Home Page
FREE Books & Sermons by Dr.
Jack Hyles
Videos of Dr. Jack Hyles
Help Us Out If You Can!
If you have benefited by the books & sermons on The Jack Hyles Home Page,
please consider a small donation to help pay for the increased bandwidth
hosting costs. You can donate using a major credit card. You
don't need a PayPal account to donate - simply click on the "DONATE"
button below. Thanks so much for any help you can give.
|
|
I'm Not a Preacher
Boy Anymore
or The Science of Dying
By Dr. Jack Hyles
I want to write about the subject "They taught Me How to Die." I thank God
that death holds no fear for me. I'll be quite frank with you, suffering
does, having a stroke does, having a heart attack does, but death itself
doesn't. These men taught me that.
I've been preaching a long time. I've seen more people die than any preacher
alive. I've had more funerals probably than any preacher that ever lived. I
recall that I called over to St. James Hospital one day. A fellow was dying
and he asked for a Baptist preacher. He called the nurse and said, "I want a
Baptist preacher." Well, she called me. I went over to St. James Hospital.
He was under an oxygen tent. I got under the tent with him and told him how
to be saved. He was lost. The nurse said, "He will be dead in five minutes.
You'll have to hurry."
I told him how to be saved. He prayed that sinner's prayer and he got saved.
I said, "Sir, quickly, you are dying. You know that?"
"Yes, I know that."
"You've got to know for sure now. Are you trusting Jesus and Him alone?"
"Yes, Yes."
"Okay. You know you are dying?"
"Yes, I do."
"Okay, now where are you going to go when you die?"
He said, "Kentucky."
I've seen a lot of folks die. We had a lady in our church named Mrs. Fredley.
Mrs. Fredley cackled in church. She was up in years, real old, I mean so old
that she shouldn't have even been out in public. I think she was 72. She
always cackled and always on the top side. I was called at 2:00 in the
morning. I want to stop and say this. Why do you Baptists always die at 2:00
in the morning? Don't you understand, we preachers need our sleep too? You
preachers know what I'm talking about. Anybody ever die at noon? Not on your
cotton-picking life. They all die at midnight or 2:00 in the morning. Have
mercy! So, I rushed over to the hospital, as I've done so many times through
the years. Mrs. Fredley was over in Gary in the hospital. She was dying and
they said that she wouldn't make the night. I was beside her and I talked to
her. All of a sudden she coughed. She coughed up, I promise you, a cup of
blood. I don't know why I said this, I said, "Mrs. Fredley, is that blood?"
She said, "Don't look like tobacco juice to me." Then she went to Heaven.
I'll tell you about the man whose name is here on this pulpit, "In Memory of
Leonard Tudor." Leonard Tudor was a deacon in our church. He was dying at
St. Margaret Hospital. I went up there, of course, at 2:00 in the morning
like everyone else does. I went up to the hospital to watch him die and be
with him. In fact, the nurse said, "Mr. Tudor, you are a very sick man. You
might not make it through the night. Would you like me to call your
preacher?"
My deacon said, "Well ma'am, I am a priest."
"Oh," she said, "I didn't know that you are a holy father."
He said, "No, I am not a holy father, but I know the Holy Father." He said,
"Now, if you want to call my pastor and let him rejoice with me while I go
to Heaven, that's okay."
I walked in. He said to his wife before he died. "Now, I want you to know
something. I'm going to Heaven. I'll be watching you. Now, if you get any
other guy, I'll know it and I'll make it rain or snow wherever you are. I'll
send a storm, a tornado or earthquake. You watch it." My folks have more fun
dying than you have at church.
I want to talk to you for a few minutes about how these men taught me how to
die. As I said already, I preached the funeral sermon for Dr. John R. Rice.
I preached the funeral sermon for Dr. Lester Roloff. I preached the funeral
sermon for Dr. Ford Porter. I brought the main sermon for Dr. Curtis Hutson.
I preached the funeral sermon of Dr. Ray Hart. I preached the funeral sermon
for Grace, the oldest daughter of Dr. John R. Rice. I was one of the few
speakers at the funeral of Dr. Bill Rice. I've been around these fellows
when they were out and out. I did not see any of them when they actually
died, but I've been around them in their last moments and I want to tell you
what I know about the way they died.
I was preaching in Rochester Hills, Michigan. Dr. G. B. Vick and I were
sharing the pulpit. He was about the age then I am now.. Dr. Vick was not
what you would call a great pulpiteer He was a great man, a man of real
stature. I mean, he could run a corporation with no problem. He was just a
great man, but not a great pulpiteer. That night he was great! He preached
on Heaven. I had never heard Dr. Vick preach like that. I was sitting back
in the back. He preached first. I preached last. I had never heard Dr. Vick
preach like that. That is the greatest sermon on Heaven that I've ever
heard." He thanked me. What I didn't know was that was the last sermon he
would ever preach before he went to Heaven. The next Monday I got a call
while I was in Rock Springs, Wyoming. The call came from Springfield,
Missouri. They said "Dr. Vick has passed away and gone to Heaven. He died at
his desk in his office." Later I participated in his funeral.
We had Dr. Bill preach for the commencement of Hyles-Anderson College. We
were waiting upstairs to come down to the service. Dr. Bill Rice wasn't
himself. He was always happy, on the topside, cutting up. He used to say,
"By the way, neighbor," but that particular night, he wasn't himself. He was
quiet. I thought something was wrong.
It wasn't long after that, I was preaching in the mountains of Colorado. It
was summertime. It was hot as all get out. 95 degrees or so. I had taken two
changes of underclothing, two pair of socks and two shirts and a couple of
summer suits. What I didn't know was that the meeting was outside! It was up
9,000 feet on a mountaintop. I got up there, and I had on one of the summer
suits, and I almost froze to death! I've never been so cold in my life. The
meeting was under a tent, with the flap shut. It was so cold that people
brought their sleeping bas and were lying in their sleeping bags, listening
to me preach. It was terrible. I almost froze to death. That's where I
became so active. I ran across the platform. I froze to death. They didn't
tell me it was going to be 9,000 feet. They they announced that they were
going to have a service the next morning, a sunrise service. "I thought,
"Boy, I'll tell you what! I'll get them tomorrow morning. I'll be ready! So,
I put on both pairs of shorts, both t-shirts, both pairs of socks, both
pairs of pants, both shirts, a sweater that I borrowed. I went out beside
the mountain to preach. I was snug as a bug in a rug. Man, I felt great! I
was preaching along, and the sun was facing me.
See, what I didn't remember was that when you have low humidity, when the
sun comes up, it gets hot. That sun was coming up facing me, and I got hot!
I mean I was about to die. I took the overcoat off. I took my hat off. I
took my suit coat off. I took the sweater off. This all happened over a
period of about 15 minutes. I was dying. I was so hot. I had to get rid of
one of those pair of pants. I had to! My legs were dying. So, I stopped and
looked out at the audience. (They didn't know that I had on two pairs of
pants.) I said, "Folks, you are about to see something you ain't never seen
before."
I reached down and unzipped my pants and the crowd in unison went "Ohhhhh!"
Then they saw that I had on a second pair and they all together went "Whehhhhh!"
Anybody else hot in here beside me?
Anyway, when I finished preaching that first night when it was so cold and I
went back to my room, somebody stopped me on the way and said, "There's a
call for you." There wasn't a telephone within miles. We were way out in the
mountains, and I had to drive a long ways to an outdoor telephone booth. It
must have been a 20-minute drive. I was driven there and I returned the
call. It was Dr. Pete Rice. He said, "Dr. Hyles, Dad just had a massive
stroke." He said, "I felt like you would want to know." Dr. Pete Rice had
gone to a great effort to call me and let me know about it.
Dr. Bill Rice and I were very, very close. Dr. Bill did have a massive
stroke. He came to Hammond on a regular basis because one of our members is
a doctor that Dr. Bill thought would help him. He attended our church every
Wednesday night. One Wednesday night he came by the office. He barely could
walk as he came by the office. He jabbered because he couldn't talk plainly
and he couldn't pick the right words. He said, "I'm a Frigidaire." He meant
Pentecostal but he said Frigidaire. He knew he had used the wrong word, but
he couldn't think of the right word so he was a Frigidaire. Personally, I
would rather be a Frigidaire than a Pentecostal.
Anyway, he came by and told me "Good-bye." As he left, he squeezed my hand
as best he could and tears rolled down his cheeks. That was just a few days
before he took a nap in his home and then beside the bed he said, "It is
finished," and went to Heaven.
Dr. Ford Porter was up in years and not in good health. I went down to
Indianapolis, Indiana, to preach somewhere else and Dr. Porter wanted to see
me. He had a driver drive us out to a big piece of ground out there beside
the freeway. I knew that he wasn't going to live long. He was bad sick, but
he told me the plans he had. He said, "we are moving our church out here.
The vestibule of the auditorium is going to be right there. The gymnasium of
our little college is going to be over here, and we will have a classroom
building over here." Within a few hours, Dr. Porter was sick until death.
Dr. Charles Weigle lived to be almost 100. In fact, he wanted to live to be
100. Every time Dr. Roberson would go see him, he would want to pray for
him. Dr. Weigle said, "Pray that I will live to be 100." He lived to about
96 years old, I believe.
I was down in Chattanooga preaching and I went to see Dr. Weigle in the
hospital. We always cut up about living to be 100. Dr. Weigle said, "I want
to go home, Brother Hyles." Now, I thought he meant, "I want to go back to
my house." He didn't mean that.
I said, "Dr. Weigle, I think you had better stay in the hospital."
He said, "I want to go home." Then he pointed up and he said, "I want to go
Home!"
Dr. Roberson came to see him. (This is the story that was told to me.) He
said, "Dr. Roberson, pray that I'll go home." Dr. Roberson didn't want to do
it because he loved Dr. Weigle so much, but finally he was persuaded to pray
that he would go Home. Shortly after the prayer, Dr. Weigle went home to
Heaven!
Dr. Bob Jones, Sr., became ill and as I mentioned before, he called for
Becky, my daughter, and me to come to see him. We flew down. They didn't
have the big new hospital then. They had a small hospital. This was years
ago there on the campus. Dr. Jones had a room where he lived there at that
clinic. We went in the room, and he was alone. Becky and I went into the
room. On the coffee table was a package of assorted flavored Lifesavers that
he had gotten for Becky. Becky was now, I think 17 or 18 years old. We
talked, I guess, for an hour or two. Dr. Bob said, "Brother Jack, will you
kneel here at my knees?" I knelt at his knees and Dr. Bob placed his hands
on my head. If I listed the five most spiritual moments of my life, that
would be in the top five. I heard as I knelt there the tramping of the feet
of soldiers that Dr. Bob Jones, Sr. had trained through the years. I thought
of all the people who soon would greet him in Heaven when he entered the
Holy City that he had sent before him.
He put his hand on my head and he said, "Dear God, if I can, I would like to
impart something to this young man," I guess for ten minutes Dr. Bob Jones,
Sr. placed his hands on my head and prayed for me, and then we left. He said
as we walked out, "Brother Jack, I won't see you again here." He didn't.
Dr. R. G. Lee had preached here. I met him outside of the door of the choir,
and I gave him his love offering check. He opened it.
I gave R. G. Lee, his check for one sermon- $3,000. Would anybody like to
preach here next week? I'll pay you what you're worth. Would anybody still
like to preach here next week? This was years ago. Three thousand dollars
then would be six or eight thousand dollars now. He looked at that check,
held it up and big old tears began to stream down his cheeks as Dr. Lee
said, "Dr. Hyles, in all my preaching, sometimes two-week revivals,
sometimes four-week revivals, all across America and around the world, this
is the biggest love offering I've ever received from anybody." Then he said,
"This is my last time to come here. I won't come again."
I thought he was angry. I thought that I had offended him. I said, Dr. Lee,
explain that."
He said, "I'm near the end. That's the last sermon I'll preach ever in your
church." That's the last time I saw Dr. R. G. Lee alive.
Brother Roloff had a theme song on his radio broadcast; it started off with
"They came and they were blest. He gave the weary rest." That was his theme
song all through the years on the Family Altar Broadcast. It started off as
a one-station broadcast on the station KWBU in Corpus Christi, Texas. Every
year, all through the years, one little theme song, "They came and they were
blest. He gave the weary rest. He made the blinded eyes to see. He fed the
hungry soul and made the wounded whole by the waters of blue Galilee." There
was nobody like Lester Roloff.
Dr. Rice used to say, "It's wonderful God made one. It's wonderful God made
only one." Thank God I got to know that "only one."
This is funny. I'm not a spooky person. I've never received a word of
knowledge. I don't need it. I've got a Book of knowledge right here. I've
never cast out any demons (I've cast out dozens of deacons but never cast
out any demons.) I was close to Dr. Curtis Hutson, never like Dr. Rice and I
were because when Dr. Hutson took over The Sword, Dr. Rice had been ill for
about four years, and of course, not traveling any more. I was scheduled
three years ahead of time. Dr. Hutson would try to get me to come preach
with him, but I couldn't do it because I was scheduled. We were together
some but not a whole lot, though I did know him and had confidence in him.
He preached at Pastor's School many times. This is sort of spooky. I was in
Eprata, Pennsylvania, preaching with Dr. Curtis Hutson. Now God has never
spoken to me out loud, but that morning, I was sure something was going to
happen to Lestor Roloff. Dr. Hutson and I preached together and I went back
to my room and the phone rang. I got a call about 4:00 in the afternoon. It
was Rose O'Brien from our staff. She said, "Brother Hyles, this is Rose."
I said these words, "It's Brother Roloff, isn't it?"
She said, "Yes sir. Did someone tell you?"
I said, "Yes. This morning Someone told me."
She said, "Well, he wasn't killed at that time."
I said, "Never mind." Brother Roloff went to Heaven that day.
The time that I spent with Dr. John Rice in Wadsworth, Ohio, and the last
sermon he preached, he didn't recognize me. I said, "Dr. Rice, how are you?"
He said, "Who are you?"
Finally as I left, he said, "Good-bye, son."
That afternoon, Dr. Rice said, "Dr. Hyles, let's plan to have conferences
once each month for a whole year." Dr. Rice and I sat down that afternoon
and planned a whole year's conferences.
I walked from his room that night and went back to my room. I got on my
knees and I said, "Dear God, I'm not a preacher boy anymore. When Dr. Rice
passed away, I was no longer a preacher boy.
Dr. Walter Wilson passed away, but before he did, I had lunch with him one
day. Dr. Wilson was terminally ill. He knew it. As I left his house, he
said, "Dr. Hyles, I want to show you something." He turned over to Song of
Solomon 2:6. Dr. Wilson showed this to me. It says, "His left hand is under
my head, and his right hand doth embrace me." It is talking about the bride
and groom here. He said, "Dr. Hyles, look at chapter 8, verse 3." I turned
over to chapter 8 and verse 3. It says almost the same thing but the
opposite. It says "His left hand should be under my head, and his right hand
doth embrace me." Then in chapter 8, verse 3, is says '.....it should
be...." Something had happened." Then he looked up to me and said, "Dr.
Hyles, I'll soon be in his arms." In a few days, he was gone.
Let me tell you how my pastor died. My pastor J. C. Sizemore, married Mrs.
Hyles and me. He ordained me, advised me to preach and taught me more Bible
than any man who ever lived. When he was up in years, he was senile and
though he had pastored me in Dallas, his home was in Amarillo, Texas. I was
in that area preaching. I hadn't seen him in many years and I made a point
to go see my pastor. His son was pastoring there and I went to the house and
found out that my pastor, the aged man, was down at the church with his son.
I went down to the church. He was in the office there. Brother Sizemore saw
me and recognized me. This is so sweet to me. We chatted for a while and he
told me he was proud of me. Then he said, "Son, I've got to go use the
washroom." He left the office and was gone quite a while.
His son said, "I'm worried about Dad." So we went looking for him. My pastor
couldn't find the washroom. He was looking. Remember, that church had been
there for years. He couldn't find the washroom. I saw him go from door to
door, opening a department door and a Sunday School classroom door, looking
in to see if the washroom was there. He couldn't find the washroom.
A little while later, I saw him out in the parking lot with his Bible open
talking to a teenage boy, telling him how to be saved. I walked up and I
said, "Pastor, you're winning souls still."
He looked at me and spoke the last words he ever said to me. "I don't know
the way to the washroom, but I still know the way to Heaven."
To go back to our list of FREE books
and
sermons by Dr. Jack Hyles, please click here.
©
Copyright
www.JackHyles.com |
|
|