Author: Dr. Michael Johnson

Just as long as he does what we want
We don’t care who he teases or taunts
He can call them bad names
Cause embarrassment and shame
Just as long as he does what we want

Just as long as he delivers for us
We don’t care if he spits shouts or cuss
He can spew hatred and fear
As long as our enemies hear
Just as long as he delivers for us

Just as long as things go our way
It doesn’t matter what he might say
The language he uses
Confounds and confuses
Just as long as things go our way

Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
Isaiah 5:20 KJV

The headlines of the newspapers read
Sleep better our now our enemy’s dead
Indeed, oh my, we finally got him
Blew himself up before we shot him
Let’s get back to entertainment instead

The man on the breaking news said
Active shooter keep low cover your head
The police are now in hot pursuit
However he is still able to shoot
I groaned and got back in bed

Be careful where you step or tread
In mosque where your prayer rug is spread
In church, or synagogue when praying
Make ‘keep us safe’ the words you’re saying
Give us protection as our daily bread

Things that cause deep fear and dread
Is the bad news I am constantly fed
Violence, brutality, vengeance and greed
Done in God’s name by some some creed
Dear Lord please say what lies ahead

Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.
Isaiah 26:3 KJV

I was dressed professionally with blue shirt, matching tie and crisp, clean, white lab coat. I had an ink pen in my breast pocket and name badge clearly displayed. There was no lint in my hair, no hint of the chocolate bar on my teeth. Having thus prepared, I stepped into her room and greeted her. The two children remained silent except for their coughing.

Good afternoon Ms. H. How can I help you?

I don’t remember much after this. It seems everything went downhill.

How long have you been coughing? Do you have a fever? Is anyone else at home sick? Are you taking any medicines?

She answered each of these in a monotone as if I was not asking the right questions.

Then, she went on to relate the multiple situations, signs and symptoms that had brought her to be treated today. I lost track after the first 6 or 7 complaints because they began to overlap.

‘Well, it all started when my boyfriend accused me of paying more attention to my other boyfriend’s children than his children. He screamed at me and would not let me get in a word. Then he raised his hand and struck at me. Luckily, I turned my head and he only got the back of it, but just enough to make me hit my head and mouth against the wall. My lip started bleeding and my front tooth came loose. Can you see it here doctor?’ She raised her upper lip with her fingers revealing the bruising and cut on the inside and a broken tooth.

She went on. ‘Then he grabbed me by my hair and threatened me that I better pay more attention to his two children than the other four or he would move out and leave me to pay the rent, lights and buy the food by myself. I don’t have a real job. I just take care of these babies. Then he left me and I started coughing and it won’t stop. The kids are coughing too, she said pointing to them. Both had running noses, and were coughing’

At this point, I am trying to figure out what does this have to do with her diabetes and hypertension. I can’t begin to address the smoking cessation that is obviously affecting the asthma and bronchitis of her children. I dare not go down the road of the necessity of immunizations. That only leads to a quarrel.

She is in the way of helping me tie all of these significant illnesses into a neat and easily treatable package. She is not making it easy for me. I face the computer and start my charting. Everything is in perfect order on the screen.

Unfortunately I don’t have the option of only treating the x-rays, lab studies or physical findings. The patient gets in the way of doing this. Their social comorbidities overwhelm the coding of the physical diagnoses and undermine my clean, crisp treatment plan.

Patients will get in the way of the treatment plans. I need to address their concerns and give them room so that with time, they will hear me. I must not be the help that hinders.

Jesus asked the man in John 5:6 ‘Do you want to be made whole?’ The man’s answer was not a yes or no, but a list of things that prevented his healing. The Healer of healers was there and this man was in his own way of being healed.

He did not condemn the man for his excuses or failures, He just healed him.

I must learn to address both their chief complaint with my chief concern. I know there are obstacles for their healing. I should not be one of those obstacles. She will return if I don’t stand in the way. And if she does, it gives me another opportunity to show compassionate care and help her get out of the way for her own healing to take place.

These were damaged goods
Full of canker and rust
No right mind would
Even wipe off the dust

To purchase such items
Out of date out of style
We would rather look down
The higher priced aisle

However, Jesus shopped
Amongst things cast away
For people deemed unworthy
In our high fashioned day

He found me in a trash bin
Headed for the garbage heap
Instead He decided
That I was well worth to keep

He embraced me, then cleaned me
He changed my price tag
He washed me with a cloth
With His blood on the rag

As people look now
They never know where I have been
I was once damaged goods
Cleansed by Jesus from my sin

I am worthy of heaven
I am of infinite worth
All because the great Master
Made His inventory on earth

I gave my leftovers to Jesus
I said to myself Jesus won’t mind
After all if He is really hungry
He will see my actions as kind

Clothing that I am not wearing
Shoes with a scuff here and there
After all I am indeed sharing
Without me His feet would be bare

I had a few coins in my pocket
Stuff I don’t consider as cash
When traffic slows down at a stop sign
I’ll give Jesus a few if he asks

A lot of good stuff I’m not using
And this I know to be true
It is no real value to me
I can always buy something new

“When you say, ‘The altar of God is not important anymore; worship of God is no longer a priority,’ that’s defiling. And when you offer worthless animals for sacrifices in worship, animals that you’re trying to get rid of—blind and sick and crippled animals—isn’t that defiling? Try a trick like that with your banker or your senator—how far do you think it will get you?” God -of-the-Angel-Armies asks you.
Malachi 1:7‭-‬8 MSG

There are many dangerous conditions associated with being black. Some of these can be fatal. Here are list of some:

1. Driving while black
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Philando_Castile

2. Parking while black
* https://www.npr.org/2019/10/10/769089719/florida-man-who-shot-and-killed-a-black-man-in-parking-dispute-gets-20-years

3. Breathing while black
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Eric_Garner

4. Walking while black
* https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/07/us/asheville-police-beating-black-man.html

5. Sleeping while black
* https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/09/us/yale-student-napping-black-trnd/index.html

6. Moving into house while black
* https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/08/26/kazeem-oyeneyin-raleigh-police-video/

7. Mowing your lawn while black
* https://www.mic.com/articles/190120/white-ohio-family-that-called-911-on-black-boy-mowing-lawn-calls-police-on-him-again-july-4

8. Being at home while black
* https://abcnews.go.com/US/demand-justice-family-texas-woman-fatally-shot-home/story?id=66261203

This is just a summary of events over the past few years, which have been caught on camera and brought to the nation’s attention.

Being black is a pre-existing condition. There is a concerted effort by this society to put us out of their misery.

Lord whenever I faced temptation
Give me the joy of delightful deprivation
Soothing, soft, seductive voices
Make it hard to make good choices
Give me escape from evil situations

Lord I constantly feel such greed
Wanting more than I could ever need
Filling every closet every shelf
Concerned with nothing more than self
Insatiable wordly appetites I constantly feed

Lord how long must I abide
With a self-centered nature of my pride
Thinking others are beneath me
Dear Jesus, please bequeath me
Your humbling presence by my side

Lord crush my appetite for fame
Increase my hunger for Your name
Give me the victory of Your presence
The holiness which is Your essence
And victory in You I will proclaim

Proverbs 30:8 Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me:”

1 Corinthians 10:13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear

Thomas Umstattd is well established as a Christian writer on topics of marriage and fidelity. Of interest to me is his take on power. A quick search on the Internet yields this his take on power:

Power confuses and concerns me.

Here is the paradox:

• It is hard to do good without it.
• The more power a man attains, the more evil he commits.

The Problem With Power

I am sure many of us are familiar with Lord Acton’s dictum: about the corruption of power

Lord Acton writes to Bishop Creighton that the same moral standards should be applied to all men, political and religious “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely” (1887) https://oll.libertyfund.org/quotes/214

I would add my own sentiment to this genuine fear of the problem of power. It is impossible to do anything good without power but the more power I attain the more I attribute that power to myself and to those who agree with me.

Jesus recognized this when the crowds approached Him and wanted to make Him King. He avoided and evaded this problem because he knew the heart of mankind. The heart of mankind is to anoint a leader and appoint him or her to carry out the agenda which they desire. The Israelites did it with King Saul and throughout the Old Testament they attempted to time and again to have leadership that catered to their whims and desires.

In Philippians chapter 2 verse 5 we are reminded that we are to have the mind of Jesus Christ. The mind of Jesus Christ recognized that he was indeed co-equal with his Father. But he did not make that part of his agenda on earth. Obedience to the Father’s will and submission to His plan was the only thing that concerned Him. I believe that if His Father, our Creator had commanded Him to come off the cross, He would have done so without questioning. The salvation of mankind would be of secondary importance if He could not please the Father.

His only desire and mission was to complete His Father’s perfect will. He had no desire to establish a kingdom on this earth. He had no desire to rule and reign in the political and religious hierarchy. We keep asking and seeking a Christian nation when Jesus specifically declared in John 18:36: ‘My Kingdom is not of this world’

He did not come to gain public notoriety or fame and fortune. All of these things yield power. And as we have seen throughout history power corrupts. It is impossible to do good without power, but once acquired it takes on a life of its own controlling the most noble-minded spirit. Jesus was well aware of this.

In John’s gospel 2:24 we find these words: but Jesus did not commit himself unto them because he knew all men. Again, in John’s gospel chapter 6:15 we find these words: When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone.”

In Luke’s gospel chapter 6:26 we find: woe unto you when all men speak well of you.

Power is inebriating. Being close to power is intoxicating. It is addictive and like any addictive substance is poison. It is worse when those around you enable you to flex your muscles and exercise your power for their own benefits.

They wanted to anoint Jesus as King not because of His righteousness, holiness, mercy and grace but only because they felt he could bring them the political conquests which they so desired.

I wonder how intoxicated, inebriated and addicted we are in our present public discourse. If our Heavenly Father said we must die to our own desires in order that we might bring about peace, justice, equity would we be willing to do so. Or would we remain encamped in our political and social positions of power?

We accomplish nothing good without the aid of the Holy Spirit. The cross of Calvary is the epitome of dying to our own desires so that God can accomplish His aim for the tragedies we see unfolding before us every day.

Don’t accept the notion that power will not corrupt you. If you are breathing, you are still susceptible to be corrupted by the power of this present world.

All hearts are corrupt. None of us knows our own hearts. Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked who can know it?

Paul writes in Ephesians chapter 6:2 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

To choose an earthly king is to reject your Creator. In 1st Samuel chapter 8:7 these words are recorded: and the Lord said unto Samuel hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they sent to thee for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me that I should not reign over them.

Power is a deadly poison. Avoid it, no matter how good the intentions of those who offer the poison. Let the Holy Spirit rule in your life and take control of your desires for power. Jesus the Christ is the only antidote.

Did Jesus give us permission to ignore the poor? Was the underlying message, subliminally delivered that we don’t have to acknowledge the underprivileged?

In John’s gospel chapter 12 verse 8 it seems the Savior hints we can comfortably shun, avoid and evade the have-nots. He specifically says ‘the poor you will have with you always’ which can be interpreted as an opt out for helping the less fortunate. There is nothing we can do about it.

They are poor and they make poor decisions and God Himself seems to have given up on them. They were born in unfortunate circumstances, have made poor decisions and are unworthy of a second chance if it were given to them. They do drugs, drink, overeat, have too many children, do jail and prison time. We can pretend to follow what we claim as Christ’s teaching and ignore the poor. But is that the full story?

At Miriam Medical Clinics (MMC) we have come to the mindset that Jesus was paraphrasing an old Testament verse. The first part, we get easily in Deuteronomy 15:7-11 For the poor you will always have with you in the land.

It is the remainder of that verse that is the ‘trip-wire’ for taking action. You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor in your land.

Those of us who live on the upper side of the divide of material substance, must not ignore those living on the lower side of this divide. When this scripture is taken in it’s entirety, in context of what God expects of us, we are commanded to deal with the inequities we find in every facet of life. MMC serves as a testimony that we dare not ignore the poor. In a world filled with inequities, being unhealthy because you lack access to care should not serve as an excuse to do nothing. We refuse to do nothing.

A young girl becomes a teenager and then a young adult. Her life has been filled with rape by her mother’s boyfriend, beatings by her pimp and then again rape by the prison guards. The doctors advise her that her Hepatitis C and HIV/AIDS make it difficult and dangerous to carry either one of these children conceived to term, so she should terminate, abort and move on. Afterall, what can a homeless, jobless 30-year old woman do for a baby but raise it to be just like her? No one wants to give her a chance. She is poor. She is ignored.

The short version of the story is this. Miriam Medical Clinics serves the underserved in America’s 6th largest city, Philadelphia. Six medical schools, countless graduate and post graduate training programs for professionals. The healthcare disparity in this metropolis is based upon zip code.

To paraphrase one Philadelphia reporter, some people are living in Killer Zip Codes. It’s not just bullets and drugs sending so many on early trips to the undertaker. It’s something far harder to escape: the stress of just actually having to live in these places. Their zip code kills them slowly, but surely. They are living in such fear, filth, and hunger takes a toll. It batters the body [and] stunts brain growth…. Kids growing up in Fairhill [Philly’s poorest community] and Strawberry Mansion and Swampoodle [Philly’s most violent areas] have significantly lower life expectancies than kids in Iraq and Syria. Literal war zones. In Fairhill, a child born today is expected to live to 71. That’s three fewer years of life than children in Iraq and Syria, where civil wars rage, bombs explode, and armies of marauding mass murderers roam. http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20160420_In_city_s_poorest_neighborhoods__a_ matter_of_life_and_death.html Miriam Medical Clinics (MMC) is on a

And yet…, the poor get ignored.

For the past six years, MMC has provided health care services without regard to the ability to pay. We offer full-service consultation, including medication review, physical examination.

We network with multiple churches and social services so that the ignored don’t feel poor and the poor don’t feel ignored. Please join us in this work by giving, joining, volunteering or all of the above. Miriam Medical Clinics cannot ignore the poor and neither can you.

Matthew 25:40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

Proverbs 14:31 He that oppresseth the poor, reproacheth his Maker: but he that honoreth Him hath mercy on the poor

You can catch more flies with sugar than you can with salt. That is one of my wife’s favorites. She says that I use a lot of salt when I should be using sugar. I don’t understand her obsession with catching flies but I know that there are certainly other odors flies like more than salt or sugar. That being said, I use a lot of Self-Righteous scents. I smell malodorous when using Self-Righteousness.

I have learned that at 66 years of life 42 years of marriage and 41 years of being a father 18 years of being a grandfather that being right is very often the worst thing I can do.

God is not asking me to be right. He doesn’t expect that either. What he does is command and expect that I be righteous, and that righteousness is from Him. This is not self righteousness. This is His righteousness. The problem with being right is that I attribute the integrity of my righteousness to myself.

My wife also reminds me that the most intolerable person is a converted sinner.That is once the Holy Spirit has convicted me of some evil in my life I am quick to judge condemn and if allowed even execute someone who has done the same thing for which God has granted me mercy. Being married gives a lot of invaluable, unasked for, unsolicited, life lessons.

Being right can be very wrong. That happens when I choose to assert my integrity as though it is God’s integrity. I choose to assert my passionate defense of moral righteousness as though the All Mighty had empowered me to do so. God can best defend His reputation when I am out of the way. When I don’t get so ‘high and mighty’ I can allow Him to show Himself.

Easy lessons here.
1) Never speak in your own defense. It only worsens matters when you try to explain why you are right and they are wrong.
2) Let your integrity be from God and your reputation will speak on your behalf. To do otherwise is to allow pride to overshadow grace.
3) Stop taking credit. Anything good that I have done is because the Holy Spirit has led me to do so. Left to my own devices, I would do a the selfish thing.
4) Let God have the glory.. That selfish thing is to dwell and admire my own reputation rather than the glory of my Creator.

Jesus the Christ was very careful not to fall into this trap. He recognized that in his flesh he had no power to condemn to curse to send to eternal damnation. He left all of these final decisions to his Father.

Don’t try to be good. Let the Holy Spirit do good through you. Let Him have the glory. That way when people question your integrity you do not have to defend yourself. You certainly don’t have to defend God. He can do that himself. Being right is a dangerous trap. It allows us to look at those who very well may be wrong but deserve the mercy that God Has shown us. Being right is wrong when it allows me to do or think or consider evil towards those whom in my estimation are doing wrong.

Don’t be right. Be righteous in His eyes. I am not called to accuse, judge, condemn or execute. I am called to love.

James 1:20 my beloved brothers, understand this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteousness that God desires. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and every expression of evil, and humbly accept the word planted in you

John 3:17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.

James 4:12 There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?