September 2021 Signs of the Times Email Newsletter

[Stan]

blob:https://adventistan.com/3bf7594c-597c-4b2f-9988-d04dea075999

September 2021 Signs of the Times Email Newsletter See end of newsletter for a FREE magazine! The Signs of the Times newsletter is a collection of stories and quotes from past issues of Signs and These Times. ***************************      The power of forgiveness even for an offense against human law is well illustrated in the following incident.      A soldier was about to be brought before his commanding officer for some offense. He was an old offender, and had often been punished. “Here he is again,” said the officer, on his name being mentioned, “flogging, disgrace, solitary confinement, everything has been tried with him.” Whereupon the sergeant stepped forward, and apologizing for the liberty, said: “There is one thing that never has been done with him yet, sir.”      “What is that?” said the officer.      “Well sir,” said the sergeant, “he has never been forgiven.”      “Forgiven!” exclaimed the colonel, surprised at the suggestion. He reflected a few minutes, ordered the culprit brought in, and asked him what he had to say to the charge.      “Nothing sir,” was the reply, “only that I am sorry for what I have done.”      Turning a kind and pitiful look on the man, who expected nothing less than that his punishment would be increased with the repetition of his offense, the colonel addressed him, saying, “Well, we forgive you.”      The soldier was struck dumb with amazement; tears started in his eyes and he wept like a child. He was humbled to the dust, and thanking his officer, he retired to be the old refractory, incorrigible man? No! From that day forward he was a new man. He who told the story had him for years under his eye, and a better conducted man never wore the Queen’s colors.—Selected, Signs of the Times, January 18, 1905. Quote: “People talk about going to the Holy Land. My holy land is heaven.”—By Charles G. Bellah, Signs of the Times, December 10, 1929. *************************** Don't miss the October issue of Signs of the Times: Order now by calling: 1-800-765-6955 or ONLINE. ***************************      It was beginning to get dark that evening in September, 1898, when John H. Nicholson, a Chicago traveling salesman, stopped at a small brick hotel in Boscobel, Wisconsin, and asked for a room.      The hotel proprietor, John Church, shook his head. “No, Mr. Nicholson, I’m sorry, but the Central’s full up.”      Suddenly the hotel man’s face brightened. “Say, I might put you in with Sam Hill, a drummer from Beloit, if you don’t mind sharing a room.”      “It’s a deal,” Nicholson said, “I’m dog-tired.”      But that night, he was not too tired to remember something. As he and Hill were getting ready to go to bed, Nicholson said, “Do you mind if we leave the light on a few minutes? I promised my mother, who died when I was thirteen, that I’d read a chapter of the Bible every night before going to sleep.”      Hill, a big, jovial, outdoor-type man, nodded his approval. “I’m a Christian too,” he said. “I will join you.”      This was not only the beginning of a lifelong friendship but also of a modern-day miracle.      From the inspiration of this providential meeting of Nicholson and Hill was to grow the worldwide Bible-distributing, nondenominational, evangelistic organization The Gideons International.—By William L. Roper, These Times, August 1960. Quote: “Alone at nights, I read my Bible more and Euclid less.”—By Robert Williams Buchanan, These Times, August 1970. *************************** NEW from Pacific Press—The Final Hope by Clifford Goldstein. The Bible has three messages for an anxious world. This book, designed to be shared with your friends has the three special messages that will bring HOPE. Order ONLINE or from your local Adventist Book Center--1-800-765-6955. ***************************     It was August 5, 2010 when a mine in Chile collapsed, trapping thirty-three miners under seven hundred thousand tons of rock. It was a hopeless situation, help could only come from above. No rescue like this had ever been attempted before. Sixty-nine days later, on October 12, global TV audiences watched breathlessly as all thirty-three miners emerged from the ground one by one, in a capsule specially designed for the rescue. Just imagine, if these were your children, buried alive nearly half a mile underground―How would you feel? What would you do? But wait! The Bible announces a rescue of even greater magnitude! The children of God were buried under sin, with no chance of eternal survival. Help could only come from above. And it did!—By Elisabeth Talbot, Signs of the Times, Special Edition, Indestructible Love. Quote: “Night brings out stars as sorrow shows us truths.”—By P. J. Bailey, Signs of the Times, January 11, 1910. *************************** 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. Call 1-800-765-6955 or go online https://adventistbookcenter.com/signs-of-the-times-magazine.html ***************************      On December 17, 1903—after millennia of the human quest to fly—the Wright brothers got us off the ground in the first sustained flight of a powered, heavier-than-air aircraft. What a feat! By November 1, 1911, Lieutenant Giulio Gavotti, flying over a Turkish military camp in Libya, threw four small grenades, by hand, over the side of the plane in the world’s first recorded aerial bombardment. What a feat, too! We learned how to fly, and about eight years later what do we do with our new wings but drop bombs on each other? If that isn’t humanity, what is?—By Clifford Goldstein, from The Final Hope. Quote: “If I could give you information of my life, it would be to show how a woman of very ordinary ability has been led of God in strange and unaccustomed paths to do in His service what He has done in her. And if I could tell you, you would see how God has done all, and I nothing. I have worked hard, very hard, that is all; and I have never refused God anything.”—By Florence Nightingale, founder of the nursing profession as we know it today, Signs of the Times, October 1989. *************************** Are you looking for a sharing book—one that will meet the special needs of your friends? Visit www.SDASharingBooks.com to find the largest selection of Seventh-day Adventist sharing books available. ***************************      Many years ago, during a war between France and Britain, a French fishing vessel found itself cut off from a friendly port.      Its water gone, its crew facing death, the captain made an agonizing decision. He sailed within sight of a British port and signaled his plight to the enemy. Then momentarily losing courage, he headed his vessel back out to sea.      The shore battery promptly signaled, “Come on in the war is over!” There is plenty of water and to spare!”      Surprised, suspecting trickery, the French captain hesitated several more hours before sailing into port to find that the war actually was over. As promised, there was plenty of water for himself and the thirsty crew.—By Robert H. Pierson, Signs of the Times, January 1975. Quote: “When Christians appear as gloomy and depressed as though they thought themselves friendless, they give a wrong impression of religion. In some cases the idea has been entertained that cheerfulness is inconsistent with the dignity of Christian character; but this all is a mistake. Heaven is all joy.”—By Ellen White, Signs of the Times, February 12, 1885. *************************** Share your faith by giving out a tract. See the largest assortment of Seventh-day Adventist tracts available. CLICK HERE! ***************************      The sinking of HMS Titanic on April 15, 1912, remains the worst maritime disaster in history. The luxury liner was billed as the largest movable object ever built by man. It weighed 46,000 tons, stretched 882 feet in length (1/6 of a mile) by 92 feet wide, had 9 decks, and stood 104 feet of the hull below water.      Built with a double-hull construction of one-inch-thick steel plates and divided into 16 “watertight” compartments that could be slammed shut with a switch on the bridge, the ship was considered unsinkable. Thomas Andrews, supervisor of Titanic’s design, claimed it was “as nearly perfect as human brains can make her.”      When the Titanic sailed from Southampton for New York on April 10, 1912, it carried 2,206 passengers and crew. The voyage was uneventful until April 12, when the crew received a total of seven warning of icebergs in the area. By then the Titanic had increased its speed to 26 knots in an effort to set a new speed record between Europe and New York. Believing the ship unsinkable, the captain ignored the warnings and pressed on.      About 11:30 p.m. officer Frederick Fleet noticed a large, dark object directly in the path of the ship and called out a warning, On the bridge, first officer Murdoch ordered “full speed astern” and “hard a’ starboard,” but it was too late. The Titanic hit a 90-foot-tall iceberg with a glancing blow that ripped open 200 feet of the ship’s side.      Unfortunately, the Titanic carried only 20 lifeboats with a capacity of 1,178 people―just over half the number on bard. Only seven hundred people made it into the lifeboats; more than fifteen hundred passengers went down with the ship or froze to death in the North Atlantic.      What lessons can we learn from this terrible disaster? The fact is that this world, planet Earth, is sailing in dangerous waters. One day soon Christ will return. That will be an awesome day indeed, according to John, the author of Revelation      The crew of the Titanic ignored the warnings they received and sailed on as if they faced no danger. Jesus’ description of earth’s last days pictures people acting similarly. He said that people will be “eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage”―in other words, living as if nothing extraordinary were about to happen. We need to make sure that we are not so busy in the everyday things of life that―like the passengers and crew of the Titanic―we fail to heed the clear warning signs that the end is near.      Those who prepare themselves for that day will not find it to be a day of terror but a day of hopes fulfilled. Isaiah says they will exclaim, “Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”—By Ralph Blodgett, Signs of the Times, March 1999. Quote: “Many men owe the grandeur of their lives to their tremendous difficulties.”—By Spurgeon, Signs of the Times, September 27, 1910. ***************************       When God wants a worker, He calls a worker. When God wants a great servant, He calls the busy person.      Moses was busy with the flock at Horeb. Gideon was busy threshing wheat by the winepress. Saul was busy searching for his father’s lost beasts. David was busy caring for his father’s sheep. Elisha was busy plowing with twelve yoke of oxen. Nehemiah was busy bearing the king’s wine cup. Amos was busy following the herds. Peter and Andrew were busy casting the net into the sea. James and John were busy mending their nets. Matthew was busy collecting customs. Saul was busy persecuting the friends of Jesus. William Carey was busy making shoes. John Milton was busy mastering the classics. John Bunyan was busy tinkering pots and pans. Martin Luther was busy performing penance. Adoniram Judson was busy investigating religious truth. Charles Spurgeon was busy as a preacher. Roger Williams was busy as a stenographer.      God never called an idler into His service. The indolent young person who looks longingly toward the gospel ministry will never get a call from God. The busy workers are the people God wants.—By H. L. Hastings, Signs of the Times, February 5, 1929. *************************** NEW Special Issue from Signs of the Times—Indestructible Love. For a FREE sample copy, CLICK HERE! Send your name and mailing address. (Offer good in North America through September 20, 2021.)    blob:https://adventistan.com/3b5d6b75-4ec6-4820-9516-cab712b98b2c *************************** Compiled by Dale Galusha. Please pass this newsletter on to others.