By Dr. Jannie B. Johnson

Jackson Advocate Guest Writer

These are some scary times in our America. Bad things can happen anywhere at any time without any provocation on our part. We want to feel safe and secure as we once did. But, we are not the people we once were.  

These are uncertain times, too. We don’t know what to do. We are allowing diversity to be a reason to unseat Americans’ way of life. We are not as different as we claim. This is evidenced by our willingness to unite as one during times of calamities and disasters.

We don’t know how to say what needs to be said. We are super sensitive, suspicious, and defensive. So, we talk and say nothing of substance. We keep busy doing without making commitment and claim to be moving forward but with no specific destination. 

We are free to look but don’t see…. Some of us have gleaned helpful knowledge from past experiences. We have lived and we learned a thing or two. But, it’s risky to voice how we know that we are mainstreaming immorality, numbing down morality, dumbing down education, sexualizing the atmosphere, marginalizing marriage, and redefining the truth.

We are trapped into silence by our new laws and policies. So, much of our time, mind, and money are spent in our trying to navigate between the “dangerous reefs” of diversity and sexual harassment.  

We Americans need to tell ourselves the truth. We need a counter-weight to our social toxicities. Without the truth, we will deteriorate until we are disconnected from the counter-weight to our social toxicities, the America’s churches. They are the counter-weights. They have the compass and the chart to direct us through, around, and over the dangerous reefs of diversity, violence, sexual harassment, and the racial unrest.

Our intolerance for listening and learning from the generations of yesteryears and our boldness in ignoring the laws of God in our affairs, remind me of a fable about a young fox.

A young fox lived with his Uncle Herman in a den.  A thorny bush grew up beside the den.  The bush posed no problem for the young fox until the uncle left to visit a far-away friend.  Not long afterward, the bush grew a new branch in the wrong direction. The young fox had to struggle to get in and out of the den. 

A wolf saw the bloody face of the young fox. He asked, “What’s the matter?” The wolf gazed at the fox’s injured cheeks. A business solution began to form in his mind.  He said, “I don’t want to alarm you but if those injuries are not treated, you can become ill.”

The young fox became fearful.

The wolf said, “Don’t worry. I can prevent the injuries from harming your health.” He set up a “first-aid clinic” for injured foxes, with charges. Foxes came from every direction to be treated.

One day, while Dr. Wolf was out, Uncle Herman returned home.  He did not recognize his nephew with a bandage covering face. The young fox was fast-talking the praises of his new friend, Dr. Wolf.

Uncle Herman listened and then said, “Dr. Wolf? Hmm!” He took a small knife from his bag and quickly cut away the thorny branch from the entrance. He said to the young fox, “I have prevented any future injuries for your wolf friend to treat! Remember a little prevention is worth more than a lot of treatment.”

Our social issues – addictions, teen pregnancies, drop-outs, violence/crime, and entitlement programs have put us in an ever increasing debt. Our “Dr. Experts” have NO solutions but they are ready to treat our social issues at professional fees (adding more to our state and national debts). 

Like the young fox, we are afraid for our welfare. We need to go down to the church house and  find Uncle Herman who knows how to cut away the thorny laws that are causing us to struggle day in and day out. 

The America’s church can prevent many of our social problems. She has the “tools” in her possession to clip away the thorny causes. She knows how to stir the hearts and minds of the high and the low to do right and go straight. 

Dr. Martin Luther King said it well; the church is not to be the master or the servant of the state.  But, as its conscience, she can make good moves happen and provide counter-measures to our social toxicities…, without charge.

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” — Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.