Some years ago, I had a book table in the Student Union on Mississippi State’s campus. Its purpose was to stimulate students to think about life’s most important questions. I’m afraid most were more interested in games and guys and girls and gold than in God. Sigh.
But one day, as I manned the table, a student came over to talk. He suggested that there was proof of human evolution. “Once we thought slavery was OK, but now we know better,” he said.
I was stunned. Where had this fellow been hiding? Didn’t he know that America has simply found a more efficient way to do slavery? Why pay room and board for your slaves? Let the Indians and Chinese do that. Didn’t he wonder how he could purchase all those cheap products at his local Walmart?
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, “China has been included on the List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor since 2009.” “Forced Labor” is a euphemism for slavery. But it isn’t only China.
The Global Slavery Index (2023) revealed “the role played by G20 nations in fueling forced labor within global supply chains.…The G20 accounts for over half of all people living in modern slavery.” According to the report, at least 50 million people are considered slaves today.
The Index listed the countries with the largest number of people in modern slavery: India (11 million), China (5.8 million), Russia (1.9 million), Indonesia (1.8 million), Turkey (1.3 million), and the United States (1.1 million). Yes, the United States!
This hit close to home when I was asked by a prisoner recently if I could find a doctor who would remove his gang tattoos. The man had become a follower of Christ and wanted a fresh start sans body graffiti when he left prison.
I located a local doctor who provides that service as a ministry, and on his website read the following horror story: “Eight years ago he encountered his first patient, a 24-year-old sex slave, who had been sold by her father at 13 for $3,000. The man who purchased this girl married her, and she was with him until age 16. She was then sold again to a man here in Jackson where she was put to work as a prostitute and stripper. The ‘owner’ has his name tattooed on the girls’ necks along with a barcode and oftentimes their hourly rate.” Yes, that’s in Mississippi!
The Book of Revelation portrays our corrupt world as a woman in purple and scarlet (symbolizing world government in bed with world religion). She’s slurping “the impurities of her immorality” from a golden goblet. Her name is “Mother of All Prostitutes and Obscenities in the World.” (Revelation 17:5, NLT)
Reading further, we discover the cargo manifest of this political-economic-religious system. Her merchandise begins with “gold, silver, precious stones and pearls” but ends with “bodies and souls.” (Revelation 18:11-13, NKJV)
Like drugs, we can complain about the supply, but the real problem is the demand. And in the end, we have to face Jesus’ own words, “Whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.” (John 8:34) Only by honest confession, spiritual conversion, and the resulting contentment can we live in true freedom. “Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” (John 8:36)
Article by Jabe Nicholson first published in the Commercial Dispatch, Saturday, September 23, 2023