I’m just gonna jump right into this. I’m in Thailand now. It’s one of the top five countries for human trafficking in the world. It’s the country I’ve been most excited about coming to because of the darkness here and because of the ministry opportunities with both women and men. God has been putting in my mind more and more that the Kingdom of Heaven is not a place that I want to get to one day, but is a Kingdom that I am supposed to bring to Earth now. My life is about glorifying God and bringing Kingdom. He tells us in many places, but the most well known place is when He tells us how to pray in Matthew. We all know it as the Lord’s Prayer. But in it, we pray that “His kingdom would come and His will would be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” That means we’re meant to make earth look like Heaven with all that is within us. And never before has that meant so much to me as it does now.
This morning we had a short orientation on human trafficking. Now, we all “know” about human trafficking. We all “know” that it’s a problem in the world today. But my eyes were opened and I realized that I didn’t “know” as much as I thought. I’m gonna hit you with some facts. Prepare yourself. Really.
27 million men, women and children are enslaved in our world today. Not just in Thailand. Not just in India. Not just in the third world
countries. But everywhere. America included. There are over 200,000 people in slavery at this very moment in America. And you can add 17,500 new victims that are trafficked through our borders each year. The slave trade makes about 32 billion dollars annually, which is one of the reasons why it continues to happen. Governments and countries live off of this. Human trafficking is the fastest growing criminal industry in the world. 80% of the victims are women, and 50% are children. 1,000,000 children are forced to sell their bodies in the global sex trade today. Did you know that people who practice Buddhism and Hinduism believe that if they have sex with a virgin, it will cure them of all sexually transmitted diseases and anything else raging against their bodies? A child is considered more valuable and, therefore, more profitable because a person will pay more for a virgin. So most men will sleep with a girl anywhere from nine years old to fifteen years old. And because these children bring in more money, after they have sex for the first time and are “torn,” the people that own them will sew them back up four or five times so that they can resell them as virgins. And they don’t use any sort of pain killer during this gruesome procedure. Victims of sex trafficking aren’t just women. Men are too. There are heterosexual men being forced into prostitution. There are men being forced to have sex changes so that they will bring in more money.
countries. But everywhere. America included. There are over 200,000 people in slavery at this very moment in America. And you can add 17,500 new victims that are trafficked through our borders each year. The slave trade makes about 32 billion dollars annually, which is one of the reasons why it continues to happen. Governments and countries live off of this. Human trafficking is the fastest growing criminal industry in the world. 80% of the victims are women, and 50% are children. 1,000,000 children are forced to sell their bodies in the global sex trade today. Did you know that people who practice Buddhism and Hinduism believe that if they have sex with a virgin, it will cure them of all sexually transmitted diseases and anything else raging against their bodies? A child is considered more valuable and, therefore, more profitable because a person will pay more for a virgin. So most men will sleep with a girl anywhere from nine years old to fifteen years old. And because these children bring in more money, after they have sex for the first time and are “torn,” the people that own them will sew them back up four or five times so that they can resell them as virgins. And they don’t use any sort of pain killer during this gruesome procedure. Victims of sex trafficking aren’t just women. Men are too. There are heterosexual men being forced into prostitution. There are men being forced to have sex changes so that they will bring in more money.“Why don’t they just run away?”
“Why don’t they ask for help?”
“Why don’t they fight back?”
10% of women in sex trafficking are in the industry by choice. But 90% are forced. Some have been kidnapped. Some have been sold into it 
by their own relatives. Some have been tricked into it, thinking that they were being given an opportunity for a better life. Whatever the reason, they are all forced. And the things that go on behind the walls and scenes of what we see in a bar or in the street keep them bound. Before they are “put to work,” these victims go through weeks, sometimes months, of horrific “reminders” that they have no way out. They are starved, confined, tortured, beaten, raped and abused over and over again to beat them down so that they are completely defeated. They are forced into taking drugs and drinking so that they become addicted and need it to survive and only their owners can supply it. Sometimes, the victims are killed in front of each other just to set an example of what will happen if they try to run away. These are the physical conditions that keep them enslaved. The psychological and emotional conditions run just as deep; traumatic brain injury (TMI) that results in dizziness, memory loss, headaches and numbness. Post dramatic stress disorder (PTSD). Shame, grief, fear, distrust, hatred of men, depression, self-hatred, suicide/suicidal thoughts, acute anxiety, insomnia, physical hyper-alertness, helplessness, hopelessness…the list goes on. They are almost trapped inside their own thoughts and bodies to the point that their owners don’t even have to do anything to stop them. They know that the victims won’t leave.
by their own relatives. Some have been tricked into it, thinking that they were being given an opportunity for a better life. Whatever the reason, they are all forced. And the things that go on behind the walls and scenes of what we see in a bar or in the street keep them bound. Before they are “put to work,” these victims go through weeks, sometimes months, of horrific “reminders” that they have no way out. They are starved, confined, tortured, beaten, raped and abused over and over again to beat them down so that they are completely defeated. They are forced into taking drugs and drinking so that they become addicted and need it to survive and only their owners can supply it. Sometimes, the victims are killed in front of each other just to set an example of what will happen if they try to run away. These are the physical conditions that keep them enslaved. The psychological and emotional conditions run just as deep; traumatic brain injury (TMI) that results in dizziness, memory loss, headaches and numbness. Post dramatic stress disorder (PTSD). Shame, grief, fear, distrust, hatred of men, depression, self-hatred, suicide/suicidal thoughts, acute anxiety, insomnia, physical hyper-alertness, helplessness, hopelessness…the list goes on. They are almost trapped inside their own thoughts and bodies to the point that their owners don’t even have to do anything to stop them. They know that the victims won’t leave.
More slaves are in bondage today than were bartered in four centuries of the trans-Atlantic slave trade.
My heart has been in shambles all day. And I know this is only the beginning. Lord, give me strength and courage to face this darkness. Above all, give me love. Because every single person needs it. From the prostitute to the pimp to the man buying her. All of them. It’s going to be a hard, but amazing, month of learning what it means to bring Kingdom to Earth. Stay tuned. I have a feeling it’s going to be my biggest blogging month yet.
Lighting Up the World,
~Eryn
