To Hell and Back

Ever feel like the phrase "Go to Hell." is a bit overused in our culture? If you saw what I saw tonight, I am confident that even if you're not a "church person", you'd eliminate that from your vocabulary. I have seen Hell, or at least enough of a glimpse of it to break my heart.

Tonight, I attended "do.justice", a "stylish singles event to celebrate freedom". In a converted industrial building in downtown Atlanta, several hundred of us were ushered in groups of 30 into a long, dark hallway filled with huge movie screens. On the first screen, we saw the story of a young boy named "Patrick". At age 12 soldiers came into his Ugandan village with AK-47s and machetes and unleashed an indescriminate attack on all in their way. They beat him and handed him a gun, telling him to shoot the man and woman in front of him or he would be shot instead.

Heads up: this gets a little graphic.
After he shot them, they did spare his life, only to force him to carry the severed head of the man he shot and wear the intestines of the woman around his neck as they marched him 20 miles that day. When asked why he would carry them he said, "because they were my parents."

The next story was about a child named Srey. She was given away by her parents for money, then sold to a brothel in Southeast Asia, where she was "employed" and beaten daily. Once, the police came in and shut down the brothel, freeing her, until the appropriate bribes were paid. Then, the proprietor moved them all across the street and resumed business as usual.

There are roughly 27 million people in the modern day slave trade. No, that's not the people running the trade, those are the actual slaves. Yes, in 2007, there are enough people enslaved worldwide today to populate the state of New York one and one half times.

In the midst of all the "where is God?" talk following the horrid shootings at Virginia Tech, comes an echo of the wake up call "God is watching. And I don't think He's impressed." In fact, when I left the event tonight, I thought I was heartbroken, but I'm sure God's heart is broken even more. The Bible teaches that He is not a God who employs mindless puppets, that our every move should be decided for us on our behalf, stripping us of free will. On the contrary, He has given us a will of our own, and starting with Adam, we've made some of the worst choices that could be made.

Further, the Bible teaches that sin entered the world through one man [Adam], and death through sin, that is, we live in a broken world ruled by God's enemy. In this fallen world, trials, disease, and unspeakable terrors coexist with the Biblical promise of redemption. There is a Heaven. There is a Hell. Sadly, millions of children are forced to live in Hell even today. The church, the government, and the secular movement, for their own unique and divergent reasons must leverage every ounce of power they can to expose and stop this sadistic industry. (Yes, if you brought in $5 billion a year globally, I'd call you an industry, too.)

Below are a list of websites that you may choose to visit. I urge you to visit them, even if you don't have the time to. Put them in your favorites bar and refer to them as often as it takes to get you to do something on behalf of these tortured souls.

Go to Hell.

Once you have a glimpse of it burned indelibly into your mind's eye, come back, and do something about it.

Not For Sale Campaign
Sam Childers: Saving the Invisible Children
Addressing sexual exploitation in Atlanta, Ga

May you never be the same again. May you live a life unfettered. May you take action today that echoes through eternity and impacts the life of a child fettered by the evil in the hearts of sinful men. May you show a hellbound human being a glimpse of the light of heaven in what you do and fall in love with the God who redeems you both. In Jesus' name. Amen.