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Conferences

2026 Summit Reformed Young Adult Conference

Why you (or someone you know) should plan to go

*****

I once heard a sermon in which the pastor compared faith to salmon. “A dead salmon floats downstream with the current,” he said. “A living salmon, however, must battle upstream, against the flow.” Then he smiled and said, “An imperfect analogy, but you get the point, right?”

There is a deep flaw within the young community of Reformed circles; in day-to-day life, we don’t easily talk about our doctrine with each other. And we frequently fail to encourage each other in it. We might not be dead, but too often we seem to be doing little more than floating along. It’s not true of all of us. But it is true of too many of us.

Sure, we may know what TULIP stands for, or be able to recite the Apostles’ Creed, but how often do we discuss theology outside of our church’s fellowship hall, or a weeknight bible study? We tend to avoid more personal conversations about faith, and don’t easily share our deep questions with each other, or invite each other into thought-provoking or challenging conversations. We float, leaving that all to the “grown ups.” It is almost as though there is an unspoken taboo: “We’re too young to get serious about that in our free time. Let’s keep things light; if we have questions, we can talk to older people. There’s no need to talk to each other about it.”

However, in conversations I’ve had with fellow young believers about this problem, many of them have expressed the same thing: a desire for this mindset to change. Many of us do want to learn better how to grow together and push each other on to deeper faith walks; many of us have a hunger to discuss these important topics.

The problem is, we don’t know how to naturally broach them, and we often let the fear of awkwardness keep us from pursuing them. We need help fostering this change and growth. Therefore, I would like to advocate for an event which has greatly helped me and many of my friends in this learning curve: the Summit Reformed Young Adults Conference or RYAC.

This past year, I was privileged to be a member of the organization committee for the conference, which takes place every February (est. 2021) in Calgary and is hosted by the Bethel URC. This was my third time attending, and my first time helping organize. It is an extremely edifying event. The richness of it, as always, shed a light on the stark contrast that RYAC offers to the weekly culture of young adult life in our church circles.

I had several conversations with attendees who were new to the conference, and many of them expressed a strong appreciation for the experience, often noting how “different” it was in its encouragement and doctrine-focused environment.

In hopes of further promoting the incredible spiritual benefits of this event, I interviewed several other members of the organization committee – all young adults themselves, who have now attended the conference several times – to discuss the positive impact this conference has had on our faith lives. Additionally, this past year’s speakers, Rev. Paul Murphy and his wife Julie, also shared some thoughts.

Q. RYAC encourages young believers to discuss theology and faith life. In today’s social climate, why is this especially important?

Mark G: Young adults, especially young men, struggle to talk about faith and life, and a conference like this gives an organic setting for those conversations to happen. Even apart from the times set aside to discuss our faith, many conversations about faith and life happen, with others beyond your own church, over meals and games that do not happen very often in our everyday lives.

John P: As young adults who are just venturing out into the world for the first time, it can be a confusing and challenging environment to navigate. At times it may feel like we are lost in this environment, but coming together with a group of likeminded people who are all in the same battle together not only strengthens you, but everyone in the group together, in the fight against the world and the devil. As Ecclesiastes 4:12 says: “Though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him - a threefold cord is not quickly broken.”

Q. What would you say are some of the benefits of attending a Reformed conference specifically geared towards your age demographic?

Mark M: In recent generations the wider church community in North America has suffered from a lack of sound doctrine. Having active discussions about theology is especially important among young adults, as we are the future of the Reformed churches, and thus it is essential for us to know what we believe, why we believe it, and how that aligns with Scripture as the ultimate authority. This is one of the many things that the Summit RYAC conference is good at. Both times I’ve attended the conference, I’ve had my understanding of the Bible and certain doctrines challenged, and that has strengthened my faith. It is also incredibly encouraging being around people my age who believe the same thing.

Julie T: At its core, this conference is about training soldiers for Christ and sending them out as active members of God’s church, wherever they might be located. The conference helps build that sense of Christian unity and community: young adults leave the conference with newfound connections all over the country, knowing not only that their struggles or doubts or temptations are not unique to them, but also that the church of God is so much bigger than just their own little corner of it.

Rev. Paul M & Julie M: This age group is often in university or in the workforce, maybe now living away from their parents’ home. These Christians need great friends; ones who live faithfully to their Lord and Savior in every area of life. Iron sharpens iron (Prov. 27:17). We need the benefit of each other’s differing perspectives, thoughts, and experiences. Together they serve as a multitude of counselors in which safety and wisdom are found (Prov. 11:14). Such conversations also serve as correctives to the subtle influences of our post-Christian culture; that is especially important in today’s social climate. As Paul states in 2 Cor. 10:3-5, we are engaged in an ideological warfare, in which Christians are assaulted almost daily by the thoughts and ways of the secular world. We need to encourage and equip one another to be strong and faithful in that battle.

In conclusion, RYAC is not merely a fun weekend to meet friends, or find a significant other, or to simply get away on holiday. It is an event that presents incredible learning opportunities, as well as an environment in which to stretch new muscles of the mind and heart. It is an event that provides us with the opportunity to encourage one another forward, just as Timothy was encouraged by Paul:

“Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.”

For information on how to sign up for the 2026 conference visit www.summitrefcon.ca.
Photos, and the video below, are by David Visser and Kyle Vasas from Faith to Film.

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Documentary

12 free must-see docs for Christian families

Documentaries aren’t your thing? Then you haven’t seen these. We’ve got brilliant scholars and scientists sharing, in just a line or two, all their study, and the many books they’ve read or written. And we get videos and pictures of birds, planets, or our own insides, that we’d never see like that on our own. Six categories each have two “winners” to create this  "Top 12" list, but I’ve cheated a bit by sneaking in some honorable mentions. All the films can be watched for free online, and you can click on the documentary titles for longer reviews. 6-DAY CELEBRATED Some creationist videos limit themselves to beating up evolution, and while that can be fun and valuable – we are called to destroy false arguments (2 Cor. 10:4-5) – the best sort celebrate the truth of God’s Word and the genius of His design. The Riot and the Dance: the TV series 2022- / 30 minutes RATING: 9/10 The folks who brought us Riot and the Dance: Earth and Riot and the Dance: Water now have a TV series, and you can watch the pilot episode for free. It’s God’s creation viewed through the eyes of a poet and an adventurer. Narrator Dr. Gordon Wilson shares that while he teaches a marine biology class, he “needed to go back to school for this film – scuba school!” Why? “I don’t want to just sit back and narrate over some pretty picture. I wanted to get as close as I can to as many divinely crafted underwater miracles as possible.” Dr. Wilson can’t help but gush: “I love turtles, their eyes, their beaks, their scales like tiles on a fancy floor. What hilarious cartoon characters they are, and what a fantastic cartoonist God is.” This is just geeky cool! Is Genesis History? 2017 / 100 minutes RATING: 8/10 Del Tackett is best known for his excellent Truth Project video series, and this is every bit as good. He interviews PhD-holding scientists with various areas of expertise, all of them happy to share why their field of study backs a literal understanding of the first few chapters of Genesis. This is among the best creationist documentaries ever made, filled to the brim with heartfelt, concise, deep discussion! When that leaves you wanting more be sure to explore their YouTube channel and IsGenesisHistory.com for extras they just couldn’t fit in the film. HONORABLE MENTION: Remember all those cutesy story bible ark depictions that had the giraffes sticking their necks out of the top windows? No wonder many people – Christians included – are skeptical of the Bible’s Flood account. But as Tim Lovett shows in Noah’s Ark: thinking outside the box (2008/35 minutes), the ark’s dimensions have more in common with a modern ocean-going oil tanker. Computer animation, large-scale models, and a generous dose of humor make this a documentary that parents and teens will both enjoy. INTELLIGENT DESIGN Intelligent Design (ID) proponents celebrate a Designer but purposely won’t mention who He is. It’s a familiar enough strategy for Christians in the public square: the world demands we leave God out of it, and for some reason we listen to them rather than Him (Ps. 96:3)! But while ID is afraid to go much beyond toppling evolution, that shouldn’t stop us from taking their findings and going further, giving credit to the Brilliant Triune Engineer. The Master Designer: the song 2014 / 76 minutes RATING: 8/10 I appreciated this documentary’s patience, keeping to just a half dozen animals, to allow the time to explore each one in some depth. It begins with the bee and its amazing ability to make honey. Did you know “It takes 556 bees flying a total of 55,000 miles to gather nectar from an astounding 2 million flowers to make a single pound of honey”? Though a bee has a brain the size of a seed, it’s a brilliant architect, with a hive’s hexagonal honeycomb structure maximizing storage capacity. Weirder and more wonderful, the bee communicates through the language of dance – yes, really! – wiggling this way and that to tell the other bees where the nectar is to be found. And we shouldn’t forget that honey itself is amazing in that it never spoils! And that’s just the first of the six critters we get to meet. Revolutionary: Michael Behe and the mystery of the molecular machines 2016 / 60 minutes RATING: 7/10 Revolutionary is about what a quiet professor did to get Darwinian evolutionists very, very upset with him. Michael Behe seems to believe in an old earth and that some sort of evolution may well have occurred. So why would Darwinians be so very disturbed by him? Because Behe doesn’t believe the world came about by chance. While studying the human cell he realized the microscopic machines within it are so intricate and complex it’s inconceivable they could have come about via only random mutation and natural selection. This is in part, a history of the ID movement, which Behe had a big hand in beginning. But the real “star” of the show is one of those “micro-machines” that so fascinated him: the bacterial flagellum motor that can manage 100,000 revolutions per minute. Behe is too quiet to keep kid’s attention, but he’s also an ID giant, and someone worth knowing. HONORABLE MENTION: Michael Behe’s Science Uprising: a revolutionary case for Intelligent Design (2019-) series might be just the thing for teens. With 10 different short videos, just 6-10 minutes each, this comes in bite-sized chunks. And there’s still plenty to chew on here, with topics like “The myth of the Multiverse,” “Mutations break’ they don’t create,” and “No, you are not a robot made out of meat.” ECONOMICS Economics is a bigger spiritual battlefield than maybe most Christians realize. Just consider how, while God commands us not to covet our neighbor’s goods, those on the Left make envy out to be downright virtuous, peaking over the fence at what the millionaires and billionaires have. So, this often-neglected sphere is worth further study. The Pursuit 2019 / 77 minutes RATING: 7/10 The Pursuit is the story of one man’s search for the best way to lift the world’s poorest out of their poverty. And what the former French-horn player and current globe-trotting economics professor Arthur Brooks discovered is that it’s the free market that did this, that lifted literally billions out of extreme poverty. So why would a Buddhist/Catholic former French horn player make a good guide for Christians interested in learning about economics, and the benefits of the free market? It’s because, as much as he might differ from us in big ways and small, his case for free trade is built on principles that line right up with Scripture. He doesn’t quote it, but his foundation is the Second Greatest Commandment (Matt. 22:36-40) – Brooks is clearly motivated by a love for his neighbor. Love Gov: Breaking up with government is hard to do 2015 / 25 minutes RATING: 8/10 An economic argument for small government presented as a comedic romance? Hmmmm… Alexis is thinking of quitting college to start her own business, but then she meets the strangely charming Scott Govinsky (known as “Gov” to his friends). Gov is so very caring and supportive. And eager to help. And he never seems to runs out of advice. Perfect material for a boyfriend? Alexis thinks so…at first. The problem is, Gov’s advice isn’t nearly as helpful as it seems. Alexis’ new boyfriend Gov is a stand-in for our government, which wants to mind our business because it cares for us so deeply. But as much as the politicians and bureaucrats might mean well, that doesn’t mean they are doing well…which is what Love Gov tries to show. That’s a point worth sharing with our kids, and this series 5 short 5-minutes videos makes for quick viewing. But these are libertarians, not Christians, teaching the lesson here, so parental guidance is a must. Watch the whole 5 episode series here. THEOLOGY Theology is the study of God, and as the earth is the Lord’s and everything in it (Ps. 24:1) so, in a very real sense, all the other documentaries are theological too. But here it we get to learn more about God without anything distracting from our focus. The God Who Speaks 2018 / 92 minutes RATING: 9/10 The God Who Speaks makes the case that God still speaks to us today like He did with His prophets, doing so through Scripture. Alistair Begg, R.C. Sproul, Albert Mohler, Frank Turek, Kevin DeYoung, and Norman Geisler are some of the names here, all speaking to how the Bible attests to its own Divine origin. Really worth checking out! The Marks of a Cult: a biblical analysis 2005 / 115 minutes RATING: 8/10 How would you define a cult? What this documentary focuses on are religious groups that have some connections to biblical Christianity, but which have departed so far from it, that they are worshipping another God. The film offers Christians an easily understandable way of spotting those departures by using the four common math operations. As the host explains it, “A group can be classified as a cult when they: 1. Add to the 66 books of the bible… 2. Subtract from the triunity of God by either denying the personhood or the deity of one or more members of the Godhead 3. Multiply works necessary for salvation 4. Divide the loyalties of their followers from God…” These math symbols are then used as the documentary’s four “chapters” and serve as logical breaks for any who might prefer to digest this 2-hour documentary in chunks. PRO-LIFE Is there a bigger tragedy in our age? Are there any victims more vulnerable, and more in need of someone to speak up for them? Here’s some help to get you ready. Babies are murdered here 2014 / 54 minutes RATING: 8/10 This is a must-see for anyone sitting on the sidelines. Where the film gets controversial is in the producers’ argument that we must name the sin that is going on behind clinic doors, using stark, clear terms, like “murder.” Do they want us shrieking it as women enter abortion clinics? Not at all. The men and women we see here witnessing are carrying large signs that read “Babies are Murdered Here” but there isn’t a hint of self-righteousness about them. They are clear, and generally pretty winsome too; truth is being coupled with grace. Their approach is comparable to pro-lifers who make use of large graphic pictures and pair that with soft-spoken words. 180: from pro-choice to pro-life in minutes 2011 / 33 minutes Rating: 7/10 What kind of question would prompt a pro-choicer to become pro-life almost instantly? What street preacher Ray Comfort does here is confront people with the incoherence of their own views. When he asks them to explain what circumstances make it permissible to kill a baby, each of his interviewees is brought short. They don’t want to say we can kill a human being simply because they might grow up poor. Or because they are unwanted. Or because they are inconvenient. Their conscience convicts them with the knowledge that these are not good reasons to murder someone. By asking his pointed question Comfort makes them realize that they have never really thought through the issue of abortion before. Comfort’s approach will not work with any who have hardened their conscience. But for the ignorant or confused, what Comfort presents is incredibly clarifying. HONORABLE MENTIONS: While Fearfully and Wonderfully Made (49 minutes) is little more than a PowerPoint lecture, it’s an amazing lecture, which is why it was for years, among Answers In Genesis’s top-selling DVDs. A Christian looking at their newborn might call the child a “little miracle” but Dr. Menton reveals the insufficiency of this description. There isn’t just one miracle involved in the conception and birth of a child – numerous miracles are involved at every stage, even before conception occurs. Any adult who gives it 15 minutes will want to stay for the rest of it, and will be sharing this link with all their friends! Back 2019, to mark 50 years since Pierre Trudeau’s government first legalized abortion, pro-life organizations came together to make The Missing Project (75 minutes). It’s an important film, for the history lesson it provides, and for how it explains the division that exists among pro-lifers, between “abolitionists” and “incrementalists.” Who are these two camps? Abolitionists argue we can never settle for half measures – we need to push for a total ban on abortion. Incrementalists want this same end, but believe the best way forward is one step at a time. What’s missing from this film is any sort of explicitly Christian defense of the unborn. Our value, and everyone’s equality, can only be properly grounded in what we all share – being made in the Image of God (Gen. 9:6) – so that is a notable omission. APOLOGETICS We’re called to have a ready response to any who want to know about the hope we have (1 Peter 3:15) because of Jesus. How can we do that? What would it look like? Here’s a couple of masterclasses. Collision 2009/ 88 minutes RATING: 9/10 In May 2007, leading atheist Christopher Hitchens and pastor Douglas Wilson were asked by Christianity Today to dialogue on the question “Is Christianity good for the world?” They wrote six exchanges which were printed in the magazine and then, in 2008, compiled into a book. When the two men headed out to do an east-coast book tour, filmmaker Darren Doane tagged along. He captured their exchanges and interactions, both onstage in formal debate settings, and as they conversed over a pint of beer in the local pub. The end result is the most entertaining and enthralling debate you will ever see on film. This is a must see for its able demonstration of presuppositional apologetics. (Don’t know what that is? See the next documentary.) The attacks that Hitchens levels against God and Christianity are mimicked on secular campuses, so Wilson’s able defense of the faith will be instructive and will be an encouragement to our young people when they face these same attacks from their professors and fellow students. You can watch it on Facebook here. How to Answer the Fool 2013 / 85 minutes RATING: 8/10 While Wilson, in Collision, gives the better demonstration of presuppositional apologetics, Sye Ten Bruggencate gives the better explanation of it here. Some Christians will try to provide atheists with reasons for why they should believe in the Bible, and for why they should believe in God. In How to Answer the Fool, Ten Bruggencate teaches us to start with the Bible instead, and to present to the unbeliever the fact that it is only by acknowledging God, and the Bible as his Word, that the world makes any sense. Or to borrow from a C.S. Lewis analogy in Weight of Glory, this is believing in the Bible for the same sort of reason we believe in the sun. It’s not because we see it but because by it, we can see everything else. HONORABLE MENTION: The Fool (2019 / 65 minutes) is the true story of how evangelist Ray Comfort was ridiculed by atheists the world over for a silly joke he made that fell flat. But God was using Ray’s humiliation: these same atheists started inviting Ray onto their shows, podcasts, and stages and they let him say anything he wanted. So Comfort used these forums to share the Gospel with thousands of atheists at a time. Atheists even took Ray’s books and read through them on their YouTube channels, all in an attempt to mock him. But the end result was they read out a Gospel presentation to their listeners. As Ray asks, “Who but God could take atheists and not only have them listen to the Gospel, but have them proclaim it?” Find more than 100 other documentary recommendations, many of them also free to see, at ReformedPerspective.ca/100....

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In a Nutshell

Tidbits – October 2025

No one even knows how to bake bread Our new Prime Minister is very sure he has just the right recipe to get the country’s economy going, and his plan involves more governmental control. But what if an economy is too complex for such top-down control? That’s the case Walter E. Williams (1936-2020) makes when he highlights how no one, on their own, would even have the know-how to bake a loaf of bread: “We’re all grossly ignorant about most things that we use and encounter in our daily lives, but each of us is knowledgeable about tiny, relatively inconsequential things. For example, a baker might be the best baker in town, but he’s grossly ignorant about virtually all the inputs that allow him to be the best baker. “What is he likely to know about what goes into the processing of the natural gas that fuels his oven? For that matter, what does he know about oven manufacture? “Then, there are all the ingredients he uses – flour, sugar, yeast, vanilla and milk. Is he likely to know how to grow wheat and sugar and how to protect the crop from diseases and pests? What is he likely to know about vanilla extraction and yeast production? “Just as important is the question of how all the people who produce and deliver all these items know what he needs and when he needs them. There are literally millions of people cooperating with one another to ensure that the baker has all the necessary inputs. It’s the miracle of the market and prices that gets the job done so efficiently. What’s called the market is simply a collection of millions upon millions of independent decision makers not only in America but around the world. Who or what coordinates the activities all of these people? “Rest assured, it’s not a bakery czar.” Hollywood romance ain’t right Hollywood tells us that there is one special someone, one soulmate, just one person out there who, as Jerry Maguire put it, completes us. Blogger Matt Walsh sums up the Christian position in one sentence: “I didn’t marry my wife because she’s The One, she’s The One because I married her.” How many did you know? By one estimate, there are 170,000 English words in common usage. Here a baker’s dozen of some that our kids probably don’t know, but you might. How many can you define? Answers are at the bottom of the page. • Agog • Dawdle • Defenestration • Discombobulate • Flibbertigibbet • Gobbledygook • Hullabaloo • Kerfuffle • Lollygag • Malarky • Skedaddle • Snollygoster • Verklempt A trick that’s a treat The Dutch have, through the years, earned a reputation for being wise with their money. We, after all, invented the Dutch treat, which halved the cost of dating! But while we worked hard to earn this reputation, we can’t just rest on our laurels and hope to retain our penny-pinching crown. In other words, what have we done lately? I've canvassed Dutch people across the world asking them for their best money-saving ideas (if you have any, please pass them on) and here's one that’s appropriate to this time of year. It seems a particularly smart Dutch mother used to send her children out trick-or-treating early. Very early. The children would hustle door to door, as quick as they could. Then, when they had enough, they would run on home to their mother, who would proceed to divide their bounty into two piles: one of stuff they liked, and the other of all the candy they didn’t want. She then handed out this second pile to the trick-or-treaters who came to her door! This is the sort of stuff that will let us keep the Dutch thrifty reputation intact. Why governments mismanage the economy You’d be hard-pressed to find, in the Bible, a role for the government in “managing” the economy. And you’d find plenty of texts warning against arrogance (Prov. 26:12, Rom. 12:3, etc.). Along those lines, one argument against big government is the capabilities of the people it puts in charge of billion- and trillion-dollar decisions. It’s a task that’s beyond any man, and all the more obviously so in recent instances. Was Justin Trudeau ever an astute businessman? Joe Biden? Canada now has a prime minister who has an extensive economic background, but with other people’s money. In contrast, an entrepreneur has his own skin in the game, and when he blows it, he pays the price. A politician is playing around with others’ money, and if his plan doesn’t work, the politician can hide the impact by saddling the next generation with the cost of his failure. That leaves politicians with a motivation to take risks that businessmen never would. Here's three more reasons that government is prone to economic mismanagement. “The first lesson of economics is scarcity: There is never enough of anything to satisfy all those who want it. The first lesson of politics is to disregard the first lesson of economics.” – Thomas Sowell “What our nation needs is a separation of 'business and state’ as it has a separation of 'church and state.’ That would mean crony capitalism and crony socialism could not survive.” – Walter E. Williams “One of the great mistakes is to judge policies and programs by their intentions rather than their results.” – Milton Friedman English is a silly language No wonder it’s hard to spell correctly. As Bernard Shaw once pointed out, ghoti could quite logically spell “fish”: with the gh from the word enough, the o from women and the ti from nation. Now do you get it? Some years back in an issue Faith in Focus, Dick G. Vanderpyl told the story of Jack, and his blasphemous coworker. Jack was a good Christian lad, so when his co-worker started taking the Lord’s name in vain, Jack asked him to stop. Unfortunately, no matter how Jack begged him to stop, this guy just couldn’t do it. It was an ingrained habit! Well, one morning, just as they were starting work, Jack decided to use a different approach. When his workmate started swearing Jack started swearing back, not using God’s name, but instead using Queen Elizabeth’s name as an expletive. That got his mate really riled up, and he demanded that Jack stop abusing his Queen. “If you can abuse my Lord and King, I can abuse your Queen,” Jack responded. Though the whole incident almost resulted in a punch-up, in the end Jack’s mate laughed, apologized, and never swore around him again. Homeschooling: the why and why not One objection to homeschooling is that homeschooled children may not fit in with the world around them. One reason parents choose to homeschool their children is so that they won’t fit in with the world around them. More tricky treating If you’re not a fan of the blood and gore associated with Halloween, take a curmudgeonly stand this year and reserve most of your sweets for the sweet. When a cute little princess shows up at your door, give her a huge handful of goodies. An adorable fuzzy bear deserves at least a few Mars bars and a couple of those really good chocolate doppler candies. A courageous knight might even be worthy of a giant milk chocolate letter “C” (for courageous). The forces of evil should not fare as well. Dark sinister skeletons, for example, only rate a tootsie roll at best, while a guy with an ax stuck in his head should get no more than a breath mint (the undead probably have bad breath). This discriminatory candy giving is even more fun when a ghoulish zombie shows up on your doorstep at the same time as a lovable puppy dog. Give the Zombie his due, and then watch his eyes grow as the lovable puppy get richly rewarded. Have a happy Halloween everyone! Answers from the top of the page Agog – very eager and curious to find out what’s what Dawdle – to lollygag Defenestration – tossing folks out a window (happened so often in Prague during the Reformation that they had to come up with a word for it) Discombobulate – to confuse or disconcert Flibbertigibbet – a flighty, silly chatterbox Gobbledygook – nonsense speech, coming from babies or intellectuals Hullabaloo – quite the kerfuffle Kerfuffle – a commotion or goodly amount of fuss Lollygag – to move slowly, especially when speed is required Malarky – complete and utter nonsense Skedaddle – to leave, quickly Snollygoster – an unprincipled politician Verklempt – to be overcome with emotion...

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Theology

Genesis: theology and history!

A common objection to understanding Genesis 1 as history is that we should instead take it as theology. We’re told that God wants us to learn about Himself, and not history here. But it doesn’t have to be one or the other. In 1 Corinthians 10, the Apostle Paul says something very important about the relationship between the “text” of Scripture and the “history” recorded in Scripture. We need to keep this connection between God's work in history and the message of the words of Scripture in mind, so we can rightly understand the importance of the events recorded in Scripture. Paul is speaking in this passage about the events of the Exodus and the wilderness wanderings, and the importance of these events for his readers: Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer. Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. – 1 Corinthians 10:6-11, (ESV) Note carefully the words Paul uses in this passage. “These things occurred.” “These things happened.” These were actual events in history, and that is important. To say that they were recorded in Scripture to make a theological point, a theological point that should have a great impact on all of God's people, is absolutely true. They were “written down for our instruction.” But not only were these stories written down as warnings, “these things happened to them as an example”! There is no dichotomy here between theology and history; the two are so tightly linked that they cannot be torn apart. It's not “either-or.” It's “both-and”! Did God use a recognizable pattern in his work of creation? Yes, he did, and that pattern was meant to teach us many very important things. But to say that his work is recorded in a pattern that is meant to teach must not be used as a reason to deny that what is recorded is a true and accurate account of actual events. Our God is the God of history, not merely the God of ideas. This first appeared in the June 2015 issue....

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Assorted

Charlie Kirk in context

Many will condemn a man for an isolated sentence or two. Christians do it too. Instead, we should assess others just as we would like to be judged (Matt. 7:12). ***** If you have liberal friends or family, then in the days and weeks after Charlie Kirk’s murder, you probably saw all sorts of Kirk quotes, shared by them to warn people about what a problematic figure Kirk supposedly was. While Kirk had his flaws, the most common quotes being shared were generally not at all what they first seemed, being taken right out of context. As Proverbs 18:17 teaches us, “The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him” so we need to go beyond that first impression, and do the cross examination. We can do so, not as people who must defend Charlie Kirk, wrong or right, but instead as God’s people, equipped by Him to discern right from wrong. Using our discernment, it’s easy to see that Kirk was attacked by the Left, not for what he might have gotten wrong, but for how often he expressed godly thoughts bravely and clearly. So, we shouldn’t accept their word for any of it. We need to check whether the quote is: 1) even accurate 2) in context So, what follows, are a few of the more common accusations stated in bold, and then put in context right below. “I don’t believe in empathy.” This is likely as much a misquote as it is a quote out of context. You can find Kirk saying he didn’t like this particular term, and wasn’t at all opposed to feeling for the injured and suffering. What he has said along these lines is: “I can’t stand the word empathy. Actually, I think empathy is a made-up, new age term that does a lot of damage. But it’s very effective when it comes to politics. Sympathy, I prefer more than empathy.” “Black women do not have the brain processing power to be taken seriously.” This was pitched as proof of Kirk being racist. Like the previous “quote” it is both inaccurate and out of context. Kirk wasn’t insulting black women in general; he found it ridiculous that four specific black women were proudly declaring they were beneficiaries of affirmative action. Kirk was arguing, during the July 13, 2023 episode of his podcast, that affirmative action is the opposite of earning something. He thought it funny, then, that anyone would brag about being an affirmative action beneficiary. “If we would have said three weeks ago... that Joy Reid and Michelle Obama and Sheila Jackson Lee and Ketanji Brown Jackson were affirmative-action picks, we would have been called racist. But now they're coming out and they're saying it for us! They're coming out and they're saying, ‘I'm only here because of affirmative action.’ Yeah, we know. You do not have the brain processing power to otherwise be taken really seriously. You had to go steal a white person's slot to go be taken somewhat seriously. In other words, he wasn’t critiquing black women. He was criticizing these four black women. “If I see a black pilot, I am now going to wonder: Boy, I hope he’s qualified.” Charlie Kirk is no fan of affirmative action, which responds to past discrimination by flipping the script – you are still judged by the color of your skin, but the racism is directed the opposite way now. Here he was responding to a 2021 United Airlines plan to have half their pilot trainees be blacks or women, and among the points he was making was that this kind of DEI/affirmative action has the effect of undercutting blacks who are qualified, by giving people a reason to question whether they earned their position or were just given it on the basis of their skin color. Black economics professor Thomas Sowell made a similar point, on the Uncommon Knowledge podcast about how his students treated him: “I received more automatic respect when I first began teaching in 1962 as an inexperienced young man with no PhD and few publications than I did later in the 1970s after accumulating a more substantial record. What happened in between was affirmative action hiring of minority faculty.” "I think it's worth it. I think it's worth it to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the 2nd Amendment to protect our other God-given rights." Longer and shorter wersions of this quote circulated again after Kirk was killed by a gun-wielding assassin. While Kirk’s enemies were sharing it gleefully, the quote was blunt enough to shock Kirk-appreciating Christians. Why would he say something like that? How can any gun deaths be “worth it”? In this case, the quote was entirely accurate, but in need of context. As Christians we know life is to be revered as a precious gift from God. But we live in a broken world in which death is an ever-present enemy – everything we do comes with risks of injury, and even death. The example Kirk used was that: “Driving comes with a price. 50,000 people die on the road every year.” Do we think that’s “worth it”? We could cut down on those deaths entirely by banning cars. But, of course, that comes with a cost too, in all the freedoms that come with driving, like a broader range of places you can live, or work, or people you can visit, foods you can eat, and entertainment you can enjoy. All of that would be severely curtailed. And, there would come a cost in lives too, in that without ambulances, some wouldn’t get to the hospital in time. We can agree or disagree with Kirk on whether the 2nd Amendment is worth the price being paid, but we should acknowledge his larger point. The Left will deny or ignore it, but life always involves tradeoffs, and freedoms always come with risks. Photo of Charlie Kirk during his 2024 “You’re Being Brainwashed” university tour. Picture is adapted from one by Gage Skidmore and used under a CC BY-SA 2.0 license....

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News

90,000 legal homicides in Canada since 2016

According to calculations from the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition (EPC), as of September this year approximately 90,000 Canadians have been euthanized since this form of homicide was legalized by the federal government in 2016. Homicide is defined under Section 222 of Canada’s Criminal Code as an act causing the death of a human being. The staggering number of euthanasia deaths have been steadily increasing, from 1,018 in 2016, to 15,343 confirmed cases in 2023. Based on the reports available for 2024, the EPC projects there were 16,500 euthanasia deaths that year, an increase of 7.5 percent. EPC drilled in on BC’s 2024 data and found that 35 percent of the 2,767 euthanasia deaths were approved based on “other conditions.” Of these, 65.9 percent were related to “frailty.” They noted that “frailty” isn’t defined and can encompass euthanasia for a “completed life” – in other words, an elderly person is not sick or dying but simply wants to die. The increasing numbers, and broad standards for qualifying, are a far cry from what the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in Carter v. Canada (2015), when it allowed euthanasia for a competent adult who “has a grievous and irremediable medical condition (including an illness, disease, or disability) that causes enduring suffering that is intolerable to the individual in the circumstances of his or her condition.” Behind each of these statistics is a human being made in the image of God, many of whom left this earth without hope. As ARPA Canada and others communicated to Parliament and to the courts prior to the legalization of euthanasia, as soon as we remove the sacred line of the Sixth Commandment to not murder, it becomes impossible to maintain any other line. Sure enough, Parliament is now considering further expansions of euthanasia for those whose suffering is solely psychological, as well as for children....

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Saturday Selections – Oct. 4, 2025

Bahnsen vs. Hitchens, the Rap Battle Here's AI put to its weirdest and most wonderful –the late Reformed apologist Greg Bahnsen taking on the late atheist apologist Christopher Hitchens. Were dragon stories really dinosaur encounters? Short answer: it sure would seem so! Where do human rights come from, senator? A US senator thought that it was akin to being a fundamentalist Muslim to think that human rights come from God. They come from the state, he insisted. But if they come from the state, how could the state ever violate them? How could we ever complain about any state abusing human rights? Health-care costs for typical Canadian family will reach over $19,000 this year That we don't pay for healthcare directly doesn't mean we don't pay for healthcare. It means, at the very least, that tax dollars that go for that care aren't used for anything else. And the hidden costs of our socialized healthcare system also mean it is really hard for us to tell if we're getting value for our money. Canadian government pushing hate speech law again "Hatred is a real sin. But government and law enforcement cannot discern the degree of hatred in one’s heart, though they can judge and punish the things they do. "That’s why existing prohibitions in the Criminal Code focus on prohibiting particular actions, not emotions or motivations. While Christians should condemn hateful thoughts, words, and gestures, the government cannot regulate the heart." The dangerous logic of Moral Subjectivism "If right and wrong are things outside of ourselves which we can't change, we need to align our behavior with what's right. But if it's the other way around, and morality is just a thing I get to make up, well, I can act however I want." "Huh... that's basically the same as not having a moral system..." **** This video is worth watching for what it gets right, like the above. But where it falls short is in what it settles for – that agreeing there is some sort of objective moral standard outside ourselves is all that's really important. The problem is, ideologies and religions can hold to an objective truth that includes the notion that "conversion by the sword" is a legitimate means of persuasion. So, for example, it isn't enough that an ISIS jihadist thinks a moral standard exists outside himself, he isn't about debate and dialogue. This sort of short-sightedness is what happens when we appeal to the fruits of Christianity without actually holding to the Root of it, Christ Himself. Civil discourse is a fruit of the only real objective standard that exists, God's morality, which teaches us: God has no interest in merely outward observance (Is. 1:13), discouraging any attempts at compelled belief. to treat others as we would like to be treated (Matt. 7:12), prompting civil discourse. to love our enemies (Matthew 5:43-4), prompting civil discourse. it is good to hear both sides (Prov. 18:17), which encourages hearing out things you might disagree with. we are all made in the Image of God (Gen. 9:6), and that hate is the equivalent of murder (Matt. 5:21-22), which both, again, encourage civil discourse. So not just any objective moral standard will do. Civil discourse is a fruit of Christianity, and as we are seeing, a nation that turns from Him will slowly but surely start losing the fruit of the Christian faith, including civility. ...

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Assorted

Dominee’s friend

There is style and there is class. Dominee may not have had much style, as the world considers style, but he had class. Dominee had accepted a call to another church. At such a time we cover up the pain of separation with laughter. How could we be happy? This was the man whom God had sent to us to speak to us the Word of God every Sunday. We heard the voice of the Great Shepherd through His under-shepherd twice every Lord’s day. Because Dominee’s voice was so familiar, and his sermons somewhat predictable, we thought we knew him. We knew from the cadence of his heavily accented sentences when he was wrapping up the sermon — just the final song yet, and the benediction, and we’d soon be outside chatting, swapping stories, and laughing. Dominee was not what you would call an especially stylish man. During all the years he preached to us he wore a grey suit. He may have replaced it with a new one once in a while, but we never noticed because the new one was identical to the previous. Nothing stylish about Dominee. Even when he would drop by because of illness in the family or if someone needed encouragement, he’d wear a grey suit. We thought we knew him, until his farewell evening. As I said, when we are sad, we turn to laughter. To cover up our sadness. The farewell evening had begun and was evolving in a predictable way. There was only one unusual thing that immediately caught everyone’s attention. Near the front of the church sat an old Sikh gentleman and his wife. We could tell he was a Sikh because he was wearing a turban. The turban happened to be pink. Later I was told it was, in fact, lavender. The chairman of the men’s society, a serious man, ascended the pulpit. He read some Scripture, prayed, and invited us to sing a well-known Psalm. On behalf of the men’s society, he spoke some kind words of farewell to Dominee, his wife, and the children, and then presented them with a gift, a beautiful painting of local scenery: “We don’t want you to forget this beautiful part of the country!” This was followed by several presentations — women’s, young people’s, youth. And on it went, predictably and comfortably. The presentations alternated between funny, sad, and poignant. But mostly we laughed. When the elders and deacons performed a humorous skit about Dominee’s typical way of leading a meeting, we laughed heartily. When one of Dominee’s local colleagues told a story about Dominee at a classis meeting, we laughed so hard we thought our sides were going to burst. After several hours, when everyone was good and ready for coffee and cake, the chairman of the men’s society ascended the pulpit once again. With gravity, he thanked everyone for coming, bade Dominee farewell once more, and asked if there was anyone whom he had missed, or who had not been on the program but yet wanted to say something. The Sikh gentleman stood up. Well, this was interesting. Slowly, with age and dignity, he walked to the front of the church. He began to speak. This was very interesting. No one could remember a Sikh speaking in our church. He began to tell a story. It had been a hot summer afternoon when he and his wife were walking along the sidewalk. Suddenly overcome by heat, thirst, and exhaustion, he sat on a stone wall in front of a house. That house, as it turned out, was the Manse. Dominee was sitting in the shade reading a newspaper from the old country that had just come in the mail. He noticed the Sikh man sitting at the end of the driveway on the stone wall, and the man’s wife bending over him with a look of concern on her face. Dominee got up to see if he could help. “My husband is very thirsty,” said the lady. “Could he please have some water?” Dominee went to the house and came back with a pitcher of water and some glasses. He poured two glasses of water, and then he took a moment to speak about the other water, the living water that Jesus provides. On that day Dominee and the Sikh became friends. The Sikh gentleman and his wife would drop by more often to talk with Dominee. We never knew. We thought we knew our Dominee. We all listened intently to the Sikh as he told us the story about our kind Dominee. He considered it an honor to count him a friend and wanted to give him a parting gift. The Sikh explained that it was their custom to give the turban they are wearing to their departing friend. The turban would be a reminder of their friendship. With that the Sikh removed the turban from his head, reached forward, and placed it on Dominee’s head. Dominee was mostly bald and had a smaller head than his Sikh friend, and so the turban sank down over Dominee’s forehead. It was a sight to behold! Our Dominee clothed in his trademark grey suit, the only way we had ever seen him in all the years he had ministered to us, wearing a lavender-colored turban. No one laughed, snickered, or tittered. Instead, after a moment during which you could have heard a pin drop, the congregation slowly rose and began to clap. We did not know whether we were clapping for Dominee or the Sikh. Likely, we were clapping for the Lord. We had seen a remarkable thing. Our immigrant congregation may not have had much style, but on that evening we had class. Dominee wore the turban for the rest of the evening, during coffee and as we all came by his table to say farewell. He wore it with pride. Dominee did not have much style, but he had a lot of class. And we thought we knew him. There is style, and there is class. This is a true story, which I experienced as an adolescent boy at the departure of a neighboring minister. The references to style and class were inspired by Sietze Buning’s “Style and Class” collection of poems. This first appeared in the January 2015 issue....

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Science - Creation/Evolution

FALSE DILEMMA: Is Genesis 1 Historical or Poetic?

or Doctrinal?      or Theological?           or Covenantal?                or an Accommodation?                     or so on and so on and so on ***** We know you can’t have your cake and eat it too. We know a man cannot serve two masters. And we know Genesis 1 cannot be both history and mere metaphor. That’s all true. But can Genesis 1 be history and much, much more? Not an either/or Among Christians one of the more common ways of undermining the historical reliability of the opening chapters of the Bible is to highlight some other attribute of this passage. We’re told that the point here isn’t to tell us how things were created but rather Who is responsible. This is a theological treatise, not a scientific one, right? And it can’t be history because in some ways it resembles poetry. In his book God's Pattern for Creation: A Covenantal Reading of Genesis 1 United Reformed pastor Dr. W. Robert Godfrey gives several examples of this same dismissive approach. The President of Westminster Seminary in Escondido, California contrasts a covenantal understanding of Genesis 1 with understanding it as history. He says a choice has to be made since the days of creation as described in Genesis 1 “are not a timetable of God's actions but are a model timetable for us to follow.” While “the days and week of Genesis 1 are presented to us as a real week of twenty four hour days,” “these days and week... do not describe God's actions in themselves but present God's creative purpose in a way that is a model for us.” He pitches this same contrast, between a historical and covenantal understanding again and again. “Genesis is not a world history text... it is a covenant history focusing on what the people of God need to know about their God and about themselves” “Genesis is not written as a history book for uninformed, worldwide readers, but is part of the covenant history written for a covenant people who already know their God” “The revelation of God as the all-powerful creator is not just information for the world. It is a message to the covenant people about the character of their God.” “Genesis 1 is not an encyclopedia of history or science but a covenant revelation of the character of the creation that God made for man...” Clearly, given the repeated “not this... but that” rhetorical device used by Godfrey, his assertion that Genesis 1 is “covenantal” in character is meant to counter an opposing view of the creation account. To Reformed Christians, this kind of “covenantal language” has its appeal; we love the covenant, and we love covenant theology, because we see in the covenants of Scripture the structure and beauty of God's relationship with His people, and indeed with all of creation. But I question Godfrey's assertions in all of these statements, because they create a conflict where one does not necessarily exist! This “not this... but that” language creates the impression that the two parts of the statement are mutually exclusive. If Genesis 1 is “covenantal” in its character, does that necessarily mean that it is not a history of the world? Of course, Godfrey does use the phrases “world history text” and “encyclopedia of history or science,” appearing to assert that those who argue for the “six consecutive real days that actually happened in history” view actually consider the opening chapters of the Bible to be a scientific treatise of some sort. This kind of language is not at all helpful, and it mischaracterizes those who believe that God created all things in the span of six actual historical days. Both/and Here's an example of this kind of thinking in practice. Suppose for a moment that two men come across a field of barley for the very first time. One man looks at the barley and says, “Clearly this crop is meant only to form the basis for a beverage. I will harvest it, mash it, ferment it, and make beer.” The other man looks at the barley and says, “Clearly this crop is meant only to form the basis for bread. I will harvest it, grind it, and use the end product to make bread.” Both men refuse to acknowledge the truth of the other's discovery. So, the one man makes nothing but beer, and the other man makes nothing but bread. Both die, one from cirrhosis of the liver, the other from dehydration. Why do they die? Because they both failed to realize that they were not dealing with an “either-or” equation, but a “both-and.” Barley has multiple uses; therefore, one use does not exclude the other. In creating a false dichotomy between two applications of the text, Godfrey misses out on a very important aspect of the message of the six days of creation. A true either/or Now I should note that while Godfrey does not accept Genesis 1 as a real chronology of events, he still insists his view is a literal interpretation and “also historical in its approach as it affirms that God created in time and by his sovereign power everything described in Genesis 1.” Given the fact that, according to Godfrey, “we must conclude that the days of creation in Genesis 1 are not simple chronology” I find it difficult to harmonize Godfrey's actual view with his claims. In contrast to the false dilemma that Godfrey presents, between understanding Genesis 1 as true history or as covenantal, there does seem need for a choice to be made here. He can’t offer up his view as literal and historical and still dispute that creation occurred in six actual days. Conclusion So yes, we can’t have our cake and eat it too. But no such choice has to be made between understanding Genesis as historical and covenantal, between it being historical and theological. These are simply false dilemmas. Rev. Witteveen’s website is Dan1132.com. This first appeared in the June 2015 issue....

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Culture Clashes

What will Canada look like in 2040?

Where some see gloom, God’s people can proceed in hope, knowing that God remains in control ***** “Canada to Become a Dystopian Nightmare, Households Will Flee: Gov Report.” A Christian friend shared this article with me, from Better Dwelling, a news outlet specifically focussed on Canada’s housing market. This friend wanted to make sure I was aware of a government report, “Future Lives: Social mobility in question,” that was published in January but which hasn’t been noticed and circulated until more recently. According to Better Dwelling’s Stephen Punwasi, the report from the federal government’s own think tank, Policy Horizons: “paint a grim picture resembling a dystopian mashup of a Charles Dickens’ novel meets Terminator. A Canada where wealth & the ability to own a home are determined at birth, hungry households hunt & fish for sustenance in cities, and moving down social classes is the norm. Welcome to Canada in 2040.” The message will undoubtedly resonate with many Canadians who have noticed that things have been changing quickly in the past five or ten years. Not so long ago, children could anticipate earning more, and spending more than their parents ever did. Now we may make more money, but it doesn’t go nearly as far. We can go to university, but a degree doesn’t mean much when it comes to getting a good job today. Young adults are finding it hard to imagine being able to buy even a modest home. Those that can find jobs are working more, and not having as many children. So, instead, to keep our population growing, we are bringing in millions of immigrants. But they need a place to stay too, which makes it even harder and more expensive for everyone to find a place to live. Then there is AI: that mesmerizing but creepy technology that is replacing many jobs and seems to be a lot smarter than most people using it today. Indeed, anticipating 2040 can be rather scary. But that is only true if we aren’t looking to the future with faith in our sovereign and loving God. PROVIDENTIAL GLASSES In Lord’s Day 10 of the Heidelberg Catechism, we confess that God upholds heaven and earth and all creatures so that “all things come to us not by chance but by His fatherly hand.” As a result, “with a view to the future we can have a firm confidence in our faithful God and Father that no creature shall separate us from his love.” I don’t know what is going to transpire in the next 15 years, but based on this confession of God’s providence, I believe a good case can be made that the changes we are experiencing aren’t something to fear but can be means through which God is gathering His Church and kingdom. What follows are some possibilities of the future, when looking through providential (in contrast to rose-colored) glasses. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AI will have us seeking something authentic From my limited experience, the hype around AI is well-warranted. It is far “smarter” and more capable than I would have imagined. Even the over-used word “revolutionary” may not suffice. The advance of AI means we’re soon going to have a hard time telling whether what we read, see and hear is real or original: Did Emma really make that valedictorian speech that had us laughing and crying? Or was it the product of Chat GPT with a few tweaks to make it look authentic? Was that YouTube clip about the New York Yankees having a moment of silence after Charlie Kirk’s death real, or just AI-generated? How can we even know? Did the pastor actually write that sermon on Lord’s Day 10, or did he ask AI to make a sermon for him, pointing it to www.TheSeed.info to ensure that the result would line up with solid Reformed orthodoxy? Can I trust that the person calling me to ask for money is actually my son/grandson in trouble? He sounds just like him, but something just doesn’t seem right. This is just a small taste of AI’s impact and is legitimately concerning. God’s Word remains trustworthy But when we look through the glasses of God’s providence, something else becomes clear: in a world where it is very difficult to know what is true, solid, trustworthy, and real, the things that are will become all the more noticeable and meaningful. And what is more true, solid, trustworthy, and real than God and His Word? “The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold” (Psalm 18:2). Just as many young men today are pushing against the woke culture they were catechized in, I won’t be surprised if many people begin recognizing the beauty of God’s Word for what it is: unchanging, reliable, proven, not open to opinion, and anything but artificial. In that dizzying sea of AI will stand the rock of God’s Word and the sure hope of the Gospel. That may explain in part why popular secular influencers like Joe Rogan, Piers Morgan, and Andrew Schultz are all asking Canadian Christian Wes Huff to come on their platforms to explain how Scripture is reliable. Who would ever have seen that coming this year? The Colson Center also shared news about a “quiet revival” across England and Wales: “the number of 16- to 24-year-olds in the U.K. attending church at least once a month jumped from 4% in 2018 to 16% in 2024.” To add to this, the most recent data from book sales revealed a 22 percent increase in Bible sales in the USA (compared with 1 percent for total book sales). And the “religious books” category saw the largest increase in publishing in 2024. For the past 75+ years, many in Western Civilization saw God’s Word as a relic from the past, that isn’t all that relevant. That seems to be changing. IMMIGRATION So many people With a plummeting fertility rate, Canada, along with most Western nations, relies on immigrants to keep our population and economies stable, let alone grow. In just two years, from 2022 to 2024, Canada’s population grew by 2,358,697 with about 98 percent of that increase due to incoming temporary and permanent residents. Such a large influx of new people over a short time can result in challenges. One has only to follow the news in places like the UK and Germany to see how difficult it is to provide leadership in a secular country in which many immigrants have little interest in upholding the social conventions and laws of that land. So many who can now hear But when we look through providential glasses, here too we see some amazing possibilities for the Church. My friend and his family were missionaries in a remote region of Africa, carrying God’s Word on foot to people immersed in paganism. But they came back to our small community in northern BC not long ago and realized that a lot has changed since they left for Africa. God has literally brought people from around the world to our own doorstep. This friend has decided to continue his mission work at home, reaching out to immigrants in our own community. At the same time, many “Canadians” who grew up in this nation have become as pagan, or more, than many of places where these immigrants are coming from. Millions of people in our own provinces aren’t familiar with the Gospel. The fields are ripe for the harvest, and they are next door! Ironically (providentially), God is sometimes using immigrants to challenge the trajectory that our society, and even some churches, have been on. For example, recent election results show that immigrants and minorities are swinging to the political right, favoring conservative parties federally and provincially. Closer to home, delegations representing different ethnic communities within the Christian Reformed Church urged their synod to adopt a biblical perspective of sexuality and were one of the forces leading to a shift in direction within that denomination. God isn’t looking to us to save Western civilization. Civilizations have risen and fallen many times. It is His kingdom that endures. And in His grace, God is bringing many to our land who are willing to “seek first His kingdom.” SOCIAL WELFARE SYSTEM The partial collapse of government The “Future Lives” government report mentioned at the beginning of this article made waves in part because it warned that in the dire near future “people may start to hunt, fish, and forage on public lands and waterways without reference to regulations. Small-scale agriculture could increase.” To add to this “governments may come to seem irrelevant if they cannot enforce basic regulations or if people increasingly rely on grass-roots solutions to meeting basic needs.” In other words, if Canadians are struggling under our socialized government welfare system, they may just start to take matters into their own hands and provide for themselves and their families. We saw a taste of this during Covid, as rural land became much more popular to own, and the public trust in government regulations was broken (in spite of daily assurances from public health officers). More freedom to be productive? I don’t think I need to work hard to convince most readers that there is a lot to this “warning” that may be a providential blessing. In a land where government regulation has stifled productivity and development for decades, many Canadians and Christians would welcome increased freedom and responsibility so that they can fulfil the cultural mandate that God gave humanity to “be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it” (Genesis 1:28). That said, I think it is also the case that many Christians have become reliant on government income (i.e., monthly child care benefits, independent school funding, and even funding for their magazines) and may have a hard time adjusting if this were to decrease or terminate. Society will be greatly blessed when more responsibility is put on individuals, families, churches, and community organizations, rather than the state. But that is only the case if these people use their responsibility for the furtherance of God’s kingdom, and not their own. UNIVERSITIES Ivory towers may topple The government report also warned that “post-secondary education could be a stranded asset.” A stranded asset loses its value prematurely, as a result of a shifting market – think of someone who had a horse buggy factory as motor cars were taking over. University degrees might become like that? “People may look for alternative forms of training in new niches that appear to offer upward mobility. Non-traditional providers, including private firms, may outcompete traditional PSE players in attracting consumers.” What could rise from the rubble? As with the decline of the social welfare system, not many Christians will lament the breakdown of post-secondary education as it is represented in much of Canada today. Universities have been bastions of evil in our land, training generations of Canadians to undermine the Christian heritage that our civilization and country was founded on, and replace it with hedonism and, more recently, critical theory. There is little surprise that the “centers of higher learning” don’t help with “upward mobility” and might be outcompeted by private firms that seek to build, rather than tear down. The question is, what will be the worldviews of the private firms that are built? Will they, like Harvard and Princeton University were when they were founded, operate on a biblical and Reformed foundation? If so, unlike Harvard and Princeton, will they stay true to their mission? CANADA IN 2040 I understand why people aren’t optimistic about the future of Canada. Even in my own community, far removed from any urban centers and which, until recently, was known for being an idyllic place to raise a family, there are places that feel eerily similar to Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. I see more homelessness, open drug use on the streets, and the need for 24/7 policing. My family isn’t even comfortable walking down parts of Main Street anymore. The same is true in communities across Canada today. This is the natural fruit of a secular worldview (ironically labelled “progressive”), and we can expect the trajectory to only continue as long as our country refuses to humble itself before the LORD. But God’s kingdom is above all of this and is advancing perfectly according to His plan. He put us in this time and place intentionally. He has a calling for us, right here and right now. We can leave the future in God’s hand, confident that He has the authority and power to guide all things. “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31). There may be reformation or revival, like in the time of Josiah (2 Kings 22-23). Or God may have good plans for another civilization to take our place, as He has done to the Babylonian and Roman empires, along with so many others. Or He may usher us into glory today yet. God doesn’t burden us with the future. Our task is to focus on the present. We can use each day He has given us to build on the foundation of Jesus Christ, confident that “if the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward” (1 Cor. 3:14). As such, it doesn’t matter so much if Canada still exists in 2040. We know with certainty that God’s kingdom will endure....

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News

A renewed hunger for the Bible

Data from the Association of American Publishers reveals that the biggest sales increase among all categories of books being published last year in the United States was religious books – up 18.5 percent from the previous year. This comes on the heels of similar growth the previous year. Publishers Weekly asked these publishers what was driving the increase and the answer was Bibles, Bible study materials, commentaries, and devotionals. “Christianity and Scripture and the people who write from these perspectives hit people where they live” explained Shane White, divisional VP for sales at InterVarsity Press. “That's why we see the sales we see." "Whatever denomination you're in, whatever your religious background, you're engaging the Bible more now than you did 10 years ago," noted Bob Gaudet, the executive VP of marketing and publicity for Baker Publishing Group. Although there isn’t data of Bible sales in Canada, the Canadian Bible Society distributed 631,298 Bibles and pieces of Scripture in 2024, a 20.1 percent increase from the previous year, which was already 22.5 percent more than the previous year. In Isaiah 55:10-11, God reminds us that just as the rain comes down from heaven to water the earth and make it sprout, giving us both seed for sowing and bread for eating, the same is true of His Word. “It shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose.” Praise be to God for giving more people an appetite for the Bread of Life (John 6:35)....

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Pro-life - Abortion

Pro-life incrementalism isn't immoral...but it can be dangerous

Should Christians support a bill that would make abortion illegal after the second trimester? Some say no, and argue that such a bill would save third-trimester babies at the expense of babies in the first and second trimester. This side sometimes calls themselves pro-life “abolitionists.” They insist this sort of bill is immoral because it would legitimize the murder of the babies it isn’t protecting. Others, myself included, say that a bill like this is a good first step, to be followed by many more incremental steps like: a ban on sex-selective abortions, a parental notification law, an informed consent law, etc. As the article "Direction Matters" seeks to make clear, there is nothing immoral about this sort of “incremental,” step-by-step approach to ending abortion. But an incremental approach does come with some dangers that we need to be aware of if we are going to steer clear of them. Danger of being more clever than clear The genius of an incremental approach is that it allows us to recruit people who would normally never be on our side. For example, a bill that banned sex-selective abortion could see us side by side with feminists who are upset that sex-selective abortions almost exclusively target unborn baby girls. Pro-lifers working with feminists? Who would ever have thought? The danger of this incremental approach is that when we try to recruit people who don’t share our convictions, things can get more than a little confusing. We can find ourselves being tempted to downplay, hide, or even deny our convictions to get along with our strange bedfellows. Thirty years ago, an Alberta pro-life group called the Committee to End Tax-Funded Abortions (CEFTA) tried their own incremental approach and fell prey to this temptation. They knew that while most Albertans supported “a woman’s right to choose” more than 70% balked at having to pay for that choice. So CEFTA hammered on this financial angle, demanding an end to the tax-funding of abortion. They were trying to recruit fiscal conservatives to join with them in their effort. But then they got accused of being closet pro-lifers, just focusing on the financial as an excuse to limit abortion. That accusation was, of course, 100% true. But because CEFTA was trying to keep the focus on the financial, they ended up denying they had any interest in the unborn. They were even willing to concede that abortion was a private matter between a woman and her doctor, but asked. “...why are the taxpayers in the room writing the cheques?” CEFTA didn't put an end tax-funding for abortion. The clincher might have been when someone noted that every live delivery costs many times more than a surgical abortion does, so abortion actually saves the taxpayer money. In the end all that CEFTA succeeded in doing was portraying the pro-life movement as being more about money than about the unborn… which effectively dehumanized these Image-bearers. By hiding what they knew to be true about the unborn, the CEFTA ultimately ended up undermining that truth. That’s a real danger we need to watch for. A powerful pull So long as we engage in various incrementalism, we're going to face the same temptation to be quiet about or even deny our convictions. For example, do we think feminists are going to want to work with us to ban sex-selective abortions if we're upfront that our end goal is to ban all abortions? Will we be able to get a parental-notification law passed if voters know we intend this as just a first step towards making abortion entirely illegal? There is an enticing logic to staying quiet about our convictions, and that's why this is such a powerful temptation. But we can't stay silent. The only way we'll end abortion in Canada is if everyone understands that it is a precious unborn human being from conception onward, made in the very Image of God like the rest of us (Gen. 1:27, Gen. 9:6). So if, for example, we support a 6-month gestational limit, then we need to be clear that life really begins at conception. If we stay silent and leave people with any other impression, then we will doing the very thing our abolitionist critics have accused us of – saving some at the expense of others. We must not protect third trimester babies by downplaying the humanity of babies in the first and second trimester. Clever and clear So how do we recruit unlikely allies a better way? We need to be upfront about our differences, even as we emphasize our common ground. So if we were talking with a feminist neighbor about a sex-selective abortion ban, our side of the conversation might sound like this: "Freda, I've finally found something we can agree on! What do you think about a girl being aborted simply because she's a girl? That should get a rise out of a feminist like you. Come join us – we're trying to get this banned!" Or say you and your pro-choice university classmate were discussing a bill that would ban abortions after the second trimester: “Life begins at conception, and our worth comes from being made in the very Image of God. But if you and me can't agree on that point, let me ask you this: what do you think about late-term abortions? You have to agree that it's a baby at 6 months, right? If so, then act. Come join us and save at least these children!" Our position – our difference – is made clear. Then a pointed question – one that asks our listener to be consistent with their stated position – highlights our common ground. It can be that simple. Conclusion The incremental strategy will pair us with people who don't think like we do, and who deny what we know to be true. That will bring with it the temptation to stay quiet – it tempts us to downplay the very truths our culture needs to hear. Thankfully, this is a temptation that loses a lot of its pull once we are aware of it. So let's move forward eagerly, recruiting allies wherever they can be found, while pledging always, always to advocate for all unborn children. Let's ask God to give us the wisdom to combine cleverness with clarity. Then, the Lord willing, for the first time in a quarter century, we'll start passing laws protecting unborn children! That would be brilliant indeed! A version of this article was originally published in the March 2013 issue under the title “Being brilliant and clear: Fighting abortion incrementally isn't immoral...but it can be dangerous.”...

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News

Saturday Selections – Sept 13, 2025

On the death of Charlie Kirk American Christian and conservative leader Charlie Kirk was shot and killed on Wednesday. Kirk (1993-2025) wasn't as remarkable for what he said (though he did get things mostly right) as he was for how he spoke up (boldly, as a grateful child of God) and for where he was willing to go. Kirk made dozens and dozens, and maybe hundreds, of appearances – captured as YouTube clips – on campuses across the United States. He'd set up a booth and take on any and all questions from liberal students who, it so often seemed, had never even heard an intelligent conservative Christian speak before. It was at one of these events that he was murdered. The link above goes to a collection of articles, assembled by Tim Challies, reflecting on Kirk's assassination. The video below is of Kirk stepping up for the unborn. May Kirk's courage inspire many more Christian young men to be just as strong and courageous (Joshua 1). Tim Challies, on how to write a great book review... ...which is a great primer for writing a book review for Reformed Perspective too. If you've got a great book you'd like to review, let us know. Organ transplant investigations expose grisly stories of patient abuse This is an American story, but one that should concern Canadians because in our murder-as-medicine MAiD-approving country, wouldn't it be all the more likely that a dying patient might be euthanized for their organs? Taming technology (10 min. read) Some real help on offer here for families who want to rethink how technology is taking over their home. How to face apparent contradictions in the Bible Michael Kruger has three tips to deal with passages in the Bible that seem contradictory: 1) don't be scared of them 2) don't apply today's conventions to yesterday's writers 3) be humble and patient: that we don't have an explanation now doesn't mean there isn't one, or that it won't show up later My Soul Among Lions, Psalm 2 I remain fascinated at the many very different, great treatments that can be given to the Psalms..... ...

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