Family
What the Western World Can Learn From Mongol Families
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.
In Memory of Maria
Two days ago, my bladder awakened me at 3:50 am. Stumbling into the darkened bathroom, I did my duty and returned to bed, encouraged that I still had a few hours to sleep.
As I dozed off, suddenly a large BOOM thundered through the neighborhood, rattling the windows, and causing me to bolt up wide awake.
What in the world was that? I’d never heard such a thunderous noise in the nearly thirty years we’d lived on Arlington Place. Must have been a sonic boom made by an airplane overhead.
Still befuddled, I dozed back to sleep.
A few hours later I found out. My friend and personal banker, Maria McDonald and her husband Bill, were found dead in a home that had been obliterated by a horrific blast just a mile away from us.
Today I write in memory of Maria.
There are many bad things taking place in the world that modern communications remind us of daily. People are being slaughtered and are fleeing the Middle East by the hundreds of thousands. We are in the midst of a hard-fought and ever-changing election campaign that will determine the next president of the United States.
But when you lose a friend, the world stands still. You think about life, death, and the reality of eternity. Suddenly human love and affection takes center stage over all the international headlines.
Losing Maria has done that for me.
Here’s what happened.
Bill and Maria McDonald (70 and 65 respectively) lived a mile from our home (as the crow flies) in Port Orchard, Washington–a small town of about 13,000 people located in the center of Puget Sound. In a community of this size, you know many people–even though 60,000 folks are scattered among the trees and the metropolis of Seattle is just across the water.
Two days ago Bill and Marie’s triple-wide mobile home, situated on two and a half areas behind Mullenix Elementary School, simply exploded–leaving most of the debris, according to a first responder, “no bigger than match sticks.” (At this point, the source of the explosion is unknown.)
Though there is heavily forested land between our home and theirs, we felt the blast hit our house causing the windows to shake. Shirley’s parents, who live seven miles away, heard the sonic boom and got out of bed to see what was happening. People in Renton, Washington–forty miles away across the water–heard the explosion.
Now we know why.
The McDonalds’ two and a half acres look like a war zone. Neighbors’ windows were shattered and pictures fell off walls. At the elementary school, 1000 feet through the dense trees, windows were broken by the impact. Recovery crews are finding bits of the house and even family pictures up in trees and on power lines a quarter mile away.
The home is gone–as if destroyed by a tornado.
The blast was so unusual that it made the national news and certainly dominated the local coverage. If you’d like to see an early report on what happened, you can watch it here on the local KOMO News broadcast.
I heard about who had died when I visited my mom that afternoon. She’d gone to the bank earlier that day where Maria worked. It was closed but cameramen were present. They broke the news that Maria and her husband had been killed in the vicious blast.
My mother was one of the first to be interviewed on camera about the death of Maria.
I met Maria McDonald decades ago ago when she started working for Kitsap Bank. This well-known local institution has been our family bank since 1950 when my young doctor father walked through the front door and shook hands–the only terms necessary for getting a loan in those days–with bank president Frank Langer.
Ever since, Kitsap Bank (with numerous locations around west Puget Sound) served as the Boehme family bank.
Maria, from a Guamanian background, started working at Kitsap Bank twenty-two years ago. She was a gentle, kind soul, who was known for her business acumen, sense of humor, service at St. Gabriel’s Catholic Church, and her great cooking. She had recently helped organize a Lenten soup supper at the church.
Husband Bill was also active at St. Gabes, an Air Force veteran from the Viet Nam War, worked with the Knights of Columbus and owned a satellite communications consulting firm.
Bill and Maria have five children and twelve grandchildren.
At a memorial mass held yesterday, both were fondly remembered for their faith and love.
Jarrod Roth said for many:
“There’s something about them that sets them apart from many others in a special way. It’s the way they connected with people. In a loving way, in a self-less way, uplifting way, it was a very humble way of living their lives. In a way it made them larger than life…They’ve touched all of us. They’re gone but not forgotten.”
I never met Bill, but certainly agree about Maria.
As our personal banker, Maria managed all of our YWAM and personal accounts. I always enjoyed coming into the Kitsap branch near our home and seeing Maria perched on her chair in the right corner of the building. Her smile always invited me to come over to work out some kind of problem.
One of those problems drew us close five years ago.
I was traveling and speaking in Puerto Rico in 2011 when Shirley called to tell me that our home had been robbed. It took place in broad daylight and involved some “professionals.” During the only hour of the day when no one was at home, the thieves entered our house and quickly searched through every room on two floors–probably in less that ten minutes.
Our compound of buildings also houses two Youth With A Mission offices.
The police later told us that they were looking for three things: 1) Money (including checkbooks), 2) Jewelry (to pawn), and 3) Fire arms (for you know what).
In ten minutes of ransacking, they took four check books in desk drawers and Shirley’s engagement ring. She felt extremely violated when she came home later that day and found numerous drawers open and her jewelry box plundered.
She urgently called me to ask what to do.
I told her to call Maria and put a stop on everything. When I came home, it took weeks to undue the damage that ultimately cost us $1000 in bad checks. The engagement ring never turned up though I looked through every pawn shop in the area. The thieves were eventually caught and went to jail.
We did learn from the police department how to hide and scatter valuables in your home. If, there’s a next time, the robbers will waste their time.
But back to Maria, our personal banker.
She was the one who lovingly walked us through that ordeal. She not only did the work of cancelling old and creating new accounts, but she also shared her heart and soul with us.
She too had been robbed. So had her daughter. Almost like a grief counselor, she walked us through the process of dealing with our loss with her strong faith, caring personality, and warm smile and comfort.
Every person should have a personal banker like Maria.
That’s why when I heard she’d been killed in the explosion, I nearly cried as if she was a member of the family. In small communities, some friendships are like that. You might not know people socially or intimately, but the friendship is deep and meaningful.
Friendship, on all levels, is a gift from God (Proverbs 17:17).
I learned after the blast that Maria was just two months from retiring from the bank. She and her husband looked forward and planned to travel and enjoy their large family.
All that vanished in an instant.
There are some important lessons here.
First, you can work all your life to attain a goal or an imagined future, and that plan can change in a heart-beat. Thus the importance of placing your life in God’s hands, seizing every day for what it is, and knowing that eternal life for the redeemed is your ultimate destination (Psalm 90:12).
Secondly, life really boils down to two things. Be a good steward of the things God has given you (Titus 1:7-9). You will not have them forever, but God wants us to use them for His glory for our brief time on earth. Even more importantly, serve the people around you (1 Corinthians 9:19). They are your greatest treasure and possess infinite value.
Stewardship and serving are twin pillars of a wise life.
And finally, make sure to befriend and share Jesus with those with whom you have daily contact (2 Timothy 4:2). They include the clerk in the store, your lawyer, your CPA, the neighbors on your block, and your friends at church and at play.
Talk about God’s kingdom. Point them to Jesus. Love and encourage them.
I write these words to remind myself to press on.
In memory of Maria.
Planned Parenthood and its Doctrine of Demons
There is a scary, prophetic word found in the Bible in 1 Timothy 4:1,2:
“Now the Spirit expressly says that in the latter times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared.”
The phrase “doctrines of demons” in those verses really stands out to me. Do demonic spirits really have teachings just like groups or churches do? What do they teach–what is their doctrine? Read More