Category: Articles

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.

Matthew 15:3-9

One of the most frustrating things to me when talking to men and women of African descent is this constant use of the term; “motherland”. I have actually come to hate that term. Maybe that is not what I mean. I guess I hate the way the term is tossed about like something of great dignity and pride, but there is no real commitment to anything other than lip-service to this glorious motherland. I would say to most people of African descent who use this term’ I am glad I am not yo’ momma!”

Jesus saw it coming. The Savior could see it in the eyes of the Pharisees. Apparently, they were quick to point out how good they were about taking care of their moms and dads. They were quick to point out how they honored their parents by their lives and life choices. Jesus, however, saw through their make believe honor because He could see that despite their lip-service to their parents, they actually despised and hated their parents and were ungrateful children.

In those days, as in many parts of the world today, a parent’s wealth was not only measured by their physical possessions, but by the children they had. Children were indeed an inheritance from the Lord, as there was no such thing as social security, medicare or Medicaid. Parents had to depend upon their children in their old age, when infirmity and disability would strike them down and bring them discomfort and pain. It was this heritage upon which they could depend when they could no longer care for themselves.

The Bible tells us such in Psalm 127:5 that children are an heritage, a fruit a reward and the source of happiness to parents. That is, children are to bring a parent pride and joy and to be a source of pleasure and comfort. My question to all of us who claim African heritage; “How are you treating yo’ momma?”

Jesus noted in Matthew 15 that some of the Pharisees had obviously done well for themselves. They had enough money to spend, enough houses to live in and enough stuff to retire with to live comfortable lives. But, when it came to taking care of their mothers and fathers, Jesus saw that they only paid lip service to it, giving a lot of bravado and bragging, but refusing to actually provide for their parents. How would Jesus view how you treat ‘your momma, the motherland?’ Would He say; “I am glad I am not yo’ momma?”

Let us take a good look at how we live and how yo’ momma lives.

Africa is without a doubt, by any record, by any count, the home of the most misery in the world today. There is more disaster, more disease, more famine, more poverty and less hope for recovery within the continent of Africa than anywhere else in the world. Your motherland, yo’ momma, is in misery and what are you doing about it?

Where are the black Americans in missions? Or as my daughter Keturah put it; “Why are all of these white people here?” For too long this job of carrying Christ to the nations has been allocated almost exclusively to white missionaries. Current estimates are that there are over 46,000 missionaries from the North American shores. Of that number, about 250 are of African American descent.

Why are we so few in numbers? Have we abandoned the call? Do we not read the same Gospel? Do we not share the same burden? Do we not identify with the downtrodden and outcast of the world? Are we not able to meet the call? Are we not prepared? Do we not have the resources? When we answer all of these questions we are still faced with the original query posed by Cain: “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

Life expectancy is falling within most if not all of Sub-Saharran Africa from the mid-50’s to as low as the mid-30’s. Within these same nations, the scourge of AIDS is producing child soldiers, from millions of orphans and abandoned children. There are an estimated 20 million orphans from AIDS within

Your mother is dying and you are living. Though AIDS continues to devastate the African American community, it has not in anyway approached the numbers that your mother is dealing with.

Your mother is poor and you are rich. African Americans enjoy a lifestyle that commands a total of….., while your motherland has an average income of…,

Your mother is unlearned…, while you have more universities at your disposal at this point in time than ever in your history.

Your mother is naked…, while you spend money on…, designer clothes.

Your mother is dying of thirst and diarrhea from bad water, while you spend money on expensive wines and liquors…,

Your mother is…

It is often argued that indeed we are our brother’s keeper, but the problems are so big at home to even begin thinking about support overseas. A woman recently approached me and said, “Dr. Johnson, as soon as I hit the lottery, I am going to send you a big donation.” I have been told by others that I need to approach the millionaires in our society, the rich black people for support. I think by this they mean the Michael Jordans and Oprah Winfreys of the world.

This is amazing that Christians think that people who never profess a knowledge of Christ should support the work of evangelizing the world for Christ. Is it their job to do this work? Whose calling is this? Shouldn’t the Christian to whom the Bible is written, be responsible for advancing the cause of Christ?

Whose job is it to support missionaries? We somehow have the mistaken notion that we must have a million dollars to perform the work. Quite frankly, of the $4,500 per month we raise for our support, the majority comes in $10 per month and $20 per month shares. The average black American church with 200 members or so could easily support our work if each member gave just $22 per month. That amounts to about seventy cents per day, or the amount we spend on cigarettes, sodas, cable television and other essentials of life.

Jesus was very clear on this subject of big gifts. He made it clear that the widow’s mite was sufficient when given with a spirit of love Mark 12:42. The God whom we serve was able to take the little boy’s fish and bread and make a meal to feed thousands John 6:9. Why are we hoarding the little bit we have? Why is it important for us to collect so many things of this world? Don’t we recognize Paul’s admonition that we are becoming dung collectors (Philippians 3:8)? We are storing up things in this life and not being rich towards God (Luke 12:21). We are building a legacy within our homes for our children to observe and to follow.

We show our children that we only give to God’s work when it is convenient and not when it is inconvenient. We show God to be a God who only requires us to give when we have everything in our home. We show our children and the world that unless our God has blessed us in the manner we feel is comfortable, we need not worry about giving to missions.

We now show God that we can’t depend on Him to provide for us, so we must provide for ourselves. We tell the non-Christian world that providing for the poor around the world is only necessary when we have enough to buy all of our stuff at Christmas. We tell the non-Christian world that it is only necessary to give to the poor when we feel we are no longer poor. We are only our brother’s keeper if God gives us enough. Otherwise it is the rich man’s responsibility. It is the government’s job. We can always just pray and let God do the work. Unless God gives me more, I am not my brother’s keeper.

If we don’t get exactly what we want and how we want it, we feel we have been cheated. We won’t give to the poor unless we have all we want. We ignore the example of the poor Macedonian Christians (2 Corinthians 8) That church gave out of deep poverty. They gave themselves fully to God and God met each of their own personal needs with an unlimited source of his grace and goodness. We hunger for more of the world when God wants us to hunger for more of himself.

I know this desire for more of the world. I wrestle with this desire for more. As a boy growing up in America, I wanted for so long to know if we were the poor people. I had heard that black people were poor. It was somehow apparent to me that I was indeed black. I knew that having more was part of the American way of life. I learned this on television and radio. I saw it in the newspapers. Everyone wanted more. Everyone deserved more. Everyone could have more if they just worked long enough and hard enough.

I bought into this American dream of having more. I felt that if I studied hard and long in school I could achieve this American dream. Unfortunately, or fortunately I was later to learn that it takes more than just hard work, it takes a whole lot of grace when you are of a darker hue in this nation.

God provided for me sufficient grace in the form of a godly mother and grandmother and aunt. They taught me more about the importance of giving than the obsession of getting. My mother showed me the importance of living a life that reflected God. That reflection of God she showed me was a God who gave His best to people, not because they deserved the best but because He was able to give the best. I learned very early on that getting and having is temporary and deadly, but giving and sharing is eternal and life giving.

We never get what we deserve. Cain did not get what he deserved when he killed his brother and arrogantly approached God with the question; “Am I my brother’s keeper?” It was as though he was saying to God; “Why didn’t you keep an eye on him God, after all, if you had protected him, he would be alright!” My mother and my grandmother taught me that I needed to be responsible for the poor and helpless.

I learned very early on that I was my brother’s keeper as I listened to Dr. Martin Luther King expound upon the issues of not just black America, but a world that was caught up in corruption and war and hate and civil unrest. Dr. King brought the Viet-Nam conflict to the forefront of black America thought when we were more settled in wrestling with the racism we faced in our own lives and made us see that oppression anywhere in the world is just the same as oppression on our front door step. I learned from Dr. King that I am my brother’s keeper.

I have often had to be reminded of my calling to my brother. As I went through school in the ‘60’s, 70’s and 80’s, it was indeed a long time. Lawrence University in Wisconsin, University of Michigan Medical School and Graduate Hospital in Philadelphia for training in surgery, I often forgot about my brother.

As I finished training in surgery in Philadelphia, I shut out the horrors of the world around me and began to focus on me, myself and I. What did I want in life? What did I need in life? After all, don’t I deserve more? I’ve been poor for so long!

That is our theme song as a people today. Don’t we deserve more? Of course we do. Cain did not get all he deserved either, did he? What more did Cain deserve? Cain deserved hell. What more do we deserve? We deserve hell. But God who is rich in mercy for His great love for which He loved us, even when we were dead in our sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. Ephesians 2:4-5. God did not give us what we deserve, He gave us His only Son as the only way to eternal life.

But Lord, we have been poor for so long. We’ve been down for so long Lord. Don’t you see our sad estate? Lord give us more! We prayed for more. We prayed for freedom from slavery. We prayed for freedom from the whip of the master and from the vicious reprisal of former slave owners after the Civil War. We prayed for relief from Jim Crow segregation.

We prayed for jobs. We prayed for voting rights. We prayed for fair employment. We prayed for equal representation in government. We prayed for fair courts. We prayed for good schools. These are important things. These are necessary things. We need these things to survive.

We have not gotten all we prayed for or adult friend for something which now you remember would have been harmful. God reminds us in Matthew chapter 7 that God is a good Father who will not give a serpent to us if we ask for a fish. We are told that every good and perfect comes from our Father; James1:17. God wants us to have the best. He would not have us suffer when we would ask for things which are harmful to us. We really don’t need nor want all of the things we pray for. It would be like that Chinese curse; ” may all of your wishes come true.”

We have, by God’s grace, not gotten all we pray for. Many of the things we have accomplished in our individual lives are not a result of answered prayer, but of selfish motives and greed. Our homes today are broken by divorce and drugs not as an answer to prayer, but because of our self-reliance.

We have not gotten all we prayed for. However, we have made some gains. We have not and given the present trend of things in America will not get our full share. This does not preclude us from being our brother’s keeper.

As I came to the realization that I was given the privileges I had not for self, but to give to others my priorities started to change. Why had all of those people suffered for so long in order for me to get to where I am today? Right now, I admit people to hospitals and operate on those people in the very hospitals that 30 years ago I could not be treated in myself. Why has God given me such a legacy today? Why did He do it? I believe He knew I would wake up one day and remember I am indeed my brother’s keeper. God wants us to wake up today and remember that in the midst of all of our struggles, we are our brother’s keeper.

Our brother is of course not just in Africa. God has never called us the brotherhood of Africans. This is certainly the worldview. We get sentimental and misty eyed about helping out the poor African brother. We romanticize about the great kings and great empires and great thrones of Africa. We forget of course that in order to have kings and great empires and sitting on great thrones, there had to be some little people with little gardens sitting in little outhouses.

When it comes to the glories of Africa, we are more interested in the glory of animals than the glory of its people. We watch movies such as Godzilla and National Geographic specials and marvel at the animal life which is guarded against poachers killing, elephants, rhinos and other endangered species, but turn away from the news on CNN or BBC which reveal the massive killing of human life, a less endangered species, with millions of men women and children killed yearly in wars, famines and disasters.

We have made Africa to be a nation of nothing but great things when the Bible is quite clear that there is wickedness in every heart and every corner of the world. Psalm 14:2-3 tells us that God looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any that did understand and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Even Africa at its glory was nothing but filthy rags, just as the rest of the world is without Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

We are not called just to Africa. We, as members of the body of Christ are called to the world in need of the Savior. We are called not just to the materially impoverished of Angola in Africa, but the spiritually impoverished of Austria in Europe. Our brother is in this sense, anyone who is in need of the Gospel of Christ. God would not give His only Son to accomplish such a limited activity of evangelizing Africa.

So what has God given us to accomplish this great task? He has given us everything we need and quite often everything we asked for. According to the 1996 US census report, there are 34.2 millions black people in America. The median income was for that period $26,520. That means that black workers make approximately in one year what the average Kenyan would make in about 70 years.

In other words, the average black American made in one year what the average Kenyan would make in almost two lifetimes. Not two years, two lifetimes, as the average Kenyan is paid a salary of $300 per year. Compare that $300 per year to $26,520 per year. A recent report from the United Nations reveals that 1.5 billion people live on less than one dollar per day.

Now you might ask; “Is the cost of living cheaper in Kenya?” I would answer, “yes and no.” What we consider to be essentials for the cost of living don’t figure into the Kenyan economy. There are many people in Kenya who have yet to board a motorized vehicle of any form. There are few homes in Kenya with electricity. There are few homes with indoor plumbing. There are few families having such luxuries as beds and blankets and pillows. The very idea of eating more than one meal per day is a luxury to many people in Kenya today and very often that meal consists of nothing more than a handful of cornmeal. The newspapers of Kenya for the past few weeks have relate stories of whole communities, families and friends starving to death. Can you imagine what it is like to watch your children starve to death?

So, I ask you; “Is the cost of living cheaper in Kenya?” In a sense it is. That is why life is so short with the life expectancy of Kenyans dropping to below 50 years of age. Living is not cheaper, life is.

Life is cheaper in many parts of the world. So we turn off our cable television because we don’t want to see just how cheap it is. As we in Black America boast of the fact that African American owned companies earned over 32 billion dollars in 1992 with spending continuing to spiral we continue to ignore the plight of a world that is facing economic meltdown.

We black Americans boast of spending close to 4 billion dollars on foods and beverages from Black owned companies and continue to disproportionately suffer from obesity, hypertension, diabetes, heart disease and gallstones, diseases which come from eating too much. We don’t want to see the pictures of people huddled around a pot of boiled grass and tree leaves in Sudan, trying to feed their starving children.

We flush our toilets with cleaner water than most people of the world are drinking today. We buy $150 dollar sneakers to wear to $5 movie and eat $5 worth of popcorn and candy for a night on the town, while the average family in the world is trying to find a way to make a life for a day in the village. We spend more on lotteries and casinos as a people, on games of chance, while most women in the world are taking a chance at even getting pregnant as they don’t know if they will survive the pregnancy with no doctor in the village. In Nigeria the oil rich nation of west Africa, a woman getting pregnant takes her life in her hands. If she becomes pregnant in January of this year and joins like 100,000 other women, the likelihood is that 3000 of them will die in pregnancy by August. Compare that to 9 of 100,000 deaths for women in the US during pregnancy.

People in much of the world sit on a dirt floor around an empty table, searching the house for a few coins, watching, waiting, hoping and praying ‘Give us this day our daily bread, while we sit around the table with not enough room for the pots and pans of food, won’t say a prayer of thanks over supper because we might miss what’s on television, as we pray; ‘Give us this day our daily number.’ It is no longer ‘all to Jesus I surrender’, but ‘all to Visa I surrender’ as our song of faith is in prosperity of the nation whose god is the dollar and not the God of our fathers.

The parents in many parts of the country we serve won’t even take a chance at naming a child before two years of age because it might not live, but die of hunger or diarrhea. We scratch out the lucky lotto number at the convenience store full of food, while they scratch the dust in the ground looking for food and water. Who has the better chance of winning? We lose at the lottery that day and go on to buy a coke and a bag of chips. They lose at looking for food and water and go on to boil some grass and leaves from a tree or meat from a diseased cow that died in the field.

Farouk Aman is young boy for instance living in southern Sudan. Farouk happens to be a Christian. He is just 17 years old. His chance of living to 30 is very small. For you see, Christian men and women in Southern Sudan are being chased on foot for hundreds of miles and executed by having their throats slit open by their Muslim enemies Their children are running into the hills to escape their Muslim captors and yet are being sold into slavery today, while we in Black America boast that our black owned car dealers sell over 6 billion dollars per year of products we don’t even produce. We would not walk the distance to work that these people are forced to run for their lives, yet we continue to try to buy the finest autos and ride in the latest style because we want to keep up with the “Joneses”.

God has given us all that we need to meet the needs of our brothers and sisters around the world. We have more than 9,000 physicians who claim African descent. There are over tens of thousands of nurses who claim African descent. Lawyers, architects, builders, teachers, preachers, artists, entertainers by the tens of thousands, many of whom call Christ Lord and Savior.

In a recent report in the Philadelphia Inquirer, it was noted that over 89,000 African Americans graduate from college every year. When do we say we have enough education to help our brother? If we claim to know Him, He admonishes us in Luke 6:46 for calling Him Lord and not doing the things which He says we should do. John 14:15 Jesus tells us that if we love Him, we will keep His commandments.

Just what is the black church doing in missions today? This is done from a survey of over 150 churches. One of the problems in the black church is our perspective of “affirmative action.” We don’t mind affirmative action when it comes to our getting what we deserve from the government. However, when it comes to doing our fair share in missions, we feel the pie is too small to share.

We don’t want the small pie we have of our income and members to be shared with some other ministries in some other place. Our pastors have the idea that if they support ministries other than those that are at the front door, they won’t have enough money to place out a new welcome mat. We want to look good in the community. We want people to come to our church and note that the ministry is prospering and doing well. We feel we can’t do that and support ministries overseas. We limit God by our own limitations. We limit Jesus could do no work in those places where there was no faith.

The typical African American church budget would read something like this; as taken from a survey of over 100 black churches in the southern United States. Church ministry to itself; building and maintenance 65% Emergency fund 26%; Funds going outside of the church 5%; of this, 4.2% for denominational expenses; UNCF 0.4%; Classic home missions 0%; Global Missions 5%. The total budget was $120,000 with a membership of 100-200 members.

There is more money spent on the men’s breakfasts and women’s auxiliaries in the typical black church than is spent on the primary call of going into all of the world to win souls for the kingdom.

The AME church reported on its 8,000 congregations with 3.5 million members. As of 1993 the total overseas ministry income was 250 thousand dollars. This represents seven cents per member per year or approximately $31.25 per church per year.

The NBC USA in 1992 was giving 51 cents per church member per year and when the cost of inflation is added in as a factor, this represents a 22 percent decline over 41 years from 1951.

It is obvious that we as black people have put our money where our hearts are. The average amount spent on entertainment by black people as recorded by the US Department of Commerce is $772, yearly, per consumer. whereas we spend a total of 22 cents per year in missions as a people of Christ. Just where are our hearts and where are our treasures?

What are His commandments? Are we our brother’s keeper? Who is my brother? Who is my neighbor, the rich young ruler asked Jesus in Luke 10:29. Just who am I supposed to help Lord? Of course Jesus responded to the man’s rhetorical question by reminding him that anyone in need was his neighbor. The man really didn’t want to know the answer.

Lord I have kept all of the commandments since I was a young boy. I have honored my mother and father. I have gone to church and given my tithe and left off all the big three sins, alcohol, avarice and adultery. What else should I do? Matthew 19:21 rings so true as the man asked Jesus, what else he should do. Jesus told him to go and sell all he had and give to the poor and that he would find treasure in heaven. The man went away crying because he had collected a lot of stuff and couldn’t see selling it for meeting the needs of the poor. We really don’t want to hear the answer to the question; “Am I my brother’s keeper?” We are afraid we might leave the room in tears too.

Why is it that we have yet to join the work that is before us? What are we waiting for? Are we not our brother’s keeper?

I would contend that indeed we are our brother’s keeper. Cain knew it all along. In fact that is why he asked the question. He was hoping that he could fool God. He was testing God’s memory.

We are familiar with Jesus’ parable of the talents. But the passage as I read it lacked a little punch to it. So, in the margins of my own Bible I added one more servant to the passage. This guy was given not five, not two and not one talent. This servant that I added was given 20 talents. Yeah, I know I am not supposed to add to the Bible, but its only in the margins so I think I am okay.

Anyway, it just so happened that this guy took his talents and did not invest it like the other guys, nor did he hide it under a rock. Instead, he had a party! It was a great party. Everyone who was anybody, or thought he was anybody came to the party.

He invited all of the movie stars, bought them the finest wines and liquors and brandished a lavish table on his friends. He had major sports stars, recording artists and some of the biggest businessmen of his day. He wanted to impress people. He even invited the church leaders. You can’t go wrong if you invite a preacher as that will add legitimacy to what you do.At the end of the party, when his master came and asked him what did he do with the 20 talents, he told him straight up: “I had a party and you should have been here!”

Then the master asked, “Is that all you did?”
This guy, without shame says, “Oh yeah…, here is your change!”
Well I have big margins in my Bible, so I can write a lot.

We have been given a legacy as an American people of African descent. We have been given the legacy of having survived being dragged from within the African inland, to the shores. A few of us survived the journey which went from the shores of Africa, to some of the nations of Europe, North Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Americas. We in North America were better off than many in these other destinations. We actually saw white people fighting and killing other white people in order to free us, when we had no guns, armies or money to do so ourselves.

We survived slavery, reconstruction, Jim Crow segregation, lynchings, mob violence and persistent intimidation from the halls of government to the institutions of higher learning and healing. We were last hired, first fired. We could not vote, had no chance within the halls of justice, and lived in housing similar to that we see in much of the third world today.

We now have an income and disposable wealth equivalent to that of several African nations combined. We literally have billions at our disposal to buy whatever we want. Now we are late to church, not because we don’t have clothes, we just cannot decide which suit goes with which pair of shoes and does the handkerchief match our cufflinks. We have been given 20 talents. What are we doing? We are having a party!

No matter where I go in Africa or the world, the legacy of Martin Luther King and others like him are known more prominently by others than known or appreciated than by those of African descent in America. Why is that? I believe because it means more to them.

It means more to them to know of our history and the struggles we faced and how our Lord and Master helped us to overcome, than it means to us. They are struggling to overcome like we once did. They have embraced our legacy, our 20 talents.

It is our 20 talents we have been given, and we are having a party.

What else do I see as I travel around the world? I see the legacy of our misguided desire to be the sexiest, nastiest, hottest, fanciest, liveliest and latest thing on the television screen. (Don’t tell my wife I see those hoochie mamas on the screen) I see us partying. I see the legacy of black entertainment gone awry with ‘nigger, bitch, whore (pronounced hoe for those who don’t get those stations), gangsta’ and gang-banger’ just to name a few of our well known trademarks. We are the hottest sport stars, wearing the latest styles, and using the foulest language on the screens

Africa in particular is inundated with this media and it feeds the desires of the flesh on a continent swimming in death and disease caused by AIDS and other sexually transmitted illnesses.

What have we done with the talent which our forefathers decreed us? What have we done with the mandate which within the American Black National Anthem? That mandate states that we will forever be true to our God and true to our native land.

We have wasted that mandate on ourselves. We have decided that the color of the carpet does not match the color of the pulpit and the pastor’s suit of clothes is too common to represent us well. We have decided that a trip to the casinos or theater on a church bus is as legitimate an outing as a trip to visit the prisoners in their need. We have concluded that a trip to Africa is only good if we are going to see the well fed animals and ignore the starving people.

“Thanks for the 20 talents master. Here’s your change Jesus!”

Well, to tell you the truth, I am sure that the servant who hid the talent would probably fare better than the one who squandered his and gave the master the loose change left over.

This I know is playing loosely with the scripture, but bear with me as I consider that I would rather be the one who buried his talent was cast out into outer darkness, where there was weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 25:30) I really don’t know what it feels like to be in outer darkness, except that it is usually associated with extreme cold and fear of what is coming to grab me and devour me. But the guy who gave Jesus the leftovers, the loose change…, what would God hold in store for such a man?

When the party is over, where will we go if we have wasted our legacy? The Master is coming and He will require an accounting. There are literally billions that don’t know anything about Him all around the globe. That is part of our mandate as the church.

If we don’t have a good answer, we could shout over the very loud music: “Here’s your change Lord!” I can add that to the margin of my Bible too.

Martin Luther King Junior is often quoted as saying he intended to ‘comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable’. It is in this same sense that he went on to describe himself as a maladjusted person in one of his essays on nonviolence. In this essay, Dr. King writes thusly:

Modern psychology has a word that is probably used more than any other word. It is the word “maladjusted.” Now we should all seek to live a well adjusted life in order to avoid neurotic and schizophrenic personalities. But there are some things within our social order to which I am proud to be maladjusted and to which I call upon you to be maladjusted…., I call upon you to be as maladjusted as Amos who in the midst of the injustices of his day cried out in words that echo across the generation, “Let judgment run down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream…”

Our problem with regard to reaching the world for Jesus the Christ is that we are too comfortable and too well adjusted to the world. We are comfortable, well adjusted negroes. Our churches are getting bigger. We are on television preaching, teaching and reaching our own. We have our own brand names of clothes, magazines, television shows and even take home Oscars and Grammy awards every year. We are so comfortable, and well adjusted, we have completely forgotten that we live in a world that is in desperate need of food, water, clothing and shelter.

We say we don’t know about it. We say no one told us it was going on. We could know if we wanted to. However, knowing requires searching as diligently for the facts, as we search for the missing remote for our big screen TV with the 500 plus digital satellite stations.

We have no desire to look into the facts, the truth of how billions of people die without any record of ever having lived. Eight million people will die this year from hunger alone. Over 6 million children will die from drinking unclean water.

Millions more will suffer, only because they had no choice in the place or circumstance of their birth.

If we wanted to know this firsthand, we could visit these nations, or just read the pertinent publications (by the way, these are not found in the entertainment section of the book racks).

We pronounce dictums on how people should tighten their belts to provide better accountability and strengthen their governments against corruption. The disciples pulled this one on Jesus in Matthew 14:15 “And when it was evening, his disciples came to him saying, ‘this is a desert place, and the time is now past; send the multitude away, that they may go into the villages and buy themselves victuals”

They spoke to the Master as though He could not recognize a desert.

They spoke to Jesus as though He was not aware of the circumstances and the plight of the people. They were intent on making excuses for their own indecisiveness and non-commitment to the plight of hungry people. The huge crowd and unpleasant surroundings would allow them to get back to their own agenda of passing out church bulletins and deciding which place the pastor should have to park his Lexus.

In other words, they said, “Jesus, just tell the people to tighten their belts!”

Matthew 14:16 reads “But Jesus said unto them; they need not depart, give ye them to eat.

We are not called upon to examine the reasons for hunger. We are called upon to feed them.

If the 70 plus year old grandmother caring for a half dozen or more grandchildren orphaned by AIDS, tightens her belt on the narrow waist, it causes chaffing and sores on her skin and does nothing to feed the children. The rains have failed again, there is no seed to plant, and the goats have eaten the remaining weeds which may have been used for the meal of the week.

The Kikuyu tribe of Kenya have a proverb that says if you have a visitor come suddenly to your home, you feed them immediately. That is ‘you don’t interview a hungry man.’

We are preaching the gospel of self reliance and morality to people who are dying, not from lack of motivation or morality. No doubt there are parts of this in every scenario. This is not the sole cause for billions of men, women and children who are caught in the spider’s web of poverty. This web has many strands, including bad governance, bad traditions and bad policies. However, some of the stickiest strands of this web are our own indulgences in having the best of everything without considering the cost to the nations of the people providing those things.

We are made rich by their suffering. To paraphrase the prophet Isaiah who spoke thousands of years ago about the suffering of Christ, I would write “by their stripes, we are well heeled.” Isaiah 53:5

We have become comfortable, well adjusted negroes. We want the biggest diamonds, the shiniest gold, the latest cell phones and the biggest cars. We want these things without regard to how our comfort impacts the welfare of people in the poor nations of the world.

Our socio-economic and political gains in the US have been a wasted legacy if we only use them for our comforts. Are you disturbed by this? Are you made to feel uncomfortable? Are you feeling maladjusted? I hope so.

As Dr. King would have said, we should never adjust to being comfortable and undisturbed by the extreme poverty around us. Jesus the Christ was more than just ill at ease when He saw the masses of people hungry for bread made of wheat, after He Himself had preached to them. He recognize that though ‘man does not live by bred alone’, man does indeed need bread!

All around the world, people are growing up in situations which have nothing to do with the choices they have personally made. They are desperate for the common comforts of food, water, clothing and shelter. What are you going to do about it?

Don’t remain in your comfortable, adjusted frame of mine. Become maladjusted in this society which tells you to ‘chill out, take it easy, don’t get so excited and, my favorite of all, ‘I did not know!’

We have been given a legacy of suffering and overcoming. Let us use that to comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable. Let us go into the world and make a difference for Christ. He will ask lots of questions at the end of all of this. To find comfort and to be well adjusted for the questions, just read ahead for the test.

‘What have you done to the least of these?’ Matthew 25:40-46.

For this job, all he needed was to show up earlier than the other several hundred men did.  He did need to be clothed.  That would help in the selection process.  Other than that, a strong, sturdy, and straight back was all that was required. Jobs are very hard to come by and hopeless men can be had for, well a dime a dozen!

To get to the job site required an early awakening at 5 a.m., and one hour walk to the loading dock.  This is where the strong, sturdy, and straight back comes in handy.  The dirt path is full of ruts, rocks and other hazards which can hamper carrying things on the back.  In order to do the 8 hours of heavy labor, this man would require the caloric intake of a cheeseburger.  This morning he had the equivalent of a cheeseburger, if you take away the meat, cheese, and mayonnaise. We can let him keep the pickle.

Each bag of beans, or cement, or maize or load of rocks he carries (depending on who is hiring that day) weighs the equivalent of 90 kilograms and must be carried a distance of 5-10 meters.  That is about 200 pounds carried for 15 to 30 feet.  I use metric measurements in order to make his load seem lighter and distance shorter.

For each bag carried, he will receive the equivalent of 1 Kenya Shilling, or about 0.75 US cents.  If he carries one dozen bags, he gets a total of 12 Kenyan shillings or about one US dime.  That makes it a dime a dozen.  If he works for about 7 hours straight and carries 100 bags he can take home 100 Kenyan shillings or about 80 US cents. That is if he doesn’t break for tea (that will be 5 shillings) or to pee ( bathroom or bush break, depending on job locale).

Now of course mules could do a lot better job, you don’t have to feed them cheeseburgers, and they do not require tea or privacy for relieving themselves.

Yes, labor in Kenya and much of the world follows this same pattern of man, mule or tools.  It is easy to see why at unemployment figures of 60-70% why it is easier to hire a men at a dime a dozen.