Thailand was a very surreal time for me. The struggles that
I have faced in my own personal walk with the Lord were starring back at me as
I walked the streets of Bangalor road. This was the red light district of
Phuket and most of the bars were open air so you could see everything that was
going on inside them. There were
women dancing on tabletops and walking the streets trying to make a sale. If
you could see what I saw in my mind it would look like a woman trapped in a
jail cell with men (mostly American men) throwing money at her and yelling at
her as they tighten her chains with every comment and action.
Young girls in their teens just starting out and older women
who have spent most of their lives on these streets, it was such a scene it was
once described as “the pit of hell” by our main contact. As you walk down the
road, men and women would throw pornographic pictures in your face and say,
“come to this room for a private viewing.” As you turned them down and walked
past them there would be women wearing practically nothing, but as you got
closer you would realize that it was not a woman but a man, or as they would be
called a “ladyboy.” Ladyboys roam
the streets and the sad thing was that most of the time you could never guess
who was or was not a ladyboy. They would have so much surgery done to their
bodies they would even get the veins that most men have in their forearms taken
out or concealed in some way. It
was a circus of sin from every angle and such darkness over the whole street.
“For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the
Lord. Live as children of light.” Ephesians 5:8
This month I was a secret agent of the Lord with one mission
to get the women out of the darkness! Every night we had two teams on the streets
and the other two teams at home praying and interceding for us. We would switch
every night so that everyone would have several nights out on the streets and
several nights in praying. During
the day a team would go on the streets of the red light district and pray for
each bar and try to prophesy over the land. I have to say thank you to all that
prayed for us this month there was such a covering over us as we went out each
night. Our goal was to go to the bars and order a coke or coffee and try to make
relationships with the girls that would be waiting there for men. We would ask
them if they liked there jobs and every one of them said no but they needed the
money because most had children. We would give them a phone number and try to
set up a lunch date with them to get them out of that ambiance.
Some of the girls we worked with during the month. The youngest was 23.
Once we would meet them for lunch we would tell them about
the ministry we worked with called SHE ministries( http://www.shethailand.org/ ), and that
they offer free English training and hotel training for a new job. Their main goal and purpose though was
for the women to receive Christ and realize the love, forgiveness, and freedom
that He has for them. Praise God that we had several lunch meetings and
connected several girls to the ministry. Please pray that they would choose to
be apart of SHE and leave the life of bondage.
I really enjoyed this month because every night was a
challenge, but there was so much grace and covering over us it felt so easy. We
had several times where bar owners would catch wind of us and we would have to
lay low from that bar. One of our
girls that spoke Thai even told us that she overheard one man say “there is our
problem and we need to take care of them.” We were never scared though because we serve the one true
God that had mighty, warrior Angels walking with us every night.
We had the honor to share the gospel with several girls and
most of them said they had never even heard of Jesus. We would explain the gospel from the beginning and they
would stare at us with awe and wonder. We had a Bible to give to one and she
read it right there on the spot said she was interested in learning more. We
pray that the seeds that were planted would continue to grow as more teams come
through SHE. These women are in bondage, but what is also difficult to see is
that all the men who use them are also in bondage. The hardest thing that I saw
was the last week we were there. It was the most difficult week for us ministry
wise and the reason being was that the U.S. Navy and Marines had docked their
ships in Phuket, Thailand for the week.
The streets were literally flooded with American men all
that week. Our hearts were broken to see the men who represent our country all
over these women in the bars. It
made me so angry at times especially when we had a date set to pick up five of
the girls and bring them back to our ministry site, and they all missed the
date. We met up with them that
night and found that our American soldiers bought them for the night. In no way
do I want to disrespect or defile our Navy or our Marines, but I can not deny
what I saw with my own two eyes can I? There were about 4,000 soldiers that
were docked there for the week and I know many of them were not out at the bars,
but every girl that we had a relationship with said that the bars and all the
women triple what they make when the Americans dock there (which is several
times for the year).
Bangalor Road
During the day time
As angry as I was at times I could not judge these men. If I
did not have Christ as my Savior I am sure I would be doing the same if not
worse than them, and how many times have I funded the sex industry by the
things I have looked at? I thank God for His mercy on my life and how He has
set me free from such a prison. The Lord gave me a heart for these men to pray
for them and for their freedom.
For those that struggle in this area please know that God’s
love is never changing for you and His mercy is new every morning. In no way is that an
excuse to sin, but it is a life changing fact. That despite our weaknesses and failures the Lord continues
to say “It is ok my son or my daughter, get back up and let us keep running
together.” What a gracious and
loving God that works with us in such an intimate way. My dear brothers and sisters let us
keep fighting in these days of evil for they will only get worse, but God’s
power will only increase.
“Be very careful, then, how you live-not as unwise but as
wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.”
Ephesians 5:15-16
We ended this month with a powerful night. We were able to
play a forty-five minute worship set in the central bar of the red light
district! We sang 6 worship songs over the streets of Bangalor. There were many people that would stop
walking on the streets and come to the bar just to listen, it was filled to the
streets.
This was one of the main bars centrally located on the road that we got to do our worship set in!
Please pray for these women for their freedom. That the
seeds that were planted would grow and they would chose the Lord and the
freedom that He has waiting for them. Please also pray for the men that they
would know the Lord has a plan a purpose for them and it is not found on those
streets.
“You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.” Galatians 5:13
