| Seth Barnes | Sex Trade and Sex Trafficking | 19 Comments on This boggles my mind
This boggles my mind
On weekends, if I blog at all, I try to bring you the raw reports of how the battle for the kingdom of God is going around the world. This week, it’s the sex-trade, which it appears, continues to grow in scope and grossness. The stuff our teams are encountering as they minister to the sex-trade in Thailand is mind-boggling. Katie Swan reports:
Currently six World Race teams are working directly with sex-tourism throughout Thailand. The average age of the girls in these brothels continues to drop-in 2003 it was hovering at 13 years. Four years later, girls were being sold as young as three.
I have received stories from the teams that have literally stopped me in my tracks these past few days. Stories of street boys being transformed into women against their will so that they could be sold for sex. Stories of a family being so desperate for money that they sold their two-year-old daughter for cash. Stories that are real and messy and happening right now.
Look closely at these two snap shots.
One of the teams came upon this situation as they were walking down a street within the red-light district. The older man on the motorcycle was stroking the hair of an eight or nine year-old girl. He was smiling at her and reinforcing that it would stop hurting soon. He encouraged her in the job she had done and told her the first time is always the hardest. The girl’s pimp laughed alongside him as the little girl stood there-crying.
If we don’t do something about this, then who will? It is possible to rescue little girls like that, but it takes some commitment. We can’t do much from the comfort of our living room. But for those willing to dive in, it’s possible to rescue some.
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Really though, to prevent this from happening in the first place would be far greater than having to rescue and restore what has been broken in these children!
To answer the question of what we can tangibly do other than GO and be salt and light, we can continue to raise awareness, especially amongst men (I strongly believe if men will be MEN and the demand for buying sex is eliminated, then the supply of children sold into slavery will be eliminated), and of course, PRAY for these girls and boys, and for those who are being Jesus to them!!
I’ll be in the area (Thailand/Laos/maybe Cambodia) in June and July of this year. Are there any specific organizations you recommend to contact to get involved on the ground?
-Marshall Jones Jr.
This is nauseating!!! Seth, what are some tangibles that people can do?
Thanks for caring, Joy.
Either going long-term to care, or supporting others who do are the two main ways to get involved.
We have ten missionaries there making a difference: http://adventures.org/cambodia/
If you can’t go, support someone who is working in a ministry there.
Well, I’m so grieved, so angry…that I’m gonna go ahead and say it – even tho it’s entirely unrealistic. If every man who committed such an atrocity was immediately castrated, the industry would be down in no time. Meanwhile, I do my part here locally and in supporting others there. But it just isn’t enough.
Seth, I’m sure some people think you are going overboard on the sex trade.and want you to move on to “more important” things. PLEASE DO NOT STOP SOUNDING THE ALARM!
I have a very good and close friend who said a couple of weeks ago that I get OCD when it comes to the sex trade! If one of my 5 daughters was that little girl, I hope to God that someone would experience an Obsessive Compulsive Disorder to come and rescue her!
This is from the A.D.A.M. Medical Encyclopedia: “Obsessive-compulsive disorder is an anxiety disorder in which people have unwanted and repeated thoughts, feelings, ideas, sensations (obsessions), or behaviors that make them feel driven to do something (compulsions).”
JESUS IS OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVE WHEN IT COMES TO THE SEX TRADE, and I am not ashamed to say so am I!
“Oh God, please raise up a generation of young and old alike who will be recklessly abandoned and ‘feel driven to do something…’ ”
My heart is destroyed as I sit here in tears.
For my team that reads this, YOU CAN AND WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE. WE WILL CHANGE THE WORLD – ONE PERSON AT A TIME!
Heart= broken.
I agree with my brothr up there- NEVER stop spreading the word. WOW! Just WOW!
Jesus we need you- in Thailand, Cambodia, Georgia, California….everywhere. Let your light be revealed through your body on this earth.
This makes me sick! That is terrible.
Simply devastating.
AIM and The International Justice Mission are worthy recipients of help. We have many “advocates” and not enough “solutions oriented” programs.
Sad, sickening, heartbreaking…. I will continue to support Andrea Abslag as she continues her mission through “Wipe Every Tear”.
God bless you for your continued work.
i think i just vomited in my mouth. Thank you for reminding me why I am in Cambodia. . . as if I could forget! thank you for posting this. we need awareness and action.
kp.
I’d reach out to Kristen: http://kristenpaulick.theworldrace.org/
So wrong. And Sick. May we take all sin so seriously, especially the tiny thoughts inside our own heads that without the care of Christ we would all be so cruel. God please give us the endurance and compassion to love & rescue those forgotten & ignored by the rest of the world. Amen.
Wow, I…don’t have words.
We simply MUST do something.
Adding this situation to my NOT OK list… the girls in Thailand are already on that list.
Yes and Amen.
Seth, Ran across this today on my FB feed for “on this day…” It’s been 4 years since you posted this. We were in our first house for 2 months at that time, and I knew little.
This is so bothersome, even after being directly involved daily.
I thinks it’s time for a retro post. Thank you Seth for speaking out.
Bless you man.
This got my blood boiling! It’s such a sad reality. Thank you Jesus for grace!