Healing the Sexual Sins of America

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Very few people are brave.  A local church looked at the needy in their community and focused on children used for sex by adults.  Now that is brave!  I was shocked at how many people are so morally and sexually broken they think it’s acceptable to have sex with children.  Yes, it is slavery.  Young girls and boys sell their bodies and give all the money they receive to their owner.  No, it isn’t consenting sex when you pay money to 14 year old children.  These children live in sexual slavery and take in billions of dollars for their owners.  Brave churches in San Diego are working to stop sexual slavery today, just as churches worked to stop racial slavery years ago.

San Diego County is a major convention and tourist town.  It is also one of the top eight cities in the country for sexual slavery.  Sexual predators purchase partners when they are out of town and think they can anonymously satisfy their sexual desires.  The average age for girls recruited into the sex trade is 12 to 14 years of age.  For boys it is 11 to 13.  It varies by city and sexual activity.  In San Diego County, there are 46 safe houses, recovery centers and residential living facilities where former sex slaves try to put their lives back together.  There are similar facilities in Los Angeles where children try to escape the porn industry.  Estimates range from 100 thousand to almost a million children are sold for sex in the US.

One myth is that most of the children are illegal immigrants and on drugs.  That isn’t true.  In the US, 50 to 60 percent of the children recruited into the sex trade come from our foster care system.  Children are recruited by good looking predators who are in their 20s.  The predators hunt for vulnerable children at convenience stores and mall food courts, the places youngsters congregate.  The predator is well dressed and drives a nice car.  Sometimes the predator will use another slave to befriend the potential recruit.

Open borders increase the problem with easy access to more children on both sides of the border.  Open borders also allows predators to step across the border and escape prosecution.  Unlike selling drugs, children are sold over and over each day for thousands of dollars.

Children are recruited with the things children want.  All children want attention.  Children from broken homes crave it.  They want approval, status, and the perception of power that money brings to young people.  The predator grooms the victim so that with time, the victim will willingly sell themselves into sexual slavery each day in return for a few hours of praise.  Children will compete at sexual slavery for the status and approval they receive from their owners.  Most of the victims are held in bondage with psychological chains, not with physical ones.

Our culture has grown soft in its condemnation of child sexual abuse.  Our outrage is dulled by pornography.  There is a libertarian notion that non-violent exchange is always moral.  It isn’t.  Non-violence is the start, but not the end of morality.  A fair exchange is between equals and benefits both parties.  Some twisted people think their money justifies their sexual desires for young children.  It doesn’t, no matter how much money they pay their victims.  Children are not property to be sold.

I’m lucky my local church is brave.  Not all of them are.  Some churches are moral cowards.  Some churches have ambivalent views about childhood sexual slavery.. and so do some government officials.  They need our strength to correct their error.  Officials need to see our resolve.  Local groups need our help.  Start with your church.

It starts with us.  These abused children have been used and betrayed by adults.  These children, the lucky ones, show tremendous courage as they heal and put their lives back together.  It is time we were brave as well.  Thank you, Skyline Church and other churches in the San Diego area.
~_~_

Rob