By Robert Michaels

I RECENTLY WATCHED TWO FILMS, “Human Trafficking,” with Mira Sorvino, and “Trade,” starring Kevin Kline. It was the first time I’d seen movies entirely devoted to sex trafficking. I was so disturbed by what I saw that I started to research the subject.

I found some great online resources — the FBI, the Polaris Project, nefariousdocumentary.com, International Justice Mission and humantrafficking.org. And one of the things I took away was that I had been totally ignorant about prostitution. To my shame, I used to think that girls chose this “profession.” Why would anyone want to be a prostitute? Surely they could do better. I considered them all losers.

But now I’m compelled to address the men who make the sex trade a thriving business. The letter below is for all the johns, or tricks (customers), both straight and gay.

Dear John, if you were just one, I would confront you to your face, but you are millions upon millions. So I must speak to you in an open letter.

I’ll talk plainly with you. And at times I will be brutally honest. My intention is two-fold. First, I want to expose a darkness that lies deep within your heart. Second, I want to see you transformed and freed from this so that you can help fight the evil of sex trafficking.

John, it’s never too late to do an about-face in life. I hope you will strongly consider the message in this column, not only for your own sake, but for the sake of all the victims who have been trafficked for your personal sexual pleasure.

Over the years I have often heard you speak of vacations where you bedded prostitutes from Third World countries. Whether you were in the military or a tourist, you sought out areas where you could get more “bang for the buck.” The girls were plentiful. You boasted about the sex and how little you paid for it.

In the States, you’ve taken advantage of the immodest inventory that paced below dimly lit streetlights. You’ve called them hookers, prostitutes, whores and more. Or maybe you’ve taken to the Internet to find girls. Craigslist and other websites gave you a chance to preview local options from the privacy of your home.

You’ve attended conventions, big-time sports events, or Mardi Gras and found pimps who could deliver girls to your room. You’re a trucker? Pimps sent girls knocking on your trailer door while you were parked at the truck stop. Those sleepers really came in handy.

You have other creative resources for securing girls: massage parlors, strip clubs, residential brothels and escort services, to name a few. Maybe you even knew parents who pimped out their children.

You’re married? Doesn’t matter. You’ve worked it down to a science. You’ve had alibis and came up with reasonable excuses for where the money goes.

Perhaps the only people who know about your dirty secrets are your friends. You share stories of sexual conquests as if you were in the high school locker room.

It’s time to grow up, John.

To you, the girls are nothing more than an f-word, c-word, a-word or p-word. In your eyes, they are trash. You use them. And then you leave them on the side of the road, to be picked up by another.

Let’s be straight: The sex trade exists for you and because of you. Violent criminals have stopped at nothing to supply your demand. They will abduct children and teens, or lure them with false promises of work and a better life. They stalk runaways. They kidnap. They kill.

John, put yourself in the victims’ shoes. Imagine being forced to have sex with people. Imagine if you were coerced to be with dozens of men every day. Imagine if your bosses were bullies who beat, torture or rape you into submission. And imagine if you had to pretend that you enjoyed it all.

The truth is that a vast majority of the girls or boys you’ve had sexual contact with — here in the States as well as overseas — have been sold into slavery. This makes each encounter a rape.

This might come as a surprise, but you, John, are a rapist.

Maybe you thought the girls consented to this line of work. But that is a lie. Perhaps you thought the girls enjoyed the sex. Wrong again. They’re forced to play the role.

Because of you, these girls are regularly exposed to threats, to violence, and yes, to death, by pimps and other johns. Because of you, they have no hope, they’re afraid, they’re hungry, they’re penniless, they’re exhausted, they’re cold, they feel ashamed and they are in constant pain.

Because of you, many of them will never see their families again. Countless girls and boys will die of AIDS or contract other sexually transmitted diseases. Because of you they are stereotyped and harassed, and they will live with nightmares their entire lives. Most will never know genuine love.

Because of you, John, trafficking is a $32 billion criminal enterprise. And because of you there are millions of slaves in the world.

One day, John, you will stand before a holy God in whom your eternal destiny lies (Philippians 2:11-12, Matthew 7:13-14, Luke 12:4-5). Therefore, you have nothing to boast about and every reason to be greatly ashamed. You need to repent. Go and sin no more.

John, I hope this letter challenges you to seek forgiveness in the Lord Jesus Christ. I hope you will stand with others to help fight against the very sex trade you once were a part of. And finally I hope you will join in the restoration of trafficking victims and their families.