p. 671 | Signs of the Times, October 24, 1916 (10/24/1916)

Wanted for Missionary Work

Edwin A. Strome, Sedgewick, Alberta, Canada, extends, through the columns of the SIGNS, his hearty thanks to those who so kindly responded to his call for denominational literature, and desires a continuous supply with which to carry on his missionary work.

Mrs. L. M. Maycock, 333 E. Cleveland Street, Stockton, California, desires a continuous supply of the following magazines, postpaid, for use in reading racks, hospitals, and jails: Signs Magazine, SIGNS weekly, Watchman, Liberty, and Life Boat.

Mr. Jesse E. Warner, Box 406, Clarkston, Washington, desires a supply of SIGNS weekly, Signs monthly, Youth's Instructor, Liberty, Life and Health, and any of our denominational tracts, these to be used in free distribution.

Olives, Dried Fruit, and Honey

One fourth fruit crop in California. Prices high. If wanted, please order, or let me know what you will want, so I can buy and keep for you. Olives ready to ship in December and January.

Peaches, a lb., 8½c; prunes, 9c; pears, 10c; apricots, 13c; figs, 6c; white Smyrna figs, 9c; almonds, 20c; honey, 1 gal., $1.00; 5 gals., $4.00; polished black walnuts, excellent, 5c a lb. Olives, large, 1 gal., 70c; 5 gals., 65c a gal.; 25 gals., 60c a gal.; 50 gals., 50c a gal.; medium, 10c less a gal. Quart cans of olives, $2.40 a doz. Pure olive oil, $2.00 a gal. All prices subject to change.

Freight f. o. b. Chico. Freight rates $1.50 per 100 lbs. east of Rocky Mountains on olives or olives and fruit, and shipped as olives. Fruit, honey, and oil, $2.20 per 100 lbs.

Satisfaction guaranteed; also safe delivery to your station.

A. E. Crist, Chico, California.

Living Bibles

By Eliza H. Morton

IT is a sublime thought, that the sanctifying, uplifting, and cleansing power of God's word upon the heart will transform an individual into a living epistle, "known and read of all men." "Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart." 2 Cor. 3: 2, 3.

Many a soul who never opens the literal, printed Bible, is reading God's word day by day in the lives of His children. How carefully should the living representative of the Bible walk, that he in no way cause one of those with whom he associates to stumble! Nothing but constant daily prayer and the reading of the printed Word, as if it really were, as it is, the voice of God to us, will enable any one to represent it properly to others.

ELIZA H. MORTON.

Prayer Must Be Joined With Works

"PRAYERS do not prevail with God unless they go side by side with works, or come in at the very extremity of our ability. We must 'do the little we can do' before we can acceptably lay down the burden and 'leave the rest' with God."

HYGIENIC COOKING OIL

Dr. Godsmark's

HYGIENIC COOKING OIL

The shortening used by vegetarians. Shipped everywhere from Louisville, Ky.

Write for prices and descriptive circulars

Address Dr. O. C. Godsmark, Chattanooga, Tenn.

Home for Sale

Neat, well built three-room house, with bath, pantry, sleeping porch, electric lights, city water, shed and cellar; cement walk in front, board walk in rear to shed; lot 50 x 150, set out to fruit and nut trees, nearly all bearing; chicken yard, lawn, vines, and flowers. Short distance from Pacific Press and Adventist church and church school. Adventist neighbors. Price $1,200. For photo and further particulars, address P. O. Box 67, Mountain View, California.

Vegetarian Foods and Healthy Living

Have a purpose in life; use natural foods. Send for lists, advice, and free vegetarian butter recipe to VEGETARIAN FOODS Co., St. Louis, Mo.

For Sale

Large house, suitable for boarding house, or general store, with rooms for family residence. Two large lots on prominent corner, one block from Pacific Press, Mountain View, California. Price $2,600. Can arrange terms to suit. Address Pacific Union Conference, Box 146, Glendale, California.

A Home in Sunny Florida

Desiring to be more free to do gospel work, I am offering for sale, at a sacrifice, my beautiful country home and valuable farm of 115 acres, two and one fourth miles northwest of Bowling Green, on the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad.

The dwelling is a ten-room house, with bathroom, four bedrooms, sitting rooms, etc. A few rods from this house, there is a second house, of eight rooms, very comfortable, and suitable for help or renters. Two large barns; small packing house. Near large dwelling is one of the finest wells in Florida, of pure, soft water.

Very valuable orange and grapefruit grove of twelve acres, planted twenty years ago, and now in full bearing. Ten acres of excellent grove land could be easily planted to increase the grove.

Also about five acres of the very best kind and quality of grafted pecans, rapidly coming into bearing. Pecans are fully as valuable per acre as orange groves.

Upwards of fifty acres are fenced and in cultivation. Soil, much better than the average Florida soil. There are twenty acres of muck land, muck from one to eight feet deep. If drained, cleared, and cultivated, is very valuable for gardening and truck land, requiring far less fertilizing than ordinary pine land. It can easily be drained.

The orange and pecan groves alone are cheap at $10,000; but that I may be free to do ministerial work, I am offering this entire place at a sacrifice, $10,000 cash.

For further particulars, address George I. Butler, "Twin Magnolias," Bowling Green, Florida.

Spoiled by Straining

By L. E. F.

AN esteemed contemporary says: "The power of the Bible does not reside in the books which men have written about it. Holy Scripture must always be its own best commentary. . . . The same Holy Spirit who spoke by holy men of old still inspires and instructs the humblest reader who seeks His aid in studying His message. Concerning the Bible, we may say, 'God is His own interpreter, and He will make it plain.'"

This fundamental truth cannot be emphasized too strongly or too frequently. Christ urged men to search the Scriptures, but there is no record of commendation for those who diligently peruse the notes and glosses of commentators. There is grave danger of making the word of God of no effect by the traditions of men when straining "the sincere milk of the Word" through the sieve of human interpretation.

L. E. F.

Mocked by Wine Grapes

By Editor

An editorial in the San Francisco Chronicle points out that the plans with which the grape growers started out have not materialized. They thought to produce wines that would become as popular throughout this nation as have similar wines in France and Italy. But instead of realizing this idea, they find that the raisin and the table grape have proved to be more popular, and are without any question much more profitable, than the production of wine.

Murphy in S. F. "Examiner" IS THIS THE NEW DOVE OF PEACE?

The influence and teaching of our good temperance organizations has doubtless had much to do with bringing about these splendid results. The Bible tells us that wine is a mocker; and the farmer who depends upon reaping a rich financial harvest from making wine from his grapes will find in the end that he has been mocked; for if we leave morals entirely out of the question, there is still a greater profit in growing foods that build up man's strength than in growing poisons in the shape of wines to destroy it.

Counterfeit Prophets

By L. E. F.

WEIRD tales from across the seas tell of another so-called prophet and his wonderful hold on superstitious followers in Nigeria. Uncanny performances and cures attend this self-styled "Elijah II." Dispatches state that many hundreds are abandoning the religion of their forefathers to worship at his altar. The movement is said to resemble in many ways the late Alexander Dowie movement of Zion City, Chicago.

Such manifestations of counterfeit religion are not confined to the unenlightened countries. They are constantly appearing, and are apparently successful for short periods, in the best informed and most civilized of nations. Though they come to us in "sheep's clothing," we are to "beware" of them. "By their fruits ye shall know them." Matt. 7: 15-20.

Nineteen hundred years ago, the Master foretold the coming of many false prophets just preceding His own return to earth. Here are His words: "Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before. Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, He is in the desert; go not forth: behold, He is in the secret chambers; believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." Matt. 24: 23-27.

Let not those who are unsatisfied with their present spiritual condition, and yearning for a closer walk with God, be deceived by these "wolves in sheep's clothing." The earnest searcher after truth will not be unrewarded. Such yearning hearts will be satisfied if they but meet the conditions. Nor is the genuine of less worth because of the presence of the spurious.

The ability to work miracles is not an evidence of divine origin or approval. Satan has power to perform many marvels, "with signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness." The last days are to witness a power that "doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, and deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do." Rev. 13: 13, 14.

L. E. F.

Full Benches but Empty Pews

By L. E. F.

MORE than 36,000 persons attended the opening game of the world's baseball series at Boston. $76,489.50 passed from their pockets to the promoters as the price of admission. This was $25,423.50 more than last year's gate receipts for the opening game. Place beside this the startling fact that there are, according to good authority, "500 rural churches in the state of Iowa that have been locked up, and 1,700 rural churches in Missouri locked up."

Next read the words of inspiration which declare that "in the last days" men shall be "lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God." What is the inevitable conclusion? L. E. F.

The Last Terrific Crash

By F.

SPEAKING of the roar of the hoarse-throated cannonade on Europe's field of war, the editor of the Philadelphia North American says: "Cannons speak but a single tongue. If they uttered the language of those whom they serve, what an astounding polyglot thunder would rise to heaven from that battle ground of nationalities!"

Tremendous though it is, the present struggle of the Titans will, in comparison, dwindle to insignificance before the terrific world-sweeping Armageddon that will come in the near future, when "the kings of the earth and of the whole world" are gathered together for that last furious clash of arms which will terminate in the crash of all nations. F.

Heralds of the Coming Dawn

THERE are heralds that are unmistakably trumpeting the dawn of a morning into which every dazzling orb of the universe will flash some splendid rays.

"A Century of Wonders"

By LeRoy Edwin Froom

COMMENTING on the recent achievements in telephony, a well-known editor wrote:

"A hundred years ago, if a man had done that, they would have burned him somewhere for a wizard. The crowd would have fought for his knuckle bones to wear to keep the devil away.

"Fifty years ago, if a man had said that he could do such a thing, they would have locked him up in a padded cell, and his wife would have had to take out papers as guardian of his person and property. . . .

"In a few months, the operator at the top of Mount Hood is going to call up Washington, D. C., and tell the president of the United States just how the weather looks from his little house at the top of the world, in Oregon. . . .

"What a century of wonders we live in! And how little we really appreciate our advantages!"

Yet it was all foretold twenty-five hundred long years ago. Listen to the words of the ancient prophet Daniel, who declared that in "the time of the end," "many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased." Dan. 12: 4. And what does it all mean?—This,—that God is preparing the world for salvation's supreme and final message. Every continent, island, hamlet, and village has been made accessible. The "time of the end" has come. Man can quickly "run to and fro" to every section of the globe. And now the message, too, is going. This periodical is one of its echoes. The message is this: Prepare to meet thy God. They that are wise will heed it. L. E. F.

Summit of Military Power

By Leroy Edwin Froom

REFERRING to the appointment of Field Marshal Von Hindenburg as chief of the General Staff, with "supreme command over the Austro-Hungarian as well as the German forces," the Independent says:

"This gives Hindenburg more numerous and more powerful armies than any man ever had before since the world began."

This striking sentence is tremendously significant when viewed in the light of the divine word of prophecy proclaimed twenty-five hundred years ago. Foretelling the mighty war preparations, the mammoth army, the immense munition factories, and the fighting forces of hitherto unknown proportions, the prophet Joel delineated in advance, with unerring accuracy, the events of these days. His words follow:

"Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up: beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong. Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about. . . . Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about. . . . Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of concision [margin]: for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision." Joel 3: 9-14. L. E. F.

The World Crazed With War

The Scientific American says: "To-day two thirds to three quarters of all the industries of the fighting nations are engaged in meeting the tremendous requirements of the battle line. Phonograph concerns are making shell parts, manufacturers of infants' food are making plugs for shells, watchmakers are adjusting fuses. In short, all kinds of industry are at work doing their part in the fighting line of industry." And the Scientific American might have added that in this neutral nation, as well as in other neutral countries, almost every kind of industry has had to take a back seat while factories have been running day and night making shells, fuses, and other war materials. This world is crazed with war madness.