June 2017 Signs of the Times Newsletter

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June 2017 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. ***************************      A little girl was once asked “Have you laid your sins on Jesus?”      She gave a rather surprising answer. “Yes,” she said, “and I don’t want to lay any more upon Him.” O my friends, our sins put Him on the cross…. May God burn into the depths of our consciousness the price our redemption has cost!—by Llewellyn A. Wilcox, Signs of the Times, March 24, 1936. Quote: “I would not now exchange for any amount of money the acquaintance with the Bible that was drummed into me when a boy.”—By Eugene Field, Signs of the Times, February 1, 1938. *************************** Don't miss the ­­­­­­­­July 2017 issue of Signs of the Times: To order Signs, call: 1-800-765-6955 or CLICK HERE to order online. ***************************      There is in the Central Police Station in St. Louis a cell which houses one of the most mysterious pieces of art known to man. The artist, unknown, very likely deceased now, has never come forth to receive the plaudits of the public. Thousands of people have come to visit the cell and marvel at the sight there to be seen.      It is a drawing of Christ crucified, sketched into the wall of cell 8 of the men’s holdover. Discovered one night in 1932 by a prison guard, the drawing on the wall is about four feet tall, expertly done under the most difficult of conditions.      Every effort to determine the identity of the unknown prisoner-artist has gone to no avail. Very few “holdovers” ever spent more than a few hours in that particular cell, and the sketch is of such fine detail it seems impossible that it could be done in a short time. One might assume that the artist had been there on several occasions.      But whatever the answer, the cell has not housed another prisoner since the discovery of the drawing of Christ on the cross. A plate of glass has been placed over it, and a beam of light trained on it. The cell is kept spotless.      Experts who have come to see the artist’s fine work have concluded that it must have been done with the heads of burnt matches—making its beauty and craftsmanship all the more amazing!      The mystery may never be solved, but it seems better that way. Visitors to the scene can come to their own conclusions as to the man who created the work. Perhaps the artist represents each one of us, all of mankind, groping in the cell of our guilt, scratching out lines of repentance, asking forgiveness of the Saviour.      Perhaps the artist had reached the lowest ebb of his life and had turned, like the good thief, from the cell of his cross to the cross of Christ, and pleaded, “Father, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.”      And perhaps the very fact that his work of art remains a treasure on the walls of a prison cell would indicate that the Master’s reply was, “Amen, I say unto you this day, you will be with Me in paradise.”      Whatever took place in that cell between a lonely, grieving man and his God, takes place, after all, in each of our hearts, where every man is truly in a cell with God.—By Tom Dowling, These Times, October 1964. Quote: “Our madly rushing neurotic society needs the therapy of the silence and quietness that flows from a day kept holy, really holy.”—By Dr. Ernest Palen, These Times, July 1966. *************************** From Pacific Press—Flee the Captor by Herbert Ford. Flee the Captor is the story of John Henry Weidner, a hero of history's greatest holocaust, who saved the lives of 800 Jews, more than 100 Allied aviators, and many others who fled Nazism. When asked why he had risked his life repeatedly to save so many, his answer was brief, “They were God’s children; they were human beings.” Order ONLINE or from your local Adventist Book Center--1-800-765-6955. ***************************      One cold, blustery, March night in the late 1890s, a heartbroken, grief-stricken father sat with his head in his hands in the dimly lighted living room of his humble home on a small farm near the city of Spokane, Washington.      He appeared to be alone, but there were sleeping in that room with him, or in adjoining rooms, six small children, one girl and five boys. He sat there wondering how he was going to tell them the sad news that the mother they were looking for would never come back to the home again—she was dead. From that time on he was to be both father and mother to this little flock.      This one girl in later years was married and took the name of Mrs. John Dodd. In the year 1910 she attended a Mother’s Day service. By this time her father was sleeping in the churchyard too.      In his sermon that morning the minister said some beautiful things about mothers. Mrs. Dodd did some serious thinking. Her father had been both father and mother to her. She wondered why little was said about father, and determined there in the church pew that morning that she must do something in memory of her faithful father, William Jackson Smart.      William had been born in Arkansas, where they called him “Billy Button” because of the shining buttons on his simple homespun jacket. Later he moved to Big Bend, Washington.      In writing of him, Mrs. Dodd says, “He lived by the golden rule, entertained the minister, never borrowed, taught us not to borrow, objected if my petticoat ever showed, or if the floors and walks were not clean.”      She set apart the third Sunday in June as Father’s Day. Others heard about it, and the news spread. Letters began to come to her from far and near. So now we have a Father’s Day.      No one will ever feel, I am sure, that too much praise has been given our mothers. Much has been said and a great deal written about them, but surely not too much. We could never really express all the love and gratitude and devotion in our hearts for them.      I have wondered sometimes if enough has been said about Father. In some cases, in some families, I have known him to be a forgotten man, sort of left out of the picture. Don’t let your father feel his only purpose or function in the home is to pay the bills which come in so regularly. Be sure he is a part of the family. The third Sunday in June is his day, but thoughts of him and kindness to him need not be confined to any day or month.—By Charles L. Paddock, Our Times, June 1947. Quote: “Some folks are too religious to be happy.”—By Charles G. Bellah, Signs of the Times, February 17, 1931. *************************** Please place in your church bulletin or newsletter: Want to connect with your neighbor? Maybe a loved one far away? Each monthly issue of Signs of the Times® offers a colorful and interesting presentation of the full gospel message. The result is changed lives! Send a subscription today. Order from your Adventist Book Center. To order call: 1-800-765-6955 or online: http://www.adventistbookcenter.com/signs-of-the-times-magazine-yearly-us-subscription.html ***************************      Years ago there lived a chain maker unknown to fame. He was very poor, but, nevertheless, he was an excellent workman, and very conscientious in all that he did. He might have shirked his work, but no, each link of the great chains he made must be just right.      Years passed before men knew the value of the old man’s work. One chain he made traveled many a league on the restless deep before the test came. Unnoticed it lay on the deck of a large ocean liner. Many passed the huge sheet anchor, but few gave attention to the chain that held it fast.      One day, however, a storm came up suddenly. The ship was in danger. She floundered. Anchor after anchor was cast out, but the storm was so severe that the chains snapped like cords.      Finally the captain shouted, “Let down the sheet anchor!” and down went the old chain maker’s anchor. It was their last hope. In breathless suspense they waited. Would it go as had all the others? In a moment the chain was out at full length. The old ship quivered from stem to stern between the grasp of the storm and the anchor. It was a battle indeed. But soon the suspense was over. The anchor won. The old workman’s chain had stood the severest test.      So, eventually, that faithful old man was given a chance to prove the value of his work. Even so the work of every member of the greatest of all firms—God’s firm—will someday be seen in its true worth. And if his work stands the test, as did the sheet anchor, he will be ushered into his incomparable inheritance.—By Matilda E. Andross, Signs of the Times, August 24, 1956. Quote: “If you want knowledge, you must toil for it; if food, you must toil for it, and if pleasure, you must toil for it. Toil is the law. Pleasure comes through toil and not by self-indulgence and indolence. When one gets to love work, his life is a happy one.”—By John Ruskin, Signs of the Times, February 15, 1899. *************************** The largest collection of resources designed to help you present Bible studies: www.ToolsForEvangelism.com ***************************      It was a Bible-store window with religious books, plaques, and pictures on display. Most people hurried past with scarcely a glance; but several stopped this morning, and more than one had strangely thoughtful looks on their faces as they turned away.      The picture they were looking at—of Jesus hanging on the cross—was not different from many others. It was the sign beneath it that attracted attention, expressing as it did a singular contrast in values—“For Sale: Cheap.” It is a sign that many hang upon the cross.      Professor Halford E. Luccock, warning a Yale divinity school convocation against what he called “packaging the Christian message as a sort of glorified aspirin tablet,” said recently, “Some preachers have discovered a new verb which seems to have superseded the old ones such as agonize. . . .  follow. . . . sacrifice. It is the lovely verb relax.”—By Roland Hegstad, Signs of the Times, August 10, 1954. Quote: “There is no other way in which one’s life will be so surely, so quickly, transfigured, as in the faithful, happy, cheerful doing of everyday tasks.”—By J. R. Miller, Signs of the Times September 23, 1930. *************************** Looking for Adventist EBooks? Visit www.AdventisteBooks.com ***************************      A unique volume entitled More Canny Tales contains a brief conversation between a clergyman and a member of his congregation. Says the minister: “It gives me great joy, Mrs. Brown, to see you always in your pew on the Sabbath day.”      The parishioner is gratified and replies, “Indeed, sir, I am real glad to come, for it is not often I get such a comfortable seat and so little to think about.”—By Walter Raymond Beach, These Times, May 1966. Quote: “Almighty God, give us grace to be not only hearers but doers of thy holy Word; not only to admire but to obey thy doctrine; not only to profess but to practice thy religion; not only to love but to live thy gospel. Amen.”—Composed for the Lambeth Conference in 1948, These Times, May 1966. *************************** Keep a supply of Pocket Signs with you all the time—you’ll find many ways to give away these attractive tracts. CLICK HERE to see the available Pocket Signs! *************************** Make Me a Better Parent      Heavenly Father, make me a better parent.      Teach me to understand my children, to listen patiently to what they have to say, and to answer all their questions kindly.      Keep me from interrupting or contradicting them.      Make me as courteous to them as I would have them be to me.      Forbid that I should ever laugh at their mistakes, or resort to ridicule when they displease me.      Bless me with the bigness to grant them all their reasonable requests and the courage to deny them privileges I know will do them harm.      Make me fair and just and kind.      And fit me, O Lord, to be loved and respected and imitated by my children.      Amen.—Author Unknown, Signs of the Times, August 1987. *************************** Compiled by Dale Galusha. 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