I also want to encourage people to be aware of organizations fighting against worldwide hunger and poverty in creative ways and making a lasting impact that we all can participate in:
Heifer International
http://www.heifer.org/site/c.edJRKQNiFiG/b.183217/#
Oxfam International
www.oxfam.org/
One Hen: Microfinance for kids
www.onehen.org/
Saturday, August 30, 2008
List of Fair Trade companies
Little by little, I want to add a list of different companies that are aware of the slavery/trafficking issue, and have built their companies around fair trade practices.
Not For Sale
www.notforsalecampaign.org/
Green Mountain Coffee
www.greenmountaincoffee.com/
Global Exchange
www.globalexchange.org/
Mamacuna Traders
www.mamacuna.com/
Feel free to share others you know!
Not For Sale
www.notforsalecampaign.org/
Green Mountain Coffee
www.greenmountaincoffee.com/
Global Exchange
www.globalexchange.org/
Mamacuna Traders
www.mamacuna.com/
Feel free to share others you know!
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Fighting against human trafficking worldwide: Not For Sale
Not for Sale is fighting to educate people about the worldwide human trafficking issue and how all of us can take part in helping find cases of trafficking in our own backyards and local communities, and help fight to get slaves free.
A recent email that I received from them:
"NOT FOR SALE NEEDS YOUR HELP TO BUILD A SAFE HOUSE IN LIMA, PERU THAT WILL SAVE KIDS FROM EXPLOITATION
By the end of September we need to raise $100,000, and we are already over half way there!!!
Thousands of children live in the streets of Lima, some trafficked from the rainforest or the Andes, others fleeing abuse at home, yet others the victims of financial despair. They live in constant danger. In October, 2008, if our funding campaign is successful, hope will arrive with the opening of a safe house that will shelter twenty kids at a time. Our Not For Sale team in Peru, Generacíon, will run the safe house - they have over 20 years of experience working with at-risk and trafficked kids in Peru. The shelter will be called Veronica's House, to honor the loss of a precious child in Lima who could not find shelter.
Here's how to help:
We can match every dollar you give up to $50,000 with a grant generously donated for Veronica's House.
Give now so that we can begin offering safety to the exploited kids of Lima in October 2008!
Why "Veronica's House"?
Veronica's death earlier this year serves as a reminder of the high danger children face on the streets of Lima. In her honor, Not for Sale is building an emergency shelter in Lima and that will hopefully rescue the next "Veronica" from slavery.
When Veronica turned 13 she desperately wanted to go to school but her family did not have enough money to buy her the books and school uniform. She decided to support herself by selling candy in the streets with the hopes of eventually landing a better job.
A friend that she met while selling candy told her that she needed nicer clothes if she wanted to find a better job. So one friend gave her a skirt, the other a shirt, another the shoes. She was looking sharp. At the end of the day the friends asked her if she had found a job because she had to pay for the clothes she had gotten from them. If she did not pay that day, the friends warned, the clothes would be more expensive the next day. Without knowing it, Veronica had fallen into a trap.
A team from Generacíon met Veronica at a weekend beach camp it organized for street kids. Veronica told the team how the "lenders" of the clothes were forcing her to be a sex worker and she had to serve numerous clients each day. Veronica had been in that situation for three months and needed a safe house where she could live and be protected from the pimps, but our team did not have a place to take her. Just one week later, Veronica's tiny body was found in a hotel room, strangled to death by a john with whom she'd been forced to have sex."
The Not for Sale website has a lot to offer in terms of information about human trafficking around the world; things we all can do to take action; a blog to talk with others; creative ideas to educate and motivate others to join in the cause; and even an opportunity to open up your own Freedom Store Outpost, selling products to support victims of trafficking and helping more people be aware of the issue all at once!
Let's not be the kind of person who just sits back and say to ourselves, "What can I possibly do?" We all can do something and be a part of one of the most important issues of our time...helping to fight for millions upon millions of victims of trafficking and abuse and evil around the world. We can make a difference!
Blessings,
Tonya
Not for Sale
http://www.notforsalecampaign.org/
A recent email that I received from them:
"NOT FOR SALE NEEDS YOUR HELP TO BUILD A SAFE HOUSE IN LIMA, PERU THAT WILL SAVE KIDS FROM EXPLOITATION
By the end of September we need to raise $100,000, and we are already over half way there!!!
Thousands of children live in the streets of Lima, some trafficked from the rainforest or the Andes, others fleeing abuse at home, yet others the victims of financial despair. They live in constant danger. In October, 2008, if our funding campaign is successful, hope will arrive with the opening of a safe house that will shelter twenty kids at a time. Our Not For Sale team in Peru, Generacíon, will run the safe house - they have over 20 years of experience working with at-risk and trafficked kids in Peru. The shelter will be called Veronica's House, to honor the loss of a precious child in Lima who could not find shelter.
Here's how to help:
We can match every dollar you give up to $50,000 with a grant generously donated for Veronica's House.
Give now so that we can begin offering safety to the exploited kids of Lima in October 2008!
Why "Veronica's House"?
Veronica's death earlier this year serves as a reminder of the high danger children face on the streets of Lima. In her honor, Not for Sale is building an emergency shelter in Lima and that will hopefully rescue the next "Veronica" from slavery.
When Veronica turned 13 she desperately wanted to go to school but her family did not have enough money to buy her the books and school uniform. She decided to support herself by selling candy in the streets with the hopes of eventually landing a better job.
A friend that she met while selling candy told her that she needed nicer clothes if she wanted to find a better job. So one friend gave her a skirt, the other a shirt, another the shoes. She was looking sharp. At the end of the day the friends asked her if she had found a job because she had to pay for the clothes she had gotten from them. If she did not pay that day, the friends warned, the clothes would be more expensive the next day. Without knowing it, Veronica had fallen into a trap.
A team from Generacíon met Veronica at a weekend beach camp it organized for street kids. Veronica told the team how the "lenders" of the clothes were forcing her to be a sex worker and she had to serve numerous clients each day. Veronica had been in that situation for three months and needed a safe house where she could live and be protected from the pimps, but our team did not have a place to take her. Just one week later, Veronica's tiny body was found in a hotel room, strangled to death by a john with whom she'd been forced to have sex."
The Not for Sale website has a lot to offer in terms of information about human trafficking around the world; things we all can do to take action; a blog to talk with others; creative ideas to educate and motivate others to join in the cause; and even an opportunity to open up your own Freedom Store Outpost, selling products to support victims of trafficking and helping more people be aware of the issue all at once!
Let's not be the kind of person who just sits back and say to ourselves, "What can I possibly do?" We all can do something and be a part of one of the most important issues of our time...helping to fight for millions upon millions of victims of trafficking and abuse and evil around the world. We can make a difference!
Blessings,
Tonya
Not for Sale
http://www.notforsalecampaign.org/
Christian Ministry for those involved in the sex industry in Las Vegas, Nevada: Hookers for Jesus, founded by Annie Lobert
Annie Lobert was involved in the sex industry as a prostitute for 11 years. She currently lives in Las Vegas, Nevada, reaching out to others. She founded and runs the ministry Hookers for Jesus, and has recently decided to address the horrific practice of human trafficking of minors in the sex industry, which she is calling The KISS Project --which stands for Kindred Spirit Support. Check out her website on Myspace to read more about her testimony and the things she is doing to educate people the truth about the sex industry, too. She shares on her website:
"ANYTHING THAT WE HAVE TO HIDE HAS POWER OVER US!!!
I was a prostitute in the escort services in LAS VEGAS, (the public calls it "HIGH CLASS CALL GIRL") in the casinos, on the street, and I was an exotic dancer in the clubs. I did everything that you can imagine, saw and met people that I would never have thought would have even "ordered" a girl. MANY of them were very famous stars and influential people in society... I lived this lifestyle for over 11 years... and it just didn't happen overnight.
I was actually a "goodie two shoes" when I was growing up, I got very good grades in school and I always followed the "rules"--in fact you would considered me a "type A" personality. So how did the "good girl" eventually turn into a "bad girl"?
It all started when I was a little girl. I never felt really loved; there was abuse in my childhood that lowered my self-esteem to the degree that I became desperate for love. I tell you, I felt very rejected and broken-hearted all the time. When you are told a certain thing you are as a child, you tend to believe it. Point blank, I couldn't love my self, and did not think anyone else loved me. I didn't feel that I deserved it.
My first sexual experience happened with a close friend of mine when I was eight years old. I didn't know this was abuse at the time, but the truth of the matter is that I was violated. As a "family duty" I went to church every week, but because of the hypocrisy in the church and in my home, I couldn't really believe God was kind, so I hid my secret and feelings inside me. I also assumed that if God was somehow real, He was very angry at me! In other words... I imagined God with a big hammer getting ready to smash me if I did something wrong! I started to RESENT GOD and especially THE CHURCH...I could not trust anyone!
Relationships? Huh!!! Couldn't manage to keep ANY because I was so messed up on the inside. As I grew up, I went to seven different schools because our family moved around so much. It was very difficult, and coming to each school as the "new" girl wearing garage sale clothing...well let's just say that kids back then could be very cruel if you were not rich, popular, and "perfect." A lot of the time, I felt very "rejected".
In high school it was considered "cool" to have sex. Even though this seemed true, I was still ,a virgin at 18. It did not last long, because my boyfriend at that time convinced me that if we had sex, we would become so much closer and he would "love" me more. I was 18 years old and knew NOTHING about the consequences of sex before marriage! I only slept with him because I didn't want to lose him! I loved this man and wanted to get married... but unfortunately he had an appetite for other woman and we broke up. Why did he lie to me??? I didn't get it! I was DEVASTATED!!! I remember coming home after the break up, crying uncontrollably to my mother, and she said to me, "Annie, you wear your heart on your sleeve." I wanted to kick him to the curb because... MY HEART WAS BROKEN! I was angry and hurt.
It was at that moment I decided to REBEL!!!
When you are brokenhearted with a will to "REBEL" what is your definition of love? My self-worth was defined by looking for love in all the WRONG places, in WRONG people--people with issues just like mine.
Breaking ALL the rules was my new way of life...and I LIKED IT!!!
You get the picture--PROMISCUITY, nightclubs, drinking and drug parties, hanging out in bad parts of town--listening to wrong (sexually perverted/degrading women/violent) types of music, MUSIC VIDEOS, TV, reading "fashion" magazines.
Believe it or not, this MEDIA--POP CULTURE lifestyle EMBRACED ME...and begun to have a HUGE influence on me!
I was the "PARTY GIRL"! This is when the first of many rapes happened... In the process I became even more hurt, bitter, angry, rejected, LONELY, but most of all, more desperate to find the TRUTH.
I was always chasing just to belong, hungry for acceptance, just to be loved. When I gave my self sexually to men, for that brief moment, I felt "wanted" and "loved"... but if you told me I was beautiful, I wouldn't believe you. I didn't see that when I looked in the mirror. I saw a rejected tramp with a broken heart.
Rejection???
This HURT!!!
So I took POP CULTURE'S PILL... I wanted to try it and see if it really was as "cool" as the TV, music videos and movies portrayed it to be!!! The way that it was presented in the media... if you didn't do what everyone else was doing-by following the "styles" and "trends" and "lifestyle choices," you would be considered a "prude or a "weirdo nerd!"
With my already damaged self-esteem... I wanted to avoid this type of rejection at ALL costs.
I swallowed it WHOLE.
No one told me that I would have to lie about how I felt inside. Because I was striving so hard for success and love in order to remain strong.
I put on a MASK.
I had to wear it continually... pretending everything was "okay." My belief was that if I just put on a pretty smile, everything would be alright. But it wasn't. I kept burying my pain deep inside me. I just kept searching and experimenting, no matter WHAT the cost.
I might not look like it, but I did it ALL! I tell you the truth! Prostitution (street & high class call girl), exotic strip dancing, nude modeling, drugs of every kind, sex addiction, cutting, abortions--yes and miscarriages, masturbation addiction, pornography, dominance mistressing addiction, bisexuality, men addiction, gambling, binge drinking, smoking, anorexia, bulimia, and JAIL TIME... just to name a few...."
You can read the rest on her website. Learn more!! Open your eyes to see the truth.
Annie Lobert's Hookers for Jesus website on Myspace:
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=96152370
![]()
"ANYTHING THAT WE HAVE TO HIDE HAS POWER OVER US!!!
I was a prostitute in the escort services in LAS VEGAS, (the public calls it "HIGH CLASS CALL GIRL") in the casinos, on the street, and I was an exotic dancer in the clubs. I did everything that you can imagine, saw and met people that I would never have thought would have even "ordered" a girl. MANY of them were very famous stars and influential people in society... I lived this lifestyle for over 11 years... and it just didn't happen overnight.
I was actually a "goodie two shoes" when I was growing up, I got very good grades in school and I always followed the "rules"--in fact you would considered me a "type A" personality. So how did the "good girl" eventually turn into a "bad girl"?
It all started when I was a little girl. I never felt really loved; there was abuse in my childhood that lowered my self-esteem to the degree that I became desperate for love. I tell you, I felt very rejected and broken-hearted all the time. When you are told a certain thing you are as a child, you tend to believe it. Point blank, I couldn't love my self, and did not think anyone else loved me. I didn't feel that I deserved it.
My first sexual experience happened with a close friend of mine when I was eight years old. I didn't know this was abuse at the time, but the truth of the matter is that I was violated. As a "family duty" I went to church every week, but because of the hypocrisy in the church and in my home, I couldn't really believe God was kind, so I hid my secret and feelings inside me. I also assumed that if God was somehow real, He was very angry at me! In other words... I imagined God with a big hammer getting ready to smash me if I did something wrong! I started to RESENT GOD and especially THE CHURCH...I could not trust anyone!
Relationships? Huh!!! Couldn't manage to keep ANY because I was so messed up on the inside. As I grew up, I went to seven different schools because our family moved around so much. It was very difficult, and coming to each school as the "new" girl wearing garage sale clothing...well let's just say that kids back then could be very cruel if you were not rich, popular, and "perfect." A lot of the time, I felt very "rejected".
In high school it was considered "cool" to have sex. Even though this seemed true, I was still ,a virgin at 18. It did not last long, because my boyfriend at that time convinced me that if we had sex, we would become so much closer and he would "love" me more. I was 18 years old and knew NOTHING about the consequences of sex before marriage! I only slept with him because I didn't want to lose him! I loved this man and wanted to get married... but unfortunately he had an appetite for other woman and we broke up. Why did he lie to me??? I didn't get it! I was DEVASTATED!!! I remember coming home after the break up, crying uncontrollably to my mother, and she said to me, "Annie, you wear your heart on your sleeve." I wanted to kick him to the curb because... MY HEART WAS BROKEN! I was angry and hurt.
It was at that moment I decided to REBEL!!!
When you are brokenhearted with a will to "REBEL" what is your definition of love? My self-worth was defined by looking for love in all the WRONG places, in WRONG people--people with issues just like mine.
Breaking ALL the rules was my new way of life...and I LIKED IT!!!
You get the picture--PROMISCUITY, nightclubs, drinking and drug parties, hanging out in bad parts of town--listening to wrong (sexually perverted/degrading women/violent) types of music, MUSIC VIDEOS, TV, reading "fashion" magazines.
Believe it or not, this MEDIA--POP CULTURE lifestyle EMBRACED ME...and begun to have a HUGE influence on me!
I was the "PARTY GIRL"! This is when the first of many rapes happened... In the process I became even more hurt, bitter, angry, rejected, LONELY, but most of all, more desperate to find the TRUTH.
I was always chasing just to belong, hungry for acceptance, just to be loved. When I gave my self sexually to men, for that brief moment, I felt "wanted" and "loved"... but if you told me I was beautiful, I wouldn't believe you. I didn't see that when I looked in the mirror. I saw a rejected tramp with a broken heart.
Rejection???
This HURT!!!
So I took POP CULTURE'S PILL... I wanted to try it and see if it really was as "cool" as the TV, music videos and movies portrayed it to be!!! The way that it was presented in the media... if you didn't do what everyone else was doing-by following the "styles" and "trends" and "lifestyle choices," you would be considered a "prude or a "weirdo nerd!"
With my already damaged self-esteem... I wanted to avoid this type of rejection at ALL costs.
I swallowed it WHOLE.
No one told me that I would have to lie about how I felt inside. Because I was striving so hard for success and love in order to remain strong.
I put on a MASK.
I had to wear it continually... pretending everything was "okay." My belief was that if I just put on a pretty smile, everything would be alright. But it wasn't. I kept burying my pain deep inside me. I just kept searching and experimenting, no matter WHAT the cost.
I might not look like it, but I did it ALL! I tell you the truth! Prostitution (street & high class call girl), exotic strip dancing, nude modeling, drugs of every kind, sex addiction, cutting, abortions--yes and miscarriages, masturbation addiction, pornography, dominance mistressing addiction, bisexuality, men addiction, gambling, binge drinking, smoking, anorexia, bulimia, and JAIL TIME... just to name a few...."
You can read the rest on her website. Learn more!! Open your eyes to see the truth.
Annie Lobert's Hookers for Jesus website on Myspace:
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=96152370
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Another wonderful Christian Ministry: I am a treasure, founded by Harmony Dust
Another Christian ministry that I want to share and lift up is I am a Treasure, founded by former stripper Harmony Dust. She shares in her testimony on her website:
"...The emptiness I felt inside seemed infinate and my self-image continued to decline. Over the course of the next 3 years, being a stripper became my identity. My already tainted view of men seemed permanently damaged. I developed the notion that all men were inherently perverted and sick. I began to use stripping as a way to take back control of my sexuality. I finally felt like I had the upper hand. I learned to exploit for myself, the very thing that men had already exploited...my body.
My view of the world was tarnished. I couldn't go anywhere without thinking that people saw me in a sexual way. I felt reduced to an object and in “real life”, I tried to hide behind baggy clothes and glasses. All of my efforts and energy were put into trying to make my abusive, dysfunctional relationship work. I thought that my life and existence was hopeless and that the relationship was the only salvageable thing left. In my search for one good and pure thing, I clung onto my boyfriend with all of my strength and sacrificed my dignity to keep him in my life. All of my adoration, love and worship were focused on a person who was too selfish to ever really love me.
In retrospect, I can see that God’s heart was deeply pained by my brokenness. He wanted nothing more that to extend his hand to me and show me my beauty and worth—to help me see the value I never saw in myself.
Like a gentleman, He pursued me with his infinite love until he captured my heart. I finally met a Lover who would never leave me—the only One who could satisfy my needs. He took the hollow and empty pit inside me that had been carved out by a lifetime of disappointment and despair, and He filled it with hope, love, and purpose.
The journey since has not always been easy and I have made mistakes along the way, but I have discovered that the pain of staying the same is far greater than the pain of change. My frantic search for a man’s love to complete me is over. I am not perfect, but I am whole and I am free.
Precious woman, I promise you…if you are facing a challenging time, there is hope. You are not alone. Your One True Love is calling your name."
Our world seems to be getting progressively more sexually saturated, heavily promoting and pushing many sex-related fallacies, one of which is the false idea that women in porn and prostitution and online webcams--all parts of the sex industry-- are more "sexually empowered" and "sexually free". But nothing could be further from the truth. Go to www.iamatreasure.com (and Pink Cross by Shelley Lubben, discussed below) and read the testimonies of other women who have been strippers as well as being involved in other parts of the sex industry and realize the truth behind the scenes. Understand what led them into it, how they got out, and what they are doing now. They are finding their true sense of worth and esteem and true sexual empowerment from the One and Only God who can give it to them...the One who sent His Beloved Son Jesus to die for them, because He loved them; they are a treasure to Him, worth dying for.
The same is true for you-- all of you women who think you can become "sexually empowered" by using your body to make money, sharing the most private, intimate places of your body with men, who also blindly believe they will find what they are looking for-- in all the wrong ways and places. God cares passionately about both the men and women involved in the sex industry-- the male and female prostitutes (children and adults); strippers; porn stars; pimps and madams; pornographers; traffickers; and customers of all parts of the sex industry seeking something, continually going back but ultimately being unfulfilled. God's heart is breaking as He is watching so many people around the world looking for love and acceptance and worth, but winding up captives instead.
You ladies are worth more than allowing yourself to be used and abused; so many women are beaten and violently assaulted in the sex industry. They get manipulated and insulted and degraded and facing continuous dangers, including with sexually transmitted diseases (condoms can only reduce the risk, not eliminate it; how many of you are using them 100% of the time?). Don't deceive yourself into believing that you are being "sexually empowered" and that men have any respect for you; most men (generally speaking) never have and never will respect, or truly love, women who willingly to "put out". So don't think that they will love you more if you do get involved in the sex industry.
You men are also worth more than buying into the lie of "boys will be boys" and "this is what 'real' men do". You will not find your answers or fulfillment in strip clubs or porn movies or prostitutes. None of them can heal those hurting places in you, give you a sense of worth, or validate you as a man. God is the only One who can do that. He is the Spring of Living Water (Jeremiah 2:13; Jeremiah 17:13). Only with God can you be "satisfied as with the richest of foods" (Psalm 63:5).
God has a much better purpose for your life. Seek Him, the only One who can and will love you with an unfailing love, and who promises to never leave nor forsake you--you are the one who has to leave Him.
"But now, this is what the Lord says-- He who created you...
He who formed you......'Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name; you are Mine.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep
over you. When you walk through the fire, the flames will not
set you ablaze. For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of
Israel, your Savior;...Since you are precious and honored
(worthy of great esteem and respect!) in My sight,
and because I love you...Do not be afraid, for I am with you..."
(Isaiah 43: 1-5)
Blessings,
Tonya
www.myspace.com/treasuresnonprofit
www.iamatreasure.com
"...The emptiness I felt inside seemed infinate and my self-image continued to decline. Over the course of the next 3 years, being a stripper became my identity. My already tainted view of men seemed permanently damaged. I developed the notion that all men were inherently perverted and sick. I began to use stripping as a way to take back control of my sexuality. I finally felt like I had the upper hand. I learned to exploit for myself, the very thing that men had already exploited...my body.
My view of the world was tarnished. I couldn't go anywhere without thinking that people saw me in a sexual way. I felt reduced to an object and in “real life”, I tried to hide behind baggy clothes and glasses. All of my efforts and energy were put into trying to make my abusive, dysfunctional relationship work. I thought that my life and existence was hopeless and that the relationship was the only salvageable thing left. In my search for one good and pure thing, I clung onto my boyfriend with all of my strength and sacrificed my dignity to keep him in my life. All of my adoration, love and worship were focused on a person who was too selfish to ever really love me.
In retrospect, I can see that God’s heart was deeply pained by my brokenness. He wanted nothing more that to extend his hand to me and show me my beauty and worth—to help me see the value I never saw in myself.
Like a gentleman, He pursued me with his infinite love until he captured my heart. I finally met a Lover who would never leave me—the only One who could satisfy my needs. He took the hollow and empty pit inside me that had been carved out by a lifetime of disappointment and despair, and He filled it with hope, love, and purpose.
The journey since has not always been easy and I have made mistakes along the way, but I have discovered that the pain of staying the same is far greater than the pain of change. My frantic search for a man’s love to complete me is over. I am not perfect, but I am whole and I am free.
Precious woman, I promise you…if you are facing a challenging time, there is hope. You are not alone. Your One True Love is calling your name."
Our world seems to be getting progressively more sexually saturated, heavily promoting and pushing many sex-related fallacies, one of which is the false idea that women in porn and prostitution and online webcams--all parts of the sex industry-- are more "sexually empowered" and "sexually free". But nothing could be further from the truth. Go to www.iamatreasure.com (and Pink Cross by Shelley Lubben, discussed below) and read the testimonies of other women who have been strippers as well as being involved in other parts of the sex industry and realize the truth behind the scenes. Understand what led them into it, how they got out, and what they are doing now. They are finding their true sense of worth and esteem and true sexual empowerment from the One and Only God who can give it to them...the One who sent His Beloved Son Jesus to die for them, because He loved them; they are a treasure to Him, worth dying for.
The same is true for you-- all of you women who think you can become "sexually empowered" by using your body to make money, sharing the most private, intimate places of your body with men, who also blindly believe they will find what they are looking for-- in all the wrong ways and places. God cares passionately about both the men and women involved in the sex industry-- the male and female prostitutes (children and adults); strippers; porn stars; pimps and madams; pornographers; traffickers; and customers of all parts of the sex industry seeking something, continually going back but ultimately being unfulfilled. God's heart is breaking as He is watching so many people around the world looking for love and acceptance and worth, but winding up captives instead.
You ladies are worth more than allowing yourself to be used and abused; so many women are beaten and violently assaulted in the sex industry. They get manipulated and insulted and degraded and facing continuous dangers, including with sexually transmitted diseases (condoms can only reduce the risk, not eliminate it; how many of you are using them 100% of the time?). Don't deceive yourself into believing that you are being "sexually empowered" and that men have any respect for you; most men (generally speaking) never have and never will respect, or truly love, women who willingly to "put out". So don't think that they will love you more if you do get involved in the sex industry.
You men are also worth more than buying into the lie of "boys will be boys" and "this is what 'real' men do". You will not find your answers or fulfillment in strip clubs or porn movies or prostitutes. None of them can heal those hurting places in you, give you a sense of worth, or validate you as a man. God is the only One who can do that. He is the Spring of Living Water (Jeremiah 2:13; Jeremiah 17:13). Only with God can you be "satisfied as with the richest of foods" (Psalm 63:5).
God has a much better purpose for your life. Seek Him, the only One who can and will love you with an unfailing love, and who promises to never leave nor forsake you--you are the one who has to leave Him.
"But now, this is what the Lord says-- He who created you...
He who formed you......'Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name; you are Mine.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep
over you. When you walk through the fire, the flames will not
set you ablaze. For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of
Israel, your Savior;...Since you are precious and honored
(worthy of great esteem and respect!) in My sight,
and because I love you...Do not be afraid, for I am with you..."
(Isaiah 43: 1-5)
Blessings,
Tonya
www.myspace.com/treasuresnonprofit
www.iamatreasure.com
Monday, February 18, 2008
Awesome Testimony of Woman formerly in Sex Industry, Now in Ministry
For about a year now, I had been researching the issue of sex trafficking (not so much right now). In the process of my research, I came across Shelley Lubben's website. If I could recommend any christian website or any christian ministry to anyone, I would recommend hers as one of the top ten. Because what her ministry is about is so important...reaching out to people to educate them the truth about pornography, as well as other parts of the sex industry. With the sex industry (including everything from stripping to phone sex to porn movies to prostitution) becoming more prevalent and mainstream, in part, due to growing technological advances, as we see with computers and the internet, and now with phones able to capture and record everything, also, in part due to television shows that are showing too much skin and sexually-oriented material, like Playboy's "Girls Next Door"(I have watched the show many times, and aside from my objections to the nudity, I do like the show in the sense of seeing they are indeed humans like the rest of us, and more importantly, God has put on my heart how much He loves them--Hugh Hefner, and the girls!) . Another important aspect of the growing sex industry, we are seeing our media, and really, our world is increasingly pushing, promoting, accepting, encouraging more "sexual empowerment" and "sexual freedom" and "sexual liberation", doing everything they can to promote "open-minded" beliefs about sex and nudity, encouraging women to be involved in porn and stripping and call girls/escorts, every aspect of the sex industry, and continuing to encourage men to pursue all sexual outlets--"boys will be boys". I know throughout history, our world has seen the pendulum swing from one extreme of being "frigid", "closed-minded", "conservative" ("thanks to Christians" and the political influences)... to the opposite extreme of being "sexually free". The History Channel has some very interesting and informative programs, if not quite obviously biased in favor of the sex industry. I encourage anyone who buys into the lies that porn or prostitution (or any part of the sex industry) is harmless fun, that there are no (or few) victims because it is "between two consenting people", to learn the truth from one of many websites that I am going to put up relating to the issue of porn, the sex industry, and inevitably and ultimately, the connection to sex trafficking.
Shelley Lubben shares her story as one who was involved in the sex industry as a prostitute and porn star, and knowing first-hand the devastation that the lifestyle left her. Her road to recovery was nothing short of miraculous. She shares how God was able to heal her and turn her life around, and has now called her to reach out in love and compassion not only to those in the sex industry, primarily female porn stars, but also to the consumers of porn, primarily men hooked on watching porn, who believe the lie that the female porn stars "love sex". I have a passion to share the truth as real and raw as it can get...you can't get more real than those who were there, behind the scenes, living that life. They speak for themselves, but they also share what they have seen from the others around them. The more we speak the truth of these things, the more we can shatter the lies and illusions of those behind sex industry and media, who are profiting financially off the bodies of these precious people (Yes, they are precious in the eyes of God!).
Shelley Lubben's Ministry:
Type in "Shelley Lubben" or try www.myspace.com/shelleylubben, and get her MySpace website with videos of her story, links to help people overcome porn addictions, and testimonies of other porn stars who have left the industry.
http://www.shelleylubben.com/
Her official Pink Cross website with more material, including a forum for men and women struggling with porn, and many other topics.
Shelley Lubben shares her story as one who was involved in the sex industry as a prostitute and porn star, and knowing first-hand the devastation that the lifestyle left her. Her road to recovery was nothing short of miraculous. She shares how God was able to heal her and turn her life around, and has now called her to reach out in love and compassion not only to those in the sex industry, primarily female porn stars, but also to the consumers of porn, primarily men hooked on watching porn, who believe the lie that the female porn stars "love sex". I have a passion to share the truth as real and raw as it can get...you can't get more real than those who were there, behind the scenes, living that life. They speak for themselves, but they also share what they have seen from the others around them. The more we speak the truth of these things, the more we can shatter the lies and illusions of those behind sex industry and media, who are profiting financially off the bodies of these precious people (Yes, they are precious in the eyes of God!).
Shelley Lubben's Ministry:
Type in "Shelley Lubben" or try www.myspace.com/shelleylubben, and get her MySpace website with videos of her story, links to help people overcome porn addictions, and testimonies of other porn stars who have left the industry.
http://www.shelleylubben.com/
Her official Pink Cross website with more material, including a forum for men and women struggling with porn, and many other topics.
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