Family

It’s been heart-breaking for me to watch the disintegration of the family in the West over the past six decades. The family is the bedrock of any society, and in our culture, it is on life support.

Recently a political convention in the United States highlighted that disintegration, and a trip to the nation of Mongolia showed me a better way.

What can the Western World learn from Mongol families?

First, let’s take a look at the satanic strategy in the Western World to annihilate the family unit.

Gary Randall of the Faith & Freedom Network alerted us recently to an LGBT Global Summit that was held within the Democrat Convention in late July. You can read his article here.

One of the leaders, activist Kevin Jennings, formerly with the Obama Administration’s Education Department, said at the gathering, “The future of the LGBT movement hinges largely on the out come of this election.” Another leader, the director of GLAD, told the global gathering, “Let’s dream bigger for a second and let’s think about all students–all students, not just LGBT students.”

That means aiming at all families. 

They left their summit with four goals for 2017—all of them aimed at children and the American family.

• Passing the Equality Act (adding LBGT fully to the anti-discrimination laws).
• Defeating state and local laws designed to protect the religious freedom of believing families.
• Going to court relentlessly to mainstream immorality.
• Partnering with other groups such as Black Lives Matter to de-stabilize the United States. 

I was stunned when I heard that a major political party–the Democrats–would host such a gathering during their political convention. Both the political parties used to be pro-family and pro-kids.

Now, the Democratic party wants all American children and families to be indoctrinated in sexual atheism. Similar movements are happening all across Europe and the West.

It’s important to re-emphasize that “the Alphabet Community” (they just keep adding letters) is nothing less than a diabolical scheme to confuse and destroy families and children.

This demonic delusion has different aspects to it, including 1) Making fornication, adultery, homosexuality, pedophilia and bestiality “normal” and basic “sexual rights,” 2) Destroying the identity of God’s creation of male and female via feminism, masculine impotence and transgenderism (did you know that New York State now has 31 offerings for a person’s gender–not just male and female), and 3) Destroying male and female roles, and with it, the family structure.

This movement to destroy the family began in the 1950s, picked up speed in the 70s when abortion began killing millions of babies, and now has exploded in the Obama years with his relentless pursuit of destroying biblical morality in every form.

Immorality hurts families and kids the most.

A few weeks ago, I was in the nation of Mongolia. It is a land-locked country between Russia and China with a population of about 3 million (another six million Mongols live in northern China and one million in Russia–a consequence of the spoils of World War II).

By Western standards, Mongolia is a poor nation where half the people live as nomads tending their animals and moving their gers (tents). The other half are being urbanized and brought into the modern world. The capital city of Ulaanbaatar now houses half of the nation’s population, some living in apartments and modern dwellings while others reside in ger slums with a hope of upward mobility.

Mongolia is historically a Buddhist nation that saw communism forced down its throat during the Bolshevik Revolution. Today it is a free nation with a small-but-growing Christian population.

During my visit to the land of the Khans (Ghengis Khan is their ancestral hero who created the world’s largest land empire in history during the Middle Ages), I enjoyed three days of Mongol family gatherings during their independence celebration–called Nadaam. During Nadaam, all Mongol families gather with their extended families–much like American do on the 4th of July–to eat and celebrate.

I enjoyed two such gatherings on a mountainside on the outskirts of UB (Ulaanbaatar) and another closer to the Russia border in the countryside. The second gathering was a wild five hour drive across the Mongolia steppe that reminded me of a 300 minute Indiana Jones ride! Much of Mongolia has no roads–just paths across the prairie, around mountains and through streams. There are no street signs or lights–just trails that go in every direction.

On the way home from the remote family gathering, my host showed me an amazing intersection of old and new. I couldn’t figure how he was navigating from the middle of nowhere back to the capital city of UB. He whipped out his phone and said he was just “following my GPS.” The robotic voice kept telling him, “Turn left at this mountain.” “Angle right here.” “Cross the stream there and go straight.”

What an incredible blend of old and new!

Even, more incredible: the beauty and orderliness of the Mongolian family.

When we arrived at the first family “barbeque” on a mountainside near UB, I noticed that the thirty-odd family members, most of whom were children and teenagers, all knew what to do without anyone giving directions. They understood their roles:

• The younger children began gathering sticks and branches for the fire.
• The older teenagers and men began making the fire and set up the camp.
• The younger girls and women began unloading the vehicles and preparing the food.
• The older women arranged and prepared the meat (which would be boiled in a large pot among hot rocks, potatoes, and carrots)–kind of a large, outdoor pressure cooker.

After the basic food preparations, the children played games and adults sat on blankets and talked among themselves (I was the only person there who spoke English as a first language–and few spoke it at all). Teenagers constantly helped the younger kids, and all the children wanted to hold the babies and take them everywhere.

It was a beautiful display of the love of family and children.

At one point the entire clan gathered around a one-year old boy (who had never had a haircut), and the men in the family took turns cutting a lock of hair (Mongol tradition–non-religious), blessing the child and giving him money. Once the child saw that each hair trim was bringing him some dough, he gladly went around to all the men and held out his head and his basket!

After this wonderful celebration of the first haircut, they asked me to pray a blessing over the young boy. All thirty participated with enthusiasm.

After the meal was cooked, I was amazed at how everyone knew their roles in serving and eating the meal. The younger girls served the food, the boys the drinks, the older women prepared the metal plates, the oldest in the group (including me) were honored with canvas chairs to sit on–and everyone enjoyed each other’s presence for hours–passing the babies and younger kids from lap to lap.

The Mongol families not only seemed to love each other deeply–they knew their roles in the family structure. It was a magnificent relational symphony to watch.

After three days of enjoying this interaction, twice near Ulaanbaatar and once in the northern countryside, I was smitten with the beauty of Mongol families living up to their God-given design:

1.  The men did the hard, dirty work and protected and cherished the women.

2.  The women used their grace and skill in cooking and providing for the their families with an amazing flair for hospitality and encouragement.

3.  Teenagers respected the adults and served in their appropriate roles–the boys knowing their jobs and the girls flourishing in theirs.

4.  All of them loved and doted over the little ones. Children were their greatest gift.

5. Nobody needed to be told what to do. For generations, first from a Buddhist background and now growing into a Bible-centered one, they clearly understood the difference between male and female, older and younger, the importance of teamwork, and the gift of new life.

It brings great sadness to my heart when I ponder that the Western World once knew these same basics of family and is foolishly throwing it away:

• We’ve changed the 5000 definition of marriage and are lost in gender confusion.
• We kill a million babies a year, and prefer pets to newborn lives.
• Our teenagers prefer machines to younger brothers and sisters.
• We don’t understand God-given roles and responsibilities and instead just demand rights.

We may be the most powerful civilization in history, but right now we’re also the most foolish.

The loss of family cohesion has happened in our lifetime. We’re listening to the satanic voice, following its lead and losing the power and beauty of family.

Let’s learn from the Mongols.

And let’s work hard for a revival of healthy families in every corner of God’s world.