March 2019 Signs of the Times Newsletter!

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March 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. ***************************      It is told that on one occasion in his early manhood, George Washington came very near the settlement of a dispute, so common in those days, by fighting a duel. But as he was the one who should have issued the challenge, he had the still greater courage to apologize and admit that he was in the wrong.      It was in the town of Alexandria, where the young Virginia colonel was quartered with his troops, that an election dispute occurred, and in the heat of the party excitement, Washington told a Mr. Payne that he lied. That gentleman at once replied with a blow that knocked the young colonel down. Word having reached the barracks that their beloved commander had been killed, his soldiers rushed to the city to avenge him. He met them, however, quieted them, and they returned to their quarters.      Mr. Payne, on receiving a note from Washington the next morning asking him to call at his lodgings, supposed it was, of course, to give the colonel opportunity to demand “satisfaction” for the blow he had received the day before. Imagine his surprise when, instead of finding pistols or swords ready for a duel, Washington greeted him with outstretched hand, saying: “I believe I was wrong yesterday. You have already had some satisfaction; and if you deem that sufficient, here is my hand; let us be friends!”—By H. A. Ogden, Signs of the Times, November 21, 1911. Quote: “A little practice of religion cures a lot of philosophy about it.”—Unknown, Signs of the Times, February 24, 1909. *************************** Don't miss the April issue of Signs of the Times: To order Signs, call: 1-800-765-6955 orCLICK HERE TO ORDER ONLINE! ***************************      During World War II, the rose window in the great Rheims cathedral was shattered into bits by an indirect hit. The parishioners lovingly got down on their hands and knees to gather together all the tiny pieces of broken glass. When the war was over they hired the most skilled workmen available to rebuild it, piece by piece, from the gathered fragments. Today’s rose window in Rheims is more beautiful than it ever was.      So God can take our broken lives and reshape them as we pray, “Lord, please forgive my mistakes of this day.”—By Reuben K. Youngdahl, These Times, August 1959. Quote: “There is no book on which we can rest in a dying moment but the Bible.”—By Shelden, These Times, June 1967. *************************** NEW from Pacific Press—Out of Babylon by Joseph Kidder. Read the amazing conversion story of Dr. Kidder: Everybody was talking to me at the same time.        “How can you do this?” my father shouted at me.       “Yes, you’re crazy!” one of my uncles yelled.      “You’re bringing shame to our family,” my mother cried.  Voices shouted at me from all directions as my parents and relatives tried to talk me out of my new faith.       “How can you want to be a Seventh-day Adventist? That religion is a cult.”      “It’s a Jewish religion!”      “Are you out of your mind?”  I just stood there, confused and under severe tension.  Finally, when my dad thought he was not getting anywhere with me and that I was not going to change my mind, he took off his shoes and threw them at me and spit on me (a sign of inflicting shame, representing the ultimate way of disgracing an individual in the Middle East).  Seeing this, my cousin Basher—whom I was very close to—felt that it was his duty to straighten me out. So he and one of my brothers grabbed me under the shoulders, lifted me up, and began to punch me. As I endured the blows, I was pushed in all directions, much like a piñata.  Soon all the boys and men in the room joined in, beating and spitting on me from all directions. They pulled my hair and ears and shouted hateful words about how I was stupid and a disgrace to them. I knew that in my culture, breaking away from the family religion is like denying the family and is not tolerated.  The concept of honor and shame is very important in the Middle East, and because I diverted from family tradition, I became a source of shame and disgrace for them. That evening Joseph Kidder was beaten almost to death, thrown into the street unconscious, kicked out of the family forever—all because of his new faith.  And so began his long journey from the Babylon of his secular life in Iraq to the amazing love of God and the importance of surrender to His plan.  He didn’t know then the many struggles and sacrifices that still awaited, but prayer, his faith in the Scriptures, and the support of his new church family would bring him to a life of ministry and service that continues today. READ the first chapter of this book online. CLICK to order online or from your local Adventist Book Center--1-800-765-6955. ***************************      It was milking time one evening in 1892, and Mr. Nathan Straus, the wealthy owner of a department store in New York, was watching his cow being milked.      Suddenly the cow made a strange noise. Strange for a cow, anyway, Mr. Straus thought. “Joe,” he said to the milker, “what was that noise?”      “A cough, sir.”      “That’s what I thought,” said Mr. Straus. “But it sounded like the way a human coughs when he has tuberculosis.”      “Quite likely, sir,” said Joe. “This cow has tuberculosis.”      “Oh, no!” exclaimed Mr. Straus. “My children have been drinking her milk all summer.”      “Don’t worry,” said Joe. “Humans don’t get tuberculosis from tuberculous cows.”      Mr. Straus was not so sure. A few days later the cow died, and a veterinarian cut out the lungs. “It was tuberculosis, all right,” said the vet.      Mr. Straus paled. “My children! Now they will get the disease.”    “Not necessarily,” said the vet. “The doctors are agreed that drinking milk from cows that have tuberculosis does not give tuberculosis to humans.”      The more Mr. Straus thought about it, the more sure he became that drinking such milk must give humans tuberculosis. And when he learned that of all the children born in New York, one out of three died before it was five years old—and the ones that died nearly always died of tuberculosis—he was determined to do something to stop this disease.      Soon he learned that not all the doctors were agreed that drinking milk from tuberculous cows did not give tuberculosis to humans. A few doctors believed it did. And someone told him that over in France, Louis Pasteur had discovered that heating a liquid to 150 degrees for about half an hour would kill the germs in it. He made up his mind he would do the same with milk, then give that milk to young children and watch to see if the children who got his pasteurized milk grew up better than the ones getting ordinary milk.      Soon Mr. Straus was giving milk every day to 2,000 children—at his own expense.      You might have thought everyone would have stood up and cheered for him. Not so. First of all, the dairymen opposed him. They felt that what he was doing was giving milk a bad name. They wanted the New York City government to stop him.      Then the doctors opposed him. Mr. Straus was not a doctor, and many of the doctors were highly angered to hear that a man who was not a doctor should be trying to tell doctors how to grow healthy children. One doctor went so far as to have Mr. Straus arrested.      And for a while the city government opposed him. Then Mr. Straus went to the home of the wife of the man who was in charge of the board of health and proved to her that there were twice as many germs in the milk she was feeding her children as there were in sewage.      A friendly doctor kept a record of 2,111 children drinking Mr. Straus’s milk. Of that number, only 6 died in eight months. If they had been drinking ordinary milk, 94 would have died in the same period!      Of course, when the people began hearing these facts, they began to demand that the dairymen pasteurize their milk. Laws were passed, fines were imposed, and babies began growing up instead of dying.      Let us be thankful that Mr. Straus was willing to spend his money and stand up against opposition and criticism to do something good and valuable for humanity. If it were not for him, you and I might have died before we were five years old.—By Lawrence Maxwell, Signs of the Times, February 1982. Quote: “It is worthier to be honored by the wise few than to be flattered by the foolish many.”—Unknown, Signs of the Times, March 19, 1902. *************************** Place this 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 compelling 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 at: http://www.adventistbookcenter.com/signs-of-the-times-magazine-yearly-us-subscription.html ***************************      Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, had, for many years, a famous volunteer lifesaving crew among its students. On September 8, 1860, the Lady Elgin, a crowded passenger steamer, foundered off the shore of Lake Michigan just above Evanston.      Ed Spencer, one of the students gathered on the shore, saw a woman clinging to wreckage far out in the breakers. He threw off his coat, swam through heavy waves, and succeeded in getting her back to land safely.      Sixteen times during that day, Spencer braved fierce waves, rescuing 17 persons. Then he collapsed in a delirium of exhaustion. Spencer slowly recovered from the exposure and exertion of that day, but never completely. With broken health, he lived quietly, unable to enter upon his chosen lifework of ministry, but exemplifying the teachings of Jesus Christ in his secluded life.      He died in California at age 81. In reporting his death, one newspaper revealed that not one of the 17 rescued persons ever thanked him.      Why is it that we are not more thankful? Why is the hardest arithmetic to master that which enables us to count our blessings? The truth probably is that we don’t stop to think.      By giving thanks we manifest the fact that our lives are not controlled by the cares and concerns of this life. We give testimony to the fact that material things do not dictate the horizons of our soul.—By Kenneth J. Holland, Signs of the Times, November 1989. Quote: “Better fail to get money than to allow money to get you.”—By Charles G. Bellah,Signs of the Times, October 8, 1929. *************************** CLICK HERE to find all the tools you need to give a Bible Study! ***************************      During the 19th century, John Paton went as a missionary to the New Hebrides, an island group in the Western Pacific.  Since the Bible had not yet been translated into the local language, Paton began to work on a translation. During the course of his work, he discovered that language had no equivalent for the word believe.      Paton puzzled over this problem for some time. Then, one day, a solution presented itself. An indigenous worker came into Paton’s office, worn out from a hard day’s physical labor. Flinging himself on a chair, stretching out his legs, and resting them on another chair, he commented on how good it felt to lean his whole weight on those chairs. Instantly, Paton noted the term the man used for “lean my whole weight on.” He knew that it was just the right equivalent for the English word believe.—By Victor Parachin, Signs of the Times, February 1995. Quote: “If we must become rigid to avoid uncertainty, the cost is too great.”—By Ronald Brownstein, Signs of the Times, December 1994. *************************** This Easter season, share the new Signs of the Times special issue, Death Defeated! *************************** Trust I cannot see, with my small human sight, Why God should lead this way or that for me; I only know He saith, “Child follow me;” But I can trust. I know not why my path should be at times So straightly hedged, so strangely barred before; I only know God could keep wide the door; But I can trust. I find no answer, often when beset With questions fierce and subtle on my way, And often have but strength to faintly pray; But I can trust. I often wonder as with trembling hand I cast the seed along the furrowed ground, If ripened fruit for God will there be found; But I can trust. I cannot know why suddenly the storm Should rage so fiercely round me in its wrath; But this I know, God watches all my path, And I can trust. I may not draw aside the mystic veil That hides the unknown future from my sight, Not know if for me waits the dark or light; But I can trust. I have no power to look across the tide, To see, while here, the land beyond the river; But this I know, I shall be God’s forever, So I can trust.—From London Evening Magazine, Signs of the Times, November 2, 1888. *************************** Compiled by Dale Galusha. Please pass this newsletter on to others.