Did Jack Hyles advocate any heretical views?

[Logos1560]

Smith, Spencer. Empire of Error: An Analysis of the Teachings and Philosophies of First Baptist Church of Hammond, Indiana Under the Leadership of Jack Hyles. 2026.

Chapter thirteen in this new book by Spencer Smith is entitled "The Heresies of Hyles." (pp. 158-185).

Spencer Smith listed one of those claimed heresies as being the "eternal humanity of Christ" (p. 172).

Spencer Smith quoted a February 16, 1986, sermon by Jack Hyles where Hyles stated: "There's always been Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever. He is the human deity now. He always has been. He always will be. He did not become human when He came to Bethlehem. He became flesh, but not human. He's always been human" (p. 172).

 

[SovereignGrace]

That’s awful doctrine right there.

 

[Ascetic X]

Jack Hyles heresies reportedly include :

Jack Hyles - Part 1: The Manifold Evils and False Teachings of this Cultish Wolf in Sheep's Clothing

Ju. 1:4,“For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.”What should we make of a man who says, “Now you need to close your...

www.2020scripturalvision.com

• Repentance unto salvation is merely repentance from unbelief.
• Submitting to the Lordship of Christ is completely optional.
• Quick Prayerism / Easy Believism
• Promotionalism
• Numbers-ism
• Eternal Humanity of Jesus Christ. “Jesus Christ . . . did not become human when He came to Bethlehem. He’s always been human.”
• That there are two gifts of life in salvation, one is eternal life and the other is everlasting life. The distinction being that one in qualitative and the other quantitative. April 28, 1985 sermon: “The Gifts of God Are Everlasting Life & Eternal Life," started by misquoting Rom 6:23 as "the gifts of God" (plural) instead of "the gift of God" (singular).
• Hyles prayed to the dead and for the dead. He claimed to have gone once a week to the mausoleum where his mother's remains were interred and there he prayed to her. Hyles would ask his dead mother to help and intercede on the big days when they would use extra salesmanship to manipulate more people into repeating the “sinner’s prayer.” Before he left town on a speaking engagement, he said he would follow this ritual: he stops before the picture of Rice and Roloff, promising them he will do his best; then he stops before the picture of his mother and asks her to intercede for him to do a good job while he is preaching.
• The teaching that one should store up merits (works) to offset times of demerits (sins). If you have enough in reserve, God will forgive your sin and put you back in business.
• Hyles would say that sin does not need to be repented of, only forgotten, "We don't even have a right to remember our sins." (Heb 10:17 was his proof text).
• Hyles taught a severely heretical doctrine of sanctification. In the sermon, "Don't Cut the Grass," he taught that all of us have "wheat and tares" in us, but we should let both grow side by side and not cut anything, lest we cut out the wheat (good) in us by mistake.
• Hyles taught that “all men are mental homosexuals” in a sermon on the text in 2 Cor 12:13-15, and that the only difference between someone who has committed adultery and one who has not is that in the latter case the sin of adultery is “in remission.” Hyles also says that adultery is not a sin, just a "mistake."
• Hyles taught that fallen man is not human but an animal and does not have a spirit. According to Hyles, God made man body, soul, and spirit, but when man fell, he lost his spirit and became only body and soul — on the same level as an animal. He said that when man falls, he is no longer human, but becomes an animal, arguing, "Man in his unregenerate state is not human." Putting man on the animal level is what evolutionists do, not someone that professes to be a Christian.
• He was grateful for Adam and Eves fall into sin, with the resultant fall of man and billions going to hell since then. On May 26, 1985, Hyles preached on "Thank you, Adam," actually thanking Adam and Eve for disobeying God and bringing sin into the world.

 

[Armchair Apologist]

 

[John of Japan]

Before anyone asks, Hyles took most if not all of these positions after John R. Rice died. I have had several fundamentalist leaders tell me they thought Hyles went off the rails after the death of his mentor in Dec. of 1980. I don't recognize any of those doctrines Ascetic X mentioned as being what my grandfather taught, and I've read all his books and heard him preach hundreds of times. (Some consider me the goto scholar of JRR, being his grandson and having written a comprehensive biography of him. )

 

[Armchair Apologist]

Before anyone asks, Hyles took most if not all of these positions after John R. Rice died. I have had several fundamentalist leaders tell me they thought Hyles went off the rails after the death of his mentor in Dec. of 1980. I don't recognize any of those doctrines Ascetic X mentioned as being what my grandfather taught, and I've read all his books and heard him preach hundreds of times. (Some consider me the goto scholar of JRR, being his grandson and having written a comprehensive biography of him. )

So you're the grandson of John R. Rice? That's pretty cool!

I remember about twenty some odd years ago there was a falling out between the Rice family and the SOTL establishment that got pretty ugly. This was shortly after I had abandoned the IFB world that I had been in.

 

[Ascetic X]

Before anyone asks, Hyles took most if not all of these positions after John R. Rice died. I have had several fundamentalist leaders tell me they thought Hyles went off the rails after the death of his mentor in Dec. of 1980. I don't recognize any of those doctrines Ascetic X mentioned as being what my grandfather taught, and I've read all his books and heard him preach hundreds of times. (Some consider me the goto scholar of JRR, being his grandson and having written a comprehensive biography of him. )

If the sexual allegations about Jack Hyles, his son David Hyles, his son in law Jack Schaap, and deacon A.V. Ballenger are true, they left a horrible legacy on First Baptist church of Hammond, Indiana and the IFB, sad to say.

I listened to maybe 50 or more sermons by Jack Hyles before I discovered the bizarre controversies.

I loved his preaching style, even though there wasn’t much Bible in it.

 

[Ascetic X]

When you start feeling a bit too enthusiastic and enamored about a Bible teacher, it pays to Google their name with “controversy” tacked on.

You may be shocked by the allegations or crime convictions that you discover. It can be heartbreaking and uncomfortable, but it needs to be done. Everyone deserves scrutiny, especially those representing the Lord.

Jack Schaap is a case in point. The son in law of Jack Hyles, this man was unfortunately a really bad person, to put it politely.

Let Us Prey: Big Trouble at First Baptist Church

A string of assaults and sexual crimes committed by pastors across the country have one thing in common: The perpetrators have ties to the megachurch in Hammond, Indiana.

www.chicagomag.com

 

[Armchair Apologist]

I loved his preaching style, even though there wasn’t much Bible in it.

Jack Hyles was certainly a friendly, likeable person behind the pulpit when he preached on "Fresh Oil" or whatever. He most certainly had the ability to work a room!

On the night I got to shake hands with him and have him sign my Bible, I realized the man was an arrogant jerk and not really someone who was worth my time or attention.

I know little of all the scandals but what I do know is that he and his cronies did a great deal of damage that we are still trying to undo today!

 

[Ben1445]

If the sexual allegations about Jack Hyles, his son David Hyles, his son in law Jack Schaap, and deacon A.V. Ballenger are true, they left a horrible legacy on First Baptist church of Hammond, Indiana and the IFB, sad to say.

I listened to maybe 50 or more sermons by Jack Hyles before I discovered the bizarre controversies.

I loved his preaching style, even though there wasn’t much Bible in it.

Logic should tell you that there should not be a legacy of IFB.
If churches are Independent of each other, they don’t exactly have a legacy together.
I could maybe give some allowance for that “legacy” where students have graduated from their college, but graduating from there, to my knowledge, doesn’t make you a sinner. It may harm your reputation.
But then all the other Independent churches who happen to be Fundamentalist and Baptist who have taken a stand against their problems shouldn’t be cursed with the legacy of a place independent of them.

 

[Ben1445]

On the night I got to shake hands with him and have him sign my Bible, I realized the man was an arrogant jerk and not really someone who was worth my time or attention.

Not him, but the first time I had this experience was the last time I had someone sign my Bible. I was not out of Junior High School at the time if memory serves me correctly.
If you want to sign my Bible, you will have to do it with one that you have given to me at the end of your personal note. I don’t see any other purpose. The blank pages are better used for taking notes than being an autograph book.