How Do You Change a Nation? Lessons from Mongolia
I’m in the last few days of an extensive trip to Asia. This morning I’m writing from a third floor apartment in the heart of Ulaanbaatar–the capital city of Mongolia.
If you’re having trouble picturing where Mongolia is located, think of China to the south and Russia to the north with Mongolia sandwiched in between. I’m actually only a couple hundred miles from the Russian border and Lake Baikal–the world’s biggest freshwater lake that contains one-quarter of the earth’s fresh water supplies.
Everything is big in this part of the world. Big sky; Biggest population in China; Largest land mass in Russia. Today I’m surrounded by rising apartment buildings and commercial structures, exploding across the landscape of a city that didn’t exist one hundred years ago.
Mongolia is on the front lines of change in the world. How do you change a nation from a land of poor nomads to the highest GDP on earth?
A Bit of History
I first came to this fascinating land in 1997, invited by my former pastor and his wife, Steve and Donna Watkins, who were part of the first wave of Christian missionaries who came to serve in this land after the fall of the Iron Curtain.
What I found in 1997 was five cities that the Russians had created to help control the population after both the Bolshevik Revolution of the 1920s and the dividing up of the spoils of World War II in the late forties. In 1921, the Russians armed the Mongols to kick out the Chinese–their historic enemies. After the Second World War, China absorbed two-thirds of the Mongolian population into its borders–now nearly six million people in what is now called Inner Mongolia.
The rest of the Mongol population–now three million people–were left to Russian influences in the north. When I was in school, the nation was called Outer Mongolia. Today, Mongolia’s capital of Ulaanbaatar contains nearly half of the country’s population, a quarter live in the other cities, and a quarter live in the “countryside” where they still dwell in gers and herd sheep, goats, cattle, and horses.
When I first set foot in UB in 1997 (Mongol shorthand for Ulaanbaatar), the streets were empty of cars, the only colors were the paint of the Russian buildings, and taxis were dirt cheap and plentiful.
The people were very poor. At that time the average Mongol made $20 a month.
Actually, it’s amazing that Mongolia even existed in 1997. In 1904, some European journalists visited the nation and concluded that Mongolia would cease to exist in twenty years.” Why? Because at that time they were extremely destitute, a Buddhist nation, and 40% of the Buddhist monks were homosexuals with rampant venereal diseases stalking the land and birthrates plummeting.
Then the Russians swooped in, destroyed most of the Buddhist temples, dismantled the monasteries, and created the first Mongol cities. They also installed communism as the new religion.
Due to that latter fact, when I arrived in the late nineties, I often spoke against what the communists had done. Atrocities had been committed. But one day a Mongol pastor pulled me aside and told me that my perspective was too narrow. He believed that God had used the Russians to bring the people into cities and civilization where they could hear the Good News of Jesus Christ.
It’s hard to evangelize a nation of nomads.
So I humbled myself, did so more homework, and continued to serve in this nation that seemed to be rising from the dead.
Mongolia is going through vast changes as are many other developing nations around the world. How do you change a nation? Here are some of my observations.
Encourage Liberty
The first thing that changed in Mongolia was a birth of freedom–in government, economics, religion, family life and many other areas. It has not been an easy road, and for years the governing powers swung back and forth between the upstart “Democrats” and the “Reformed Communists.” But over twenty years now, the forces of freedom are becoming more and more established.
The current leaders of the nation are “Democrats.” Just last month, the people once again held elections and more freedom-loving people were elected to guide Mongolia into the future. There are many pitfalls ahead–and nations can always return to bondage. But Mongolia stands a chance of becoming a long-standing free and thriving nation.
Last week we transported two hundred kids to a camp in the mountains–a beautiful place called Shonkhor–a camp to which we had brought a team in 1997. The roads are so bad that you have to travel the final 10 kilometers by military truck, which nearly got stuck in the mud and swells. I told the kids that this final leg to the camp was a “10K Indiana Jones ride times ten for free!”
Fifteen years ago we were not able to share the Gospel openly at Shonkhor because the communists still controlled the facilities. In 2012, the general over all the camps welcomed me profusely and gladly took our money (!) to hold a totally open camp. We preached the Good News and young people gave their lives to Christ.
What a difference freedom makes.
Support Free Enterprise
Mongolia was very backward only thirty years ago. When freedom came, people began to start businesses and large corporations began to form. As in all entrepreneurial exercises, especially when you have no experience or history, there have been many false starts and steps forward and backward.
But twenty years into liberty, Mongolia is a changing nation. The colorful signs of free enterprise are everywhere and shops and malls and businesses have burst forth across the country. Today, many Mongols can rise out of poverty to live a prosperous life. Some are being left behind, but there is still hope to raise the entire nation out of economic misery into the blessings of freedom.
I have many friends here, who in the 1990s, had no water, heat, apartment, a refrigerator, or even the basics that we take for granted in the developed nations. That has now changed for many of them. It is unbelievable how many apartments are being built and how many cars now clog the streets (another problem they need to solve ).
Right outside my apartment window sits a huge crane where another modern apartment building is going up. I think “cranes” are the greatest landmark in Ulaanbaatar right now! They are everywhere because a backward nation is moving into modern life.
Mongolia’s GDP in 2010 was an exceptional 6.4 percent. In 2011 it astonishingly rose to 17.3 percent and in the first quarter of 2012, it still stood at 16.7 percent–one of the highest in the world. Mining companies are now thriving in the nation where vast amounts of resources have always existed but were never used for the people. The couple I’m staying with have a daughter who will be given a piece of land by the government (which happens for all newborns here). They will use the land to build a summer house.
Mongolia could become a thriving industrial nation in the 21st century. Free enterprise can raise many boats in a nation that allows it to flourish.
The Growth of the Church
I know I’m biased, but the greatest engine of change in Mongolia is people coming into a living relationship with Christ which expands their faith, hope, love and character. In 1980 there were no followers of Jesus in the nation. Zero. Today, there are nearly 150,000 (five percent of the population) in hundreds of churches.
I spoke in the largest church in Mongolia last Sunday on the Fourth Wave of Missions–the great tsunami of love that God is bringing to the world. The Mongolians shouted out at the end of the message, “We are the Fourth Wave.” It was a beautiful sight.
The next week we took hundreds of kids to camp. Days later, a team left from the church to do missions work in the western side of the nation. The Mongolian Church has set a goal to grow to 10% of the population by 2020. After that, we are encouraging them to raise their vision to one-third of the population by 2050.
South Korea did it–and so can Mongolia.
Much of the growth is simply answered prayer. The Mongolians are a praying people. As I write, a group from the church is spending hours praying at a Korean retreat center. In 2012 the Mongol churches have committed to 24/7 prayer for the nation for the entire year. God will not disappoint them.
And they are catching a vision to share their faith in other nations. At our various events we hosted believers from other Central Asian countries including a team of fourteen from Inner Mongolia. They realize this is the first time in history they are a part of the global mission force. At the present time, Mongolia is in the top ten worldwide of missionary sending nations per capita. The Mongol Church is growing its world vision.
The followers of Christ are also doing a number of things that are crucial to changing a nation:
- They have a solid vision for discipleship. People are not just “saved” and left on their own to figure it out. In many churches they have good structures of follow-up, cell groups, and personal discipleship that help new believers grow in their faith.
- Family life is becoming more Christ-centered as they learn to apply the teachings of Jesus to every area–marriage, raising children, and ministering to extended families. Many people in Mongolia are alcoholics (left-over baggage from the communist era). Through the Church, people are finding freedom in Christ as family members point the way out of bondage.
- Most of the Mongol churches have experienced the power of the Holy Spirit which has created vibrant and culturally relevant worship forms, gifts of healing and other miracles, and a trust in God’s power. In many cases, the missionaries did not bring this emphasis to Mongolia. But the Holy Spirit did. A nation filled with shamans and demonic powers needed the power of God to overcome them. He is giving it in abundance.
- For the first time in their history, Mongol believers are learning to take their faith into all the arenas of life: government, education, business, the media, the arts and sports, and science and technology. They are understanding that the principles and ways of God bring blessing to all of life. For example, when you run a business with Christ-like integrity, honesty, and service, then that business can flourish more than one filled with corruption and greed. I know Mongol believers in sports, business, and industry that are rising to “disciple the nation.” This is one of the great hopes for Mongolia’s future.
I leave Mongolia in a few days, but I am excited about what lies ahead. Many people still live in poverty and despair compared to other nations on earth. The road before them will not be easy.
But nations can be changed when freedom comes through the Good News of Jesus.
Please pray for Mongolia to rise to greatness in Christ. And work to see the same results in the nation where God has placed you.
A Step Backward for Economic Freedom
“Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty“
Last night I spoke to a large gathering of young people in Hong Kong–a new generation with a longing for freedom. Half of the audience was from mainland China.
This Asian generation understands the need for liberty and is ready to pursue it in the nations of the world. They also understand that freedom comes through Christ (2 Corinthians 3:17) and his principles being taught and lived out in government, education, economics and culture.
The Heritage Foundation puts out an excellent annual report on the state of freedom in the world. Where I am in Asia, freedom is rising. Back home in the North America and Europe, liberty is eroding and corruption is increasing through the tyrannical ascendancy of big government.
Ed Feulner’s article below paints the picture well. May we wake up and see a rebirth of freedom. RB
A Step Backward for Economic Freedom
Ed Feulner – Heritage Foundation
The world economy is in trouble, and governments are making things worse. Here’s the story, right out of the pages of the 2012 Index of Economic Freedom, published Thursday by the Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal:
“Rapid expansion of government, more than any market factor, appears to be responsible for flagging economic dynamism. Government spending has not only failed to arrest the economic crisis, but also—in many countries—seems to be prolonging it. The big-government approach has led to bloated public debt, turning an economic slowdown into a fiscal crisis with economic stagnation fueling long-term unemployment.”
The new index documents a world in which economic freedom is contracting, hammered by excessive government regulations and stimulus spending that seems only to line the pockets of the politically well-connected. Government spending rose on average to 35.2% of gross domestic product (GDP) from 33.5% last year as measured by the 2012 index.
Most of the decline in economic freedom was in countries in North America and Europe. Canada, the United States and Mexico all lost ground in the index, and 31 of the 43 countries in Europe suffered contractions. They ought to know better. These are the very countries that have led the world-wide revolution in political and economic freedom since the end of World War II. But now, weighed down by huge welfare programs and social spending that is out of control, many governments are expanding their reach in ways more reminiscent of the 1930s than the 1980s.
How about the U.S., historically the country more responsible than any other for leading the march of freedom? Under President Barack Obama, it has moved to the back of the band. Its economic freedom score has dropped to 76.3 in 2012 from 81.2 in 2007 (on a scale of 0-100). Government expenditures have grown to a level equivalent to over 40% of GDP, and total public debt exceeds the size of the economy.
The expansion of government has brought with it another critical challenge to economic freedom: corruption. The U.S. score on the index’s Freedom from Corruption indicator has dropped to 71.0 in 2012 from 76.0 in 2007. That’s not surprising, given the administration’s excessive regulatory zeal. Each new edict means a new government bureaucracy that individuals and businesses must navigate. Each new law opens the door for political graft and cronyism.
There are some bright spots. Economic freedom has continued to increase in Asia and Africa. In fact, four Asia-Pacific economies—Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand—top the Index of Economic Freedom this year. Taiwan showed impressive gains, moving into the index’s top 20. Eleven of the 46 economies in sub-Saharan Africa gained at least a full point on the index’s economic freedom scale, and Mauritius jumped into the top 10 with the highest ranking—8th place—ever achieved by an
The 2012 index results confirm again the vital linkage between advancing economic freedom and eradicating poverty. Countries that rank “mostly unfree” or “repressed” in the index have levels of poverty intensity, as measured by the United Nations’ new Multidimensional Poverty Index, that are three times higher than those of countries with more economic freedom.
Countries with higher levels of economic freedom have much higher levels of per capita GDP on average. In Asia, for example, the five freest economies have per capita incomes 12 times higher than in the five least free economies. Economic growth rates are higher, too, in countries where economic freedom is advancing. The average growth rate for the most-improved countries in the index over the last decade was 3.7%, more than a point-and-a-half higher than in countries where economic freedom showed little or no gain.
Positive measures of human development in areas such as health and education are highly correlated with high levels of economic freedom, and economically free countries do a much better job of protecting the environment than their more regulated competitors. When you actually look at the performance data, it turns out that the “progressive” outcomes so highly touted by those favoring big government programs to address every societal ill are actually achieved more efficiently and dependably by the marketplace and the invisible hand of free economies.
Unfortunately, most of the world’s people still live in countries where economic freedom is heavily constrained by government control and bureaucracy. India and China, with about one-third of the world’s population, have economic freedom scores barely above 50 (a perfect score would be 100). In a globalized world, both countries are benefiting from the trade and investment liberalization that has taken place elsewhere. But sustained long-term growth will depend on advances in economic freedom within each of these giants so that broad-based market systems may develop.
The Index of Economic Freedom has recorded a step back over the last year for the world as a whole. It was only a small step, with average scores declining less than a point, but the consequences have been severe: slower growth, fiscal and debt crises, and high unemployment. The biggest losers have been the economies in North America and Europe, regions that have led the world in economic freedom over the years.
The 2012 results show the torch of leadership in advancing freedom passing to other regions. Whether this is a long-term trend remains to be seen, but it is clear that if America and Europe do not soon regain trust in the principles of economic freedom on which their historical successes have been built, their people, and perhaps those of the world as a whole, are in for dark days ahead.
(Please also check out a good prescription for change at Solutions for America.)
The Dread Roberts Decision: Let The Cultural Civil War Begin
“This decision I would go as far to say is lawless. Absolutely lawless!“
Constitutional attorney Mark Levin
The Supreme Court’s stunning 5-4 decision on June 28 upholding Obamacare–with Justice John Roberts siding with the liberals of the Court–left me with the same sadness and bewilderment I felt when I watched terrorists fly planes into the World Trade center buildings and the Pentagon.
Those attacks came from without, and signaled America’s weakness before the forces of evil and the removal of God’s blessing and protection from our land. Last week’s decision by the Supreme Court came from within–and again shows how vulnerable we are to the tyranny of our leaders and lack of corporate character.
Just as the wrong-headed Dred Scott decision led to the election of Abraham Lincoln and beginning of the Civil War, I believe this dreaded John Roberts Court decision will lead to a cultural civil war through election day and beyond.
Are you ready to join the fight? And will this momentary curse on our nation actually become a blessing in disguise?
Here are some lessons from the infamous July 28 Supreme Court decision.
1. Your taxes are going up unless you vote to repeal Obamacare.
The high court’s ruling leaves in place 21 tax increases in the health-care law costing more than $675 billion over the next 10 years, according to the House Ways and Means Committee. Of those, 12 tax hikes would affect the middle class, families earning less than $250,000 per year, including a “Cadillac tax” on high-cost insurance plans, a tax on insurance providers, and an excise tax on medical device manufacturers.
For the average America family, it will amount to a seven percent increase. “This is a clear violation of the president’s pledge to avoid tax hikes on low-and middle-income taxpayers,” said a statement from the panel, which is chaired by Rep. Dave Camp, Michigan Republican.
According to a Wall Street Journal economist, 75% of the new taxes will be squarely on the now-squeezed middle class (people making less than $120,000).
2. This is another Dred Scott, Roe v. Wade moment. The Supreme Court of the United States simply got it wrong on this monstrous bill–with vast ramifications, just like the aforementioned bad decisions. I’m actually proud of Justice Anthony Kennedy in this particular case. He read a ten-minute scathing dissent on behalf of Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Antonin Scalia. It called Roberts’ reasoning “feeble” and “verbal wizardry.”
“[W]e cannot rewrite the statute to be what it is not,” the four Justices write. “[W]e have never—never—treated as a tax an exaction which faces up to the critical difference between a tax and a penalty, and explicitly denominates the exaction a ‘penalty.’ Eighteen times in (Obamacare) Congress called the exaction a ‘penalty.'”
Other constitutional lawyers chimed in about Roberts feckless opinion, labelling it “incompetent,” “laughably inane,” “facially ridiculous,” “mis-read and re-wrote,” “tortured logic, ” and “none of it can pass rational scrutiny.”
The only positive was Roberts’ punting the fraudulent bill back to Congress and the American people. Writing for the majority, he rightly noted:
“Members of this Court are vested with the authority to interpret the law; we possess neither the expertise nor the prerogative to make policy judgments. Those decisions are entrusted to our Nation’s elected leaders, who can be thrown out of office if the people disagree with them. It is not our job to protect the people from the consequences of their political choices.”
3. People are known by their deeds – Now we know there are essentially four Supreme Court justices with strict constructionist views of the Constitution. Four others are liberal activists, and John Roberts is not the principled jurist we thought he was. In the biggest case of his life–the one that will define his legacy–he became either a legal “gymnast,” a judicial activist, or a bullyable Chief Justice.
Some say he did it to protect the Court’s reputation–to keep it from becoming politicized. If that’s true, then he placed the egos of nine people over the needs of three hundred million. Plus, the liberals on the Court always vote liberal on big cases. It’s only the conservatives that are sometimes squishy–and unprincipled. Never the other way around. Progressives always label something “political” when they don’t get their way.
In all probability, Roberts buckled due to pressure from the White House and threats from the liberal media. In trying not to politicize the Court, he made a bad decision which is the epitome of politicalization–he caved in to the pressure of the Left. They are gloating and swooning now because they know that they can both influence elections (think Clinton in 1992), and also sway the Supreme Court under unprincipled leaders.
Businessman Donal Trump agreed: “It’s a disaster and obviously it would have been better if it was knocked out, but Justice Roberts wanted to be loved by the Washington establishment. And by the way, he is now loved, because the way they’re talking about him, it’s unbelievable. So he is a beloved man to the liberals.”
Yet, Erick Erickson of Redstate, usually a red-meat conservative commentator, was somewhat forgiving and conciliatory toward John Roberts. He likened Roberts’ actions to “chess rather than checkers” by forcing the Congress to deal with this issue as a matter of policy, not legality:
“With John Roberts’ opinion, the repeal fight takes place on GOP turf, not Democrat turf. The all or nothing repeal has always been better ground for the GOP and now John Roberts has forced everyone onto that ground. It seems very, very clear to me in reviewing John Roberts’ decision that he is playing a much longer game than us and can afford to with a life tenure. And he probably just handed Mitt Romney the White House.”
Maybe there is a silver lining in this very poor judicial decision.
4. Elections have consequences – the election of Barack Obama, possibly the worst president in all of American history, not only brought us Obamacare, re-defining marriage and a languishing economy, but also two more liberal activist justices–Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan. If John McCain had been elected, we’d have neither. The 2008 election was a terrible setback for the country
Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican candidate, may not be Abraham Lincoln, but at least he’s right about the following: “If we want to get rid of Obamacare, we’re going to have to replace President Obama.”
“Let’s make clear that we understand what the Court did, and did not do. What the Court did today was say that Obamacare does not violate the Constitution. What they did not do was say that Obamacare is good law or that it’s good policy. Obamacare was bad policy yesterday. It’s bad policy today. Obamacare was bad law yesterday. It’s bad law today.”
We need Mitt Romney to become an Abraham Lincoln to help us face the dark days ahead.
5. The power of deception has been unleashed in American public life. We now know that the Affordable Health Care Act was based on a lie. The Democrats first health care draft called the bill what it really was–a tax. That bill was scrapped because their leadership knew the people wouldn’t accept it and their members couldn’t run on it.
So they deceptively changed it to a “mandate, a fee, a penalty” that they said fit under the Commerce Clause. This was one of many lies about the bill. Sarah Palin was right in her early tweet after the decision: “Obama lies. Freedom dies.”
Radio commentator Rush Limbaugh said it this way: “Obamacare is nothing more than the largest tax increase in the history of the world. And the people who were characterizing it as such were right and were telling the truth. We have the biggest tax increase in the history of the world right in the middle of one of this country’s worst recessions.”
Probably the clearest voice on the fraudulent terms of the bill came from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell:
“Two and a half years ago, a Democrat president teamed up with a Democrat-led Congress to force a piece of legislation on the American people that they never asked for, and that has turned out to be just as disastrous as many of us predicted.”
“Amid economic recession, a spiraling federal debt, and accelerating increases in government health spending, they proposed a bill that has made these problems worse.”
“Americans were promised lower health care costs. They’re going up. Americans were promised lower premiums. They’re going up. Most Americans were promised their taxes wouldn’t change. They’re going up. Seniors were promised Medicare would be protected. It was raided to pay for a new entitlement instead.”
“Americans were promised it would create jobs. The CBO predicts it will lead to nearly 1 million fewer jobs. Americans were promised they could keep their plan if they liked it, yet millions have learned they can’t.”
“And the President of the United States himself promised up and down that this bill was not a tax. This was one of the Democrats’ top selling points — because they knew it would have never passed if they said it was.”
“The Supreme Court has spoken. This law is a tax. This bill was sold to the American people on a deception. But it’s not just that the promises about this law weren’t kept. It’s that it’s made the problems it was meant to solve even worse.”
6. The Supreme Court has now fueled an American cultural civil war that will not be concluded until one side wins.
There is no compromise in Obamacare. Either we have tyranny (big government) or we have liberty (limited government). Either the government controls our healthcare, or we replace that with market-driven solutions that we control ourselves.
There was no compromise over slavery. Either the government sanctioned the tyranny of slavery or the slaves were set free. The healthcare war is also a battle of tyranny versus liberty. Will we be slaves to entitlements (selfish desires), or a free people who put their trust in God?
7. We are back to 1776 in this nation. The “King” has fraudulently levied a deceptive and unjust tax on his subjects. Like the early Colonists, we must rise up as the first Tea Party members did and cast off the yoke of bondage–even if it means “our lives and our sacred honor.”
8. What’s needed to stop the train wreck of America is a prayerful, passionate, modern-day revival and cultural revolution. We must repent of our sins and apathy, vote this president out of office on November 6, increase people of liberty in the House, and elect fifty-one freedom-loving patriots in the United States Senate.
And do the same in every other arena of government in these United States of America. We can start with a renewal of self-government in our own lives and families.
We the People must win this cultural battle–not the Supreme Court. On January 6, 2013, the tyranny of Obamacare can be repealed and replaced with a plan that is based on freedom. Read Heritage Foundation’s good analysis here.
Conclusion
Barack Obama will now re-cast his signature issue, not as a tax, but an act of compassion to grant health care to all Americans. But a lot of dumb, or even evil things can be done in the name of compassion. Don’t fall for it. The end does not justify the means.
Take some time to re-read the Declaration of Independence at your family gathering this 4th of July. It will remind you that a noose of tyranny–taxation without representation–had been foisted upon our ancestors by the British Crown.
But they loved God and liberty enough to rise up and cast it off.
Let the cultural civil war begin.