The family was the first institution designed by God himself. It was intended to be a close-knit unit of individuals bonded by blood but possessing a will and soul each – always striving for unity and the good of the whole. The love of God would enable the husband and wife to love each other with unselfish love, one honouring the other as does the Lord His church. The children would submit to their father and mother wholeheartedly and obey them in the Lord as the Son obeyed His Father. And this is the institution that the devil is hell-bent to break and to undermine its sanctity.

• Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: – Heb 13:4 says the Scripture but Satan tried to break even the first family by speaking to Eve when she was alone. He continues to break families even today by tempting the spouses to commit adultery and whoredom. Supreme courts of large nations like India have ruled that adultery is no crime and should not be punished. But whoremongers and adulterers God will judge. – Heb 13:4. Some Pentecostal churches seem to encourage celibacy for both men and women – imitating the Roman Catholic tradition of Friaries and Convents. Their men are looking forward to a special place in heaven – Zion. But the fact is that celibacy is not the norm and only exceptional people are blessed with such a gift that enables them to do the Lord’s ministry undistracted. This should never be a forced lifestyle for sons and daughters of believers which leads to regret later in their lives. It is not good for a man to be alone!

• Living together before marriage is not biblical and is sexual immorality and plain harlotry and a sin. In the latter times, some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils, forbidding to marry, 1 Tim 4:1, 3.

• Divorce rates have gone to unprecedented levels because the law allows people united by matrimony to break away due to ‘incompatibility” which has no definite meaning. Others break off their marriage as there was compulsion on the parents’ side for the marriage which had no whole-hearted consent of the bride or the bridegroom in the first place. Thousands of Christian marriages have sadly ended in divorce.

• Today’s challenging world forces the normal mind to think that money is everything and so the husband and wife go out to work. In some cases, the husband (or the wife) chooses to live abroad to earn more money than what a local job would pay. God warns against such a physically disconnected lifestyle for a married couple. (Money is not everything – love is!) But, the work spot is filled with enormous stress that their family life suffers. Some don’t even meet during the weekdays and the weekends are crowded with other social activities that they can’t find quality time for bonding and understanding each other. And there are honeypots wandering around to break normal marriage relationships of gullible couples who throw their wedding vows to the wind and compromise their marriage life choosing infidelity for commitment. And I say unto you, whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, commits adultery: and whoso marries her which is put away doth commit adultery. – Matt 19:9.

• The husband is the federal head of the family and the wife is a help meet to him. The wife must submit to her own husband and the husband must love her. This is the hierarchy set by God Himself – all based on the grand design of Christ the Head and the Church, His bride. Any family that reverses the role is breaking the original design and is being built on the wrong foundation and plan. Children born to such reverse-role couples are bound to disrespect the father and so, would break the commandment of God – Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. – Eph 6:1. A man who is older than the woman in the marriage relationship forms an ideal couple. The man was not created for the woman, but the woman for the man. – 1 Cor 11:9.

• After marriage, the man should leave his father and his mother, and should cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. This is Scripture – mentioned once in the Garden of Eden and repeated twice in the New Testament. This is overridden by the son’s mother who wants to control her son even after he has been married off to another girl. The spirit of witchcraft possesses the mother who keeps throwing cold water into the warm marriage relationship unmindful of the suffering that the son undergoes; the son struggles to balance between his mother and his wife and tends to fail in favour of the mother.

• Today’s children are not brought up with a mindset that losses and drawbacks are part of life. Everything that the child wants is provided to them readily; no thought is given to the pros and cons of the thing desired by the child. Some parents are so vulnerable that they think their children are smarter than they are in using technology and are proud of it. They are brought up with so much favour and attention that even a small reversal in fortune or minor disappointment to them is quickly compensated by the parents with a quick alternative. This even extends to the realm of marriage where the child takes for granted that the parents will accept their breaking away from the spouse even for trivial reasons and find another (naïve) partner as quickly as possible.

• There is the other extreme of one or both parents not giving any attention at all to their children that they are left to their own to make decisions – big or small. Right from buying a smartphone, the apps they use, and the online connections they establish, to even choosing a line of education or choosing a spouse. Parents are ready to pay money for all these requirements as long as the child/children don’t interfere in their personal and business affairs.

• There is a third kind – parents who care nothing at all and fail to provide even food and clothing for their children. Such children struggle to find their way in this maze of life to survive and compete with the well-to-do.

• Children must honour their father and mother. This must continue throughout their lifetime. While this might seem to be true in the early years of the parents, when the children settle down, they show little respect or care for their ageing parents. Some get away from their parents to far-off places and even abroad leaving them to the mercy of nature and the neighbours. A few “invite” parents to be with them because babysitters are costly locally – the climate, culture and lonely environment seriously affect their physical and mental health. Others try to neglect their responsibilities and admit them to old-age homes where they can pay money for geriatric care. They don’t realise that their parents want more than what money can buy for them in that old age – love, presence and personal care.