There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him:haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and the one who sows discord among brothers. Proverbs- 6: 16-19

Do you know that God (creator of all) is capable of stopping all evil of every kind but we all have a part to play and will be judged for this life? See, we release His power when Jesus commands us to ask and seek? Ask and seek what though?

Today, I am going to write about the seriousness of some of the deep injustice that is happening in our neighborhoods and in the world today. The first thing I want you to do is stop and think about what are you doing to change the lives of others for the better? Are you living solely for yourself? If so, it’s time to get your head out of your A** and open your eyes to what is happening because whether you believe it or not, you will have to give an account for your life. Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess. I, myself am learning this and by the grace of God, He is opening my eyes to things I was too afraid to let into my heart but nevertheless it was time. I am realizing so much of what I thought was important was shallow and self- seeking. I needed to break through the barriers of the the sheer noise and get to the heart of God. God needed to break my heart for what breaks His. We, my brothers and sisters have a responsibility to create whole lives not with just those in our own family but for the human race as a whole. This is a piece about love, tough love… perhaps, but love so let’s get started. I pray for those who read this that you will ask God to search your heart and examine your life.

Can you imagine what waking up in slavery feels like? This is a quote from the International Justice Mission who work to bring justice for the weak and the poor. We have associated words like weak and poor as something to be ashamed of but God is clear of His heart for those who need our help.

She woke up at 5 a.m. to watch her parent’s panicked faces as they rushed out for another day of exhausting labor—knowing if they were late, the owner would beat them again.

For the next 15 hours, they toiled relentlessly in a sand mine. The work left them in agonizing pain and constant sickness. They had no time or energy to care for Mamtha or her baby sister. There was only more work, more pain and more fear.

This was life in slavery—and Mamtha was terrified this would be her future, too.

As her parents struggled, 10-year-old Mamtha was left to look after her baby sister and cook for the family. She had just enough time in the afternoon to slip her parents something to eat, before the watchful owner forced them to continue working again.

Mamtha was desperate. She just wanted to escape this life.

“I wanted to be in school and write and draw and play with my friends,” Mamtha dreamed. “I wanted to be happy.”

A child like Mamtha shouldn’t have to fear a future of being owned by someone else.

Right now, there are so many children and people like Mamtha who face violence and abuse every day. They are still in dark places like the sand mine. Still waiting for rescue to come.

You can end the wait for victims still trapped in slavery. You can send rescue for their families, and you can give them the chance to start a new life.

Mamtha lived with this fear for two years—until friends like you sent rescue when it was needed most.

Her family was finally set free from the sand mine and returned to their home village. Mamtha got to go back to school and now spends her days studying hard and playing with her sister.

With the help of social workers and her parent’s loving care, Mamtha started to dream again. Now, she is excited and determined to build a career helping others when she grows up.

“Today, I want to be a doctor,” she says with a beaming smile. “Now that I am back in school, I know I can achieve my dream.”

Human Trafficking is a 32 billion dollar industry. Trafficking of humans is happening all around us and we need to open our eyes to the evilness and take action. Do not turn your back because it’s not your problem. Here is a another story that took place in the United States.

It happened in a suburban neighborhood, right under everyone’s noses, to an 8-year-old girl.

“For two years I was raped, tortured and smothered on a daily basis,” Jen Spry said. “I would cry myself to sleep every night.”

Spry is a survivor of human trafficking, and she told her gut-wrenching story to Monmouth Regional High School students Friday night as part of “R U Aware Partnership Service Day,” an event organized by junior Christian Boujaoude to coincide with Global Youth Service Day.

What made Spry’s story extra shocking was how it happened. She wasn’t kidnapped by a stranger or abused by a relative. It took place after school each day at the hands of a neighbor just a few doors down from her mother’s house. And it wasn’t just her; her younger sister, a male cousin, a whole slew of kids in her Norristown, Pennsylvania, neighborhood were caught up in this child pornography ring.

“No one ever came looking for us because we never went missing,” she said, describing how she went through great lengths to hide the abuse from her single mother. “From 3-6 every day I went and had sex with strangers, because that was my job.”

In detail, Spry walked the audience through how she and fellow victims were coerced into participating and keeping it secret: through an elaborate con of gifts and threats.

The trafficking ended when she was 10 because the neighbor suddenly moved away. Spry, now a 42-year-old registered nurse, said to this day she is the only victim to come forward about what happened. She waited until after her mother, who never knew what happened, passed away. For the past year, she has spoken publicly to warn others of a plague that many mistakenly believe is confined to third-world countries.

Violence is an urgent threat for the vulnerable.

According to the United Nations,

4 billion people live outside the protection of the law.

That means that their public justice systems – their police, courts, and laws – are so broken, corrupt and dysfunctional, that there is nothing to shield them from violence.

Organizations like IJM.org and wearethorn.org are making great strides in changing the current landscape.

75% of underage sex trafficking victims said they had been advertised or sold online. (Report on the Use of Technology to Recruit, Groom and Sell Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking Victims, Thorn, 2015)

325,000 children are at risk for becoming victims of sexual exploitation in the United States. (The Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children In the U. S., Canada and Mexico, Executive Summary, September 2001)

The average age of entry into the sex trade in America is 12 – 14 years old. (The National Report on Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking: America’s Prostituted Children, Shared Hope International, May 2009)

A pimp can make $150,000-$200,000 per child each year and exploits an average of 4-6 girls. (Trafficked Teen Girls Describe Life In ‘The Game’, NPR, 2010)

One in six endangered runaways reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in 2013 were likely sex trafficking victims. (Missing Kids)

Wearethorn.org is a digital defender for women and children. They maintain a vast global network of professionals on the front lines of this very important issue. Predators that think they can hide behind encrypted networks to abuse children better think again because things are a changing.

Don’t think women are still oppressed in the U.S? Think again…

Many people feel that women in the US are privileged, have won their rights, and ought to be content with their lot. 

Women still earn 72 cents for every man a dollar earns. In 2008, women occupied only 15% of board positions of Fortune 500 companies.

The proportion of women in government was lower in 2007 than 1997. In Scandinavian countries, there are policies that enforce equality in representation of government. Not in the US, with a paltry 17% of female government officials–Iraq has a higher representation of women in government than we do. So does Namibia, Rwanda, and Afghanistan. Until there is equality in representation on a government level, there is no equality for women on the civic level.

While countries such as Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan have signed and ratified the CEDAW treaty (Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women) the US is the only signatory that hasn’t ratified it. One aspect of CEDAW would outlaw female genital mutilation-a common practice in developing countries intended to reduce female sexual desire, and thus, ensure virginity at the time of marriage. Not only are women oppressed in the US, the US won’t acknowledge the plight of women in more demeaned, oppressed situations on an international level. (heymandastats)

Jimmy Carter said the number one abuse of women ( children) is the abuse of human rights because a great deal of men don’t give a damn. Well, God does and so I want to close this piece by asking yourself, What are you doing to save the life and soul of another? It’s time for us to wake up and fight for those who can’t fight for themselves because the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, waiting for whom he can devour.  When you choose to do nothing, like it’s “not your problem”, you are still choosing.

Do you think I can stay and become nothing to you? Do you think I am an automaton- a machine without feelings? It is just my spirit that addresses your spirit, just as if both had passed through the grave and we stood at God’s feet, equal as we are… Jane Eyre