Stand Between the Predator and Their Prey
I work on the streets and in the bars, rescuing precious girls from exploitation in one of the most concentrated plots on the planet for sex trafficking — Angeles City, Philippines. We have fully-staffed safe homes where these precious girls come to experience the fullness of life The Lord intends for all of us. Jesus calls it “The abundant life,” and it’s what the Kingdom of God looks like here on earth.
The girls receive love, counseling, food, and clothing. They can enroll to finish High School and continue to earn a full college degree. (In the Philippines, getting a fast-food job requires a college degree.) We help take care of any children they may have, and to instill a tangible sense of agency and dignity, they receive a weekly spending allowance to use as they wish.
But most importantly, these rescued ladies are discipled in the scriptures, connected with local church communities, and spend time every day worshiping the Lord who saved them. After years of living in the safety of heavenly transformation, they are trained for job placement and released on the wings of glorious redemption. And they never have to pay a dime.
I’ve served in several rural, third-world regions but never experienced anything so captivating. Imagine a frightened, traumatized girl entering the safe home on her first day with tears streaming down her scared and untrusting face. Then imagine her a few years later, standing proudly before her sisters in faith with tears streaming down her radiant face — Joyfully wearing her cap and gown.
The Kingdom of God is like . . .
The Supply and Demand model fittingly portrays the hellish economy of sex trafficking. The supply side of the equation is amply sourced by the endless stream of beautiful young island girls who are kidnapped, tricked, or trapped by the traffickers. The demand side is fueled by broken, depraved men — who look like me.
This is because Filipino men are not allowed in the bars on this shiny, brightly-lit strip. No, these bars are reserved for foreigners, traveling exploiters, and sex vacation miscreants. There are few things more enraging than watching an overweight, disheveled, middle-aged man walk a diminutive, barely teenage Filipina girl to his hotel room.
The Kingdom of Satan is like . . .
I often say that I understand third-world trafficking well, but I know less about first-world trafficking. I’m frequently asked: why go to the Philippines when America is the number one producer and consumer of child pornography, and there is most likely some form of exploitation happening within walking distance of where you live?
It’s a sobering point.
In Angeles City, evil boldly walks the crowded streets in plain sight, and everyone knows precisely what is happening. But here at home, evil has been forced to hide in the shadows, and very few have had an idea of what is happening. For better and worse, this dynamic is quickly changing: More people are becoming awakened as Satan recklessly overplays his hand because he knows his chips are running out.
How? Please take a deep breath as we peek beneath the poker table.
There are over 50 million people held in modern slavery worldwide, and 12 million of them are children. Unimaginably, child sex trafficking has been reported in all 50 states. While many of these children are trafficked for labor and some for organ harvesting, the majority are held for sexual exploitation. Multiple organizations estimate that there are over 500,000 predators online targeting children every day. One in 13 children is expected to have an unwelcome sexual experience online before they are 18, and 43% of kids exposed to inappropriate sexual content online were under 13. One in 10 children will experience contact sexual abuse in the U.S. before age 18, and 50% of these survivors will be abused before age 12. Unthinkably, many of these dear souls are forcibly used for rape porn, torture, and satanic ritual.
As we exhale from reading the previous paragraph, let’s pause, place our affections upon the God who created each of these children, and consider the most soul-shredding, heart-wrenching question. And I don’t mean, “God, how could you allow this?” That’s the easy question.
The hard question is hearing what the Lord asks us, “How could you allow this?”
When the disturbing evidence of Pizzagate squeezed through the censorial filters of establishment news, I thought our nation would spring awake and start protecting our children. It didn’t happen.
When Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell were finally imprisoned for their demonic trafficking enterprise on Caligula Island, I thought our nation would spring awake and start protecting our children. It didn’t happen.
When the heart-stopping movie Sound of Freedom was released in theaters, I thought, at last, our nation would indeed spring awake and start protecting our children. It didn’t happen.
The mere thought of a single child being held against their will to satisfy the deviant desires of a predator should launch each one of us into action. The fact that our U.S. and European Delegates to the U.N. disagree should spring each of us wide awake right now.
United Nations, Pick Out Your Tombstone
The shameful politicking surrounding a new Treaty by the United Nations Office on Drugs, Terrorism, and Crime (UNODC) is one more reason the U.N. should be read its Last Rights with a DNR order. The treaty contains clear and appropriate language preventing all forms of child pornography online that depicts, describes, or represents any person under age 18.
Predictably, delegations from the U.S., E.U., and Australia are demanding exceptions be added to soften the regulations. In other words, they want to weaken the protection of children and strengthen the protection of criminals, deviants, and pedophiles.
Articles 14 and 16 clearly state that consent cannot be given by anyone under 18. This consent pertains to intimate images, illicit photos, or sexual videos stored in private, public, or online mediums. In shameful protest, the Australian delegate, representing the U.S., E.U., and many Western delegates, raced to thwart this common-sense provision:
Children over the age of 14 have the right to develop sexual relationships and choose to have a sexual relationship with adults. They can produce images in the course of sexual engagement and share them with each other without any criminalization.
The fiercest clubbing I’ve received over the years for my writing has been from those who insist our children are not at risk and child exploitation is more myth than reality. Through it all, I’ve learned this: Those who shout the loudest are often hiding the most. No sane, virtuous, emotionally stable adult would ever fight to promote sex with a 14-year-old.
The U.N. should be enraged at the thought of an overweight, disheveled, middle-aged man walking a diminutive, barely teenage boy to his hotel room.
Fifty-one countries, including Syria, Iran, Russia, Congo, and China, all strongly opposed the proposed exceptions. Unthinkably, a contingent of ninety-one countries, led by the U.S. and E.U., overruled the opposition, and as of now, the exceptions remain. Take note of this moment: Iran is on the right side of a moral issue, and America is on the wrong side.
Whenever I face a political, ethical, or cultural issue like this U.N. Treaty, I always ask myself: Who is cheering more for this, Heaven or Hell? You may soon appreciate how this question is immensely valuable when trying to discern polarizing topics.
Millstones Don’t Float
Jesus never minces words, and no better example is when he describes what He thinks of adults who cause little children to suffer or stumble:
If anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a huge millstone tied around his neck and to be thrown into the sea.
~ Jesus in Mark’s Gospel
Behold how much Jesus values children and take note; He is not threatening to drown the perpetrators. No, it’s worse than that. He is describing that a gruesome death by drowning in the sea would be preferable in comparison to enduring the inevitable consequences of compromising young children in any way.
While the culture shouts that we should adore evil, scripture tells us to abhor it. The Apostle Paul gives this charge in Romans 12, the only time this word is used in the entire New Testament. In its context, we are told to not only hate, despise, and be horrified by evil but also separate from it.
May we have eyes to see our children with the same fierce love Christ has for them. May we protect our children's innocence with everything we’ve got and have the discernment to know when not to entrust them to the broken systems around us. May we come in between our children and the predators, keep them separated from evil, and never relinquish our God-given calling to put our children’s well-being before our own.
But we pray, Arise, O Lord! O God, lift up Your hand! Do not forget the afflicted! Break the arm of the wicked and evil man. Seek out his wickedness until You find no more.
~ Psalm 10:12, 15
This piece was commissioned by The Stream.
To learn more about our work in the Philippines, please visit: www.wipeeverytear.org. The work we do is made possible by your generous donations, so please consider giving through the web site. Thank you!
