Transparent heart icon with white outline and + sign.

Life's busy, read it when you're ready!

Create a free account to save articles for later, keep track of past articles you’ve read, and receive exclusive access to all RP resources.

White magnifying glass.

Search thousands of RP articles

Articles, news, and reviews that celebrate God's truth.

Open envelope icon with @ symbol

Get Articles Delivered!

Articles, news, and reviews that celebrate God's truth. delivered direct to your Inbox!



Magazine, Past Issue

Mar/April 2025 issue

WHAT'S INSIDE: Christians don't retire / Free video series to protect families from porn / Tariffs are terrible economics: why Canada shouldn't hit back / Aged saints can tell you what your peers don't know or won't say / Planning for retirement / More time to pray: Martin & Christina Veenstra on retirement in your nineties / Necessary Endings: finding the courage to let go in business, church, and family / "Can You Build it?" contest winners / Life in bloom: the gift of flowers / A century of cinema for your family: 20+ films to take you and your kids through the 100 years of feature films / Euthanasia changed the abortion battle / Why write? / How to write... for Reformed Perspective / Fiction for tween and teen boys / Chang Shen: grace to persevere / Are there little green men? / Come + Explore God's majestic microverse / and more!

Click the cover to view in your browser
or click here to download the PDF (13 mb)



News

Saturday Selections – Mar. 29, 2025

Propaganda techniques (10 minutes)

This 1948 or 1949 movie highlights seven different propaganda techniques, and to be forewarned about them is to be forearmed. This could be great for a high school English class. Click the title above for the full 10-minute color presentation, or watch a 7-minute B&W abridgment below.

News or narrative – when the truth-tellers can't be trusted

What with images and video that can be faked so quickly and so skillfully, the biggest problem with our news consumption might be the speed at which we imbibe. When we just hit headlines, or read whoever the algorithm puts in front of us, we can't know if they are trustworthy – we can't know that this is true. So... slow down.

The slippery slope of theistic Darwinism

Howard Van Till was a physics professor at Calvin College who used to be "the pre-eminent example of an evangelical Christian scientist in the 1990s who defended Darwinian evolution."

Until he stopped being Christian.

Or even a theist.

Doctor Google, influencer moms, and the local Church

"I recently saw some Christian influencers offer a course on marriage, though they had been married for less than two years. They had paltry experience and undoubtedly little wisdom, but they did have a big platform. And many were eager to learn from them. God has carefully constructed his church so that, as much as we may benefit from those who are far off, we are likely to find the greatest and most credible help nearby. Your church has many seasoned saints who have spent their whole lives following the Lord and whose godliness is on display each and every time the church gathers."
- Tim Challies

A mid-life assessment

A pastor's wife discovers with age comes new:

"...temptations to impatience, ungraciousness, pride. This had surprised me then, but I now see this is true not just in ministry. I used to imagine I’d have to fight the same besetting sins my whole life, and while some old struggles still remain, I’ve found I need to also be vigilant for new ones."

Rend Collective: Build Your Kingdom Here

A song and a prayer.


Today's Devotional

April 2 - The psalm of the cross

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” - Psalm 22:1a

Scripture reading: Psalm 22:1-8

These are words we all know. And we especially know them because they became the words our Lord and Saviour cried out when he hung upon the cursed cross as the ultimate sacrifice for all of our sins.

We may well wonder how David’s experience >

Today's Manna Podcast

Manna Podcast banner: Manna Daily Scripture Meditations and open Bible with jar logo

Psalm 1 Two ways to live: Meditations from the Psalms

Serving #800 of Manna, prepared by Rev. Cody Swaving, is called "Psalm 1 Two ways to live" (Meditations from the Psalms) and is based on John 10:10; Psalm 1.













Red heart icon with + sign.
Drama, Movie Reviews

Saboteur

Drama / Mystery 1942 / 109 minutes RATING: 7/10 This is World War II as seen from the other side of the ocean. Barry Kane is one of the hundreds of employees at an airplane factory in Glendale, California, and when the plant suspiciously burns down, he becomes one of the chief suspects. Barry knows he's innocent, and thinks the real saboteur might be a man named Fry, who he bumped into just before the fire started, But Fry doesn't seem to exist – the factory never employed anyone by that name – which makes Barry look even more suspicious. With the authorities looking in the wrong direction, Barry decides he has to track Fry down himself and takes off. He has only one key clue, and to make it even more difficult, police departments across the country are now on the lookout for him! Love-interest Patricia Martin is a girl he meets along the way, and whose blind uncle somehow knows that Barry is trustworthy, no matter what the police might think. Patricia isn't quite so sure, and seems as likely to turn Barry in as to help him. Together they follow the clues and cross the country, uncovering a network of fifth columnists – Nazi sympathizers and agents amongst the highest echelons of American society. But now that they know who's responsible, will anyone believe them? This cast does a solid job, and while there's no one you'll recognize, the director is a name you'll know: Alfred Hitchcock. He always brings the stark, dramatic shots, of course, but also a bit of oddness. His quirkiness shows up in this picture when Barry and Patricia hitchhike a ride on a circus caravan and hide out among the circus sideshow performers – a midget, bearded lady, set of Siamese Twins, and more – who end up arguing it out about whether they'll help the pair. And this being an Alfred Hitchcock film, we can expect the director to make a brief appearance on screen – look for his cameo just after the one-hour mark. Cautions The caution here is also a feature: this is a film for discussion, not just consumption, and the conversation will be of a Romans 13 sort (or more specifically, Rom. 13:1-7) – when should we, and when shouldn't we listen to the appointed authorities? Barry is fleeing the police because if he doesn't, the true saboteur will get away, and because the police, however unwittingly, are aiding the fifth columnists. But while his motivation is clear, some of the people who choose to help him are defying those same authorities for tenuous reasons. Patricia's uncle, for example, trusts Barry based on little more than gut instinct. Conclusion This was already well into development before Japan's 1941, Dec. 7 bombing of Pearl Harbor pushed the United States into World War II. That might be why the focus was on the homefront – American soldiers weren't fighting in the trenches yet when the script was being written.Regardless, Hitchcock wanted his audience to know the fight was already going on, behind the scenes, right on American soil. This is an enjoyable film, but not the sort you'd pitch folks who aren't already up for black-and-white films. Start them on other World War II fare like Casablanca, The SeaHawk, and  Desperate Journey instead, and if they love those, then they'll be more inclined to enjoy Saboteur for the great war film it is. ...





Red heart icon with + sign.
Parenting

Chores are good for our kids, and the earlier the better

Something parents have long suspected but few children have believed has been verified by research: chores are good for kids. The research that backs this up isn’t new. According to a Wall Street Journal article by Jennifer Breheny Wallace, these findings came in 2002 when Dr. Marty Rossmann of the University of Minnesota analyzed data to discover that: "young adults who began chores at ages 3 and 4 were more likely to have good relationships with family and friends, to achieve academic and early career success and to be self-sufficient, as compared with those who didn’t have chores or who started them as teens." Yet, as Wallace notes, a survey of US adults in 2014 found that while 82% grew up doing regular chores, “only 28% said that they require their own children to do them.” Why? It seems like parents are making piano lessons, and homework, and dance recitals and hockey practices the priority, and letting their children slide when it comes to pulling their weight at home. We think these others things are important, but they don’t compare to the joy of having a helpful daughter or son who becomes a responsible young lady or man. One other reason we tend to put off training our children to do chores is because the payoff for parents is very long term. A three-year-old who helps empty the dishwasher is going to cause much more work than she saves (especially when she drops a dish every now and again). But then we need to remember that the point of getting them to do the dishwasher is not to help us, but to help them become good helpers....