Modern Slavery

Let me destroy the most dangerous myth about human trafficking: the idea that you’ll recognize a trafficker when you see one. You won’t. Because the person trafficking humans might be the loving boyfriend who brings flowers. The family friend who offers to help with job placement. The successful businesswoman who owns the nail salon downtown. The pastor who runs the church employment program. The couple next door with the live-in nanny who never seems to leave the house. Traffickers don’t look like movie villains. They look like us. They act like us. They exist in our communities, our churches, our families. And that’s exactly what makes them so effective. If we’re going to fight human trafficking, we need to shatter every comfortable myth we believe about who traffickers are and how trafficking actually happens. Because the truth is far more disturbing than the Hollywood version, and it’s happening right under our noses. The Myth We Desperately Want to Believe Here’s the trafficking story most people imagine: a stranger in a white van kidnaps a child from a parking lot. International criminal organizations smuggle victims across borders. Dark, foreign places where terrible people do terrible things. And yes, that happens. But it’s not the norm. It’s not even close to the norm. The reality is this: There is no single profile of a human trafficker; their only commonality is that they are driven by profit at the expense of others. Traffickers are men and women of all ages. They can be relatives, romantic partners, or close family friends. [Insert U.S. Department of Homeland Security Blue Campaign link here] Read that again. Relatives. Romantic partners. Close family friends. The person trafficking you is more likely to be someone you know and trust than a stranger. They’re more likely to manipulate you with promises than to physically kidnap you. They’re more likely to be operating in your hometown than in some distant country. Most trafficking happens close to home, by people who understand exactly how to exploit the vulnerabilities of those around them. And that’s what makes it so insidious. The Real Profile of Traffickers Let me give you the uncomfortable truth about who becomes a trafficker, based on data from thousands of prosecutions and investigations. Of the 1,070 defendants charged with human trafficking offenses in U.S. district court in fiscal year 2022, 91% were male, 58% were white, 20% were black, 18% were Hispanic, 95% were U.S. citizens, and 71% had no prior convictions. [Insert Bureau of Justice Statistics Report link here] Let that last statistic sink in: 71% had no prior criminal history. These aren’t career criminals with long rap sheets. These are “normal” people who made the decision to exploit other humans for profit. But here’s where it gets even more complex. In 30% of the countries which provided information on the gender of traffickers, women make up the largest proportion of traffickers. In some parts of the world, women trafficking women is the norm. [Insert UNODC Global Report on Trafficking in Persons link here] Women. Trafficking. Women. That destroys another myth, doesn’t it? We want to believe trafficking is something men do to women. But the reality is far more complicated. Women recruit other women. Mothers exploit their own children. Female “madams” run brothels. Women work as enforcers in labor trafficking operations. Evil is an equal opportunity employer. The Many Faces of Traffickers Human traffickers can be part of a transnational criminal organization, a local criminal network, or a gang. However, they can also be the owners of restaurant in the community, a local business offering janitorial services, a farm labor contractor supplying harvesters, or the couple next door with a live-in domestic worker or nanny. Let me break down the actual types of traffickers operating right now: The Intimate Partner Trafficker (Romeo Pimp) This is one of the most common and most devastating forms of trafficking. A man (usually) targets a vulnerable woman or girl, showers her with attention and affection, makes her feel special and loved. He’s patient. He builds trust. He becomes her entire world. Then, slowly, the exploitation begins. He needs money. She could help by doing this “just one time.” Or he introduces her to his “friend” who needs company. Or he frames prostitution as something they’re doing together, as a team, to build their future. By the time she realizes what’s happening, she’s emotionally dependent, isolated from family and friends, and believes she chose this life. That’s the brilliance of this method: the victim blames herself instead of recognizing she’s been trafficked. These traffickers are masters of psychological manipulation. They don’t need chains when they can control someone’s mind and heart. The Family Member Yes, you read that right. Parents trafficking their own children. Siblings exploiting siblings. Extended family members selling relatives into slavery. Sometimes it’s driven by poverty and desperation. Parents in extreme financial situations make horrific choices to survive. But sometimes it’s pure exploitation and abuse, family members who view children or vulnerable relatives as commodities to be sold. This is particularly devastating because the victim’s primary support system, the people who should protect them, are the ones perpetrating the abuse. Who do you run to when your family is trafficking you? The Employer Restaurant owners who bring workers from other countries and then confiscate their documents. Farm contractors who house workers in deplorable conditions and pay them nothing while claiming they’re “working off debts.” Factory owners who lock workers in during shifts and threaten deportation if they complain. Domestic servitude is a massive form of labor trafficking. The couple who brings a young woman from another country to “help with housework” then takes her passport, doesn’t pay her, doesn’t let her leave the house, and threatens her if she tries to seek help. These traffickers hide behind the veneer of legitimate business. They file taxes, they operate openly, they seem respectable. But behind closed doors, they’re enslaving human beings. The Opportunistic Criminal Street gangs that add trafficking to their

Every 30 seconds, another person becomes a victim of human trafficking. Let that sink in. While you read this sentence, someone somewhere just lost their freedom. While you scroll through social media tonight, hundreds more will be trapped in modern slavery. While you sleep tonight, thousands will work against their will, abused and exploited by traffickers who see them as nothing more than profit. I wish I could tell you this was an exaggeration. I wish I could say these numbers are inflated or based on old data. But the truth is even more devastating: 49.6 million people are currently trapped in modern slavery worldwide, and that number keeps growing. If you’re reading this thinking, “That can’t be right. Slavery ended centuries ago”, you’re exactly who needs to keep reading. The Numbers That Should Keep You Up at Night Let me hit you with some facts that most Christians would rather not know about. According to the United Nations’ International Labour Organization, human traffickers victimize an estimated 27.6 million people in forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation. When you add forced marriage to that number, the total reaches 49.6 million people living in modern slavery. Read that again. 49.6 million image bearers of God. That’s more than the entire population of South Africa. That’s more people enslaved right now than at any other point in human history, including during the transatlantic slave trade. But here’s what makes this even more gut-wrenching: 79% of human trafficking victims are exploited for sexual purposes, with women and girls making up the vast majority. These aren’t abstract statistics. These are daughters, sisters, mothers. These are little girls who should be playing with dolls and going to school. And children? Almost 20% of all trafficking victims worldwide are children. In some regions of Africa and the Mekong region, children make up the majority of trafficking victims, reaching up to 100% in parts of West Africa. Every. Single. One. Of. Them. Matters. To. God. Isaiah 61:1-3: The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,  because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners,[a]2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God to comfort all who mourn,3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion— to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning,and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor. It’s Happening Right Here Here’s the lie most of us believe: “Human trafficking is something that happens over there. In other countries. To other people. Not in my community.” Wrong. Human trafficking has been reported in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, on Tribal land, and within U.S. territories. It’s happening in South Africa. It’s happening in Europe. It’s happening in your city, probably on your street, definitely in your country. In the European Union alone, 10,793 victims of human trafficking were registered in 2023, a 6.9% increase from the previous year. And those are just the ones who were identified. Experts estimate that for every victim we know about, there are countless others still trapped in the shadows. The truth is, most trafficking happens close to home. Most exploitation takes place near where victims live, not across continents. The person being trafficked might work in the restaurant you ate at last week. They might be the domestic worker you saw at your neighbor’s house. They might be the teenager who looks terrified at the gas station at 2 AM. They’re everywhere. We just refuse to see them. Who Are the Traffickers? When we think of human traffickers, we imagine shadowy criminal organizations and international kidnapping rings. And yes, those exist. But that’s not the whole picture. Traffickers can be relatives, romantic partners, or close family friends. They can be the owners of a restaurant in the community, a local business offering janitorial services, a farm labor contractor, or even the couple next door with a live-in domestic worker. Let me say that differently: the person trafficking humans might be someone you know. Someone you do business with. Someone who seems perfectly normal. And here’s something that should shock every one of us: In 30% of countries that provided information on trafficker gender, women make up the largest proportion of traffickers. In some parts of the world, women trafficking women is the norm. Evil doesn’t have a single face. It wears many masks, and sometimes those masks look disturbingly ordinary. The Systems That Enable Slavery Human trafficking doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It thrives because we’ve created systems that make exploitation profitable and easy. Consider this: Since 2003, U.S. states have enacted 695 anti-trafficking policies, but prevention policies. – which address root causes and reduce vulnerabilities – remain significantly underdeveloped. In other words, we’re getting better at prosecuting traffickers after the damage is done, but we’re not doing nearly enough to prevent trafficking in the first place. Why? Because prevention requires addressing uncomfortable truths about poverty, inequality, broken immigration systems, and the demand side of exploitation. It’s easier to arrest a trafficker than to dismantle the economic systems that make trafficking profitable. Over 2,400 trafficking cases have been prosecuted in the United States since 2000, involving 4,589 defendants and 12,132 identified victims. But here’s the devastating reality: two out of every five countries covered by the UNODC Report had not recorded a single conviction for human trafficking. Let me translate that: in many parts of the world, traffickers operate with complete impunity. They know they’ll never face justice. So they keep trafficking. And the numbers keep growing. Why This Should Matter to Christians If you’re a follower of Jesus and you’re not disturbed by these statistics, we need to talk about what kind of Jesus you’re actually following. Because the Jesus I read about in Scripture got angry about injustice. He

Welcome, friend. Whether you’ve been following Beyond Salvation for a while or you just landed here for the first time, it’s no accident you’re reading these words today. This space has always been about real faith, honest conversations, and wrestling with what it means to follow Jesus in a broken world. But today marks a shift. A return, really, to what we’ve always been called to do. Coming Home to Our Calling If you’ve been reading Beyond Salvation over the past months, you know we’ve explored prophecy, church issues, spiritual growth, and the challenges of modern Christian life. These conversations mattered, and they’ll continue to be part of who we are. But there’s been something stirring in my spirit, a persistent whisper I can no longer ignore. God has a main mission for Beyond Salvation. It’s written in Isaiah 61:1-3: “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; to grant to those who mourn in Zion – to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit.” This isn’t just a beautiful passage. It’s our blueprint. It’s the heart of what Beyond Salvation was always meant to be about: freedom for the captive, healing for the broken, and beauty rising from ashes. So here’s what’s changing: we’re shifting our primary focus to the fight against modern slavery and human trafficking, while standing with persecuted Christians around the world, particularly in Nigeria. This is our main mission. This is the calling we’re leaning into with everything we have. The Reality We Can’t Ignore Let me be blunt about something most Christians would rather not think about: more people are enslaved right now, in 2025, than at any other point in human history. Over 50 million men, women, and children are trapped in forced labor, sexual exploitation, or domestic servitude. Every 30 seconds, someone becomes a victim of trafficking. Read that again. Every. Thirty. Seconds. These aren’t just statistics I’m throwing at you to make a point. These are image bearers of God. These are people with names, dreams, families, stories. These are the ones Jesus called “the least of these.” And if we claim to follow Jesus while remaining comfortable in our ignorance of their suffering, we need to seriously examine what kind of faith we’re actually practicing. The Bible is unambiguous about this. Proverbs 31:8-9 commands us: “Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy.” Notice it doesn’t say “if you feel like it” or “when it’s convenient.” It says open your mouth. Speak up. Act. Our Partnership with A21 Here’s how we’re doing this practically: Beyond Salvation is partnering with A21, a global anti-trafficking organization that’s actually making a difference on the ground. They’re not just talking about the problem; they’re rescuing victims, prosecuting traffickers, and providing long-term restoration for survivors. Throughout this year, you’ll see us regularly linking to A21’s work and their donation pages. But let me be clear about something: this isn’t about me trying to hit some fundraising goal or make myself feel good. This is about connecting you to an organization that’s legitimately changing lives, and giving you a way to be part of something far bigger than yourself. Every post will include clear ways to support A21’s Freedom Campaign. But more than your money, what I’m asking for is your attention, your prayers, and your willingness to let this reality reshape how you think about faith and action. Why This Matters for Believers As Christians, we love to talk about spiritual freedom. We sing songs about chains being broken and captives being freed. We preach about liberation from sin and the bondage of shame. All of that is true and important. But here’s what bothers me: we’re often more passionate about metaphorical chains than actual ones. We’re quick to claim spiritual victory while remaining silent about the physical slavery happening in our world right now. Jesus read from Isaiah 61 at the beginning of His ministry and declared, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” He was announcing that the kingdom of God brings both spiritual AND physical freedom. You can’t separate them. The gospel that saves souls also demands justice for the oppressed. When we ignore human trafficking, we’re not just being politically neutral. We’re failing to reflect the heart of God. We’re choosing comfort over compassion. We’re settling for a faith that makes us feel good without demanding we actually do good. I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of that kind of Christianity. What’s Different Now Starting today, Beyond Salvation’s primary content focus shifts to two interconnected crises: Human trafficking and modern slavery. We’ll explore what trafficking actually looks like in 2025, debunk the myths that keep us ignorant, share survivor stories, examine the systems that enable exploitation, and provide practical ways you can fight back. Christian persecution in Nigeria. We’ll shine light on the violence targeting Nigerian Christians, the terrorist groups destroying communities, the intersection between persecution and trafficking, and how we can support our brothers and sisters facing unimaginable suffering. Does this mean we’ll never write about other topics? No. Beyond Salvation will still be a place for honest conversations about faith, culture, prophecy, and Christian life. But these two issues will be our north star, the lens through which we view everything else. What You Can Expect Here’s my promise to you: I will not sugarcoat the darkness. Human trafficking is horrific. Christian persecution is brutal. I won’t

The world watched as a Gaza Hostage Release and Ceasefire, and nearly two years of relentless warfare gave way to an unexpected silence. Hamas released the final group of living Israeli hostages on Monday, marking what many have called a monumental turning point in a conflict that has cost thousands of lives, displaced millions, and shattered countless families across two nations. For believers watching from around the world, this moment demands more than political analysis, it demands theological reflection. As we witness the hostages returning home and the initial phases of a Trump-brokered peace plan unfold, we must ask ourselves: What does Scripture say about this moment? What is our responsibility as Christians? And perhaps most importantly, what does genuine peace actually look like? When the Captives Come Home: A Biblical Echo “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.” – Luke 4:18 There is something profoundly biblical about the release of captives. Throughout Scripture, the freeing of prisoners features prominently as an act of God’s mercy and a sign of His kingdom breaking into our world. When the Israelites were released from Egyptian slavery, it became the foundational story of their faith. When prisoners were released during Jesus’s earthly ministry, it symbolized spiritual liberation. But here’s what we must understand: the mere release of hostages, as essential and praiseworthy as it is – is only the beginning. True peace is not simply the cessation of violence; it’s the establishment of justice, healing, and reconciliation. Peace Without Justice Is Not Peace “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given… and he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end.” – Isaiah 9:6-7 Let’s be honest about something the world often glosses over: you cannot have genuine, lasting peace without justice. The prophet Amos declared that justice must “roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-ending stream.” This wasn’t poetic language for Amos, it was a moral imperative. When families have lost loved ones, when entire neighborhoods have been reduced to rubble, when trauma has etched itself into the psyches of a generation, simply stopping the fighting doesn’t heal what’s been broken. A ceasefire can be a step toward peace, but peace itself requires something far deeper. This is where many Christians fall into a troubling trap: we celebrate the end of conflict while remaining silent about the injustices that created it. We’re called to do both – to work for peace AND to work for justice. Jesus wasn’t killed because He preached peace alone; He was crucified because He demanded justice for the oppressed and challenged the systems that perpetuated suffering. The Captors and the Captives: Whose Responsibility? “If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?” – 1 John 3:17 One thing that should deeply concern every believer is how we approach the moral complexity of this conflict. There’s a temptation in Christian circles to take absolute sides, to claim one group is entirely good and the other entirely evil. But Scripture warns us against such simplicity. Yes, hostages should be released. Taking innocent people captive is a grave moral evil. Full stop. There is no justification, no political framing that makes kidnapping and holding civilians acceptable. Those who took hostages bear moral responsibility for that action, and their release is a matter of basic human dignity. But, and this is crucial – the existence of hostages does not erase the suffering of Palestinians. The trauma of October 7 does not justify indiscriminate attacks on civilians. The desire for security does not sanctify the displacement of entire populations. Justice requires us to hold all parties accountable to the same moral standard. This is what the Bible calls wisdom, the ability to see complexity while holding fast to core moral principles. It’s the ability to say, “This was wrong AND that was wrong” without needing to construct a hierarchy of wrongs that allows us to excuse one side’s transgressions. On Being Peacemakers (Not Peace-Liars) “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” – Matthew 5:9 Jesus made a stunning promise: peacemakers would be called God’s children. But notice what He didn’t say. He didn’t bless “peacekeepers” or “people who avoid conflict.” He blessed peacemakers—people who actively work toward reconciliation, justice, and the healing of broken relationships. A true peacemaker does three things: First, they speak truth. They don’t minimize suffering or pretend atrocities didn’t happen because it’s politically expedient. They acknowledge the pain on all sides, even when that acknowledgment is uncomfortable or unpopular. Second, they work toward justice. Peacemakers understand that genuine peace cannot exist while injustice remains unaddressed. This might mean holding government leaders accountable. It might mean demanding investigations into war crimes. It might mean insisting that displaced peoples have the right to return to their homes or receive reparations. Justice and peace are not opposites; they’re partners. Third, they refuse to dehumanise. This is perhaps the hardest requirement. Even as we hold people accountable for their actions, we must remember that they are image-bearers of God. Palestinians, Israelis, Hamas fighters, Israeli soldiers, hostages, displaced familie – all are people for whom Christ died. All deserve to be treated with dignity. The Role of Believers in This Moment Here’s where I want to challenge every Christian reading this: What are you actually doing about this? Are you: Or are you simply choosing a political side and using Christianity to justify it? Because here’s the truth: the ceasefire doesn’t require much of us as believers. It requires political negotiations