It Is Written

Hidden In Plain View

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants:

Series Code: IIW

00:02 focuses on the subject of human trafficking and therefore could
00:06 be considered unsuitable for children.
00:09 ♪[Theme music]♪
00:24 ♪[Theme music]♪
00:29 ♪[Music]♪
00:38 >>John Bradshaw: This is It Is Written. I'm John Bradshaw.
00:40 Thanks for joining me.
00:43 You wonder how it can happen.
00:44 I mean, we're a long way into the 21st century now,
00:48 and yet the problem is as bad, in fact,
00:50 the problem is worse now than it's ever been before.
00:56 CNN reported that a Pakistani man worked seven days a week
01:01 in a cell-phone store in Hong Kong.
01:04 He slept on the floor of the store
01:06 and was regularly beaten by his employer.
01:09 He was sent home to Pakistan
01:11 without having been paid one cent.
01:14 When he complained about his treatment,
01:16 associates of his employer
01:18 threatened the lives of him and his family.
01:22 CNN also told the story of two Bangladeshi men
01:26 who paid six thousand dollars each
01:27 to secure work at a hotel in Scotland.
01:31 They were told they would earn $22,500 a year.
01:34 When they got there,
01:35 they found that had been changed to $125 a week, $6,500 a year.
01:42 And then they didn't even get that much.
01:45 When they complained about the treatment they were receiving,
01:49 they were told by their employer, “I am sponsoring you.
01:52 If you complain, I will withdraw my sponsorship,
01:56 you'll be here illegally, and you'll be arrested.”
02:01 And then there's the 14-year-old middle-schooler
02:03 who was picked on by her classmates.
02:07 An older girl befriended her
02:09 before introducing her to a man in his thirties.
02:12 That man treated her wonderfully,
02:15 before asking her for favors.
02:20 Before long, she was servicing forty men a day.
02:27 Forty.
02:29 She found herself trapped in a web
02:31 she simply didn't know how to get out of.
02:33 And when she talked about leaving,
02:35 a gun appeared and her life was threatened.
02:39 ♪[Music]♪
02:54 ♪[Music]♪
02:55 Human trafficking is the second most lucrative crime
02:57 in the world, after drug trafficking.
03:00 And 22 percent of all human trafficking victims
03:03 are forced into prostitution.
03:06 Based on the numbers we have, that would mean that right now
03:09 there are more than four and a half million women and girls
03:13 who have been forced into prostitution,
03:15 against their will.
03:18 And they're not all somewhere else.
03:20 Some of them are near you.
03:23 Human trafficking is a massive global problem.
03:26 A problem that's hidden in plain view.
03:29 And even if you can't see it from where you are,
03:31 the problem is real.
03:34 It's very real.
03:35 Girls as young as 12 or younger.
03:38 Mothers who are forced to leave their families
03:40 to find “work” far from home.
03:42 Men forced to toil as laborers without pay
03:47 and without any hope of escaping their difficult existence.
03:52 Trafficking sees people pressed into forced labor,
03:55 child labor, domestic servitude, bonded labor,
03:59 where people are forced to work to pay off debt,
04:02 even the debts of ancestors in some cases,
04:05 sex trafficking, or child sex trafficking.
04:10 The United States State Department website says this:
04:13 “Modern slavery, trafficking in persons, and human trafficking
04:19 have been used as umbrella terms for the act of recruiting,
04:23 harboring, transporting, providing, or obtaining a person
04:28 for compelled labor or commercial sex acts
04:31 through the use of force, fraud, or coercion.”
04:36 It's estimated that one in 100 Moldovans is trafficked.
04:41 If this was the United States,
04:43 that would be the equivalent of 32 million people.
04:47 That's an enormous amount of people
04:49 from this little country who have been
04:52 forced against their will into lives of slavery.
04:56 >>Irina Arap: So imagine a 35-year-old woman with two kids,
05:01 abused by her husband,
05:02 with no prospectives for very good job opportunities,
05:07 is receiving a very good offer from a neighbor
05:12 to go abroad to earn some money for a living.
05:15 So these are the main push factors that help
05:20 the traffickers to make the citizens fall into their traps.
05:25 >>John: And the poverty and the lack of opportunities means
05:28 Moldova has become a fertile breeding ground
05:32 for human trafficking.
05:34 >>Lidia Gorceag: Yes. There are victims that are very aware
05:37 that they will be exploited.
05:40 They go back and forth again and again,
05:43 not because they want to be exploited,
05:46 but because they see no way out of their situation.
05:51 >>Irina: So it's about poverty and vulnerability.
05:54 Social factors also determine the citizens
05:59 to accept the offers of the strangers sometimes.
06:03 It's the same as, let's take the case of so-called woman.
06:10 She has no house.
06:13 She has, for example, divorced from her husband;
06:17 she has two kids.
06:18 Sometimes it could be, one of them could be a disabled child,
06:23 so she does not see any future better opportunities
06:29 for her in Moldova.
06:31 So it means that she has no perspectives here in Moldova.
06:36 So then she is to accept this job abroad.
06:42 >>Lidia: Two sisters, 18 and 23 years old,
06:45 came from a boarding school.
06:48 They have no external support.
06:49 No parents, no siblings, no house,
06:54 nothing to their name except a child that the older one had.
07:02 Through the internet, they met a man from Albania
07:06 who offered them a job.
07:08 Knowing that they had no money,
07:12 he paid for them to fly to Albania.
07:17 So they took her six-month-old baby and left,
07:21 knowing that it was potentially dangerous.
07:23 When they arrived, the trafficker took the baby
07:27 to stay with his parents away from the girl,
07:30 and the girls were taken to Switzerland
07:33 and Germany to become prostitutes.
07:38 >>Irina: Recruitment measures used by traffickers have uh,
07:44 have uh changed a bit.
07:45 They have become, let's say kinder or mild.
07:52 But this is also not very good for us,
07:56 the professional in this field, because sometimes
07:58 it may bring to a lower level of identification
08:01 of victims themselves.
08:03 I will talk in examples.
08:05 We had a victim of human trafficking
08:08 for sexual exploitation in Spain.
08:11 Of course, she was in this house
08:15 where the exploitation was taking place.
08:20 But she had, she had a cell phone
08:22 and in the building there was also Wi-Fi.
08:26 So, uh, she was given some money, but very little money,
08:31 just to buy cigarettes, and she had the possibility to,
08:37 to go to the shop, just two minutes from the building.
08:41 But at the same time she does not know the language,
08:45 and her cell phone has not a valid uh, Spanish number.
08:51 >>Lidia: My colleagues and I sometimes feel guilty
08:54 because we cannot help enough.
08:59 Once the victims leave our center, where can they go?
09:03 We feel like we have not done enough
09:07 because there simply aren't enough long-term resources.
09:10 >>Irina: Up to 15 percent of the victims who have been identified
09:16 and assisted within our program get to be retrafficked
09:21 in several years or so.
09:23 >>John: I'll be back with more in just a moment.
09:27 ♪[Music]♪
09:36 >>John: You want to experience personal peace in your life,
09:38 oneness with God, victory in the place of defeat.
09:42 But how can you have that?
09:43 Today's free offer will tell you how.
09:46 I want you to receive “The War is Over.”
09:49 To receive “The War is Over” free,
09:51 contact us at 800-253-3000
09:55 800-253-3000
09:57 Visit us online at itiswritten.com,
10:00 or write to the address on your screen.
10:02 “The War is Over.”
10:03 Free for you today.
10:06 This It Is Written program focuses on the subject
10:09 of human trafficking and therefore could be considered
10:13 unsuitable for children.
10:16 ♪[Music]♪
10:24 >>John: This is It Is Written. Thanks for joining me.
10:27 There are 21 million people in the world right now
10:31 who are the victims of human trafficking.
10:33 That's almost the population of Australia.
10:37 Of that amount, 68 percent are exploited for labor,
10:41 10 percent are in state-imposed forced labor,
10:46 and 22 percent are being sexually exploited.
10:50 I'm in Chisinau, the capital of Moldova.
10:53 Moldova is a landlocked country
10:55 located between Romania and Ukraine.
10:58 For more than 50 years Moldova was a part of the Soviet Union.
11:04 Over the centuries, it's been the scene of invasions
11:06 and revolutions, not uncommon for Europe.
11:10 It's estimated that 1 in 100 Moldovans is trafficked.
11:15 If this was the United States,
11:18 that would be the equivalent of 32 million people.
11:22 That's an enormous amount of people from this little country
11:26 who are being forced against their will
11:28 into lives of slavery.
11:31 Remember what the State Department says:
11:34 “...through the use of force, fraud or coercion.”
11:38 Many of them forced to work in the sex industry.
11:42 >>Irina: She would get the money from the recruiter to,
11:46 to have her passport done, most of the time they do not have,
11:49 they do not hold their passports.
11:52 Then she might get some money to travel.
11:55 It can be by bus, by train, or by plane,
11:58 recently it's not a problem; it's affordable.
12:01 But this is also something that they are
12:05 afterwards constrained with,
12:06 because you have a debt to me so you must work for this to,
12:13 to give me back the money.
12:16 Sometimes, the exploitation occurs immediately,
12:19 or sometimes she could be given some time
12:23 to adapt to the situation.
12:25 She will be in an apartment with other 10 ladies or so,
12:31 if we talk about sexual exploitation.
12:34 And then she will get, you know, this physical abuse sometimes,
12:38 or psychological abuse, and the exploitation can, can go on,
12:46 I mean, start immediately.
12:49 For example, the last case I dealt with,
12:53 I think in middle February, was about nine Moldavan citizens
13:01 who were exploited for labor in the Russian Federation.
13:04 They were hiding in their rooms just to,
13:07 only one of them had a cell phone.
13:09 But they somehow managed to threaten the trafficker
13:14 that they would call the police.
13:16 Nevertheless, one woman was, um, also exploited.
13:23 And because she tried to escape, she was kept in the outside
13:28 for two hours with almost no clothes on her, at minus 20.
13:34 So this was a sort of punishment.
13:36 But, nevertheless, they managed to escape.
13:38 They retrieved their passports.
13:40 So they were repatriated to Moldova.
13:44 But in regards to the criminal investigation,
13:47 I cannot tell the stage of it.
13:55 >>John: Human trafficking is simply a response
13:57 to a demand that exists.
13:59 Because prostitution is treated so blithely
14:02 by so many in society today you know, boys will be boys,
14:06 it's a victimless crime, it's the world's oldest profession,
14:11 makes it possible for trafficking to flourish.
14:13 It can operate in the shadows of an evil profession which itself
14:17 thrives in every major city in the United States and,
14:20 it's fair to say, in every major city throughout the world.
14:24 And because from a distance one prostitute looks pretty much
14:27 like another, you can't tell whether that woman
14:30 standing on the street corner is pursuing a career choice
14:34 or is being trafficked against her will.
14:37 It was reported that in Columbus, Ohio,
14:39 of the 1,000 prostitutes put behind bars every year,
14:44 92% are being trafficked.
14:47 That's almost every single one.
14:50 So what does this have to do with the Bible?
14:52 Everything.
14:54 Jesus said in John 8:36,
14:57 “Therefore if the Son makes you free,
14:59 you shall be free indeed.”
15:02 Now, consider this:
15:02 With 21 million people being trafficked
15:05 in the world right now,
15:06 between 600,000 and 800,000 people are
15:09 trafficked across international borders every year.
15:13 Eighty percent are female, and half are children.
15:17 With between 14,500 and 17,500 being trafficked
15:21 into the United States every year,
15:24 that's 50 a day, every day, do you think it's only atheists
15:29 doing the trafficking, or the using?
15:32 You see, God's desire is that people are free.
15:36 And yet there's another form of slavery
15:38 that affects even more people than human trafficking.
15:43 I'll tell you more in just a moment.
15:45 ♪[Music]♪
15:56 >>John: The flight attendant noticed her.
15:58 She appeared to be 14 maybe 15 years of age
16:02 and she looked out of place.
16:04 She was disheveled, her hair was greasy,
16:07 she looked uncomfortable.
16:10 And she was seated next to a man
16:11 who was considerably older and very well dressed.
16:15 So the flight attendant alerted the pilot,
16:18 the pilot alerted authorities on the ground,
16:21 and when the flight from Seattle landed in San Francisco,
16:25 law enforcement officials were waiting to intercept the man,
16:29 and to release the girl and return her to a much better life
16:33 than the life moments before, she was facing.
16:37 Human trafficking happens,
16:40 and more than likely it happens near you.
16:43 If you've traveled through airports
16:44 you may have noticed signs up in airports warning
16:47 about human trafficking.
16:49 It really does take place.
16:51 It might be taking place at the mall in your neighborhood
16:53 as young people are groomed by unscrupulous men
16:57 who would turn them over to a life of misery and shame.
17:01 I'd like to encourage you if you suspect that you are witnessing
17:05 human trafficking taking place,
17:07 you go online to www.ice.gov/tips
17:14 and share the information that you have.
17:17 Something can be done.
17:20 Also be sure to pray.
17:22 Pray about what you are seeing
17:23 or pray for this awful phenomenon in general.
17:27 Also you might want to know
17:29 its best not to approach the supposed victims or perpetrators
17:33 of human trafficking.
17:35 If you are a human trafficking victim, speak out, seek help.
17:41 Cautiously contact law enforcement officials
17:44 and know that there people that will help you.
17:49 >>Announcer: In Matthew 4:4, the Word of God says,
17:51 “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bead alone,
17:54 but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”
17:58 “Every Word” is a one-minute, Bible-based
18:01 daily devotional presented by Pastor John Bradshaw,
18:03 and designed especially for busy people like you.
18:07 Look for Every Word on selected networks,
18:09 or watch it online every day on our website,
18:12 ItIsWritten.com
18:14 Receive a daily spiritual boost.
18:16 Watch “Every Word.”
18:18 You'll be glad you did.
18:19 Here's a sample.
18:22 ♪[Theme music]♪
18:28 >>John Bradshaw: If you're old enough,
18:29 you'll remember it like it was yesterday.
18:31 In 1987, an 18-month-old little girl
18:33 somehow fell down a narrow well shaft
18:36 in her aunt's backyard in Midland, Texas.
18:38 She was stuck 22 feet under the ground for two and a half days,
18:41 and the nation and much of the rest of the world
18:43 watched around-the-clock coverage
18:44 of the rescue of Baby Jessica.
18:47 Of course, all these years later Jessica doesn't remember
18:49 what happened back then,
18:50 but every time she looks in the mirror today,
18:53 she sees a scar on her forehead,
18:55 a reminder that someone saved her
18:57 when she couldn't save herself.
19:00 I Corinthians 15:4 says, “Christ died for our sins.”
19:04 You weren't there at the time,
19:05 but whenever you open a Bible
19:08 you'll be reminded of what God did for you.
19:11 It's something that you never want to forget.
19:15 I'm John Bradshaw for It Is Written.
19:17 Let's live today by every word.
19:19 ♪[Music]♪
19:23 This It Is Written program focuses on the subject of
19:27 human trafficking and therefore could be considered
19:30 unsuitable for children.
19:33 ♪[Music]♪
19:46 >>John: Thanks for joining me today on It Is Written,
19:49 in the Republic of Moldova.
19:52 It's a country with a turbulent history littered
19:54 with conquests and invasions.
19:57 In the 1940s and ‘50s, 250,000 Moldovans
20:01 were sent to labor camps in Siberia.
20:04 During World War II, thousands of Jews perished here.
20:09 But the crime against humanity that plagues
20:12 Moldova today is the same as that which plagues
20:15 societies all over the world.
20:18 Human trafficking right now flourishes in the United States.
20:23 And what that means is, you can buy a human being,
20:28 usually a woman or a girl,
20:30 for the purpose of sexual exploitation.
20:33 And you can own her
20:35 just like you would own a pair of shoes or a dog.
20:40 Except very few dogs were ever treated as badly
20:44 as a woman who is trafficked.
20:46 There's a growing awareness in Moldova and around the world
20:49 of the problem of human trafficking,
20:52 with more light being shown on the subject,
20:54 and more and more people willing to lend their support
20:56 to the fight against it.
20:59 There's one thing, and only one thing,
21:02 that will actually fix the problem.
21:05 You can't blame the women and the girls involved.
21:07 No female chooses to be trafficked.
21:11 If you locked them all up,
21:12 all you'd be doing would be punishing the victims.
21:15 And if you locked them up,
21:17 there'd be a fresh batch of victims back out on the streets
21:20 to take their place in no time at all.
21:23 The reason human trafficking exists is economics.
21:27 It's a case of supply and demand.
21:30 If unscrupulous businessmen wouldn't exploit workers,
21:33 you wouldn't have forced labor.
21:35 And if men wouldn't pay money to exploit trafficked women,
21:39 the problem would just go away.
21:42 But the challenge is, there's a market for this.
21:45 The problem is, there are sick men who will pay money for sex,
21:50 and in many cases knowing full well that the victim involved
21:53 is trafficked, or illegal.
21:57 And who are these sick men?
21:59 You might be thinking it's the creepy guy
22:00 who lives down the street from you.
22:03 Ask the experts, and they'll tell you.
22:06 These are schoolteachers and policemen
22:09 and doctors and you-name-it.
22:12 Everyday people.
22:14 Most likely someone you know.
22:17 The problem is hidden in plain view.
22:22 Changing laws might certainly help.
22:24 But laws get broken every day.
22:27 We could take some time to talk about the climate in society
22:30 which fuels this sort of demand.
22:33 The objectification of women,
22:35 and the sexually hyper-charged society
22:38 in which we live that creates demand
22:42 and then presents this as, as some sort of option.
22:45 Ultimately, this is a problem of the human heart.
22:49 You see, there's another kind of slavery.
22:53 Let the Apostle Paul explain in Romans 6:16.
22:56 “Do you not know that to whom you present
22:58 yourselves slaves to obey,
23:01 you are that one's slaves whom you obey,
23:04 whether of sin leading to death,
23:07 or of obedience leading to righteousness?”
23:10 Thankfully, there's a way out.
23:12 Verses 17 and 18:
23:14 “But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin,
23:18 yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine
23:22 to which you were delivered.
23:23 And having been set free from sin,
23:26 you became slaves of righteousness.”
23:29 Now, notice: The Bible says that those who are the slaves of sin
23:34 the King James uses the word “servants”
23:36 those who are slaves of sin are slaves of the one they
23:41 have chosen to serve.
23:44 See, ultimately, sin is a choice.
23:48 It might not always feel like that.
23:50 It might feel that it's less of a choice
23:52 if you've become accustomed to living a life of sin,
23:56 and more a matter of being on autopilot.
23:58 But the Bible is clear.
24:00 You can choose to be either the slave of sin
24:05 or the slave of righteousness.
24:07 Romans 6, verse 20.
24:09 “For when you were slaves of sin,
24:11 you were free in regard to righteousness.”
24:14 And verse 22. “But now having been set free from sin,
24:18 and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness,
24:23 and the end, everlasting life.”
24:26 So a person who is the slave of sin
24:29 can become instead the slave of righteousness.
24:33 The servant of righteousness.
24:35 A person can learn to love doing right as much as he or she
24:39 ever loved committing sin.
24:42 In 1 Corinthians, chapter 6, Paul speaks to a group of people
24:45 who were adulterers and fornicators and idolators
24:48 and thieves and drunkards and so forth
24:51 and he says this to them in verse 11,
24:54 “And such were some of you: but ye are washed,
24:58 but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified
25:01 in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.”
25:06 That's what God can do for you.
25:09 If you let Him.
25:11 And so it's right to hope and pray and work
25:13 that those who are caught in the grip of human trafficking
25:16 find liberation, freedom, find hope in their lives.
25:20 And if you're caught in spiritual slavery,
25:24 you can find that same hope and liberation and freedom
25:29 through Jesus Christ.
25:31 Because “If the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.”
25:38 ♪[Music]♪
25:46 You want to experience personal peace in your life,
25:49 oneness with God, victory in the place of defeat.
25:52 But how can you have that?
25:54 Today's free offer will tell you how.
25:56 I want you to receive
25:58 “The War is Over.”
26:00 To receive “The War is Over” free,
26:02 contact us at 800-253-3000
26:04 800-253-3000
26:08 Visit us online at itiswritten.com
26:10 or write to the address on your screen.
26:12 “The War is Over.”
26:13 Free for you today.
26:15 Thank you for remembering that It Is Written
26:18 is a faith-based ministry,
26:20 and it's your support that makes it possible for us to
26:23 share God's good news with the entire world.
26:26 Your tax-deductible gift can be sent
26:28 to the address on your screen, or through our website,
26:32 itiswritten.com
26:34 Thank you for your continued prayerful support.
26:37 Our toll-free number is 800-253-3000
26:40 800-253-3000
26:42 Our web address is itiswritten.com
26:46 Let me pray for you.
26:48 Our Father in Heaven,
26:50 we are thankful today that there is freedom in Jesus Christ.
26:56 And I want to pray,
26:57 Lord for the so many in this world
26:59 that are caught in the grip of human trafficking.
27:02 There are so many major problems besetting our world today.
27:07 But we know that you are great enough to turn back
27:10 the tide of evil and sin.
27:12 And I pray that you would do so.
27:15 Father, I know there is someone today
27:17 who is reaching out to you.
27:19 They're saying, “I'm stuck in sin.
27:22 I'm a slave to sin and I want to be free.”
27:25 Lord, set that man, that woman, free in Jesus right now.
27:29 And let that day be soon when Jesus returns to this earth
27:33 to take us home to be with you forever,
27:36 in a world where there is no sin.
27:38 We thank you for that hope.
27:39 We hold onto it.
27:41 And we pray in Jesus' name.
27:43 Amen.
27:45 Thanks so much for joining me today.
27:47 I'm looking forward to seeing you again next time.
27:50 Until then, remember:
27:53 It Is Written.
27:54 Man shall not live by bread alone,
27:57 but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.
28:01 ♪[Theme music]♪

Home

Revised 2023-03-30