The Epstein Files: A Pastoral Call for Truth and Justice

Truth as a Sacred Obligation

There are moments in history when a file is unsealed, a headline drops, or a truth long-buried finally surfaces — and the world is forced to stare directly into a darkness we have been trained to ignore.
The release of the Epstein documents is one of those moments.

Not because the harm is new,
but because the cover-up is old.

As a pastor serving trans, disabled, queer, poor, and marginalized communities, I need to speak plainly and with the full weight of compassion:

What happened to those girls was not “sex.”
What happened to those girls was rape and trafficking.
And the structures that allowed it to continue — for years, for decades — represent one of the clearest modern examples of how power protects itself instead of protecting the vulnerable.

This is not gossip.
This is not partisanship.
This is a moral, spiritual, and humanitarian crisis — and faith demands that we tell the truth, even when the world prefers a myth.

Naming What They Refuse to Name

In the last 72 hours, news cycles have been flooded with phrases like:

• “Older men having sex with underage girls”

• “Improper relationships”

• “Controversial encounters”

• “Alleged misconduct”

These euphemisms are not neutral.
They are violence by another name.

Let us be very clear:
A 30-, 40-, 50-, or 60-year-old man cannot “have sex” with a 13- to 16-year-old girl.
That is statutory rape.
That is child sexual abuse.
That is trafficking.

Language shapes moral imagination.
And when the media refuses to name harm accurately, it becomes part of the system that shields abusers instead of protecting survivors.

Justice begins with naming.
And naming begins with courage.

Trafficking Is Not a Conspiracy Theory — It Is a Global Industry

It would be easy — convenient, even — to treat the Epstein case as an isolated tragedy.
A sick man. A private island. A handful of victims. A contained evil.

But survivors have been telling the world the truth for decades:

Trafficking is systemic.
Trafficking is profitable.
Trafficking is protected.

And it is upheld not only by individuals but by networks — financial networks, political networks, social networks — that rely on silence, fear, and the deliberate minimizing of survivors’ stories.

The U.S. State Department estimates that millions of women and girls are trafficked every year worldwide.
Survivors report that the buyers often include:

• wealthy businessmen

• politicians

• celebrities

• industry leaders

• faith leaders

• academics

• corporate executives

This is not the depravity of “monsters.”
This is the depravity of ordinary men protected by extraordinary privilege.

The Moral Injury: When Leaders Become Predators

One of the deepest wounds in the Epstein files is not only that powerful people allegedly abused children, but that institutions built to protect the public actively protected the perpetrators instead.

This is the spiritual devastation:
When a society’s heroes turn out to be its predators.
When the trusted become the dangerous.
When power becomes permission.

Faith traditions across the world teach a simple truth:

“When you harm the little ones, you harm God.”
— Matthew 18:6

Every person in a position of influence who participated in abuse, or who witnessed red flags but remained silent, violated something sacred — something that cannot be undone with a press statement or a settlement.

To harm a child is a sin.
To protect the one who harmed them is an abomination.
To cover it up is a crime against the soul of a nation.

This Is More Than a Scandal — It’s a Structure

As survivors’ stories emerge, a pattern becomes undeniable:
The abuse was not random.
It was organized, intentional, and sustained.

Not because abusers are brilliant strategists —
but because the systems around them made it easy:

• laws that favor the wealthy

• prosecutors pressured by political relationships

• media organizations discouraged from naming names

• victims discredited or threatened

• institutions incentivized to maintain status quo

• cultural norms that diminish girls and women

• a public trained to accept the suffering of the powerless

This is not individual depravity.
This is structural sin.

This is what happens when a culture teaches men they are entitled to women’s bodies, teaches girls their pain is negotiable, and teaches society to defer to power — even when power is devouring children.

Survivors Were Not Protected — They Were Sacrificed

We must speak, too, about the women whose stories are at the center of this tragedy.

Many were children
when they were targeted.
Many were groomed
because their families were vulnerable.
Many were silenced
because the men who harmed them were untouchable.

Some were ignored because of class.
Some because of race.
Some because they were runaways, undocumented, or financially desperate.

The truth is painful, but necessary:

The girls were chosen because they were the easiest to disbelieve.

And that is why Bloom Ministries must speak.
Because our community knows exactly what it feels like to be dismissed, disbelieved, disregarded, and disposable.

We know what it feels like when systems decide our lives are less important than the reputation of those who hold power.

The Cover-Up Is Its Own Violence

It is not only the abuse that devastates — it is the years of cover-up.
The sealed documents.
The quiet deals.
The anonymous donors.
The missing records.
The “lost” videos.
The redacted names.

When institutions hide the truth, they are not preserving stability.
They are protecting predators.

And when a society protects predators, it teaches every girl and woman — and every trans, disabled, queer, poor, or marginalized person — that they are not safe, that their pain is negotiable, that their suffering is a line item in someone else’s PR strategy.

This is why truth matters.
This is why exposure matters.
This is why survivors matter.

A Pastoral Call: What Justice Looks Like Now

As a ministry grounded in Justice as Worship, we must ask:

What does accountability look like when the perpetrators include the wealthy, the powerful, the influential, and the protected?

Justice is not revenge.
Justice is not spectacle.
Justice is restoration and truth.

Justice looks like:

• survivors being believed

• institutions refusing to hide the powerful

• accurate language replacing euphemisms

• full investigations without political interference

• independent oversight

• reforms that dismantle trafficking networks

• culturally shifting how we talk about girls, women, and power

• protecting future children with policies that cannot be overridden by money

Justice looks like refusing to participate in the minimization of violence — even when the world tells us to “move on” or “let it go.”

A Word to Survivors Who May Be Reading This

If you are a survivor of trafficking, grooming, or sexual abuse, hear me clearly:

What happened to you was not your fault.
It was not your shame to carry.
Your story is holy ground.
Your healing is not a burden.
Your survival is a miracle.

Your voice belongs in the world,
and the world is better for having it.

Bloom Ministries stands with you — not as voyeurs of your pain but as companions in your liberation.

Closing Benediction: May Truth Be the Beginning of Healing

Beloved community, this is not a moment for silence.
This is a moment for moral clarity.

We do not need every answer to speak truth.
We do not need every detail to pursue justice.
We do not need perfect institutions to protect imperfect people.

What we need is courage.
What we need is accountability.
What we need is an unwavering commitment to the sacredness of every life.

And so we pray:

May the truth be revealed.
May the survivors be held.
May the powerful be humbled.
May the systems be reformed.
May the children be safe.
May justice roll like water.
May healing come like dawn.

💬 Questions & Answers: Understanding the Epstein Files, Trafficking, and Our Call to Justice

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