June 2019 Signs of the Times Newsletter

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June 2019 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. ***************************      “There is one thing that I can’t understand,” said my friend with a questioning mind.      “What is that, Hanson?” I asked.     “About old man Jones, down there at the foot of the hill. If there are any Christians in this country, he is one. He has prayed twice a day for forty years, and proved his faith by his works. He has worked hard, and has been ambitious to lay up something for his family, yet he is exceedingly poor, and always been poor. Often his family lack the bare necessities of life. That little cabin with the rocky patch of ground around it is all he has to show for a life of drudgery. Yet the Bible says that all things work together for good of those who love the Lord, and to him that asketh it shall be given. How do you explain it?”      “Let us go down and talk with him about it,” I replied.      The old man warmly welcomed us into his simple cabin, and set chairs for us by the open fireplace, for it was a frosty November day.      “I’m glad to see you, Will.” He always called me Will. “I have been wanting to tell you about a letter I got two weeks ago from Dave. Dave has professed religion, and joined the church.” The old man’s eyes grew bright, but his voice shook a little. “I’ve been praying for that boy for many years, and I knew the Lord would save him.” The light on the face furrowed by care and toil and age was good to see. “I’m perfectly happy now,” he continued. “Mary married a good man, and they have a good home. Sam is preaching the Gospel, and now Dave has chosen that better part. The Lord is wondrous good to His servants, and I can say with David, ‘The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.’” And he repeated the whole Psalm.      “But haven’t you often needed things that you did not get?” inquired my friend.      “Oh, yes! Certainly there have been many times in our lives when we did not have all the worldly goods we wanted, but some way we pulled through,” replied the old man cheerfully. “Perhaps it was the result of bad management, perhaps it was best so, but that matters little. The Lord has made us so rich in everything else we do not mind a little poverty.”      As we climbed the hill my friend was silent. When we reached the summit we looked back at the little cabin at the foot.      “I understand now,” said my friend.—By William H. Hamby, Signs of the Times, January 21, 1903. Quote: “I came to town and offered them Christ.”—By Jon Wesley in his “Journal”, These Times, September 1967. *************************** Don't miss the July 2019 issue of Signs of the Times: To order Signs, call: 1-800-765-6955 or CLICK HERE to order online. ***************************      There are many like the young princess who had been praised by her subjects for her beauty. She was made to believe that her beauty was unsurpassed. She had no means of verifying the truth of these statements until a trader sold her a looking glass. She is said to have smashed the mirror when she beheld her ugliness.      So the law of God is a mirror in which we are able to see our own imperfections. Many react as did the African princess when they see what the law reveals. They say that the law need not be taken too seriously. When the law reveals our impurity we are not to destroy the law, but we are to come to Christ for cleansing from impurity.—By Arthur L. Bietz, Present Truth, Vol. 26, No. 13. Quote: “It costs a good deal to pay the tithe to the Lord, but it costs a good deal more not to pay it.”—By Whalon, Present Truth, Vol. 27, No. 20. *************************** NEW from Pacific Press—Secrets to Wellness by Ernestine “Teenie” Finley. Around the world, Teenie Finley has shared health material in conjunction with her husband’s evangelist meetings. The material she has shared in workshops and seminars is now available in this attractive book. Great for personal study, use in seminars and giving as a gift. Read the first chapter FREE online. CLICK HERE! Order ONLINE or call your local Adventist Book Center--1-800-765-6955. ***************************      During the waning years of the Depression, I used to stop by Mr. Miller’s roadside stand in a small southeastern Idaho community for farm-fresh produce as the season made it available. Food and money were still extremely scarce, and bartering was a common way of doing business.      One particular day as Mr. Miller was bagging some new potatoes for me, I noticed a small boy—delicate of bone and feature, ragged but clean—hungrily apprising a basket of freshly picked green peas. I paid for my potatoes but was also drawn to the display of fresh peas – I’m a pushover for creamed peas and new potatoes. Pondering the peas, I couldn’t help overhearing the conversation between Mr. Miller and the ragged boy. “Hello, Barry, how are you today?” “H’lo, Mr. Miller. Fine, thank ya’. Jus’ admirin’ them peas. Sure look good.” “They are good, Barry. How’s your Ma?”      “Fine. Gittin’ stronger alla’ time.” “Good. Anything I can help you with?” “No sir, Jus’ admirin’ them peas.” “Would you like to take some home?” “No sir. Got nuthin’ to pay for ‘em with.” “Well, what have you to trade me for some of those peas?” “All I got’s my prize marble here.” “Here ‘tis. She’s a dandy.”      “I can see that. Hmmmm, only thing is, this one is blue and I sort of go for red. Do you have a red one like this at home?” “Not zackley… but almost.” “Tell you what. Take this sack of peas home with you, and next trip this way let me look at that red marble.” “Sure will. Thanks Mr. Miller.”      Mrs. Miller, who had been standing nearby, came over to help me. With a smile she said, “There are two other boys like him in our community; all three are in very poor circumstances. Jim just loves to bargain with them for peas, apples, tomatoes, or whatever. When they come back with their red marbles – and they always do – he decides he doesn’t like red after all, and he sends them home with a bag of produce for a green marble, or an orange one perhaps.”      I left the stand, smiling to myself, impressed with this man. I soon moved to Utah, but I never forgot the story of this man, the boys, and their bartering.      Several years later I had occasion to visit some old friends in that Idaho community. While I was there I learned that Mr. Miller had died. His viewing was to be that evening, and knowing my friends wanted to go, I agreed to accompany them.      Upon our arrival at the mortuary we fell into line to meet the relatives of the deceased and to offer whatever words of comfort we could. Ahead of us in line were three young men, one in an army uniform and the other two with nice haircuts, dark suits, and white shirts—very professional looking.      The young men approached Mrs. Miller, who was standing smiling and composed by her husband’s casket. Each of them hugged her, kissed her on the cheek, spoke briefly with her, and moved on to the casket. Her misty light blue eyes followed them as, one by one, each young man stopped briefly and placed his own warm hand over the cold, pale hand in the casket. Each was awkwardly wiping his eyes as he left the mortuary.      Then it was our turn to speak to Mrs. Miller. I told her who I was and mentioned the story she had told me about the marbles. Eyes glistening, she took my hand and led me to the casket. “Those three young men who just left were the boys I told you about. Just now they told me how much they appreciated the things Jim ‘traded’ them. Now, at last, when Jim couldn’t change his mind about color or size, they came to pay their debt. We’ve never had a great deal of the wealth of this world,” Mrs. Miller confided, “but right now, Jim would consider himself the richest man in Idaho.” With loving gentleness she lifted the lifeless fingers of her deceased husband. Resting underneath were three magnificently shiny red marbles.—By Glenn Harrison, Signs of the Times, November 2002. Quote: “Most men and women would rather be assured of eternal life than of anything else. If the privilege of living forever were marketable, it would sell at the highest figure of anything offered to mankind.”—By American Statistician Roger W. Babson, These Times, October 1983. *************************** Place this notice in your church bulletin or newsletter: Signs of the Times® makes it easy to share your faith. Sending a Signs subscription to a friend or neighbor is the perfect way to share Jesus. Order from your Adventist Book Center today. To order call: 1-800-765-6955 or online at: http://www.adventistbookcenter.com/signs-of-the-times-magazine-yearly-us-subscription.html ***************************      A very remarkable story is told by a captain of a passenger steamer and is vouched for by the editor of the Hiemlands Postn, a prominent Norwegian paper published at Horten, Norway.      At the time mentioned, the narrator was first mate on a large Norwegian passenger steamer. The voyage had been prosperous and pleasant, and up to a certain morning nothing of an unusual character had taken place. The second mate had charge of the deck, it being the captain’s watch, when, at the dog-watch, at 2:00 A.M., the first mate turned out to relieve him.      As he came on deck, the chill air caused him to shiver and exclaim, “Why, how cold it is!”      “No, it’s not cold. You have just come from a warm cabin and feel the chill.”      “Possibly that’s so, but it seems to me it’s very cold.”      After the second mate had gone below, the first mate paced the deck slowly, as officers on watch are accustomed to do. As he did so, a peculiar tenderness of feeling stole over him. Visions of home, the wife and children, came to his mind. What if he should never see them, or home again?      The thought stirred and chilled him. He stopped nervously, but resumed his walk as the cold struck him more forcibly. Once more the subdued feeling crept over him, thoughts of home returned, and mentally he again asked himself the question, What if I should never see them, or home again? Suddenly, and as naturally as though someone stood beside him and were talking, he heard the command, “Stop the ship!”      Startled, he peered about him into the darkness, but no one was near. Bewildered and half ashamed of himself, for sailors are often accused of being superstitious and this man had no foolishness in his makeup, he resumed his walk, only to have the same tender feelings again take possession of him. This time he thought not only of his family and home but of the hundreds of sleeping passengers below whose safety rested in his hands and who depended upon his faithfulness and vigilance. What, he thought, if none of these should ever see their homes again?      Hardly had the thought been born than he heard the voice call for the second time, and in a more imperative manner, ”Stop the ship!” At once he turned to the wheelhouse, for he was on the bridge, and passed back to telegraph to the engineer to slow down – but hesitated. It was an unpardonable offense to stop a steamer at sea without a just cause, and what excuse could he use with the captain should he do so?      In perplexity, he hailed the lookout at the bow – “Is all well there?”      “All well here, sir,” came the answer.      So he tried to shake off the feeling of dread that was slowly possessing him, buttoned his coat more closely, and resumed his walk, shivering now more from nervousness than the cold.      But again the voice halted him, clearer and more decisive: “Stop the ship!”      Hesitating no longer, the mate flashed the signal to the engineer to slow down, and as the vibrations from the propellers ceased, the alarmed passengers, with the captain at their head, came up on the deck, asking what was the trouble.      An inspiration seemed to seize the mate. In a tone that forbade dispute, he ordered the helmsman to put the ship hard aport and took hold of the wheel to help hurry the act, then sprang to the rear and signaled for full speed. The great ship responded with a quiver, and her bow turned off as she slowly forged ahead and away from her course, just as a huge leviathan of an iceberg grazed her bow, dipping and rising with the rolling sea that dashed in fury at its sides, and slid past like a black, gaunt demon roaring in anger at the loss of its prey.—From My Favorite Angel Stories by Joe Wheeler. To order this book, packed with inspiring stories, CLICK HERE! Quote: “Few have the courage to be as critical of themselves as they are of others.”—Unknown, These Times, April 1967. *************************** Looking for GREAT Adventist eBooks? Go to www.AdventisteBooks.com for the largest selection available, on multiple e-reader platforms! *************************** An Infallible Recipe All people upon probation, Differ in their formation, Differ in their relation, Differ in their vocation, Differ in their life-station, Yet if all of each nation, And every occupation, Would seek, through Christ, salvation, Then each would love his neighbor, Then Capital and Labor, Would never come to strife, Because God’s Law of Life, Would govern every brother. “By Love Serve One Another.”—By H. A. St. John, Signs of the Times, December 23, 1903. *************************** Compiled by Dale Galusha. Please pass this newsletter on to others.