During our recent conference, Women on the Frontlines 2012, Malina Enlund shared about trafficking with the attendees. It was a powerful time of sharing and we have included the link to her talk below.
Malina has spent the past four years in South East Asia, working among the trafficked women and children, started a shelter for abused children, and has worked with immigration officials and police on instituting changes in their policies in order to better protect trafficked children in Thailand that have come from other countries.
You will catch some of her passion for this tremendous cause by listening to her share stories about the children that have crossed her path in her recent work. These children have no voice, but Malina has become their voice and is working tirelessly to promote the rescue and restoration of these children.
As we continue to pray and press in for JUSTICE around the globe, specifically in the area of human trafficking, it’s very encouraging to continuously read of arrests and crackdowns in this area. One article that encouraged our hearts was about China, reporting that throughout 2011, over 24,000 women & children were freed by the police in various raids and investigations.
So much of the trafficking around the world happens through gangs and rings, and the police are often attempting to get the highest ring-leaders to have the strongest effect. Often the victims are smuggled into one country from another foreign country, making them even more vulnerable to these ring-leaders, as they don’t have paperwork, passports, and often don’t speak the local language. Gang leaders often have layers of lawbreakers around them, making their capture even more challenging.
The most challenging of cases to break is when members of a nation’s legal system are also controlled by the trafficking ring – many times, policemen, judges, and lawyers can all be bought for a price in poorer nations, and this creates a system that is very challenging to penetrate.
But men and women of integrity are pressing in, holding their ground and working diligently to bring these criminals to justice. International Justice Mission (IJM) is a wonderful organization, sponsoring honest workers to bring about justice at the ground level, through social workers & lawyers working in partnership with honest local authorities. They are a worthy organization bringing justice to many countries – check them out at www.ijm.org
Continue to pray for all layers of justice to come about – for honest police, social workers, lawyers, judges, and governmental law makers, so that all levels of local judicial systems will work together to bring justice to the victims of trafficking!
God has a heart for justice and the Bible is full of encouragement to believers to walk in justice & mercy, extending the rule and the heart of the Lord to the nations. Justice is an integral part of the Christian life, not merely an “add-on” to be done when it’s convenient. Justice is what brings full redemption to people that have been down-trodden. Yes, we can help feed the poor, but justice is what rights the wrongs that helped to create abject poverty in the first place!
When we pray “Your Kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven”, this includes the aspect of justice – what is right and fair to be done on earth, in every country, for every people group, for every age and social group. When we see justice, we see the Kingdom of God here on earth and we have a foretaste of paradise!
This is what the LORD says: “Maintain justice and do what is right, for my salvation is close at hand and my righteousness will soon be revealed.” Isaiah 56:1
We only have to turn to Amos 5 to hear God tell how much more important social justice is than our meticulous observance of religious ritual:
“I hate, I despise your religious feasts; I cannot stand your assemblies. Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them. Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!” Amos 5:21-24
If you would love to hear more about God’s heartbeat for Justice, then watch this amazing program that Patricia King and Stacey Campbell produced, sharing some of their own experiences with the justice of God:
The Lord created children to be raised in a loving home, nurtured and cared for, and given love and affection while being developed for their future lives as productive adults. We can only imagine the distortion that happens when a child, often as young as 4 years old, is conscripted to live a life as a child solider, then trained to kill, mutilate and wreak havoc on other lives. How this must break the heart of God!
XP Missions works hand-in-hand with Divine Inheritance, an amazing ministry that helps to rescue, house, and rehabilitate children that have been in the hands of the drug cartels and armies of South East Asia. According to The Asian Wall Street Journal, one third of the approximate 300,000 child solders in the world live in this region.
These children are often malnourished, severely overworked and usually abused physically, mentally and sexually. Their stories are tragic, filled with pain and horrible experiences, enduring harsh military training, staying on watch for 24-hour shifts, going without meals as punishment, and gang-raping is common.
But there is HOPE for these children, if they can be brought into the homes that have been built with loving caregivers. They receive shelter, clothing, a education, but mostly, they come to know they are loved by their eternal Father, and their little hearts are radically changed and healed!
Watch this clip to learn more about the “AK-47 Project” which Divine Inheritance is using to build awareness and to provide care for these rescued child soldiers.
You can help us help these precious children by visiting our Donations page at xpmissions.com and choosing the “Missions – Africa, Asia Orphans and Child Soldiers” option.
When we first meet someone, we can never begin to imagine their life history and exactly where they’ve come from. Such was the case when we met Shannah, a beautiful, vibrant woman, full of the love of Jesus. We met while she was serving on the missions field and she was a delight to get to know, as she radiated to those around her the joy that comes from knowing Him.
Then as we spent more time together, she shared her story of how, when she was very young, she was sold to a “master” in her homeland nation in Africa. She then entered into a season of horrific abuse – physically, emotionally and sexually – by her “master” and his friends and workers. One day, she was miraculously rescued and sent to home, then subsequently adopted into a family in the USA which gave her a chance at living a normal life. God broke through her pain and woundedness and her life has been amazingly restored. Her heart is now full of love and forgiveness and she genuinely prays for her former abuser in Africa. Only the power of God’s love can do that!
Listen to her powerful and riveting testimony at the following link:
