I’ve never quite understood the concept of righteous anger. I’ve read the story in the Bible where Jesus flipped over tables in the temple (Matthew 21:12). I’ve read the verse that says “in your anger do not sin” (Ephesians 4:26). So I know this kind of anger exists. But I’ve never quite experienced it until this month in Thailand.
This month my team and I are in Phuket. Phuket is a huge tourist destination and welcomes about 9 million visitors a year. Phuket is also a huge center for sex trafficking. The popular beach town of Patong has a street that is somehow worse than the Vegas strip and Bourbon street put together. Last night I was walking down the main street to get a taxi back to my hostel and I was MAD. Girls (and I say girls because a lot of them are barely older than 18) line the windows as if they are being auctioned off and they are. All along the street girls try to pull men into “massage parlors” where sex is literally on the selection sheets. Children are walking with their families past open bars where girls are dancing on poles. And I wanted to scream in anger.
These women have been told that if they dance in a bar their families will receive a new house. Some of them are trafficked from other countries and get their passports taken from them when they get here. Some are in the bars by “choice” and some are not. But all of them have been tricked. They’ve traded the truth for a lie. And the incredibly sad part is that as long as there are lines of customers, this sickening situation will continue to go on.
But I realized I’m not angry at the girls. If anything I want to wrap a towel around them, bring them down from the bar, hug them, and tell them that they are loved. I want to tell them that this is not their identity. That they are princesses loved by a King whose heart breaks watching them live this sham of a life. And I’m not even angry at the men who buy these girls for an hour, or a night, or hell some of them even marry the women.
No, who I’m angry at is Satan. The thief who sneaks around like a lion looking to devour people. The enemy who makes sin look desirable. A local pastor recently said that “sin often over promises and under delivers” and it’s so true. “The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. Jesus’s purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.” (John 10:10)
I am here to judge no one. God is the judge and he will be just. I myself have fallen into the enemy’s snare. I have traded the truth for lies. I have been that girl on the pole. Not literally speaking, but emotionally and spiritually just lost. By the absolute grace of God, I know the truth. That I am loved. That I was created to be pure and blameless. That God will provide. Ugh I want to scream these things down the streets of Thailand. My heart breaks over the injustice these girls are living.
So how do we fix it? I’ll address this in the 2nd part in my next blog. And maybe the next one I won’t be (quite) as angry.
Alyssa
