Trafficked: The Hidden Connection Of Pornography | Connecting The Dots

Let me say up front that I will be real and honest in this Bible Study! I know this topic is tough for some but it is one that still needs to be addressed even if it means making people uncomfortable! And some need to be made uncomfortable…

Here is the devotional:

There is a direct connection between pornography and sex trafficking. I hope that got your attention as it did mine when I learned it several years ago. I was speaking to a person who works at a non-profit that actively seeks to rescue men and women who are being trafficked. 

You may not realize that behind the scenes of major events like the NFL Superbowl, World Series, Olympics, Mardi Gras, Burning Man, and any other major gathering, groups of people get together and buy people for sex.

I would imagine no little girl or boy wants to grow up to be a prostitute or sex slave.

Statistic: Human trafficking is now the second most profitable criminal activity in the United States!

You’re probably asking yourself, “How does this involve me?”

If you’ve ever looked into the porn industry from a numbers standpoint, you’d see a direct connection to watching porn and the sex trafficking industry. When you and I look at porn, we are the demand to the supply-and-demand equation. In a 13-billion-dollar-a-year industry, someone is looking at porn. We’ll touch on industry stats, practices, and solutions in the next few days.

For now, let’s turn our attention back to our scripture verse. In Matthew 5:28, we see that Jesus has set the standard when it comes to adultery—by just looking at a woman with lust in our hearts. Because men are so wired to be visual, it seems to be very difficult to avoid looking at a woman without lust at some level. Once you and I put a device in our hands that makes getting pornography easy, it’s become almost impossible to avoid.

It used to be Playboy magazine and the adult video section of a video store was the lure. Those memories seem to be almost G-rated compared to what we are exposed to and what we expose ourselves to every day.

Men (and women) contact me frequently, telling me of their porn addiction and asking what we can do to help them.

The real question is, what are we doing about it?

Uncommen questions:

Do you find that you are addicted to watching pornography?
Do you understand the connection that porn has with the sex trade industry?
Uncommen challenge:

We all have those situations that lead us to temptations. My challenge to you and I is not to put ourselves in those situations. If you find that being alone allows your mind to wander, try to avoid being alone for long periods. Schedule activity when you know you’re going to be tempted.

Scripture reference: Matthew 5:28

Here are the scriptures referenced:

But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
Matthew 5:28 KJV

Here are Stu’s thoughts:

This is something very dear to me.

Coming away from my porn addiction opened my eyes to a lot including the fact that sex trafficking is a byproduct of porn. Well not one hundred percent. People have been paying for sex for centuries including kidnapping to do so but with the onset of what I will call true porn, sex trafficking took off.

Men have been kidnapping young boys and girls to force them to give oral pleasure, have sex with them and then kill the children for a very long time now.

Let us take a look at something real quick.

Let’s say you just watched your first pornographic video.

Back in the day you would have to spend money to watch said video. But now with the internet and so many freaking porn sites it is on the web and it’s free.

But just because it is free does not mean that you did not become part of the demand for more. Your key words that you used to look up that porn movie was logged. And for whatever genre of pron you chose you just increased the stats for that genre. This means there is more of a demand for that particular type of video.

There are many different genres in porn.

There is vanilla porn…straight male on female action.

There is lesbian porn, gay porn, teenage porn, child porn, forcible sex porn, rape porn, anal porn, gangbang porn, beastiality porn, Bisexual porn, bondage porn, anime porn (hentai) and the list goes even further and darker.

That darker stuff is usually on the dark web and that is where most, not all, of the sex trafficking victims wind up.

Doctors, dentists, lawyers, governors, congressmen, nurses, teachers, pastors and people from all walks of life, of both genders, can all be a part of a sex trafficking ring.

And the money they are willing to pay to view their darkest desire is astronomical! And because they are willing to pay there are people willing to kidnap or persuade a young person to come along with them to meet that demand. Sadly not knowing what is about to happen.

These young people are raped over and over again by men and even women who pay to do so. While they are raping this child they are being videoed. That video is then put on the dark web where more people will spend thousands to watch it.

If the demand is there someone will always be willing to supply.

This is why I truly wish that porn would go away. But on the realistic side I do not believe it ever will.

Yes, I watched porn and for the longest time enjoyed it.

But there are some sick twisted people in this world that want to watch or children being raped, tortured and even killed on video. And until that demand goes away our children and even our wives are not safe!

Kids are being, if not in your town, kidnapped everyday at a rate 1.2 million a year. It is about split down the middle on gender.

They say that children taken only equal to half of all those trafficked so that means the other half are young adults and adults. 53 percent of that half is female and 47 percent is male.

Scary isn’t!!!!

Did you notice up above that I included pastors? I wasn’t lying. I could post their names but what would be the point of that? But in just about every sting operation that has been successful a pastor is listed as one of the perpetrators.

Lust is everywhere!! It’s one of the hardest things to try to avoid. There are fine men and beautiful women everywhere. You would have to be a troll under a bridge not to see them.

But if we as a people could get past the desire to use others for our own pleasure….

Or better yet if we could see people as people and not as a  toy to be played with and discarded…

Or even better still would be in the fact that Christians, myself included in this, could learn to resist temptation and flee….