Seeing Through God's Eyes

I've been praying lately that God would help me to see the world the way He sees it. Well, He is answering that prayer. The basis of it begins with the understanding that God is omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent. Now put that together with His great compassion and His heart for justice.

When I boldly dare to approach the majestic throne of God in prayer to know Him better and lay my cares upon Him, I must stop and think, what has He seen that day, and what IS He seeing as we commune. He, no doubt, is seeing all the beauty of those broken ones coming to Him to be restored, but He is also seeing the oppression and abuse of His little ones. While giving me peaceful sleep He has watched a nine year old girl abducted from her home, taken across a border and placed in a brothel and made to sleep with 40 men per day (true, I've read her story and still see her face). My great and compassionate God has watched a little one beaten after a 14 hour work day for not producing enough pogs (he was sold to a job recruiter to help provide for his poor family). and on, and on, and on...

I cannot fathom the depths of His love, nor the depths of his pain in seeing all He sees...and he looks at the Church...

Do we squander the gifts we have? Are we so self-centered that we won't reach out?

The enemy has built gates around evil people, businesses and cities, and the Church is either scared, confused, blind, or unable...but make no mistake, we are NOT unable in Christ. He tells us that the gates of hell will not prevail! It's time to break down some some gates! Don't know how? Pray! He is faithful and is certainly willing that we go.

God, I want to be moved by what moves you.

Trafficking Resources

Here are some great resources/info from a group in Houston fighting sex trafficking.

Coalition Against Human Trafficking

How do we define trafficking?

Here are the UN and US definitions of trafficking:

United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime, Supplemental Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children

'“Trafficking in persons” shall mean the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs;

The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of a child for the purpose
of exploitation shall be considered “trafficking in persons” even if this does not involve any of the means set forth in subparagraph (a) [see above] of this article;'

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Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000, [United States federal law; the definition below is of 'severe forms of trafficking in persons', for which there are criminal penalties in the United States]

1) Sex trafficking in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion or in which the person induced to perform such an act is under 18, or

2) The recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion, for the purpose of subjecting that person to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery.

Time to get rolling

Ok folks, how do we combat sex trafficking? Here are some great resources to start learning what the problem is and how to get involved to rescue the oppressed. Take it on in your city!

Polaris Project (secular non-profit focused on the U.S.)

International Justice Mission (Christ centered non-profit focused overseas)

Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) Compliance

One of the primary obstacles to stopping Human Trafficking activities is tracking violators cross international borders. The very nature of the "business" involves taking victims across borders where they are unfamiliar and unknown. In an effort to get these countries on the same page in persuing traffickers the TVPA (Trafficking Victims Protection Act) was formed.

The US Department of State explains it this way: "The United States’ Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA), as amended, guides efforts to combat human trafficking. The most recent amendments to the TVPA were enacted in December 2008. The purpose of the law is to punish traffickers, protect victims, and prevent trafficking from occurring. Freeing victims from this form of modern-day slavery is the ultimate goal of this report—and of the U.S. Government’s anti-human trafficking policy."
This map show compliance with the TVPA

TIER 1: Countries whose governments fully comply with the (TVPA) minimum standards

TIER 2: Countries whose governments do not fully comply with the TVPA’s minimum standards, but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards

TIER 2 WATCH LIST: Countries whose governments do not fully comply with the TVPA’s minimum standards, but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards AND:a) The absolute number of victims of severe forms of trafficking is very significant or issignificantly increasing; orb) There is a failure to provide evidence of increasing efforts to combat severe forms of trafficking in persons from the previous year; orc) The determination that a country is making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with minimum standards was based on commitments by the country to take additional future steps over the next year

TIER 3: Countries whose governments do not fully comply with the minimum standards and are not making significant efforts to do so.

Also, here is a link to the Department of State's annual report on human trafficking: http://www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt/2009/index.htm.

Sex Trafficking in Latin America

One of the most grievous and blatantly evil acts committed against street children is in sexual trafficking and exploitation. I'd like to take a minute and lay down some statistics that will hopefully motivate us all to become more active in putting feet to our religion and fighting this abuse on innocents.
1. ~ 1,000,000 children across Latin America have been entrapped by child prostitution and pornography networks. In many cases in Mexico these child victims are offered to wealthy businessmen and politicians.

2. ~100,000 women and children are trafficked for sexual exploitation annually. Interpol has set the number trafficked out of Colombia each year at 35,000. Other estimates are considerably higher.

3. Over half of all women in Latin America have suffered some form of violent act. 33% of these women have been victims of sexual exploitation between the ages of 16 and 49.
4. Women from countries like Colombia are trafficked into Venezuela through prostitution trade networks originating in Colombia. Children from Ecuador are trafficked into Venezuela to serve as prostitutes and work as street vendors and housemaids. The victims are usually children who are kidnapped, sold by their parents, or deceived by false employment opportunities. These children are first exploited through prostitution at the average Children as young as 7 years old have been found to be sexually exploited. age of 12. Of the 40,000 sexually exploited children in Venezuela, 78% are girls between the ages of 8 and 17. 5. Over 100,000 women and girls in Latin America are trafficked into sexual slavery each year. They are kidnapped or entrapped (offered so-called "legitimate" jobs overseas), and then they are trafficked & sold to brothels around the World. Latina women and girl children are literally enslaved by the thousands in Japan, Holland, Spain, across Latin America and within the U.S. 6. Over 35,000 women are trafficked from Colombia each year, bringing annual criminal profits of $500 million. Over 5,000 Colombian women are enslaved in Holland alone. 7. An estimated 15,000 young Mexican girls are trafficked into the United States each year, most are forced into sex slavery. Some of them are as young as 8 years old. 8. Covenant House-Latin America completed a ten month study in April, 2002, using 56 researchers to go undercover to document the fact that thousands of Central America's children are enslaved by well financed & highly organized pedophile sex trafficking gangs. 12 year old Central American girls were sold for $100-$200 each. 9. Child prostitution rings working in sex shops throughout Colombia were raided in Sep 1998 freeing 370 minors aged 12-16. Twenty-nine adults were arrested. The children where being held in slavery-like conditions, were abused and forced into prostitution. At least 145 of the children where found in the major city of Cartegena, a busy sex-tourist destination. These are but a few statistics you can find on the internet from a 10 minute pull. The phrase "sex-tourism" is simply inconceivable to me. What kind of monster can take a child for a few bucks, have their way with them and toss them aside with seemingly no thought that that was (and is) a person, and moreover, an innocent child. Children are to be protected, nurtured and taught about life. Instead, small self-indulgent "people" are using them for personal gain, be it physical or financial. Likewise, grown women are suffering similar situations. Where are the MEN that see this happening? Where are the MEN, Christian men, that hear about this and turn away; maybe angry and disgusted, but still go about life without doing anything? I've been that man. I knew about this years ago and have done nothing. Well, we can't work on every problem that exists...but have we worked on anything? "Religion that God accepts as pure and faultless is this, to look after orphans and widows in their distress ..." James 1:27 This is clearly something that the Lord wants us to do. Now what...