God’s Children Shouldn’t be for Sale, But They Are

In the excellent film The Sound of Freedom, actor Jim Caviezel, starring as former special agent Tim Ballard, delivers one of the greatest lines ever spoken on film. Asked by another character why he fights against child sex trafficking, Caviezel replies, “God’s children are not for sale.” It was a devasting line. You could hear dozens of people in the theater start crying when he said it. You can see the line about 30 seconds into the official trailer. 

People cried because it is absolutely true. Every child that goes missing. The ones we hear about, and the ones we don’t. The ones kidnapped by strangers, and the ones sold by their own families. The ones raped and violated. The ones harvested for organs. The ones forced to labor in awful conditions. All of these precious ones are God’s Children.

It’s a great line and a noble sentiment – God’s children are not for sale. Only, it isn’t true. As the movie and the world around us make very clear – God’s children are for sale, and we are doing nothing about it.

We may not know all the facts, but every one of us knows that this abomination is happening. We may not know that human trafficking is a $150 billion dollar a year business ($34 billion estimated in just children), bigger than the illegal arms trade and soon to outpace even illegal drugs. Even so, all of us know that there is a lot of money in slavery. We all know about Epstein running a profitable sex trafficking ring in plain sight for decades, catering to a corrupt elite clientele. We know he died under mysterious circumstances that were never properly explained nor seriously investigated. We know his partner, Ghislaine Maxwell, was convicted of trafficking underage girls to…. no one. Not one customer has been officially identified or prosecuted. We know that a joint investigation by academics and The Wall Street Journal showed that Instagram’s algorithms promoted networks of accounts sharing child sexual abuse material. Everyone saw that story. 

Most Americans don’t know that as much as 60% of the unaccompanied minors crossing the US-Mexican border are sold to cartels as sex workers or slave laborers, after relocation within the states. Even so, who doesn’t know that the US border with Mexico is a hub of human trafficking? Even legacy media’s sloppy reporting will tell you that much.

While we might be short on the details, we all know at least some of the basic facts about human trafficking. There have been documentaries, press reports, even a few high-profile cases. Up until now, a widespread awareness that there is a massive problem has changed nothing. Epstein’s client list is still protected by federal law enforcement. The resources dedicated to fighting human trafficking are still woefully inadequate. Tim Ballard, the real-life inspiration for this movie, had to quit his job with the Department of Homeland Security to continue a rescue operation for trafficked children. This horror is allowed to grow and grow, right before our averted eyes. 

Evidently, facts alone aren’t going to make a difference.

But this movie can. This movie shows you the humanity of the children behind the facts. You see and hear the small children crying as they are locked into a cargo container, shipped to a foreign country, and sold into sex slavery. The movie puts you in the same room with a little girl as she cowers on a huge bed, waiting to be raped by a drunken American sex tourist. You see the terrible fear on her little face. You see the utter disdain and cruelty with which the pedophile looks at her. Worst of all, you see how tiny and vulnerable she is compared to the grown man who is about to use her little body for perverted sexual gratification. That scene was more heart wrenching than anything else I have ever seen captured on film. 

Trafficked children in a shipping container on their way to a life of sexual slavery

This movie uses a story narrative to take you inside the suffering of trafficked children in a way that is not possible for any news program. You will not forget what you see. The movie breaks your heart. But it also gives you hope, because at least some heroes have been called by God to actually do something to save the victims of these unspeakable crimes.

Very few of us have the skills and financing to find and rescue trafficked children. That does not mean, however, we should just ring our hands in helplessness. Here are some things I am asking you to do right now. 

1. See the Movie 

You need to see this movie on the big screen. It is the best way to fully absorb the movie’s message. In this case, there really is no substitute for the cinematic experience. Everyone should see this movie at least once in a theater.

Plus, the more financially successful this movie is, the more attention it will draw to these horrific crimes. The movie made $14 million at the box office on July 4th, its first day of release. That is more money than the new Indiana Jones movie made on the same day, even though it was playing in over 2,000 more theaters. The financial success is creating serious buzz around a movie that had a small budget, and almost no advertising. The cause of helping trafficked children needs the success to continue. So go see the movie!

There are no excuses. 

Don’t think you can afford the tickets? Concerned people have bought tickets to give you for free. Go to this link and claim your free tickets today. Afraid the movie will upset you? Good. You need to be upset about child sex trafficking. Already upset about this nightmare and think you know what you need to know? You are not nearly upset enough. You need to see this for yourself. Pictures, reviews, clips, articles – none of that will ever replace sitting in a theater and seeing this film. Don’t like cheesy Christian movies? Fair enough, but this movie isn’t one. The film is top-notch. The script, acting, cinematography, sound track, and plot are all excellent. It has an 87% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes and a 99% audience score. This movie is more than worth your time.

Maybe you are one of the people who thinks the whole “child sex trafficking” story is an overwrought conspiracy theory. Fine. Go see the movie anyway. You can even go for free. Then do all the research you can to debunk all this as Q Anon conspiracies. I look forward to reading your efforts. 

Forget the excuses, and just go see the movie. 

2. Pay it Forward

If you can afford it, be one of the Angels who pays it forward. Go to this link to buy tickets for others who can’t afford them, but need to see this movie as well. Until enough of us truly, truly understand the enormity of what we are facing, nothing will change. 

3. Promote this Movie

If this movie were about stopping terrorists or rescuing adult hostages, then Hollywood would be promoting it relentlessly. Only, the movie isn’t about that. The movie is about child sex trafficking. The entertainment industry is a demonic nest of sexual predators. The perverts do not want stories like this to be told.  The movie was actually made 5 years ago and kept on the shelf all this time. If a small studio had not valiantly intervened, this movie might never have reached the public. 

We cannot let this story die in silence. For it to have the impact God wants and the children need, we must be the marketing campaign Angel Studios cannot afford. Post a review of the film on social media. Encourage your friends to see the movie. Better yet, invite them to go with you. Tell your pastor, your youth group, your Sunday school class. Ask your pastor to talk about the movie in his sermon, or as an announcement. Tell people at coffee hour after liturgy. Organize a night to go see the movie as a church. 

Do everything you can to get people to see this movie. We need everyone to fully come to terms with the evil surrounding us. 

4. Pray for the Victims

We must fervently pray for the children (and adults) who are subjected to slavery. While we have heretofore focused on sex slavery, the predominate theme of the movie, that is not all there is. Former special agent Tim Ballard, in multiple interviews, has recounted cases he worked on involving slave labor, organ harvesting, and ritual Satanic murder. All these victims deserve and need our prayers. 

Within the Orthodox Church, St Nicholas the Wonderworker of Myra and Lycia is known as the “Protector of Children”. St Nicholas is a good choice for prayers for the salvation and protection of children. The Most Holy Theotokos is a good choice for prayers for anyone of any age. She is the mother of us all and her love knows no bounds. May they entreat the Holy Trinity for the protection and salvation of all slaves kept anywhere in the world for any reasons.

For now, we must say our own prayers as best we can. Hopefully our priests and bishops, once fully aware of the great needs of all these victims, will write prayers we can all say together. 

5. Teach Everyone About Christ

In this fight against human trafficking, particularly of children, Christians have the greatest responsibility. What most people, even Christians, tend to forget is that classical (Greco-Roman)  “morality”  was a hellscape for women, children and slaves.  Women were considered less than men. Sex was all about dominance with violence, rape, pederasty / pedophilia considered normal. Unwanted infants were openly murdered via abandonment or smothering. Rampant promiscuity (on the male side) was normal. Sexual abuse of slaves of any age was perfectly acceptable.

Before Christianity, children were considered nonpersons. Adult men could do with them as they saw fit. What we now call the crime of pedophilia was to the ancients perfectly licit:

And the most profitable way for a small child slave to earn money was as a sex slave. Brothels specializing in child sex slaves, particularly boys, were established, legal, and thriving businesses in ancient Rome. One source reports that sex with castrated boys was regarded as a particular delicacy, and that foundlings were castrated as infants for that purpose. Of course, the rich didn’t have to bother with brothels — they had all the rights to abuse their slaves (and even their children) as they pleased. And, again, this was perfectly licit.

Into this pagan misery came the Apostles bearing the Good News of Christ. The teachings of Christ, through His Church, created personhood. In Christianity, each and every person (regardless of status, sex, race, tribe, nationality or age) is made in the image and likeness of God. Christ, though God, had come to Earth as a baby. He had grown through all the stages of childhood. His example meant that children were as equally made in the image of God as adults. Therefore, everyone is of infinite value, even the weakest and smallest among us. 

Jesus had also said, “Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” Children were welcomed at the feet of Our Lord. In the Church, even babies were baptized and given communion alongside the adults. Children were no longer possessions to be disposed of as the father of the family willed. They were of equal value to adults. 

 Living according to such teaching, Christians radically diverged from their pagan neighbors. Christian couples loved and cherished each other. The dominance and brutality of the surrounding world was replaced by mutual respect. Christian couples lovingly raised all of their children, male and female, as abortion and abandonment of infants was forbidden by the Church. In fact, Christian couples became known for adopting the unwanted babies cast out by the pagans. Christian masters were counseled by the Church to treat their slaves well. Abuse was forbidden, particularly of the sexual kind. Eventually, Christianity provided the moral foundation for abolishing slavery altogether. Legally, that is. 

The Christian social revolution has been so successful, for so many hundreds of years, that even non-Christians take most of our moral precepts for granted. This includes the idea that using children for the sexual gratification of adults is wrong. Even the non-religious reject the pleas of pedophiles to be considered just another “sexual orientation”. 

Unfortunately, however, this Christian consensus is fading. Paganism is reasserting its ugliness into the world. With paganism comes power and dominance as the basis of society. There is no God in whose image we are made. Thus, there is no intrinsic worth to human beings. Humans, children included, become commodities to be bought and sold. Sex becomes all about personal gratification. The weak serve the strong, who take what they will. Souls become coarse and corrupted, incapable of kindness, love, charity, or empathy. 

There will be policy debates on how to combat trafficking. There will be time to lobby Congress for more money, more resources, tougher border restrictions, and other needed reforms. There will be time to donate to charities fighting human trafficking. There will be time to volunteer for those charities. All of that is needed. All of that is good. 

None of that will matter, however, if we allow our society to slide so deeply into demonic paganism that no one is shamed by the images of grown men raping children. By winning souls to Christ, our Christian ancestors transformed pagan societies. We must do so again. 

See the movie. Expose the horror. Preach Christ. 

Nicholas – member of the Western Rite Vicariate, a part of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese in America 

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