I have been appalled lately at my own blindness in the areas of human trafficking. Even worse is my lack of heart connect and prayer. I say this because I live in a community where the information is there and people are involved in aiding victims and focuses prayer for the ending of human trafficking. I know it, see it, feel for it, yet do I pray everyday for it? Sadly I confess no. There is no reason for my lack. There are 24 hours in a day and surely I could find time for such an important issue that is on the Lords heart.I have been reading and looking at sites that are trying to link arms to stop human trafficking in our life time. I will list a few sites at the end of this post. There are so many forms of slavery, so many different ways of trafficking and the feeling I get like so many is helplessness. But that isn't true.
There is hope in the midst of hopelessness.
I found this article on a site and it shocked me. It is about how human traffickers have used Craigs List to post and trade young children for sex. Many state and government officials have caught on and are using Craigs List to track and take down such criminals. Read the article below.
Children For Sale On Craigslist
Katherine Chon, Executive Director & Co-Founder Polaris Project
I’m sure most of us are familiar with Craigslist, an online Web community where people post job opportunities, items for sale, and find activity partners. Over the past years, Craigslist has grown by leaps and bounds and now has Web sites representing over 300 U.S. cities. Many of us have used Craigslist to find a garage sale or buy a used couch.
However, despite its millions of users and various social benefits, there’s a dark side of Craigslist that most users don’t see. In the “Erotic” section, human traffickers have found Craigslist to be one of the most efficient, effective (and free) ways to post children and women for sale.
With a bit of research, one can realize just how much of a problem this has become. In one recent case, two Chicago women were charged for selling girls as young as 14 years old on Craigslist. The girls were forced to have sex with 10-12 men per day, and the traffickers made tens of thousands of dollars. A Boston man and his niece were charged with plotting a child trafficking operation with teenagers as young as 13 by selling them on Craigslist to predators from Massachusetts to New York. These cases are just the tip of the iceberg. In fact, law enforcement efforts to fight trafficking nationwide are consistently reporting a spike in online Craigslist ads, and how sex trafficking has “moved online” lately.
In Washington, DC, we see an average of 500 of these such Craigslist ads each new day. Yet, it is important to realize that a significant percentage of these ads on Craigslist do not advertise solely “legal escort services” as Craigslist may like to believe. Instead, a considerable percentage of the ads are a thinly veiled guise for one of the many faces of human trafficking that exists here in the United States. Although Craigslist may convince itself that it has created a beneficial online venue for advertising legal escorts, in effect, what it has done is create a fertile ground for traffickers to further their trade in human misery.
Many of the victims of human trafficking that Polaris Project has served have had their pictures posted on Craigslist. Through serving them, we’ve learned how the pictures on Craigslist hide the pain behind the smile. Maybe Craigslist should ask itself if the marginal benefits of this form of free advertising for the sex trade are worth the far larger human costs.
What can we do in the face of such odds. How can we stop this type of misery? My answer will always be PRAYER. It really shakes things, moves things and creates door ways in the spirit. A few years ago as the Lord was highlighting and bring this issue to the fore front of the House of Prayer, we began to fast and pray for the Lord to break in and release the captives. With in a few months a large bust was made in the Kansas City area and 18 young women were set free and a huge trafficking ring was broken up. Prayer I believe had a massive impact. We prayed for the Lord to reveal plans to authorities. To open locked doors and He did. This issue isn't forgotten by God, these women and children are not missing in action to Him. He desires them like He desires you and me. We partner with God in releasing wisdom and revelation to authorities to find and break up trafficking rings. We pray for doors to be opened and captive to be set free. It changes things. It truly does. Ps 146:7 Who executes justice for the oppressed,Who gives food to the hungry. The LORD gives freedom to the prisoners.
Little girls in southeast Asia being sold for food money. Little boys in Africa being sold for as little as $5 for labor. Young girls kidnapped in Eastern Europe and forced into prostitution. Humans, children of God of all ages around the world suffering under demonic influences. These are important to God. We need to, I need to, wake up and realize that there is something at stake here. Prayer from here changes things for them where they are.
Remember the trafficked today. Pray for them to be released.
http://www.notforsalecampaign.org/
http://www.free2work.org/
http://www.humantrafficking.org/
www.exoduscry.org
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