janets-story.pdf   Download this article to read Janet’s Story.

 

 

 

 

I attended an AIDS conference several weeks ago.  I learned how AIDS was the leading cause of death in African American women.  I learned about statistics.  I heard the testimony of a young man who was in denial for two years, when he was informed he was HIV positive.  He was very sick and went to the hospital many times.  It wasn’t until after several trips to the hospital a nurse wanted to test for HIV . . .  and that’s when reality set in and he burst out in tears.  A homosexual man who attended the conference testified that most of the men who approached him where in the church AND were married.  AIDS is a gay man’s disease right?

 

What made me put a face to AIDS was when I heard a testimony from a woman named Janet Hall.  She was diagnosed with HIV over three years ago after contracting the virus from a boyfriend.  He told her he tested negative for it when he left prison.  As she shared her story, her eyes filled with tears.  It wasn’t the tears that she is living with a deadly disease.  The tears came from the betrayal . . . for not asking THE QUESTION . . . for not asking for verification. 

 

Janet is like many single women: we want to love and be loved.  Money, career, and fortune is nice but doesn’t compare to sharing the love with a man.  However, with more and more African American men having sex with other men and THEN having sex with heterosexual women, it is no reason why AIDS is an epidemic in our culture.  I don’t need some PhD from the CDC to tell me that AIDS is an epidemic in the African American culture.

 

Hepatitis C is also major issue among the African American culture.  Why is Hep-C important?  It attacks the liver.  If you are HIV positive and/or have herpes you will have to take a cocktail of drugs, which puts stress on the liver.  Imagine you are middle class or on the poverty level and need to buy these drugs.  Even with government help, you won’t get the quality care like someone who has money.  But then, what is the cost of the quality of life?

 

African Americans need to be proactive with our heath and take care and pride concerning our well being. 

 

• The only 100% guarantee from AIDS and other STDs is abstinence PERIOD.
• If you do have sex (and intend to use a condom) PLEASE get an STD and AIDS report.  A bank won’t loan money to you unless they do a credit check.  Federal and State Governments as well as most employers are asking for a background check before hiring you.  So, you shouldn’t have sex with anyone without an AIDS/STD report.

 

What you don’t ask (and verify) can kill you.

The church better wake up and stop preaching the prosperity gospel.  What good is it when people are the WALKING DEAD?  Jesus is the only way, the truth and the life.  Abundant life is not a BMW or a 500k home.  It is free from the cares and desires of this world.

 

I’m putting together a guide to help us get better clarity to the disease and set in motion a plan to prevent new cases of AIDS and control the number of people already infected.  If you have any advice, literature, or guidance all comments are welcome.  If we don’t approach this demon with the love of Christ, we are all lost.

  

Download the attachment to read Janet’s story.  Please forward this story to all your friends.