This weekend is Super Bowl Sunday, no big surprise, right? In addition, the Super Bowl is the number one human trafficking weekend in the world each year; this is probably not a surprise to most of you either. What you might find hard to believe is that the USA is number one in the world for human trafficking. It’s so hard to believe because many associate such disgusting behaviors with Southeast Asia and places other than our beloved America.
It’s true though. As thousands of Christian martyrs were offered up for torture, murder, and entertainment back in the old Roman coliseum, so a conservative estimate of over 10,000 women and children will be offered up in the sex-slave trade surrounding the Super Bowl Stadium this weekend. They, too, will suffer torture and possible murder all in the name of “entertainment.”
Things have changed a lot since the days of the first Super Bowl. What were once twelve dollar tickets are now close to $3,500, if you can even get them. I’m not sure there were even advertisements during the first Super Bowl; but if there were, they didn’t come close to the $4.5 million dollars it costs today for thirty seconds of air time. The crime of human trafficking was in existence but was not likely to be found at the first Super Bowl. However, the inflated prices of tickets and ad time pale in comparison to the price of even one of these souls which will be put on the “auction block” of sexual slavery surrounding the game this weekend.
It would seem that the church has dropped the ball and we’re moving down the field at an alarming rate. What has caused us to lose so many yards in the moral arena?
Over the years we have seen a change in society. What at one time we would have abhorred and refused to accept, we now tolerate and sometimes embrace. Advertisers and Hollywood push the envelope and the American people are quick to open it and allow our senses to be pleased, numbed, and abused. However, it comes with a cost. Whenever we refuse to guard our heart with all diligence, there is always a cost. When we are not careful regarding what comes before our eyes or what we think on, there is always a cost. The Bible warns that what we think about, we are.
Over the last several years Super Bowl ads and half-time shows have included many forms of indecency that objectify women and assault the moral senses. Hollywood also leads society into deeper depths of depravity making sexual violence and the objectifying of women to seem acceptable and normal. “Fifty Shades of Grey” is one such “entertainment” that is being used to lead America toward a cultural acceptance of violence, sexual abuse, and the degrading of women. These are things which victims of human trafficking experience.
As men, women, and children view such ads and movies, society is moved several yards toward the “end zone” of destruction. Men who ignore their consciences are more apt to take part in human trafficking and sexual violence because their moral senses have become dulled while their lustful senses have become heightened. Little by little they are drawn into the dark recesses of perversion and abuse. The individual screams for personal freedom, but society as a whole always pays the price. The weakest and helpless, like human trafficking victims, specifically pay the price.
We need to realize that there is a connection in the “entertainment” we allow and the actions of society. It’s past time to get involved. Our society and victims present and future depend on it. The moral disconnect must once more be connected.
If we will not pay the cost for holiness and right living, we and society will one day answer for our choices, and as we have seen, we will pay the price with true freedom and human life. There is a cost for both holiness and for unrighteousness. The cost of holiness is high but the cost for unrighteousness is higher still. The first bishop of Liverpool, J.C. Ryle beckons us to count the cost:
“A religion which costs nothing is worth nothing. Awake before it is too late. Awake and repent. Awake and be converted. Awake and believe. Awake and pray. Rest not till you can give a satisfactory answer to my question. ‘What does it cost?’”
Ryle continues to beckon us to holiness, reminding us of the cost:
“Away with the cowardly, unworthy thought. Arise and play the man. Say to yourself, ‘Whatever it may cost, I will, at any rate, strive to enter in at the strait gate.’ Look at the cross of Christ, and take fresh courage. Look forward to death, judgment, and eternity, and be in earnest. It may cost much to be a Christian, but you may be sure it pays.”
Even as Ryle calls us to pay the cost, we also call upon you to take action on behalf of our society and the victims of our society. It costs time, it costs the comfort of taking a stand; and it may cost you making a change in your involvements and entertainments.
The first step in defeating this nightmare is to pray. There is power in prayer; pray for the victims, the traders, the users, and all involved. Pray that God will move men to Him.
Pray that we as a nation will look out for the well-being of our future as opposed to the short-lived pleasure of the present. Pray that men will be protectors instead of selfish users and abusers. Pray that women will recognize and teach their daughters that they are created in the image of God and need not go against their conscience to please a man.
The next step is to become better informed. Not only should we inform ourselves, but we ought to inform others as well. Granted, it’s not a pleasant conversation topic; but nonetheless, it’s an important one.
Become better informed about human trafficking. Here are some links to articles we at the American Decency Association have written on this topic in the past.
Let’s Make a Traffick Jam — at the bottom of this article are organizations that provide information on human trafficking and ways you can get involved in putting a stop to it.
Give Them a Break – here you will find things to look for to recognize trafficking victims and some ideas of ways to help them.
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