Grace and Truth
(Chapter 28 from Dr. Hyle's excellent book, Grace and Truth)
SATAN'S BID FOR YOUR CHILD
(A sermon preached to the congregation of the First Baptist Church of Hammond, Indiana, on Sunday night, May 23, 1971.)
If I did not love you so much, I would not preach this sermon. Many will not agree with me. I know our church has many public school teachers. I am sure that in this congregation we have 35 to 40 people who teach in the public schools. I wouldn't hurt you purposely for the world.
The truth is that many parents do not know what is happening in our public schools. Hence, I am going to be very frank tonight and spend myself to save your boys and girls. I'm going to risk your devotion, your love, your followship, and maybe your friendship, but I'm going to do it because with all my heart I want to save your children.
A lady said to me yesterday, "I went to an elementary school recently to work in the lunch room. Pastor, I never realized before just what is happening in our schools."
I plead with you tonight for your kids!
I hold before me a copy of a Teenage Questionnaire. In Sunday school this morning 230 of your high school-age students took this survey. Here are the questions it includes:
1. Have you ever heard one of your school teachers use vulgar language in class?
2. Have you ever heard a school teacher take the name of the Lord in vain in class?
3. Do you ever hear students cursing aloud in class?
4. Have you ever been approached by someone who wanted to sell or give you marijuana or any other narcotic?
5. Have any of your school friends used narcotics?
6. Have you ever used drugs?
7. Have you ever given away or sold drugs yourself?
8. Do you know of any teacher who uses drugs?
9. Have you ever been taught evolution?
10. Do any of your teachers wear mini-skirts?
11. Do any of your teachers wear pant-dresses?
12. Do any of your school friends drink?
13. Have you ever taken a drink of any alcoholic beverage such as beer, wine, etc.?
14. Has there ever been in your school any disturbances such as revolts, riots, student disorders, boycotts, etc.?
15. Have you ever heard the American way of life, the establishment and capitalism criticized by a teacher?
16. Have you ever worn slacks to school?
17. Have you ever worn shorts to school?
18. Have you ever been taught that pre-marital sex is all right?
19. Have you been asked to read such books as OF MICE AND MEN, SOUL ON ICE, THE GRAPES OF WRATH, CATCHER IN THE RYE or any other book that includes cursing?
20. Have you read any of these books?
Before you leave tonight I am going to tell you what your children said this morning in answer to the questionnaire. Throughout the message tonight you will learn the results of this survey.
If your child's teacher were walking down the street, how many of you would recognize him? Please raise your hand. That's not much over 15% of the crowd. How many of you have ever read at least one book that was required reading for your child at school? Please lift your hand. You see, you don't know what's going on! Like the ostrich you don't want to know what's going on because you don't want to get involved enough to spend some of your money to save your child. You want to keep on riding high, living it up, and enjoying life without facing the fact, we have a battle on our hands! That battle is not just to save a country; it is to save your children) If we don't rise up and do something about it, everything decent that we know about our way of life is going to crumble. I AM WEARY OF SOME SO-CALLED SCHOLARS WHO ARE DESTROYING OUR CHILDREN! Not only am I tired of it, but I have ceased to be quiet about it. Because you will not check on what is going on, I am going to open the door to the public schools and invite you in. I challenge anybody to disprove what I say tonight.
You say, "Preacher, you are a rabble-rouser!"
Yes, I am, but not nearly as much so as those who are trying to ruin the minds of our children and destroy the patriotism, decency, honor, character and chastity of our boys and girls. Not only am I going to do some rabble-rousing, I am also going to do some school building! I'm going to give our kids a choice!
Satan is after your child. He has pointed every gun in his arsenal at the soul, body, and mind of your child, and he is basically doing it through the school room. There are some institutions that we do not like to see attacked by anyone. The school room has been so deified in our minds that we think that it can see no evil, do no evil and speak no evil While we have built a canopy of protection over it, it is destroying and stealing our boys and girls. Parents all over this auditorium could stand as living testimonies to what I'm going to say. I could have dozens of parents parade across this platform whose dreams have been shattered. They would say, "My boy (or girl) was ruined by a university, a high school or a teacher!"
Your children may go to the devil; they may not go to a Christian school, and they may not turn out right, but I'll tell you one thing: It will not be because Brother Hyles didn't warn you and do the best he could to help you. If anybody gets mad at me tonight, it will be because you just do not understand that I love you and I love your children! In fact, I love you so much that I am going to tell you the truth. There is always a time of preparation before one goes out to fight. The man who is drafted into the army goes to prepare with other soldiers before he goes to battle. The child must be undergirded with truth, character, strength, honor, discipline and right before we send him out to a godless world.
I'm going to give you tonight several methods
that the devil is using to attack your child.
I. REVOLUTION
"The first part of the yuppie program, you know, is to kill your parents. And I mean that quite seriously, because until you're prepared to kill your parents you're not really prepared to change the country, because our parents are our first oppressors. . . . "
That statement was made by Jerry Rubin, one of the notorious Chicago Seven. He said it on the campus of Kent State University only one week before the rioting which culminated in the death of four students. Our socialist-minded professors and teachers, with their leftist-slanted textbooks, have dedicated themselves to changing the American way of life through indoctrinating the minds of students.
In 1932 George S. Counts wrote the booklet, "Dare the School Build a New Social Order?" In 1933 Dr. Harold Rugg wrote THE GREAT TECHNOLOGY, a book in which he declares that "through the schools of the world we shall disseminate a new conception of government." As far back as 1932, the socialists, communists and leftists dedicated themselves to bring about a new social order in America. What tool would they use? The schools!
Louis Budenz, former editor of The Daily Worker, who defected from communism in 1945, mentioned the early days of this communistic effort in his 1954 book, THE TECHNIQUES OF COMMUNISM. In part he wrote, "As early as 1924, in lectures delivered at the Sverdlov University in Moscow, Stalin specified .cultural and educational organizations' as valuable allies in the communist battle for world dictatorship. ... It was in 1933, however, that extensive infiltration began in the schools and colleges of this country encouraged by American recognition of Soviet Russia. ... "
During the years of this extensive effort to use our educational system to help change the American way of thinking, a key propaganda gimmick used to keep communists, socialists and other undesirables on teaching staffs was the cry of "academic freedom." You find a nation where the communists are in charge and then you let them talk about academic freedom. They suddenly hush their talk once they are in charge of the academic program. On our colleges, universities, and yes, our high school campuses there is coming a great parade of leftists, communists, Black Panthers and SDS people dedicated to revolution with their sandals, blue jeans and long hippy-like hair.
In his testimony before the House Subcommittee on Appropriations on February 23, 1968, J. Edgar Hoover made the following remarks in relation to the reason communists are so anxious to get their speakers on college campuses: "The basic purpose ... behind the speaking campaign, which has been pursued with vigor since the early 1960's, is to gain recognition for and acceptance of the Communist party, USA, as a legitimate political party on the American scene. The party considers that college campuses offer an excellent opportunity to reach the youth who will be leaders of tomorrow... ."
The May 26, 1970, issue of The Daily World said that the academic senate of the University of California of Los Angeles adopted by a vote of 209 to 5 a resolution expressing outrage at their regents for attempts to fire Angela Davis, a philosophy teacher and a member of the Communist party. Earlier in defending her right to pollute the minds of college students Angela Davis claimed that her teaching was not indoctrination. However, she said, "I can't and I won't keep my political ideas out of the classroom," and only "some form of communism will solve our human problems." (San Francisco Examiner, October 9,1969)
During the summer of 1969, freshmen preparing to enter the University of Maryland were furnished a booklet regarding orientation and registration which listed three steps to be taken. The first was to fill out four enclosed cards, and the second was to send $13.00 to the university. The third called for the new freshmen to read at least one of a list of books which included: THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MALCOM X, BLACK POWER, THE POLITICS OF LIBERATION IN AMERICA, by Stokely Carmichael and Charles V. Hamilton; CONCERNING CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE by Abe Fortas; THE OTHER AMERICAN by Michael Harrington, long-time socialist leader in the United States; and other books containing a leftist slant. (Human Events, July 19, 1969)
In a report to the National Committee of the Communist party on April 26, 1959, Hyman Lumer, National Educational Director of the party at that time, told fellow conspirators that success was not possible unless they could "win a solid base among the youth."
Ladies and gentlemen, the truth is, our country is being destroyed by our young people! It is being done because we have driven our boys and girls up to a beautiful building, lot them off in the morning, allowed them to walk through some doors, through which we seldom, if ever, walk, to be taught by people we do not know from books we have not read about subjects with which we do not agree! Behind those doors that we hold sacred where we let our children out each Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday morning, all Hell is breaking loose and our country is being destroyed while we deify the place where it's happening. The communists decided 40 years ago to ruin America through our schools, and they're doing it! You say, "Brother Hyles, that's in the colleges." Well, where do you think the high schools and elementary schools get their teachers?
The October 10, 1969, issue of TIME magazine observes: "It has become a truism that each new class of college freshmen is more radical, more tuned in, turned on and dropped out than the last . . . ."
The Tulsa Tribune, December 27, 1968, contained a report from an interview with six graduates of the Holland Hall High School attending six different colleges: "None of the six were willing to reject the radical SDS or the Black Students' Union flatly, but all said their causes and actions must be judged individually, on their merits."
The August 1, 1969, issue of New Left Notes proclaimed. "... the war is not just happening in Viet Nam ... it is happening here. In black communities through the country. On college campuses. And in the high schools, in the shops, arid on the streets ... it is a war in which we must fight... ."
The communists published in the February 8, 1969, issue of The Daily World an article that was headlined, "Battleground Reports from the Nation's Colleges."
What success are they having in our area? You say,
"Preacher, that's UCLA, that's New York City." Hold it! I have in my hand a survey taken this morning. Let's see how they are doing with their revolution and how they're affecting our own children. Question 15 on the survey was this: "Have you ever heard the American way of life, the establishment, and capitalism critized by a teacher?" Of the 230 students, over 150 of them said they had heard America condemned in the classroom. That means over 63% of our young people have had to sit in classrooms where some teacher tried to destroy the American way of life. That is treason! The law says they have to sit and listen to somebody try to destroy capitalism, the establishment and the American way of life. If there is such a teacher here tonight, let me say to him, "Your Hell can't be too hot for you!" It's amazing! Somebody preaches like I'm preaching and they're called bigots, but your left-wingers can get up, holler, scream, rabble-rouse all they want to and it is "academic freedom." You let a right-winger or a conservative stand up and speak what he believes and he's considered a rabble-rouser. We need some old-fashioned Hell-fire and damnation rabble-rousers! America is being destroyed while we fiddle. Your own child is at stake.
What else is being launched at your child?
II. BOOKS
Many of you do not know what your kids are reading. You have not checked. You have no idea, so I have to tell you. I'm going to open a few of the books. I will not say the bad words; I'll just spell. them.
NEW WORLDS AHEAD is used in the seventh grade. Included is a story, "The Stray Kitten" by Richard Wright. Page 54, "Kill that d-a-m-n thing." Page 55, "1 had my first triumph over my father. I had made him believe that I had taken his words literally. He could not punish me now without risking his authority. I was happy because I had at last found a way to throw my criticism of him into his face." Another story in the book is called, "The Blue Serge Suit." Page 414, "D-a-m-n asthma." Page 416, "d-am-n asthma's getting worse." "Be d-a-m-n-e-d if I see what you're getting at." That's seventh grade reading
VOICES IN LITERATURE (1) is used in grade nine. "Shoe Shine" by Jerome Weidman, page 21"My G-o-d." "The Long Night" by Lowell Blanton, page 84: "Well, d-a-m-n it, man." "The Invisible Aborigine" by Eugene Burdick, page 205: "D-a-m-n-e-d right." Page 209, "D-a-m-n-e-d-e-s-t thing." On page 235 parental authority is questioned. "The Sissy from Anaconda," page 352: "The d-a-m-n-e-d-e-S-t rattlesnake"... "H-e-1-1."
Ladies and gentlemen, not only is this bad language and bad English, it is not culture! It is not refined nor scholarly We are a little above this kind of crudeness. Not only does it prick our religious and spiritual convictions, it pricks our culture
We are just getting started. Because you won't check on your children's required reading I have to read it for you. THEMES IN LITERATURE is used in the tenth grade. "The Colt" by Wallace Stegner, page
127: "G-o-d d-a-m-n you" ... "G-o-d d-a-m-n your wild hearts."
Before you start criticizing me, and before you say that our kids are not having to read stuff like this, remember, I have the poll from this morning. Before some of you school teachers say, "Well, I teach school and that's not going on," don't forget, you go to just one school. I have the poll! I'm going to give you the goods in a minute, so don't shut your ears. I'm trying to help you and your kids.
Also in "The Colt," page 128: "D-a-m-n." In "The Mateo Falcon" by Merimee, the father kills his own son. WENTERN LITERATURE: THEMES AND WRITERS,, "The Out Station" by W. Somerset Maugham, page 83: "Oh, go to H-e-l-l." "D-a-m-n fool." "You d-a-m-n-e-d snob." "By G-o-d.- "D-a-m-n-e-d fool." There are fifteen counts of profanity and a murder in this one story on page 83.
In "On the Sidewalk Bleeding" by Evan Hunter, pages 105-411, a gang member is stabbed and the whole story describes how he lays on the sidewalk and bleeds to death. OF MICE AND MEN by John Steinbeck has been required reading in numbers of schools in this area. Page 24: "He's sure a H-e-1-1 of a good worker." Page 24: "He's a G-o-d d-a-m-n good worker." (My Bible says that you are not to take the name of the Lord God in vain.) Not one time are my children getting to sit in school and hear anybody curse my God an anymore! You don't have to let yours do that either. Page 48: "Them G-o-d d-a-m-n turnips give it to me." Page 56: "If that crazy b-a-s-t-a-r-d-'-s foolin' around too, much, just kick him out, Slim." Page 83: "In town there's a w-h-o-r-e-h-o-u-s-e." Page 83: -J-e-s-u-s, I've Seen it happen too many times." Page 94: "This here G-o-d d-a-m-n little s-o-n of a - - - - - (female dog) wasn't nothin' to George."
SOUL 0N ICE by Eldridge Cleaver, page 159: "I'd jump over ten n-i-g-g-e-r ------- (female dogs) just to get one white woman."
You can sit there in anger if you want to, but I'm trying to help your kids! I'm doing it at the risk of your becoming angry. Yet, if I lose half the deacon board and two-thirds of the members, there's one thing I'm going to do: I will try to save your kids for Jesus' sake. I'm not mad at anybody but the devil, but I'm weary of this crowd of left-wingers, sex perverts, and Sweden-oriented teachers who are taking over our schools and ruining our kids. If you are not one of those, I am not talking about you, but there are thousands of them. It's getting worse all the time. This kind of garbage is what they are requiring our kids to read. I haven't even started yet really. I wish I had time to read you much more. Let's go further.
SOUL ON ICE, page 160: "I will not be free until the day I can have a white woman in my bed and a white man minds his own business." I can't even read all of this.
THE GRAPES OF WRATH by John Steinbeck, published by Viking Press, page 27: "You ain't too d-a-m-n holy to take a drink, are you?" "And I hear she's a s-o-n of a - - - - -(female dog)." You're not checking, are you? Listen to me! You ought to say, "My child is not going to be subjected to this anymore!"
You say, "Brother Hyles, that's not taking place here." Oh? Well, maybe I have the goods on you. This morning 230 of our high schoolers were asked this question: "Have you been asked to read such books as OF MICE AND MEN, SOUL ON ICE, THE GRAPES OF WRATH, CATCHER IN THE RYE, or any other book that includes cursing?" "Yes" was the answer given by 35% of our young people. You didn't know that, did you? Here is the sad thing! Seventy-eight said they'd been asked to read such literature, and 51 of them did so. This means two out of three of our best kids didn't have courage enough to say "No." Do you know why they didn't? In many cases they have moms and dads at home who wouldn't back them up. There are teenagers in this room tonight who come to me weeping because they want to do what is right but their parents want them to be "accepted" in the public high school or junior high school.
What else is the devil launching at your child?
III. NARCOTICS
I was on the airplane the other day and beside me there was a little paper named Midnight, dated May 24, 1971. An astounding result of a study by Lionel Baker, an Illinois attorney was given. For the juvenile court system of Illinois he gave questionnaires to 7,000 youthful drug offenders during the past year. The young people were asked who first introduced them to drugs. Now, listen! Four out of ten said, "Teacher." Think of it! Forty percent of 7,000 kids on dope said that a school teacher first introduced them to drugs!
Mr. Baker then interviewed over 100 students from various high schools which had been charged with drug abuse and found that 37 had first been "turned on" by their teachers. This verified his original findings. In the article he said, "One girl told me that she knew some of her friends used drugs, but she refused. Then she attended a party where several young teachers, recent college graduates, were chaperoning, and the teachers passed out several marijuana cigarettes. When she saw her teacher smoking she thought, 'Why not Now she is a regular user," said Several students said they had often smelled marijuana smoke in the student rest rooms, but one day after school they walked into the teachers' lounge and smelled marijuana. They said, "If it's all right for the teachers, I guess it must be all right for us."
Altogether, 10,000 teachers from 28 states were surveyed and it was found that over 50% of them had used drugs and that 24% used them regularly. Perhaps this is because these young teachers got used to sneaking drug trips when they were college students, and now that they are working and have apartments, they can use drugs openly at their dinner get-togethers and parties. Drugs are a part of their fives.
The article went on to say that when students get together with their teachers for after-school work, at school dances, etc., they see many of their teachers indulging in their favorite pastime, which is taking dope. Students who would never have dreamed of touching marijuana or other narcotics even if they knew some students used it then picked it up easily. Many times they do it to prove to the teacher that they are hip. Students were interviewed who were scared to death of LSD but who used it because their teachers told them all about their trips. Of course, in every case students were interviewed who had been caught using drugs while their teachers went free since no one ever suspected them of being the real culprits.
Lionel Baker points out that as the average age of teachers drops, the rate of drug use among them climbs. Many young people who were part of the drug generation of the mid and late 60's are now teachers, so it is logical that much information about drug use will be passed down to the next generation by today's young teachers. Here is the sad thing: An educator said, "We can't fire the teachers who use drugs, because we'd have only half of our teachers left. And we can't tell the kids to stay home. I guess we'll just have to live with it."
"Well!" you say, "Preacher, I'm glad our students don't do it." Oh, do you want some statistics about that? All right. This morning this question was asked of our First Baptist high schoolers: "Have you ever been approached in school by someone who wanted to sell you marijuana or any other narcotic?" Over 20% of our children said somebody had approached them at school trying to sell or give them narcotics.
The next question will shock you! "Have any of your school friends used narcotics?" Over 50% of our high school children this morning said they run with somebody who uses narcotics. If you take away the Hammond Baptist High School kids out of this, do you think any of our teenagers that go to the public schools have a crowd completely free of narcotics?
"Have you ever used drugs?" was also on the questionnaire. "Yes" is the answer given by 27 of the children in our Sunday school this morning. Imagine, 27 out of 230, over 10%, of our boys and girls have used drugs.
Everybody, listen to me! Some of you parents are a little peeved at me right now, and I know your child has smoked marijuana! Don't come to me and ask me, for I won't tell you. If you haven't enough faith in me to believe me and put some trust and confidence in somebody who sees what's going on and is trying to help your kids, don't you come and ask me! I'm not going to tattle on your kids. I'm trying to help them, and that's more than you're trying to do. Listen, since I've been Pastor of this church, practically every parent who has defended his child and said, "I trust my child! My child wouldn't lie!" has a child who has lied. I know! That kind of parent rears a child that plays around. You say, "Well, I trust my child!" You should know where your child is every moment of every day. You'd better see to it that your child is in the right crowd all the time. There's not a child in this building, I don't care who it is-my boy, my girls, every kid in this building-that couldn't be lured if he were in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong crowd!
I'm not through with that subject. Now hang onto your seats! We also asked, "Have you ever sold any drugs?" We had 10 pushers in our high school department this morning! In most cases they come from the homes of people that would not defend what I'm saying right now. I could call the names of five of them who are in this building right now! They have been caught pushing marijuana. I know who they are.
"Do you know of any teacher who uses drugs?" was also asked this morning. Twenty per cent said, "Yes!" They know teachers who are on drugs.
The devil wants to get your child. He is using
revolution, dirty books and narcotics, but there's more:
IV. ROCK MUSIC
Nothing reveals the condition of a nation quite like its music and its art. Not only does music reveal what we are, but more than we realize, it makes us what we are! Music wields a tremendous and powerful influence on our lives. When Moses and the Israelites crossed the Red Sea on dry ground there was music involved; they sang a song of victory. (Exodus 15:1-
21) David composed a song upon hearing of the death of Jonathan and Saul. (II Samuel 1: 17-27) Deborah and Barak sang a song after the great, miraculous defeat of the forces of Sisera when the stars in their courses fought against the power of evil. Judges 5) Psalm 45 is a song which was used to celebrate a wedding. The Psalms themselves are simply a compilation of songs that formed the hymn book of the Jews. When God gave Samuel to Hannah, she sang. (I Samuel 2:2-11) When Mary heard of the coming of the Christ child, she sang. (Luke 1:46-55) The Jews in their journey toward the temple for the feast days would sing. The Song of Solomon is a beautiful love song. The Bible certainly teaches us the importance of music.
Who hasn't cried on graduation day when the Alma Mater was played or as a band played a stirring number in a parade? Who hasn't thrilled as the flag was raised and "The Star-Spangled Banner" was played?
In one of my books I tell about a man who was in my church in Texas. He managed a cafeteria. He took me one day to the cafeteria and said, "Now I want to show you something, Preacher." He asked the organist who played during the lunch hour to play something very, very rapidly-a march, if you please. The people began getting their food more quickly. You could see them hurrying. He said, "I can speed up the line and serve twice as many people with a march." Then he said, "Watch." He asked the organist to play a waltz. The same people who selected their food with quick motions a few moments earlier were now leisurely choosing foods and slowly placing the items on their trays.
Sometime as you're driving down the highway turn on some good FM station and listen to good music. Observe how slowly you drive. Then turn on one of these rock 'n' roll stations and notice what's flashing in your rear view mirror! Music has a tremendous effect upon us.
Did you know that hypnotism is certainly closely associated with music? Dentists say that good music will even help alleviate pain.
Check the great soul-winning churches in America and you'll find that a certain kind of music and a certain kind of church always go together. You cannot divorce the atmosphere of a church from its music. In many churches, a good, faithful Gospel preacher stands to preach after the audience has been tranquilized with a choir special. Nothing can wake the people from their slumbering lethargy after the organist or a soloist has sufficiently tranquilized them with dead music. Your church will become sooner or later what the music dictates. Nothing is deadening our churches any more than our musical programs. Our music departments in our colleges oft times are being led by men that know nothing about soul winning, nothing about evangelism and nothing about reaching the hearts of people. They are appealing to the heads instead of the hearts. We sing the Gospel songs and the songs of joy with a lilt, a delight and a thrill. Now I'm not talking about the rock 'n' roll beat. I'm not for the jungle beat whether it's across the street in the "Village Boutique" (a hippie hangout) or whether it's over here in the First Baptist Church of Hammond.
I am also not advocating "long-haired" music in church. I love the classics, but there'll never be a classic played on that organ during a service as long as I am pastor of this church. The church service is not the place for the classics. I'm saying that if our churches want to get back the power of God and have changed lives, revival atmosphere, mourners' benches, and folks getting born again, they'll have to have the right kind of music. I'm talking about Billy Sunday, Homer Rodeheaver, Dwight Moody, R. A. Torrey kind of music. I'm talking about "At Calvary," "At the Cross," "Dwelling in Beulah Land," "How Firm a Foundation," "What a Friend We Have in Jesus," "Wonderful Words of Life," "All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name" and 'Jesus is Coming Again." I'm talking about the solid songs that have helped build the church and great revivals.
Now if music is so life changing and so atmosphere determining, the communists are certainly not going to bypass it in their efforts to take over America. The communists are master propagandists. Something that affects a nation so much would certainly not be bypassed by people who are as brilliant as our communist adversaries. In 1920 Lenin spoke at the third all-Russian Congress of Young Communists Leagues, and said: "If we are going to spread our doctrine, we're going to have to rework the culture." In 1929, the Russians founded an Association of Proletarian Musicians just for one purpose-to place communist influence on the music of the world. That means, ladies and gentlemen, that for forty years there has been a department in Russia-just like our Department of the Interior, Department of Commerce, Department of Agriculture, etc.-dedicated to spreading communist-type music around the world. The House Un-American Activities Committee called Sidney Pinklestein the "cultural spokesman of the communist conspiracy." Pinklestein said, "Break down the barriers in America between classical and popular music." It is no surprise then that that barrier is being broken down.
Television and radio programs by the dozens which have traditionally been for good solid music now have on their programs such guests as the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. I can't sing, I don't know much about music, but I know that is not music!
You say, "Foolishness, Preacher. How could the communists take over the country with music?" Plato said in his "Republic," "The introduction of a new kind of music should be shunned as imperiling the whole state." Many generations ago Plato begged the legislature to ban all music of an effeminate and licentious character, for "It will destroy our nation," he said. One hundred years before the Beatles ever came Henry David Thoreau made this statement in his writing at Walden: "Music may be intoxicating. It has helped cause the destruction of the Greek and Roman Empires and it will sooner or later destroy America and England." These were not excited reactionaries. These were men who knew what music could do to a society. The ancient legislators felt that they could not form a state without the help of a lyric and maybe even a dramatic poet.
Scientists have experimented with dogs and have found that certain music played while dogs are eating causes them to lose their appetites or to increase the action of their salivary glands which causes the dogs to eat more.
just as music will stir the appetite for food, music will also stir other appetites as well. There is a direct correlation between music and beastly living-immorality, indecency, dope addiction, LSD, filthy bodies, long hair, shaggy beards and dirty feet. You have a jungle beat and you will have jungle people!
1. Rock music is being used by communists to bring communism into America! Consider the Beatles' hit, "Back in the U.S.S.R." Capitol Records says of this song, "It is the fastest selling record in recording history." Many of your kids are listening to it, and you know nothing about it. Here are the words:
Been away so long I hardly know the place, Gee, it's good to be back home,
Leave it to tomorrow to unpack my case; Honey, disconnect the phone,
I'm back in the U.S.S.R.
You don't know how lucky you are, boys, Back in the U.S.
Back in the U.S. Back in the U.S.S.R.
Well, the Ukraine girls really knock me out They leave the West behind,
Moscow girls make me sing and shout That 'Georgia's always on my mind' I'm back in the U.S.S.R.
You don't know how lucky you are, boys, Back in the U.S.S.R.
Show me around your snow-peaked mountains Away down south
Take me to your daddy's farm
Let me hear your-(I would NOT pronounce this word)-ring out,
Come and keep your comrad warm I'm back in the U.S.S.R.
Boy, you don't know how lucky you are, boys, Back in the U.S.S.R.
That's the Beatles' latest hit and it is being sold in record numbers to your boys and girls. Young people, if you buy it or listen to it, you are not only unpatriotic, you are not right with God! A lot of you parents have no idea what your children are hearing.
We spend seventy million dollars a year in America fighting the communism and the atheism of Russia, and yet the outstanding record as far as sales is concerned is not "Back Home Again in Indiana," "Back in Virginia Where I was Born," or "The Eyes of Texas," but it's "Back in the U.S.S.R." The honest simple truth is that we are being choked to death by our so-called freedom. Nobody has a right to be free enough- to steal our freedom! We have the idea that we can have peaceful coexistence with Soviet Russia. My brother, Russia is as dedicated as ever to destroying "American freedom."
Paul Cantor of the "Jefferson Airplane" said on the Les Crane Show, "The new rock music is intended to broaden the generation gap, alienate parents from their children, and prepare young people for revolution." There was a day when such filth was given in little papers that were sold between the covers of magazines or underneath the counter, but now they get on the television programs, look us square in the eye, and with the Supreme Court's sanction say, "We are trying to alienate children from parents and cause revolution in America." And we pay them to do it! How long will we be so foolish!
Bob Dylan is called by communist People World Publication as "America's greatest poet." LOOK magazine said that he is "unchallenged as a teen and college-crowd absolute hipster." Here is one of his recordings:
Come, mothers and fathers throughout the land, Don't criticize what you can't understand.
Your sons and daughters are beyond your command,
Your old road is rapidly aging; Please get out of the new one if you can't lend your hand
For the times are changing, The line is drawn,
the curse is cast,
The slow one now will later be fast As the present now will later be past The order is rapidly fading
The first one now will later be last For the times are a changing.
So much of the music in our nation is dedicated to revolution. Phil Ochs is one of the heroes and darlings of the revolutionaries. (By the way, these songs are played on radio stations in Hammond and Chicago, and their records are selling by the millions.) Phil has one called, "I Ain't Marchin' Anymore." That one is against the Vietnam war. How do you like this one for a song, "The Draft Dodger Rag"? Our boys and girls are listening to it! Phil Ochs said, "The Vietcong are right. We should support Ho Chi Minh." He has created such popular lines as "White boots marchin' in yellow land, We're fighting in a war we lost before the war began, We're the white boots marchin' in a yellow land, and Cops, soldiers of the world." Here are some of the words: "We rammed into your harbor, tied to your port; our pistols are hungry, and our tempers are short. So bring your daughters around to the port, for we're the cops of the world." "The War's Over" has these words:
Serve your country in her suicide Find a flag so you can wave good-bye But just before the end,
Treason might be worth a try.
The "Lovin' Spoonful," another singing group, published an album recently entitled, "Revolution '69."
2. Rock music is definitely promoting the sale and use of drugs in America. In the authentic biography of the Beatles we are told that they started using drugs at the beginning of their career. This is no secret. Every time you buy their records you are paying for dope and are hooked up with a culture that is dedicated to the destruction of America and the propagation of narcotics. The Beatles have a song entitled, "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds." Lucy-L-in the Sky-S-with Diamonds-D-and it's publicized "LSD." They have code words in their songs the hippie crowd understands. As they sing the songs, they are speaking about drugs.
Gordon McClendon, a Texan who owns thirteen radio stations across the country, decided to take all the music off his radio stations that had anything to do with drugs or the use of drugs. He was attacked and blasted even by a leading magazine because of his action!
If I weren't a Christian I think my cultural taste would be above such trash. If I didn't believe God, I still would find it disgusting. Not only does this jungle beat go against my Christian principles but it also opposes my culture, refinement and taste.
Many of the leading songs have been admittedly written under the influence of drugs. Here is "White Rabbit" as sung by the "Jefferson Airplane":
One pill makes you larger,
One pill makes you smaller,
The one that mother gives you don't do anything at all;
Go ask Alice when she's ten feet tall
And if you go chasin' rabbits,
Then you know you're going to fall
Tell 'em a hook, a smokin' caterpiller
Has given you the call,
Feed your head! Feed your head!
Wouldn't Shakespeare have been proud of that? (By the way, what ever happened to Shakespeare?) We're rearing a generation of revolutionaries, and this music has much to do with it!
Now listen to the words of the Beatles' hit, "She's Leavin'Home."
She's havin' fun,
Fun is the thing that money can't buy, Something inside that's always denied for so many years,
Bye, bye, she's leavin'home. Bye, bye.
I wonder how many girls have heard that "song" played by some disc jockey on a radio station and have left home to go into sin. One mother called me the other day, and she was crying as she said, "Brother Hyles, my daughter has been to your Sunday school. She has gone to your church, and she's left home and gone over to the Village Boutique! She's over there! What can I do about it? What can I do?" I wonder how many young girls have listened to this kind of communist-inspired filth and have left home, Mother and decency.
I wept as I read about a rock music festival on the east coast. A half million young people attended. They said it was characterized by narcotics and nudity, yet, the merchants of the town said, "They're fine young people." Do you know why? Nowadays we define "fine young people" as those who do not loot stores and burn buildings. "Fine young people," but they gathered there and lived in a cesspool of iniquity, vulgarity, lasciviousness, adultery, fornication, dope and everything that's indecent and got by with it
CHEETAH is one of the big magazines aimed at teenagers. It quotes a New York musician as saying, "If the establishment knew what today's popular music is saying, not what the words are saying, but what the music itself is saying, they wouldn't just turn their thumbs down on it, they'd ban it; they'd smash all the records and arrest anyone who would try to play it!" That was said by one of the leading New York City musicians. Anybody that knows anything about music knows that the music itself carries a message.
Frank Zappa, leader of a rock group called "Mothers of Invention," said, "The loud sounds and the bright lights of today are tremendous indoctrination tools. It is possible to modify the human chemical structure with the right combination of frequencies. If the right kind of beat makes you tap your foot, what kind of beat makes you curl your fist and strike?" Zappa, whose group has recorded some "lollapaloozers" in the fields of sex, drugs, and revolution, knows what he's talking about despite his mangy beard, long hair and hippie costume; he has a master's degree in music.
Fifty years ago Lenin stood before a Communist Youth League and said, "We'll have to change the culture of a nation if it is to go communistic." Nine years later (about forty years ago) a department was formed by the communist government in Russia to infiltrate America with what we have facing us now!
Such atheists as Madeline Murray O'Hare have taken cases to the Supreme Court, which has taken the Bible and prayer from our public schools; yet, under the guise of freedom, traitors are allowed to speak on our college campuses. We have become a nation that allows someone to flaunt God and shout in our faces, "I'm going to kill you," while we say, "You're'free' to do it." They appear on our television stations speaking in the name of peace, make light of the Bible, deny God, and talk about free love while we say, "Freedom." I wish they'd put more television cameras on places like Bob Jones University where girls have to wear their dresses down to their knees and decency prevails, I'm an American citizen who thinks that when a person uses an American flag to wash his car, he ought to be put in the penitentiary! I'm an American who thinks if a man says he's going to break our laws, burn our buildings, and destroy our society, we ought to put him in prison before he does it. I'm an American who says when a man kills seven nurses in cold-blooded murder, it shouldn't take a quarter of a century to make him pay for his crime. I'm an American who still believes in capital punishment because the Bible teaches it
It is time some preachers got angry at what Satan is doing TODAY. We must get back to decency. Rock music is ruining our young people and overwhelming our country with communism. What can we do about it? Here is what we must do:
1. Teenagers, destroy every record, picture and magazine you have that has anything to do with these revolutionary singing groups. Don't give them away. Burn them! Break them! Destroy them!
2. Parents, don't allow such music to be played in your home. I mean, do not even allow it on your television screen!
3. Do not allow Gospel words sung to a jungle beat.
4. Do not just take away the bad music, but put good music in your home.
Recently I listened to good music as I went to sleep. I'd wake up again, listen to music awhile, and go back to sleep. I found myself wanting to sleep and wanting to wake up both because I wanted to hear the music. Do you know what? I slept better. I was refreshed the next morning. Good music will do something for you. Play good music on your radio. Be sure that the music you play doesn't have the jungle beat that is dedicated to the destruction of the morals of your children and the freedom that your children enjoy.
Some of you will rebel against what I've preached, and you'll walk out those doors criticizing me at the expense of your own children! You'll let your little darlings have their own way, listen to rock, and follow the suggestions of the words and music, but you wait! You will regret it later. I know of families who have walked out after a sermon like this criticizing the Preacher and the message in front of their children. Now they wish they hadn't done it. "Preacher hash" for a midnight snack doesn't hurt me one bit, but it really does hurt your children.
In Jesus' name, sing "psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord" (Colossians 3:16) while you are "speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. " (Ephesians 5:19)
V. SEX
Coming into our schools are books, slides, and filmstrips on "How Babies Are Made." These are for little children. "How Babies Are Made" shows chickens and dogs "in the act." It shows Mom and Dad in bed!
It is climaxed with a few pictures of a nude mother giving birth to a baby who was conceived several pages earlier. That is being taught in our schools to little children!
A coloring book of animals "in the act" is also available for the little ones, as is a teacher's guide, which explains how babies are made. The purpose is to create an atmosphere of honesty and freedom of discussion concerning matters of reproduction and proinote understanding and correct usage of the names of body parts!
The organization that is leading the fight to place sex education in our schools is called SIECUS. The editor of SEXOLOGY magazine is on the Cooperating Board of SIECUS. Mary Calderone, who heads SIECUS, is a cooperating member of the Board of SEXOLOGY magazine. I sent someone to buy a copy of it. It contains all kinds of questionable articles. One is, "Can a Woman and a Beast Enjoy Each Other?" Listen to this: "SEXOLOGY magazine fills an urgent need in its awareness of people. Because of this qualification it is being slightly revised with a different cover and title for use in the high school."-from SEXOLOGY magazine.
SIECUS helped to promote and organize seminars and special training courses for teachers in sex education. During 1967 at least 16 summer institutes for teachers were held across the country. In 1968 it more than doubled. The ultimate purpose is "to meet youngsters with frankness and honesty." They begin with dramatic visual aids, such as "the Little Brother Doll," priced at $17.00, and a lovely set of slides called "How Babies Are Made." This set of colored slides largely designed by Dr. Mary S. Calderone, Executive Director of SIECUS, presents an animalistic viewpoint of sex which is shocking and completely inappropriate for children three to eight years of age. These slides are for ages three to eight! They are cleverly and realistically executed in paper sculpture. They depict animals and human beings in "the act." (I'm using words that are not as blunt as the ones suggested by SIECUS.) While the children watch the slides, the teacher reads the narrative which describes the action in adult, medically accurate terms.
These promoters of NEWSEX programs quote such obnoxious phrases as, "Children must discover their sexuality no later than kindergarten," and "we must 'give them the whole story as quickly as possible."
At the age of ten at the latest both boys and girls should have mastered the factual aspects of reproduction, they suggest. In many cities and schools traveling sexologists carry their wares in large canvas bags from school to school. They display their materials to sex-liberated students. Homosexuality, self-gratification, abortion, pre-marital relationship, and films such as "The Game" which depicts "a boy's feelings after -------- with a pure girl," are but a sampling of that to which young students are exposed, "The Game" purports to warn 13 and 14-year-old girls of the game of love and its many traps. They are also taught about sex deviation, illegitimacy and venereal diseases.
If your child were in Palo Alto, California, he may very well have the opportunity of bathing a little boy. If she were in kindergarten in Evanston, Illinois, she would be exposed to the full details of the human birth process. Perhaps she would listen to the heartbeat of a baby inside a visiting expectant mother. In the Chicago area (a few blocks away), for example, parents of only 16 out of 3,200 students refused to consent to this, and those sixteen were called by the SATURDAY EVENING POST "fundamentalists from the Appalachian hills." Brother, I'd be proud to bear that brand.
The ten-year-old students are given a detailed description of the human sexual relationship. This is followed with the step-by-step filmed growth of a baby inside the another, the woman in labor, and the baby's birth. Would all of the children ten years old stand up, please. That's it! That's the age child to whom they want to teach this "stuff'! Thank you, kids, you may be seated.
You ask, "Brother Hyles, how about our kids?" I'm glad you asked. Here's the question we asked this morning. "Have you ever been taught in school that pre-marital sex is right?" In the high school departments of our Sunday school this morning, 48% said, "Yes!" Now you know that kids idolize their teachers. Think of it! Nearly half of our teens have been taught in the classroom that pre-marital sex is all right! Now do you wonder why some are turning out bad?
This afternoon as I read the results of our survey I wept as I learned what our kids had experienced. I thought, if this is true about our kids, I wonder in what kind of shape most teenagers are. I warn ours constantly. If they are in this condition, how about the others? I'll tell you about the others! Millions have swallowed this philosophy of loose sex, loose love and free love. Our country is gone unless we have a moral revolution!
What else is the devil shooting at your child?
VI. PROFANE LIVING
We asked, "Have you ever heard one of your school teachers use vulgar language in the classroom?" Eighty-seven percent said, "Yes." "Have you ever heard a school teacher take the name of the Lord in vain in class?" Fifty percent said, "Yes." "Do you ever hear students cursing aloud in class?" was answered "Yes" by 93%.
Now, get this. "Do any of your school friends drink?" "Yes" was answered by 85%. "Have you ever taken a drink?" Of the 230 high school students that filled out this form this morning in our high school departments, 69 of them said, "Yes." That's over one third of our First Baptist high schoolers! They're sitting here tonight! This has happened to your children-the ones you "trust," the ones of whom you said, "It can't happen to my child. If he's going to go out in the world someday, let him go now." If 69 of our 230 high school kids have already taken a drink of beer, whiskey, or wine, I wonder what it's like down at the liberal churches! Do you wonder why our teens drank? I know! They were in the wrong crowd. Eighty-five percent were in a crowd that did it and
33% went ahead and took it themselves!
What is another method the devil is using to
get your child?
VII. SENSITIVITY TRAINING
Now listen carefully! John Guernsey, education writer of the Portland "Oregonian," recently witness a group of school administrators having their first experience playing sensitivity games. This is the ultimate in beastly living. Mr. Guernsey said, "About 50 of the top Portland school district's wheels, both men and women, recently took part in a sensitivity session conducted by University of Portland psychologists." Not wishing to go all out, they removed only their shoes. In one exercise the school administrators formed a circle and then took turns standing in the center letting themselves fall backward. Someone. wasn't paying close enough attention and one participant landed on the floor. The school officials' sensitivity session also called for everyone to close his eyes, wander about the room in bare feet with arms outstretched, and try to identify others with his hands when he touched someone. You say, "Well, that's in Oregon." It also happened at one of our local high schools! Yes, teachers from this area met, men and women closed their eyes, blindfolded themselves, took off their shoes, felt each other, and tried to identify who they were by feeling each other That's heathenism! It's going on all over this nation tonight.
Sensitivity training is sex education encouraging students to express all points of view freely. They also use four-letter words. They get together and say, "Okay, now express yourself." If anybody wants to use a dirty four-letter word, he just screams it aloud They say that is expressing yourself, removing all the guilt feeling, removing all the inhibitions.
In 1946 Dr. Leland Bradford, an executive of the National Education Association, and a number of social psychologists worked with Kurt Lewin, a pioneer behavioral scientist, researching how science could change man's behavior. They surveyed the work of numbers of behaviorists and sought out new methods of reeducating human behavior and social relationships. A technique was developed which they called "sensitivity training." Dr. Bradford and his associates then decided to open shop in a large rambling Victorian estate in Bethel, Maine.
Another view of man held by sensitivity theorists is that an individual is actually many persons. He is continually faced with deciding what he is.
Here is an example of sensitivity training. Some nude marathons last 20 to 48 hours. Some have been staged in California under the direction of psychotherapist Paul Bindrim. Bindrim maintains that man's clothes are both a safe-guard for his privacy and a self-imposed constraint to keep out people whom he fears. Listen! You don't realize this, but nudity is coming to your child's school room. There is a high school in this area that has already had a play with a nude actor.
Marathons are held in which no words are spoken; only non-sense noises are made. Gestures are permitted as well as looks, stances and caresses. Often the people slap each other freely. Finally they collapse on the floor in a giant tangle of sublimely relaxed bodies. Sometimes people immerge from these sensitivity encounters virtually shouting, "I'm changed! I'm saved"
Do you get it? A group of people, about the size of our choir, take off their shoes, blindfold themselves, walk around feeling each other, scream dirty four letter words as they wish, identify someone by feeling him and hollering his name, fall back in a trance into the arms of another, and collapse in a big quagmire of human flesh on the floor feeling their way around, feeling everybody's body while blindfolded. That is so-called "scholarship." It's coming to America!
Dr. Carl Rogers says, "This differs from religious conversion in that the person is saved of himself rather than from the outside."
Now, get this. The sensitivity-oriented worship service was demonstrated at the World Council of Churches' Assembly. At this Assembly in August, 1968, at Uppsala, Sweden, Mr. McGaw of WBSI at LaJolla, California, said, "We find ourselves a puttputt church in a go-go world." In their "touch and tell" service, everyone held hands in a circle during silent prayer to begin the service. Physical contact supposedly stimulates prayer. (I say, it stimulates the need for it!) Each worshiper takes his turn to stand in the center of the circle, close his eyes, fall backwards, and be passed from one member of the group to another.
Recently in two congregations in the Baltimore area, about 30 people had a sensitivity session. One of the preachers had a predominately black congregation and the other was white. Part of the session was non-verbal and they danced and hugged each other. Most participants said they had a good time. I can imagine they did
Let's go further. Some of the liberal churches are making every effort to have the sensitivity training as demonstrated by the World Council of Churches' film, "Another Pilgrim." In the final scene of this film the pastor stands nude before his congregation.1 Yes! Listen carefully, because some of you are supporting this filth. Why was the pastor nude? He wanted to demonstrate complete honesty to his flock. That's church!
That film, however, is but a feeble gesture compared with the primitive nude orgy recently staged by the "Living Theater" at a suburban Madison, Wisconsin, church. The UPI report points out the new direction the church is taking. Orgiastic nudity and sensitivity training have moved up to the godless temple which now frantically seeks something or someone to worship. The newspaper account tells us that "seven members of the audience stripped naked. There was swearing, spitting, arguing, and a flesh pile. The general scene made Dante's INFERNO look like a temperance union meeting." The pastor said he allowed the performance "simply on terms of civil liberties."
You can see what you get in the guise of "freedom." The mixed cast in loin-cloths and halters was upstaged at one point when five men and two women, members of the audience, disrobed That happened on the platform of a church! A naked man and woman leaped over a wall in the back of the church into the arms of the audience. "I love them," a girl said when she was asked why she was naked. A couple from the audience and two cast members spit at each other. (If I had been there, I would have spit at the whole bunch!) There were no arrests!
If one of the fellows on this platform walked down the street in his underwear, he would be put in jail. These folks were naked in church, yet under the guise of worship there were no arrests.
The effect of college seminars on sex and sensitivity training has been nationwide in scope. A survey reveals that in Washington, for example, the State Superintendent of Public Instruction last year recommended in-service sensitivity training for all teachers That includes your child's teacher. You say, "Brother Hyles, you shouldn't mention all this in public." I would not have to if you would look into it.
As we survey the American school system we find that even in Hawaii a sensitivity training program has been in effect for administrators and faculty members, according to the Honolulu Star Bulletin, December 20, 1968. Teachers in a Chicago suburban high school (that is near us!) have volunteered to undergo sensitivity training during after-school hours. The superintendent hopes the sessions for teachers will open an expanding program which will eventually qualify teachers to offer sensitivity training to students. It's on the way, folks!
Now hear of the experience of the teenagers in Evanston, Illinois, involved in a sensitivity session. According to the Chicago Tribune, Wednesday, January 22, 1969, several high school seniors took part. They met in students' homes where Thomas Klein, a 27year-old high school teacher, had them crawl around on the floor wrapped in blankets and identify each other by touch. One girl had hysteria and later engaged in a shouting match with her mother. One boy reportedly found himself wandering along Dodge Avenue in Evanston several blocks from his home at three o'clock in the morning. He had no recollection of getting out of bed and leaving home.
Of course, nudity is the main thing. Recently a traveling drama company performed a play at a Michigan University in which the actors stripped naked for fifteen minutes after the play got under way For twenty minutes they were nude at the end of the play. The advance billing enticingly proclaimed that the actors would kiss and fondle each other from head to toe. That's culture!
Listen! If every deacon in this church walks
out on me, and if every member of this church gets mad and quits, or if this
church rises up tonight and says, "Don't you preach what you're preaching or
we'll fire you," you can have your church; I'll be on my way! I am going to
fight this dastardly attempt by the devil and his crowd to wreck our
children and destroy our boys and girls! Brother, don't you think that this
is a one-time-only sermon. You'll be getting this right along!
WHAT YOU CAN DO
1. Get in a good church. You say, "I'll pray about it." You don't have to pray about that. Get in a good church now! You say, "I'll do what the Lord leads." The Lord is leading you out of that liberal church now You say, "Where is a good one?" See me after the service and I'll recommend one to you.
Now students, you hear me God pity your lack of courage when you do not refuse to read these dirty books. If you have to be a Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach or Abednego, stand for right! Do not participate in the high school dances which, by the way, are just the early stages of sensitivity training. Do not take a drink of liquor Do not take narcotics, and get out of the crowd that does! Get in a good church.
2. Get your child in all the activities of the church, When the doors are open, get him here. Get Junior in the choir. You say, "He's thirteen and his voice is changing." Okay, let him stand with the choir and croak. You say, "He can't sing." Let him hum. If he can't hum, just let him move his mouth, and pray nothing will come out. "But," you say, "Brother Hyles, junior won't go." Oh, brother! What kind of parent are you? I dare my boy not to go. He is seventeen years old now, but he obeys his dad.
Get your child involved in the activities of our church! Every time I stand up and read announcements about activities, you go home and tell junior, "You're going!"
You say, "But Preacher, what if they balk?" Tell them, "You're going balking."
You ask, "How can you assure that?"
When they are five and six years old and there's an Easter egg hunt at the church, make them go. See that they do not miss anything while they're young so they will build their lives around the church!
It is the same old story, ladies and gentlemen. Kids go wrong because of two words-WRONG CROWD! It is the same story, BUT the wrong crowd is more wrong than it used to be! It used to be that if a kid didn't behave in school, or if he just got a bad grade in conduct, Mother said, "You can't play with him after school anymore." He was part of the wrong crowd! Nowadays if a kid smokes marijuana and takes LSD, we just say, "Well, it's a free country."
GET THEM IN THE ACTIVITIES! KEEP THEM OUT OF THE WRONG CROWD!
3. Get your child into a Christian school. I mean it. Get your kids in a Christian school. We have here on this platform a man who has to take second place to no principal when it comes to scholarship and education. We have a faculty at our school that does not have to bow to anybody's faculty. Ladies and gentlemen, your children don't have to go to the devil anymore. We are opening a college in September of 1972. This means that a child can start attending our schools when he is four years of age and stay there for 16 years. He doesn't have to go to the devil.
You say, "Brother Hyles, I can't afford it!" Then afford it anyway.
"I just have too many bills."
Sell your car.
"I can't do it this year." Don't say, "can't."
If your child were burning in a house tonight and you were told there's only one chance for the child to live, you would not know 41 can't." Honestly, it would be better for some of your kids in the nursery to burn than for you to say that you can't send them to a Christian school.
Somebody says, "Well, I grew up in this church and I didn't go to a Christian school." Yes, you're one of the reasons we feel bad. That kind of arrogant spirit is the very thing I'm talking about. Send your kids to a Christian school!
"Brother Hyles, we cannot afford it!"
Eat beans for breakfast, mashed potatoes for lunch, and fried potato peeling for supper. Eat potato soup the next day. Do like we used to do. Go down to the store and ask for a bone for the dog. After you eat the bone then eat the dog, but get your kid in a Christian school!
You say, "I don't make enough money." Get your kid in a Christian school!
You say, "I can't afford it."
Get your kid in a Christian school!
You say, "Brother Hyles, I just don't see my way through."
Get your kid in a Christian school! You say, "What if I ... ?"
You can do it! "But I can't...
Yes, you can! Get your kid in a Christian school.
4. Give. It will take a lot of money for us to do all we are going to do. Give! Some of you ought to give $1,000 or $10,000. Listen, the best money you ever spent is money invested in this kind of future for our children.
Every person ought to tithe. I'm calling on every member of this church to give 10% of his income from now on. Every child, every man, every woman, every boy, every girl, every couple, everybody should tithe. We can't rise up and build and do what God wants us to unless we give.
It is time we called a national emergency on the devil. We've got to do it. Let's save our children! Of course, many of you have closed minds. You don't want to be confused with the facts; your mind is made up. You're too scholarly. Your mind is closed. Listen! If you could have interviewed the kids in our school before they went as I did, and if you could know them now, you'd be a believer! Be honest with me, teenagers. How many of you kids in Hammond Baptist High School were just pretty backslidden a year ago? Maybe you didn't want to go to the school or maybe you were on the verge of not being what you ought to be. You were somewhat of a little troublemaker or something. How many of you kids would be honest about it and say a year ago that was your situation and now you're sold on the school? How many of you would admit that God has blessed you and changed you? Would you be honest about it? It will take a lot of courage but you will help a lot of people. Would you lift your hands, please? Look at them. Yes, thank you! A girl came to my office and sneered as she said, "I don't want to go to that old religious school." The mother simply said, "You're going!" She went! A few days ago she came to my office
and with culture and refinement, sitting properly and gracefully with a skirt long enough, said, "Brother Hyles, I thank God for Hammond Baptist High School. I just wish I weren't a senior. I don't want to leave."
Now if you knew what I know, you would heed what I'm preaching tonight. I don't have a thing to gain. I want to help your kids. Really! The truth is, we don't need too many more students. We have scores already, but we'll make a place for them. If you want your child to get a Christian education, I assure you we will see to it that he does. Of course, if he does not keep the rules, he may get kicked out, but we'll see he gets a chance. Let's save our children from sensitivity training, sex, indecent morals, dirty books, narcotics, rock music and revolution
I'll close with this:
Have you ever heard one of your school teachers use vulgar language in class? "Yes" was answered by
87% of our high schoolers.
Have you ever heard a school teacher take the name of the Lord in vain in class? Fifty percent said, 'Yes."
Do you ever hear students cursing aloud in class? "Yes," said 93%.
Have you ever been approached by someone who wanted to sell or give you marijuana or any other narcotic? "Yes," said 54 of our kids.
Have any of your school friends used narcotics? "Yes," replied 50%.
Have you ever used drugs? "Yes," admitted 27 of our teens.
Have you ever given away or sold drugs yourself? "Yes," said tent
Do you know of any teacher who uses drugs? "Yes," said 20%.
Have you ever been taught evolution? Nearly all said, "Yes."
Do any of your teachers wear mini-skirts? Nearly all said, "Yes."
Do any of your teachers wear pant-dresses? Many, many said, "Yes."
Do any of your school friends drink? "Yes," answered 85% of our own kids.
Have you ever taken a drink of any alcoholic beverage such as beer, wine, etc.? "Yes," admitted 69 high schoolers!
Has there ever been in your school any disturbances such as revolts, riots, student disorders, boycotts, etc.? "Yes," replied 71 %.
Have you ever heard the American way of life, the establishment, and capitalism criticized by a teacher? "Yes," said 63%.
Have you ever worn slacks to school? Dozens said, "Yes."
Have you ever worn shorts to school? Dozens said, "Yes."
Have you ever been taught that pre-marital sex is all right? Almost one-half said, "Yes."
Have you been asked to read such books as OF MICE AND MEN, SOUL ON ICE, THE GRAPES OF WRATH, CATCHER IN THE RYE or any other book that includes cursing? "Yes," said 78.
Have you read any of these books? "Yes," said 51 of our young people!
They are your kids! I tried! I have tried for years and I'll keep trying. I'm not against anything except wrong, but I am against wrong wherever it is. I know what I'm called. I hear gangs of boys come by the church when I'm getting in the car. I hear what they say about me. I know what they say on the radio, the newscasts, the call-in programs. I hear about that. I'm a fanatic. I'm a bigot. (Do you know what the word "bigot" is? Bigot is a word for decency used by bigots. Bigot is a word bigots use to call decent people.) Yes, I know! I was walking in a shopping center the other day. Three boys spit at me. I know! I get the phone calls. I get the letters. I'm a fool, but I'm glad to be one if I can save your kids! We've dedicated ourselves to try to do it! Won't you let us?
More Life Changing Sermons and books by Dr. Jack Hyles:
Do you know for sure that if you died today, you would go to Heaven? You can know!Click Here to find out how!
