January 2010 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.
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I remember hearing a story once of a boy who had been to church and heard
the minister tell the people that when God took away a man's sins they were all
gone, absolutely taken away. The little boy was talking with his mother about
it. He said, "Mother, I can not understand how it is that my sins are gone.
What about it?"
"Well," she said, "you remember we knelt down together and confessed that
sin; so the Lord took it away, and it is gone."
"But," he said, "gone where?"
She said, "It is just gone. It is not anywhere."
"Yes, but I can't understand that, for I did it. I actually committed that
sin; so it must be somewhere. Now, what does the Lord do with it? Where is it?"
"Well," she said, "it is gone. It is just taken away."
But the boy couldn't see it, and finally she said, "Johnny, bring me your
slate."
He brought the slate, which he had been using for sums, but which was now
nice and clean."
"Johnny," she said, "didn't you make a lot of figures on your slate
yesterday?"
"Yes, I did."
"Well, where are they?"
"I rubbed them off, and they are gone."
"Gone where?"
"They are not gone anywhere. I just rubbed them off, and they are gone,
that is all."
"You put them on there, didn't you?"
"Yes, I did yesterday."
"Then if you put them on, they must be somewhere. Where are they?"
"Mother, can't you understand? I just took my sponge and rubbed them off,
and they are gone."
She said, "Yes, I understand, and that is exactly what Jesus does with
your sins. They are just gone, so far as you are concerned. He has a way of
disposing of them in the final judgment, so that as far as you are concerned it
is just as though the sins were never committed, as though the record had never
been marred."
In Jeremiah we read the promise of the new covenant, where it says, "I
will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more." God not
only forgives a man's sins and cleanses him from these sins, but He also
forgets them, casts them behind His back, remembering them no more against that
man forever. I do not know how He can do it, but He does. It is because He is
God.-By William H. Branson, Signs of the Times, January 12, 1926.
Quote: "If anyone should give me a dish of sand and say there were particles of
iron in it, I might look with my eyes for them, and search for them with my
clumsy fingers, and be unable to find them; but let me take a magnet and sweep
it, and how it would draw to itself the most invisible particles by the mere
power of attraction! The unthankful heart, like my finger in the sand,
discovers no mercies; but let the thankful heart sweep through the day, and, as
the magnet finds the iron, so it will find in every hour some heavenly
blessings; only the iron in God's sand is gold."-By Oliver Wendell Holmes,
Signs of the Times, December 23, 1889.
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Don't miss the February 2010 issue of Signs of the Times: "Coping With Grief",
"Why Does a Good God Allow Pain and Suffering?", "What Heaven Is Really Like",
"The Definition of Love" and other important articles. To order Signs, call:
1-800-765-6955 or online at www.pacificpress.com/signs
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J. Wallace Hamilton tells of the time when his eldest son, then only four
years old, went away from their vacation cottage. He didn't wander away. He
went away. His mother and his grandmother had gone for a walk in the woods and
left him. He felt abused.
So he sulked and he pouted. And then, with his chin up, he started out,
determined to find them.
His father was watching. He could have stopped him. He was stronger than
he. He knew he would get lost. By sheer force he could have stood in the path
and held him back. Instead, he decided to follow him.
Down the rough road the little fellow tramped, with his father alongside
him in the woods, hidden by the trees and the brush. Sometimes the boy stopped
and looked back, not quite sure. But then his chin would go up and he would go
on. He plodded on for almost a mile, until he became frightened and began to
cry. When he turned back, his father stepped out of the woods and said, "Well,
John, are we going home now?"
The little fellow was not the least surprised to see his father. He only
said, "John's lost."
How like us. God has not made us puppets. He has made us persons, with all
the risk of it. He won't impose His will upon us. He won't stand in the roadway
and block our steps. But He'll follow along beside us in the shadows. And when
we're ready to say, "John's lost," He'll be there waiting.-By George Vandeman,
These Times, February 1974.
Quote: "Life is too short not to make it great."-By Disraeli, These Times, July
1965.
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A few years ago a young couple in New York City received in the mail an
envelope which contained two tickets to a concert for the following Thursday
evening. The young couple were puzzled as to who their benefactor might be, and
inquiry among their friends and acquaintances brought no enlightenment.
When the evening of the concert arrived, they set forth to enjoy
themselves. But when they returned home several hours later, they found that
during their absence their apartment had been ransacked and robbed of some of
the most expensive articles they owned. In a conspicuous place on the mantel
stood a small card on which were printed just three words: "Now you know."
How like the booby traps the devil places in our paths! They are placed so
as to lead us astray from the path of righteousness.-By George S. Ashlock,
These Times, September 1952.
Quote: "The highest earthly enjoyments are but a shadow of the joy I find in
reading God's Word."-By Lady Jane Grey, These Times, October 1972.
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of the Times gives hope and direction. Each month it takes on current issues
and leads people to Jesus for relevant answers. Send a subscription today!
Order from your Adventist Book Center. To order call: 1-800-765-6955 or online
at: www.pacificpress.com/signs
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Annie Lou was four years old. She had long lashes and dark ringlets in her
hair.
My six-year-old Karen and I were on the streamliner. Annie Lou came down
the aisle and said, "Would you like to play dolls with me?" So we played dolls
and visited.
In the course of the conversation she announced herself as Annie Lou, and
she was going to a friend's house.
"And where does your friend live?" I asked.
"I really don't know," she answered.
"Oh, but aren't you afraid?" I continued. "If you don't know where it is,
how will you know when to get off and where to go?"
Annie Lou smiled her million-dollar smile and said, "Well, you see, I
really don't need to know all those things, because I'm traveling with my
grandmother, and she knows."
Some of us don't know it all-in fact we don't know very much. But we're
having a grand trip and life is fun. You see, we know with whom we're
traveling, and He knows all those things.-By Charlie Shedd, These Times, June
1974.
Quote: "I regard the Bible as the best gift God has given to man."-By Abraham
Lincoln, These Times, Special Issue 1974.
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Read articles from past issues of Signs at: www.signstimes.org
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The morning sunlight found its way between the rustling leaves, and,
filtering through the narrow windows of the village church, fell in benediction
upon the head of a young girl of seventeen. She sat quietly in the pew, slim
hands clasped together, her earnest eyes fixed intently upon the minister.
He was speaking about the many mansions in the Father's house; of the
uncertainty of life; and of the possibility of a soon-coming Christ and the
glory of His kingdom. The sermon ended, and the congregation drifted out.
Phoebe Cary was visiting a young friend on this particular Sunday in the
year 1842. They had attended service together, and Phoebe had been strangely
stirred by the heart-searching words of the speaker; now she walked silently
home by her friend's side. When they reached home, she quietly excused herself
and went up to a little back bedroom on the third story, and began to write:
"One sweetly solemn thought
Comes to me o'er and o'er;
I'm nearer to my home today
Than e'er I've been before."
Dr. Russell H. Cornwell of Philadelphia tells a touching story regarding
the influence of this hymn.
In a gambling house of a Chinese city two Americans were playing one day.
They gambled and drank without restraint, the older of the two indulging in
constant profanity. The younger man was losing heavily, and, as another game
was started and fresh drinks brought in, he leaned back in his chair, watching
as his companion shuffled the cards. The older man took a long time dealing the
cards, and the younger man began to hum, and finally to sing in a low tone, the
words of the hymn, "One sweetly solemn thought."
On he sang, quite unconscious of the beautiful words falling from his
lips. The older gambler suddenly stopped dealing the cards, and stared intently
at his companion, saying, "Harry, where did you learn that tune?"
"What tune?"
"Why, the one you have been singing."
The young man shook his head. "I don't know what I sang," he said. His
companion repeated the words, and the younger man said he had learned them long
ago in Sunday school.
With tears in his eyes, the gambler threw the cards to the floor, and,
handing back the money he had won, said, "Come, Harry; here's what I have won
from you; go and use it for some good purpose. As for me, as God sees me, I
have played my last game and drunk my last drink. I have misled you, and I am
sorry. Give me your hand, my boy, and say that for old America's sake, if for
no other, you will quit this infernal business.
It was no idle vow that the gambler made that day, for he became a strong
worker in the cause of Christ, while the younger man renounced drink and
kindred vices.
To sinner and to saint alike, this impressive hymn still brings its solemn
warning and message of comfort. In these dark days of uncertainty, disaster,
and sudden death, when fear and apprehension dominate the hearts of men, and on
every side old beliefs are crumbling to ruins, how happy that man or woman who
can sing in sincerity:
"Nearer my Father's house,
Where many mansions be;
Nearer the throne where Jesus reigns,
Nearer the crystal sea."
We have Christ's own assurance that those mansions will someday be ours if
we are faithful and obedient; for He said in those well-beloved verses in John,
"In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told
you. I go to prepare a place for you. . . . I will come again and receive you
unto Myself; that where I am there ye may be also." John 14:2, 3
What matter if tribulation and trial assail us here, if such a glorious
future awaits us! Let us all so live, yielding our hearts to the Master, asking
Him to cleanse us from sin and to cover us with the white robe of His
righteousness, that we may be able to say, at the close of each day,
"Nearer my going home,
Laying my burdens down;
Leaving my cross of heavy grief,
Wearing my starry crown."-By Leonora Lacey Warriner, Signs of the
Times, May 2, 1939.
Quote: "They that know God will be humble; they that know themselves cannot be
proud."-By John Flavel, Signs of the Times, May 5, 1953.
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Compiled by Dale Galusha. Please pass this newsletter on to others. If this
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