Prostitution

Question: A prostitute sent this letter to us some time ago, but I feel it could be used now to help others, who are caught in the same trap as this individual. The name and location of this woman will not be given so as to protect her identity. Let me assure you, though, that she is a real person.

Dear Gary, My name is ——–, I am 25 years old, and I have a beautiful 19 month old daughter, ——-. Here’s my deal. I’m a prostitute. I’ve been one for about 5 years, 4 of which I have been in ———. My daughter’s father used to be my pimp, but he now wants nothing to do with either of us.

I was raised by my mom who is a good Christian, so I sometimes wonder how I chose the road I am now traveling down. I need help. I’ve been praying to God a lot lately to give me the strength to get out of this life, but I’m still doing it, and I don’t know how to get out of it.

I have a child to support so it’s not like I can stop tomorrow and still support my baby and I. I don’t know what to do and I don’t know how to get out of this. I read your article on the Internet about how Jesus still loves prostitutes [,] and thought I would write to you. Maybe you can help me?

Answer: You know that we have been praying for this person for whom Christ died, and I hope you will pray for her too. We wrote her letters with some personal suggestions. I would encourage you to pray for her and the millions of girls that are caught in Satan’s trap of prostitution. On television programs they usually make it look glamorous to be a prostitute, but it is not! That is a lie of the devil, of course.

I want to share with you here, the tract that this girl and thousands of others like her have read. I am doing this in hopes that you will pray for the prostitutes around the world that Jesus loves and died for. You may even want to share this letter and the tract with them.

Most men think all prostitutes are motivated by money or sex. I believe the statistics will prove otherwise. I believe the cause of prostitution, in most cases, is the fault of sinful men. First, in many places in the world, poverty makes parents think of using their girls to make money. Second, other girls get into this occupation because they believe their lives were ruined by a father, close relative, or other men who sexually abused them.

Often abuse of girls starts with the use of drugs or alcohol. Fathers, who normally would not be into incest, after drinking or using drugs, do horrible things. Thus they ruin the lives of their little girls, and their own lives as well. The destruction done to these girls’ psyche is more than they can bear.

Third, there are those who are disillusioned by a father that may not have abused them, but their father was into pornography or sexual perversion. Fourth, for some girls, their father just may not have been there for them, and now they are looking for the love they missed out on, in other men. Fifth, some girls do choose to become prostitutes, thinking this is the only way they can make a living.

Some countries and states allow prostitution or even encourage it. This is the very case in the State of Nevada in the United States. State law permits legal prostitution with county commission approval in rural counties. Ten counties have licensed brothels, and Nevada has 26 legal brothels that employ about 300+ prostitutes. They think that they can prevent the spread of AIDS, but in reality it is a scheme to get taxes.

Compared with the 300 legal prostitutes in all of Nevada, there are approximately 10,000 illegal hookers working Las Vegas on most weekends. Also, about 70 percent of the exotic dancers in high-end strip clubs sometimes turn tricks. Scripture says, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows,” 1 Timothy 6:10. No other state has legal prostitution at this time. The world will always rationalize the need for prostitution, but this type of thinking only makes it worse for women. Some women seeing prostitution is legal, choose this way of life, hoping to get out of poverty, not knowing it is a trap of Satan. Without Christ, it is impossible to leave this lifestyle.

But the question comes, does Jesus love prostitutes? The good news is, no matter how a girl or woman got into prostitution, Jesus loves them. Does this mean He loves their sin? No, God hates the sin of prostitution, and every other sin. This is why He sent His Son Jesus to this earth to save us from sin. The Bible says, “…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” Romans 3:23. Then too, that well known verse, John 3:16 reminds us, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten [one and only] Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish [go to hell] but have everlasting life.”

Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary. He never married, nor did He ever have sex with anyone. Anyone that teaches that Jesus had sexual relationships is blaspheming the Son of God. Jesus loves people with a holy, spiritual love. When Jesus was here on this earth, He reached out to prostitutes. Jesus was, also, often criticized for His work with prostitutes.

The religious leaders were the worst in their criticism of Jesus, so He said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you that tax collectors and harlots enter the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him; but tax collectors and harlots believed him; and when you saw it, you did not afterward relent and believe him. (Matthew 21:31b, 32)

Jesus loves prostitutes with a wholesome love. He is the true love that every woman is searching for. There is a famous statement I want to paraphrase from Saint Augustine. It says something like this, “There is a Christ shaped vacuum in each person that only He can fill, and until we allow Him to come into us, we will be unfulfilled.”

Many people have heard the story about Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead, but most people do not know that Lazarus’ sister had been a prostitute, before she got saved. We find the story in John 11:2 “It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.” Then we have to go further in the story to verse 5, “Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.” Also we have to go back to before when Mary was not a believer, but when she came to Jesus for salvation. Look at Luke 7:36-50:

“Then one of the Pharisees asked Him to eat with him. And He went to the Pharisee’s house, and sat down to eat. And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner (the word ‘sinner’ for a woman, in Jesus time, meant that she was a prostitute), when she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil, and stood at His feet behind Him weeping; and she began to wash His feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head; and she kissed His feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil.

Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he spoke to himself, saying ‘This Man, if He were a prophet, would know who and what manner of woman this is who is touching Him, for she is a sinner.’ And Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Simon, I have something to say to you.’ So he said, ‘Teacher, say it.’ ‘There was a certain creditor who had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. ‘And when they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave them both. Tell Me, therefore, which of them will love him more?’ Simon answered and said, ‘I suppose the one whom he forgave more.’

And He said to him, ‘You have rightly judged.’ Then He turned to the woman and said to Simon, ‘Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has washed My feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. You gave me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss My feet since the time I came in. You did not anoint My head with oil, but this woman has anointed My feet with fragrant oil.

Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little. Then He said to her, ‘Your sins are forgiven.’ And those who sat at the table with Him began to say to themselves, ‘Who is this who even forgives sins?’ Then He said to the woman, ‘Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”

Jesus saved Mary and she became one of His closest friends. There are many such true stories of women who were sinners in the Bible that got saved and lived for the Lord. Rahab in the Old Testament was a harlot, but she became a believer. She is an ancestor of Jesus. Her name is also recorded in the Hall of Fame of Faith Hebrews ll: 31 “By faith the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe…”

God is showing you there is hope! No matter how you got into prostitution, or for what reason, Jesus loves you! Jesus loves you and is asking for your hand in marriage, a Holy spiritual marriage. You see, when you are saved you become a part of the Bride of Christ, the Church.

“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the Church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish…For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the Church” (Ephesians 5:25-32).

The Bible is very clear; we cannot get to heaven while practicing sin. That makes it very clear that prostitution is wrong, and is a sin. When it involves a person who is not married, it is called fornication. When it involves a person who is married, it is called adultery.

You can see for yourself, here in these verses, what I am talking about:

“Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Corinthians 6:9-11).

All of us were involved in at least one of these sins before we were saved. That does not mean we are perfect now, but it does mean the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ washes us from our sins. You see Jesus is concerned about our whole being. See what He says about how we should treat our bodies, “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?” (1 Corinthians 6:19)

Will you right now receive Christ as your Husband and Savior? He loves you with a “holy,” “everlasting” love! If you want the Lord Jesus Christ as your own, pray this prayer:

Jesus, thank you for loving me. I ask you to forgive all my sins. I believe you were born of the Virgin Mary. I believe you died on the cross for my sins. I believe you rose to life again the third day. Right now, I ask you to be my LORD and Savior. Thank you for saving me. I love you, in Jesus name, amen.

If you prayed that prayer, you are saved, and you will need to find a good, friendly, Bible believing church. You will need to be baptized to show you have changed. You will need to read your Bible and pray every day. Confess your sin when you sin (1John 1:9). God will help you to forgive those who sinned against you. In our Lord’s Prayer it says, “And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” If you are trapped in prostitution by others, pray for God’s deliverance. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he (she) is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

I, too, am only a sinner saved by grace,
Gary T. Panell