Sound of Freedom
Sound of Freedom should be considered a landmark movie, one that opens a door to powerful, hard stories that need telling. No story of ours supplants the Word of God, as if that needs saying, but when those stories are built on what that Book declares about God and humanity, they are given enormous influence. The effort to put this story in theaters and the generous giving that made it possible is impressive, too. There are a whole host of other reasons why it is deservedly causing a storm in the media and the entertainment industry.
None of those are as important as the simple, painful, righteous statement at the center of the film. A stern, teary-eyed, truth that no force in the cosmos has any power to argue against: “God’s children are not for sale.” This dramatization of real-world events is based on only one of the organizations waging a war against the sex-slave trade of children across the globe. It is a pandemic of increasing scope and filth, and the film does not hide it. Jim Caviezel, portraying Tim Ballard, in a desperate attempt to convince a wary ally of the insurmountable need, acknowledges that the reality is simply too much for “polite conversation.”
But it is real. These are innocent children being dragged into the deepest, ugliest, foulest pit of hell. While some are rescued, many are lost and can only succumb to the horror of what has been done to them. Like any truly good story, the facts the movie portrays are wounding and frightening. But, they give us opportunity and means to act however we can. Not all of us have the resources or ability to plan international operations or to deceive the wealthy and powerful. We can pour out gift after gift to fund groups whose only purpose is to risk ignoble deaths at the hands of criminals, in order to free those who our Master demands our faith reflect. We can encourage people to endure tough stories built to challenge and inspire action. Anyone with a heartbeat can do that, and we must.
What could be more noble than a story aimed to inspire the truth to be loudly declared, that the dark sludge of our world can be resisted by the smallest bit of courage? Anything else, according to the media of our own nation. Why in God’s name would anyone belittle, mock, or deride it? This real! It is happening here. The final blow of the film simply presents the stat, the fact, that the United States is the single largest destination and “production line” for child slavery.
Yet, mock and denial is the only things “critics” of the film have. They pretend it is a elaborate fantasy or conspiracy nut’s dream. Denial of the shame of this reality is as brave as burying your face in the sand. The concentrated effort to undermine and undervalue the message of this film reflects the spirit of perversion that hungers for the innocent. It is the same spirit that lies to children about their bodies and their identities. It is the same spirit that butchers them before they leave the womb, and aims to continue butchering them if they are lucky enough to escape the first time.
But the Spirit of God is stronger by far. The Truth wins out. Jesus moves louder and louder. Films like this are simply beacons that help shake apathetic and ignorant minds into action. It is easy to let the reality of this demonic empire of suffering become a black hole of self pity. But we can’t — we win by living in dramatic, holy opposition to even the hint of perversion. We insist on standards of living that only allow for God’s law for human sexuality. We demand that children are left to grow up in innocence. We ensure that the institutions that thrive on the destruction of the unborn becomes as much as a byword and subject of hate that the slavery is, today. We don’t care if voices cry bigot, we simply insist on the love and power of Christ that brings down strongholds. We don’t need violence — just our voice.
There is no middle ground or wiggle room. Jesus Himself gives only one end for the perverse, for the thief of innocence, for the butcher of children:
“It would be better to be thrown into the sea with a millstone hung around your neck than to cause one of these little ones to fall into sin.”
That is the choice. A life of bold freedom, unfazed by name-calling or bad headlines, that will not stop until the sound of freedom echoes. Or, the unfettered wrath of the Lamb who will treat the cries of the perverse with the same silence they showed His little ones.
Choose.
