Faces to Statistics

At my campus at Lee University in Cleveland Tennessee, they showed a documentary about sex trafficking and prostitution. The documentary was titled Nefarious: Merchant of Souls and will be available in the way of DVD before long.

The film was really about slavery. A people in bondage. A portion of the synopsis of the film read as follows:

Regardless of nationality, victims are systematically stripped of their identity, battered into gruesome submission and made to perform humiliating sexual acts with up to 40 strangers every night. Held against their will, most are forced to take illegal drugs and are kept under constant surveillance. On average, victims are thrown into such ghastly oppression at age 13. Some are abducted outright, while others are lured out of poverty, romantically seduced, or sold by their families.

Here are some statistics on international slavery:

• A child is trafficked every 30 seconds.
• The average age of entry into commercial sex slavery in the United States is 13 years old.
• Human trafficking occurs in 161 out of 192 countries.
• Human trafficking is a 32 billion dollar per year industry.
• In some countries it is estimated that 70% of men purchase sex
• Over 27 million people are enslaved around the world.

Now try putting faces to these statistics. That's what the film does. Dirty men and helpless women. The average age for being thrust into the sex industry is 13 years. Parents literally sell their daughters into it. When they have a daughter it is said that they "hit the jackpot." They don't only sell their children to buy necessities (this still a terrible injustice) they sell them for luxuries, like television sets. Able fathers do nothing as their helpless daughters send checks home.

Even where prostitution is legal, organized crime is rampant. The reality is everyone in the sex industry is a slave.

As I watched the horrors unfold on the screen. I began thinking about giving money. Decidedly I would. I began to think about all the organizations as I listened to the women involved give testimony to the horrors of the life and even the trauma still faced afterwards. Some women even go back into the industry after being rescued from it.

A man who helps fight against these injustices spoke and he talked of how many people think if you educate the young women it will solve the problem. He said that this is disproved by the prostitution and traficking that goes on in America. He said that many of the young girls would have counseling but nothing would help.

It left me wondering what would.

The end moved me far beyond what I imagined it would. Of course, the answer was clear.

Jesus Christ is the only hope.

Each of the women interviewed (and even a former traifficker) spoke of what Jesus had done form them. Few of them did not weep when they spoke His name. Of course Christ is the only hope. It's like we are taking part of emancipation inflation. We have the tangible means of freedom but we don't have the assets to back it. If America prints money money money, then good, they have money, but if they don't have the assets to back it, then it's worthless. In the same way, we can counsel, educate, give money, rescue and do whatever we want to stop trafficking, but if we don't have Christ to back it then it is worthless.

Action is required. You can always turn a blind eye. That's okay. But abolitionist William Wilberforce spoke of a different sort of person. An incurable fanatic:

“If to be feelingly alive to the sufferings of my fellow-creatures is to be a fanatic, I am one of the most incurable fanatics ever permitted to be at large.”

—William Wilberforce

Wilberforce practised three methods of taking action. The first: prayer.

This is where the assets back the action. We need Christ to change lives. We can't do it. The team showing the film recommended that every time we, in our vehicles drive past a red light that we remember to pray for those in trafficking or red light districts. It's a brilliant reminder. Prayer is powerful.

The second is raising awareness. Blogs, twitter, facebook, youtube. We have everything we need to make a cause known. Just do it.

The third is to give. Money. Your money. Give it for something better than your coffee a day at starbucks. You can literally commit to giving 3 dollars per week. You can spare it I promise. Yes. Money.

Though it seems a hopeless cause with God there is hope. Take action. Be an incurable fanatic.

Here is the site to get you started.

http://nefariousdocumentary.com/