, with the key to his money-chest tied about his wrist.      “And what became of the gold?” “Oh, the heirs have taken care of that just the same! They split open the chest with an ax and divided the gold, and let the miser keep the key about his wrist.” He is mouldering in the grave and the key is rusting beside him. We brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out of it.      “What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”—Selected, Signs of the Times, January 13, 1888. Quote: “Plan for the present but live for the future.”—by H. G. F., Signs of the Times, March 2, 1926. *************************** Why not send Signs of the Times® to a neighbor or relative? Their lives will be changed by the fresh and interesting articles. Thousands have found that sharing Jesus is as easy as sending a subscription. Get started by ordering from your Adventist Book Center. Call: 1-800-765-6955 or go ONLINE. ***************************      Dogmatic debate is not always the most effectual defense of truth. A rationalist, sure of his logic, once accosted D. L. Moody with this challenge:      “Mr. Moody, will you meet me in argument on this whole question?”      “No,” said Moody; “I will not.”      “Just as I expected. You can dogmatize ad libitum at the Tabernacle, but you dare not meet the tests of reason.”      “Look here, my friend,” said Moody, “you are an educated man, and have a wide range of learning; now, do you suppose you could make a fly understand all that you know?”      “No; of course I could not.”      “Well, the difference between you and God is a million times greater than the difference between you and a fly. Would it not be more in keeping if you would not deny what you know that God said to you through your own conscience? Settle that quarrel of yours with God, and you’ll have enough to do.”      There was no answer to this, because the man knew that he was having just that battle on hand. Many a sinner tries to dry up his convictions by adverse argument.—Selected,Signs of the Times, August 16, 1883. Quote: “Many who have escaped the rocks of gross sins, have been cast away on the sands of self-righteousness.”—Unknown, Signs of the Times, February 15, 1877. *************************** CLICK HERE to see a large line-up of Adventist e-Books. Available on multiple platforms. ***************************      In the verdant little West Indian Isle of Jamaica, in the blue Caribbean, a faithful Christian man went out one morning to look at his promising vegetable garden. Long and faithfully had he tended the plants that had pushed their way up through the rich red earth. With justifiable pride he contemplated the fruitful harvest that would soon be his.      Then the bad news came. Like wild fire from one tongue to another the alarm was sounded. The dreaded caterpillars were coming. How the plague was dreaded, for they ate everything in their path, leaving only dead and dying plants in their wake! For many it meant days and weeks of faithful labor all in vain. For many it also meant skimpy larders with hungry days ahead.       The man of God watched the dreaded little insects with their insatiable appetites eating their way slowly but surely through his neighbors’ gardens. As though with deadly planning, they were surrounding his lovely crop, bent on stripping every leaf from every stem.      As he gazed upon the scene before him, our friend was suddenly reminded of God’s precious promise: “I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground.” Malachi 3:11. The conditions? He had met them. Faithfully he had returned to the Lord His tithe—the tenth of all of his increase. The promise was his. He claimed it. Dropping to his knees, he sought the Lord earnestly to intervene on his behalf.      Rising, this Christian man wended his way homeward, confident that in some way God would answer his prayer.      The Lord did! The next morning as our earnest suppliant entered his garden he saw little heaps of dead caterpillars all over the ground. Not a leaf of his garden was touched. God had fulfilled His promise.—By Robert H. Pierson, Our Times, June 1949. Quote: “If I had a thousand heads I would rather have them all cut off than to revoke.”—By Martin Luther, These Times, October 1966. *************************** Looking for the perfect holiday gift—something that will show God’s love? Visit www.AdventistBookCenter.com. ***************************      A tall, elderly, refined-looking gentleman went into a small post office in a rural region in England. He asked some questions relative to the registering of a letter, and was very sharply, rudely, and unnecessarily snubbed by a young woman in attendance. He asked her if she thought that was a proper way to answer an inquiry in a public office. She said she thought that she had been quite civil enough for him.      He asked her, with an ominously increasing mildness of manner, if she would favor him with her name. She emphatically declined to do so. He then said he thought he would tell her his name, which, however, she declined to hear, saying that his name was no concern of hers. He calmly replied that he thought it was, for he was the Postmaster General.—New York World, Signs of the Times, September 10, 1894. Quote: “Age may wrinkle the face, but only loss of enthusiasm can wrinkle the soul.”—By General Douglas MacArthur, These Times, August 1971. *************************** The Tenderness of God As a father pitieth. Psalm 103:13.  As a mother comforteth. Isaiah 66:13.  As a hen gathereth. Matthew 23:37.  As a bridegroom rejoiceth. Isaiah 62:5.  As a refiner sitteth. Malachi 3:3.  As an eagle fluttereth. Deut. 32:11.  As a nurse cherisheth. 1 Thessalonians 2:7  As a shepherd seeketh. Ezekiel 34:12.—Southern Churchman, Signs of the Times, August 8, 1939. *************************** Compiled by Dale Galusha. Please pass this newsletter on to others.