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WHY DIDN’T MY PASTOR TELL ME? PART 2

      In our last thrilling adventure, I shared the question posed by one of the young men I had been teaching among a group of his fellow detainees as the old Marion County Juvenile Detention Center. The teaching session had taken place a few years ago—before the Pandemic hit—with young men from the J-John Unit, in the center’s Chapel. Also on hand were a few Detention Officers who were also interested in the question…and my response.

      I had been teaching a special curriculum I had designed called Bible Based Life Skills, based on lessons from The Book of Proverbs in the KJV Bible. During one session, the Holy Spirit led the discussion into the arena of Bible Prophecy—which, by the way covers some 25% of the Scriptures. The J-John Unit was considered by juvenile detention officials at that time as the ‘toughest of the tough’ incarcerated young men. If you have been involved in ANY type of prison ministry, you know that you had better be bringing something to those behind prison walls that is not only powerful, but has the potential to change lives.

      I brought Jesus Christ. He did the life changing.

      The young brother who ask me the question which led to the titles of both part one and part two of these columns was sitting in the front row, right in front of me. “Why didn’t my Pastor tell me about this?” Meaning, about Bible Prophecy. I told him and the others “Perhaps he didn’t know himself.” And, as I was blessed to move further into the subject, your could have heard a fly walk across the cinder block Chapel walls. Even the Detention Officers were focused on the teaching. They all had a ringside seat as to what was coming with the soon return of Jesus Christ.

      Bible Prophecy, as I earlier mentioned, represents more than 25 percent of the scriptures, both Old and New Testaments. Yet, in many urban churches, the subject is barely mentioned. Sure, we ‘hear’ about Bible Prophecy at the various and sundry Bible conferences, but they seemed to be ‘reserved’ for those who can afford to pay an honorarium to hear the speaker; the ‘expert of the minute’ teach on a subject that a Pastor could successfully teach on as part of his regular ministry—if he made the effort. Who knows? If Pastors started to teach more on Bible Prophecy, church problems would be minimized, and a lot of congregations would ‘straighten up and serve right’. Plus—believe it or not—Tithes and Offerings would increase!

      Folks, we have become the day of the ‘outside expert.’ IF a person comes to our town from another town, and teaches on a biblical subject, we seem to think that the person ‘from a distance’ knows more than ‘the local church’. Bible Prophecy—like other doctrines of the Bible—was never meant to be of a private interpretation. It was never meant for a bible teacher to make a profit. Yet, this is the way many seem to be heading, as we are firmly entrenched in the last days before the Rapture of the Church (marking the official end of the Church age) and the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

      Now, I do realize that we have different offices in each church, and each person in that position has been gifted by God to equip and train His saints for service to the Body of Christ. However, a part of the training program of the church is Evangelism (Matthew 28:18-20 KJV).

      The Great Commission is not a suggestion, but a command of our Lord Jesus Christ.

      It is the duty of the Pastor of any church to make sure his youth department is not stuffing the church youth with cotton candy and outings to sporting or shopping events, or making ‘cool’ videos to see how close the youth can get to looking and acting worldly without playing with sin. Someone in the Youth Department, with the Pastor’s leadership, needs to be teaching Bible Doctrine to keep our youth grounded in Jesus Christ AND to reach out to their peer group with the gospel.

      Let me throw this in here at this point. One of the hats I wear is that of being a Certified Modern Street Gang Specialist. I have observed that gang recruiters have easily penetrated the church, learned the language and customs, and have sent teens into churches to recruit other teens to join local gangs.

      Satan doesn’t play fair, folks. More on him and his brood later.

      Further, very few urban Pastors spend part of their visitation time at the local juvenile detention center. Sure some ‘may’ have a prison ministry, but few make the effort to reach out to young men and young women in the juvenile lockup with the Gospel. I might add that many preachers don’t visit the detention center—unless the child of a well-heeled member—is in trouble with the juvenile justice system.

      I’ll end with this observation: The judges I served under during my years as a Probation Officer were talented and cared about those who appeared before the bar of justice. However, at various times during my court career, I heard more than one of them say that they saddened by the fact that more Pastors were not involved with the court, nor were they seen dealing with some of the juveniles who ran afoul of the law from THEIR churches.

      A fact not missed by some of the young brothers in J-John and other units.

      Yes, it is ultimately the responsibility of parents to train up their children in the fear and admonition of the Lord. The HOME is the first school AND church that a child should be taught in. However, what about the responsibility of the church and the Pastor? Yes, Jesus noted that where two or three are gathered in His name, there he was in the midst of them. However, the Scriptures also note that the church is supposed to ‘equip’ the saints. IF parents need help in teaching on certain subject at the home altar, the Pastor and the local church is the college and library where curriculum should be made available for any home.

      Bible Prophecy is one of the doctrines of the Bible we are commanded to know and share with those from the streets to the suites. We have to take God’s Word out of the pew and take it back to the street. Evangelism is still the best way to win souls and build churches. Thus, the streets are in dire need of the gospel and doctrine of the Word of God.

      More to come.

      Mike Ramey is a Retired Minister, KJV Bible Teacher, syndicated columnist and Bible Prophecy Specialist who lives in Indianapolis, Indiana. “Street Level Bible Prophecy” is one of a variety of his columns appearing and abounding in print and cyberspace, written from a biblical, business, and common-sense perspective since 1996. Catch Mike Ramey’s columns on X (Twitter), Substack, Faithwriters.com, LinkedIn and in fine publications like this one! To drop him a line—or a whine—the address is still the same: mgmikeramey@yahoo.com. ©2025 Barnstorm Communications International.