Last week, New England Patriots' owner Robert Kraft was one of 25 people charged with soliciting prostitution at a spa in Jupiter, Florida. The spa was included in a human trafficking investigation into Florida spas that started at least four months ago. A spokesperson for Kraft said, "We categorically deny Mr. Kraft engaged in any illegal activity."
Jupiter Police Chief Daniel Kerr disclosed in a news conference that authorities have video evidence of Kraft engaging in sex acts on two visits to a local day spa.
It Won't Buy Happiness
Jeremy Wiles is the director of the Conquer Series, a powerful cinematic study that helps men find freedom from pornography. Wiles posted on social media over the weekend,
A few weeks ago, my wife and I were walking through the marina, just across the street from one of the parlors. She pointed up to one of the multi-million-dollar condos along the water and said, "That place looks eerily sad." I responded, 'When I looked up there a little while ago, I felt the exact same thing.' We talked about it for a few minutes, and I mentioned that the owner of the Patriots owns that condo.
I had no idea that only a few weeks later he would be on national news, charged with soliciting sex at a massage parlor ... The "word" in the community is that there are celebrities and church leaders in this area that have arrest warrants and will soon be detained. My heart goes out to their wives and families. ... Sin will take you further than you want to go and make you pay more than you want to pay.
How could a man worth billions, able to buy anything he wants, visit prostitutes on the weekends?
Money won't make you happy.
Massage parlors won't make you happy.
Porn won't make you happy.
Looking back, I now recognize the Holy Spirit was showing me more than a gloomy and sad condo, but rather a man inside who's lost, depressed and enslaved to sin.
The Dark World of Sex Trafficking
Whether Kraft is guilty of any crime will be decided by the legal system. But there are much deeper issues here than one man's personal situation. Sex trafficking is more widespread than people want to believe.
According to The Boston Globe, Martin County, Florida, Sheriff William Snyder said,
"The story is not Bob Kraft. The story is that dozens of women in Southeast Florida along the Treasure Coast are living in rudimentary living conditions and being coerced into acts of sexual conduct."
Sex trafficking is not just some problem in faraway countries that has little impact in America.
The National Human Trafficking Hotline reports that sex trafficking accounted for 6,081 of the more than 8,500 reported cases of human trafficking in the United States in 2017.
The Link Between Sex Trafficking and Porn
And perhaps not shockingly, pornography and sex trafficking around the world are very closely connected.
The Family Research Council (FRC) reports the following alarming statistics:
Across all ages and in nine different countries, 49 percent of rescued sex trafficking victims report they were forced to participate in the production of pornographic material.
Over half of U.S. women used in commercial sexual exploitation were either in pornographic material or threatened with the possibility.
Many of these women report that making pornography is a routine aspect of being in prostitution,
Oftentimes women who are trafficked are forced to make hardcore pornography. This hardcore pornography is sold and distributed online.
Further, those who are actors in pornographic material are often women who have been sex trafficked and sometimes serve as child sex slaves.
U.S. citizens account for 83 percent of all sex trafficking victims who have been found in this country.
Victims of sex trafficking are subjected to physical mistreatment and are often forced to recreate pornographic scenes.
Pornography Use Supports Sex Trafficking
Sitting in front of a computer monitor is not simply harmless fun. Besides the damage being done to your own life and family, pornography is a driving force behind sex slavery.
The FRC noted,
Pornography fuels the sex trafficking industry. Each click of pornography creates a demand for more pornography and brings in a profit to the industry. The demand causes traffickers, pimps and those involved in the sex industry to abuse their victims by filming them in sex acts. Victims of sex trafficking have had to bear the trauma of sexual abuse, physical abuse, drug abuse, coercion and oftentimes abortion. They have a long way to recovery. In short, pornography consumption is a public health crisis and creates a further demand for sexual exploitation.Although they probably have no idea, men and women who use pornography are most likely watching adult and child victims of sex trafficking.
Andrew David Naselli is the assistant professor of New Testament and biblical theology at Bethlehem College and Seminary. He gives a strong, blunt message to pornography users:
Plant this deeply and firmly in your conscience: Since pornography fuels sex slavery, indulging in pornography to any degree is participating in sex slavery. This is the case even if the porn star you lustfully look at is profiting financially from that pornography. The point is that any and all pornography is part of the worldwide system that fuels prostitution and thus fuels sex slavery.
When you hear how adults are enslaving girls and young women ... does that not make you feel sick to your stomach? Do you not feel outraged against people who victimize children and young women? That is exactly how you should feel about pornography.You and Your Church Can Make A Difference
Very few pornography users have ever given a thought to what lies behind the pornography industry. Pornography not only has an impact on you and your family. It is fueling demand for the young woman smuggled from her family in Vietnam. It led to the teenager who went missing from your local school. Porn is impacting thousands of lives.
Churches and individuals can help men break free from porn usage and take a stand to fight sex trafficking.
The Conquer Series is a dramatic men's small group resource that is helping almost a million men around the world experience a porn-free life. Action-packed military reenactments, solid biblical preaching and inspiring testimonies are featured.
Joshua Jorstad wrote,
"Because of the Conquer Series, I started my journey to be free from porn! I am officially a year and a half clean and have been loving the change. Ultimately, it was God who changed my heart, but your resources helped a bunch!"
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