Ministries:
Adult | Teens | Children

Pastor's Pen's:
2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004
2003 | 2002 | 2001

Sermon Series:
Apostles Creed
Dealing with Feelings
Jonah
Get Real
Promised Land Living

Grace Church
257 Kendall Street
Burlington, WI 53105

(262) 763-3021

Email:
Pastor Scott Carson
carson@gracechurchwi.org

Secretary Patti Hall
pattihall@gracechurchwi.org

PASTOR'S PENS 2007

Grace Church of Burlington February 25, 2007 “If to be feelingly alive to the sufferings of my fellow creatures is to be a fanatic, I am one of the most incurable fanatics ever permitted to be at large.” William Wilberforce             This March marks the 200th Anniversary of the British Parliament’s abolition of the slave trade—the culmination of a twenty-year struggle by William Wilberforce and his fellow abolitionists, a story brilliantly captured in the new Hollywood release titled Amazing Grace. But William Wilberforce would be appalled to learn that, two hundred years later, people are still trafficking in human flesh.             Did you know that an estimated 27 million people in the world today are in slavery? They are sold into sexual slavery or forced labor from sub-Saharan Africa to suburban America, from big-city brothels to small-town sweatshops. Every day, men, women, and children looking for work and a better life are tricked, coerced, or forced into slavery. If this is news to you, don’t be surprised. This is a silent horror. No one is paying any attention.             By some estimates, the number of people moving across borders to find work has doubled every year for the last five years. In this stream of migration stands the human trafficker, ready to deceive unwitting victims. These traffickers must be brought to justice here at home and around the world. Traffickers must be held accountable.             As believers, we are unapologetically Pro-life. Too often though our compassion stops with birth. If we are truly pro-life, we need to be concerned about the abuse or murder of human beings, image-bearers of God, at any stage from birth to the elderly years. As believers we have contacted our legislators letting them know that we are opposed to abortion, however, we also need to press our government for the one thing that puts the traffickers out of business: investigations and prosecutions that cripple their criminal networks to bring them to justice. We also need to pressure our leaders to make the abolition of human trafficking a priority. Governments, unlike their citizens, are already aware of the problems. What’s needed is to build the enforcement capacity, especially in places where traffickers operate without fear of prosecution.                         This means on-the-ground law enforcement assistance and training for countries  that, having  recognized  the  problem, are  ready  to  prosecute. The Bush administration has a great resource in the success that the Department of Justice has already had. And evangelical news sources relate that our President is deeply interested in this travesty. If this is going to become a priority, however, Christians have to make it one.             So please contact your United States Senators and Congressman. Let the President know that you support him in addressing this horror. And demonstrate that you are pro-life by your love, compassion, and Christ-likeness toward the young, the disabled and the elderly. Our children need to know that being pro-life is not a slogan, it’s a lifestyle.