Participants: Greg and Jill Morikone (Host), Alex Niculaescu, Levi Longoria
Series Code: TDY
Program Code: TDY017022A
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00:01 I want to spend my life
00:07 Mending broken people 00:12 I want to spend my life 00:18 Removing pain 00:23 Lord, let my words 00:30 Heal a heart that hurts 00:34 I want to spend my life 00:40 Mending broken people 00:45 I want to spend my life 00:51 Mending broken people 01:07 Hello, and welcome to another 3ABN Today program. 01:10 Thank you so much for joining us today. 01:12 We appreciate you joined us through the television airways, 01:15 through the internet, even the radio. 01:18 We have a lot of people that fallow 3ABN on 3ABN Radio, 01:21 so thank you for joining us for your faithfulness 01:24 to the ministry of 3ABN. 01:26 Some of you may be have just tuned in, 01:28 found out about 3ABN recently. 01:30 Thank you for joining with us. 01:32 Some of you have supported this ministry for years, 01:35 may be since the very beginning. 01:37 We know we really appreciate each one of you long timers, 01:40 newbies that are supporting the ministry through prayer, 01:44 which is vital to the ministry of 3ABN, 01:46 but also those of you that feel impressed to support 01:49 this ministry financially, thank you. 01:51 You know it's neat, because it's a team effort, 01:55 it's not only those at 3ABN 01:57 but it's you at home and the Lord Jesus Christ 02:00 that makes the ministry of 3ABN reach souls around the world, 02:03 And it's a blessing to be joining with you. 02:05 I want to just say this in the very beginning 02:06 because today's program is a very heavy topic. 02:12 It has to do with human trafficking, 02:16 more precisely sex trafficking, 02:18 and so we just want to advise you parents 02:20 or if you have young people in the home 02:22 that you're not quite sure 02:25 if they should listen to this program, we want to... 02:27 yeah, basically, use your parental discernment 02:30 as to whether they should view this program or not. 02:32 So we just want to put this little disclaimer in here, 02:34 really a lot of, not a lot of details may be given 02:37 but sometimes it could be a bit disturbing, 02:38 but really it's about what God is doing right now 02:42 in this terrible industry and so anyway, 02:45 that's what our topic is today. 02:46 That's right. 02:48 We are so glad that you have joined us today 02:50 and as Greg mentioned it is a heavy topic, 02:52 but it's a needed topic, because human trafficking, 02:56 sex trafficking takes place all around the world. 02:58 And our special guest today are two young men, 03:02 we can say that, they're probably our age. 03:04 Two young men who have dedicated their lives 03:08 to bringing help and hope and healing. 03:11 It's a ministry of intercession. 03:13 The name of the ministry is Crying at the Gates 03:16 and the Ministry of Intercession 03:18 for those victims 03:20 and reaching out for those victims 03:21 in behalf of them who are being sex trafficked. 03:24 Before I introduce them, 03:25 I just want to read a Bible verse here. 03:28 They have many Bible verses 03:30 and they'll be sharing several of them on the program, 03:32 but this one is Isaiah 59:16, 03:37 "He saw that there was no man, 03:39 and wondered that there was no intercessor, 03:42 therefore his own arm brought salvation for him 03:46 and his own righteousness, it sustained him." 03:49 We want to introduce 03:51 our special guests at this time, 03:52 we have Levi Longoria. 03:54 You got it. Wonderful. 03:57 And where you're from Levi? I'm from Michigan. 04:00 But right now, I live in Nashville, 04:02 around Nashville. 04:03 Okay. Nashville, Tennessee. 04:04 Yes. We're glad to have you here. 04:06 It's a blessing to have. It's good to be here. 04:07 It's not too far from 3ABN, Nashville to 3ABN 04:10 is about three and a half hour, 04:11 depending on what part of Nashville 04:13 and I drive through Nashville sometimes 04:15 and where the traffic can be horrendous sometimes. 04:16 Yes, I know. 04:18 But we're glad you're here. Thank you. 04:19 And sitting next to you is Alex Niculaescu. 04:23 You got it. Wow, sweetie. 04:25 I practiced that and I still slaughtered it, 04:27 so I apologize. 04:28 No, no, you got it, you got it right. 04:29 You good, you good. I had trouble saying it. 04:32 So tell us where you're from, Alex? 04:34 I'm from Atlanta and our traffic 04:36 is worse than Nashville. 04:37 Yeah. So, yeah. 04:39 That's true, we actually were in Atlanta not long ago 04:42 and, yeah, it has its challenges 04:44 for sure with traffic, 04:45 but thank you for coming here, we really appreciate again, 04:48 we'll get more into your ministry 04:49 but what God is doing through you all, 04:52 it's, it's a powerful ministry so I hate to say 04:56 but we're looking forward, I would say, you know, 04:58 to the topic it needs to be discussed 05:00 because we can always bury our heads in the sand 05:02 so they say, you know, so to speak 05:04 and, but we don't want to do that, 05:05 we need to bring this I think to the forefront, 05:08 but also how God is, man, working, isn't it amazing? 05:11 Amen. 05:12 Through these young men and others to rescue people 05:15 and intercession you talked about earlier. 05:17 It's really a spiritual warfare 05:18 and it's a battle that we're involved 05:20 in the great controversy 05:21 and we're going to hear stories during this program, 05:25 actual stories of people who have been involved in this. 05:28 We're going to hear stories 05:29 of this great controversy battle 05:31 and the warfare, so I'm excited about that, 05:32 but first we'll go to our music. 05:34 We have Stephanie Dawn, we always love it 05:37 when she can come in share the music with us. 05:39 Dan Thorton will be on the piano 05:42 and the song they will be ministering to us is titled, 05:45 "Grace". 05:56 My heart is so proud 06:01 My mind is so unfocused 06:05 I see the things 06:07 You do through me 06:10 As great things I have done 06:14 And now You gently break me 06:19 Then lovingly You take me 06:23 And hold me as my father 06:28 And mold me as my maker 06:34 I ask you: "How many times will you pick me up 06:39 When I keep on letting you down? 06:44 And each time I will fall short of Your glory 06:48 How far will forgiveness abound?" 06:52 Then You answer: "My child, I love you 06:57 And as long as you're seeking My face 07:02 You'll walk in the power of My daily sufficient grace." 07:14 At times I may grow weak 07:19 And feel a bit discouraged 07:24 Knowing that someone, somewhere 07:28 Could do a better job 07:32 For who am I to serve You? 07:37 I know I don't deserve You 07:41 But that's the part that burns in my heart 07:45 And keeps me hanging on 07:49 I ask you: "How many times will you pick me up 07:54 When I keep on letting you down? 07:59 And each time I will fall short of Your glory 08:03 How far will forgiveness abound?" 08:07 And You answer: "My child, I love you 08:12 And as long as you're seeking My face 08:16 You'll walk in the power of My daily sufficient grace." 08:26 You are so patient with me, Lord 08:38 As I walk with You I'm learning 08:43 What Your grace really means 08:47 The price that I could never pay 08:51 Was paid at Calvary 08:55 So, instead of trying to repay You 09:00 I'm learning to simply obey You 09:04 By giving up my life to you 09:08 For all that You've given to me 09:13 I ask you: "How many times will you pick me up 09:17 When I keep on letting you down? 09:22 And each time I will fall short of Your glory 09:26 How far will forgiveness abound?" 09:30 Then You answer: "My child, I love you 09:35 And as long as you're seeking My face 09:39 You'll walk in the power 09:43 Of My daily sufficient grace." 10:00 Wow, amen. Thank you so much, Stephanie. 10:02 Grace, what a powerful song, you know, and it's neat, 10:05 isn't it that all of us can be an instrument 10:09 that God can use to further His kingdom 10:12 like we mentioned earlier to push Satan back, 10:15 and that we can be a vessel 10:16 that God can flow through us to other. 10:19 Again, if you're just now joining us today's topic 10:22 is a heavy one, 10:24 it is in involving human trafficking, 10:27 sex trafficking, and so again we mentioned earlier, 10:30 if you have young children in the home, 10:31 you may want to involve them 10:33 in some other little project or something else, 10:35 but again who do we have with us today. 10:37 We have Levi Longoria and Alex Niculaescu. 10:41 I got it this time. Praise the Lord. 10:43 And let's start with you Alex, 10:45 since you were the one 10:47 who the Lord first put the burden 10:48 on your heart with this, 10:49 so take us back to when maybe you first became involved 10:53 in sex trafficking and human trafficking. 10:55 Countering. Thank you. 10:57 I sometimes say the same thing is, yeah, 10:59 I've been involved in human trafficking... 11:00 No, I apologize. 11:01 Counter trafficking, yeah. Thank you. 11:03 I clarify myself all the time because people, 11:05 I make that mistake. 11:06 'Cause this is a serious topic. It is. 11:07 This is heavy duty. 11:09 Absolutely. Absolutely. 11:10 And a lot of times we would like 11:12 to just kind of pretend it doesn't exist 11:13 when it really does in a big way. 11:14 It does exist and I think 11:16 if we were to truly understand it, 11:17 we'd realize that it touches 11:19 if not every aspect of our life significantly 11:22 more aspects of our lives 11:23 than we'd like to give it credit for. 11:25 I mean since the beginning we've known 11:27 that Satan has wanted to enslave humanity, 11:29 and we kind of glaze over that. 11:30 And in reality we don't really realize 11:33 how he's practically worked that out 11:37 and that when Christ says, 11:38 that He desires to set us free 11:39 it's, it's also those that are physically bond. 11:42 Yes. 11:44 I kind of got introduced to human trafficking 11:47 when I was in South Sudan in 2009, 11:52 and I was working with some friends of mine, 11:55 we were there about three or four of us, 11:57 who were building a house for a pastor in South Sudan 11:58 that was living in a shack. 12:00 He was taking care of a school 12:01 that was built by some missionary 12:03 some years back of about 600 kids, 12:04 it's in the middle of nowhere South Sudan 12:07 near the border with the Congo. 12:09 And so we were there, and we were building 12:11 and there were the kids 12:13 that would always play around in the yard 12:15 and I noticed that there was this young girl 12:18 and she was eight years old, and she always acted very odd 12:21 whenever lets say they were playing tag, 12:23 and the girls would chase her totally fine, 12:25 then the boys would start chasing her 12:27 she'd begin changing her behavior, 12:28 she'd pick up sticks and the rocks 12:30 and throw them at the boys and, and they'd be like, 12:33 what are you doing, we're just playing tag, 12:35 but every single time it seemed rather consistent 12:37 that she was responding that way to boys, 12:39 but not to the girls and so I thought, 12:40 "Well, okay well she's weird 12:42 or crazy or something like that." 12:44 I didn't think much of it at the time. 12:47 And one day I didn't see her, 12:49 and so I asked one of the locals 12:51 that was helping me make cement that day. 12:52 I said, "Well, you know, where's crazy girl?" 12:55 And he said, "Well, she's with her husband." 12:59 With her husband. 13:01 With her husband and I looked at him and I said, 13:02 "That's, that's a stupid joke I don't..." 13:06 He's like, "I'm not joking." 13:07 He says, "She's with her husband." 13:10 So if you haven't noticed 13:11 we're in the middle of nowhere in the jungle. 13:13 A lot of the men have left the village, 13:15 they've gone to the larger cities to work. 13:17 Sometimes they send money, sometimes they come back 13:20 every three or six months or something like that. 13:21 Her father never came back, her father never sent money, 13:24 her mother was left in a situation, 13:26 she basically sold her 13:27 to one of the last remaining men in the village. 13:29 She's eight? 13:31 She's eight years old? She's eight years old. 13:32 And her mother sold her. 13:34 Her mother sold her and basically, 13:37 whenever the man feels like it, 13:39 he takes her home 13:41 and being in the middle of nowhere 13:42 there's uses soap and water 13:44 and basically rapes her in the morning she can't walk. 13:48 And when I heard that I, I... 13:52 honestly I was always enraged. 13:56 I, for the first time I was, 13:58 I was almost set on killing somebody. 14:00 I said, "Well show me where this guy is, 14:02 I'm going to take his life right now." 14:04 But I obviously I stopped myself and I said, 14:06 "Well, obviously I'm not gonna do that 14:08 so can't make any sense, 14:09 we're all going to be tossed in prisons." 14:10 Sudan was in a very, you know, 14:13 volatile situation at that time, 14:14 it's just a few years before the referendum, 14:16 they were trying to see if they were going 14:17 to separate from North Sudan. 14:19 The SPLA at that time, 14:21 the Sudanese People's Liberation Army 14:23 was kind of just lawless, 14:27 they were doing whatever they wanted. 14:29 We'd be tossed in prison me and my friends 14:31 and we'd probably have no chance of escape 14:33 and we would accomplish nothing, 14:35 so I went through, well, what else can we do, 14:37 maybe we can get across the border to Uganda 14:39 that didn't work out so I just kept on running 14:41 through ideas and I'm like, "What do I do? 14:42 What do I do? What do I do? What do I do?" 14:43 You know just, you try to solve the situation 14:45 and I came to the conclusion there is absolutely nothing 14:47 that I can do for the situation. 14:50 And, and I felt hopeless and then I was like, 14:53 "Well, in reality I'm not the hopeless one, she is." 14:56 Yeah. 14:57 Because I can get home, 14:58 I can go home at the end of the day 15:00 and she can't, she doesn't have one. 15:01 And for the rest of her life, 15:02 she's going to be subject to this person 15:04 who basically just sees her as, as an object for him to be, 15:08 I don't know satisfied or whatever it may be. 15:11 And, you know, I came back to the States 15:13 and I started looking into it 15:14 and, you know, I thought it was something 15:16 that was, you know... 15:17 Like an isolated case. 15:19 Isolated case or maybe something 15:20 that happens in like really poor areas, 15:22 you know, you know, the, you know, 15:25 Africa or maybe Southeast Asia or things like that 15:27 and I realized as I was learning more about it, 15:30 it's like, wow, this stuff happens in the States. 15:32 Human trafficking happens in the States 15:34 average entry age of girls 15:37 into prostitution here in America 15:39 is 11 or 12 years old. 15:40 Wow! Yeah, that's so young. 15:42 And you know their average life expectancy 15:45 after they've entered the life for the game is seven years. 15:50 And, you know, I started looking... 15:51 That's passing away before 20. That is, yeah. 15:54 So those that live past seven years, 15:56 they're considered like 15:58 lucky ones, ones that have been, 15:59 you know, more hardy I suppose you could say like it's just, 16:03 they usually don't survive. 16:05 It's a drug addictions, it's abuse, violence, 16:08 not just by the pimps 16:09 but sometimes even by the johns, those that buy. 16:12 So, you know, it became a very harsh reality 16:17 and, you know, another experience 16:18 in Afghanistan there was, 16:20 that was the year following in 2010, you know, 16:23 I was across from a compound that was run by a warlord 16:26 and he basically was taking boys 16:28 because during the war a lot of people were killed, 16:30 the parents are dead, 16:31 a lot of children are left orphaned, 16:33 and see basically created harems 16:34 of orphaned boys, all underage boys, 16:38 it's called, Bacha bazi. 16:41 And, you know, once they go through puberty, 16:45 they become more masculine, 16:47 they throw them back out on the streets 16:48 and because the people know what they were involved in 16:51 and it's a Muslim society very conservative, 16:53 they basically have no future. 16:56 And so, I felt hopeless again like here 16:58 I'm in another situation 17:00 where I'm thinking what can I do? 17:01 What can I do? What can I do? 17:02 And I can't figure anything out, 17:04 you know, I go back to the States, 17:05 I get more educated, 17:07 I begin to get involved in all these organizations, 17:08 you know, I end up becoming extremely involved, you know, 17:13 end up working with tons of organizations, 17:15 law enforcement, I even was a consultant 17:17 for the Department of Homeland Security 17:18 for a short period of time, 17:20 you know, so I, I really got deep into it 17:23 and I realized that, wow, 17:25 I still can't do anything even with all this power, 17:28 all these organizations working with all of these things, 17:30 you realize your own limitations 17:32 and it's like this, this problem is even bigger, 17:34 even the more help that I get, 17:36 the more I get behind me, the bigger the problem grows. 17:40 And it only was until about three years ago, 17:44 with an experience in Brazil that Levi is a part of 17:47 where I asked him to come with me, 17:49 that we began to see, what I began to see 17:51 and then he began to see as he was also, 17:53 he was new to the idea of trafficking 17:56 and its existence at that time. 17:58 But we began to see that the answer 17:59 to every question is a spiritual one. 18:03 And the reason that things could not have been done, 18:06 because I came up with, with, with the issue I said, 18:12 "I don't ever want to be in a situation 18:13 that I can't get out of 18:15 or get someone else out of again. 18:16 I don't want to be in Sudan again, 18:18 I don't want to be in Afghanistan again, 18:19 I don't want to be in the government 18:20 or law enforcement or organizations again." 18:22 And Brazil the experience 18:25 that we had in Brazil showed me the way 18:27 that I could never ever get into a situation 18:30 that I could not be delivered from 18:31 or the person that I was trying to help 18:33 could not be delivered from. 18:34 And the answer is a spiritual one 18:36 and, you know, we kind of discuss 18:37 of how that happened. 18:39 And that's the ministry of intercession. 18:40 Absolutely. 18:42 So take us to Brazil, when you first went to Brazil, 18:44 why did you go in the first place? 18:47 And tell us little bit about that 18:48 and then how the ministry of intercession evolved. 18:50 Well, we worked during events 18:52 so when here in the States you've got, 18:53 you know, you've got the Super Bowl, 18:55 Super Bowl is huge, 18:56 it's the biggest event in the United States. 18:58 And we worked one of the Super Bowls 2013, 19:01 New Orleans, 19:02 and it was an absolutely horrendous experience... 19:05 For some people who don't know that's a large sporting event 19:08 here in football in United States. 19:09 Yeah, it's huge, that's true. 19:12 And so, you know, I was working during that time, 19:15 we had a group of people, 19:16 we were up basically till 4-5 A.M. 19:18 every single day, you know, 19:20 the days leading up to the Super Bowl 19:22 and we were out on the streets and it was just, 19:24 it was a terrible situation, just one of those in moments 19:28 where you feel like the tension is so thick, you could, 19:31 you could basically like cut through it. 19:33 So I figured, "Hey, next year the world's biggest games FIFA, 19:37 Brazil." 19:39 And so I started doing some research 19:41 and I realized, "Wow! 19:43 Brazil already had half a million children 19:44 that were being sold into prostitution 19:46 and the average age was nine." 19:48 That was my question, so pardon my ignorance here, 19:51 you're saying the Super Bowl everything's tough, 19:54 are you saying there's a lot of trafficking 19:56 that goes on during that time. 19:57 Oh absolutely, absolutely. 19:58 And it's not that the Super Bowl 20:00 is actually that... 20:01 No, no, but it brings people, it brings people. 20:02 Yeah, there's lots of people that come for Super Bowl 20:04 and a lot of bad stuff happens. 20:05 Yeah. Yes. 20:07 So one of the things that we do 20:09 because a lot of people are brought from other states, 20:12 a lot of pimps bring their prostitutes there, 20:19 they're stable so that's what they call it, 20:21 this what they call their, their women, 20:22 it's their stable that they bring them over, 20:25 they sometimes bring them all, some bring a few, 20:27 but what that means is that if we can catch them 20:30 that they've come from other states 20:31 then it can become a federal case 20:32 and we can submit whatever evidence 20:34 that we found that, you know, 20:36 you know, to the FBI or what not but it's, 20:42 it's crazy to see how many people end up coming 20:45 from all over the country 20:46 for other types of entertainment, 20:48 they don't come there just for the Super Bowl, 20:50 they want the drinking, they want the partying, 20:52 they want the, you know, the sexual, I guess excitement, 20:57 and so that's... 20:58 And New Orleans is one of those cities 21:00 that caters to that more than, than, than other large cities. 21:05 They have basically 21:07 on the French Quarter they've got, you know, 21:09 prostitution, not prostitution in the open but, 21:11 you know, sex clubs in the open 21:13 with straight pornography in the windows 21:16 you can just walk by and it's not hidden any... 21:18 Wow! 21:19 And so, you know, we send some of the girls in 21:22 to kind of go into some of these clubs and they said, 21:25 that you know there was 21:26 inappropriate activity going on and... 21:27 You sent them into minister? Yes. 21:29 So we sent them in kind of like with, you know, 21:32 little care kits. 21:34 We knew that during the games a lot of them would be 21:37 working harder and not in the positive way, 21:41 and so we knew that they were going to go 21:43 through difficult times so we just kind went there, 21:45 said, hey, we talked, 21:47 we approached the, you know, the bouncers and say, 21:50 "Hey, listen, we're just here to just kind of, you know, 21:53 this is going to be a difficult weekend 21:54 for the girls, 21:56 we just want to tell them that we're praying for them 21:57 and that we've got something for them." 21:59 And a lot of the bouncers they were like, 22:00 "Oh, man that's, that's great, yeah, come on in." 22:03 And so they let the girls go in and actually minister to them 22:06 and we were able to give them something 22:08 and little bit of encouragement and so, I mean, that was nice. 22:11 But it just goes to show you that I mean it's, 22:13 it's not something that's in other countries, 22:15 it happens in the States 22:17 and it's not, it's not the games, 22:18 like I don't you to associate 22:20 sporting events like the NFL with that, 22:23 it's just that whenever you have large events 22:26 whatever they may be, 22:27 they attract people from all over the States 22:29 and all over the world, they always, 22:31 there's always going to be people 22:32 who try to profit from that 22:34 in other ways by providing other types of trash. 22:35 So you were mentioning Brazil... 22:37 Yes. 22:38 Yeah, that's, and there's a large gathering there 22:39 to a sporting event. 22:41 Yeah. So FIFA is the largest. 22:42 I got involved. Yeah. 22:44 So FIFA is the largest, there were already like I said, 22:47 half a million people, 22:49 children being prostituted at that time... 22:52 You said half a million? Half a million, half a million. 22:55 Five hundred thousand. 22:56 Five hundred thousand, five hundred thousand. 22:57 This is all under the age was considered children under... 22:59 Eighteen? 23:01 Well, average, average age was nine. 23:03 Nine? Nine. 23:04 Wow! 23:06 And, you know, 23:07 I didn't understand kind of like what, 23:10 what was contributing to that at the time, 23:13 but I read some statistics and the government believe 23:15 that leading up to the games the number of missing children 23:17 would go up by 300% and I'm wondering well, 23:20 what are they going to go missing for, you know, 23:22 obviously, it's going to be for entertaining the tourists 23:25 that come from, from Italy, from Germany, 23:27 from all over the world, so mostly Western, you know, 23:31 so kind of like America, Europe, 23:33 those are the main people that the tourists are coming from. 23:37 And so I thought, "Man, I got to do something." 23:39 And so I wasn't in the best spiritual position 23:42 at that time, I kind of was being worn down, 23:45 you know, when you see so much darkness 23:47 and you focus on it, you just kind of you, 23:50 you feel battered and you're just like 23:52 "Man, I had enough of this, 23:54 I really don't want to deal with this anymore, 23:56 I'm tired but I have to do this." 23:59 And so I knew that if this was going to happen, 24:03 I didn't know what was going to happen in Brazil 24:06 or what it was like I've never been there before, 24:08 so I said, but regardless of that I've got to go 24:11 and I've got to try something, you know, 24:12 if I don't do anything, 24:14 I won't be able to live with myself as a man. 24:16 And so I decided to go 24:18 and I try to connect with different church organizations 24:21 and people and, you know, they were like 24:23 "Well, that's it's nice 24:24 because you're trying to do something." 24:26 That the subject matter seemed rather uncomfortable 24:28 when I to tried to broach it with other people and so. 24:30 But those that did listen, they were kind of like, 24:32 we'd like to help you, 24:33 but we don't exactly know who you are, 24:35 we see that you're willing, but you're not really known, 24:38 so I mean we wish you the best good luck, 24:41 you know, God be with you and pat on the back, 24:43 and I went on. 24:44 I said, "Well, that's fine, I'll just go 24:46 and I'll figure something out." 24:47 So I got to Brazil and the few connections 24:49 that I was able to make in Brazil, 24:51 they ended up fizzling out. 24:53 And I'm like well, well, I already told everybody 24:56 that I'll be here for at least six months 24:57 and a month has passed and I have got nothing done, 25:00 and I have no plans on the horizon. 25:02 So I said, you know what? 25:04 I'm tired of feeling sorry for myself, 25:06 I'm just gonna take a walk outside, 25:08 and, so I'm taking walk outside 25:10 and I saw this lady that looked kind of pretty depressed 25:14 and so I said, "Well, I'll pray for her." 25:17 And so I don't do that, 25:18 that's not the first thing that comes to my mind. 25:20 My mind would be like, oh, let me go talk to her 25:22 and see what's going on. 25:24 Praise God, I didn't know Portuguese at the time, 25:26 so I was like, oh, you know, I can't talk to her, 25:27 I'll just pray for her so I did. 25:29 And I was like, oh, okay, 25:31 and I walked through the shady part of the town, 25:33 you know, almost kind of like I saw some boarded up windows, 25:35 and I said, I'll pray for this place, 25:36 and I saw another person, another person, 25:38 before I knew it five hours had passed 25:40 and all I had done was just walk 25:41 and pray throughout this entire community. 25:43 And I come back to, you know, 25:46 the house where the family that had given me a place, 25:49 they helped me so much, 25:51 you know, to stay at their house, 25:52 you know, for so long 25:53 and, you know, just try to figure out 25:55 what my project was going to be. 25:56 I was like, "Man, this is what you want me to do." 25:59 You just want me to pray right? 26:00 You don't want me to depend on organizations, 26:02 you don't want me to depend on myself, 26:04 in my own ability to do things, on my experience, 26:06 you just want me to just go and pray, 26:10 I get it, I'll do that, 26:12 but you got to take me 26:14 to every single one of those cities 26:15 and I got 800 bucks 26:16 and you got to send me somebody. 26:18 I haven't talked to Levi in like six years, 26:19 and I randomly sent him a message... 26:23 So you guys were friends 26:24 before you knew each other acquaintances 26:26 from years back. 26:27 We had gone to a school called Arise in Michigan. 26:31 David Asscherick. Yeah. 26:32 Very familiar with that. 26:33 Yeah, in 2007 26:35 is when we had been there together and... 26:38 I mean we got along in everything, 26:40 you know, at that, when we were at the school 26:42 but we kind of had different friend groups 26:43 and whatnot, and we just never really talked after that, 26:47 we never really communicated for like six years, you know, 26:51 until one day I kind of just randomly got this message 26:54 from Alex and he's, he's like, 26:56 "Do you want to come to Brazil with me for four months?" 26:59 I'm like, "I don't know, what are you doing?" 27:03 And so he told me, 27:05 he was going to just go pray for the cities, 27:08 you know, and I asked him I was like, 27:12 "So are you with some kind of organization, or what? 27:16 He said, "No, it's just me." I said, "Okay. 27:19 Do you have money?" 27:21 I said, "No." 27:23 I said... 27:24 And where we're praying for? Do you know? 27:26 Yeah, do you, like you do know anybody there? 27:27 Not really. 27:29 Do you speak the language? No. 27:31 Okay, so I prayed about it for a couple days 27:34 and God gave me the go ahead so I went and... 27:39 Did he tell you what you were going there to pray for, 27:42 I mean were you working 27:43 in trafficking, sex trafficking, 27:44 what he was praying about? 27:46 I was honestly, I was pretty vague, 27:47 you know, leaving, I think he explained some of it, 27:50 but I really didn't kind of have a real picture 27:54 of what we were doing, I just knew I prayed about it. 27:57 And I felt impressed to go and so I went, I also had $800. 28:02 So you had 1600 between both of you. 28:04 Yeah. For four months. 28:06 For four months, 28:08 you went there for four months... 28:09 Yeah. 28:10 And you started praying both of you. 28:12 Yeah, what we... 28:14 What happened? What we did is just... 28:16 We arrived in the north of Brazil, the northeast, 28:19 and in each city there's 12 host cities 28:23 of the World Cup games there, 12 cities with a stadium 28:25 that they're going to be doing the games at. 28:27 And so we will go through each city 28:31 and the two of us would walk through the city, 28:35 around the city as much as we could and just pray. 28:37 We're just praying, especially we'd go around the areas 28:41 where they're going to have the games, 28:42 around the stadiums and, you know, 28:44 the surrounding neighborhoods 28:45 and stuff to basically we believe 28:49 that God still works the way that He worked for Joshua. 28:52 Amen. 28:53 You know, He said, "Wherever you set the sole of your foot, 28:55 I've given that to you." 28:57 Wow! 28:58 And so we were literally saying, 29:00 "God we're here, we don't know 29:02 if you have other people in these neighborhoods 29:04 or in the city or, you know, 29:06 all these places that we were going into 29:08 the favelas, the slums, you know, or wherever, 29:10 we're saying, we don't know 29:12 if you have other people here asking you to be here, 29:14 so we're here asking you to be here. 29:16 And we want you to come 29:17 and make this your territory to work." 29:20 Giving God permission to enter 29:22 that particular part of the city or that? 29:24 Yeah. Okay. 29:25 It's the, have you considered 29:26 my servant Job kind of experience, 29:28 you know, where Satan comes 29:29 from wandering in his territories, 29:31 where you're coming from? 29:32 Oh, I'm coming from the earth, you know, my territory. 29:35 And then God has to say, "Well, it's not exactly 29:37 all of your territory, I mean, 29:39 I've got my servant Job there who's an intercessor, 29:41 because he's praying for his children." 29:43 So what are you praying? 29:44 So you're going around the stadium 29:46 through these cities, 29:47 where is your prayer? 29:48 So we basically had three projects. 29:50 The first one was to pray for the stadiums, 29:55 for the games, for those that were coming to visit, 29:57 and we were basically walking to dedicate the stadiums 30:00 because, you know, we had learned from, 30:03 from experiences that there's times 30:04 where events go on 30:05 and there's people who go 30:07 and dedicate these places to Satan, 30:09 you know, they go before, you know, some, 30:11 a concert or something like that 30:13 and they'll basically dedicate the place to Satan, so we say, 30:15 "Well, we're going to be like Joshua, 30:16 we're going to walk around the stadium multiple times, 30:19 and we're going to dedicate it to the Lord. 30:21 We're not going to let this be Satan's territory, 30:23 and we're going to ask for protection of all those 30:25 that are visiting, 30:26 the other people who are coming here, 30:27 they're going to be excited, all that kind of stuff." 30:29 We just want to make sure that they were safe. 30:30 And then the second one was that 30:32 we wanted to go through the different parts of the city 30:34 as much of the city, like completely around the city 30:36 and then also through the worst parts, 30:38 the neighborhoods, the favelas which are kind of, 30:40 you know, some of the... 30:41 they're considered to be 30:43 some of the most danger, danger, most dangerous slums. 30:47 And, you know, we were warned not to go, 30:49 but we decided that 30:50 that was what we were called to do and so we did, 30:53 and we prayed in those areas and the stuff that happened, 30:56 the miracles that happened in those areas was, 30:58 was amazing. 30:59 And then the third project was 31:01 that we wanted to train young people 31:02 to minister to prostitutes on the street. 31:06 And how to pray for them and how to minister to them. 31:09 and there was a protocol to that for safety, 31:11 obviously not just physical safety, 31:13 but also spiritual safety, and so there's, 31:15 it wasn't just nilly-willy going, 31:17 it was something that we had already built 31:18 over the years from experience in Atlanta, 31:20 and I just kind of was adapting it 31:22 based on the Brazilian culture. 31:24 So I created a program and then we just prayed 31:26 that there would be people who would be willing to do it 31:28 and God provided. 31:29 And in seven of the twelve cities, 31:31 there were young people that went out 31:33 and had an amazing results with getting prostitutes 31:36 to come off the street to go into church 31:37 and want Bible studies 31:39 and a whole bunch of other things. 31:40 You know just an example, 31:42 I want to just give you an example of how 31:44 God worked through this experience 31:46 because it was really like everywhere we went, 31:48 every single city we went to, he had already did... 31:53 I mean he had everything like the domino setup... 31:55 The groundwork was laid, we just kind of showed up. 31:57 Yeah, like, one of the cities that we went to kind of right 32:02 after we had decided 32:03 to start trying to do this project going out 32:05 and actually reaching out to prostitutes 32:09 with the church members, of course, not just us. 32:11 You know, we didn't think that would be an appropriate thing, 32:15 but with the church members, 32:16 with the girls from the church and... 32:18 That's good. 32:19 And the guys and so, 32:20 we got to the third city was it? 32:26 And we started to kind of explain 32:29 to the young people what we were there for. 32:31 We ended up going on a like a camp with them 32:35 that weekend and the young people 32:37 as we were telling them what we're doing, 32:40 why we're in Brazil and, and that they said, 32:42 "You know for about the past three weeks, 32:45 this group of us we've been praying, 32:49 we felt impressed that we should go out in the streets 32:52 and reach out to prostitutes, but we didn't know how, 32:54 and we were just praying for God 32:55 to teach us how to do that, and now you guys show up 32:57 and that's exactly what you're here to do." 32:58 That's God. 33:00 And so we were able to spend time 33:01 while we were there with them giving them 33:04 the kind of the rundown how to, you know, 33:06 do this project, and we went out 33:08 and did it with them. 33:10 And it was just like that every, 33:12 every city that we went to, 33:14 it was as if God already had everything in place. 33:15 It was interesting. 33:16 Because he said, it was the third city, so you think, 33:20 "Oh, well, why didn't it happen in the first city?" 33:21 Well, I told you there's three projects, right? 33:23 Well, the first one we did in the first city 33:25 and then we were praying should we do the second one? 33:28 And in the second city, God showed us 33:29 that we should do the second one, 33:31 and then we were like, 33:32 "Well, will you provide for us to do 33:34 the third idea that we had." 33:35 And God in the third city provided the third, 33:39 and so each step of the way we were praying, 33:41 "Lord, are You going to approve this next step." 33:43 And we get to this city and the doors are open. 33:46 Wow! 33:47 Every single time 33:49 and so He was saying yes, yes, yes, 33:51 now go forward, I've already set it up. 33:53 Strong confirmation isn't it, 33:55 from the Lord that He was in this. 33:56 Everywhere, everywhere through this experience, yeah. 33:57 Very encouraging. 33:59 Now you had a certain testimony 34:01 with the high priest of Satan... 34:03 Yes. 34:04 ..occurred there and it gave you 34:05 more a glimpse into the... 34:07 I guess maybe the other side or more of the spiritual battle 34:09 takes place with this human trafficking? 34:11 'Cause we are in a battle I mean, 34:12 it's between what we mentioned earlier the great controversy. 34:15 What's the great controversy about? 34:17 Is between Christ and Satan. Yeah. 34:20 And it's a battle, I mean, 34:21 it's a real spiritual battle for sure and so, 34:24 when you're in these... 34:25 I'm just gonna call them dark, dark industries, 34:27 I don't even know what you would even call it. 34:30 Anyway, it's Satan is there, 34:33 I mean he's pushing with all his might to try 34:36 and keep control of his territory 34:38 and try to gather more territory, 34:40 so it's a real battle. 34:41 And I think that's something that we oftentimes glimpse over 34:44 is that we think that, you know, 34:45 human trafficking or whatnot is like, 34:47 oh, it's organized crime 34:48 or it's just some small pimp or, 34:50 you know, it's just these people 34:52 trying to make money, you know, 34:54 in a illegal way or, you know, 34:56 hurting other people while doing it, 34:58 but in reality when you think of the great controversy 35:00 as you said it's between Christ and Satan. 35:02 That's right. 35:03 Are Christ and Satan physical beings? 35:05 They're spiritual beings. 35:06 Yes, they manifest themselves physically, 35:09 but it's a spiritual battle and yet we're, 35:11 we're looking at what's happening physically 35:13 as if it's only physical, but it's obviously not. 35:16 And the reason that I felt that, you know, 35:18 in those previous experiences that I had 35:20 that I couldn't do anything 35:21 is because I was looking at it as a physical battle 35:23 when I was trying to resolve it in a physical manner. 35:25 I wasn't looking at it completely. 35:27 I mean, I knew that it was spiritual 35:29 and I had this idea and, you know, 35:31 I had certain pieces of the puzzle 35:32 where I had seen, you know, 35:33 where even a culture religion and things like that 35:35 were super involved in it but until I'd gotten, 35:38 you know, to this experience with this, 35:40 this ex-Satanist 35:42 that I began putting it all together, 35:44 and I even had to apologize to Levi 35:46 because I kind of felt like I had brought him 35:48 into a dangerous situation without even letting him know 35:50 and it was kind of because, 35:53 I didn't fully grasped it at that point either and... 35:56 Suppose this experience then? 35:58 So were in one of the cities Fortaleza, 36:01 it was the fourth city 36:03 and there was a guy who came to the church, 36:05 he said, that he needed to get back to Sao Paulo 36:07 and it's very far from Fortaleza to Sao Paula. 36:10 And the church in Fortaleza didn't want anything to do 36:12 with our ministry. 36:13 They said, "We're doing enough ministries already. 36:15 We appreciate what it is you guys are doing, 36:17 but I don't think our church is going to be comfortable 36:19 with that kind of thing.' 36:20 And so we understood, 36:21 we were very thankful for just them hosting us 36:24 and helping us out with, you know, 36:26 and we helped them out with their ministries. 36:28 And so one day this guy shows up, 36:30 he's trying to go to Sao Paulo, and the pastor says, 36:32 "No, we're not going to, 36:34 we're not going to give you money, 36:35 but if you work for the church, we'll buy you a ticket." 36:38 And so he's like, okay, sure that sounds like a good deal. 36:40 So the guy says, "I'll paint the church." 36:42 Said, "Okay, we can do that." 36:44 So they buys the paint, 36:45 paints the church, pastors talking. 36:49 They're discussing how to do an evangelistic series 36:51 with the head Bible worker, the guy's listening in, 36:54 and over the course of three days 36:56 listening to all of the studies, 36:58 you know, in that, that short span of time, 37:01 he's like, oh, wow, 37:02 I've never heard stuff like this. 37:04 So he tells the pastor that, oh, man, 37:05 I need to get baptized this Sabbath. 37:07 And the pastor is like okay, 37:10 I've heard everything that you said, it's enough, 37:11 I'm just gonna go and get baptized this Sabbath. 37:14 And says but tomorrow bring those Americans 37:17 that are at your house to come work with me, 37:19 and the pastor was like, 37:21 okay, so he comes and tells us, 37:23 "Hey, guys, you'll never believe it, 37:24 I told you're doing ministries, 37:26 look, look this guy wants to get baptized in three days 37:28 and all this kind of stuff, it's amazing evangelism." 37:31 And then we're like, "Oh, that's wonderful.' 37:32 We were excited. 37:34 And he said, "But he wants you to come and work with him." 37:36 So we're like, oh, okay, we'll come work with him 37:38 and so we do. 37:39 His name was Williams 37:41 and he basically he said, "Hey, listen. 37:44 I've got something I need to tell you, 37:45 but I can't tell you until I'm baptized, I'm not safe, 37:49 because once I get baptized I can tell you everything 37:51 that you need to know 37:53 and there's things that you need to know." 37:55 So then one of you guys is going to have like a dream 37:57 or vision or some like that this Friday 37:58 and we're looking at him like, this is kind of weird. 38:00 He's weird guy. 38:01 All right, he's very nice guy, poor guy, all right. 38:04 So Friday passes, nobody has a dream or vision, 38:06 nothing happens. 38:08 Saturday he gets baptized, Sabbath, he gets baptized 38:10 and then he comes afterwards and he says, 38:12 "Alex, I need to tell you something. 38:15 He said, I was going to back to Sao Paulo because my, 38:18 my families are all part of the Masonic lodge there, 38:21 we're all part of the Satanic church as well." 38:24 And says, "I'm a Satanist or I was a Satanist." 38:27 And he says, you know, we, we would eat up Christians 38:31 like you guys alive says, but when I came 38:33 and I listened to the way that the pastor 38:37 and the Bible worker explained the great controversy, 38:39 I felt that, wow, this is the only church 38:41 that I've ever heard 38:43 that seems to understand that this battle even exists. 38:47 But I don't think they understand it, 38:50 because I think they talk about it 38:52 and they understand it theoretically, 38:54 but I don't think they truly understand 38:56 how it works and how to engage in it, 38:58 but you, says, you're different, says, 39:01 "You're trying to take Satan's property from him. 39:04 He says, "It's his." 39:05 And he doesn't take lightly to those 39:07 who try to steal from his own house. 39:09 Says, "He's going to do absolutely everything 39:11 he can to kill you, 39:13 to destroy your ministry by causing you to fall. 39:15 He's going to... 39:17 He doesn't take lightly to it." 39:19 And, you know, it was a whole lot, 39:21 it was a very long conversation but basically he was saying, 39:26 "I know the darkness from the darkness." 39:30 And the light ought to be stronger in this battle. 39:33 I know the light can win 39:35 and that's why I've converted from darkness to light, 39:38 but you who call yourselves children of the light 39:41 don't seem to understand 39:42 and take that battle very seriously. 39:44 And he gave us some warnings, he says, 39:46 "When you create your groups, don't associate with people 39:49 who are not of the same mind as you 39:50 because even walking with people 39:52 who are thinking about something else 39:54 into a dangerous situation 39:55 diminishes the amount of protection 39:57 that you have over yourself. 39:58 Just their presence is a detraction 40:01 from the influence that you can gain for the Lord. 40:05 Because we know the Christ has won. 40:07 Yes. 40:08 So Christ has won, I mean Satan is defeated, 40:10 but again he's doing everything he can 40:12 to keep as many people from joining God side. 40:15 Yeah, so he's given you 40:17 from his experience in the dark side 40:20 to be careful not fall into traps 40:21 Right. 40:23 ..that Satan has more power because he... 40:24 God has all the power. Yeah. 40:25 He's strong, He's won. 40:27 And that's, and that's the thing is that, 40:29 you know, we talk about spiritual warfare, 40:31 and I think in warfare terms, I mean it is war. 40:34 Yeah. 40:35 And so I kind of look at Christ as, 40:37 as a samurai and Satan as a ninja and people are like, 40:40 oh, okay what does that mean? 40:41 Well, samurai, he fights for honor 40:43 and he uses a sword and a bow, 40:45 you know, he perfects his weapons, 40:47 he perfect his craft, 40:49 he wants to be the best at what he does. 40:50 When he goes on the battlefield, 40:52 he states his name, says, my name is such and such 40:54 and I'm, you know, 40:56 it's a pleasure to do battle with you, 40:58 and he respects the person that he fights with 41:00 and, you know. 41:01 A ninja, he's not that way, he know, 41:03 he'll use any weapon that he can. 41:06 He doesn't wear armor, the shadow is his armor. 41:09 You know, he uses tricks. 41:10 He doesn't need to fight upfront, 41:12 he'll use other people 41:13 and manipulate other people in the situations 41:15 and use the environment to basically overcome you 41:18 in any way possible because... 41:19 Deception. 41:20 Because he's not strong in a one-on-one battle, 41:22 he's afraid to face Christ head on. 41:24 And so he has to go these roundabout ways 41:26 and, you know, for the longest time I thought, 41:28 oh, Satan's so strong but in reality he's a coward. 41:30 He is strong but he is a coward, 41:32 and he's afraid to face Christ 41:34 and those who are under his banner straight on. 41:37 And that's something that we needed to realize, 41:39 because we weren't, 41:41 we weren't acting that way all the time, 41:42 you know, we were giving Satan at times too much credit. 41:47 So here this was in, this is in Brazil? 41:49 Yeah. 41:50 I mean time is going so fast here so... 41:52 We need a couple hours. 41:54 So then you're obviously, 41:56 I mean this is a worldwide issue 41:58 is trafficking. 42:00 It's not just happening at major events, 42:02 this is happening on a day-to-day basis, 42:03 whether there's a large events going on there, 42:07 this is happening, I mean unfortunately. 42:09 I know you have statistics, it's happening. 42:10 Do you know worldwide what the percentage is 42:13 or maybe in the North America, the United States, they, 42:16 it's got to be a huge percentage 42:17 'cause you said, 500,000... 42:20 Yeah. 42:21 ..little kids, average age of nine, 42:23 we're just at this one of them, that's horrible. 42:25 So here in the United States whatever, 42:27 I don't know what statistics you have. 42:28 So they, they say that through the United States 42:30 about a quarter of a million people 42:31 are trafficked annually. 42:32 A quarter of a million? A quarter of a million. 42:34 And that's in United States. That's in the United States. 42:37 And that's statistic is a general statistic, 42:39 it doesn't mean local, it means 42:41 it's traffic through the United States 42:43 like brought from other countries, 42:44 you know, they could be for working in restaurants 42:46 or working in spas or other cut types of things. 42:48 Okay. 42:49 Some of it is labor trafficking, 42:51 some of it is sex trafficking. 42:53 But locally, you know, it's that's difficult number, 42:56 you hear these official numbers like, 42:57 oh, it's between 28 and 30 million people 43:00 that are slaves today. 43:02 More than there's ever been before. 43:03 Yes, there's more than there's ever been before, 43:05 but I would say that number 43:06 is significantly short of what the reality is. 43:10 And I think the reason why 43:11 is because the definition is so narrow. 43:13 We talk about human trafficking as just like people 43:15 that are trafficked, you know, 43:16 for the purpose of being exploited, 43:19 you know, forcefully. 43:21 But in reality it's a whole lot more than that. 43:23 Slavery is a lot, a lot larger, it touches a lot more people. 43:27 So I would, I would say that statistics fall short, 43:31 but ultimately if you want to know statistics, 43:33 I would say that if you look at the statistics 43:36 of the number of children 43:37 that are being born to single parent homes, 43:41 it's astounding. 43:43 The... 43:44 You know, 76% of blacks in America born 43:47 to single mothers, 43:49 60% of Native Americans, 56% of Hispanics, 43:53 35% of Whites and so, 43:56 if you take that all in conjunction, 43:57 we're basically saying that half of the children 43:59 in this country are being born to single parents, half. 44:02 And that puts them at a greater risk 44:03 of being trafficked. 44:05 That puts them at a greater risk 44:06 because 95% of all the people that are trafficked 44:09 have a history of family abuse 44:11 and that doesn't mean sexual abuse, 44:12 because 80% of that abuse is neglect. 44:15 And if you look at half of the kids don't have 44:17 one of their parents, neglect is automatically there. 44:20 So I want to... 44:21 So your ministry is Crying At The Gates 44:24 so, you know, you were talking about praying, 44:26 you know, in Brazil, you know, these cities. 44:28 So is your ministry then basically 44:30 if you see someone, and I mean, 44:32 because you now probably have pretty good antennas like, 44:34 oh, I think this person, you know, 44:36 because we're probably 44:37 associated with people throughout, 44:38 you know, we go to town and we have no clue, 44:40 I don't know what I'm necessary always looking for. 44:42 So is your ministry, if you see someone 44:44 you just stand back and pray for them, 44:47 or what does your ministry actually entail 44:49 Crying At the Gates? 44:50 What we have been involved in this past year 44:53 and trying to do more of is really the main focus 45:00 has been trying to get churches and God's people 45:03 as a whole praying for their towns, 45:05 and their cities, 45:07 just, that, that is really the center of all of it. 45:10 You know, trafficking is an issue 45:13 and we are interested in working against 45:17 that particular issue, 45:18 but in a spiritual sense everybody is a slave, 45:22 sin who doesn't know Christ, right? 45:24 That's good. 45:26 And that is the devil's way of trafficking 45:28 through whatever means he uses. 45:31 It's not just sex trafficking, 45:32 it's anything that causes people to be enslaved to him. 45:35 And so ultimately, and of course, 45:37 there are so many stories I wish we... 45:40 I was gonna ask for something, 45:42 could you at least share a couple stories of people 45:43 who've been freed or deliverance 45:46 from what has taken place? 45:47 Yeah. 45:48 Just even going back to the experience in Brazil, 45:51 one story that was especially 45:53 kind of stuck out to us for the, 45:57 you know, to illustrate the effectiveness of prayer 46:00 is Alex had 46:02 because he had worked in anti-trafficking 46:04 like he said for years before this, 46:06 and it takes usually years of contact 46:11 many, many times with the people on the streets 46:14 before they eventually end up coming out of it. 46:17 In Brazil there was one particular city 46:20 that we went to 46:22 and we ended up having the opportunity 46:25 to train a very small group of people there 46:29 to do this project going on outreach 46:32 to the prostitutes in their streets 46:34 and praying for them, 46:35 and then we left without knowing anything more, 46:38 and a few weeks later, 46:40 we got a call from them and they said, 46:44 "They had entered up going to do this project 46:47 praying for these, you know, 46:48 ladies on the street 46:49 and they got a phone call a couple of weeks 46:51 after they had gone out, and the lady said, 46:54 "I don't know if you remember me 46:55 but you came, you gave me a card 46:58 and you prayed with me." 46:59 And she said, 47:01 "That night that you guys came and made contact with me 47:05 was my very first night in prostitution 47:07 ever in my life." 47:09 She said, "I was desperate 'cause I didn't have work, 47:11 I don't have husband, I have kids, I got to support. 47:14 But she said when you left, 47:16 I realized that God didn't want me here 47:18 and I left before I ever had my first customer." 47:21 And she said, "But I still need work, 47:22 can you help me." 47:24 And now she is cleaning houses for the people 47:26 of that church there in that city. 47:29 Amen. 47:30 This is the same city that pastor said 47:32 that the church wanted would be uncomfortable with the, 47:34 with the idea of doing anything 47:36 because there is no recovery programs 47:38 and there is no like what do you do 47:39 if somebody wants to come off the street, 47:41 you've got nowhere to put them, 47:42 you got, you know, no, no, no system 47:44 to help them to recover. 47:46 And I said, "Well, you have to have the desire first. 47:48 And so these kids, 47:50 these young people they went and they did this, 47:53 and look, there was somebody that was stopped 47:54 from even entering and the church was, 47:57 was now asking her to come clean their homes, 47:59 and you've already done something 48:01 without a system, without a program 48:02 and now that you know that this works 48:04 and it can happen, 48:05 maybe you'll set one up, you know. 48:07 Yeah. 48:08 Yeah, so this is the really center of everything 48:10 that we want to accomplish and what we've been focusing on 48:13 is getting people praying 48:15 because for me personally going to Brazil 48:18 and seeing what God did there and there're stories of, 48:21 you know, people that tried to rob us 48:23 that we ended up witnessing to, 48:26 praying with people that 48:27 came off the streets like this... 48:30 Witches. 48:31 Witches, witch doctors... 48:32 Black magic. 48:34 Uh-huh, I mean, all kinds of stuff, 48:35 how God provided for us, how he set up, you know, 48:38 some of the opportunities for us and things like that, 48:41 but to me this is where God got my attention to say, 48:46 this is the way my work is supposed to happen. 48:49 You put prayer first 48:50 and you allow me to be the one going ahead, 48:53 and then you guys are just running trying 48:56 to keep up with what I'm doing, 48:58 you know, and that's exactly the way that it was, 49:01 so if there's one thing 49:02 that we want to do as a ministry 49:04 is to get people to pray for their cities. 49:06 So before we put your contact information up 49:08 in a couple of minutes, 49:10 how does someone at home get involved in counteracting? 49:14 Let's say, we're talking about human trafficking today, 49:17 how does someone at home 49:18 get involved in counteracting this? 49:22 Everybody asks me that question, 49:23 and they come up and they say, 49:25 "Hey, I saw, I heard about human trafficking, 49:27 I want to do something about it, what do I do?" 49:28 And they want a list. 49:30 You know, they want to say these are the solutions. 49:32 And it took me years to find out 49:35 what that solution is, 49:36 and it's difficult for me to tell you in five minutes 49:38 that this is the solution, because you won't believe it 49:40 because you don't have the experience behind it. 49:42 So if people would believe me 49:45 that honestly the very first thing 49:46 that you need to do is to realize 49:49 that it is a spiritual battle from the get go. 49:52 It is not just organized crime, 49:54 it is actually the plan of Satan 49:56 to enslave humanity through these many tactics. 50:00 And that you have to grab a hold of God spiritually. 50:03 Intercessory prayer is the first thing. 50:06 If you want to ask me 50:07 what is the first practical step 50:09 that I can do to save somebody from the streets? 50:10 You need to pray for them. Okay. 50:11 You didn't know that they exist, 50:13 but you need to start praying for them. 50:14 And as you learn more about it, 50:16 as you become more aware of spiritual warfare, 50:17 God is going to lead you 50:19 in the direction that you want to go. 50:20 Sure, we can give some guidance and we're here for that, 50:23 but to give you a step by step, 50:25 it's experience that's going to lead you 50:27 because fighting is an experiential thing. 50:30 I can't give you fighting experience. 50:32 You have to learn how to fight. 50:33 Let me ask you one more quick question 50:35 before we go to your address. 50:36 If someone is currently enslaved, 50:39 currently in the midst of being trafficked, 50:42 how would they get out? 50:43 How would they get help? Who would they turn to? 50:45 It depends on where they are, there is a national hotline 50:49 and then, you know, I know my region, 50:51 I know the numbers in my region. 50:54 I suppose if you're in a desperate situation 50:57 and you have nowhere else and you have our number, 51:00 go ahead and contact us whether through e-mail 51:02 or number or whichever way that you can, our website, 51:07 and we'll do our best to connect you. 51:09 You know, we don't know all of the organizations 51:11 that work around the country, 51:13 but we work with enough and we can, 51:15 we can find a way to connect you, 51:17 so we want to make it as practical as possible. 51:18 Amen, amen. Thank you so much. 51:20 That is good. Wow! 51:21 It's a heavy program but it's needed, 51:24 and I'm so blessed by the path God has led you 51:27 on with intercession, 51:29 with interceding in behalf of those 51:31 who are currently enslaved by Satan, 51:33 so we want to put up their contact information. 51:36 If you want to get involved, 51:38 if your heart has been stirred in any fashion, 51:40 you'll say, I want them to come to my area 51:43 for training. 51:44 I want to learn how to do intercession. 51:46 I have finances that I can use to support this work. 51:50 Here is the way that you can get in touch with Alex. 51:59 If you would like to learn more about Crying at the Gates, 52:02 you can do so by writing to Crying at the Gates, 52:06 PO Box 51, Jonesville, Michigan 49250. 52:11 That's Crying at the Gates, 52:13 PO Box 51, Jonesville, Michigan 49250. 52:19 You can also visit them online at CryingAtTheGates.com. 52:24 That's CryingAtTheGates.com. 52:27 Contact them today, they'd love to hear from you. |
Revised 2021-07-12