Plea for SOUND OF FREEDOM
An extraordinary movie that deserves your attention
This article is a plea for people to increase their awareness of child trafficking and what is actually happening around the globe including, most definitely, in the United States. In fact, the U.S. is unfortunately the number one market for the sick activities and content that drive this ugly machine. Read that again. How distressing and shameful this is in the country that was founded on human freedom and was supposed to represent the “shining city on a hill”.
An extraordinary movie that was actually finished almost five years ago is finally receiving a theatrical release at a most appropriate and significant time — the week of July 4th, America’s Independence Day celebration. The history of the movie and the struggle to get it released is a story in itself. There are extremely powerful people in our society that have done everything they can to ensure this movie would never see the light of day in any way, let alone a wide theatrical release. I submit that one of the most meaningful things you could do this Independence Day is make the time and effort to see this movie.
The movie is a true story based on the work of Tim Ballard, a former U.S. government special agent with the Dept. of Homeland Security, and the organization he founded, Operation Underground Railroad. The group’s website states that they “exist to rescue children from sex trafficking and sexual exploitation around the globe”. Jim Caviezel plays the part of Tim Ballard in the movie.
You can buy tickets at this link.
This is not only a national and international issue, it is a local issue. It is not just happening somewhere far, far away. It is happening on our local doorsteps and in our local communities.
There is a strong and understandable tendency among the general populace to turn away and choose to close their eyes to this issue. A sick feeling in one’s soul and psyche materializes once one begins to understand that this is not a conspiracy theory or the rantings of a lunatic fringe, but an actual reality. It’s extremely disturbing and traumatizing. I understand that because, for a long time (too long), that was my reaction. The subject matter is truly reprehensible and evil and no one really wants to know that this is in fact happening, and also the scale of the problem.
But denial serves no one except the evil people that wallow in this filth and/or make unbelievable amounts of money perpetrating it, while causing unspeakable trauma to the future of humanity, our precious children.
I was blessed with two beautiful children (both boys) and they both died, seven years apart, from the same rare blood cancer. The oldest was fifteen when he died in 2008 and the youngest was nineteen when he died in 2015. I believe there is no more profound and unfathomable pain than the death of a child. Perhaps that is one of the reasons I feel the trauma of this issue so acutely. The circumstances are different but the pain is universal. My children were truly my life, and I think this resonates with many people.
After the deaths of my children, I have come to realize that I kind of withdrew from society and found it increasingly difficult to “put myself out there” in any kind of public way. Until now.
I got personal here to explain why, as silly as it may sound to some people, publishing this is really a challenge for me. There is a line in the movie trailer that struck me like a thunderbolt and seared my soul. The line is “when God tells you what to do, you cannot hesitate”. God is not letting my conscience walk away from that statement, despite my natural reticence.
Because this isn’t about me. It’s not about my children. It’s about all the children. My boys are now beyond needing my protection on this earth. Nor will I ever have the blessing of grandchildren. But I truly care about other people’s children and grandchildren, and what is happening breaks my heart and enrages me.
This issue transcends religion, politics, race, social standing, life circumstances ….. choose your division point(s). Unfortunately, there are many. But I have to believe that most people of conscience can unite on this issue. We MUST. This is a moral issue of essential human decency. It trumps all of the others. Children are intrinsically and uniquely innocent and vulnerable. They have no choice but to rely on adults to protect them. There is no greater calling, responsibility, or purpose.
We MUST do whatever we individually can to spread awareness of this issue and fight the evil powers that are perpetuating this despicable depravity. In the spirit of that, I humbly urge you to get out of your comfort zone. Educate yourself. The information is out there if you doggedly search. Talk to people in your sphere of influence. Find it in yourself to be bold, stand up, and speak out. Do not let fear or anything else cancel you or shut you down.
Truth often has a way of speaking to people’s souls despite all efforts to silence it.
That is true in this instance or this movie never would have seen the light of day. The evil darkness that encapsulates this entire issue is hoping and counting on the fact that not enough people will care and persevere to discover the truth for themselves and help shed light into the darkness.
Most people have heard the quote that “all it takes for evil to flourish is for good people to do nothing”. God is calling you, too. There’s a reason he lead you to this article. Will you turn your head and look away because the topic is unspeakable, and excruciating, and uncomfortable, and scary, and difficult? Or will you answer?
There are currently many YouTube videos presenting background information about this movie, interviews with those involved, and commentary about the subject. All you have to do is go to YouTube and search using terms like “Sound of Freedom”, “Tim Ballard”, “Jim Caviezel”, “Angel Studios”, and “Operation Underground Railroad”.
If you choose to investigate any of these videos, it is possible that you may run across expressed views that you disagree with. As you may already recognize, this is the case with many videos, not just the ones about this subject. If that should happen, I would ask you to please try and look beyond that to the central issue which is, let me be clear, protecting ALL children from falling prey to sexual exploitation and trafficking, and doing everything possible to rescue them if it should happen. The dark powers are counting on division, not unity.
[This article was originally submitted as a post to my local “neighborhood” app (you probably know the one), who decided it was not of sufficient general and local interest to publish it in the wide community feed. This, despite the fact that an increasing number of individual posts on that very app are detailing scary encounters and near-misses of truly horrifying possibility from many people. Even after my appeal and slight revision, my post was deleted.
Rather than resort to what they said my remaining option was, which was to print this post in whatever “groups” I wanted to join on that app (thus ensuring it would receive a very limited audience), I decided it was time to really push myself out of my comfort zone and become a writer (rather than just a reader) on Medium. My hope is that by publishing this article here it will receive a much wider distribution, which I think would benefit a great deal of people who may really want and/or need to see this. Please share this article if you would like to help. Thank you.]
