Today’s guest post is from my brother-in-law, Benjamin.
A few months ago Ben learned about the modern day slavery that exists not only around the world but in our own back yard. He recently learned of Elijah Rising, an organization in Houston with the mission of stopping slavery and educating the populace. Did you know that Houston ranks in the top 2 cities in the nation for sex trafficking?
Below is a short reflection of Benjamin’s experience.
In Christ,
Rev. Evan
Originally posted on Emerging Disciples
One moment you are in the seedy, shady den of the Human Trafficking underworld; the next moment, you find yourself surrounded by strip malls, restaurants and shopping centers. This is the reality of Human Trafficking in Houston, TX.
We met up with our tour leader Cat French, and the rest of our crew around 7 p.m. Elijah Rising started as a once-a-month prayer meeting. Now they do intervention, van tours, music and prayer. The headquarters was once a brothel until Elijah Rising intervened. Now, Elijah Rising is located in the hotbed of human trafficking in Houston.
Beautiful, Spirit-filled music echoed in the Elijah Rising building. I felt the Holy Spirit come over me very quickly and strongly as Cat gave us some introductory information.
The tour weaved in and out of the back alleys of Human Trafficking. We learned that many types of Human Trafficking fronts exist such as, Spas and Cantinas. The spas are what you would imagine. Showers, massages, and back rooms. The Cantinas are set up like bars, where, “Johns (normal consumers),” can purchase sex. They have outhouses where one takes the trafficked human.
The tour was extremely convicting about human trafficking. We learned that human traffickers pray to demons. One theory of why there is such a cluster of human trafficking is that where one person opens a dark, evil portal, others will follow. In other words, the hotbed of human trafficking is an open portal to evil. Call it crazy if you will, but when you experience it, you might agree.
At the end of the tour we saw a building that had been raided and shut down. We saw a painting of a woman in chains surrounded by flags of different countries where they traffic humans. There were white flags representing countries not yet trafficked.
America is not one of these. We have compromised and become a hotbed of human trafficking. America has sadly become a new Babylon. We need to make people aware.
Awareness is the first step.
Contact Elijah Rising at www.elijahrising.com
Benjamin Fort graduated from Stephen F. Austin State University in 2012 with a Bachelors in Studio Art and Mass Communications. He serves on the Praise Band at First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Longview, TX.
He is a Christian social activist to end human trafficking. Check out his website www.emergingdisciple.com
Rev. Dr. Evan M. Dolive 
You are right. The first step is awareness. People need to find out more about the growing problem of human trafficking and it’s great to see more organizations getting involved. Last year I watched the movie, Trade of Innocents, and I was shocked that these things are happening right here in North America where we are supposed to be more civilized. One of our church members travelled to Southeast Asia and he saw situations that led him to write and direct the movie. After watching it, our church got involved by raising money and sending some of our members over there to rescue several women from trafficking. We all need to do our small part to end this terrible problem.
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