Sudan is 'largest humanitarian catastrophe in history' > Sorry, David, but NO! There's something much worse!

 

The Real Worst Atrocity the World has Ever Seen

As much respect as I have for David Miliband, and as horrified as I am at the madness that has been going on in Sudan for decades, it is not the worst atrocity the world has ever seen. That accolade belongs only to child sexual abuse.

Caution: Graphic word pictures follows.

More children have been traumatically sexually abused in this century, which is just one quarter over, than there were casualties in all the wars (dead and wounded), and all the genocides of the entire 20th century. We are talking hundreds of millions of children raped, sexually assaulted, sexually exploited, sexually enslaved, trafficked, sold into marriage, slavery, prostitution, female genital mutilation, gender transitioning, sexual extortion, and being murdered by family members for a bizarre notion of honor.

Child brides
Statistics show that 80% of those children are sexually assaulted more than once. Millions of children sell themselves on the streets of poor countries just to stay alive or to feed their sick parents and little siblings. Children, especially little girls, are heroic like that. These kids are raped several times every day. Some kids are trafficked many times a day by a pimp. One Mexican girl counted being raped over a ten-year period more than 43,000 times.

In the space of 24 or 25 years, child sexual abuse events number in the billions. There are only about 2.5 billion children in the world, about 1.25 billion girls under 18. The number of sexual assaults on girls in 24 or 25 years is, at least, in the several billions, and possibly in the tens of billions.

The consequences of sexual abuse on a child are almost always devastating and often life-long. They affect so many areas of life that it is very rare for a survivor to be able to come anywhere close to their potential as an adult. More often than not they suddenly struggle to learn, they really struggle with interpersonal relationships, they have serious trust issues, they often have drug or alcohol dependencies, some become sexually promiscuous, and many become reckless, self-harming, with suicidal ideations.

In the best societies in the world, you can expect one in four or five girls to be sexually assaulted before they turn 18. In some of the most densely populated societies, one in three would be an improvement. 

Jan Huygen van Linschoten was a Dutch spy, merchant, traveller, and writer. He travelled extensively along the East Indies regions under Portuguese influence and served as the archbishop's secretary in Goa between 1583 and 1588.

Linschoten describes the Indians as “the most leacherous and unchaste nation in all the orient, so that there are verie few women children (girls) among them of seven or eight yeares old, that have their maiden-heades.” (i.e. virginity).

There is little reason to believe that attitudes toward little girls have improved in India, or, for that matter, anywhere on the Indian sub-continent, in the past 450 years.

Some NGOs believe that planeloads of child sex tourists land in Africa and South Asia every day. Men and women who hire children to stay with them during their holiday for sexual purposes. The mother or father of the children will get paid money they could never otherwise make. The rapists' conscience, if they have one, is relieved by the belief that they are helping the family survive.

Christian writer, Ann Voscamp, visited Africa a few years ago and found that children as young as 4 years old were being sold by their parents to pimps, sometimes disguised, sometimes not. These kids are worth a small fortune being pimped as child virgins. After each rape of the child, they are sewn back together to resemble a virgin and pimped out again to some pervert happy to pay a premium for a virgin no matter how young.

There is a special place in Hell for people like these, a place where, ‘Their worm does not die, And the fire is not quenched.’ - Mark 9:44-48.

Most decent people don't have to worry about ending up in that special place, however, we all have to stand before Jesus Christ and give an accounting of our lives. In that accounting, He may ask us what we did to save billions of children from the horror of child sexual abuse. Remember, Jesus probably sees child sex abuse as a violation of the sacred, the destruction of innocence. He will surely expect His people to do something other than hide their heads in the sand and pretend it is not happening.

One of the many unspeakable atrocities associated with child sexual abuse is the absolute unwillingness of people, especially Christians, to talk about it, think about it, or pray about it. It's difficult to reconcile Christian Love with ignoring the suffering of millions of children. It's not just children and their families who suffer, but God suffers with each child. Charles Price once said something like, "If the state of the world does not bring you to tears, you have not begun to know the heart of God!" "Love God, Love your neighbor." In the 21st century, everyone is your neighbor.

I believe God restricts Himself from acting in many cases unless His people pray. God's people have to "outwill" the will of evil people before He is willing to override their free will. Whether that is accurate or not, one thing is for sure, God expects us to do something against this incredulous horror. 

Will you decide to pray once a day for God to rescue children from this nightmare? 

Save A Child by 3:15 PM

"Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire?" Corrie Ten Boom.

Gary Wm Myers

Northwoods Ministries

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