If the Enemy wanted to attack the family unit, how do you think he would do it? I came across a post that got me thinking about this. Though the author had some interesting ideas on the subject, they seemed incomplete, narrow, and to hardly touch the complexities at play. I decided it would be worth taking the time to hash it out myself…and not only that, but share with others in hopes of recovering the American family.
I was thinking…it wouldn’t be enough to just come after the mothers, but fathers, and the children as well. He’d whisper lies and sow seeds of doubt and confusion leading to its slow destruction, all the while convincing all involved that they are empowered. That they are making “progress.” That they, in fact, are making the world a better place and can sit on a moral pedestal. Then, to prevent reflection that could lead to regret…offer every kind of powerful distraction…and if that’s not enough, convince them it’s not a problem with the formula, but with how they, as an individual, must not have done it right.
First off, the Enemy would focus on motherhood. It must become unappealing. Fertility must be seen a burden and not a blessing. You should dread the day you begin menstruation and utilize whatever you have at your disposal to hide it, prevent it, delay it, or even remove it. Tell them it’s a huge inconvenience for them and they can feel free to artificially use hormones or even surgeries to take it away. Make those tools easily accessible and cheap. The government may even be pulled into play in providing it for free… Lie to them about the safety of this, side effects, and harm to their future fertility. Plant a desire to dress without worry of leaks, travel without planning around it, remove the loathed PMS. If boys/men don’t have to worry about such things, why should you young lady?
You must convince girls that it’s not enough to desire to be a wife and homemaker. Tell them that this is oppressive and less valuable work. Plant a seed of envy of their male counterparts and that men are not trustworthy. Demonize men and all that is masculine as anti-woman and toxic. Tell the girls that they should provide for themselves and to not is insulting and falling short of their potential. Tell them providing is only measured through monetary means. Confuse them about their biology and maybe they also want sex as just sex. Maybe their sexual appetite equates to the novelty of different partners with no strings attached. Convince them that marriage only serves as a “piece of paper.” It isn’t necessary or required. Perhaps, convince them of polygamous, “open” relationships, as being mutually beneficial. Tell them that freedom doesn’t come in commitment and overcoming trials, but in the ability to walk away at any time for any reason.
Maybe lead them to believe that motherhood equates to missing out. Missing out on nights out, intimacy, fun with friends, climbing the corporate latter, self-development, money, traveling, and ultimately…all things that lead to “happiness.” Leave out the deep and lasting love and life satisfaction of raising a family well. Create a culture that worships youth and idolizes sculpted female bodies. Teach them that stretch marks and the postpartum body are ugly and undesirable. Medicalize giving birth and prenatal care in a way that creates fear and often unnecessary and expensive procedures. Associate giving birth with trauma and not beauty.
In fact, train girls from a young age that their bodies are imperfect. Hand them a device with social media so they fall into the trap of comparison and encourage the use of filters to create an altered reality of the female body and aging. Continue to make this avatar and altered universe ever more believable to where the girls and women prefer the lie. Worship youth and make it a never-ending battle to chase it.
Tell them that the world is overpopulated and the desire to add to it is selfish and irresponsible. Distract the desire to nurture with pets. They can “rescue” them or “adopt” them, feed them, bathe them, bring them to appointments, dress them, put them in carriers or strollers, take them shopping or out to eat, order special monthly treats and toys for them, co-sleep, make home videos of them, and feel socially at ease with all of this. Enough people buy into this and you can even find luxury pet sitters in the case of your absence.
Tell the woman that she is actually held in higher regard if she abstains from motherhood and instead takes on nurturing a victim population…minorities, gays/trans, other people’s children…whoever she is told is oppressed. Normalize childlessness and if that doesn’t take, then normalize a small family. Vehicles, vacation packages, hotel rooms, extracurricular activities accommodate families of 1-2 kids, making anything beyond that seem hard and unachievable.
Should a woman find herself making the “mistake” of pregnancy, offer inexpensive, easily accessible, and subsidized ways of removing the problem. The Morning After Pill, Plan B, and abortion to the rescue!
Create a culture of too young and too old. With women needing to get their college education following high school, having children before completing that expected track would be too soon and irresponsible. Tell her she should be in the perfect window of time to start or grow a family. Also, getting married “young” is undesirable and reckless. With men demonized, she’s going to have a hard time finding the right person, if by now she believes that to even exist. Distract her long enough from the task and her short window of now nearing or being a “geriatric” pregnancy (35+) is looming. Tell her it would be irresponsible for her to have a child now. It’s not worth the risk. The child will most likely have problems, she will have problems, and what about her retirement?
Isolate her. As the family structure starts to disintegrate, remove the support system and village that would help her create and sustain a family. Normalize grandparents, aunts, uncles, and other loved ones moving across the country. Take away the sense of community. Remove the church. Better yet, convince the woman to remove her own village. Take the job that brings you states away, stay on social media rather than interact face-to-face, be a workaholic with no time for others, busy yourself with leisure. Take away the proximity. Distract other members of the extended family from wanting to participate in their descendants. Make retirement about a return to “me” time and if they still want to see their grand-kids, convince them that being a grandparent means spoiling any grandchildren and being “fun.” This will reduce the influence and outpouring of love from a previous generation. Lessons and relationships will be lost.
When depression and mental illness set in, tell her it’s not her life that needs to change, but her medications. Provide a cocktail of drugs to solve her problems. Many of which require daily chronic use and effect her fertility. It would be irresponsible of her to desire children with her dependence on such “necessary” interventions.
Once families, and especially large ones, become the exception rather than the norm and she begins believing all of these lies, turn her on her own kind. Use her as the voice of the Enemy without her recognizing the source of her now pervasive thoughts and beliefs. She will now co-labor in the destruction of womanhood and the family. Her societal suicidal ideations will infiltrate everyone around her. She will tear down her sisters.
Remove God.
She can’t know Him or she would know herself. She would know she was made in His image. She would know what love felt like because He first loved her. She would know she is His masterpiece with no flaw in her design and purpose. She would hear her calling. She would pray and He would listen.
She would know man and woman were made to complete one another and that marriage is sacred. She would come to honor and respect the similarities and differences between male and female.
She would know that there’s beauty and life in the sacrifice. She would understand that children are a heritage from the Lord, a reward from Him and a blessing! She would think bigger and beyond herself, and have a generational and eternal mindset. She would embrace each season of life both young and old. Her heart would be full of gratitude and her mind full of wisdom.
When womanhood and motherhood bring trials, she would lean in all the more to her Lord and Savior. She would turn to Him rather than the world and this would not bring fleeting happiness, but a sustained peace no dose of medication can provide.
She would not neglect to meet together as some do, but would engage in her church in a way that pours out into the community. If her community is in lack, she would not hesitate to be a builder. She would know what it means to be “set apart” and resist temptations to be otherwise. The world and culture would not penetrate her deeply rooted relationship with Jesus. She would look “different” and others would notice. Her humble example would lead those around her to return to the family both in the physical and the spiritual. She would embrace God and the feminine.
This is part 1 of a 3 part series. As more articles from this series become available they will be linked here.
This is so true, Amanda. The enemy is doing his job well in our culture today. We must stand firm and not let go of the One who is Love.