Author: Dr. Michael Johnson

We are eating ourselves to death, but it feels good. The average Body Mass Index (BMI) in America has risen to over 30 (which is defined as obese by the medical journals). That means that the life expectancy for at least one half of Americans will be shortened by 10-15 very miserable years. I add miserable years because they will be years of sensual suffering. Bad feet, knees and hips, will cause difficulty sleeping, walking, a box full of pills to follow the platefuls of food. We are feeding our sensual natures, our flesh and suffering in the process. At least one third of Americans are pre-diabetic. We need to put down our forks and push away from several tables.

There is nothing wrong with being sensual. God made us with five senses. Touch, smell, vision, hearing and tasting are indeed part of normal life for most of us. However, when we are controlled by our senses, we suffer.

We indulge our eyes and ears in things that will damage our minds, control our desires and interfere with our relationships. We are lured by our sense of smell to wade and waddle just deep and long enough to excite our appetites so we can taste and ultimately imbibe things we know we really don’t need.

The result is sensual suffering. We are held captive by the desires of our flesh, and then the failings of our flesh as we go from hospital clinic to hospital cafeteria without even recognizing the conflict of interest. We take in the poison and ask the doctor for the antidote, so we can go eat, drink and smoke the poison again.

1 Corinthians 6:12 All things are lawful unto me, but not all things are expedient. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.

Proverbs 23:2 And put a knife to your throat if you are a man who cannot control his appetite.

There is a pile of African body parts. There are bags full of pieces of life forms. Who put them there? Who are these people? There are about 12 million of these piles of human being bodies since 1973. To tell you the truth, most of the bodies have long decayed, been incinerated or buried in unmarked piles of debris. These piles can be found in practically every state and many cities around our nation. Who were they?

Alveda C. King, is the daughter of slain civil-rights leader Albert Daniel Williams King. Her father, the brother of Dr. Martin Luther King was found drowned in his pool one year after the death of his brother. On her website she quotes her uncle; Martin Luther King, Jr. who once said, “The Negro cannot win as long as he is willing to sacrifice the lives of his children for comfort and safety.” How can the “Dream” survive if we murder the children? Every aborted baby is like a slave in the womb of his or her mother. The mother decides his or her fate.

I may as well ask other questions. Where is the next Obama? Where is the next Martin Luther King Jr.? Where is the next Oprah Winfrey? Where is the next Mandela? My guess is they are all on some pile of medical waste. Look in a pile near you. They were interfering with someone’s life. They were discarded for the right to make a personal choice.

“I have a right to live my life as I want. The life inside of me does not. This sounds very logical and certainly convenient.”

I am not under any illusion that there will be a sudden change of heart and mind by those who are determined to kill their child while still in the womb. Black Americans have an unfailing alliance to political leaders who advance social agendas that have traditionally been to our advantage. These agendas such as voting rights, equal housing, education and transportation are just a few. However, we must uncouple these from the killing of our unborn. We are eliminating ourselves for the political agenda of others and paying for the privilege of doing so. Michelle Jackson notes on her website (http://www.euthanasia.com/blackw.html): “The public funding of abortion advocacy groups at a time of drastic cuts in welfare spending is particularly significant. This willingness to facilitate abortion for poor women, who are disproportionately Black, but not to address their basic needs, is strong evidence that much of the government is more interested in population reduction than in improving poor women’s welfare.

Government funding of organizations such as Planned Parenthood, one of the nation’s largest providers of abortion clinics, reinforces the beliefs that the “solution” to Black poverty is to curb Black reproduction, that the fertility of Black women is fearsome, and that Black women do not deserve to be mothers.

Black Americans do not know that over 1.3 million babies are dying from abortion each year. They do not know that about 34% of those dying are Black babies, meaning some 440,000 Black children die by abortion each year.

Many Black Americans perceive abortion as a political fight, something having little to do with their daily lives. They could not be more wrong. How can we call it a genocide or a manifestation of white supremacist thinking, as we call drugs in our community, if it is not common knowledge that abortion has killed nearly 12 million Black babies since the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision?

In yet another site entitled Klanned Parenthood (http://www.klannedparenthood.com/History_of_Abortion_Statistics/):

In America today, almost as many African-American children are aborted as are born. A black baby is three times more likely to be murdered in the womb than a white baby. Since 1973, abortion has reduced the black population by over 25 percent. Twice as many African-Americans have died from abortion than have died from AIDS, accidents, violent crimes, cancer, and heart disease combined.

Every three days, more African-Americans are killed by abortion than have been killed by the Ku Klux Klan in its entire history. So where are the leaders of tomorrow? How much longer will we allow the political agenda of our ‘friends’ undermine the survival of our families and communities?

Recently disclosed tapes of the late President Nixon reveal his understanding of the importance of abortion.

Nixon states: “A majority of people in Colorado voted for abortion, I think a majority of people in Michigan are for abortion, I think in both cases, well, certainly in Michigan they will vote for it because they think that what’s going to be aborted generally are the little black bastards.”

This is not a Republican or Democratic issue. The NAACP has blindly supported the right to kill our babies. Who speaks for them?

This is an issue to affirm the Civil Rights of the unborn or at least to acknowledge the 12 million babies we have allowed to be killed in the name of personal choice. Let’s uncouple our political agenda for the sake of protecting our families. This is African American annihilation. Let’s not agree to this anymore.

As for the next African American leaders, the next superstars of tennis, golf, the next experts in neurosurgery and movie stars.., they are coming soon to a pile near you.

The debate over human sexuality is as old as the act of sex itself. There is nothing new about intercourse, except what now appears as an upsurge in worldwide mandate that all unions be considered equal. It is to assume that if man wills it so, God must have meant it to be. The discussion centers on the pleasure two (or more) people find by sharing their bodies and in many cases their lives with each other. The argument for equality of same gender and transgender sexual encounters has nothing to do with the central issue for which sex was created from the Biblical perspective. When God made man and woman he told them to be fruitful and multiply, just as He had commanded all of his creation which bore seed and spores. Sex for the sake of pleasure was to be confined within this relationship of man and woman.

Now to be sure, the argument has been made that there is no condemnation of same sex relationships in the Bible. That argument does not hold to Biblical truth, but furthermore, there is not a single instance in the Bible where God applauds such activity. So no matter what the political or social agenda may be, it does not match the Biblical record.

Christians are divided on this issue, solely because they want everyone to be ‘happy’. God is not really interested in our happiness. He demands our holiness. Seek holiness, get happiness, not the other way around.

If pleasure is the measure of our behavior, then there are no limits to our sexuality. Bestiality, rape, incest and molestation are all pleasurable acts, which for now are deemed inappropriate. No one I believe is advocating for the repeal of laws limiting this kind of behavior.

For those who argue that ‘people are born that way’ I would add ‘you may be right’. However, there are many things which I am born with a propensity to do, such as lying, stealing, and a host of other habits which serve to undermine my own wellbeing as well as that of the people around me.

We can control our sexuality, no matter how we feel inclined to express it. The only essentials of life are food and water, and of course the elimination of bodily waste. Sex is not necessary for survival of the individual, only the species. If same sex relationships were to disappear, mankind would survive. However if heterosexuality were no more…., well it would not take long before mankind would disappear.

If pleasure is the measure of our sexuality, that is if it feels good, it must be good and right, then we are doomed as a species.

1 Corinthians 6:12-13 reminds us that all things are meant for our pleasure, but pleasure is not our aim. God wants us to glorify us in our bodies. Pleasure is not the measure of glorifying Him. If it is to His glory, then it is for our good.

Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall. 1 Corinthians 10:12

The debate over civil rights and patriotism continues to divide those who call themselves Christians. It seems both want to claim Christ as King of their camp, and the other camp is the enemy of the kingdom. The problem with both claims is the self-glorification they pursue. God will share His glory with no one. The moral high ground is neither, high or moral. It is sinking sand. Jesus describes the man who would build his house on religion, reason, rationale and being right as someone sure to see his house collapse.

Luke 6:49 But he who hears, and doesn’t do, is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream broke, and immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.”

Just what is it that we are supposed to hear and do to keep our house firmly grounded? Do we assume a certain political posture? Do we support the right causes? Do we give our money away, or allow our bodies to be burned? What is it that God requires of us to avoid the seemingly moral high ground which is only quicksand?

The prophet Micah was faced with this very question thousands of years ago.

Micah Chapter 6:7-8 wherewith shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old?

Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?

The moral high ground is face down before an Almighty God asking Him for the ability to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly. Otherwise, we are in danger of sinking in quicksand.

I could barely notice the tears. The scars on her eyebrows and upper lip were distractingly ugly. It was a difficult to balance sympathy and science. How do I answer her truthfully, tactfully and offer hopeful help.

“Doctor Johnson,” she asked, “will these wax scars stay on my face? I just wanted my eyebrows to look nicer. I am not a vain person! Just look at what they did to me.”

I did not need her to tell me to take a look. It was hard not to look. The scars were so obviously prominent, it was impossible not to look. I actually tried to look away, but that would not help me help her. I needed to see her as a whole person, not a scarred woman. The wax had its effect in removing the hair and to her disappointment a portion of skin with it. Hence these scars were on her face.

Her protest continued, ever more enhanced by her tears. It was obvious to me this was not truly a medical problem. I advised her that in my professional opinion her scars would heal and that she would with time have the face and the beauty that God had created and intended her to retain. There was nothing that she could or should do beyond allowing the natural healing that God had also intended.

It seemed to give little comfort or solace. She ran to the mirror in the examining room. She was as distraught as someone whose face is filled with a multiple malignant cancers. There was no way I could truly console her. Vanity’s vicious voice was telling her just how wretched she looked, and it continued to assure her, that ugliness was her destiny.

My challenge was to reassure her that she was beautiful, without seeming to imply any romantic inclinations and not appear to be grossly lying. I was grossly lying. I was very intent on making sure that she left the room with a lighter heart that when she arrived, and giving her what I knew as science would overcome the sadness.

“Your scars will heal” I assured her. She grimaced. No smile would cross her lips. It seemed that just the upward turn would pull at the scars and cause pain. A whimper, why even a whistle would cause pain. She left the office, downhearted and literally with a stiff upper lip. Vanity’s voice is vicious.

His hands were shaking. He was obviously embarrassed. He went on to reveal the painful rash on his abdomen, thighs and other parts. I had to hide my genuine feelings, which were disgust, fear and pain. I could only hope he felt the same. So I moved forward in my conversation with this 20 year old man.

The best way is a mechanically, emotionless approach to what I know is an ever growing nationwide epidemic, by addressing the person before me as I would tell the weather. That is very factual, accurate and will have an effect on the choices for the day.

‘It looks like Herpes ‘I told him.

‘Well how do you know? he asked.’

‘Well, before we go further, I continued, are you in a monogamous relationship?’

‘Of course, he responded. I have been with the same girl for the last two months.’

‘I understand, I went on, but what about before those two months. Have you had other sexual partners? ‘

‘Just a handful of others in the past. Why do you ask?’

I could appreciate his innocent question, as he gathered his garments about him. He was obviously numb to his past exploits, and dumb about the dangers he presented to himself and his community. I had over 5 other patients waiting in other rooms. There was no time to have a prolonged discussion of illnesses and the rights and wrongs (that ugly word morality) with someone who still had facial pimples and lower body rashes.

I hurried on. ‘These are lesions that resemble Herpes. The consequences of this are that you will never be rid of this illness and anyone with whom you have any intimate contact is at risk of developing this. You have to decide if having sexual contact in the future with anyone is worth risking their health and yours, as well as the health of anyone they have as sexual partners. ‘

He hung his head, not so much in shame but in heaviness of the burden this illness would carry on his later sexual exploits. ‘Why can’t it be syphilis? I would rather have syphilis. Can’t you test for syphilis?’

I knew immediately that I must move on to people who had serious intent on getting and staying well.

‘Well I could test you for syphilis or any of the other more than dozen diseases you might have. The problem is that even if you test negative now, it does not mean you are not harboring one of these other lifelong infections. So testing for syphilis is possible, but it will not tell me the whole risk you face for the rest of your life.’

He looked up at me and smirked. It was the sly smile saying, you really don’t know everything doctor. A quick nod of his head, and he was out the door, probably hoping I was wrong and he only had syphilis.