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Magazine, Past Issue
Sept/Oct 2025 issue
WHAT'S INSIDE: Screen-fast, photo contest results, and our the merch store!
A whopping 900 of our readers registered for our 10-day screen fast over the summer, far exceeding our hopes. And we know that many others took part without registering. We salute everyone who joined in, as it takes courage and strength to agree to a big change in how we live, and it takes stamina to stick with it for ten days. In this issue, we share some of the stories, tips, successes, and struggles from those who took part.
And as the back page shares, we are very excited, and a little nervous, to unveil our brand-new online merch store, with over 100 designs for shirts, sweaters, mugs, and more to help you think, speak, and act to God’s glory. Canadian, non-profit, quality goods, and affordable – watch out Amazon!
Our cover photo was from too long ago – 2018 – to qualify for this year’s "...in the Image of God He made them" photo contest, but was also too beautiful not to share. As photographer Christina Dokter explained:
“This is our son James, who has Down Syndrome. His arrival in our lives has given us new perspective on what being an image bearer truly means.”
We have three options for you to read the magazine. First up is the flipbook edition, with its turning pages. Below that, you can click the cover to view the pdf in your browser, or you can click here to download the PDF (12 mb)
INDEX: What if everything was about God? / How far can Christians go to defend their property? / Bank cancels RP / Canada's population almost shrinking / New free-to-see documentary / Who do you want to be? RP's 10-day screen-fast challenge / Reformed MP says No MAiD for the mentally ill / Less screens = More life / Photo contest results – Adults: "Made in His Image" / Photo contest results – Youth: "What's your favorite ____" / Striving to be Godly men/ Yes, all things come not by chance but by His fatherly hand / Why freer trade is best / How to stop taking the Bible for granted / Chapter book classics and classics-to-be / Come and Explore: The pearl predicament / Great video series for kids / In a Nutshell / Want to share the Gospel more? / And more....
News
Saturday Selections – Aug. 30, 2025
Great illustrations of the government's limits
Big government presumes that its bureaucracy is omnicompetent, able to manage for its citizens the job market, healthcare, education, trash collection, and so much more. And in making much of its own capabilities, it diminishes its citizens – we must be incompetent if we need their active intervention in so much of our lives.
So is the government omnicompetent? No, as this video demonstrates with three examples of government programs gone wrong. Were they to acknowledge their limitations, governments would then limit their own fiddling and allow more room for other sorts of "government" – including family government, Church government, and self-government – to take up more responsibility.
China slaps tariff on Canadian canola after Canada imposed a tariff on Chinese EVs
Canadians who want to "go green" will have to pay more to do it, since our government imposed a 100% tariff on cheap Chinese electric vehicles (EVs) last year. Does that tariff help Canadian EV production? Possibly... but only by hurting Canadian consumers in the pocketbook. And now China has hit Canadian canola with a huge 78% tariff. Might that help China's canola producers? Maybe. But only by hurting Chinese canola consumers.
When tariffs beget more tariffs, the only way to stop the cycle is for one country to step back and stop. And that isn't as defeatist as it is made out to be. It is, in fact, a defense of your country's consumers, who will no longer be forced to pay the jacked-up pricing our tariffs create. Yes, ending tariffs could hurt some Canadian producers – those who can't produce goods as inexpensively as countries abroad are able to – but ending tariffs will help our consumers, who will then get more bang for their buck. Ending tariffs will also help any of our producers who use imported products. And, in this case, ending tariffs could have helped our country's canola producers escape a punitive payback by the Chinese government.
Media gives big coverage to study that says climate change will cost trillions...
... but didn't give big coverage when the same study started getting questioned.
Court backs Calvin U over prof fired for officiating a gay "marriage"
A same-sex "marriage" is two people committing, for life, to live in rebellion against God. They are doing so to their own harm, and quite possibly their eternal destruction, should they keep to that commitment. How could this professing Christian have been confused about whether or not he should officiate such a ceremony? It'd be akin to officiating a ceremony where a pair of anorexics made a solemn vow not to eat again – why would anyone do that to them?
It's good news, then, to hear that Calvin University took a stand, and the courts backed them.
Trump (sort of) says, "The US should be more like Canada"
Canada's federal election results have, historically, been beyond questioning. With a scrutineer from each of the major parties overlooking the ballot counts, there have been as many as four tallies to check against each other – the Elections Canada result, but then also the Liberal, Conservative, and NDP counts. But as we move to more mail-in ballots and, municipally, we bring in electronic voting, what we're left with is a system that requires more and more trust from the voters because there is less and less transparency. We have only to look south of the border to see how badly that can go.
Now President Trump has made transparency an issue, with his demand for getting rid of electronic voting machines.
The Prodigal - Josiah Queen
Quite the peppy take on the Prodigal Son...
Today's Devotional
September 5 - All things in him
“… as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.” - Ephesians 1:10
Scripture reading:Revelation 21:1-27
Ephesians 1 takes us from the beginning of the world with our election in verse 4, all the way to the consummation of all things in verse 10. Today's scripture reading, Revelation 21, is often >
Today's Manna Podcast
Marriage and the Family No. 3
Serving #956 of Manna, prepared by J. VanWoudenberg, is called "Marriage and the Family No. 3" and is based on Ephesians.
