Can I have your undivided attention for 8 minutes?
‘Deepfake’ AI (Artificial Intelligence) technology is a powerful technology and it’s on the rise. Rather than trying to explain the technology, click play on the video below. This technology enables one to superimpose actor Tom Cruise’s face onto comedian, Bill Hader’s body. It is downright creepy.
The Situation
Having viewed the video above, imagine the face of your child superimposed on to someone else’s body using AI technology. The scenes are made against their will and beyond your knowledge for the benefit of those who exploit and harm children. DeepFake AI technology can be used to create images and videos by those who wish to bully, blackmail, exploit, entrap, or groom our children. This is the worst kind of identity theft.
The Reality
Artificial Intelligence commonly referred to as ‘AI’ is quickly transforming from a sci-fi fantasy into a current reality. It will impact every human-being on the planet. AI is a powerful technological tool. Will it be for good or evil, for benefit or detriment? We don’t know yet. However, law enforcement is concerned, the Federal Government is concerned, nonprofits and NGOs are concerned. Should parents be concerned? The answer is ‘yes!’
Proper Concern
As many of you know, I advocate for internet safety and vigilance when dealing with these new forms of technology. In particular, understanding how our children (minors) interface with smartphones, internet capable devices and social media is vital. In addition, we must understand and address their vulnerabilities and our responsibilities on an ongoing basis. We must understand threats and risks of offering this powerful communication portal into their lives to early for the wrong reasons. These technologies are changing us as humans. But, that discussion is for another time.
My family practices internet safety by limiting where my wife and I post photos of our children on Social Media. We ask the same of the rest of our family. In doing so, we raise awareness of the risks in our community.
Addressing Risks
Having served for 3 years on the leadership team of the 5 Stones Anti-Trafficking Taskforce under the Ft. Worth Police Department, I am well versed in the child exploitation and trafficking space. Smartphones, unlimited internet access and Social Media platforms can be a risky if not deadly for our children. If this frightens you, it should. I’ve seen dozens of cases where children are being exploited online by bullies and pimps. The children come from every demographic, ethnicity, socioeconomic sphere, all ages and every neighborhood. Exploitation is not limited by borders or wealth (see Jeffery Epstein or visit your local law enforcement officer). We know the risks of sharing data and photos online. We know the risks of devices in the hands of children. Heck, I have a hard time putting down my smartphone.
We need a paradigm shift in our thinking. Parents must lock arms and unite against technology’s ability to allure our children (and us).
Accurate Perspective
Imagine posting a public photo of your child the same way you see an advertisement on a public billboard. You are putting your prize possession on display for the world to see. With the current advances in AI technology (DeepFake), someone you don’t even know can transform an innocent image of YOUR child into a degrading and disgusting pornographic film by superimposing your child’s face onto a video image. By the time you discover the exploitation, its too late. Thousands of perverts, traffickers, sex-buyers and criminals will have viewed the video. Videos spread on the dark web and in private chat rooms where they are bought and sold. There is nothing you can do except prepare to deal with your child’s lifelong trauma.
Imagine your child on an auction block to be sold. In short, this is happening on the dark web and social media sites. But, you can mitigate the risks. You are the solution. You can be a hero for your child. It will require GRIT and discipline on your part as you talk with your children and partner with them as they grow older and demonstrate responsibility. Encourage them to lead in the family and school.
Solutions: Be Vigilant not afraid
Be aware of what you post online.
Be careful to post using proper privacy settings when using Social Media.
Use internet filters and monitors on your child’s devices for school and home use
Consider delaying giving your child a personal smartphone until 16-17yrs old (depending on their maturity and responsibility).
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November 11th was National Orphan Sunday. Frankly, every Sunday should be Orphan Sunday.
Our church is advocating for John and other children in foster care. You can help John and other children find a forever family!
“John is a sweet 10 year old boy! He said, “I really, really want to be adopted!” He is described as being all boy. John loves playing outside and catching bugs. He is very sweet and fun to be around. John likes to make jokes, and his infectious laugh will spread to anyone around him! He is competitive, athletic and ambidextrous. John is artistic and loves to draw- especially Minions and Pikachu from Pokémon. He desires a family that will love him unconditionally and be patient as he works through his trauma.”
Challenges:
Nearly 7% of all orphans in the USA are in Texas
17,000 children in Foster Care in Texas
340 kids are currently in Tarrant County foster care waiting to be adopted
20% of the children who were in foster care will become instantly homeless when they reach 21.
7 out of 10 girls who age out of the foster care system will become pregnant before the age of 21.
25% of children who age out of the foster care system still suffer from PTSD
Not everyone is called to adopt or become a foster parent. However, everyone can advocate for children in the foster care system.
Creative ways to help:
Pray for children in the foster care system and families who choose to step in.
Share the need on Social Media and with your community
“There are almost 17,000 kids in foster care in Texas. That seems like a crazy number until you hear there are almost 30,000 churches in Texas! There is more to Orphan Care than just fostering or adopting. If one Christian family from every church adopted and that church agreed to support and wrap around that family there would no no more orphans in Texas.“
“Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.”
Generational dysfunction begets generational dysfunction, until the cycle is broken. This is not relatively true it is empirically true across cultures.
Politics and economics are downstream from culture. They are lagging indicators.
To affect culture, people use stories. Some of those stories are true and some are untrue. Stories and narratives tell us what to believe and why. Finally, stories generate culture at the leading edge of culture.
We must tell true stories to combat lies.
Stories we tell will determine the future of our culture and whether or not the cycle of generational dysfunction continues.
I don’t expect anyone to read this. Therefore, I’m writing this to myself because I need to hear it. It is a hard truth.
If I have discipline about what I eat and how much I exercise I feel good, think clearly and I have the freedom to participate in a variety of activities in life. So, if I lack discipline in what I eat and how much I exercise I feel bad, I lack energy and I eventually fall into the tyranny of health problems. I no longer have the freedom to participate in the robust activities of life. Laziness put limits on freedom. This is self-inflicted tyranny.
A Word on Discipline:
The word ‘discipline’ carries a negative connotation in modern western culture today. It evokes constraint and goes against our perception of personal autonomy. Therefore, we have come to believe that discipline is somehow the enemy of our freedoms and rights to live however we want.
What a load of tripe!
Don’t confuse punishment or the enforcement of obedience with practicing self-control and training in moral character.
Modern America is a nation marked by self-centeredness, immaturity, blame, victimhood, permissiveness and sanctioned negligence. Make no mistake, this is what we have become and it’s a problem. If we do not solve it, our culture will crumble and something worse will replace it.
Today, when something negative happens, we collectively point fingers. We blame each other instead of taking ownership and personal responsibility.
BTW, Social Media and #Hashtags exacerbate the problem because we are foolish and lazy enough to believe that just because we vented our blame and victimhood online, we have actually done something to solve the problem.
[Again] What a load of tripe! Nothing but lazy, lazy, lazy.
In his book, “Reveries on the Art of War”, Maurice de Saxe said;
“As soon as discipline is neglected in a nation … as soon as comfort becomes an aim, it needs no inspiration to foretell that ruin is near.”
De Saxe wrote this in the 1700s. It has been true throughout history.
A Lesson from History
The ancient Roman Empire didn’t fall as a result of being beaten by a powerful army. It ‘fell’ because the Roman citizens as a whole became lazy and comfort-driven on an individual level. Their morals and unity crumbled because they lacked personal discipline. Consequently, they did not have the moral fortitude to push back or mount a volitional response to the degradation happening around them. As a result, the mighty Roman Empire’s hubris, laziness and lack of discipline stands as history lesson of why the mighty fall.
Discipline begins with ‘Me’:
Discipline is a good thing. Without it, individuals, families, communities and societies crumble.
Discipline starts with ‘me’. I cannot expect my family, friends and fellow Americans to practice discipline without me.
Discipline is all about self-control, training in moral character and behavior.
Discipline brings freedom and good things into our lives. Freedom without discipline is anarchy and chaos – which will lead to tyranny.
The question is: What can I do today to practice discipline and personal responsibility?
“He dies for lack of discipline, and because of his great folly he is led astray.”
(Proverbs 5:23)
Read previous post: Film – Saved by the Storm
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[Content Warning]: The following narrative contains graphic descriptions of human depravity and evil. I am bound by my conscience to share this truth but I want to caution my readers that the content is heart-breaking and disturbing.
[February 8, 2018] It has been nearly two years since I became involved in local efforts to combat human trafficking in our area. I serve on the 5 Stones Anti-Trafficking Taskforce with local law enforcement, Homeland Security, community leaders, concerned citizens and several non-profits. All of us recognize that we have a big problem in Fort Worth with DMST (Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking). That is to say, that children are being bought and sold for sex in our city and beyond. The average ages are between 12-14 years old. And you know how we arrive at averages, right?
While we are seeing small victories on a local level, there is so much more to do. However, I want to share a dimension that I believe will provide you some perspective and open your eyes to this scourge on a global scale.
3D Prayer
I’ve been praying that God would bring victory over the scourge of trafficking in our city. I have also been quietly praying for humility and compassion as He has given me a voice of influence to bring more people to the fight. He has been answering prayer for victory in spades. Yet, before I could allow pride to puff up my heart as if I could take any credit, God crushed me and thus brought me low. He answered my prayer in 3D. That is to say, it was a swift, three-dimensional answer for victory, humility and compassion.
Yesterday, I met with a local team that was formed to assist girls rescued from trafficking locally. God brought this team together in short order, formed the program and opened an emergency shelter. This was a huge victory for our community. Following the meeting, we each walked to our cars to go our separate ways. We stopped to celebrate right there in the freezing cold. As we celebrated, a friend pulled me aside to share his work with me.
Without going into detail, his ministry is on the frontlines of rescuing children from trafficking both domestically and globally. They operate in some of the darkest most dangerous places in the world.
Places where our worst nightmares go to have nightmares.
He reached into his pocked and produced a smart phone. “Lance, THIS is what we are dealing with…” He went on to describe the horrors of women and children being sold into slavery, murders and torture that would make you physically sick.
Then, he pressed play on a video on his phone. The location and group involved will remain nameless. It was in the middle-east.
I saw a man dragging a tiny child, screaming and crying into what appeared to be a make-shift medical tent. There were other men scrambling around the inside the tent. The video was shaky and I couldn’t understand what I was watching at first. My friend began telling me what I was seeing as the video played and everything came into focus.
This toddler, a little girl had been kidnapped – torn away from her family along with dozens of others from her village. This was not a ‘medical tent’ I was seeing. Although it had the appearance of one. It was a slaughter house. Not where animals where killed and processed into food, but where little children were slaughtered and their organs removed for sale on the black market.
As I watched this screaming child helplessly being dragged and run over by men moving about the room, the camera focused on a man standing over a child’s body – hand’s thrust into the little one’s torso. Underneath, was a stack of two or three lifeless bodies of little children.
These monsters were cutting open children to harvest their tiny organs and selling them. Pure unequivocal evil.
The reality of what I was witnessing set in and I turned away in horror. I lost my composure and like being slammed to the ground, the breath was completely knocked out of me. I stepped away and doubled over. Tears of hurt, rage and helplessness filled my eyes. For a moment I felt like I was caught in a vortex of hyper-reality and my worst nightmare.
What is it I just saw? How can that be real?
It was very real and it is happening as you read this.
Those images and screams will haunt me for the rest of my days. It was a crushing blow to my heart. It was if the Lord said, “This is what they are doing to my little ones… Remember this evil.” Then He reminded me that He is Savior, not me. He will execute justice and vengeance because He is good. I realized I am also accountable to what I now know.
In less than 3 minutes time, God had answered a three-fold prayer in three dimensions. He broke my heart for what breaks His. He uses the weak to humble the strong.
I cannot unsee what I saw. I cannot forget. It would be a tragedy to forget. To do nothing would be wrong. As the great abolitionist William Wilberforce once said when he told British Parliament about the horrors of the African slave trade;
“You may choose to look the other way but you can never say again that you did not know.”
Now I know. But, what can one man (or woman) do?
In the Bible, every seemingly impossible command comes with divine enablement and accountability. This enablement is only manifested in humility and complete dependence upon God (See John 15: The True Vine). We must be rooted in the truth of God’s word, bowed in prayer, love mercy and do justice.
“Rescue those who are being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter. If you say, “Behold, we did not know this,” does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it, and will he not repay man according to his work?”
Proverbs 24:11-12
Today, when our superficial little world is falling apart with ‘first world’ problems like waiting in line at the store or sitting in rush hour traffic, remember this story. Be grateful for the relative safety of your family. Pray for victory, humility and compassion. Be ready for the answer. Be ready to act. Raise awareness by telling others. Maybe one day the western media will shine a light on this. But until then, “this little light of mine… I’m going to let it shine.”
Please know that there are great organizations working to combat the dual scourges of trafficking of humans and the organ black-market. Please pray for them.
For more information on the trafficking of human organs around the globe. Simply search Google with keywords: “Human organ trafficking”, “United Nations organ trafficking”. Here is a good article to provide an overview: click here…
