A Declaration of War—and Love

The utter brutality of slaveholders never ceases to amaze me. What gall, to simply take people by force and enslave them, beat them, threaten them, hunt them down if they escape, use them up, then throw them away when they are no longer useful.

And they don’t back down easily when abolitionists try to take their “property” or shut them down. Kevin Bales, writing in “Disposable People” about slavery in Brazil, says,

Human rights workers, trade union leaders, lawyers, priests, and nuns have all been murdered while working against slavery and abuses. Eight antislavery campaigners in the small town of Rio Maria in the state of Para had their names circulated on a “death list,” and six are now dead.

But I’m not at all surprised when Bales adds, “it doesn’t stop the reformers; all of the activists I met … faced these dangers with a calm resolution.”

I’m not surprised because although the slaveholders are motivated by greed and power, the abolitionists are empowered by love. And frankly, greed and power don’t stand a chance against love.

Listen, slaveholders: you’ve been flying under the radar for a long time, but you can’t hide much longer. The Abolitionist Movement gains momentum every day. You can’t stop us, because love is relentless.

Love “always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails” (1 Corinthians 13:7-8, NIV).