“This country needs to be the solution. Instead, we are the problem. Right now, we’re a source of the corruption that is enslaving children,” says Tim Ballard.
In a recent episode of “American Thought Leaders,” Jan Jekielek spoke with actor Jim Caviezel and Tim Ballard, a former Department of Homeland Security special agent and the founder of Operation Underground Railroad. Mr. Caviezel plays Ballard in the new Angel Studios action drama film “Sound of Freedom,” which sheds light on the dark realities of sex trafficking and children.
But after that experience, I couldn’t do anything else. I had to interview him for several days to find out what’s going on. Where’s your sister? Where are the other people? He gave me this pendant on a necklace that his sister had given him. It was like a rosary.
I said, “Why do I want this?” He didn’t really tell me why. It was almost like he was inspired. A few days later, when I had it in my office, my son saw it. This boy was about 5 years old, and my son was a few years older.
He said, “Dad, where did you get this?” I said, “It’s from this little boy we rescued.” He asked: “How did he know your name? That’s so cool that he put your name on the necklace.”
I said, “No, my name’s not on the necklace.” I flipped it around and there it was, 1 Timothy 6:11, which is a beautiful scripture. From my head to my toes, I just felt invigorated and enlightened, like, “Oh my gosh.”
People say it was a coincidence. For me, it wasn’t. It was real. I started wearing that necklace throughout the entire mission and every other mission that I ever did. So thank you for asking. Everybody assumes it was poetic license in the movie, but it’s real, and it played a huge part in my decision.
This film has a lot of tough things. But what burns is Tim’s love for humanity. God gave him that direction at the expense of his own life. That goes right to scripture with the great saints like St. Paul or John the Baptist. They were fearless, because they trusted God. What is greater than fearless love?
But I didn’t trust Hollywood. After this operation made the news, we started getting hit up by these studios. We just said, “No.” I’m actually in this business in part because of Hollywood. Hollywood creates the content that creates the sex addiction, that creates the demand, and that creates human trafficking. The link is there. But when this current production studio came to me, it turns out they maybe were not Hollywood.
I said, “Jim Caviezel has to play me.”
They said: “He doesn’t look like you. The guy has to look like you.” Because there’s this thing at the end, where they do this transformation that was in the script from the beginning where they show real footage.
I said: “No, he doesn’t. He has to feel like me. He’s the only actor I know that loves Jesus, and that’s also important to me.” And that’s how I do this. It’s because I’m a person of faith. There is one scripture that loudly speaks to me. Jesus says, “It’s better that a millstone be wrapped around your neck and have you cast to the bottom of the sea, than you should hurt one of these little children.”
That’s what makes it so I can do the things depicted in that film. I’m scared, and I’m as human as anybody, but I know where heaven stands on this issue, because Jesus made it very clear.
Jim didn’t know that line of scripture is my go-to. I can go in with courage because Jesus has my back, and the angels of God have my back.
That’s how I do what I do. That’s why I do what I do.
People are going to feel that reverberation when they go to the theater. It’s a dark film. But if it wasn’t for Tim, those children never would have made it. It’s a great role to play, and that’s a battle I’m willing to fight any day.
My favorite part was at the end where they showed all the good guys, the bad guys, and the kids, and where they are today. All those kids they rescued at the island, we know where they are.
Some of them now work for us. Some of them, as young adults, have actually rescued people from human trafficking. It’s the most amazing story.
And all the bad guys are real, like Bill Camp’s character, Vampiro. He’s a real guy with a real story. The story he tells in the movie about being converted from molesting children is an Academy Award-winning scene, and Jim’s response is probably the most brilliant acting ever. He didn’t say one word, just used his eyes at the end of that scene. Jim speaks 10,000 words through his eyes without saying a word.
It’s important to know that, because I’m tired of people saying that human trafficking must be false, that it can’t be real. It’s the left doing this. They want to discredit human trafficking and pedophilia, because they have an agenda to normalize pedophilia.
The U.N. just stated that it’s time to start decriminalizing sex with children. The same groups that are trying to discredit me and destroy my reputation are also peddling this agenda of not calling them pedophiles, that pedophile is a derogatory term. Hell yeah, it’s derogatory, and it’s supposed to be. It’s a red flag statement.
Now, they want to call them minor-attracted persons. You’ve heard this, it’s called MAP. It’s insane what is happening with the sexualization of our kids and what’s happening at the border with child trafficking. There is spiritual warfare going on right now, and children are in the crosshairs.
So I hope this film opens people’s minds to the danger our children are in.
This movie is a huge weapon against evil, and some people don’t like it. Too bad. If you tell a lie over and over again, it becomes real. For example, with the Hunter Biden laptop they said, “It’s not true,” and we believed that. For two years, they said it over and over again. But now, it turns out it is true. That was two years of lying. Before the Durham report dropped, for seven years, we had a Russian agent, Donald Trump. Now, we don’t anymore, but that’s seven years of lying.
The public isn’t buying it anymore. They’re looking at the media and saying: “No, you’re as wicked as those traffickers. You are as wicked as those pedophiles, and this is why you’re running cover for them.” The public is putting it all together. There’s going to be a point where those people won’t be able to walk down the street ever again.
Often, people in the United States have looked at those numbers and said: “No, that’s far, far away. That’s in Africa and India, and maybe South America. That’s not here.” They’re wrong. The United States is No. 3 for destination countries for human trafficking, and No. 1 for consumption of child rape videos. We are now approaching No. 1 in production of child exploitation material.
If we don’t understand that, then we’ll never understand why things are happening in this country that make no sense. Why were there over 85,000 unaccompanied minors showing up in the last two years at the southern border, who were then delivered to sponsors with no background check and no DNA testing? Thousands were under 5 years old.
It’s also born here in this country. Some people want to get rid of the term pedophile, and call it a minor-attracted person. They want to give children pornography in 3rd grade, calling it sex education. They want to let 14-year-old girls consent to mastectomies and injections with hormone blockers that can destroy their reproductive systems.
Why is that relevant? Because it’s one more step to giving consent. If you give that much power of consent at age 14, you’ve already sexualized that person. Suppose they then say: “I identify as a 30-year-old, and I want to have sex with that 40-year-old pedophile. You can’t stop me anymore, because you’ve eliminated all the godly, scientific, moral virtues this nation was based upon. Mom and Dad, you washed them away, and you got lots of social media hits because of it. You got awards because of it, but now you can’t stop the pedophiles.”
The pedophile agenda has been pushed for decades, all the things that pedophiles have wanted, sexualizing kids and giving kids the right to consent. These are the platforms that the organized pedophile groups have been peddling, and the “woke” left is now implementing them.
This has never happened in the history of this country. If you believe in a just God, you need to stand up right now, those who believe, and those who understand. Hopefully, this film will bring light and soften hearts.
This is a dark time to be an American, because we really don’t have a country now. A country has to be a sovereign nation with borders, and we don’t have a southern border anymore.
That is part of the fabric of our country right now. I’ve talked to a lot of people, and there’s no exact word to describe it—they’re just pissed off about the culture. They’re talking about our children, CRT, and all these things. With everything from Target to Bud Light, people are tired of it and they’re angry. Then, out of nowhere, comes this light called “Sound of Freedom,” and it represents what they believe in, which is one nation, under God, indivisible.
Everybody has to decide, and actors have to decide. Do you want to put your hand up and work for the fear? Or are you going to stand up for our country and follow the righteousness of our forefathers in creating this republic? They believed that life comes before liberty, and life comes before happiness. Because without your life, you have no liberty. Without your life, you have no happiness.
I never should have had to separate myself to do what we did. This country needs to be the solution. Instead, we are the problem. Right now, we’re a source of the corruption that is enslaving children. The solution must come from this country. I believe in the silent majority and that this film will bring them out.
It’s not even about the story, and it’s certainly not about me. It’s about those children. People will recognize it’s about our children in this country. Even the ones that seem safe at home, they’re not really safe. They’re not really safe in public schools. They are being groomed, and they’re being readied for pedophilia. I promise you that is happening. I hope this film will wake people up.
Here’s the shirt that Angel Studios gave me. It reads, “God’s Children Are Not For Sale.” That’s our tagline. It’s the most important line Jim says in the film.
