raped by strangers.

This past week I was able to be a part of Passion 2012 in Atlanta, Georgia. If you've never heard of the Passion Movement or 268Generation, you should click here now. Then come back to this blog, of course, because it's important! :)

Basically, roughly 44,000 18-25 year olds gathered in the Georgia Dome to worship King Jesus and learn about Him and grow in Faith and encourage each other as brothers and sisters in Christ. To give you a short version... GOD MOVED.

The Passion Movement is centered around the idea that worship isn't just singing and praying and holding our hands in the air. Worship is JUSTICE. And Isaiah 61:8 says, "For I the Lord LOVE justice..."

Remember slavery back in the 1800s? Remember in school you learned about people being forced to do labor for others, being beaten and abused and treated like commodities rather than like people? Remember that feeling you got when you realized what slavery was of "I can't believe my people did that to other people"? Remember thinking "I can't believe it took people so long to realize how wrong that was. I'm glad it's over"?

What if I told you that there are more slaves in this world today than there have ever been at any other time. Would you believe that? Would you believe that there are over 27 million people who are being beaten. mistreated. forced to work. forced to have sex. used. all over the world? You might believe that. And you should, because it's true. Let me tell you a few more things about modern day slavery that are TRUE:

80% of slaves are women and children.

2500 women and children are sold every single day.

2 children are sold every minute.

The total market value of human trafficking today is $32 BILLION. This is more than Google, Starbucks, and Nike COMBINED.

In 1850, a slave cost about $40,000 in today's equivalent of money. Today a person can be bought for as little as $30.

You probably don't have much trouble believing that this is happening all over the world. India, China, Brazil, Pakistan, Bolivia, Greece, France, Bulgaria, Japan, Iran, Haiti, Uzbekistan, Bangkok. The list goes on and on. But let me tell you something else that is true.

there are over 200,000 slaves in AMERICA right this second. 

Would you believe that? Big cities like Miami, Florida. Dallas, Texas. Los Angeles, California. Portland, Oregon. Atlanta, Georgia. Toledo, Ohio. San Fransisco, California. Las Vegas, Nevada. Big cities with big international airports are major hubs for the sex trafficking of women and children as young as 4 years old.

This is real. And it is happening, right now. Possibly less than a mile from where you sit. Are we going to be a generation who sits by and lets this happen? Are we going to do nothing and ignore the problem, hoping it goes away? I have news... IT ISN'T GOING AWAY. In the next year another 70,000 slaves will be brought in to the USA from all over the world. They will be women and children just like your sisters or mothers or daughters or nieces. They will be put up in brothels and strip clubs and on street corners. They will be beaten. and abused. and USED. And it will happen right here, where we live.

We must raise our voices. We must stop watching and listening and thinking and talking... we must raise our voices and start STOPPING it. 44,000 young adults stood for freedom this past week. In 3 days, over $3 million dollars was raised to put towards organizations who are working tirelessly to bring justice and freedom to the people caught in modern day slavery. We stood together in silence and prayed to the God of the universe for justice to come, for freedom to come. And we know that it will. Freedom will one day come for every man being forced to harvest coffee beans. for every boy working in dangerous factories with no pay. for every woman being forced to stand on a street corner and sell herself. for every girl being repeatedly raped by strangers.

What will you do TODAY to stop the buying and selling of human beings?

Will you continue with your safe, happy life in silence?

Or will you RAISE YOUR VOICE, and DO SOMETHING.

Ignorance is not an excuse.

Indifference is not an option.

"O LORD, you hear the desire of the afflicted;
   you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear  

to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed,
   so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more"

  Psalm 10:17-18