Magazine, Past Issue
The May/June 2026 issue is here - with your chance to vote for your favorite Your Turn entry!
Our Your Turn contest had a fantastic result, with more than a hundred entries. This issue we're featuring the six winners and 19 other contenders, and we're asking you to vote for your favorite. The winner of the "Fan Favorite award" will get $1,000, so be sure to click here to vote and let us know who it should be (deadline for voting is May 31).
You can read all the written entries by clicking on the magazine cover below, but for the audio and video entries you'll need to click here:
This month's highlights:
- Your Turn contest results: Check out the top 25 entries for the Your Turn contest.
- Vote for your favorite Your Turn contribution. Pick your favorite and let us know before May 31.
- The bestest picture books: Looking for great reads for your littles? We've got you covered, with a half dozen great recommendations!
- Your kids' favorite section: Come and Explore is all about camels this time.
Choose how you'd like to read:
- Flip through the Digital Edition for a classic magazine experience
- View the PDF directly in your browser
- Click here to download the PDF (7 mb) to read offline
INDEX: Your Turn contest winners and finalists / When the church stops singing / Why family businesses still matter (and why the church should care) / Interview with an artist: Sheila Van Delft paints refreshment for the soul / How to plan for your next chapter as a senior / That which bubbles up to the surface / No jail for man who admits to killing his partner / Alberta introduces law to restrict euthanasia / Basil Rathbone's Sherlock Holmes / The very bestest picture books / Health-adjusted life expectancy plummets / Man most responsible for global population collapse has died / Aussie senator shows us how to do it... and how not to do it / US VP thinks UFO accounts involve demons instead / When they went after Barry Neufeld / Perfect planet: It all had to just right for life on earth to survive and thrive / Come and explore: the camel / The limits of the "two-books" metaphor / Executive director update: hold us accountable to our non-negotiables / The next time you're grumpy / Updating a "classic" / On logic / Sola Opus Dei / What is the purpose of your home / Can God make a square circle? / Diversity / On patience / O Canada / Man vs. beast / Simply and truly... / 4 of a kind / The government can't run our lives
News
Radicalized and reformed? Someone we know tried to kill the president.
The news traveled in Reformed circles like wildfire on a Saturday evening: the young man who tried to kill President Trump and members of his cabinet was one of our own. 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen, who traveled across the country by train from California to Washington DC with a plan to murder dozens, was a long-time member of Grace United Reformed Church in Torrance, California.
How could a young man raised in the church and living under his parents’ roof have become so radicalized that he would attempt such a heinous, violent crime? Allen’s written manifesto, sent out to family members and friends moments before his attack, gives some clues of what type of news and opinions he had been consuming:
“I am a citizen of the United States of America. What my representatives do reflects on me. And I am no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes.”
National Public Radio reported on statements Allen’s sister made to the Secret Service and Montgomery County police. She said he was involved with a “No Kings” anti-Trump protest recently, and was influenced by a group called “The Wide Awakes,” a self-described
“open source network who radically reimagine the future… Disruptive, visionary, accountable… We believe liberation is a game and all of us can play now and forever.”
It should be noted, however, that “The Wide Awakes” also declare that “we can emancipate ourselves without violence.”
No doubt we will learn more about the type of influences that radicalized Allen as he stands trial on two charges related to the assassination attempt. We can wonder how someone who sat under faithful preaching of the Gospel could ignore all the teachings of the Bible and turn to violence and hatred. Because Allen seemed to believe terrible things about President Trump and members of his cabinet, he apparently thought he needed to take justice into his own hands, without a trial, without a judge or jury. From his manifesto:
“Turning the other cheek when *someone else* is oppressed is not Christian behavior; it is complicity in the oppressor’s crimes.”
Today’s social media and online world is full of conspiracies, outright lies, and malignant forces. Algorithms are designed to feed us more and more of whatever we’ve shown an interest in, and we may find ourselves over time believing the lie instead of the truth. May we guard our hearts and minds, and those of our children, and look for ways to encourage others in our church family to free themselves from harmful influences.
Photo of Cole Allen is from an April 25 post to TruthSocial.com/@realDonaldTrumpDonald, the US president’s own Truth Social account.
Today's Devotional
May 7 - A genuine faith
1 Peter 1:7 ...so that the tested genuineness of your faith–more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire–may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Scripture reading: Hebrews 12: 1-29
Genuine faith is at the very heart of Christian life. We are saved by faith, we live by faith and without >
Today's Manna Podcast
Anchor your faith in Jesus Christ
Serving #1200 of Manna, prepared by P. Holtvluwer, is called "Anchor your faith in Jesus Christ".
