And there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign forever and ever.
No need for the light of a lamp?
Light without end? Unending Illumination.
Not today.
Tomorrow? Likely, no.
Perhaps next year, in ten years, 100 years, who knows?
One day, however, the need for artificial light will end. One who is light will illumine all.
I long for that day.
Today, especially, I long for that day.
I am in Honduras with some friends from our church. We are joining hands with a local missionary team called Compelled By Christ. They reach out to rescue and provide shelter for children who have/are being abused and or sexually exploited by those around them.
We are in need of light. Far more than artificial illumination.
When I join institutions and agencies such as this one I am reminded of the angelic proclamation, “The Light Has Dawned.” Indeed, the light has dawned.
No doubt.
Yet the flame only flickers.
No doubt!
Ministries and agencies such as this one; dedicated to remedying and/or relieving our global epidemic of sexual slavery, shine a flaming torch when held against the slavery from which one’s life has been rescued.
When placed next the masses of people against whom this crime is perpetrated, however, the flame appears to be but a flicker.
The darkness is a blanket slowly pulled over trembling hands and blood stained hearts.
As the flicker wanes, hope flees.
Places such as this exist and do good, meaningful and life-saving work. They rescue children who are being sold and raped for profit. Our daughters, our sons. Sold by our brothers and our fathers.
It’s their eyes that tell the story. I see these children through their beautiful, chocolate eyes and cocoa colored skin. They ask, “Am I not your sister?” They beg, “Are we not your daughters?”
You!
Me!
We!
All together we stand before them and say, “No. No, you are not.”
Awareness is no longer an issue. We know this is happening before our very eyes. Across the globe and in our back yards.
Global help is growing. The light has dawned.
This evil is multiplying exponentially. The flame is but a flicker.
I am reflecting on a question as I work with this great mission agency this week:
-
What factors contribute to or nurture a global culture that is comfortable with and complicit in sex slavery?
Greater minds have written on this vast subject. Some of the prominent factors are,
- Poverty
- Institutional Corruption
- Violence
- Ignorance
To name but a few.
Here’s another: pornography.
Perhaps I express this conviction because of my background. Nearly twenty years ago I began to claw out of the grips of porn addiction into a reality I had forgotten existed. As the song goes, “I see clearly now . . . “
Yet other voices – religious and secular – are making the same connections and drawing the same conclusions. See the links below,
http://www.newsweek.com/growing-demand-prostitution-68493
http://www.covenanteyes.com/2011/09/07/the-connections-between-pornography-and-sex-trafficking/
https://www.facebook.com/culturereframed?fref=ts
No, doubt porn doesn’t work alone.
Porn requires spiritual and social poverty and perpetuates spiritual and social poverty.
Porn consumes institutional corruption as it commits institutional corruption.
Porn encourages violence as it exploits violence.
Porn embraces ignorance as it extends ignorance.
You think your struggle with porn is yours alone. I submit to you that it is not.
Your struggle with porn – my struggle with porn – our struggle with porn is shared. Our struggle with and acceptance of porn enslaves our sons and daughters; our sisters and brothers.
Every click claims another captive.
When I consider the vast scale of human trafficking and our silent agreement with it, I shutter to think of the day when we will all stand before the Light which illumines all.
Perhaps He might say, “Was she not your sister?” Or, “Were they not My daughters?”
I long for the day when the Light of God’s presence illumines all.
Until that day, a light that was once a flame, flickers even now.
It flickers in places such as Honduras. The flame of God’s love is felt through people such as Keith and Bonnie Barker and Compelled by Christ Ministries, http://www.compelledbychrist.com/.
I want to help them any way I can. However, my deepest desire is to put them out of business by helping create a culture of care and compassion for the least of these.
These who are my sisters. These who are our daughters!
There are two ways you might consider joining me,
- Click this link (http://www.compelledbychrist.com/) and discover this great work. Consider giving of your financial resource to fund this small but vital and growing ministry. Or come to Pillar this weekend and speak to myself, Bobbi or Julian who will have just returned from our trip.
- Choose to stop! Decide this moment that you will no longer contribute to the selling of our sisters and daughters. Do so by choosing to admit your addiction to pornography. Then confess to someone you trust. Next, begin to walk out of the prison in which you find yourself.
I write as one who has done and is doing both.
In other words, I write as a fellow traveler on this road to freedom. A road large enough for each of us!
After all, ‘Is she not my sister,” “Are they not our daughters?”
Disrupting to Renew!
Biz!
