Speaking Out Against Sex Trafficking

My friend, Anne, just posted this letter yesterday on her blog. I highly suggest you read it. She also wrote a full blog post before the letter (press previous post) explaining her opinion on the issue in more detail.

http://azhappyhour.wordpress.com/2011/05/01/open-letter-to-kiss-fm/

Basically, sex slavery is rampant in our country, especially in Phoenix, which I believe has the 2nd highest rate of the trafficking in the country. Of  course almost everyone thinks sex slavery is wrong - except those sick individuals who manipulate women and sell girls' bodies I guess. But the thing is we don't live like it's wrong. We live like the sex that is so pervasive in our society is okay. It's okay that our films are becoming increasingly illicit and graphic. It takes a lot to even earn an R rating these days. It's okay that there are strip clubs and lingerie stories and adult video shops on every corner in Phoenix. It's okay that boys in elementary and middle school are looking at soft porn on the Internet and will likely be addicted to doing so for the rest of their lives. It's okay that push-up bras are being sold at Abercrombie kids. It's okay if you want to to enter a wet t-shirt contest, a body paint contest, or a hand bra contest like the one Anne is speaking out against in her letter. It's okay for men to buy sex, as long as it's over the Internet or at a strip bar and as long as it doesn't involve actual "intercourse."

Right?

Wrong. Our society's desensitivity to sex is what leads to sex trafficking. It's after men are exposed to pornography, strippers, and prostitutes that they become disillusioned into thinking it might be okay to force a girl into the sex industry. It's after men are sexually abused that they are willing to abuse others. It's when girls think it's fun to wear a wet t-shirt or take off their shirts to win a trip to Vegas or concert tickets (and the attention of every guy at a bar) that these girls soon find themselves surrounded by men who will force them, manipulate them or threaten them to take off their clothes. It's the fault of every Christian man who secretly looks at porn, buys filthy magazines, or rents dirty movies for perpetuating the horrific crime and sin of sex trafficking, and it's the fault of the church for failing to convict and confront these sins. Yes, I said it's your fault "Christian" man - who refuses to repent of your sin of feeding the sex industry of our country by clicking on websites and buying media that filters more money into this sick economy. If no one was buying, they wouldn't have anything to sell right? Shame on Christian men for being the demand in the supply and demand chain of the sex industry in our country. For you, it's only an Internet ad or an adult movie on Netflix, but for someone else it's an actual human being, a young girl that is bought and sold and has no other choice.

*I used the word shame in this post and I hardly ever use the word shame. But the truth of the matter is that shame covers the illicit sex in our country. Shame covers the abuse, the rape, the exploitation. Shame covers the photo shoots of topless models and the back rooms of the strip clubs. Shame covers the computer screens hosting pictures of naked women. But I have a Savior who takes away the shame of the world. I have Savior who redeems, restores, and is "making all things new" (Rev. 21:5). His name is Jesus and He has the power to remove the guilt and shame of the sex industry and impart His grace on both those who instigate these crimes and those who are the victims of these crimes. It is my sincere prayer that Jesus will shed light in the darkest corners of sex trafficking, that He will convict the hearts of those girls thinking about entering KISS 106's hand bra contest and that He will lead the church to repentance over its involvement with this sin and grow up strong, pure, godly male leaders in churches across the country.

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

~Titus 2:11-14~

You know I'm bad, I'm bad - You know it...

So Michael Jackson got something right... we are bad. I am bad. You are bad. He was bad (I'm not even going to go there...)

This isn't my most uplifting post, but it is meant to be humbling...and when you are humbled, I hope you turn fully and joyfully to your Savior, Jesus. So I guess, in a sense, this post might be uplifting after all...

I just want to take a moment to remind you...and myself... that we are not good. Psalm 53 says: God looks down from heaven on the children of man to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. They have all fallen away; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one (53:2-3).

Not even one. We are not good. We do not seek God of our own accord. We don't please Him. We don't have anything worthy to offer Him. Isaiah says that even our most righteous deeds are like a "polluted garment" or a "filthy rag" in the eyes of God (Isaiah 64:6). Apart from Christ, we are despicable in the eyes of a holy God and rightfully so.

So why do we spend so much time thinking we are good? Thinking we are right? Thinking we are entitled to certain things? A house, a car, a job, friends who love us, family who supports us, happiness, health, money in our savings account? That we deserve to be respected, loved, praised, admired, comforted or encouraged? We don't deserve these things. But admit it, even when you say that Jesus is your everything and acknowledge with your lips that you deserve nothing, you don't always live your life thinking that way. At least I know I don't....

The Bible is clear that we deserve death for our sins (Romans 6:23), and anything less than that is by the grace of God. Even the very air we breathe each day is an undeserved gift from a good God. However, I can say those words with my mouth, but I don't necessarily always live those words by the way I act and, especially, by the way I think...

Because when I am wronged, I think it's not fair. When I am frustrated, I want a fast fix to my problem. When I am sinned against, I want an apology. I want repentance. I want a resolution. I may say I don't deserve my health, my wealth or my happiness, but my negative, selfish attitude when things go wrong would indicate otherwise...

So stop for a moment today, and ask God to open your eyes to the truth. When you find yourself frustrated or feeling wronged and resentful, pause in prayer and ask God's Spirit to fill you with truth. Ask the Holy Sprit to overcome your fleshly ideas of entitlement and speak the Word of God to yourself, "there is none who does good, not even one."

But don't stop there. Think of Chirst. Who came. For you. Who died for you, even though you do not deserve it. Who suffered through a death that HE DID NOT DESERVE. He was entitlted. He belonged in heaven, yet he came to earth. He was supposed to wear crown and not one made of thorns. He deserved honor and instead he got a death sentence. Christ, who deserves every title of glory, praise, honor, and fame, became disentitled for you and for me.

What a beautiful gift. It is my hope that after you ponder, seriously, your own depravity, your own filth, your own incapability of doing anything good on your own, you will turn to Christ. And you will see His purity. His goodness. His utter holiness. And you will know that His righteousness is yours, not because of anything you have done, but because He came to make you new and clean. And that you will live and love and forgive joyfully because of the One who became disentitled to give you a new title... Child of God (I John 3:10).