Palm Sonday and Trafficking

Oops, that’s Palm Sunday.

I set the date without looking at the date. Then, when I did, look at the calendar, I thought I had better change the date. We can’t have a guest speaker talking about sex trafficking on Palm Sunday, can we?

I started to reschedule, but then felt the Lord wanted to keep it.

So, just to confirm the date I called Barbara Anderson, Founder and President of Butterfly Arising, an anti-trafficking organization.

She thought it was peculiar when I requested Palm Sunday, but she figured, surely the Pastor knew what he was doing.

No, he didn’t. But God did.

So, Butterfly Barb came and spoke and equipped the saints with an abundance of information and weaponry for combatting trafficking. She showed us her vision of building Monarch Village, a haven of rest and restoration for survivors of trafficking.

 Then, after that, the Lord provided a brief Bible Study, exposing the origins of the evils of trafficking and tied it to the Purpose and Power of Palm Sonday.

It went something like this:

Palm Sonday is so important it’s recorded in all four gospels.

·     Matthew 21:1-17

·       Mark 11:1-11

·       Luke 19:29-40

·       John 12:12-19

From this Palm Sonday, March 29, 2026, to the first Powerful Palm Sonday, was 728,285 days.

It’s remembered and celebrated around the world every year.

As far as we know, the events of the day weren’t all too spectacular. Jesus didn’t feed a multitude, walk on water, heal the sick or raise the dead. He simply rode a young donkey a couple of miles into Jerusalem.

What made the day extraordinarily, supernaturally, over the top, awe inspiringly spectacular is the timing of it all.

The day He did it was perfect. The sinless, spotless Lamb of God came to them on the very day that they selected their spotless Passover Lamb. Exodus 12:1-14.

The way He did it couldn’t be missed. Just as prophesied hundreds of years ahead of time, the Messiah came riding on the foal of a donkey. Zechariah 9:9.

The timing provided undeniable proof of Who He was, and what He was doing. Daniel 9:25.

About 500 years prior the angel Gabriel told Daniel, that the Messiah would come “sixty-nine weeks” (69 sevens, or 483 years, or 173,880 days) after the decree to rebuild Jerusalem.

According to Nehemiah 2, the decree came, by Artaxerxes, March 14, 445 BC.

Exactly 173,880 days later to the day, on April 6, 32 AD Jesus rode into Jerusalem sitting on a donkey’s colt. (Zech. 9:9).

The crowd hailed Him as Messiah and King, shouting “Hosanna! ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ The King of Israel!” Psalm 118:25-26.

The crowds cheered. But Jesus teared.

He looked toward Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, perhaps near olive trees that still stand today (some are said to be about 2,000 years old.)

There, He wept and said:

“If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace!” Luke 19:42.

Imagine the sorrow the flowed from quivering lips, as He said...

“But now they are hidden from your eyes. For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, and level you and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another because you did not know the time of your visitation.” Luke 19:42-44.

All of that literally happened in 70 AD, exactly as He said.

Just below where He stood was the Garden of Gethsemane, at the base of the Mount of Olives. Where in less than a week, He’d be, at night, to weep and pray and sweat great drops of blood. Where He’d ask His disciples to watch and pray, but instead they’d sleep. Where He’d be betrayed with a kiss from Judas. Where He’d be bound like a criminal and be led to slaughter, by those He loved and came to save.

He knew all that, and more, would come to pass.

With a tearful gaze He looked toward Jerusalem and knew:

1.    They would reject Him as the Passover Lamb. John 1:11.

2.    They would not recognize His visitation. Luke 19:44.

3.    In less than a week the cheers would turn to jeers; from Hosanna to Crucify Him. Matthew 27:22, Mark 15:12-13, Luke 23:20-21.

Nevertheless, Jesus stayed the course, endured the cross for the joy set before Him. Hebrews 12:2.  

To seek and to save the lost. Luke 19:10.

To destroy the works of the devil. 1 John 3:8.

To take away the sins of the world. John 1:29.

Which is what weaves the ministry of Butterfly Barb into our Palm Sonday message.

Trafficking exists because of one thing:

SIN.

Sex trafficking is the vilest of sin.

Butterfly Arising may sound like a nice, sweet name; but tackling trafficking is no small battle.

It’s David against the wickedest Goliath.

Trafficking is all in with sin. Every aspect and element associated with it comes from the worst form of evil.

Avoid it like the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, don’t touch it, taste it, smell it or even go near it.  

Listen. If you’re peeking at porn, even a little, you’re sipping poison that’ll rot your brain, defile your flesh, and damn your soul to an eternity of regret and torment. FLEE FROM IT! FAST!

If we truly understood the origins of this wickedness we’d throw up at the very thought of dabbling in it.

Genesis 6 tells us that fallen angels saw the beautiful women and took whomever they lusted after.

They crossed a sacred boundary and had offspring called, nephilim.

Now, to calm any undue fear please note that Jude 6-7 and 2 Peter 2:4-5, tell us that those demons who crossed that line are in chains and imprisoned, until judgement day. 

That evil sexual perversion plummeted the world into moral darkness until it became so corrupt that the thoughts of man were only evil continually.

This so grieved the heart of God that He decided to destroy every living thing on the face of the earth.

But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Genesis 6:1-8.

NOTE: Even though it was just Noah (and family) against the world, God still expected him to do something.

Build an ark, (a Monarch Village) a haven of rest and restoration to escape the works of darkness and arise (like a butterfly) on the other side.

So, for 120 years Noah swung his hammer echoing God’s warning, REPENT! JUDGEMENT IS COMING! REPENT! JUDGEMENT IS COMING...

What’s your ark?

Where’s your hammer?

Swing. Keep swinging. Ever doing. God’s calling...

But one day... the hammering stopped. The door shut. The wrath of God poured.

Jesus has been knocking, knocking, knocking, for nearly 2,000 years. For so long, and so often, that so many, take Him for granted.

But one day... the knocking will stop. The trump will sound. The door will shut. The wrath of God will pour, and pour, and pour. For seven, long, years.

NOTE: HIStory reveals that God poured out His judgement in a major way in Noah’s day, then, again, in Abraham’s day, (against Sodom and Gomorrah).

Both involved sexual perversion that crossed sacred boundaries.  

Fallen angels took people.

Fallen people tried to take angels.

Today, sex trafficking takes, and takes, and takes, the least of these. Jesus says, in as much as you’ve done to the least of these, you’ve done to Me. (Matthew 25:40-45).

Sex trafficking crosses sacred boundaries that plummets souls into moral darkness so vile, it cannot be spoken of, so corrupt that every thought is only evil continually.

Today, Jesus’ words echo like Noah’s hammer...

As it was in the days of Noah so shall it be at the coming of the Son of Man. Matthew 24:37.

Let’s pray.

Lord Jesus, thank You for warning us, “In this world you will have tribulation.” Thank you for continuing Your journey, into the city, onto the cross, wrapped in a cocoon, placed in the tomb, and on the third day bursting forth like a Butterfly Arising. So, You could finish the sentence about tribulation, by saying, “but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

We love You, forever.

Amen.

Prayer Requests:

Call or text: 612-554-2522

Email: pray4measap@aol.com

Facebook: Church at WPV

Books: amazon.com/author/dougspurling

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This was feed for you to read. Now it’s Seed for you to sow.

Thank you for sharing.