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Gang articlesGang Life: In The Words of Gang MembersSubmit Your Story About Street Gang Life here...MEMO: RELOCATION OF A FOOLBY MIKE RAMEY You may have seen a story like this in your local paper, or on line. A pastor of a church, or a congregation ‘decide’ to ‘help’ someone out of gang life by paying to relocate them to another jurisdiction, supposedly ‘far’ away from their present gang problems. To use my Paul Harvey voice--you don’t know ‘The Rest Of The Story’! More than a few law enforcement agencies have reported that the reason why gang activity explodes in areas where there has not been such activity before can be traced to gang bangers ‘moved in’ because they were ‘hot’ in another jurisdiction. At the risk of hurting the feelings of some of my brother pastors (I have no sister pastors, because the Bible is clear about women in the pulpit and I DO support the Bible), I would hasten them to get out of the relocation business and back into the resurrection business. Until one deals with the root of their own problems, moving gang members will not solve their dilemma. As a matter of fact, to move someone who will not change is subsidizing the relocation of a FOOL! THE FIRST AND SECOND INSTITUTIONS: Relocated gang members will fall back into their old ways in order IF there is no accompanying internal repentance and change. This is a FACT! There is another reason why churches should stop believing the ‘hype’ about the ‘need’ to ‘help relocate’ criminals. It's called the B-I-B-L-E. In the Scriptures, it is clear that the first institution created by God for man and woman was marriage, and the second institution was the family. The church ‘showed up’ further down the road. Therefore, when the church tries to ‘usurp’ or ‘play’ with the arranged, biblical order it comes off looking bad to all concerned. That’s part of the reason why I’m an advocate for doing away with Sunday School and replacing it with Bible study. The church is to HELP and TRAIN parents to train their OWN children and create Christian homes. It is NOT the role of the church to ‘take over’ the home! Somewhere, someone is shouting--or nodding AMEN! I read an article a few years back where a pastor, upon doing some study of the Word, found that his church--by having a day care center--was actually advocating the disruption of the home AND encouraging an increase in out-of-wedlock (OOW) births. He caught a lot of heat--and a few other things--for ordering the center be shut down. However, along the way, I dare say that he also caught more than a few blessings. A LACK OF RESPECT: Sadly, our modern era has little respect for the institutions and things of God and the Bible. We have been ‘socially divided’ into two camps, two warring factions, and a host of thoughts and ideas that have little to do with reality. Take the issue of family. Even though the divorce statistics may be high, the child support courts may be full and the MSM may be trying to build a ‘normal’ family with homosexuals, lesbians, vampires and sorcerers, the reality is that a ‘normal’ family can not hope to begin without a MARRIAGE commitment between a man and a woman. Then the children follow, and so on and so on! I know that this might not be the popular route, but, brothers, somewhere along the line, one must take a stand for right, and against the need to be popular. Learning to stand on one’s own two feet as a man is the greatest compliment to our race and communities. But let’s move on. We’ve seen gallons of ink and swarms of keystrokes dedicated to the ‘saving’ of various individuals through social programs sponsored by not-for-profits funded by grants and giveaways. In reality, these social programs and not-for-profits are aimed at keeping some employed based upon the antics of others. Antics, I hasten to add, brought about by some in our society being led to believe that bad behavior is not only justifiable--but worthy of reward. FAMILY MEMBER ACCOUNTABILITY--NOT POPULAR: Stop and think. A generation ago, many of these same programs that we see ‘in vogue’ today were in existence. Yes, they had different names and different faces involved, but the aim was to deal with the poor and unfortunate person in society via not-for-profit means. Through these programs, government ‘trumped’ the family structure (with taxpayer money), the church was asleep in the pew (failing to care about the connection between strong families and growing congregations), and the social workers were unleashed. The results were the same then as they are now: calls for more programs, more social workers, the church to remain asleep and less family involvement. If one keeps doing the same thing, with the same result, I believe that one could call this a form of ‘mental illness’ if not downright insanity. If we want change, we as a people are going to have to put the issue of individual conduct right back into the homes where the problem of wayward family members was birthed. If I may be so bold, many entitlement programs ARE designed to keep folk comfortable in their misery, while the sociologists, psychologists, grant writers and social workers continue to pocket hefty checks and drive off into the suburbs to write their books and research papers, FAR away from the people they claim to be ‘down with’ for eight hours a day. Sounds like the time is right to solve our OWN problems. Back in the day, if a family member was ‘hot’ it did not take a pastor or a church to come up with the funds to send someone out of town. The FAMILY made a few phone calls, got a bus ticket, and shipped the offending young person off for an extended trip to stay with an auntie or uncle in another part of the country. Auntie Jean and Uncle Ron were MORE than a match for the little hell raiser from out of town. By the time THEY got through with them, in many cases, the foolishness was gone, and a more respectful family member (with their right mind) was ready to go back home. And, there wasn’t a federal, state, or local grant in sight--at the bus depot! If we can afford the latest electronic toys, we can afford to relocate our own wayward girls and boys. Let the church be the church. Your pastor is NOT your travel agent, and God is NOT a bell hop. RAMEY is the Pastor of The Forward Church, Indianapolis, Indiana. THE MANHOOD LINE appears on fine websites and gracious blogs around the world. To correspond, email manhoodline@yahoo.com. © 2010 Mike Ramey/Barnstorm Communications. |