There is still a lot of talk today about Jack Hyles and his followers, known as "Hylesites." Many claim to remember the man as a great Fundamentalist preacher and defender of the Faith. And he is still revered by his followers as one of the greatest "Soul-Winners" that every lived.
But, was this man as great as others claim it was. Or was he not rather, to put it bluntly: a CULT LEADER, who raised up a movement which followed him and his teachings instead of the Bible?
The best way to find out who this man was, is to read more about him. The following links have a lot of information about the man, giving details you might not have heard about him, as well as strange doctrines he taught:
http://www.rapidnet.com/~jbeard/bdm/exposes/hyles/
http://www.biblicalevangelist.org/jack_hyles_story.php
The last one is a little long, but it is worth a read, for if you really look at this man and then the fruit of his ministry, you will see that it is very shallow.
As a minister myself, I've had opportunities to meet other Pastors who have known this man, and who were either members of his church, granduates of his school, or followers of his, and they have all told me very strange and stories about the man. And, after having studied the man myself, his sermons, and after having looked at the many strange doctrines he preached, I'm left with no other conclusion than the man was a great blank, and a great reproach to the cause of Christ, for he spent more time pointing others to himself than he did pointing Sinners to Christ Crucified. (Note: He even had pins made up which said, "100% Hyles" in which his followers wore to show their loyalty to the man. Wouldn't it better to have a pin that said, "100% Jesus!"?
Mr. Hyles was not only an egotiscial, carnal man, who's fleshly desires showed forth in his preaching, but he was also a very shallow soul winner. I've personally heard time and again of stories told by him about how he bragged on his winning souls. Below I give just two examples:
THE ELEVATOR
In this story, Mr. Hyles supposedly lead a person to the Lord going down an elevator from one story to another.
But how is this even possible?
THE STOPLIGHT
One story that Mr. Hyles told was how he had "told God" that he was going to win seven people to the Lord that day. He was on his way home, and he had won (I use that term lightly) only six, so he stopped at a stop light and looked towards his left and saw a man in a convertible. He yelled to the man, "Hey, do you believe in Jesus?" The man responded, "I sure do!" And then Mr. Hyles drove off thanking God that he was able to win that man to the Lord through his confession in Jesus.
Now, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see these are not true conversions to Christ. In fact, that's not even enough time to give the person the Gospel. But as you look at the fruit of Hylesism, you find this same Shallow soul-winning in his followers, who very seldom take time with sinners to clearly present them them the bloody, crucified Jesus who died for their sins on the Cross. Instead, they often only give three or at the most four verses from the Romans Road, and then pressure the Sinner to only "repeat after them." But where is the Gospel in this???
Sadly, Hylesim gets the emphasis off the SAVIOUR and onto the SOUL-WINNER, while leaving the SINNER's soul hanging in the balance.
I'll give just a few more illustrations of "Hyleism" as case in point.
THE SOUL WINNER
I was in Arkansas with another Missionary, and we attended a Missions Conference. The first day they took all the Missionaries to play golf. I didn't play, so I went street preaching. The next day they went somewhere, but I went off with a teenager and preached downtown. The third day I could take it no more, so I went to the Pastor, a very big Hylesite, and said, "Hey, you got a lot of Missionaries here. Why not have us go to house to house visitation?"
The pastor replied, "Hey, that's a good idea! Why didn't I think of that?"
He gave us maps and told us where to go, but only after saying, "Anybody who wins a soul to Jesus we will support financially."
That left a bad taste in my mouth. People should win souls for Jesus, not for money. I seem to remember my Daddy telling me something about people who will do anything for money. What was that? Oh, yeah, they are PROSTITUTES!
Anyway, my partner and I came across two black men, and I watched my partner take them through the scriptures for a solid 45 minutes. When he got done, there were tears running down their faces, and they trusted the shed blood of Jesus Christ right then and there to save their souls. As these men drove away, the other Missionaries came up to us, one of them a cocky guy, who was bragging upon himself, and, "I won three to the Lord, I won three people to the Lord!"
When he approached us he asked my partner, "Did you win anyone to the Lord?" My partner responded, "Dear brother, I just had the opportunity to win two black boys to the Lord." To the which this Hylesite protoge quickly interjected, "Ha! I'm better than you, because I won three to the Lord, and you only won two!"
Is that how we are supposed to serve Jesus? Sadly, Hylesism makes soul-winning into a contest in which those who claim to be Christians turn into competitors who don't take their time to explain the Gospel clearly, rather only trying to pressure people to simply repeat a prayer, so they can quickly go away and brag upon themselves to the other brethren and say, "Guess how many I won?" But is this true Christianity? Are we to brag upon ourselves, or are we not rather to simply brag on Jesus?
And what's worse is oftentimes those who they claim to win to Jesus have no idea what's going on. They only repeat the words to the prayer they are given, not knowing what's going on. And the words come from their mouths, not from their hearts.
THE BUS MINISTRY
I'm not for or against bus ministries. I'll be frank, though, I am against PROGRAMS which many Hylesites use on their buses though. I talked to one young lady who used to ride a Hyles bus to church every Sunday. She said on the ride home they would tell all the children, "Now you can't have any candy unless you get saved! So pray this prayer!" Afterwards, they would ask those who prayed the prayer to raise their hands, and then they went and gave them candy.
I personally saw myself the Bible of a man who worked one of Hyle's bus ministries, and on the front of his Bible he had the names of those he'd supposedly won to the Lord. I clearly saw the same name written down THREE DIFFERENT TIMES. So when did that person get saved, because you only get saved once? Did that person ever really get saved to begin with?
THE BLOOD OF JESUS
I preached in a church in Guatemala for a Missionary from Hyles School. I preached on the Blood of Jesus Christ. When I finished the Missionary told me that he was wrong all those years for not preaching the blood, and that he will start preaching it more often. So, WHY WASN'T HE PREACHING THE BLOOD BEFORE?
Sadly, this is common with most Hylesites, as they preach a BLOODLESS GOSPEL, and try to coax Sinner's into coming to God through repeating instead of stressing the need to trust Jesus through repenting (i.e. turning from trusting their own righteousness, to trusting the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ).
In Guatemala with this same Missionary, I saw a book he had which claimed to be written by Hyles. (Interestingly enough, it came out AFTER he passed away. How you write a book after you are dead is interesting). The book was entitled, "The Blood, the Bride, and the Book." Both me and my wife read it, and afterwards we both said the same thing, "It was like a confession from the man of what he didn't preach in his ministry and what if he had it all over again to do he would have preached." In other words, it was like a CONFESSION of his not preaching the BLOOD for salvation.
IN SUMMARY
Whether you like him or not, Jack Hyles has had a huge impact on modern day Fundamentalism. With his Pastor Schools, College, Books, etc., he has affected many pastors within the Independent Baptist Movment, many of which often mimick the man and imitate his programs and methods. But are they doing right by doing so? Should they too follow his shall evangelism techniques, which leave out faith in the blood of Jesus Christ?
The answer is a simple, NO! They should instead turn toward the scriptures, and preach the doctrine means of salvation by FAITH in the BLOOD of Jesus CHRIST (Rom. 3:25).
Hyles' appeal to others was the size of his church. Every Pastor wants a big congregation. But as you study the life of Hyles, you will find he compromised on what he taught in order to get such a large following. He also compromised his morals, which lead to his strange doctrinal teachings. He also allowed women positions of power in his organizations, and never taught on the home, and the position of the husband as a type of Christ and the wife as a type of the Church. Because of this there were many divorces within his ranks, and many busted homes and unhappy children.
If you want to follow Hyles and lift him up as a great man, then you are free to do so. But the truth is he is very shallow in his morals, in his doctrine, and in his soul-winning. So much so, that one who is a true Bible Believer must even wonder if he was saved to begin with, and whether or not he ever really won people to Jesus. For Hylesism is nothing more than modern day Phariseeism, in which many ministers have learned from Hyles how to be nothing more than little dictators who lead their congregations as they please. Instead of encouraging them to read their Bibles and follow God according to the scriptures, many Hylesites get their congregations so busy doing something that they often are left weary and worn out, and thus willing to passively obey without question. (Note: Those in Hyles' college who studied their Bibles often and for many hours were often ridiculed for doing so and labelled as "Deeper Lifers." What ever that means.)
As for me, I'm going to exalt Jesus and point Sinners to him slain for their sins on a Bloody Cross. I'm not following a man. I'm following the man Christ Jesus who died for me.
And, I'm going to win souls THE BIBLE WAY, and not the HYLES WAY. If you don't know the difference, then you need to find out. For Hyles method often leaves 'em converted to Hyles, but many times unconverted to Christ.
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