Last night I watched 'Nefarious:Merchant of Souls'.
It's a documentary which exposes the Global sex industry and gives insight into the world of prostitution, which goes hand in hand with human trafficking. I was really tired, and having seen the film three times before, I didn't particularly feel like facing up to it again... It's no easy watch. It brings you face to face with the scale and the depth and the complexity and the destructive nature of prostitution. It builds a compelling arguement that human trafficking is in essence a spritual problem.
Education and money have been thrown at this issue in many countries and the results have been truly pitiful. The problem is not a lack of education, not a lack of poverty, not even greed or cruelty, although all play thair part, it is primarily a spiritual issue.
That 'spiritual issue' is sin.
Sin is in essence controlling your environment and those around you to serve yourself. It is elevating yourself to the place of God.
God created humans to love living, to love each other and above all to love Him. But since sin, humans have been at odds with each other. Our hearts have become suspicous, our will's controlling, our determination vicious, and our pride and appetites rampant. This may sound over dramatic- over stretching the idea- we don't see much of this in our day to day lives. Maybe not- but sinful hearts are the driving forces behind all the crimes and the tragedies and the trafficking.
This extract from the site unearthedpictures.com just hits the nail on the head.
'To change the fruit of sexual exploitation, we have to change the roots. Or perhaps a more accurate way of saying it is that the roots have to be changed.
If we rescued, rehabilitated and reintegrated every human being that's
been victimized, then what? If the demand hasn't ceased, the ones
exploiting will refill the supply immediately. New victims, new forms of abuse, new pornography.
Legislative punishment, although necessary, doesn't bring permanent
change to the human heart. And neither does awareness. Short-term
emotional responses, which this generation is known for, will not result
in the toppling of the most powerful stronghold in the history
of humanity. We need help from something outside us to heal something inside us. We need a surgeon who is skilled enough to operate on the cancer of the human heart.'
Rehabilitation/reintigration/legislative punishment are immensely valuable. Restraining the current systems and restoring victims are crucial, but something permanent needs to happen. Spiritual restoration needs to take place. A meeting with Jesus needs to happen. He is that surgeon. He is the one who can heal broken, skewed people, the one who can offer a new way of living, a new way of loving, and the power to do it too.
His 'skill' was in his sacrifice. He died as if he were a criminal to offer every human a new heart and
eternal life.
But back to Nefarious. It was certainly hard-hitting, but not crushing. It gives glimpses of HOPE. The women in the film talk about meeting Jesus, and how this real person has literally changed their lives. They now live free from the shame and the fear which was part of them for so long. Such a beautiful, powerful and moving thing to see:)
If you get a chance, watch it:)
