Recently, I was reading "Kisses of Calvary", which is a book of Bro Hyles' sermons from the early 60's. I was shocked at how different his preaching was in the earlier FBC days. It was also coming from what seemed a more compassionate man.
Here is a segment pulled from one of the sermons in the book where he's reflecting on his own family, and a topic I never heard while sitting in his church in the late 60's, 70's and 80's......
"God forbid that our precious boys will ever have to march off to the battlefield. god forbid that my precious boy whom I love as I love my own life would ever have to wave good-by to me and march off to some foreign battlefield and die on the Flander´s Field. But if war does come, dear friends, thank God there is safety. There is a refuge.
What is the refuge? The refuge is the bomb shelter of Jesus Christ. My family is all in it. We have a bomb shelter and there is plenty of room for everybody. Come on in. You can fuss and wrangle about the ones you build, but in the one that Jesus built there is room for all.
My little girl Cindy is not old enough to know about Jesus yet or how to be saved. She´s in the shelter.
My little girl Linda is four. She doesn´t quite understand about salvation yet. She´s in the shelter.
One night a year and a half ago my boy David and I knelt at home and prayed in our living room, and David came into the shelter.
My little girl Becky recently go the assurance that she was saved and she´s in the shelter.
A few years ago in Garland, Texas, my own precious wife left the seat and came down to the front and said, “Honey, I was not saved when I was a child. I thought I was, but I wasn´t; will you baptize me?†That same night just before we took a vacation together, I buried my wife in baptism and my wife is in the shelter.
My own mother, a thousand miles away from my home today, is in the shelter.
At midnight one night my sister came to see me and said she wanted to be saved. I had the joy of telling my sister about Jesus and she came into the shelter. Her family is in the shelter.
I have two little sisters buried in a small cemetery in Italy, Texas. Their bodies have long since turned to dust. Their souls are with Jesus. They´re in the shelter.
My wife´s mother has been saved for years; she is in the shelter.
There are only two sorrows that I have today. One is that I couldn´t get my father into the shelter before he died; the second is that you´re not in the shelter. Some of you today are trusting in horses or in chariots, but let me tell you, the real hope is to remember the name of the Lord, our God.
“Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee.â€
Could I tell you one of the sweetest things that ever happened to this preacher? I married into a very wonderful family. My father-in-law is one of the dearest men I have ever met. I wish you could know him well. When I was first married, he and I were driving one day. He wasn´t a Christian. He was one of the old school. Brother, he wouldn´t borrow a dime; he´d rather give you a hundred dollars than borrow a penny. He wouldn´t buy things on credit. He was honest and had integrity and great character and so forth, but was not a Christian--no time to talk with God or for God. He was a very successful businessman. I talked to him one day driving to work. I said, “Mr. Slaughter, are you a Christian?â€
“Oh,†he said, “I´m all right. I was sprinkled when I was a baby and that is good enough for me.†That was all he said.
I never pushed him, but once every six months I would go to him again and say, “Mr. Slaughter, are you a Christian?†I could see him getting a little closer and a little closer. I talked to him many times.
One afternoon in our previous pastorate my wife became burdened about her father. She went out to see him about twenty miles away and fell on his neck and began to cry and said, “Daddy, I´ve got to know you´re saved! I´ve go to know you´re saved!â€
He said, “Honey, Daddy is all right.†He didn´t pray with her and he didn´t make any decision, but he said, “Daddy is all right.†We took that, and we trusted that he was saved but still doubted somewhat about it all. he never made a profession. He was never baptized. Several months ago he started forgetting things. His memory about little things failed him; he would forget names and people he had known all his life. He would remember events but not names, etc. he kept getting weaker and weaker. he went to the hospital, took some tests, and found that he has hardening of the arteries to his brain. The doctor said he will never get any better.
I was in Texas recently for a Bible conference and went to see him. I had some time of fellowship with him and I could tell he was sick. So I called the doctor and asked, “Doctor, how is he?†The doctor said he was a sick man.
Well, it´s hard for us to understand PaPaw getting sick. PaPaw was just the strongest fellow. He always had the five-dollar bill if everybody else was busted. He was the fellow that everybody looked up to. At one time he weighed 210 pounds, and now he weighs 163. I said, “Doctor, what about his life?†The doctor said that the illness could cut short his life.
So I went to see him and I said, “Now, PaPaw, I want to talk to you.†We went into the living room and sat down together and I said, “Now PaPaw, listen. I want to know one thing. Are you saved? Do you know that if you died, you would go to Heaven? I want you to listen to me. I want to tell you how to be saved. I´m going to tell you just like I tell anybody that comes to me at church wanting to be saved. I want to know that you are saved. Now, you listen.â€
He began to cry. His mind is alert. His memory is bad but his mind is alert. (The doctor said that he was in sound mind.) I told him that all have sinned as I have told so many thousands of others. All have sinned, sin lead to Hell, Jesus suffered Hell for us, and if we will trust Him, He will save us. Now, I said, “PaPaw, I want us to pray. While I pray, I want you to pray silently.†So I prayed.
I had never heard him pray. I doubt that my wife had ever heard him say a prayer. When I finished praying, I said, “Now PaPaw, you pray.†I thought I would have to tell him what to pray, but he started praying. I´ve never heard a sweeter prayer. I ran quickly after he prayed and wrote it down as best as I could remember it. Here is what he prayed (this was one of the sweetest moments I have ever lived in my life):
“Dear Heavenly Father, though I have never called on You, I have always respected You. I´m an old man now (by the way, it was his seventieth birthday that day). I have raised two fine children, but I´ve been too busy to do the main thing. Thank You that I have a son-in-law in whom I can trust. I know I should have done this years ago, but I was too busy. If You will accept an old man like me, I will accept You. Forgive any wrong business deals that I have made and any help You can give me will be appreciated. I now take You and pray that You will take me in the presence of a minister of the Gospel, my own son-in-law and in my own home. I make my profession of faith now. Amen.â€
I hugged and kissed him. I said, “Wouldn´t you like to get baptized?â€
He said, “I sure would.†I didn´t have to beg him. He said, “When can I?â€
“Well,†I said, “we will make arrangements somehow.†I called Bob Keyes, one of my good friends in Dallas, and said, “Bob, fill the baptistry; we´ll meet you at 10:30.†Bob filled the baptistry. I took some friends and my mother and went out to get Mr. and Mrs. Slaughter.
At 11 o'clock sharp I had the blessed privilege of baptizing my father-in-law. he is now in the membership of the First Baptist Church of Hammond, Indiana, where I am his pastor.
As he came out of the baptistry and walked down to the little crowd that gathered at the altar, we all started singing, “Happy Birthday to you.†I thought, Two birthdays in the same day! On his seventieth birthday he came to Christ and followed Christ in baptism.
Some trust in horses, some trust in chariots, but he trusted in the name of the Lord. Won´t you trust Him, too? Bow your head now and say from the heart, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner, and save me now, for Jesus´ sake. Amen.â€
Choose Jesus Today!"
The segment above seems like a total different Jack Hyles than the one that presided over HAC for 30 years.
Here is a segment pulled from one of the sermons in the book where he's reflecting on his own family, and a topic I never heard while sitting in his church in the late 60's, 70's and 80's......
"God forbid that our precious boys will ever have to march off to the battlefield. god forbid that my precious boy whom I love as I love my own life would ever have to wave good-by to me and march off to some foreign battlefield and die on the Flander´s Field. But if war does come, dear friends, thank God there is safety. There is a refuge.
What is the refuge? The refuge is the bomb shelter of Jesus Christ. My family is all in it. We have a bomb shelter and there is plenty of room for everybody. Come on in. You can fuss and wrangle about the ones you build, but in the one that Jesus built there is room for all.
My little girl Cindy is not old enough to know about Jesus yet or how to be saved. She´s in the shelter.
My little girl Linda is four. She doesn´t quite understand about salvation yet. She´s in the shelter.
One night a year and a half ago my boy David and I knelt at home and prayed in our living room, and David came into the shelter.
My little girl Becky recently go the assurance that she was saved and she´s in the shelter.
A few years ago in Garland, Texas, my own precious wife left the seat and came down to the front and said, “Honey, I was not saved when I was a child. I thought I was, but I wasn´t; will you baptize me?†That same night just before we took a vacation together, I buried my wife in baptism and my wife is in the shelter.
My own mother, a thousand miles away from my home today, is in the shelter.
At midnight one night my sister came to see me and said she wanted to be saved. I had the joy of telling my sister about Jesus and she came into the shelter. Her family is in the shelter.
I have two little sisters buried in a small cemetery in Italy, Texas. Their bodies have long since turned to dust. Their souls are with Jesus. They´re in the shelter.
My wife´s mother has been saved for years; she is in the shelter.
There are only two sorrows that I have today. One is that I couldn´t get my father into the shelter before he died; the second is that you´re not in the shelter. Some of you today are trusting in horses or in chariots, but let me tell you, the real hope is to remember the name of the Lord, our God.
“Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee.â€
Could I tell you one of the sweetest things that ever happened to this preacher? I married into a very wonderful family. My father-in-law is one of the dearest men I have ever met. I wish you could know him well. When I was first married, he and I were driving one day. He wasn´t a Christian. He was one of the old school. Brother, he wouldn´t borrow a dime; he´d rather give you a hundred dollars than borrow a penny. He wouldn´t buy things on credit. He was honest and had integrity and great character and so forth, but was not a Christian--no time to talk with God or for God. He was a very successful businessman. I talked to him one day driving to work. I said, “Mr. Slaughter, are you a Christian?â€
“Oh,†he said, “I´m all right. I was sprinkled when I was a baby and that is good enough for me.†That was all he said.
I never pushed him, but once every six months I would go to him again and say, “Mr. Slaughter, are you a Christian?†I could see him getting a little closer and a little closer. I talked to him many times.
One afternoon in our previous pastorate my wife became burdened about her father. She went out to see him about twenty miles away and fell on his neck and began to cry and said, “Daddy, I´ve got to know you´re saved! I´ve go to know you´re saved!â€
He said, “Honey, Daddy is all right.†He didn´t pray with her and he didn´t make any decision, but he said, “Daddy is all right.†We took that, and we trusted that he was saved but still doubted somewhat about it all. he never made a profession. He was never baptized. Several months ago he started forgetting things. His memory about little things failed him; he would forget names and people he had known all his life. He would remember events but not names, etc. he kept getting weaker and weaker. he went to the hospital, took some tests, and found that he has hardening of the arteries to his brain. The doctor said he will never get any better.
I was in Texas recently for a Bible conference and went to see him. I had some time of fellowship with him and I could tell he was sick. So I called the doctor and asked, “Doctor, how is he?†The doctor said he was a sick man.
Well, it´s hard for us to understand PaPaw getting sick. PaPaw was just the strongest fellow. He always had the five-dollar bill if everybody else was busted. He was the fellow that everybody looked up to. At one time he weighed 210 pounds, and now he weighs 163. I said, “Doctor, what about his life?†The doctor said that the illness could cut short his life.
So I went to see him and I said, “Now, PaPaw, I want to talk to you.†We went into the living room and sat down together and I said, “Now PaPaw, listen. I want to know one thing. Are you saved? Do you know that if you died, you would go to Heaven? I want you to listen to me. I want to tell you how to be saved. I´m going to tell you just like I tell anybody that comes to me at church wanting to be saved. I want to know that you are saved. Now, you listen.â€
He began to cry. His mind is alert. His memory is bad but his mind is alert. (The doctor said that he was in sound mind.) I told him that all have sinned as I have told so many thousands of others. All have sinned, sin lead to Hell, Jesus suffered Hell for us, and if we will trust Him, He will save us. Now, I said, “PaPaw, I want us to pray. While I pray, I want you to pray silently.†So I prayed.
I had never heard him pray. I doubt that my wife had ever heard him say a prayer. When I finished praying, I said, “Now PaPaw, you pray.†I thought I would have to tell him what to pray, but he started praying. I´ve never heard a sweeter prayer. I ran quickly after he prayed and wrote it down as best as I could remember it. Here is what he prayed (this was one of the sweetest moments I have ever lived in my life):
“Dear Heavenly Father, though I have never called on You, I have always respected You. I´m an old man now (by the way, it was his seventieth birthday that day). I have raised two fine children, but I´ve been too busy to do the main thing. Thank You that I have a son-in-law in whom I can trust. I know I should have done this years ago, but I was too busy. If You will accept an old man like me, I will accept You. Forgive any wrong business deals that I have made and any help You can give me will be appreciated. I now take You and pray that You will take me in the presence of a minister of the Gospel, my own son-in-law and in my own home. I make my profession of faith now. Amen.â€
I hugged and kissed him. I said, “Wouldn´t you like to get baptized?â€
He said, “I sure would.†I didn´t have to beg him. He said, “When can I?â€
“Well,†I said, “we will make arrangements somehow.†I called Bob Keyes, one of my good friends in Dallas, and said, “Bob, fill the baptistry; we´ll meet you at 10:30.†Bob filled the baptistry. I took some friends and my mother and went out to get Mr. and Mrs. Slaughter.
At 11 o'clock sharp I had the blessed privilege of baptizing my father-in-law. he is now in the membership of the First Baptist Church of Hammond, Indiana, where I am his pastor.
As he came out of the baptistry and walked down to the little crowd that gathered at the altar, we all started singing, “Happy Birthday to you.†I thought, Two birthdays in the same day! On his seventieth birthday he came to Christ and followed Christ in baptism.
Some trust in horses, some trust in chariots, but he trusted in the name of the Lord. Won´t you trust Him, too? Bow your head now and say from the heart, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner, and save me now, for Jesus´ sake. Amen.â€
Choose Jesus Today!"
The segment above seems like a total different Jack Hyles than the one that presided over HAC for 30 years.
