Sound of Freedom: New Film Uncovers Scary Truths About Human Trafficking w/ Tim Ballard

You know, it's the fastest growing criminal enterprise in the world. There are 6 million plus children enslaved. There is a way to actually rescue the millions. I don't have that. I can rescue the one, the ten, the hundred, the thousands. But history has taught us something.

Own your future. Because if you don't, someone else will. Welcome back to the Own youn Future podcast. Without exaggeration, this will be the most important episode we've ever done and may ever do. So I'm going to encourage you to shut off all distractions, not think about anything else, and really spend time today listening. Because in life we have the opportunity to go after our own goals, our own dreams, our own desires, like my guest has done. His just happened to have a trajectory that the impact he's made has changed and saved so many lives. Our guest today is Tim Ballard. Not sure if you know him, but you will at a deep level after this interview. He's got a new movie coming out based on his life called the Sound of Freedom. It's coming out July 4th. It will change your life. I was, I hope I can share this. I was lucky enough to see a screening of it in advance and it may be the most impactful movie I've seen in 20 years. And I, I could go on and on about this gentleman and what he's done and the sacrifices he's made as a father of eight, just bailing out of his current life to go in and help others. I'm not trying to be teased too much, but I'd rather him share and I'm so honored to have you on this show. Tim Ballard, what's going on?

Dean, thanks so much for having.

Oh, good to have you here. Listen, for those that don't know, and I never start with big long bios on people. I love to get right to the meat of it. Yeah, but what you've dedicated your life to, Heck, I knew about this from Tony ages ago and I went to Tony's birthday party and understood what you did. And I just want to share the impact we have lots of charities that my wife and I donate to. We were at Tony's birthday. You got up on stage, played a little video and shared what you've done. And I stood up and donated a half a million dollars in this. And I'm not using that like we usually spread it out more. And then I think a month later I sent you another hundred thousand dollars and we're going to do more this year and not for any other reason is when what I want everybody to hear right now is when you don't know something's going on, you can. Ignorance is bliss in some areas. When you understand what your mission is, what you've done and the children's lives you saved, I think you can't look away anymore. This movie is going to create a movement and hopefully we can eradicate this, this ugly in the world. So, Tim, thanks for being here. Maybe you could share a little bit. I want to get into the movie. I want to get. I got questions about the movie. I want to know what's going on next. I want to let people know this movie is on fire to be one of the biggest releases in history. The way it's going right now, and it's fantastic. But maybe a little bit about you and share it in a way I don't even want to share. I want you to share it through your lens of what you do. Sure.

Yeah. Thanks so much. So I guess, you know, I started, for 12 years, I was a special agent and undercover operator for the Department of Homeland Security. And that's when I learned about child crimes and human trafficking and what is going on. Like it was a shock to me. And you know, learning the stats and then having the anecdotal experiences to back up the stats was, was just alarming. It's, you know, it's the fastest growing criminal enterprise in the world. There are 6 million plus children enslaved.

6 million.

6 million. This is according to Department of Labor, State Department. Some, some have estimates as high as 12 million. Altogether, there's 27 million people who don't own their bodies and they're, it's, it's labor, it's sex and it's organ harvesting. And the organ harvesting thing is. I know, it's so. I mean, sex trafficking is bad enough, but this is a very real thing. We are taking down organ harvesting rings, mostly in Africa and Middle east where they're taking babies. They'll even make the babies. They'll rape women in baby factories and keep them locked up and then make babies and sell them for their organs like it is.

It doesn't know. It doesn't even seem real.

I know.

Here's what I want to share with you listening today. This is not one of those things to, you know, on this show we have great inspirational guests. We have billionaires, we have people who have created multimillion dollar businesses and great marketing, great share. This is one of those things where you're still an innovator, you're still an entrepreneur. You still have had to take down all the internal and external obstacles, the stuff that no one sees. The invisible, right? The self doubt, the fear, the worry. I'm sure there's still things with all you've done in this movie is fantastic to see a slice of your life with all things you've done. I'm sure there's things you worry about when no one's watching, things that no one would ever think how brave you are. And the goals, the things you've accomplished, you still worry about it. But I want you to hear, when you hear child slavery, when you hear organ harvesting, it doesn't sound like it can be real. And it is. And I'm going to encourage you to not only listen to this because it'll be, it'll be eye opening and inspirational to see what's possible, what we can do in the collective. And then I believe when you're done, you need to share this message because we can really make a difference. And this movie is going to make a difference because it's light enough where you want. It's. It's an action adventure based in reality and they did a really great job. So I don't want to interrupt. So from. From working for the Agency.

Right. So I. In 2012, I had a couple of cases I was working. Well, in 2006, the laws changed in United States and allowed for US agents to go overseas for the first time. And we could, if we found an American who is engaging in sexual activity with any child or doing anything in the realm of trafficking, we could actually have them arrested and extradited and hold them accountable in the US as if they had committed that crime on US soil.

Wow.

So it's very revolutionary. And that's when I went undercover school and they sent me. I speak Spanish, so they sent me overse. But they were torturing me unwittingly, like the US Government, because I would always find the kids. And that's when my eyes really opened up, like, wow, they're everywhere. These little kids are everywhere being sold. But if I didn't find the American trafficker in the two weeks that the bureaucracy.

I want you home.

Yeah, I'm going home. And I got so tired. It happened so many times. But in 2012, I did two cases. One in Haiti, which led to finding two children who I adopted. And the other one was in Colombia. And the film chose to just focus on that one in Columbia, but it was actually simultaneous. It all happened in 2014. But so in 2012, I'm working these cases, I'm getting deep, I'm going further than I'm supposed to go. I recognize, like, Tim, you're supposed to do this consulting. You're supposed to be. We told that. We told headquarters. You're just gonna, like, train. And I ended up going way further, as the film shows. And then they say, come home. Because they weren't happy. They weren't satisfied with what I had provided yet. And I don't blame them because I hadn't quite hit that. That. That piece. But I couldn't leave. So I called my wife. I'm like, they want me to come home. And like, if I come home, there could be a hundred kids that don't get rescued. And I wanted her because I was coward. I was a coward, okay? I wanted her to say, get your ass home. We have six kids. We had six at the time. We can't. We have no money. Like, we have a good job. I wanted her to say that, and she didn't. She's. She was just like, stay. I'm like, wait, it was my idea. But you're supposed to refute it. Yeah.

You're supposed to get me home. Yeah.

And I fought her. In the movie, you see Mary Sorvino, who's the Academy Award winning actress, plays Catherine. And it's a cool scene. She says, you quit your job and rescue those kids. But the real story, they didn't want to make me. They didn't want to show me the coward that I was. So I think they were trying to protect my. My character. But because I was. I was a mess, I was like, catherine, this is crazy. Like, and. And it got to the. Where she felt so, so strong about it, even a. Even on a spiritual confirmation level, that she said these words to me that changed my whole life and perspective. And I quote this all the time. And she didn't realize she was going to say something that was so profound and it's not even. You know, this is verbatim because it was that piercing to me. It was the second week of December of 2013. I remember that. And she said to me, I will not let you jeopardize my salvation by not doing this.

Oh, my gosh, look at. I got my hair. Stand up.

Me too.

Because I will not jeopardize myself, my salvation.

I'm just like, hol.

Crap.

And I remember thinking, who. What do you. Catherine. Like, not only are, like, you risking our financial everything because I'm a federal agent, I think I have 4,000 bucks in the bank. Like, I don't have. I'm not an entrepreneur. And second, you just sent me on a mission and you know there's 50, 50, I'm coming home. Even I've lost the top cover of the government. I got the Colombian government, but you.

Know that's wishy washy.

And then they're not even there. You know, you got to find the right people but the institutions aren't necessarily. And, and she's like you have to do this. And she said it through tears like this was not like something she's happy about but she's like I will not meet my maker and say that we said no in this moment.

So man, she knew how to pile it off.

Oh she piled it on. She piled it on.

And guys, I want to tell you before we go any further in the movie, all of this unfolds, it unfolds. And, and I know talking to you a little bit, I'd love to talk more on how real all of that was. I mean picture your deep in. You got the federal government, United States in your back and in a moment you're on your own. You need the funds to do it. You need the protection to do it. You could be killed in an eighth of a second just like that. And this movie is coming out July 4th weekend. When you ever you're listening to this, you might be listening to it after it. I'm going to tell you go to angel.comfreedom angel.com freedom. You can grab a ticket. There's already a half a million tickets pre sold. Already half a million tickets pre sold. And, and I'm not just saying go to the movie because you get to understand, I'm telling you it is a fantastic movie but it's eye openening and awakening. And the byproduct this movie before we go any further is not only are you aware, not only it's not the thing that to look away from anymore, you can look into it, you can help in any area you want. Just awareness sharing, donate a dollar or, or more. But it also does something to ourselves. You know I, I watched with my son this weekend. I'm going to digress and I want to get the rest of the story but I watched oh God. The movie about the football player that was the left tackle. God. I'll think about it in a moment.

The Blindside.

Blindside. Thank you. And the great I'm watching it with my son and the greatest part of the movie and I stopped it and had my son listen to it when she's at lunch talking about adopting this African American kid who came from nothing and they think it's a pity, you know, like, oh, my God, look what you did for him. And she stops and she's like, no, no, no. You have no idea what it did for me. And she gets up and walks out. And I stopped. I said, my son Brody. I'm like, did you catch that? And that's what this movie does. It's what it does for us. Being grateful for what we have, for really realizing the relationship you might have with God. And we get to live it in a certain way. And these children don't have that. And it does something for us. As much as sharing is sharing awareness. Awareness and hopefully helping with this situation, I think it's a movie that allow you to look at your life level of gratitude. So I'm so, so happy you did this. So, angel.com freedom. Buy a ticket. Buy a ticket for a friend. Okay, so your wife drops this bomb on you. Like a bomb.

Yes. Yeah. And so. So off we go. And I. So Glenn Beck, the news. The radio guy, Glenn Beck, I don't even know him that well, but I was on a show. I was on a show a few months earlier because of a book that I'd written, totally unrelated to human trafficking, about American history. I don't know how I got in a show. It wasn't that good of a book, but. But I was lucky to get on a show. And. And I reached out to him. I'm like, please. He's the only famous person I knew at the time. I was like, I need money. Like, I have no money. And I got to do these two operations, one in Haiti, one in Colombia. And he did it like he. It was crazy because he shouldn't have done it. Like, he's like, can you prove this model, this privatizing rescues. I said, no, I've never done it before. He's like, all right. And he said the same thing my wife did. He says, I won't make my. I can't meet my maker and say that I did nothing.

So he talk about, have a divine intervention.

That's what it was. And he just gave. He. Like, within weeks, I had, like, half a million dollars. And then money kept coming in. These ops are super expensive, so I needed all of it. And so the first op is. So there's two leads, right? One's in Haiti. We're looking for this little boy who's an American citizen of Haitian descent. And that's actually going to be told in Sound of Freedom. Two that the script's already written, believe it or Not.

Wow.

Which I'm so glad it is, because they're going to start producing probably next based on the success. We end up, you know, going back and forth. Columbia. Katie. I don't have enough money to go home, so I'm just, like. I'm just going back and forth between these two countries trying to figure this out. We do the rescue. I won't get into the rescue in Haiti because I want to focus on Colombia, but I just want to say this because it's funny. February 19th. We do the rescue in Haiti first in 2014, and we end up rescuing 28 kids who are being sold. And I end up adopting two of the kids that I had a connection with while I was undercover. And I go home, and I'm telling Catherine this story. She's like, oh, my gosh, our first rescue. We have no more money, but we have enough money for one more operation in Cartagena. And you know what she says to me? She's like, well, where are the parents of the kids? I said, well, the parents are. They died. They died in the earthquake, and that's why they were taken and put into an orphanage. It's not an orphan. It's. They're selling kids for sex and organ harvesting. It's horrifying. But these. We got them out. And she said, well, I. I think I should be their mother. If. I'm like, wait, I know. I'm like, catherine, please. Like, oh, my gosh. She's like, no, I feel like if they don't have a mom, I should be their mom. And I'm just like, we. Like, we're. We have no money left, you know, and. But I didn't want to get the salvation quote again thrown on me. I knew it was coming if I. So I just, like. I was like, okay, we'll do it. Like, faith precedes the miracle, you know, it's like, do the irrational service first. And, you know, Tony Robbins has taught me this. The secret to living is giving. And what happens when you give is like, what you were just saying. Everything opens up. And. And so. So that's a different story. The Cartagena story is one they chose to focus the film on. So I come back to the Colombians, and I'm like, I'm still here, but I don't have a badge. I don't have a gun. And they said, well, we don't. We never cared about your badge anyway. You are the bait. You're already here. Let's go. Let's go. And there's A couple of really cool agents in there that are depicted in the film that supported this. We ended up the rescue operation. You don't know till the end of the movie actually how big it was. They didn't. They take liberties and we can get into what things are true, when things are false. But they underreported the big hit on the island. They said there's 54 rescued on the island. That's true. But they didn't report that there was two other locations we hit simultaneously that same day. That's October 11th of 2014. And in total, it was over 120 rescued, 15 traffickers arrested. And then God blessed us because. Scott Pelley reported CBS News on the story and Eduardo Verastaguy, the producer of Sound of Freedom, sees it and he comes to me and he's like, this is a movie. And so that's. It started right away. This has been an eight year process and that began in the meantime. We continue to grow our operations and frankly, we do the same kind of ops you see in the movie. We're doing them all the time.

They're happening right now.

Right now. Just two days ago, a huge hit in Central America. We have offices in Asia, Africa, Middle East. I run the Nazarene Fund, which focuses mostly on the Middle east and Africa on organ harvesting. So, I mean, we're running ops constantly. That's what's so fun to watch this movie. It's like, guys, this is happening right now.

Yeah.

And then we have, we have several documentaries coming out on the heels of this. So that people see this is actually real. This is not just some Taken movie. This is Taken, but is real and it's happening right.

And it's growing fast, Growing super fast. So I got a couple questions that might, might be hard to answer, but there's two this morning. I got a I, I w. I was blessed to watch the movie last week with my son. And we were at breakfast this morning, he's like, oh, you're going to interview Tim today. You know, there's a couple things he, he was. I was like, what would you ask him? Right? And he was, he was sharing through his lens. And I think you kind of answered it with that. Your wife's into, you know, the, your wife's message to you, like, I want to meet my maker. And he asked, he's like, do you feel that you're guided by a higher spirit? Is what my, my son said. And I would bet to say yes. But here's the thought I had. Watching the movie is of course you get mad, you get angry. Like, I wanted to kill every single one. Like, literally, I could find myself killing all of them and going to have lunch with my family, not even have a hiccup. Right. How do you control that? I know that might be a weird question, but, like, how do you let the anger not overtake you of when you see it again? It's one of those things, once you see it, you can't unsee it.

Right.

But you have to see it.

Right. So such a good question of one. I've contemplated quite a bit because I've been doing it for 18 years. In fact, I just stopped. I just announced officially last week, no more undercover operations. I can't anymore. Not just because the movie.

And you got great people doing them.

I've got great people doing it. But it's. It kicks your butt. Because going undercover, it's a world I'm even afraid to even try to articulate. Because you want to destroy these people, but you have to be friends with them. Not just for a day or two, sometimes a month.

That's what. That's what I thought. In the movie, you're high five and having a have. They're drinking in front of you. They're doing all these things, and deep down you want to just cut their throats.

Yeah.

I mean, just.

But the only way. Because chemistry is a real thing. Right. People can't fake it. You can't fake it. So you have to, like, dive into a different place and find the humanity in them. This left. It's hard, but you have to find something that you have in common and focus on that thing. Because they can. You can't keep it going.

Yeah.

And so you got to actually have this real thing with them. You never. I've never lost sight that they need to be out of this society. But it's. It's really hard to transition in and then transition back out is even harder because you're just.

No, I'm saying you have like a hangover from it.

Exactly.

Because you have an internal. Again, you probably have this internal, like, rage.

Yes.

Simultaneously, you feel icky because you gotta be their buddy and high five them and get comfortable so they open up and do the things that they do. I love the. The transformation in the movie on how you met. Like, you said that I'm not going to give too much away because you got to go see it, but some of the things that you got from a necklace to book that you find out in the movie without sharing.

Right.

You have those, like I have them real.

Yeah.

And that was along this journey of building a friendship and a connection.

Yes.

So you can get undercover and earn that trust towards the beginning of the film.

You remember the first. The first pedophile that you introduced to Oceansky. Very true story. It ended in a coffee shop. He gives me the book, and I won't get in too much. But a couple things about that. Two things. It's probably the most important scene to me personally, even though it's not the most exciting, for two reasons. One, that was the hardest undercover operation I ever did in my life because as you recall, I had to go undercover as myself. It's one thing.

Oh, yeah, yeah. As pretend this is you, this is me.

Because it was. The case was such that the only way I got to talk about. Because he believed he'd written literature and written a book and things saying that every man wants children. He just can't admit it. So I used that. I'm like, hey, bro, listen, I've been doing this for eight years.

Oh, man.

Oh. I was throwing up in my stomach, but not letting it come out. Like, it was like. And I'm like, I'm Tim Ballard, special agent and secret pedophile. And I had to carry that for about a month. It was destroying. It's different when you get to be a different name. You have a different identity.

Yeah.

But this is me. And so that's why you. You see, like the anger and. And Jim Caviezel plays it out when he.

When he does so good.

When he throws him down. But there's another reason I love that. Which answers your son's first question. There's a line that Jim says right before the guy's arrested. And he ad libbed it. It's not in the script. And he didn't even know that. That was my go to scripture. That's my go to spiritual line. There's. There's only one time in the. In the. In the Bible where Jesus, like, gets a mafioso in his. In his language. And I'm not talking about flipping tables of the temple. He says something that the Mafia says. And he only says only one time ever. He does this. But it's Jesus, so it's right. He says it's better that a millstone be wrapped around your neck and you tossed to the bottom of the sea. That's Mafia. That's like cement shoes kind of stuff. Right. Then that you should hurt one of these little children.

Wow.

So that's my.

Twice I got me too.

I get. So when you see me going into dark places and then film. I'm scared to death. Like, don't think I'm not. Like, when those. I can't even watch the movie. Like, I have ptsd.

I'm sure. No, I was. You have to have ptsd.

Yeah. Because I don't even believe I did it. I'm like, why did I do that? And Catherine's watching. She's like. And she's remembering, too. She's like, I can't believe you did that.

But, like. Wait, you made me do that.

Yeah.

It was you. It was you.

And. But I think of that line of scripture. Well, you see, in the. In the movie, I don't. I'm not going to give it away, because Jim uses that scripture very. In a very clever way that's almost. It's almost like dissonant. It's almost like, wait, what? Even the pedophile's like, what are you talking about? Remember, he leans over the table and he says, better than a millstone be wrapped around your neck. And the pedophile's like, what are you talking about? What are you talking about? I won't say anything else. Yeah, because when you watch it, you see what Jim did. It was brilliant.

It was brilliant. He played that role so good. I mean, he was you. He was you. And I got the chance to. So why. You know, we're. We're talking about something that is so tragic when you. But why is it hard? I think I have the answer. But this is your life for the last decade. And plus, why is it hard for people to really take this one in? Like, I. I feel like this is one of those topics. You know, I was at Tony's birthday. I had known what you'd done, but that. That birthday with, you know, Tony didn't want the birthday about himself. He wanted it bigger. And we shared what you were doing, your efforts, Operation Underground Railroad and all the things that were happening. And immediately I knew I had. So since then, if I go to. If I talk to people that I know are influential or they donate, a lot of times they're like, oh, that one's too hard. How do you. How have you softened people? The movie does in a great way. But how have you done it in your life?

It's been so hard because what happens? And it's happened to me. So I have complete, you know, empathy for people who want to run. Because when I first started in this work, every video, I would look at little kids being brutally assaulted. And these are millions of videos I Mean, Tony.

You took Tony on a private. On a secret operation. Yeah, I know. You invited me, so I'm good. I like watching from the bar. I'm good. But Tony just told me about it last week. I was with him. I told you. We were down in Florida. And he literally brought up when he said he walked in a room and there was a little boy handcuffed to a bed.

Yeah.

And he started crying.

Yeah.

I mean, you know Tony, he cries. He's so emotional. And he's done so much to help. He's inspired me to help. It's a hard thing. So. So again, I'll let you finish. How do you get people to go, I don't care how hard it is. I'm leaning in to help.

So, yeah, the problem is you. You tend to superimpose, and I did this. You superimpose your own kids faces on the kids that you're trying to help, and that makes you want to run. But it's just. Look, I've struggled with this, and it's.

Just.

The pain that they're experiencing is so much more intense than whatever pain we think we're experiencing. And so it's embrace. It's a really good point. Just embrace it and make the kids your kids. So I spent eight years in therapy the. During my 12 years of doing undercover work, trying to learn how to not superimpose my kids faces on them. And it worked, but it was a mistake, I realized later was a mistake. And I learned it on February. In February of 2014, the operation in Haiti. I had to walk into this orphanage. I'd never seen so many kids being sold. 28 kids in one. Like, I'd never seen that. And something. And I started doing the thing where I some. I see my kids. You know, at this point, I've got seven kids or six kids. And so it's like. And they're every age. So I can be like, oh, there's Jimmy, there's Blaine, there's like. And I start doing my mental exercises that I've been taught. Like, here's how you distance yourself. And I swear to you, God told me outside that gate, don't do it. Let them be your kids. Just let them be your kids. Why not? They don't have parents. Because if it's your own kid, you'll go so much further. Yeah, you'll go. You'll go the densest. And that's why I ended up, I think, adopting two of them, because I let them be my kids. And so that's my invitation to people, like you said earlier, lean in, embrace it. Embrace the pain and be the. Be the family of these kids because they don't have anyone. That's how they got in this in the first place, is there was no family or really bad family situation. So that's the only solution is to. Is to. Is to embrace it. And this film, as you pointed out, is the perfect kind of like gateway into it.

I think it is because it doesn't. It makes you disturbed without being so uncomfortable that you want to leave. Like you're not gonna. You won't miss a second of this movie once it starts. Here's another one. You know, there we all have our stuff in the Invisible. I shared it earlier. Stuff that people want to start their own business and go, God, it's so hard to start at zero. It's the wrong economy, the wrong government, the wrong president, the last president, the current president, whatever your beliefs are, or a bad relationship. Like, I had so much work to fix it, get out of it, or start new, or my last one hurt me. Sometimes you feel in life that the effort you put in will not make a difference. You know, our Tony always says, you know, and I used to hear Bill Gates say it a lot and others that we all overestimate what we can do in a year, underestimate what we can do in 10. So this is a big question, because this is about purpose and hope and drive and be able to get up each morning and go, even if you don't feel like it is, you realize how big this is, right? I thought it was 2 million. You're saying 7 could be 12 million that don't own themselves. It can feel, I'm sure, that you're trying to drain the ocean with a spoon.

Yeah, all the time.

Right. You know, you save 120 and no one could ever imagine the effort, the energy, the collaboration, the timing, the risk, the guns that were out, like, to save 120. And you go, wow, there's another 7 million left. So how do you keep yourself, the people on your team, motivated and say, I don't care if we're draining the ocean with a spoon, we're going to drain this thing.

So. So there's two answers to that. The. The first is, I'm always telling my team, we do it for the One. We do it for the One. We do it for the One.

Yeah.

And you save one in your life, just one, it's over in a good way. Like if that's all you ever did. And so we focus and there's been times when we put all that effort in and only got one.

Yeah.

Or 50, same effort. It doesn't matter that this one kid is.

Because that one kid needed you as much as.

And God sees that kid as the most important gem on the planet. Right. And so see it that way. Then. The other thing is there is a way. There is a way to actually rescue the millions. I don't have that. I can rescue the one, the ten, the hundred, the thousands. But history has taught us something. I'll say Abraham Lincoln taught me something because he was confronted with real slavery in his day. A different form, but every, you know, slavery. And when he met Harry Beecher Stowe, who was one of the great storytellers who wrote the book Uncle Tom's Cabin, which joined voices with all the other amazing abolitionists like Frederick Douglass and others. When he met her in the middle of the war, he said to her, something so telling, and it's the solution to the problem today. He said, so you're the little lady that wrote the big book that started this war. Wow. And what he was saying. And what he was saying was when he started his prison, 1861, he said, I'm not going after slavery. I just want the south back and I want them to stop attacking the national ports and forts. I'm not here to touch your slavery. But that, well, that was a problem. You know, I picture God going, I gotta. I gotta slap you around, Abraham. Like it was. But it was the. It was the storytellers, the abolitionist Harry Beecher Stowe that got so loud and Lincoln got so humbled.

He couldn't be. It couldn't be avoided.

It couldn't be avoided anymore. And he changed the purpose of the war by 1863 and made it about liberating the captive. So he credited the storytellers. So I look at the storytellers, I look at the producers of Sound of Freedom. I look at, you know, Tony Robbins, you, the people who have voices, who tell stories. That's the Harry Beecher Stows of our day. Sound of Freedom could be the Uncle Tom's Cabin of our slavery today. And now we can see millions, because in the end, millions were rescued because the foundations of the government switched. Like right Now, Dean, there's five drug agents for every one. Anti child trafficking agents in the U.S.

Let'S switch that, Switch that.

And this film can do that. Just like Uncle Tom's Cabin did it in the 19th century.

Yeah. I believe it's one of the most important films of our generation. I really do, because of exactly what you said and what I felt you just anchored in in a big way. So make sure you go to angel.com forward slash, freedom. Get tickets to this movie. I promise you'll thank me. Share it with people you at. At the website. You can buy tickets for other people, correct?

Yeah.

Okay, so what I want to do right now is I want to buy 5, 000 tickets.

Holy crap.

I want to buy. So when we get done, I'm gonna go to that URL. I'll buy 5, 000 tickets. Can they distribute them to people who need them?

Yeah, anyone can go online and grab your tickets and send them. It'll evenly distribute to, like, theaters nationwide. So people can say, I got five friends in. In Tennessee or this, or they can. They can send them the tickets.

Gotcha.

Go to the theater. It's already purchased for you. Yeah, yeah.

And that might just be the start. But this is our opportunity. And. And it's a fun movie, while simultaneous fun, meaning it's entertaining, I should say. It's not just sitting through. I'll sit through to learn this. It's like you will enjoy the movie at 10 out of 10, and you will leave there knowing that you want to help get in the. Get your own spoon out and see if we can drain this swamp together. You know, when we. Before we turned on the camera, you were sharing some of the things that you've done recently. Yeah. The Ukraine war. I don't know how much of that you can share.

Yeah, I can share. I can share.

That was so crazy.

Crazy case. Yeah. So. So Ukraine gets invaded late February, I think, 22nd, 23rd of February. And my wife comes to me again and again. She's the most deliberate, like, like, like rational person.

I'm not deliberately rationed.

Right. So when she comes with something crazy, I'm like, oh, crap, it's from God. Like, because God's irrational. You know, she's not. And she says to me, you got to go to Ukraine. Like, bombs are dropping. Because we. We had seven children. That children need families, which is a project of. Of our foundation is we. We adopt children, get them into families and children who are in high trafficking areas. Ukraine's already a high trafficking area. So she's devastated because she knows their names. They're like weeks away, some of them, from getting into homes. Where are they? What's going on? And so I'm making phone calls. She's like, you need to go there. I'm like, yeah, I'll go there. Like, I'll go there in prayer. I'll go there. You mean figuratively, right? Like, she's like. She's like, tim, you need to put boots on the ground. I know if you go there, something's gonna happen. So, you know, I. I call my friends at Aerial Recovery because, you know, my. My foundations weren't prepared to go for that. For that in a war zone. Yeah. So I call a group called Aerial Recovery. Good friend. I'm on their board, and we went in together, and ultimately, 6,000 were rescued.

6,000.

6,000 were pulled out. But the. The other thing that happened, I told you earlier, a few hours after my wife's telling me, go to Ukraine, I get a phone call from Mel Gibson. And this. At this point, this. This story was trending viral, like, two weeks ago. I don't know how it leaked that Mel Gibson is. It was a Newsweek and all over. He's doing a documentary, and he said to me. He said, I got names for Ukraine. These are kids that I care about that I'm helping. You got to help me help. Can you go get them out? I'm like, dude, my wife and Mel Gibson, like, in a. Like, usually, you know, if they're both saying that your wife and Mel Gibson, like, maybe that's a sign. Right. But what happened? I said, mel, will you consult and help me? Because I got to film this. This. Because this is gonna be expensive. And anyway, we find this Dutch. This Dutch pedophile group.

So while you're in this.

While we're in Eastern Europe.

So just so we really understand, you have boots on the ground, meaning you're in a war zone. I mean, is there legitimately bombs dropping?

One. One bomb hit within a mile of where we were at one point, a Russian missile.

So bombs are dropping, you're in a war zone. It's got to be chaotic. I've never, obviously, been in a war zone. We're so blessed. For those of you who have never experienced that. I could only imagine what that's like. So that's chaotic in its own.

Yeah.

And you're trying to find needles in a haystack.

Correct.

You're getting leads, but they could be anywhere.

Right?

Right. So you're on the ground finding children. 6,000 total by the time you're done. You find. Did you find the. The children that your wife asked you to go to?

No, they had been moved to Lithuania already, so we knew they were safe.

Okay, cool.

So at least we knew they were safe, but someone else had got them first.

Yeah. And then. Then once you Go in. You realize I came for those seven, but there's thousands that need.

Right. In the end, we partnered with this, the social services of Ukraine and they're a mess. Everything shut down. They gave us a list of 10,000 names. That's how we got like, here's the 10,000, here's like their last known addresses. Can you find these kids?

So, so you're on the ground, Let me say. So you're on the ground doing this. It's like in business, I always call it a strategic byproduct. You have a goal and if you go strong enough, hard enough for that goal, usually on the way to your goal, you see an off ramp that's even bigger. Yeah, right. You had a goal. Help my wife with these seven kids. Help Mel Gibson with the people he saw. Now you're on the freeway and you see all these lanes, like, I gotta help here. I gotta here. And one of those lanes is you find this Dutch pedophile group and it's.

It'S, it's the most frightening group I've ever taken on because they're, they're, they're political, they're loud, they have agendas, they have platforms.

So they want to make it legal.

Yeah, so they're, they, they, they, they're called the pnvd. It's a political party in Holland. And their goal is to make sex with children legal. They believe that their leader, Nelson Matzman had put did in an interview where he publicly stated that a three year old should be able to consent to full sex. And that's what they're, that's what they're shooting for. They were arrested in 2020 for crimes against children. And they feud, they became fugitives. No one knew who they were. They raised their ugly heads in 2022 because they wanted to access.

So they went to Ukraine to try to get kids.

Yeah, they were, they were looking for kids. They were online first asking people in Ukraine, hey, because they know it's harvest time, like after a war, after an earthquake. That's when, that's how so many kids get taken. They're crying over the dead bodies of their parents. Like in the Haitian earthquake in 2010 or in the war in Ukraine in 2022. That's harvest time. That's how they get, I mean, 30, it's 150 billion dollar year business. How do they get these kids into the black market?

That's how got it.

And most people aren't paying attention and that's why they go, but we're paying attention. So we, we get them online soliciting, we find out who they are. And then I respond, I said, I'm in Ukraine. I said, I'm in Ukraine right now. Like, I can, I can help you. So I, we get a Ukrainian operator as female operator who's 35 years old, make her look 12 with makeup and Hollywood makeup artists. We go to Mexico City and, and we, we lure this guy out of his rat. We're filming this whole thing, by the way, and, and Mel Gibson's like coming in and doing FaceTimes, like giving, you know, William Wallace speeches to the, to the teams and, and we lure this guy out, get him a ray. He gets, he's arrested.

He's the head of the whole thing.

He's the head of the whole thing.

Hiding in Mexico City.

Hiding in Mexico City with all this child they protect rape videos. So he got, he got arrested for all that because we exposed him. But then we learned from him that he had these two lieutenants, a guy named Martin, a guy named Luis, who were hiding out in Ecuador. But they were even more frightening. They had built a little like a child sex hotel in a little village called Kanoa. Kanoa was the epicenter of a 2016 earthquake that devastated the region, which is why they go there. Opportunity, vulnerability, vulnerable kids, kids without parents. So we had counted up to 400 kids that they had been accessing and they were about to launch an advertisement campaign within, like the pedal world. Come to the hotel. These kids are 10 years old and younger. I mean, the house was like, it's like an arcade candy, like, like, like food. The kids are hungry, so they bring them in, they lure them in. The parents were all tricked and we took down that hotel. Now the story's a four part series. I just surfaced it. Like, if you get to the details of what actually happened, it is mind blowing. So Tony Robbins and Sage are executive producing it. They knew all about it because, like, they're super close friends. And when I'm traveling to Europe, I always stop by whenever I'm going through Florida to go get like healing. Yeah. Because they heal me. Like, they're, they're both, both of them are spiritually or, you know, so gifted in that, in that way. And, and the whole time I'm, I'm showing him videos and Tony, you know, Tony's just like, what the hell's going on? And so he's super passionate. And so when, when the film, when the footage came in, he agreed to be the executive producer and help us tell the story. So it should be coming out probably early next year, maybe late this year.

Well, this is. That. This is the storytelling that can really start. Spark this. I. I had no. You know, when you hear child trap, sex trafficking, it is hard enough to even understand how people could do that. But then you hear organ harvesting, and it's. This has to come to an end. And. And like anything in life we underestimate, we could do in a year. But what could we do in the next decade if we're all aligned? Right. What. What is. Could we. Could we be the generation that eradicates this?

That's.

And why can't we be right? Why can't we be. I want to ask you on a personal note. I know you said PTSD and getting therapy, and you went through therapy, and you. Like when Tony, you know, and Sage help. You have to be growing on a. On an exponential basis as a human. The human condition to get through this. And I think we're always changing. For someone going through their own shifts in their life. Right. It all feels relevant. You went through something, you're going through something deeper, but people are all going through their own stuff. What's something or a mindset shift that you've had in the last 612 months? Because I know there's no way you can't be growing, right?

Yeah.

Either slimy. Climbing. Climbing or sliding.

Yeah.

Is there something in the last 12 months or six months that you could share with our viewers that has helped you?

Yes, absolutely. The first thing came to mind I've learned. It took me a hard. It took me way too long to learn this. But there's. There's always a descent before the ascent. Like I've always. Like when something horrible is happening, instead of just going, woe is me, and going in the fetal position like I want to do like I have before. It's like, no, no, no. There's always an opportunity here. Like, if something bad is happening, some challenge. Dart's coming, There's a plan. If I leverage it, embrace it, leverage it, and it works. I'd say, like 100% of the time, you find the way. Like, no, this is. This looks bad, but it's going to be a blessing. And boom, you shoot up and you're. It worked, but you've got to. You can't go to the fetal position. You got to faith over fear. And I struggle. I'm not a master at it. I just. I know it's true, but when I do it, it works. And every time, and sometimes it's overwhelming, like Almost an existential threat seems to be upon me. And it's just like, just wait, watch. There's an opportunity. And there is. There always is.

Yeah, I would bet to say that's probably my biggest breakthrough in my life at 54 years old, realizing that where you're in it doesn't mean you have to, like. It doesn't mean it doesn't still cause the angst in your stomach and the worry. But there's another level to it when you go, all right, this is my time for growth. There's something better on the other side because you're going through it anyway. You might as well have the hope of knowing you're going to learn, it's going to get better because you're in it anyway.

Right. And the other good thing about it, because forgiving people is so healing because there's always these bad guys on the other end. Usually it's bad guys throwing the darts.

Yeah.

Maybe they were your friends, they're betraying you, whatever it is. But it's actually easier to forgive them when you recognize. I sometimes will pray, like prayers of gratitude for them because they did this to me. I was able to see this other thing, and now I'm going to grow bigger. So thank you, God, for bringing this person and help me forgive them. And it makes it easier to forgive them, which is also super healing here.

So there's a. Oh, my God. And you know what? Here's what I have to share, too. I get the chance to know you better than you probably realize because of Tony and Sage. Tony and I talk seven days a week. We talk every day. We've been talking almost every day for a decade. So I know everything's going. When you leave his house, I'm the first one that gets a call, and he'll leave me a message in tears telling me about. And. And I also know that when you forge a path like this, that it's unfortunate that skepticism comes in people's minds. It's just natural. Why they say you can recognize the leader by the arrows in his back or her back. Right. In this journey. Have you found that, like, why would you do this? Him? What's in it for you?

Oh, yeah.

And that's. I know that's got to be hard when you're. When you see the movie, you realize what this man and. And what I know is the movie only gives a glimpse of one operation. How many operations have there been since you started?

There's over. Over 5,000, I believe.

5,000. It shows one of them so we. I could only imagine what you've gone through in the invisible, the hiding in your own mind, the wanting to climb underneath the desk and cry. I. I can only imagine the ptsd. But that part's got to be hard when you know what you're doing, you know the purpose, you know what you and your wife are aligned on. And then you see something where it's like, tim's got to be in this for.

Oh, I've been accused of everything except maybe murder. And Tony said to say, don't worry, Tim. I. I have two. I'm like, okay, good. Because I'm just like. I don't like the Harder. It's easier for me to deal with traffickers. And this is. I'm not saying this, like, casually. This is real. And it's. It's. It shouldn't be this way. It's almost easier to deal with those bad guys than the good guys who are. Who are now bad. Like the traitors, the liars, people who want to see me hurt. I remember I was on November 11, 2020. I've never shared the story before, but I feel like I'm going to. But I got news of, like, a mass betrayal. I won't get into the details right now, but it was so overwhelming with my OCD and PTSD combination. I was getting ready to go undercover staging in Fort Lauderdale. And when I got the news, I literally. All I know is I woke up on the pavement and my shirt was off. I don't know why. Something happened. I broke. Wow. And again, it was the biggest blessing of my life. I didn't realize it at the time. I wanted to just die. And all I could do in that moment was I found my cell phone, like, a little bit away from me. I just rolled over to it, and I knew where I was in Florida. So I just looked up Sage. I went to Sage first because she's. She's. You know, I love Tony and Sage both, but she. You know, she's like a sister and healer. And I just. I said. I just said 91 1. I didn't even know I was in Florida. I don't know what happens next, but I'm in a car, driving an suv, driving to their house. I'm in and out of consciousness. I go to their home, and they just. It's like one in the morning, and if. I mean, you know Tony so well, and Sage, like, camera's on, cameras off, same person, same person. It's one in the morning. They sit and hold my hand all night. They don't go to bed. The sun's coming up, and they're still in there, and they're doing all their thing, and. And they launched me into this healing path. They're the ones who taught me, like, Tim, it's okay. This is an opportunity. See it for what it's going to be. And. And it was. You know, it really, really was. And that's when I got to learn the most valuable lessons of my life. I'm so grateful that happened because I was at a. I was stuck in a certain place that dislodged me and helped me deal with. I mean, I'd gone eight. I'd gone, at that point, 15 years going undercover, doing child crimes. I'd never really got real healing help. I never had healing modalities. I never really took it seriously, like.

You know, thank you for sharing that. And I can feel Tony and Sage have done similar things for me in my life, so I. I'm glad that we could spend a little time bragging on both of them, because no one sees what they do behind the curtain. Right. They see the front stage, but very rarely understand all the. The things that. That Those. Those two work on to help heal and friends and family and the world, you know? Joe, read the book the Shack.

Yes.

Love the Shack. Right?

Yeah.

The reason I'm sharing that is because I went through a divorce in my life. Not something I would expect to do. My parents were married and divorced nine times between them, and I swore that that wouldn't be my path. But sometimes you carry that stuff with you and you don't think you do. And childhood was. We all have our stuff. I had some stuff in my childhood. And I love the book the Shack, because the. When you really understand the metaphor, it's like you have this shack where you hide stuff. Stuff that's painful, stuff you do that no one knows, and you just keep closing it in the shack. But then one day when I. There was a day I woke up, I. I had a bleeding ulcer at 11, 11 years old, because I was so scared about what was going on. My mom and dad. My dad was the youngest of 12, had a very violent childhood, and he was very violent or angry, and I was afraid for my mom's life and all the stuff you make up when you're 11. And there. There was stuff. And the reason I'm sharing this is because of that moment that you had. I didn't have that depth of experience, so I'm not trying to compare, but there was a moment for the first time in my life going through a divorce that I think I hid and tucked away all my childhood stuff, and I covered it with being successful. I lived in a trailer park as a kid. I went to lunch without lunch money a lot of days in high school and just told my friends I wasn't hungry. So I found a way to say, I'm gonna be so damn successful that I can hide all this. I can be in control of my life. No one will ever tell me what to do. And I think for so, for decades, I took the stuff of my childhood and I just shoved it in the shack, locked the door, Locked the door. And the way I described it, and maybe this day happened with you is there was one day I woke up, I was. I had moved out, I was getting a divorce. I had two children at the time. I have four now. I had two children at the time, and they had come over to the house I was staying at. I remember this like it was yesterday. And I never have told this story publicly. So you just shared something. I'm sharing something with you. And I woke up when I'm in emotion. I woke up one morning and my kids shoes were by the front door, but they weren't there. And I explained it. You have eight kids. You know how noisy it is and loud and juggle and school and breakfast and homework and where are you going after school? And you got softball game and a football all at the same time. All right, honey, you're gonna. You got. All of a sudden, all of a sudden I wake up and the house is completely quiet and no one's there except for their shoes. And I got an anxiety attack for the first time in my life. I used to think I had anxiety before stress, but I had a literal. I couldn't breathe, I couldn't focus. And it was so numbingly quiet in the house that I couldn't be alone anymore. And I. I had to put music on in the house and I had to get out. And I was afraid to get on a plane. I was afraid to get in an elevator for like this month period. And to this day, I. I'm not a big drinker. I'll have a glass of wine a week, right? But I was having a glass of wine every night. It didn't help. I don't even take an aspirin. I was popping a Xanax once a week just to feel like a human so I could fall asleep and not stay up literally all night. And you're thinking, well, it's only a Divorce. My kids will be okay, but it's not. It's the history of this stuff. So again, I don't understand your circumstance or you at home, your circumstances. Circumstance. But sometimes you're afraid to let the. To open that shack or knock the lock off. And when I think back, it was the greatest thing in my life because I had to face the stuff that I'd been tucking away forever. On the other side of that, I am dear friends with my ex, we co parent like two best co parents on the planet. I married the love of my life. I'm in a relationship now where I don't have a shack and I have nothing hidden. And she knows my past and I get to be the man I want to be. My perfect. No, I'm absolutely guilty of still screwing up all the time. But I'm only sharing that because there's some people listening right now that might be in that spot. And as scary as it is, sometimes you just gotta let the. Let the door open.

That's right.

And I think that's probably in your own way happened that time.

Absolutely. It's exactly. And it was. I look back, I thank God for it because I can go back and I journal a lot. You know, it's like, okay, this list of blessings that came from that pain. And it's almost like 90% of my favorite blessings right now came from. I can draw right back because I started seeing things differently than I did this and that led to that. And it's like, wow, God is a trip how he does this.

We don't get fulfillment without the pain. I mean, it's hard. It's terrible to say, but I think whatever your beliefs are, God, the universe, I think you can't get to experience the depth, the level of pleasure and fun and joy and happiness and abundance you want without seeing the depth of the opposite side. What is your biggest goal for this movie? The outcome?

I hope you know, it may sound grandiose, but I want to end this. I want to end it in the same way that in the 19th century they ended the legalized form of it. And I think I just believe in this film. And it's not because it's about me. In fact, I, I told. I asked the producers to take the logo of Operation Underground Railroad off at the end of this movie.

So you just make it about awareness.

It's about awareness. I want every organization or any person. I hope people watch it and create their own programs because I really believe in this movie because it tells the problem. It starts in the United States. It shows that, hey, don't. This is not a Columbia problem. This is a US problem. That's where the story began. That's where the first rescue, the two first, the first rescues happened there. Right. So I don't want people to get lost on that.

Yeah, it's not someplace else. It's in your backyard.

Right? It's in your backyard. I have a document documentary that I executive produced, that's that we just launched called it's happening right Here. So I want people to watch that say this is what's happening in the United States with this problem. And so I think I just have a hope that millions, for the first time, millions and millions and millions will stand up and be so loud. And the first indicator is that there's five anti trafficking agents to every one drug agent because I care more about rescuing kids and seizing drugs personally, you.

Know, so there's five agents to, to.

One to one, five drug agents right now. To everyone. Anti trafficking, anti child trafficking agent.

Okay. Yeah. At least match them.

At least match them. At least match them. You can, this is a line in the film. You can sell. It's true. Jim Caviezel says, says that you can sell a bag of cocaine one time, but you can sell a child. That one hit me 10, 20, you know, up to 10, 20 times a day. And that's a real.

He literally said sell bag of cocaine once. These, these, you know, the most precious child. Yeah. You could sell a child 10 to 20 times a day. A day. And there's people seizing that opportunity. We have the opportunity to be a part of a generation that ends it. Tim, seriously, thank you for your sacrifices. Thank you for what you do. This is an amazing movie. It's an awareness movie. It's, it's entertaining. While simultaneously you will leave there disturbed enough that you want to do your part. And I think we. How great would it be for our kids to look back and go, hey mom, dad, that was your generation that really started the end of this and I think we could do it. Angel.com forward/freedom. Tim, absolute pleasure to have you here. Get that. Go see this movie as soon as you can. I'm gonna buy some tickets, donate them the best way possible and let's make this a number one excellent.

Thanks, Dean. Thank you so much.

Thank you for being a part of this episode of the Own, your future podcast. Thank you for making it one of the top podcasts in the world in its category. And if this message hits your heart, then see the movie also subscribe follow and share this episode with people that you love and care about so we can get this word out. We'll see you next time.