US Raids Free Child Prostitutes

Nearly 700 people were arrested in 36 cities over three days, officials said, in an operation targeting a number of prostitution hotspots. Most of those rescued were girls under 18 with the youngest just 10 years old. Dozens of pimps were also arrested. The raid was part of a larger FBI operation which has so far recovered nearly 900 children from prostitution. More than 1,500 FBI agents and police officers took part in the raids, which were based on intelligence provided by local police forces.

Nationwide effort

The FBI said that information provided by those arrested in such raids often uncovered organized prostitution rings and could lead to further rescues. Kevin Perkins, the Assistant Director of the FBI’s Criminal Division, said that despite recent success, child prostitution remained “a significant problem” in the US. Ernie Allen, president of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, welcomed the arrests of hundreds of people, including 60 pimps who had been forcing the children into prostitution to make money.  ”Child trafficking for the purposes of prostitution is organized criminal activity using kids as commodities for sale or trade.  These kids are victims. They lack the ability to walk away. This is 21st Century slavery,” Mr Allen said.

(via BBC news)

I’d also like to point out that a very similar scenario took place back in February of this year – and almost the exact same article (as above) was published.  Read it here. 

This is serious.  And it’s happening all over the world.

Listen to a gut-wrenching interview with a former child prostitute (found toward the end of the article, also linked above).  

There are countless non-profits that are fighting against the child slave trade in various ways, and I urge you to support them, or at least educate yourself on them. 

A great blog, AbolishHumanTrafficking,  links to many other groups that are fighting trafficking in the U.S. and abroad.   Check it out.

Do you have one in particular that you support?  Please share.

Baghdad Car Bombs Kill at Least 136

(AP) – Two powerful car bombs exploded in downtown Baghdad today, killing at least 136 people and wounding nearly 600 in an apparent attempt to target the fragile city’s government offices, Iraqi authorities said. The blasts went off less than a minute apart near two prominent government institutions—the Ministry of Justice and the headquarters of the Baghdad provincial administration’s headquarters—during the morning rush hour.

At least 25 staff members of the Baghdad Provincial Council, which runs the city, were killed in the bombing, which was just a few hundred yards from Iraq’s Foreign Ministry, which is still rebuilding after massive bombings in August killed about 100. The area is also just a few hundred yards from the Green Zone that houses the US Embassy as well as the prime minister’s offices. The explosions also injured nearly 600 people.

 

via newser.com

how beautiful

To have a globe-al perspective.

typical

                  I get stuck in this way of thinking sometimes, because it’s easier.

                                        God, help me get outside of myself.

Free to Believe?

The Defamation of Religious Resolution, introduced in the UN, seeks to criminalize words or actions that are deemed to be against a particular religion, namely Islam.  Although proponents justify the ‘defamation of religion’ concept as protecting religious practice and promoting tolerance, it really promotes intolerance and human rights violations of religious freedom and freedom of speech for religious minorities in these countries. 

Voice your protest of this resolution by signing this petition.

Islamic Extremists in Somalia Kill Another Church Leader

Do I take my freedom to read a Bible for granted? Need to pray for those around the world who are not free to read, let alone hold a Bible.

Story from Compass Direct News:

NAIROBI, Kenya, October 1 (CDN) — Islamic militants in Somalia this week killed a woman who led an underground Christian movement in the war-torn country. 

Sources told Compass that a leader of Islamic extremist al Shabaab militia in Lower Juba identified only as Sheikh Arbow shot to death 46-year-old Mariam Muhina Hussein at 2 p.m. on Monday (Sept. 28) in Marerey village after discovering she had six Bibles. Marerey is eight kilometers (five miles) from Jilib, part of the neighboring Middle Juba region. 

Local sources said that on Sunday (Sept. 27) Arbow sent his wife to the house of Hussein, a Somali Bantu, to confirm the presence of the Bibles. Pretending to be interested in Christianity, the militia leader’s wife confirmed the existence of the Bibles. 

The sources said Hussein readily agreed to discuss Christianity with Arbow’s wife and read parts of the Bible with her. When Arbow’s wife requested one of the Bibles, however, Hussein demurred. 

“She told her that it might not be safe for her, preferring instead that she could visit her regularly for discussions,” said one source. “She then left and promised to visit again soon.” 

The next day, Arbow arrived at Hussein’s house with other men and, in a friendly manner, claimed that he wanted to check something in the Bible. Knowing only that Arbow was a fellow ethnic Somali Bantu and having met his wife the previous day, Hussein innocently gave one to him, sources said. 

“Immediately, Arbow told her that their mission was to look for Christians who have defiled the Islamic religion,” a source said. “There and then she lacked words to say. She was ordered to get the other Bibles out, and she did.” 

Upon receiving the Bibles, sources said, Arbow fired three bullets at Hussein, who died instantly.

The Bibles were published in Swahili; besides this East African lingua franca, Bantus in Lower Juba also speak Kiswahili. 

Compass has confirmed the killing with various sources in Nairobi and Somalia who cannot be identified for security reasons. 

 

insight

There’s a power in poverty 

That breaks principalities
And brings the authorities 

Down to their knees
There’s a brewing frustration 

And ageless temptation
To fight for control by some manipulation

The God of the Kingdoms and the God of the Nations
The God of creation 

Sends this revelation
Through the homeless and penniless

Jesus the son
The poor will inherit the Kingdom to come

Where will we turn 

When our world falls apart
And all of the treasures we’ve stored in our barns
Can’t buy the Kingdom of God
Who will we praise when we’ve praised all our lives
Men who build kingdoms 

And men who build fame
But heaven does not know their names
What will we fear when all that remains
Is God on his throne, with a child in his arms 

And love in his eyes
And the sound of his heart cries

J. Upton

beggars

all you great men of power, you who boast of your feats-

politicians and entrepreneurs-

can you safeguard your breath in the night while you sleep?

keep your heart beating steady and sure?

as your lie in your bed, does the thought haunt your head

that you’re really, rather small?

if there’s one thing i know in this life: we are beggars all.

all you champions of science and rulers of men,

can you summon the sun from its sleep?

does the earth seek your counsel on how fast to spin?

can you shut up the gates of the deep?

don’t you know that all things hang, as if by a string,

over the darkness- poised to fall?

if there’s one things i know in this life: we are beggars all.

all you big shots that swagger and stride with conceit,

did you devise how your frame would be formed?

if you’d be raised in a palace, or live out in the streets?

did you choose the place or the hour you’d be born?

tell me what can you claim? not a thing- not your name.

tell me if you can recall,

just one thing, that’s not a gift in this life?

can you hear what’s been said?

can you see now that everything is grace after all?

if there’s one things I know in this life: we are beggars all.

d. kensrue ‘09

via acacia.rainshadow

No Words Needed

International Day of Prayer : Nov. 8th

But we don’t have to wait until then to start praying. Duh.

It’s good to pray for persecuted Christians in general… but let’s try to be specific too.

There’s so much going on in so many places. But we have to start somewhere.

Here is some recent information that I read on Nigeria:

In a country where tribal living still exists, whole Christian villages have been burned down and destroyed by Muslim radicals. Nigerian Christians not only worry about lack of food, education, and resources, but they are also under significant pressure to convert to Islam or be killed.

Twelve northern states have imposed Islamic law in the past eight years, and there have been repeated outbreaks of ethnic and religious violence, claiming many lives. More than 100 Christians were killed during 2008 and the destruction of many churches and kidnapping of believers continued through the year. In November of 2008, communal violence in the city of Jos resulted in six pastors killed, 40 churches destroyed, and 369 Christians critically injured.

There is much bribery and severe corruption in Nigeria. For instance: recently, the former Governor of the state came to a small Christian village in northern Nigeria. The Christians there are constantly struggling with poverty, so the Governor brought money, cloth, and other material benefits. However, he offered all of this to the village on the condition that they become Muslims.

‘Since there is poverty here, that was a real temptation for us,’ a Christian told Open Doors. ‘But we declined [the offer]… we try to remember that it is better to remain poor and cling to our faith than to have riches and betray our beliefs.’

What I can pray about for Nigeria….

:: For comfort and healing for those caught up in the violence

:: That in the midst of poverty and harsh circumstances, the joy and purpose of the truth would be evident to the Christians in Nigeria

:: For Christian parents raising their children in a society dominated by Islam, especially for the spouses of widows and murdered pastors.

repurposed via Open Doors prayer points bulletin