Why Don’t More Pastors Teach Prophecy?

Q

Why do so many people shy away from teaching or even talking about the end of the age? I have a pastor that I truly love and have great respect for. He has brought me up in the Word and has changed my life. I have been in his congregation for 25 years and my wife even longer and we don’t plan on leaving anytime soon. He is a wonderful full gospel teacher yet he really shies away from anything that pertains to end time prophecy. I have tried to speak to him about it, but he avoids my questions.

A

Organized religion is an Earth centered entity. Much of its success depends on keeping its members focused on the things of this world, like church growth, stewardship goals, or improvements to the church building.

For that reason many seminaries don’t spend much time teaching prophecy and some even discourage their students from teaching it after they graduate. Their fear is that if they get people thinking too much about the next life, we’ll lose interest in this one.

In addition, it’s a controversial issue and can cause disharmony in the fellowship, something else to be avoided. The result is that many pastors feel ill equipped to teach prophecy and are too busy to stop and learn.

Para-church ministries don’t have those concerns and can handle controversial topics like prophecy more easily.

You obviously like your pastor, and since He’s not teaching any position on prophecy, find an on line teacher who specializes in prophecy and with whom you agree, and do your prophecy studies there. You’ll have the best of both worlds.