By Sharayah Colter
August 1, 2023
Out of sight, out of mind.
This is the devastating plight of millions of children lost to the bowels of the sex trafficking industry in countries around the world.
For most Americans, the ghastly reality that there are adults existing in our world today who prey upon innocent children to satisfy their own perverted desires seems too awful to be true.
Unfortunately, it is both awful and true.
As has been made painfully clear through the “Sound of Freedom” film now playing in theaters, children are stolen from their families and sold into sex slavery every day. In the United States alone, 500,000 children go missing each year. Consider a few statistics included by the film’s producers at the end of the movie:
Human trafficking is a $150 billion-a-year criminal enterprise business worldwide
The United States is #1 in the world for sex trafficking
As of 2021, there are 252,000 websites containing images or videos of children sexually abused
“Out of sight, out of mind” does not absolve us of our human duty to rescue the hurting children around us and to work toward justice on their behalf. Further, beyond what is simply human, as Christians, our faith compels us to pierce the darkness with the light of Christ (Mt. 5:14-16, John 1:5), to stand up for those who cannot defend themselves (Prov. 31:8-9), and to declare along with Scripture that it is better to have a millstone tied to one’s neck and to be thrown into the sea than to cause a little child to stumble (Mt. 18:6).
Let me encourage you to watch this film which tells the story of a hero who, when faced with the absolute evil that is child pornography and trafficking, risks everything in an attempt to rescue children taken against their will including a young brother and sister.
When this film breaks your heart and makes you angry, funnel that emotion into action by encouraging others to watch the film as well, thereby bringing awareness to this modern day slave trade industry that grows larger and darker every day.
When the curtains have been pulled back far enough and the light filters in to reveal the reality of what is going on, we will no longer have the excuse of ignorance keeping us from finding a way to end the atrocity of child sex trafficking. The plight of these children must be in our sight and on our minds.
Refuse to brush it off as someone else’s nightmarish problem to solve. As Tim Ballard asks in the movie, “what would you do if it were your little girl?”
How can we look back and rightly condemn the horrors of American slavery in the 1800s but simultaneously fail to speak out against the slavery occurring on our own watch? To look the other way is calloused and cruel. Consider James 4:17:
“To him who knows the good he ought to do but does not do it, to him, it is sin.”
Do you know the good you ought to do? Do it.
Speak out against the evil of pornography.
Refuse to accept the normalization of pedophilia and the sexualization of children through drag shows, gay pride events, and obscene books in their schools.
Support efforts to strengthen criminal sentencing standards for sexual crimes against children.
Share the “Sound of Freedom” film far and wide. As you may have heard, Disney had the rights to the film for five years but did not bring it to theaters. The soaring success the movie is having at the box office even without the support of a large marketing budget demonstrates that Americans are tuned in to the crisis before them.
Before we can solve a problem, we must acknowledge the problem. The “Sound of Freedom” has laid the groundwork to make that possible. You and I may not be equipped to fly to a foreign country, drive boat through a snake-infested South American river, and physically rescue a child from an armed captor, but we can work together to create an atmosphere of zero tolerance for sexual crimes against children.
With nearly 14 million people having seen the "Sound of Freedom" in theaters, let those who harm children be put on notice: The light has been shone on this travesty, and it is now top of mind for many who will not just shrug their shoulders and go on. As Ballard says in the film, “God’s children are not for sale.”
FREE TICKETS
Free tickets to this film are available here. Helpful information about the free tickets can be found here.
OFFICIAL TRAILER
Click below to watch a preview.