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Adult non-fiction, Book Reviews

Transgender to Transformed

by Laura Perry
2019 / 192 pages

This may not be a book for everyone. It’s a hard-hitting, at times overly graphic, account of one person’s struggle with transgenderism. While painful, it’s also a hopeful book because it peels away the layers of lies, deceptions, and mistruths commonly found in most media outlets. It’s most definitely a book for mature and discerning readers only.

Laura Perry, the author of Transgender to Transformed, grew up in a Christian community. Already at an early age, she felt trapped in her female body, and she eventually had her breasts cut off, and began living as a male. She soon become disillusioned with transgenderism. Rather than feeling free, she was bound to a growing snowball of lies and fakeness.

However, she did love presenting herself as a man and even thought she could be a “man of God” after she returned to Christianity. But God laid it on her heart that He does not make mistakes and it was her feelings that had to change, not His reality. Convinced she had to completely submit to God’s will, and acknowledging she could only do it by His power, she left her partner, her job, her fake identity as a man, and returned to God and embraced being a woman. In her words:

“When I left the lifestyle, I didn’t know if He would ever take away those feelings. But if I had to suffer with the feelings the rest of my life and feel like a freak in a body I hated, I was willing to endure it to serve Jesus Christ.”

A troubled childhood and youth

Already as a child Laura began to hate the body she was born in. A noisy, rambunctious extrovert in comparison to her quiet, obedient brother, she thought her mom would love her more if she was a boy. Her innocence was stolen when she was only eight years old, and this set her on a path of sexual promiscuity. Feeling that boys and men seemed to have all the power in a relationship, Laura fantasized about being a boy. Supremely angry at her parents and at God, and addicted to her self-centered lifestyle, she made a conscious decision to sin in every way possible.

As a teen, Laura struggled with her health, especially her monthly cycle. This made her jealous of men. Then, when her mom found nutritional supplements that helped improve her health, it didn’t change Laura’s attitude – she still hated her female system. In fact, she refused to take the supplements, causing her health to spiral out of control, and then she blamed God for her misery. Her ballooning weight made it difficult to find men interested in a relationship. Turning to pornography and casual sex left her feeling dirty, used, and broken and she wished she could become the boyfriend she so desperately wanted.

Life-changing decisions

As Laura drifted through life searching for happiness, she became certain that her life would improve if only she became a man. Desperate to escape the prison of her female body, she surfed the web. This was in 2007, prior to transgenderism becoming a buzzword, and when she first learned the term “transgender,” it opened a whole new world for her. Finding a support group for people who wanted to be the opposite sex seemed like an answer to prayer.

The first few years were a honeymoon period. Physically, the male hormones she started taking began to change her, and she was elated when strangers started seeing her as a man. Living as a man (renamed Jake), together with a biological male identifying as a woman (renamed Jackie), Laura was in love with her new identity.

Disillusioned with the transgender lifestyle

But over the next years Laura became severely depressed. A piece of paper now said she was a man, but the promised freedom had become a prison cell: clothes that didn’t fit, ongoing monthly injections, the feeling of living a lie. She was especially afraid of discovery when using the men’s restrooms. Laura started realizing she was never going to truly be a man, but she resolved to live her life in limbo rather than embrace her female reality again.

While summarizing Bible lessons for her mom’s Bible study group, she came to realize there was life in the Bible and that it wasn’t just an old-fashioned rule book. The Bible and God were becoming real to her, but she still clung to her feelings, convincing herself she had a birth defect, and that God intended for her to be a boy. But as she pored over the Bible over the next few years, Laura became more and more convinced of her sin of living as a man.

Then, while listening to a conservative radio show one day, Laura heard: “We are made in the image of God, and we can choose our behavior despite our feelings.” This cut her to the heart, and she began to admit to herself that she needed to repent. She realized that on Judgment Day, God would be calling her by name, and it would not be “Jake.”

Finally, Laura did the hardest thing she had ever done, even more difficult than her identity change eight years before. She left behind her male name, her partner, her home, and her job, and returned to her parents and church, as a woman.

Conclusion

In reading Laura’s story, young adults – and older ones – will realize that growing up in a Christian community won’t insulate us from transgenderism. Fifteen years ago, Laura had to intentionally search the Internet to discover the world of transgenderism and a support group. Now, rough estimates are that 65% of youth who change their gender identity are first introduced to this confusion by influencers on social media… without any prior struggles or thoughts about being the other gender.

Do you know someone struggling with feelings of wanting to be another gender? Show compassion – and tough love. Laura credits her family with being a lighthouse in her storm. They stood unwavering, refusing to affirm her feelings, and continuing to call her by her given name. Although she hated them for it at the time, she now knows it was the most loving thing they could have done, and she says:

“Despite the fact that I had rejected God and all the truth I had heard growing up in a Christian home and attending a Christian school, it was not in vain. Everything I had learned had planted the seeds that were just waiting to burst forth to life.”

Individuals truly struggling with their identity are often hurting. Pain may come from past abuse, or trauma can transform into self-love, with the desire to escape reality and put on a mask. This is in direct rebellion to our Creator. The Potter creates vessels for His use and purposes, but it is fallen human nature that rebels and says God must not have known what He was doing (but as we read in Isaiah 29:16: “…shall the thing framed say of Him that framed it, He had no understanding?”) In Transgender to Transformed, hurting individuals can find hope and help without turning their back on their family, their faith, and their community by self-creating a new identity.

Although Laura loved her life masquerading as a man, she quickly became disillusioned with the transgender lifestyle. Eventually she came to realize that breast amputations and chemical cocktails can never change gender: she could never become a man. More importantly, she could never call herself a true Christian without denying herself. This crushing reality brought with it a true struggle against self, and only with God’s power could she fight her fleshly desires and live as God created her.

Full Article

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Saturday Selections – May 24, 2025

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Apologetics 101

Forewarned is forearmed: Seeing through 5 common logical fallacies

Book Reviews

The Fallacy Detective

Thirty-Six Lessons on How to Recognize Bad Reasoning ***** Two young fellows, brothers Nathaniel and Hans Bluedorn wrote this book as a course in logic for the Christian home-schooling adherents. Why? Let them tell you: “We see a need for Christians to strive for a higher standard of reasoning. We believe God wants his people to become aware of their lack of discernment, and logic is an important part of the science of discernment. For instance, many Christians adopt beliefs and practice without properly evaluating the arguments which are used to support them. We need to rediscover the way of the Bereans, who searched the Scriptures daily to see if the apostles’ teachings were true (Acts 17:10-11). “As we grow older, we become more aware of how poor many people’s reasoning is. But we also need to realize how poor our own reasoning is. This is a humbling thought, and with it we embark on a journey towards higher standards of reasoning. We will never be as logical as the Lord Jesus Christ was, but we must work at it. “Besides just learning logic, we also see a need for a truly Christian logic. We want to take logic back from the unbelievers. Our challenge is to define good reasoning in a truly biblical way. Logic was not invented by a pagan philosopher named Aristotle. Logic is the science of thinking the way God thinks (more correctly, the way God wants us to think) – the way Jesus taught us to think…” This book is… This book is for all Christians… It is important that we learn our reasoning skills from a genuinely Christian worldview. This book focuses on practical logic… It teaches you to recognize the everyday fallacies you are confronted with in your work, in the newspaper, in advertisements, in listening to politicians, and also in our discussions with brothers and sisters in Christ. This book is self teaching... It is written in an easy-to-read style that reminds me a bit of the best of the …for Dummies books, but I can assure you, you’ll learn a lot and enjoy it while doing so. Two thumbs way up Supposedly this book was written for children and parents to use together, and there is no doubt that it could be an effective teaching tool that way. But it is much more than that. The first few lessons are easy enough and might lull you into thinking the book is just for children, but as you progress, you’ll enjoy the challenges of recognizing and refuting many more difficult fallacies. So the book is truly for all ages. Most of the lessons deal with a single fallacy, give an example or two, and end with varied exercises that sharpen your thinking processes so that you can solve them as they become progressively more difficult. The fallacies covered include many that are readily recognized by most of us, such as loaded questions, red herrings, weak analogies, and generalizations. But many are new to almost all of us. How many times haven’t you listened to a speech or read a newspaper article and thought to yourself, “there’s something wrong with that scenario, but I just can’t put my finger on it.” Learning to recognize a fallacy is also the beginning of being able to respond to it. In short, I heartily recommend this book on the Christian view of logic. It is suitable for anyone from teens to senior citizens; all that it requires is a desire to learn practical logic skills. It would also be a valuable addition to the curriculum of our Christian schools. “The Fallacy Detective” is available on christianbook.com...

Amazing stories from times past

On conmen and other masters of deceit

God made man upright, but they have sought out many devices (Eccl. 7:29) There are vagabonds and there are villains; there are crooks and there are victims; and sin and temptation are present in the hearts of all. Listen to the story of a man who stood behind an old woman just ahead of him at the checkout counter at his local supermarket. The woman was crying. She was well-dressed, although a bit on the shabby side. He tried not to pay attention but could not help but notice that she was in distress. Eventually compassion overcame him and he spoke to her, tapping her on the shoulder: "What is the matter? Can I help you?" She turned to face him, looking surprised, tears visible on her wrinkled face. "Oh, I'm sorry to have disturbed you," her voice, soft and genteel, awoke more pity in his heart, "I've recently lost my son. He died last month." "Oh, I'm so sorry," the man murmured. "The truth is," the woman continued softly, "that he worked here." She stopped to blow her nose, and the man thought of his own mother. "He worked here," the shaking voice went on, "and I would see him every time I bought my groceries." "It must be quite painful for you," the man replied, overcome with sympathy. "The most difficult thing," the bereft woman added, "is remembering that he would always wave to me after my groceries were packed and when I reached the door with my cart he'd say, 'Bye, Mom. See you soon.'" She bent her head and two tears rolled down her cheeks before she looked up at him again. "I don't suppose," she said tremulously, "that you would say, 'Bye, Mom', and wave to me after my groceries are packed and I reach the door, just to help me this first time?" "Of course, I will," the man agreed instantly. The woman's turn at the checkout arrived. The bus-boy packed her things and wheeled her cart to the door. At the door she turned and looked the man in the eye. He waved to her with his right hand and called out loudly, "Bye Mom. See you soon." This single act made him feel good inside and a bit emotional. He began unpacking his own items, placing them on the counter, and thought about how he should call up his own mother that very evening to ask how she was doing. Lost in thought, he was startled when the checkout girl told him the bill was more than $300 dollars. "You must be wrong," he said, "I didn't buy that much." "Oh, but your mother did," she responded with a smile, and instantly he knew he'd been had. Yes, there are crooks and there are victims, and evil resides in the hearts of all of us. When we hear questions like, "How do you keep from getting parking tickets?" and laugh at the answer "By removing your wipers," that is because there is something within us which resonates with getting the better of someone. A master of deceit One of the most infamous masters of deceit and trickery was a man by the name of Victor Lustig. Born in 1890 in Bohemia, now known as the Czech Republic, Victor was gifted with a brilliant mind. Part of an upper-middle class family, his father was the mayor of a small town, so small Viktor's future was, humanly speaking, rather secure. In school he studied languages, easily becoming fluent in Czech, German, English, French and Italian. Victor could have used these talents to become a wonderful teacher or diplomat. Instead, he opted for gambling, turning his abilities to billiards, poker and bridge. In his early twenties he went on pleasure cruises and cheated many gullible, wealthy people out of their money. However, when World War I put a stop to these cruises, he headed for the US. Giving himself the title of "Count," his devious mind conned many in the States out of huge sums of cash (including the gangster Al Capone). The story that really put the native born Czechoslovakian in the news occurred in 1925 when he was 35 years old. Lustig was in Paris at this time and he read in the newspaper that the Eiffel Tower was in great need of repair. The cost of fixing the monumental fixture seemed rather prohibitive. There was even a brief footnote in the article which mentioned that the French government was considering scrapping the tower as it might be cheaper for them to tear it down than to repair it. Upon finishing the article, Lustig's fertile and calculating mind literally saw huge sums of money floating by. His connections with other nefarious characters enabled him to acquire official French government letterhead giving himself the title of "Deputy Director-General of the Ministry of Mail and Telegraphs." He typed up letters in which he said that he had the authority to sell the 7,000 ton steel structure to the highest bidder and sent this letter to five leading scrap metal dealers in the city. He instructed the recipients of the letter to keep the matter secret as the public would most likely be upset about the demolition of such a landmark. All five scrap metal dealers showed up and Lustig carefully picked the one most apt to be his patsy: a man by the name of Monsieur Poisson. Poisson gladly paid a handsome amount of money for the privilege of obtaining the contract, and upon receiving it Lustig quickly retreated to Austria. Hearing no news of the swindle, he concluded that Poisson had been too embarrassed to have told anyone. Boldly Lustig returned to Paris and tried to sell the Eiffel Tower a second time. This time, however, the police were made aware of the swindle. The conman barely eluded authorities and was forced to flee to America. Ten years later, in 1935, after having flooded the US with counterfeit bills, and having cheated many more people, the Secret Service finally caught up with Lustig. They reacted to an anonymous phone call made by his mistress who was jealous because Victor was cheating on her. He was arrested and sentenced to twenty years in Alcatraz. Although he initially escaped from jail, he was re-apprehended and spent the next twelve years behind bars. A set of tips, known as the "Ten Commandments for Conmen," are attributed to Lustig. They are: 1. Be a patient listener (it is this, not fast talking, that gets a conman his coups) 2. Never look bored 3. Wait for the other person to reveal any political opinions; then agree with him 4. Let the other person reveal religious views; then have the same ones 5. Hint at sex talk, but don't follow it up unless the other person shows a strong interest 6. Never discuss illness, unless some special concern is shown 7. Never pry into a person's personal circumstances (they'll tell you eventually); 8. Never boast - just let your importance be quietly obvious 9. Never be untidy 10. Never get drunk There is accounting In 1947 Victor Lustig contracted pneumonia and died after a two-day illness. His last enemy, death, was not to be conned out of its prey. Having shunned God's commandments, and the One Who kept them perfectly, he had no place to hide. Although proficient in languages, he was forced to clap his hand over his mouth. Perhaps our lives do not compare with Viktor Lustig's life; perhaps our deeds shine when we hold them up next to his obvious deceitfulness; but we do well to remember that we ought to ...fear God, and keep His commandments; for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil. – Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 This article was first published in July/August 2014 issue under the title "Many Devices."...

Internet

Is TikTok the ultimate contraception?

The social media app that’s convincing youth that babies are boring, and other such lies. ***** A hundred years before the invention of the television, Danish theologian and philosopher Søren Kierkegaard wrote: “Suppose someone invented an instrument, a convenient little talking tube which, say, could be heard over the whole land … I wonder if the police would not forbid it, fearing that the whole country would become mentally deranged if it were used…” The prescient comment was part of his criticism of the daily press, specifically how the constant stream of news inflates the importance of momentary events in people’s minds. Imagine what he might have said about the evening news on television, once a literal “tube,” which Neil Postman criticized for making us all dumber. In the end, it is the smart phone, along with social media platforms like TikTok, that has finally fulfilled Kierkegaard’s nightmare. The ultimate “talking tube” that goes everywhere with us, the smart phone has proven to be particularly detrimental, especially to young people. The connection between social media use and depression, anxiety, and other mental health problems is now well-established, for all the reasons Kierkegaard foresaw. And now, as it turns out, social media platforms also make users less interested in having children. Recently, Finnish sociologist Anna Rotkirch published an article in the Berlin Review entitled, “The TikTok Baby Bust.” In it, she explains how the introduction of the app coincided with a rise in “anti-natalist values memes,” worsening mental health (especially for girls), and degrading social skills. Specifically, TikTok users became “more likely to embrace the idea that ‘I want to do other interesting things in life besides having a child.’” One way that TikTok discourages fertility is by portraying the childfree life as more fulfilling than parenthood. Another way is by portraying singleness as more fulfilling than marital life. The combination of the device, the platform, and the messages broadcast on them have, as sociologist Brad Wilcox remarked, “. . .proven to be the ultimate contraception.” Though few influencers will outright proclaim, “don’t get married or have babies, it’ll ruin your life,” the platform rewards certain messages. So, consumers consistently hear, subtly and quietly, that “life is about self-expression and public performance,” and “you need to be pretty at all costs,” and “sex is only for pleasure,” and “your fertility is an obstacle to your happiness,” and “there are already too many people on this planet.” I often ask parents and teachers what they would do if a creepy old man were walking around the school whispering awful messages in the ears of their daughters and students. Well, that’s TikTok in a nutshell. The messages common to the platform are damaging enough, and the medium only adds to its power and influence. In A Practical Guide to Culture, Brett Kunkle and I talk about the importance of artifacts in a culture. Any idea that influences or transforms a culture, for good or for bad, requires tangible things to enable the message. The Protestant Reformation would have never happened without the printing press. The sexual revolution would have never happened without the pill and porn. In the same way, the anti-natalism of our age is made possible by the smart phone equipped with social media. Platforms like TikTok make it possible to think about ourselves in radically disembodied ways, with a business model that relies on envy and addiction. The constant, unapologetic demand for screentime catechizes users to reject personal relationships, as if the opinions, experiences, and values of distant strangers selected by an algorithm matter more than the people in their own, real lives. So-called “influencers” are put on a pedestal, where they not only champion bad ideas but reward followers who imitate their lifestyles with the promise that they too can be famous. No wonder that over half of millennials report that their ultimate career goal is to be an influencer. In his book The Anxious Generation, Jonathan Haidt urged parents and educators to get smart phones out of kids’ hands. Exposing young people to the messages common on social media, on a limitless basis, behind closed doors, or during school is simply insanity. A cultural revolution as deep as the TikTok baby bust requires our cooption. Had Kierkegard seen the smart phone, he would have warned of it as well. He understood, as too few philosophers in his day did, that human beings are not brains on sticks. We are creatures of habit, body, and relationships, which means what we believe has a lot to do with what we do. If we are to effectively make the case for why marriage and family matter, why children are gifts from God, and why young people should prioritize these real-life relationships, it will require more than words. In this battle of ideas, we must grasp that the “convenient little talking tube” in each of our hands is one of the things deranging young minds today. For more resources to live like a Christian in this cultural moment, go to Breakpoint.org. This is reprinted with permission from the Colson Center....

Book Reviews, Graphic novels

The God Proofs: How Science Points to YOUR Creator

by Douglas Ell 2024 / 207 pages A blue square with legs, arms eyeballs and mouth, wants to prove to his red rectangle friend that God exists, and he offers up three separate "proofs." This is a fun educational comic, but problematic in that this initial set-up implies that the evidence for God is not patently obvious to all, which is contrary to what Romans 1:19-20 tells us is so. "...since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse." So trying to "prove" God's existence to an agnostic or atheist, is less about them having intellectual or logical objections, and more a matter of stubborn rebellion. God says someone who doesn't acknowledge His existence can only do so by suppressing the implications o everything he sees around him in God's brilliant creation. Apologetics – defending the faith – is less about debate, and more about declaring what's what. It's akin to the approach you'd take with a child who can't hardly speak because his mouth is too full, even as he protests he doesn't know anything about any missing piece of cake. We can't and shouldn't take his protest seriously. We need to understand that atheists and agnostics are liars more than doubters. But can we lie to ourselves, and so convincingly that we believe it? Yes indeed. We live in a time when folks are literally saying, with straight faces, that a 6'5" guy with a beard can be a girl, and this sort of self-deception isn't limited to folks with multiple degrees (though it does seem to find a particular harbor there). So there can be some benefit to, as Paul writes in 2 Cor. 10:5, demolishing "arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God." We can help the sincerely confused by helping them work through their self-deceptions. The book also pitches "Science" as the final arbiter of truth. But this makes an idol of Science, placing it above God. The scientific method is a great tool, but like everything else in our fallen world, it can be twisted by bias and fallibility. Have we mentioned that we humans are really good at lying to ourselves? With that in mind, this comic could be a great tool for helping the confused, and for our own encouragement, since this highlights some astonishing fingerprints God has left on His creation. The blue square offers up three proofs, but I'll touch on just one: "the numbers proof." The numbers proof highlights that all of life is built on incredibly complex "code" that could never have come about by chance. What's this code? DNA, and not only do we come with code, all of our cells come with miniaturized code - or DNA – printers. This numbers proof is built on the fact that you have "3.2 billion letters of DNA code in almost all of your thirty trillion cells." That's a lot of letters, and like the letters of the alphabet, they don't mean anything unless they are assembled in a precise order. Blue square goes on to illustrate that the odds of getting a particular order of even something as small as the paragraph just above - the one in bold - just by chance is beyond infinitesimal. "Suppose that every atom in the universe is also a blind chicken pecking at a keyboard. ...And suppose each of these atoms/chickens is typing at lightning speed: one hundred million trillion, trillion, trillion letters per second. .... If you all type for a trillion, trillion years, and don't take any bathroom breaks, you still have an almost unimaginably small chance...any of your atom/chicken friends would ever type this short phrase." There's much more to this odds argument, spelling out how it is more impossible than even this makes it out to be. So how is this a "proof" of God? Well, if chance and time can't make us, then the alternative is that we are the intentional product of a Supernatural Mind. Cautions There is, on page 120, a brief appearance of God as a grey-bearded white robed painter, painting canvases of DNA and animals He's designed. It is just the one panel, but why? Conclusion The comic format makes some otherwise complicated scientific information pretty accessible. I think any high schooler would be able to work through this, and the engaging format means at least some of them will want to too. These are engaging evidences, but we need to remember how to use them. Don't attempt to prove God's existence: proclaim it, and then use this material to show how God's creation shouts His Name too. It might seem a subtle difference, but it is a significant one. It's the difference between elevating Man's intellect, or glorifying God instead. So... a good tool for Christians, but not a book you should just hand out to unbelievers....

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Saturday Selections – May 17, 2025

Micah Tyler's "Praise The Lord" It ain't always easy following God, but His goodness is certain. The daily battleground we often ignore in our t...

Assorted

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Theology

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“Many people see the Sabbath or the Lord’s Day, as an infringement of their personal liberty – a day that God has taken from them, instead of a ...

Theology

Will animals go to Heaven?

What happens when animals die? The question of whether animals exist in heaven has been debated for centuries. Do people share the same spirit and aft...

RP’s 10-day screen-fast challenge

How many times are you scrolling on your phone or tablet each day? Do you have any idea? What pulls in your children most: books, games, physical activity, or a screen? Christian homes, including seniors, aren’t immune from the addictive nature of screens. Although screens and digital technology can be a great blessing, we have a very hard time keeping them in their proper place. But we want what should be our priorities – family, friends, and faith – to remain our priorities, don’t we? So enough talk. It’s time to act! The challenge Are you, or is your family, willing to go 10 days without screens and/or social media? Do you have the ability to function without them? It is one thing to say so, and another to do it. A 10-day social media and screen fast will open your eyes to the power that our devices have on our lives, and on our family’s lives. It will provide a window of time to experience what life is like without them. This break can also provide a fresh opportunity to very deliberately decide how you and your family will utilize these devices moving forward. It may be fun to invite another person or family to do this with you. If you are willing to give this a try, encourage your friends, care group, or others to do the same. A few tips Commit. Don’t allow yourself to make exceptions, even if you are having a hard day. For example, just because you are at someone else’s home doesn’t mean you can enjoy screens again. If your fast includes screens, but you still need screens for basic functions that are essential, ensure that you are only using your tablet and phone for those functions. For example, if you need a phone for directions, don’t take the opportunity to scroll the news. If you need a computer at work, or to write a report for a committee you are on, don’t let yourself go to other websites or play an online game. Turn your devices off and hide them. Take the TV off the wall. Make them difficult to access. Log out of your social media accounts so that it isn’t easy to open them. Move the icons of your apps so that the social media apps (including YouTube) are hidden. Come up with a plan: whenever you find yourself wanting to reach for a screen or open your social media, what will you do instead? It doesn’t have to be hard. Perhaps say a prayer, take a drink of water, try to memorize a verse (keep some verses on a piece of paper in your pocket), do a set of 10 jumping jacks, or read a couple of pages of a book you’ve been meaning to get to. Have alternatives waiting and ready for you and your children: books, magazines, art supplies, a soccer ball, a walk to the park, etc. Invite accountability: let loved ones know what you are doing, and ask them to check in on you regularly to see how it is going. Tell them not to let you off the hook! Don’t read this and conclude a screen-fast challenge is only important for youth or young adults. The results We would love to hear how this goes for you and what impact it had on you and your family. Please send the editor a note. Or send us a good ol’ fashioned letter via Reformed Perspective Box 3609 Smithers, BC V0J 2N0 We look forward to hearing from y’all, and sharing the results!...

News

Saturday Selections – May 10, 2025

Gray Havens' Ghost of a King A lyric video seems a good idea for this, one of their harder-to-understand songs. A little mystery then, accompanied by a wonderfully haunting melody... Jamie Soles on the Genevan tunes " highlight the male voice. Men can lift their voices and sing these songs. They cannot do this with almost any modern music. Even the folks who have rediscovered the gospel of grace, and who make songs about it, sing in a feminine voice. I have sat and listened to whole services in Reformed Baptist circles, in Charismatic circles, in modern Mennonite circles, in Bible Church circles, where men were never allowed to lift their voice above a G. Women’s voices dominate. Not so with the Genevans...." Defending Jesus' divinity on the back of a napkin If you're talking to Jehovah's Witnesses, or any Arians, you can sketch this argument out on a napkin. A dyslexia-friendly Bible edition? I did not know such a thing existed – might this be just the version for you, or someone you know? Tolkien's "take that!" to Shakespeare Did you know Tolkien wasn't the biggest Shakespeare fan? As Harma-Mae Smit explains, a couple scenes in Lord of the Rings are Tolkien's go at one-upping what he thought was something lame from the Bard's Macbeth. Penguins are cool but not cold (9 minutes) Penguins survive in the coldest temperatures on earth. How do they do it? They are built for it, from the ground up, and then operate together with their God-given instincts! ...

Magazine, Past Issue

May/June 2025 issue

WHAT'S INSIDE: If businesses tithed / Pierre Poilievre: sometimes access comes with too high a cost / Being thrifty and finding hope / A principled (and practical) guide to tithing / 5 things I'd like my kids to learn about money / God love a cheerful giver: 6 ways to restore the joy of giving / How to lock your phone from pornography... 101 / A Church response is needed to stop the porn crisis / RP's 10-day screen-fast challenge / Signing on the dotted line? A creative approach to boundaries in dating / Becoming Chinada? - a look at our country, from the eyes of a recently arrived Chinese family / Books: education littles will love (including "5 on our feathered friends") / 7,000 pages in, and now this? Another popular series, Keepers of the Lost Cities, takes a turn... in book 11 / Write down your story: sharing your history is sharing His history / What kind of Prime Minister could he still be? 5 things you might not have known about Pierre Poilievre / Upheld: a widow's story of love, grief & the constancy of God / Morning and Evening: a teen offers up a different sort of book review for Spurgeon's classic devotional / 3 on comforting suffering Christians / Stockholm Syndrome Christianity / Get to know John Calvin / Christian films for families / Come and Explore: Bald Eagle / Don't follow your heart / A word for a new mother... as given at her first baby shower / Our family's trip to the Ark / Ruth de Vos is quilting kids and creation / Wise and Innocent / Coming soon: RP's merch store! / and more! Click the cover to view in your browser or click here to download the PDF (7 mb) ...

Politics

Who is Mark Carney?

After winning the leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada, and then leading his party to victory in April’s federal election, Mark Carney has become Canada’s 24th Prime Minister. So, who is he? Mark Carney may well be the most credentialed Prime Minister in Canadian history, despite never having held elected office. His CV includes: Graduate of Harvard (1988) and Oxford (1993) Analyst at Goldman Sachs (1990-2003) Senior associate deputy minister for the Department of Finance (2004-2007) Governor of the Bank of Canada (2008-2013) Governor of the Bank of England (2013-2020) United Nations special envoy for climate action and finance (2020-2025) Special advisor and chair of the Liberal task force on economic growth (2024) Vice chairman at Brookfield Asset Management (2020-2025) Board member of the World Economic Forum (2010-2025) Most Canadians know Mark Carney as “a central banker/climate change guy,” but we want to explore Carney’s political, religious, and moral beliefs that will likely guide him as Prime Minister. Mark Carney’s political beliefs In his 2021 book Value(s), Carney isn’t shy about what he thinks is the duty of the state: “The most fundamental duty of the state is to protect its citizens.” That sounds reasonable, but the question is: protect citizens from what? He elaborates further: “An expansion of state duties has occurred over the centuries. The government’s role as protector now extends well beyond shielding citizens from violence and direct injury to cover areas as varied as promoting financial stability, protecting the environment and maintaining data privacy. Much of this growth has been a response to risk-averse populations that expect ever greater protections from government authorities. Moreover, the duties of governments today reach well beyond their traditional roles as protectors to include the provision of basic services, the promotion of welfare and the fostering of culture.” Compare this with a Reformed view of the duty of the state. With Article 36 of the Belgic Confession, we confess that God “wants the world to be governed by laws and policies so that human lawlessness may be restrained and that everything may be conducted in good order among human beings.” These twin responsibilities can be boiled down to public justice and public order. Although both concepts could be stretched to include all sorts of activities like providing education, welfare, or healthcare, Reformed Christians usually maintain that public justice and public order are relatively narrow responsibilities. A third of Carney’s book is dedicated to discussing the “triple crises of credit, Covid, and climate.” In each of these cases, he frames the government’s responsibility in terms of protection. When it came to the financial crisis of 2008, the government’s job was to protect people from financial instability. In 2020, the government had to protect citizens from a pandemic. Today, the government needs to protect its populace from climate change. Carney uses just these three examples, but there is hardly a hint in the book that he considers there to be many limits to what the state can or should do. That doesn’t necessarily mean that Carney thinks the state needs to be huge or swallow up the other institutions in society. At numerous points in his book, Carney recognizes that businesses and markets are efficient and indispensable in a modern society. He recognizes that markets – not the state – are the engine of the economy. But if businesses and markets are the engine of the economy, Carney believes the state should be the steering wheel, guiding the generative potential of the economy in what it perceives is the right direction. As he puts it, governments must “use regulatory policy to frame the future direction of the economy.” Carney gives this power to the state because only “the state embodies collective ideals such as equality of opportunity, liberty, fairness, regional solidarity and caring for future generations.” In his view, business and other private institutions will always be selfish and self-seeking. Only the state is selfless and altruistic. Religious/moral beliefs Carney is Roman Catholic. In 2015, a British newspaper called The Tablet called Carney the most influential Catholic in Britain. A 2021 Wall Street Journal article noted that Carney “goes to Catholic church at least once a week.” He also sits on the Steering Committee of the Council for Inclusive Capitalism at the Vatican. Although he didn’t write Value(s) from an explicitly Christian perspective, his faith does peek through in his writing. For example, the book begins with a story of his interaction with Pope Francis at the Vatican when various Catholic leaders gathered to discuss the future of the market system. The book ends with quotations from a New Year’s Day service that he attended in 2021. Sandwiched between these stories are occasional references to Scripture, such as Jesus’ warning that “everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more” (Luke 12:48) and “as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them” (Luke 6:31). Carney uses religious worldview language to describe faith or beliefs in markets. He also discusses medieval Catholic canonists like Thomas Aquinas as they attempted to incorporate their faith into their economic thought. Sprinkled throughout the book are words related to Christianity, such as faith, vocation, divine coincidence, meditation, the common good, and the unborn. But perhaps where his faith is most on display is in the overarching theme of his book, in how government, markets, and society must do more than assign economic value (in the sense of worth) to everything but also recognize the importance of values (in the sense of virtues) in building our society. Carney recognizes that the moral foundations of our society are critical and highlights seven principles that he believes public policy needs to take into account: “Dynamism to help create solutions and channel human creativity; Resilience to make it easier to bounce back from shocks while protecting the most vulnerable in society; Sustainability with long-term perspectives that align incentives across generations; Fairness, particularly in markets to sustain their legitimacy; Responsibility so that individuals feel accountable for their actions; Solidarity whereby citizens recognize their obligations to each other and share a sense of community and society; and Humility to recognize the limits of our knowledge, understanding and power so that we act as custodians seeking to improve the common good” (8-9). A Catholic in name only? Having a Catholic as Prime Minister will likely raise the hopes of some Reformed Christians that the federal government might finally take action on social issues. After all, the Catholic Church is opposed to abortion, euthanasia, same-sex marriage, and medical transitioning. Wouldn’t it follow that a Catholic Prime Minister would follow the teachings of his own church? Unfortunately, that isn’t likely. Ten of Canada’s preceding 23 Prime Ministers have all claimed to be Catholic. Yet, their Catholic faith didn’t guide their political decisions. Catholic Pierre Trudeau legalized abortion and homosexuality. Catholic Paul Martin legalized same-sex marriage. Catholic Justin Trudeau legalized euthanasia. With respect to Mark Carney, the Catholic Register concludes that: “his track record betrays a stronger alignment with the mores and allegiances of global markets than with Catholic sensibilities… Carney is undoubtedly a Catholic of a different stripe than the Trudeaus and all the prime ministers who came between… but the wait for a prime minister who will address some of the more glaring divergences of Canadian culture from a culture of life may yet be a long one.” Forward with hope As Mark Carney takes up his task, Canada will be watching. As Christians, let’s also be praying for him during this transition, and for all our leaders that they would have wisdom and strength, and ultimately that they would recognize their place under the God of heaven who gave them their position. This is reprinted with permission from ARPACanada.ca where it was originally published under the title: “Besides being our new Prime Minister, who is Mark Carney?” Photo credit: Shutterstock.com/Harrison Ha...

News

Saturday Selections – May 3, 2025

Be Present Reformed rapper Propaganda with a message that'll hit everyone hard: "I guess you could say I've been through a divorce now – me and ...

Economics

Work is Worship

Done right, it is an expression of God’s character and beauty **** There we sat under the starry skies, talking faith, family, fun and business. A...

Adult non-fiction, Internet

13 quick thoughts on "Screen-Smart Parenting"

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Ruth de Vos is quilting kids and creation

Textile art is perhaps not the typical career choice for someone with both science and engineering degrees, but Australian artist Ruth de Vos says the...

News

Saturday Selections – April 26, 2025

Christianity & global warming (10 min) Some Christians think global warming is a scientific, and not a theological, question. To that, Jeff Durbin replies: "I'll approach it as an atheist...As an atheist with an atheist worldview that believes that all of us are cosmic accidents and that our ancestors were bacteria and then into fish and then to African apes into where we are now, I have a question: Why should humans care? Right? Not a theological question? Really?" Your phone habits aren't just about you "The worst thing about collective action problems is that even those who are most resolute in opposing the trend have no choice but to either join it or suffer its effects anyway: if I decide to stubbornly hold out as the one person in the room not bending over my phone, I’ll only have the pleasure of looking at the tops of everyone else’s heads." Ontario's top court rules against a COVID-era gatherings ban "This is the first major court ruling that found COVID-era restrictions on gatherings unconstitutional..." Coming away cold "'The reason we come away so cold from reading the Word is, because we do not warm ourselves at the fire of meditation.' We must slowly ponder it, we must diligently apply ourselves to it, we must let ourselves meditate upon it until we have grown not only in information but in wisdom." The Golden Rule's 3 impacts on a business's bottom line So many employees hate their jobs. Changing that might be hard but it isn't complicated: follow the Golden Rule. Taking down the arguments for tariffs (15 min) Trudeau, Carney, and Poilievre have all agreed to impose tariffs on the US in response to Donald Trump's tariffs. So what's the other side (Prov. 18:17) you aren't hearing? As British economist Daniel Hannan notes, "Just because somebody else is shooting himself in the foot, the worst possible response is to take aim and blow off a couple of your own toes in order to show them." He notes free trade, rather than tariffs, always makes countries richer. So why isn't free trade more popular? While Hannan says free trade is unpopular, he doesn't go too deep into why. One reason might be because it runs up against our sinful instincts. Those in power seem incapable of, or too arrogant to, consider a problem might be made worse via their active intervention. And citizens facing difficulties likely wouldn't accept their government doing nothing – tariffs might not make economic sense, but hitting back makes great political sense in the midst of an election. In the secular world, government is a God-substitute, and the world wants their god to act. ...

Assorted

If businesses tithed

Christians are familiar with the Biblical principle of tithing, and support many kingdom causes as a matter of course. They apply the principles of Galatians 6:10 with their talents, time and treasure: “So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.” Followers of Jesus Christ are known for their enthusiastic support of their local church, Christian education, organizations helping the homeless and poor nearby and in other parts of the globe. We are giving, and we can see God blessing those gifts. So, what might the Lord do if Christians who own their own businesses or are shareholders in a venture with others, found ways to apply these same principles in their business operations? Retained earnings Often in the first years of establishing a company, funds can be tight, and any profits that are made need to be invested back in the business to pay down debt, or to purchase new equipment, or to hire more staff. (These profits that are not pulled out of the venture, but are used by the company are often called “retained earnings.”) Sometimes, a new firm can operate for years without paying out profits to its owners, but meanwhile, the company is growing, owns more assets than when it was starting up, and itself is now worth far more than it was when it was just an idea percolating in the minds of its founders. When Christian owners or shareholders are rewarded with a dividend payout from the business, it’s relatively easy for them to make an individual decision about giving back to the Lord from these earnings, just as they would decide when receiving a regular paycheque. All these good gifts that we receive are really the Lord’s, and for us to “give back” from our first fruits should be a given. In Proverbs 3:9-10, Solomon reminds us to: “Honor the Lord with your wealth, and with the first fruits of all your produce; then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine.” But what about the wealth that has been building up inside the venture, the “retained earnings” referenced above? In Luke 12:16-21, the Lord Jesus warns against covetousness and greed with the story of the rich fool: “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things that you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.” Stewards, not owners The rich man’s declaration of what he will do with “my grain and my goods” tells us how he thought of what he owned – it was all his, and not the Lord’s. That’s a point that the Lord Jesus makes again and again – not to think of the possessions God has entrusted to me as mine. All of it is the Lord’s, and all of it is only lent to us here on earth, to use wisely, and give back to Him (Luke 12:42-48, Matt. 25:14-30, etc.). And leading into this passage, He also warns us against thinking that one's life consists “in the abundance of the things he possesses” (Luke 12:15). Although it’s not an exact analogy, the retained earnings inside our companies can function like the grain and goods in the rich fool’s barn – our company’s growth can be a temptation to measure ourselves by what we have built – so we need to be very careful how we view them. So, how can we resist that pull? Firstly, we should consider all of it the Lord’s, to be used for His kingdom and His glory. This does not mean we can’t invest in new equipment, or purchase additional property for our companies, or keep a prudent amount of funds available for potential emergencies. All of these are good business practices. But we should have in the forefront the idea that all of this is the Lord’s: just like the servants entrusted with the master’s property in Matthew 25, we will also be asked to give an account by our Master for how we managed what He lent to us. Secondly, just as we financially support kingdom causes by giving from our paychecks and dividends, our companies could do the same with their retained earnings and with other resources they have built up. I was exposed to this idea of “corporate tithing” years ago by other Christian business owners. At their annual shareholders’ meeting, where they reviewed the past year’s performance, the shareholders were given an update on how much, and to whom the company had donated in the past twelve months, with the expectation that it would add up to a tenth of the retained earnings from the previous year. This built-in accountability helped the company’s management be intentional about their charitable giving, because there was a specific expectation around a measurable quantity – ten percent of last year’s retained earnings is a clear expectation, and one that can be easily communicated and measured. So how about it, business owners? Could a principle like this be adopted in your business? Can you encourage the company you work for to consider more than nominal support of causes that promote the Kingdom of God? May we be encouraged also by Paul who writes in 2 Cor. 9:6-7: “Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” Just imagine Business tithing brings with it all sorts of opportunities and possibilities. Imagine a business tithed from their profit of $100,000: they could cover the cost of a part-time special needs assistant at their local Christian school. If they tithed from $1M, they could provide the means for a church or non-profit to hire a full-time employee, or do a renovation, or fund a medical clinic in the third world for a year. Imagine doing this consecutively over 10 or even 40 years? It really adds up. It could cover the cost of an entire orphanage etc. Another way businesses can tithe, beyond money, is by hiring people who are otherwise not likely to get a job, or a great job. It might be people with special needs, or who are in a place in life where they really need help/grace. Employment is so meaningful. But if we are only thinking about the bottom line, we won't be keen to take them on. While this editorial focused primarily on the financial portion of a company’s giving back, there are many other ways that businesses can contribute to their community with their employees’ and owners’ time and abilities. If you have suggestions for good practices that encourage good stewardship in these areas, we’d be delighted to learn more! Send us your thoughts. Marty VanDriel is the chief executive officer of two small businesses in Washington State, voluntary treasurer for three non-profit organizations, and assistant editor of Reformed Perspective....

Parenting

A word for a new mother…as given at her first baby shower

I feel singularly ill-equipped to offer an exhortation on motherhood at a baby shower to anyone, but especially to you Victoria, for a couple of reasons. The first is pretty obvious – what could I say to you about mothering that you haven’t already gleaned?!? I mean, I guess I could tell you what I am doing: I watch your mother and try to do everything she does. The second reason has more to do with my own journey of motherhood. Especially in their younger years, my children were well known for having obscure and generally terrifying medical issues (I guess technically they still do, but we were hospitalized way more back then). So I learned early on that when the young mothers would gather, as young mothers are wont to do, to chat about their young broods, I needed to keep quiet. If little Johnny is suddenly refusing to eat peas, which he loved just last week, hearing that one of my kids once did the same thing was like committing conversational homicide – I could knock a whole room into instant silence simply by participating! I was like the dread maternal specter of every mother’s worst nightmares (because if it happened to her kids, it could happen to mine!!)... and now, here I am, speaking for your baby shower! That’s what you call ironic. In contemplating all this, though, it hit me that God has uniquely prepared me to speak to at least one facet of motherhood that you will face, that all of us do – because someday, sooner than you may realize, you are going to have to hurt your child. That’s right, in the fast-approaching days before you, you are going to have to cut a newborn’s fingernails. There you are, with this bundle of perfection and magic in your arms, the joy that is set before you that got you through the pregnancy and the labor and the delivery – she finally came, and your life is not the life you had before. You have her fed and warm, fresh as a daisy and probably wearing one of the cute outfits you were given at a shower from people who love you, and you observe that those teeny tiny fingernails look alarmingly like the claws of a Bengal Tiger and so you reach for the most cruel and inappropriately named of all baby accoutrement – the safety fingernail clippers. You have already conquered nursing, for Pete’s sake, and you’ve been cutting your own nails for years! What could go wrong? And then you clip the first tiny pointer finger claw... and blood flows everywhere. And you are horrified. God gave you this absolutely perfect bundle of covenant joy and you broke it!!! She was so trusting and now, somehow, even with her little eyes squeezed shut, you sense that she is looking at you like the Benedict Mother that you already feel yourself to be. And this is only the beginning. Because it won’t be the last time that you cause your child pain. Even if you are blessed to never have to hold her down for an IV insertion or a breathing treatment, you will still have to faithfully discipline, you will have to disappoint, you will have moments of holding her back or pushing her forward, of dealing with her sin... and dealing with yours. Sometimes you will be the cause of her hurt, because mothering sins creep in everywhere and they spill on everyone. But your mother taught you well, and I know you will teach this sweet child well, also. In every hurt, you get to show her where to run. You are about to embark on a new existence, where it is no longer only you running to the cross of Christ with every wound, every disappointment, every burden, every fear – now you run with your hands full. Now, you bring her with you. The world will give you tips and techniques and affirmations, a million empty little ways to try and deal with what they call “mom guilt.” But you, beloved mother-to-be, you don’t need that. Your guilt, and mine, has already been dealt with. Resist the temptation to try and pry that guilt off the cross, and instead, fall on Jesus. Every time. Look to Him for the courage to cause hurt when you need to, and the grace to repent and believe when you cause the wrong hurts. In John 15:4, Jesus exhorts us to abide in Him. If I may, I’d like to close with a bit of Charles Spurgeon: “Communion with Christ is a certain cure for every ill. Whether it be the woodworm of sadness or the smothering impact of worldly treasure, close fellowship with the Lord Jesus will take bitterness from the one and excess from the other. “Live near to Jesus, Christian, and it is a matter of secondary importance whether you live on the mountains of honor or in the valley of humiliation. Living near to Jesus, you are covered with the wings of God, and underneath you are the everlasting arms. Let nothing keep you from the hallowed communion that is the unique privilege of a life hidden in Christ... “You have a difficult road before you; Make sure, pilgrim, that you do not enter without your guide. You have to pass through the fiery furnace; do not enter unless, like Shadrach, Meschach and Abednego, you have the Son of God to be your companion. You have to storm the walls of your corrupt heart: Do not attempt it until, like Joshua, you have seen the Captain of the Lord’s host, with His sword drawn in His hand... Keep close to the Captain of your salvation, lean upon His strength, ask Him to refresh you by His Spirit, and you will stand before Him at the end, without spot or blemish, and at peace.”...

Pornography

How to lock your phone from pornography… 101

A taste of Into the Light Ministries’ TechSafe series ***** “Always lock the doors.” As a boy, this teaching served me well. We lived in a place with frequent break-ins, so the danger was real and present. We only had four doors in our home so “Always lock the doors” was an easy command to follow. Teaching us this was part of what my parents did to protect our home. And protecting the home front is what loving parents do, right? But in 2025, there are new kinds of dangers. The most dangerous doorway into your house is no longer through your front entrance – it’s in your pocket. It is in our children’s pockets and hands. And there are often hundreds of doorways to pornography on your phone. It takes time and energy to find, monitor, and lock all of these. I’m here to help. In this article, I will show you how to lock down your phones, protect yourself and your children, and live with a phone to the glory of God. Here are eight key steps that will make your devices far safer. Step 1: Learn the phone Think about how often you use your phone. Have you ever asked what a phone is? Have you ever asked how information gets to your phone? Simply put, a smartphone is an information machine. Any time you use your phone to watch a video, listen to music, or read an article you are receiving video and audio information. But information can come into a phone through Wi-Fi, data, Bluetooth, the phone's camera, and other means. Each one of these represents a unique doorway into your device and, therefore, your home. And since smartphones can fit in your pocket, they are designed to be personal and private. Statistics show that most pornography is accessed on a smartphone. What does this mean? You need to get to know your device. You do not need to be a tech wizard, but you do need to be generally familiar with it. Step 2: Control Wi-Fi The main way information enters the phone is through Wi-Fi. Every app on your phone uses Wi-Fi to access the internet to obtain whatever information it needs, whether that's Spotify to stream music or Google to find a new recipe. We sometimes think of the internet as something that is in our home, but it’s not. The internet is way out in the wide world. We access the internet through our internet service providers (ISP), and we connect to the internet providers through Wi-Fi. How does that Wi-Fi get to our devices? A router. A router makes Wi-Fi so that all your devices can connect to the internet. Without a router, your Wi-Fi could not travel from the wire in the wall, through the air, and into your phone. Your wireless devices couldn’t connect to the World Wide Web. The router creates a Wi-Fi signal and carries the internet service through the Wi-Fi signal to every part of your house so that all your devices can connect to the internet. This access to the internet can be used for good, such as searching for a new recipe or for a used car on Facebook marketplace. It can also be used for evil, such as searching for pornography. Normal routers carry all of this information to your phone indiscriminately of what is good and what is evil. A smart router, on the other hand, will monitor, filter, and (if necessary) block this content before it even sends it out over the Wi-Fi. This smart router will let that recipe reach any device that searches for it, but it might block Facebook for some of the younger teens' phones while allowing it for the parents’ phones. Best of all, it will block pornography for all devices, entirely. So your second step to locking doors on your phone is to buy a smart router like Bark or Gryphon to have powerful router-level monitoring, blocking and filtering tools. If you want more information on routers, we have an entire video on this in the TechSafe router series. Step 3: Install Covenant Eyes Wi-Fi-level router monitoring systems are amazing, but they only work while on Wi-Fi. When a phone is not in your home or not on your Wi-Fi network, these smart routers can’t filter anything for you. This is why an accountability system that stays on the device at all times is essential. So step three is to install accountability software to monitor, filter, and block content on the smartphone device. We recommend you install Covenant Eyes. This accountability software helps you keep your kids or yourself accountable to what is viewed online. It even sends reports to any ally of choice. Covenant Eyes enables you to block specific websites or apps that you don’t want your child browsing on, ranging from explicit websites to even benign websites that may waste time. To learn how to set up and install Covenant Eyes on your phone, go to CovenantEyes.com, and they will walk you through the entire process. You can try it out and get your first month free by using the code: INTOTHELIGHT. Step 4: Assess apps In steps one through three, you have increased your security for the whole house, but there are many doors still left open on individual devices. The most common danger points show up in a phone's apps. Apps are just roads to get you to the information you want to view, receive, or send. While some apps can be monitored by accountability software, some cannot. An app with open access to the internet that is not monitored, filtered, or blocked is simply too risky to leave unattended. It is vital to go through all the apps on the phone and delete any that are unnecessary or could be a road to access explicit content. If you see apps that you or your child don’t need, then delete them! There are also app categories like social media, dating, or streaming services that are very dangerous to have on a device. Unless you or your child have demonstrated significant levels of self-control, these apps should not be on the phone. They often provide direct access to explicit material through their internal browsers. Other app types like gaming or messaging can be dangerous for other reasons, like getting sent inappropriate pictures, being groomed by a predator, or seeing sexually provocative ads after a game. This is why every app must be assessed and reviewed before leaving it on your or your child's device. It will take some serious time to work through each app, testing links, looking for chat boxes, watching for ads, and assessing any other potential danger points, but it is worth it! Step 5: Set up parental controls Finally, step five is to set up parental controls. Many apps and phones have parental controls built into the phone – these are good and powerful tools. See our video on video smartphones to learn more about these parental controls and to find links to the websites of the specific devices you use. What do parental controls do? Why are they helpful in protecting yourself and your home? They keep you from losing all the work you did in step four. Without parental controls on the device level, locking down the app store or play store, the deleted apps can just be redownloaded! Most phones have parental or screen time controls built in that allow you to disable the app store with a password that only you know. You can also set time limits for games or communication apps, set age-level content restrictions, block in-app purchases, and set device-specific downtime. For example, if you don't think that your children should be on their devices past 10:00 pm, you can set that up through parental controls on their devices. Many of these parental controls can be found in the settings portion of the phone itself, or have their own accompanying app that can go on your phone, so you can monitor, block, and filter your child's phone from afar. Remember, these parental controls are not designed for tech wizards, they are made for you. Step 6: Consider other devices If you’ve not guessed it already, smartphones are complex and very difficult to lock down. They are very powerful devices, which make them powerful to accomplish good… but also evil. Because of this, you might want to question whether or not you or your child needs a smartphone. Step six, consider “dumbphones” and “child phones.” On the outside, dumbphones look very similar to smartphones, but their operating system is hyper-minimalistic. They have black and white screens and only a handful of features like calling, text, GPS, and a few other basic functions. That's it. Many adults love dumbphones because they are distraction-free. But because they are so limited, they are also a safe option for your child’s first phone. It's literally impossible to surf the internet on a dumbphone, unlike some old-school flip phones. We recommend looking at the LITE Phone and the WISE Phone. A quick Google search will bring you to their website, and you can also get a small discount on your order when you use the code: INTOTHELIGHT. If the temptation to pornography or to doomscroll Instagram is an active struggle in your life, then you should consider a dumbphone or child phone. Step 7: Change rhythms and rules While all of these “tech” solutions are essential to making a smartphone safe to use, they are only one-half of the conversation. You need to think through household rhythms and rules that will bolster your ability to keep an eye on things and protect yourself. If your children want a particular app, allow them to make a case for it, and then evaluate together the dangers and benefits of the app. Here is a list of ideas to get your brain working on the patterns you might want to put in place for your home. While this list isn’t comprehensive, it is a good place to start. No phones in the bedroom: personal devices need to be used in a common area in the house. Device curfew: All devices in the home get turned off at nine or ten at night. You can also have all devices charging in the kitchen overnight, even friends' devices. All apps, software, and media need to be approved by you, the parent, or your spouse before being downloaded or watched. You, not your children, own the devices in the home, and you have the authority to check on those devices as needed. Let your children know that you might look at their apps or search history from time to time. If there is a particular way you want your children to act with their smartphone, make sure you model that yourself. If you have children, invite your older children into the conversation. These ideas should just be a start to get your mind thinking. Ultimately you know what's best for your home. Spend some time in prayer asking the Lord for wisdom as you set up rules for your house. If you are married, make sure you do this with your spouse. Step 8: Rinse and repeat because it’s worth it Step eight is to rinse and repeat. Imagine if you only locked your house’s doors one day in the year. You might say to yourself, “Alright, everything is safe and locked up!” Of course, this does not account for the other 364 days of the year or the regular unlocking that happens over time. The same is true for smartphones. This “how to” is not a one-time, fix-all solution. Rather, it’s a roadmap to a lifestyle change. And thankfully, God addresses the very work you’re doing here. In Matthew 5, Jesus teaches us how to handle these temptations to sin – radical danger calls for radical measures. He says, “If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell.” Of course, Jesus does not want you to literally tear your eyes out. Rather, He wants you to take the necessary steps to protect yourself from sin. Where temptation is present, radical measures are necessary. In fact, the way Jesus describes the dangerous result of indulging in sin – which is the eternal judgment of God – makes radical measures appear normal, even necessary. In fact, to Jesus losing an eye is nominal compared to losing your whole body. If you are tempted to sin with your phone, Jesus is calling you to tear out your right eye by locking down the doorways to sin on your phone. Be encouraged, Jesus never calls His people to do something without providing the grace to do it. Conclusion Whew. That’s a lot. We understand how overwhelming this can be, but be encouraged – the fact that you are reading this article shows that you have the desire to make changes and protect your family. May God bless your efforts to secure your home, raise children of integrity, and glorify Him supremely. Where can I get more help? This article is a taste of what we’re doing at TechSafe, a tutorial series for protecting every device in your home. The help doesn’t stop with just your phone; we’ve also tackled your computer, tablets, Smart TVs, gaming consoles, routers, VR headsets and more. And we have a separate tutorial for each one. So now you don’t have to be a tech wizard to protect your home! Whether you are a parent wanting to safeguard your family, a struggler seeking to cut off access, or a pastor looking to equip your church, this series is for you. These tutorials will equip you to safely live with and enjoy your technology to the glory of God. Let us walk you through this complicated process on our website, where we will provide everything you need to know about every device that you own. It’s all at IntoTheLightMinistries.ca/TechSafe – we will ask you for your name and email, but that’s it. It’s all free....

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