Fighting For Seoul, South Korea
Last December I visited Seoul, South Korea. Shortly after arriving I met with two bright young ladies who are forerunning the ending of Human Trafficking in Seoul. Their ministry, Unearthed (http://unearthedseoul.wordpress.com/), is founded upon prayer.
Joining their team for their typical Saturday night prayer and worship meeting, we worshiped Jesus and prayed before heading out to prayer-walk the streets of the red light districts.
It was called hooker hill, and ironically, on the pinnacle of the hill was a Muslim mosque. The pinkish glowing lights of the streets below hardly resembled the types of things we see in movies. Most places had blacked out windows and doorways that gave onlookers a small peek into the establishment. Inside the doorways was a girl or two sitting on stools. Walking past one window we saw a young girl staring at the ground. Her face was completely void of all emotion.
We stood outside of the establishment hoping she would come out, as many of the girls did, to solicit herself to us; giving us an opportunity to minister, but she was lifeless. Another girl came and sat next to her, gawking at us awkwardly as if to suggest we leave, seemingly already tipped off that we were not sex-buying customers.
Just then, a large, intoxicated American man came stumbling down the street peeking in the brothel doors. The streets were filled with drunk American men, but this one caught my attention, possibly because he was twice my size and possessed a cynical sneer. I approached him as he looked into one doorway, almost drooling on himself.
I moved in next to him and said something to get his attention. He responded with a comment about how much “ass” there was out here. If my blood wasn’t already boiling from watching him dance down the street like a child in a candy store, it really was now. A girl popped out to solicit services to him.
I found myself in between him and the girl and decided I wasn’t budging. His face was twisted in such delight as the half-naked girl tried to lure him in. He spoke to her but I interjected, “Hey!” Looking at me, he said, “I’m not talking to you, I want to talk to her.” I spoke louder and moved towards him, “You don’t want to talk to her…”
Suddenly enlightened to the fact that I was not there for the same reasons as he, his smile disappeared. His big hand came towards me, moving his large frame right into my space. I stared right into his eyes as he said, “Leave me alone…,” poking his thick finger into my chest to emphasize each word, “I don’t care what you have to say.”
A thousand thoughts ran through my mind as the man moved past me to go in. Suddenly the boldness of the Lord came on me and I blurted out, “You do care what I have to say! Because, there was a time in your life when you loved Jesus! I’m here to remind you of that tonight.”
The words jolted the man and he stopped dead in his tracks. He looked at me shocked, and I stared back at him equally surprised. My words seemed to pierce his heart. Then, his body began to shake and he yelled, “I told you to LEAVE ME ALONE!” and barged into the brothel.
Standing there I didn’t know what to do. I was shaken up, but more than anything I felt I had missed the opportunity to stop him. “Now he’s going to go in there and exploit some helpless young woman,” I thought.
As we stood there continuing in prayer for only a minute or two, the man suddenly came rushing out of the door looking disheveled as if he had been kicked out. He marched off down the street without looking back.
The streets of foreign countries are filled with American tourists. No longer journeying for vacation or the experience of culture, many are venturing out of the U.S. for sex tourism. This growing trend is becoming more popular among those seeking to fulfill the desires they’ve cultivated staring at a computer screen for most of their lives.
There is an issue of urgency regarding the stand Christians make on purity and holiness today. The line in the sand must be drawn between light and darkness; those who love righteousness must really grow in hatred for wickedness. As the man shook when he was confronted with the truth of the power of the name of Jesus, we must also shake again with the fear of the Lord, lest we end up the one stumbling the dark streets of red light districts across the nations.
