Human Trafficking

Photo originally found on www.curatormagazine.com

I listened to a powerful message today called Human Trafficking by Benji Nolot. If you are interested AT ALL in human trafficking, I highly recommend it. It has completely changed the way I view social justice.

Did you know as of 2007, there were conservatively 27-30 million slaves on our planet? Some experts even estimate there being actually over 200 million slaves, most of who are not accounted for. Out of the slaves over 70% are sex slaves. The women might end up servicing 50 men a day, and suffer through countless abortions over the years. Tens of thousands of women are smuggled EVERY DAY to fuel this grossly profitable industry. When we think about sex trafficking, we often think of countries such as Cambodia and Bangkok. Although what is happening in those countries are no less than atrocious, the top three countries in which women are outsourced are Australia, Japan, and the United States. The United States!?!! Who knew that the land of the free would be importing over 100,000 sex slaves a year!

We think about social justice as being simply an earthly thing, yet it is so much more than that. Social Justice is a spiritual issue. Benji Nolot shared stories and testimonies that point to there being dark spiritual forces creating and perpetuating oppression of human lives. As evidenced in Daniel 10 in the Bible, there is a "prince" over different dominions that we are fighting against. If this is true - if the source of social injustice lies in the spiritual realm - this changes how we must live our lives.

Whenever we participate and give into lust, objectification, sexism, racism, etc., we are coming alongside the very same spirit that is fueling human trafficking, poverty, and other forms of social injustice. Thus, our purity and personal holiness matter! Furthermore, in the Bible we are told repeatedly that the government sits on Christ's shoulders (Isaiah 9). If this is true, OUR PRAYERS MATTER. We cannot simply fight social injustice on an earthly level, we MUST also appeal on a spiritual realm. The only way we can do that is through prayer, both individually and corporately.

I have often lamented the fact that my enrollment in school has kept me from uprooting myself abroad to stand in the front lines of fighting human trafficking. Now I realize I CAN stand in the front lines by getting on my knees everyday and appealing to the One who holds the government on His shoulders. And I can only pray that soon, I'll be able to use my skills and talents to take action and fight one of the biggest evils facing our planet today.