“God’s children are not for sale”
-Jim Caviezel
“We are the biggest consumers of child trafficking and pornography in the world. The United States — the home of the free, land of the brave. This is ridiculous."
-Jim Caviezel
Spoiler alert:
My wife and I just came out of the theatre after seeing the movie “The Sound Of Freedom”. For a second time in our lifetime we walked out of the theatre in silence over a story played by actor Jim Caviezel.
We knew this would be a hard movie to watch and wisely did not bring our usual snacks into the theatre. It was emotionally and spiritually riveting…
The plot of the story is based on the true story of a former Homeland Security agent Tim Ballard who investigated and brought to Justice pedophiles. In the movie he gets to a place where he manages to rescue one boy. In pursuit of saving his sister as well Tim passionately pursues not only justice but emancipation for these abused children… eventually freeing well over 50 child slaves in a sting operation. He finally frees the little boys sister as well.
Whether the storyline is 100 percent accurate or not is irrelevant… what struck me is that North Americans are finally talking about exposing the dark underbelly of our current world culture that no one wants to talk about. Like myself… most of us have had our hands over our ears - we don’t want to know that Global Estimates of Modern Slavery (2022) from Walk Free, the International Labour Organization and the International Organization for Migration state showed that 49.6 million people live in modern slavery in the world – many in forced labour and forced marriage.
It is estimated that at least one quarter of the victims of modern slavery are children. That is conservatively 12 million child slaves today… and according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children human trafficking has been reported in all 50 US states (NCMEC, 2022).
UNICEF (2017) reported that human trafficking is the second most profitable illegal industry in the United States… only second to the drug trade. Within the USA… sex trafficking is the most common type of trafficking. In 2021, 72% of known trafficking reports were centred around sexual exploitation (Polaris, 2021).
Slavery today is worse than its ever been… it is a dark world… a world we know little about. The island that Epstein owned is one island… experts who pursue those who exploit children say there are many more. Axios, in an article on May 25, 2023 states that in the USA there are 3 out of every 1000 people working as slaves in the US alone… let’s let that sink in. The USA is one of the top consumers of child exploitation and one of the 6 G20 nations in the top 10 worst countries for slavery today.
In my country… Canada, according to stats Canada there are 552 known incidents of child trafficking. That’s 1.4 incidents for every 100,000 people. This is relatively low compared to our neighbours but still alarming.
Just a few more stats…
365,000 children missing each year in the USA. 30% are likely being trafficked. That’s at least 109,000 children every year.
Child Trafficking in 2021 was an estimated 1.5 billion dollar a year business worldwide. The Drug trade
In April of 2023 a whistleblower came forward stating that the US government was a middleman in the trafficking problem… with government employees actually delivering children to homes or caregivers who were exploiting the children through the sex trade.
In Australia in 2022 in an operation entitled “Molto” over 100 men were charged with 1248 Child abuse related offences… showing again this is not just a developing country issue but a first world problem.
I know these things are difficult to talk about. Perhaps the Sound of Freedom begins when we acknowledge that these things are happening under our watch. Our preoccupation with self has perhaps blinded us to real world pain and trauma caused by real world predators.
Jesus said “ whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.”
This is the heart of a just God… those who hurt children will be judged with extreme prejudice… those are Jesus own words as recorded in three of the four gospels. A millstone around the neck would be a quick death… and Jesus is saying God will issue a particularly severe justice for the callous disregard for human life… especially a child’s life.
What do we do when we know this darkness is here?
I’m honestly trying to figure that out myself. If you are like me you have a sense of anger mixed with mourning for the loss of innocence and the knowledge of the pain around us… but then what? What would be appropriate actions?
As I see it… we cannot stand by. There is an action step needed… otherwise how do we live with our conscience?
One way to get in the fight is financially:
Tim Ballards organization is called “Operation Underground Railroad” www.ourrescue.org
Child sponsorship has been proven to provide alternative pathways for parents and for their children who would be otherwise at risk. My wife and I have supported a child consistently for 20 years. www.worldvision.ca
Compassion Canada is another option www.compassion.ca
Another option is a local Canadaian charity called the “Joy Smith Foundation” www.joysmithfoundation.com
There are many more… I just have not had the time to review them… I am certain in a month or so we will see more information on where to donate most effectively.
We can share… we can share real information from reputable sources. There are many resources available to share on the websites above… but even sharing the movie link will fan the flame of truth on this scourge.
Lastly… pray… not a passing prayer - but pick a region, a group or even specific people. Pray that the truth is exposed and that abusers are brought to Justice. Most importantly pray that victims are set free.
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