Ted Lyons

Why is there so much money donated to The Exodus Road and Matt Parker. I don’t understand why the Christian Church in America believes that Matt and Laura should live to high and above individuals they claim are being exploited, trafficked, abused, and lack hope and freedom. It makes no sense that an organization can raise millions of dollars off of stories about hopeless, and vulnerable individuals in the brink of despair. Please help me make sense of this. The conclusion I come to, is these organizations; mainly The Exodus Road, exploit the church with a false narrative. And the reason for the false narrative is that they know they are not helping, and they know that if they tried to help families, and their children, they would have to spend more money on fixing the problem, and that would leave less money for Matt and Laura.

Yes, the important component of the false rescue narrative is the money! I ask, what constitutes a real rescue? I understand that this can be messy! Human trafficking and exploitation is all about the money. It generally happens to the most vulnerable. Those who are stuck in poverty and lack educational opportunities. A rescue is going to be different for each individual. Every individual is unique, and every village and city has their unique characteristics. However, there needs to be certain criteria that can be produced. I believe when an individual is being trafficked, or exploited there should be an opportunity for freedom. There should be a vast difference in their life. To start with, an individual has to be in the process of being trafficked and or exploited. A girl working in a beer bar, or a homeless child on the street is not necessarily being trafficked or exploited. Yes, they are at risk, (many girls don’t want to leave, they make good money) but they are not being trafficked. Many organizations claim they are rescuing a child by giving them food. Just because you have given a child some food, some clothing or maybe even a new home, doesn’t mean that you have “rescued” them from human trafficking or sexual exploitation.

Organizations and their leaders need to be honest with their “headlines.” I understand that an organization has to show that donor money is going to good use. But, is faking rescues the way forward? The problem with the false rescue narrative is that good innocent individuals are being hurt. The problem entails the leaders of these organizations making a lot of money. They can reduce the costs of their rescues by going after bar girls and giving a little help to the poor. They in turn claim that they have these rescue costs when in turn it costs less just to give a little food, and some clothes to a needy family. This is a nice thing to do! BUT DON’T call it rescuing people from human trafficking. These organizations push their false narrative off on people, don’t they know lying is a sin as well?

The reason for the false rhetoric and the distorted narrative is that the Christian Church will give millions to anti-trafficking organizations that will fight for the young girls who are being sexually trafficked. These organizations show pictures, and sexual graphics that make a young girl look like a sex slave. The problem with this is that they are in another country, they come from a different culture, and they do not adhere to so Christian Morality. You see, when an organization attempts to raise millions of dollars by perpetrating a false narrative it harms the entire fight against the real issue of Human Trafficking.

If a faith-based organization would use the rhetoric that they are trying to convert these individuals to the Christian Faith, this would be an honest approach. But, if you call these girls who are working in beer bars, sex slaves, this is disingenuous. It does more harm than good. Because, the girl doesn’t want to leave the bar, because she is not enslaved. She is making more money than the average individual in her country, and basically, she enjoys her job. If you have never been in these establishments, you should not defend the false rhetoric of individuals such as Matt and Laura Parker, of The Exodus Road.

I very much want freedom and restoration for trafficking victims. However, when an organization misleads church communities, schools, and law enforcement agencies into believing that they are on the front lines of doing God’s work, this is a problem. The Exodus Road doesn’t claim to be faith-based, this is what Matt and Laura Parker will tell you. Nice name for not being faith-based. Your biggest supporters are churches. You pull at the heartstrings of innocent individuals sitting in pews week after week. You prey upon young college students in an attempt to exploit their desire for social justice. You misrepresent what God has come to do. You don’t help the poor and the needy. You look for “soft targets,” such as beer bars in tourist areas. Once again, I do not morally agree with beer bars and younger women begging for attention and drinks in these establishments. However, these bars are legally operated under the laws of the country they are operating within. Almost every one of these bars and the girls working there are following the law of the land. However, Matt and Laura Parker from The Exodus Road want to use sensationalism! They want to put pictures and images of these girls in front of church members. Matt and Laura live the high life. They live in luxury while exploiting communities of need.