Exodus Cry - The Prayer Movement to End Slavery

For the law will go forth from Zion and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. -Isaiah 2:3 

Israel needs your help to see righteous legislation go forth from Zion.  Israel has been entrusted with a mandate to bless the nations and there is an opportunity in the coming weeks for the passage of an important anti-prostitution bill in the Knesset translated as “The Prohibition of the Purchase of Sexual Services”. This bill criminalizes the client and can set a precedent for purity, creating a ripple effect in the nations of the earth. There is a strong correlation between prostitution and trafficking. The passage of this bill would be a significant blow to the lucrative trafficking industry in Israel which generates an estimated one billion dollars annually. It would hinder both the cover and ease which enable the oppression of women to operate freely. 

Prostitution is currently legal in Israel. It is estimated that there are one million visits to 10,000 prostituted women in Israel every month. This is in a country with a population of only seven million. Many of these clients “visit” more than once a month. 

Do not profane your daughter by making her a prostitute; lest the land fall into prostitution and the land become full of wickedness.-Leviticus 19:29

The Israeli government stands on the threshold of a historic opportunity, an opportunity to close the door to wickedness and bring a blessing to the nation of Israel. Your involvement is crucial.  On February 12^th, the bill will be presented to the Israeli Ministerial Committee, known as the Knesset Committee.  The decisions and recommendations of this committee have profound influence on the vote of the full Knesset.   Israel’s democracy is extraordinarily responsive to their citizens and the concerns of the global community; your voice is crucial.  Your impact will be most effective by joining us in the following three initiatives. 

Pray: Cover the ministers and 119 Knesset members in prayer, that they may defend the cause of victims who are being exploited and oppressed. We are asking you to mobilize prayer for this issue as it is the only foundation for justice to be established upon.

Social Network: spread the word. Raise awareness concerning Israel’s opportunity to address and effectively combat trafficking through the passage of this bill. Please tweet, Facebook or repost this blog and the link below.

Write: Israel takes human rights issues very seriously; therefore it is essential for public support to be raised on behalf of this issue.  For this purpose a petition has been drafted to be sent to the Knesset Committee. Your voice can play a significant role in the debate and vote of the Committee on February 12th.

If you would like to join us in this endeavor please read and sign the petition below:

 http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/israel/

Catherine’s Story

The current trend towards pervasive hyper-sexualized behavior has flown under the banner of progress and freedom. Our western society has cast off conservative values to embrace a new expression of sexuality and freedom. Traditional views of purity are considered prudish while promiscuity is heralded as achievement. The rhetoric surrounding this movement beckons us to be open-minded, experimental, and tolerant. The pressure to conformity preys upon our most vulnerable primordial instincts – the desire for love and pleasure.

I find it interesting that people in our society wish to talk about dignity without morality; when in fact, no such thing exists. Freedom without morality is simply anarchy.

The torrent of injustice that cascades through the global sex industry threatens the very substance of our humanity. Veiled by seduction and masquerading as freedom, the injustice of sexual exploitation has become deeply entrenched within our world. Little by little, our sanctity and solidarity are breached. Little by little, our decency and dignity are shredded like a cheap cloth. This pervasive sexual brokenness exposes the depth of humanity’s wound like perhaps no other issue. The gaping sore of our sexual abscess requires healing that is beyond humanistic solutions.

A girl caught in the vortex of today’s sex industry faces challenges that are insurmountable in the natural. On the outside she has been ostracized from friends, family, and community. In most cases she has no education and cannot just pull herself up by the bootstraps. Emotionally, she suffers from a deep sense of personal shame and self-hatred. She has become psychologically ensnared in a pattern of thinking that alienates her from her true self and prevents her from experiencing love. Spiritually, she is heavily oppressed, with an inner barrenness. Freedom for these girls is much more than being rescued off the streets, or out of a strip club, brothel, or cage. Restoration in the lives of these broken individuals is ultimately not about human perseverance, but about God’s relentless love.

Tantamount to the tragedy suffered by women whose innocence is stolen form them is the tragedy suffered by the men who steal it. The men in the sex industry are the gatekeepers. They are the owners of the strip clubs, brothels, karaoke clubs, girly bars, and massage parlors. They are the bouncers, managers, pimps, and traffickers. They are the johns who drive the demand for sex that fuels the industry. And they are an emasculated representation of the male race. Blinded by their own lust for sex, money, and power, their lives are reduced to the basest form of cowardice. Strutting about as studs, pimps, and players, they ignore the overt exploitation of the girls they seek to dominate, unaware of their own sickness. One simply cannot purchase happiness from another’s misery.

Men must rise above the egocentric rationalization of their sexual dominance over women. A redeemed masculinity begins with a sacrificial love that doesn’t seek its own interests, but the interest of others. Our sexuality is something to be guided with discretion and great respect for our female counterparts. Dominating a women and exposing her economic inequality is not macho and does nothing to demonstrate manhood. Jesus set forth the kind of masculinity that is honorable—love expressed in humility and servanthood. As desperately as women must be freed from brothels, karaoke clubs, and cages, men must be freed from the self-centered lust that parades as manhood.

While the lamp of liberty fades in the winds of change, we must not remain silent. We must arise and fight to recover a freedom in society that is worthy of its citizens. The global swell of unrestrained perversity necessitates a wholesale countercultural revolution to invoke the kind of widespread change that restores our dignity and expunges every counterfeit. Amidst the fog of social corruption we must regain a moral compass to navigate our way to a new day—a day where a young woman is valued not just for her body, but for her humanity.

The holidays hold an array of memories and emotion for the women in restoration with Exodus Cry. For some, the Christmas season is associated with the acute pain of neglect or violence. While for others it was the only time of year where some vestige of positive memory can be traced.

A sense of home and belonging is immensely important on Christmas. The deepest wounds surrounding this season are connected to family relationships and abuses. Therefore, the greatest healing comes through God’s covenantal love and spirit of adoption made flesh through earthly families receiving His daughters as their own. To be joyously accepted by a Godly family, given an identity as cherished daughter, valued and enjoyed for one’s unique personhood, and shown unconditional love is a wonder that works miracles for all of us – especially for those who have never experienced this accurate reflection of the Father’s heart.

At the heart of Christmas is celebrating Immanuel – God With Us. Surely Jesus is, has been, and will be with each one who has suffered the anguish of a broken family. Jesus put on flesh and came into a natural family as a vulnerable baby. He experienced our pains and our joys. He lived a sinless life and took the full extent of sin for all time upon Himself that we may be brought into His family forever. What a glorious value statement and promise from God on being with us and on becoming part of a whole family with Him.

During these next weeks, please keep our girls in prayer specifically through the following requests.

• May they experience God’s shalom and joy deep in their hearts, knowing they are beloved daughters.
• Pray that the Lord brings redemption on this season and opportunity for new memories during the holidays.
• May our girls be surrounded by covenantal friends and spiritual family members who overflow with unconditional love and support.
• Pray for God to raise up more families who would open their hearts and homes to adopt, both in the spiritual and the natural.

Modern-day Seoul is no different than many other thriving cities in developing nations across Southeast Asia. Peppered throughout the city’s seedier areas are a conspicuously large number of barber shops, nondescript cafes, and massage parlors, all of which are fronts for prostitution. These are the typical work arounds seen in every nation where the flesh trade is prohibited by law, yet permitted by lawmakers and authorities. After all, the sex trade in Korea is estimated at 14 trillion South Korean Won, a whopping 1.6% of the total GDP of the nation. But a prostitution industry of this magnitude doesn’t just spring up overnight. Or does it?

In 1950, Communist North Korea invaded it’s democratic southern neighbor. When an armistice was finally reached, all that separated South Korea from a future invasion was a demilitarized zone spanning the width of the Korean peninsula and a formidable western military presence. Springing up around military bases, “camptowns” became centers of R & R for allied soldiers as well as an opportunity for impoverished Koreans to improve their economic standing. But this turned to be an opportunity for slave traders to gain at the expense of the daughters of an entire nation.

South Korea had a vested interest in keeping an American military presence in the country, both for protection, but also because GI’s were an economic boon. They were indigenous tourists, a revenue stream that after a day staring down hostile forces across a barbed wire fence just wanted to blow off some steam. Behind the closed doors in the meetings of diplomats, Korean officials promised US officials that Korean women would be encouraged to meet the “natural needs” of american GI’s. Part of international relations between South Korea and America became ensuring that GI’s stationed in cities like Seoul had a steady stream of prostituted women who were regularly screened for venereal diseases and then licensed to sell their bodies. Never mind that the women were often lured and deceived by brothel owners into the trade, and sexually brutalized as an initiation. Or forget that they were forced to continue to prostitute themselves through debt-bondage, a system of exaggerated and often fictitious costs for room, board, and loans for medicine that prostituted women had to pay back to their pimps by having sex with customers. These “working women” were the true patriots of a nation, ensuring the continued good will of a nation far superior economically than they.

Whereas in the 60’s and 70’s, prostitution was an accepted part of the military life, by the 90’s, a growing consciousness of the plight of the women in camptowns began to emerge as an injustice that contradicted the very effort to secure freedom and liberty in Korea. “If U.S. soldiers are patrolling or frequenting these establishments, the military is in effect helping to line the pockets of human traffickers,” U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was told explicitly from his aids in 2002. Not long after, in 2004, Korea cracked down on prostitution, outlawing the practice and shutting down all brothels.

Despite the major reforms, though, not much is different today from the 60’s except perhaps the color of the women: Philippine women, along with Russian and Japanese, fill the barber shops and massage parlors all offering “special services,” which are in this day and age glaring evidences of international human trafficking.

In Spring of 2011, the most recent shut-down of the red light districts occurred in Seoul. This close held fast for a few weeks, yet soon the businesses were again in full-swing. Despite government efforts to stem the tide of illicit activity by placing police officers and squad cars in these districts, the trade continues. Although unwittingly tolerant of this matter, it seems that Seoul’s government is just waiting for the permission to move further with the criminalization of purchasing a woman for sex. These illegal institutes are the very grounds where foreign women are trafficked and enslaved, and unless prostitution and trafficking begin to be seen as intrinsic of one another, progress to end trafficking in Seoul seems far fetched.

We live in a world where prostitution is a glue that helps to hold alliances together, and where women’s bodies are the insinuated bargaining chips of international relations. Developing countries in a very literal sense must promise stronger nations in exchange for their help and protection, “our daughters will put out for your sons if your sons will fight for our homeland.”

But the daughters themselves have never made such an agreement. And that’s why this is slavery.

• Pray for the South Korean government to criminalize prostitution and take a stand for the sanctity of human life.

• Pray for another crack down on prostitution venues that shelter human trafficking victims.

• Pray that the church in South Korea would not ignore this issue, but begin to pray for these women and stand for true justice.

Sources:

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,501020812-333899,00.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prostitution_in_South_Korea

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/08/world/asia/08korea.html?_r=1

http://www.koreaherald.com/national/Detail.jsp?newsMLId=20101001000786

The term “iron fist” was often used to describe the rule of dictators like Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin as they terrorized Eastern Europe. A German official in the 1940’s, said he foresaw: “an iron curtain would fall over this enormous territory controlled by the Soviet Union, behind which nations would be slaughtered.”

The iron curtain represented the isolation and oppression over Eastern Europe until the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991. However, there is still very much an iron fist rule in the East Bloc. Today its dictators are in the form of mafia and organized crime; those who intimidate to corrupt democracy and exploit the vulnerable––largely through young women and children being sold for sex.

As our team of 5 women set off for this region of the world, we felt the weight of the powers and principalities we would confront. Even stronger, we felt the excitement of joy and expectation, knowing our authority through Jesus would be sent out and we would see nations set free.

We faced the “iron curtain” reality in the concealment of exploited women and ignorance of the issue in the Polish and Ukrainian society. As widespread as awareness has become in the West, especially concerning key regions in Eastern Europe, it’s amazing to see how unaware these nations themselves still are. We must pray for a mighty tearing of this curtain and for a holy fear to turn many hearts. Our team was privileged to walk in His authority, see the fruits of His Kingdom, and prophesy of the fullness to come in Poland and Ukraine.

All throughout our ministry, we witnessed the power of a gentle touch as opposed to a steel grip. Even the hardest hearts softened quickly when confronted with a kind word and compassionate eyes.

Our team was shown such grace in the opportunity for street outreach to exploited women. We were invited to a safe-house, welcomed into an AIDS clinic and spoke to a group of graduating orphans about the dangers of trafficking lures.

The situation in Ukraine is especially dire. Statistics say that every one in three people in Ukraine has AIDS and that this country has the fastest growing AIDS epidemic in the world. This is evident as 90% of a local church congregation we visited had contracted the disease.

Despite this tragedy, we saw the Lord stir up zeal in the church. A Ukrainian pastor asked for training teams and materials to help the congregation start an outreach and an aftercare program in their region. Other church leaders in Ukraine invited us to speak at national conferences on the issue of trafficking and God’s heart for justice. We connected with leaders from Israel, Ireland, Poland and Ukraine––many wanting to screen Nefarious in their countries. The Lord definitely sparked a fire in hearts among His church.

God has done quite a work during this significant time in Eastern Europe!

July 15th and 20th two separate operations were carried out by the Chinese police. Each resulted in a major bust of human trafficking rings and the rescue of abducted infants.

The first operation uncovered a professional child trafficking ring where the leader, a Vietnamese woman, smuggled infants and young children from Vietnam to Southern China. The babies were drugged with sleeping pills and transported by the Beilun River. The police takedown ended with the rescue of eight infants, ages 10 days to seven months, and 39 people detained.

In the second case, authorities of over 14 provinces and independent regions dispatched approximately 2,600 officers in an effort to eliminate a large cross-region trafficking organization. 81 abducted infants, ages 10 days to four months, were recovered and 330 suspects arrested.

Together, the two police crackdowns were successfully concluded with the rescue of 89 infants and the arrest of 369 trafficking ring suspects. The babies are now in the custody of hospitals and health care facilities for medical care and observation until such a time as their parents can be identified.

These operations were a collaborative campaign of the Vietnamese and Chinese police to combat cross-border child trafficking. This joint effort will continue through September 15th.

Governments and authorities are beginning to take notice all over the world. Where complacency reigned, vigilance is replacing it. Praise God that He is opening people’s eyes to the truth behind sex slavery. Light is shining and exposing the darkness. The Lord is revealing that He still has control over all.

As we stand together in prayer, we will loose the heavens like never before to eradicate the malignant sex trade. Many are recognizing the truth and it’s time we stand with them, taking up our weapons of the Spirit and fighting back by crying out the name of Jesus!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43906187/ns/world_news-asia_pacific/t/china-rescues-dozens-infants-traffickers/
http://www.eitb.com/news/world/detail/709945/operation-infant-trafficking-china-89-children-rescued/
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/27/us-china-trafficking-idUSTRE76Q0V420110727
http://www.inewsone.com/2011/07/27/chinese-police-bust-trafficking-rings-rescue-89-infants/65260‘
http://news.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/Asia/Story/A1Story20110727-291289.html

The official Nefarious: Merchant of Souls screening tour began July, 28 2011 and will end November, 11 2011.

The Kansas City showings will take place August, 12–14.

For a list screening locations and times visit nefariousdocumentary.com.

Quis est Veritas: Who is truth; what is in a lie? A theatrical presentation of scripture exploring how slavery and human trafficking was and is synthesized through the first and last lie in human history. Raw, sobering and beautiful, Quis est Veritas is the latest creation of Christian Gonzalez, national award winning off-Broadway writer, director and actor. Featuring Natalie Wenninger (actress from 22 Weeks), Marianne Kim, Anthony Sung, Christian Gonzalez, Christine Don, Jonathan Garofalo, and Deyvid Lam.

Showings June 9th and 10th at 7:30pm, in the Forerunner Arts building, on Main Street! Seating is limited.

City in Focus: Dubai

By BRET MAVRICH

FEATURES WRITER

Daniel, the Old Testament prophet famous for his stint in the lion’s den, had a position of prominence in both the Babylonian and Persian empires. But even more impressive was his prominence as an intercessor before the court of Heaven. To him was granted a vision of two wicked principalities, demons that were influencing entire empires, that are still at work today.

The first principality that Daniel saw was the Prince of Persia. The Prince of Persia (though a real demon) represents the force of radical fundamentalism, namely Islam. God raises up Persia to punish the empire of Babylon, but Daniel sees that God’s instrument of judgment is actually fueled by a strong, demonic entity. What characterizes this principality is that it draws stark distinctions between insiders and outsiders, and then operates with an unwavering intolerance for people and cultures that do not adhere to it’s own fundamentalist ideologies. Nothing can shift the reasoning of fundamentalism since, by definition, everything outside of its framework is warped and evil. Modern Islamic fundamentalism is particularly terrifying since it interprets jihad by actively and aggressively waging war against infidels, and glorifies death by martyrdom. The result is merciless killing of innocents, even at the hand of unpredictable suicide-assassins.

This is precisely in step with the activity of the Prince of Persia. Isaiah witnesses this same spirit overthrow Babylon in Isaiah 13.

Behold, I am stirring up the Medes (counterpart to the Persians) against them, who have no regard for silver and do not delight in gold. Their bows will slaughter the young men; they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb; their eyes will not pity children. And babylon, the glory of kingdoms…will be like Sodom and Gomorrah when God overthrew them. —Isaiah 13:17-19

Since this terrifying force has no regard for the standards of wealth of the day, it cannot be reasoned with or ameliorated with a large gift. Once the spirit of the Prince of Persia is bent on destruction, nothing will deter it from accomplishing its demonic will. And with the cold, calculating eyes of killers, this army even destroys children with no remorse. When effete Babylon first met this terrifying demon, it was razed to the ground.

But Babylon will again face this sort of judgment, one more time, at the end of the age. The other principality Daniel sees, the Prince of Greece, is a demonic influence of licentiousness, greed, and ease. As Babylon again emerges in the earth, this spirit will be given global expression. It is the grotesque luxury of Babylon that sanctions the buying and selling of almost every commodity imaginable, including the sale of human beings in slavery. Under the reign of the Prince of Greece, everything is for sale, even things that shouldn’t be. It is this lusty bargaining spirit that today fuels Dubai with it’s overflowing wealth, even as the Prince of Persia for now stands by, docile.

But when the ultimate, fundamentalist, unreasonable man—the anti-christ— becomes disgusted with Babylon’s decadence, there will be a clash of ideologies. In a single hour, God will judge Babylon again, just as He did at first: by stirring a merciless army against the Harlot City that is built on the back of human slaves. If her first fall at the hands of the Medes was terrible, her final fall will be a catastrophe from which she will never recover. And all of the merchants who basked in her luxury will stand a far off and watch her burn.

It is widely understood that Craigslist, the popular online bartering and trading website, is also notorious for child sex trafficking. Users post pictures of young girls in their underwear and describe them with code words that send signals to sex buyers, all innocently guised under the “personals” section. This is a blatant display of children being marketed for sex and in many ways exhibits the nefarious quality of sex trafficking; children are sold for sex right under our noses.

Saturday, September 4th, Benjamin Nolot lead a time of prayer and repentance for the victims of human trafficking at The Call, a solemn assembly prayer gathering for repentance and revival in America. With thousands in attendance, a cry was lifted in unison before God in heaven, a plea for the blood of Jesus to cover the flagrant oppression of women and children in this country.

Just 15 minutes after the time of prayer, Craigslist officially closed its explicit personal ads section. The timing of the event—an answer from heaven just minutes after the cry—was a sure indicator that God was orchestrating the downfall of human trafficking in response to the intercession of those on the earth.