Now there is a deterioration of society, and you see it here in Romans, chapter 1. Here is a cultured society. And here is the step down. Look at verse 21:
"Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened."
What is the first step downward'? People who know God, who are not thankful to God, and do not give God the proper place in their lives. Now verse 22:
"Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools."
That is the second step. When you quit giving God the rightful place in your life, then you profess yourself to be wise, and you exalt your own self -- your own mind, your own thinking, your own reasoning, your own logic -- above the Word of God, and the Bible says you become fools.
And now step number three, in verse 23:
"And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things."
That is modernism. Man first does not glorify God as he should. Then he becomes wise in his own mind and thinks he knows more than the Word of God. Then he becomes a liberal. He says the Bible is not true. He says, "I have my own ideas about God. Everybody has a right to interpret God for himself. And this is what I believe about God." He becomes a liberal.
Now the fourth step is verses 24 and 25:
"Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves; Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator .... "
That next step in deterioration is humanism. Now you start off not giving God the rightful place in your life. Then you become wise in your own conceit. Then you decide you will be religious but you will not believe in the God of the Bible. And then you become a humanist. Your philosophy of life is based on humanism.
And by the way, that is basically the difference between communism and democracy. Humanism is the great central word and theme of communism.
Number five -- verse 26:
"For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature."
That is homosexual perversion.
"And likewise also the men, leaving the
natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with
men working that which is unseemly and receiving in themselves the
recompence of their error which was meet" (vs. 27).
This Deterioration in America Now Going on
Notice the progression now in America: first, a Christian nation, a cultured, refined nation, decided not to give God His rightful place. Men took the Bible out of the public school system. They took prayer out of the schoolroom. Now that they have done that, they can say, "We" or "I" know more than God. The Word of God, then, ceases to be the criteria for truth, and then you deteriorate into your own concept of God. "Everybody searching for the truth!" -- how many times have you heard that in school? "Everybody searching for the truth. Nobody has a corner on the truth." My Bible said that Jesus said, "I am the truth."
A person who knows Jesus Christ not only knows the truth but He knows the One who is the Truth.
So we become wise. Then we become liberal. Then after that, we change the truth of God into a lie and humanism comes. And when humanism comes, we worship the creature more than the Creator. Then comes paganism. Hey, that is where we started! Paganism, conversion, culture, not giving God everything, human wisdom, liberalism, humanism, paganism. That is your cycle.
We send missionaries to a country, like people came to America, with the Gospel. From that Gospel comes culture and refinement and decency and character and integrity and honesty and morality. Then what happens? There comes that culture. Then we get pretty smart. We do not honor God. We do not give God His rightful place. Oh, we believe the Bible but we do not honor God. We don't say much about it. We don't get excited about it. We don't go to church on Sunday night. We don't give God His tithe. We don't stand up for Christ. We are not the right kind of Christian people.
Then what happens? We become wise. You see that Vacuum that is left when we leave God? Here wisdom comes in and fills that vacuum. We become enamored with ourselves. We become impressed with our education, our culture, our refinement; then we think we know more than God. When we do that, we have knocked the Bible out from under us; we have knocked the foundation out from under the house, and then we have liberalism.
Liberalism is nothing more than humanizing God and that in its end is humanism. So we have humanism.
Then after we have humanism, We worship the creature, then the creatures get together in perversion and homosexuality and we have nothing but heathen paganism. Why? Because we are back where we started. Because we have left the things that made our culture, you see.
The thing that made America refined and cultured and decent and honorable was the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And if we leave that, it doesn't matter how many degrees we have, how many colleges, how many universities. Listen! If you leave the salt out, you can't have salt, you can't savor. So we have left out that which has savored, and now we find ourselves a heathen nation.
Look! We are just as lawless today as they were in Wyatt Earp's day. Isn't that true? Listen, twenty years ago when we heard of what was going on in South America and Europe, with the demonstrations and riots and folk being shot in the streets and a person's life endangered when he got outside his own house, we thought of pagan, heathen countries doing that. And we were right. Nations are pagan and heathen when they do that. Now the honest truth is, we face tonight a moral breakdown and deterioration, and we face paganism and anarchy. Why? Because we have followed the time-tested pattern of deterioration. Enough of that.
Steinbeck's Book Required Reading in Some Schools
It is surprising how few parents know what is going on in the public school system. Apathy is killing America, especially apathy on the part of God's people.
I have in my hand tonight a book, John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men. This book is a best-seller. John Steinbeck was the winner of the Nobel Prize. This book was at one time required reading at a school in this area. Now at the school where some of my children go, they made it required reading but backed out because there was so much complaint about it, of which complainants I was one! I will not read this language; I will let you guess what the words are. I want to read to you some statements from this book, required reading not in a college but for freshmen in high school. Will all you high school freshmen stand up, please? Now, this book was required reading in a high school -- at least one, maybe more -- for boys and girls this age. Thank you.
Here we go. On page 33 I read:
"Don't let him pull you in -- but -- if the b#### (son of a female dog) socks you -- let 'im have it."
Page 35:
"Listen to me, you crazy b###### (an illegitimate child)," he said fiercely. "Don't you even take a look at that b#### (a female dog)."
Now one reason I am preaching on this is that a lot of you parents are so lazy that you don't check on it. Tonight I am going to cram it down your throats. You are going to know what your children are reading.
Page 39:
Carlson said thoughtfully, "Well, looka here, Slim. I been thinkin'. That dog of Candy's is so g## d### old he can't hardly walk. Stinks llke h###, too."
Page 48:
Candy went on, "Either you guys got a slug of whiskey? I gotta gut ache."
That kind of stuff is not vulgar but it sure goes against my refinement. There is a word for gut which decent people use -- it is called stomach. And you people who think you are educated and refined, listen, when you use that, you are nothing but a heathen with a degree. Not only do you not know how to use decent language; you are not even cultured. Now that book is required in some high schools.
Page 48 again:
"Gotta bad gut ache," said Candy. "Them g## d### turnips give it to me."
Not only is it vulgar talk, but that is not even good English.
Don't get mad yet. We haven't begun. I see a lot of folks frowning already. You may have a stroke before we are through.
Page 59:
Whit stood up. "I guess maybe I'd like to see this," he said.
"Curley's just spoilin' or he wouldn't start for Slim. An' Curley's handy, g## d### handy."
Page 61:
George sighed. "You give me a good w#### house (place where prostitutes do their business) every time," he said. "A guy can go in an' get drunk and get ever'thing outa his system all at once."
Page 83:
Candy rubbed his cheek angrily. "You g## d### right we're gonna do it .... "
"Yeah?" said Crooks. "An' where's George now? In town in a w#### house."
Page 95:
"This here g## d### little son-of-a-##### (female dog) wasn't nothing to George."
Page 107:
"That big son-of-a-##### (female dog) done it."
"I'll kill the big son-of--a-####### (illegitimate child) myself. I'll shoot 'im in the guts."
Now you hear me, and you hear me well. If you would cram this filthy, rotten, stinking trash down the innocent minds of these little boys and girls who stood up awhile ago, you ought to be in the penitentiary. You ought to be in jail. And, by the way, there was a day in this country when you would have been!
Now this book is required reading. My boy was supposed to read this book, but there were so many complaints about it -- mostly by our people -- that they took this book out and put another one in. It had a lot of these vulgar words and they still DAMN the name of God all the way through it. And when I told the committee, "My boy is not going to read it," the committee said, "Now let's talk about it."
I said, "Talk about it all you want to, but my boy is not going to read it."
"Well," they said, "we will reach an agreement."
I said, "Yes, and I can tell you now what the agreement is going to be: my boy is not going to read the book."
They said, "Well, you find worse things than that on the restroom walls."
I said, "Yes, and when you make the restroom walls required reading, I will come back up here."
The simple truth is, there is too much good literature that has been taught through the years in America to let such trash as this be crammed down the minds of our tender freshmen boys and girls.
The book, Caine Mutiny, is not as bad as this one I have quoted but it condemns the name of God all the way through. I heard a teacher say that she thought Caine Mutiny ought to be read, that there was nothing wrong with freshmen children reading Caine Mutiny. You think this is bad; you ought to read Baldwin's book that some of our kids are having to read. It contains the most vulgar four-letter words you ever saw written on a sidewalk. But they said to me, "Now Rev. Hyles, Caine Mutiny is the language of a sailor. That is the way sailors talk." I know a lot of sailors who do not have to use dirty words to talk!
Now you had better check and see what your children are being required to read. There has been a deterioration in our school system in the last five years that you would not believe. And in the next five years when these demonstrators and long-haired beatniks get out of college and are teaching our children, it will double the deterioration we have seen in the last five years. And that is only the beginning.
One of our students in our church overheard two teachers talking recently in school. One said, "If we are going to get something real vulgar in next year, we had better get something a little less vulgar in this year. And if we can get a certain book in this year, next year we will wriggle in the real vulgar ones." And that is only the beginning.
THE IMMORAL PEOPLE WHO BACK SEX TEACHING IN SCHOOLS
In 1964, May 14, an organization was started in the State of New York called the Sex Information and Education Council of the United States, called SIECUS. It reached its full bloom on July 1, 1965. It broke in at 1855 Broadway in New York City. It is this organization that is influencing school systems all across America in sex education. Anybody knows that. It is either directly or indirectly responsible for the battle that is going on in almost every city of any size all across this great country concerning sex education in our school system. We call it SIECUS. Now its mother was a magazine called SEXOLOGY, which I will show in a few minutes. SIECUS, this sex education institute, was fostered by the editor and contributors and co-editors of a magazine called SEXOLOGY. SEXOLOGY is one of these magazines that was sold only behind the counter, a paperback that was considered pornography years ago. Now it has come to be a popular magazine because we live in an age when PLAYBOY, etc., can be popular. The people who founded, fostered and promoted the SEXOLOGY magazine are the people who are behind SIECUS. And those people are the ones who are behind the sex education program in our public school system.
I have tonight a copy of SEXOLOGY. Boy, you think I didn't have a hard time getting this copy!
SEXOLOGY magazine is the forerunner of SIECUS, and I will prove it to you in a minute. I want to introduce to you tonight the people behind the sex education program.
Editor Rubin Proved Communist Editor SEXOLOGY
First, I introduce to you Editor Isadore Rubin. Mr. Rubin is editor of the SEXOLOGY magazine. He is the treasurer of SIECUS. Yes, the editor of this magazine SEXOLOGY is the treasurer of the organization that is behind the sex education program in Highland schools, in Munster schools, in Hammond schools, in Chicago schools, in Anaheim schools, in San Diego schools, and in school systems across this great nation. The editor of this pornographic literature is the treasurer of SIECUS! Mrs. Mildred Blauvelt was a detective for a number of years on the New York police force. On May 3, 1955, before the House Un-American Activities Committee, she identified under sworn statement that he, Isadore Rubin, editor of SEXOLOGY and treasurer of SIECUS, was a communist and she named the communist organizations to which he had belonged. In March, 1945, he was in service, the editor of this magazine and the treasurer of SIECUS, and he sent a ten-dollar donation to the Communist Party fund drive. When discharged from the army, he attended meetings of the Flatbush Club of the Communist Party.
He was called before the House Un-American Activities Committee and asked to refute his communistic affiliation but he refused to do so. He had a chance before the committee to say, "I am not a communist." He refused to disassociate himself with communism. He was for awhile the editor of the New York Teacher News, the magazine of the newspaper, the official organ of the New York Teachers Union. The New York Teachers Union was expelled from AFL-CIO because of its communistic affiliation, and this man was the editor. And he is the treasurer of SIECUS! Isadore Rubin, one of the men who is trying to teach your boys and girls about sex, edits this pornographic magazine!
Associate Editor Kirkendall of SEXOLOGY
Meet Lester A. Kirkendall, professor of Family Life at Oregon State University, and the author of many lewd articles. And he is a noted pornographic writer. He is an editor of SEXOLOGY. I read in this paper: Lester A. Kirkendall, Ph.D., Editor, Parent Guidance of SEXOLOGY magazine. He has articles in SEXOLOGY. Now let me read you some of the "nice" articles in this magazine. Here are a few of the titles:
"Alcohol Can Solve Sex Problems."
"My Wife Knows I Am a Homosexual."
"Group Sex Orgies."
"Can Humans Breed With Animals?"
These are some of the articles from the SEXOLOGY magazine. I read some from the June issue of 1969:
"The Girl Who Couldn't Say No"
"Sex Life of a Dwarf"
"Hypnosis, a Sex Aid"
"The Prostitute and Her Customer"
Mr. Rubin, who advocates the sex education program, the communist, the brother of communists, and the editor of this filth, is the one you are promoting. And then Mr. Kirkendall is a faithful contributor and editor of SEXOLOGY magazine.
Mr. Kirkendall has suggested a revision of SEXOLOGY "for use in the public school system." He is the past director of the American Humanist Association, which is an organization given to fighting religion. So far you are walking in good company, aren't you?
Co-Founder of Sex Education Program William Genne
Meet "Rev." William Genne. Rev. Genne is one of the co-founders of SIECUS. In 1966 he affiliated himself with an organization that was shady. A report in May 22, 1968 from the files of the House UnAmerican Activities Committee, spoke of his belonging to a communist front organization. He has belonged to the Community of Peaceful Alternatives, to the Atlantic Pact, the World's Peace Appeal, and other organizations, avowed communist front organizations. Meet "Rev." Genne also of SIECUS.
Pornography Writer Dr. Pomeroy
Meet Dr. Wardell Pomeroy, also connected with SIECUS. He is a psychotherapist and marriage counselor in New York City. He is the co-author with Kinsey on "Sexual Behavior of the Human Male." In the June, 1968, issue of SEXOLOGY he describes "Most Unusual Sex Case" with this subtitle: "Introduced to Sex by His Grandmother and to Homosexuality by His Father, This Man Literally Tried Everything." Isn't that a wonderful article? Aren't you proud that you are for a sex education program that is promoted and fostered by men who write such articles as this! Mr. Pomeroy is on the Board of Consultants of SEXOLOGY.
President and Executive Director of SIECUS
Meet Lester Doniger. Lester Doniger is the current president of SIECUS. He gives two birthplaces: one in Poland and one in Australia. How convenient! His wife has sold tickets to communist meetings in her state. He now is president of SIECUS. He himself has had a shady past and much contact with communist-front organizations.
Meet Mary Calderone, the biggest serpent of them all. Mary Calderone, the executive director of SIECUS, advocates the teaching of sex in the kindergarten. Concerning homosexuality she said, "I cannot condemn it." She directs SIECUS! She is the one who heads the program, trying to put sex education in our public school system. She Said, "It will be some time before homosexuality receives general acceptance in America." I quote again Mary Calderone: "By the age of ten, a child should master the factual aspects of reproduction."
In the SATURDAY EVENING POST her motto was quoted as being, "TELL THEM EVERYTHING!" Listen, I cannot tell you all this wicked woman advocates. I cannot tell you the words she wants kindergarten pupils to know. I cannot tell you completely how she wants the terms of sex organs to be known, called off by kindergarten pupils. She is the executive director of SIECUS, and we have not yet begun!
Another Director Specializes in Nude Photos of Sex Sin
Meet William Masters, also a SIECUS director. He, William Masters, employs unmarried people to perform sexual acts before cameras so films can be made of sexual acts for presentation to others. Can you feature it! Look! Why, a liberal preacher, an atheist, an agnostic, ought to be against this trash! Why should a fundamentalist preacher have to stand almost alone? Every preacher in this area who believes in God ought to be against people who try to fight religion and the existence of a God. Taking our unmarried people and having them perform sex acts before cameras! He is also a SIECUS director! Aren't you proud of yourself! Go home and look in the mirror and say, "Boy, you are walking in good company." Also these demented perverts and communist people who edit and found and direct a magazine that was so indecent a few years ago you had to buy it between the covers of other magazines. Now these people are affecting and changing the lives of millions of boys and girls in our nation.
William Masters has been quoted in that satanic-inspired PLAYBOY magazine time and time again.
David Mace and Ashley Montagu
Meet David Mace. David Mace is the immediate past president of SIECUS. He fights morality and calls this Bible "the folklore of ancient Hebrews." Now look. This kind of communistic humanism always is anti-God and anti-Bible -- always is!
Meet Ashley Montagu who is on the SIECUS Board of Consultants. Ashley Montagu also is a part of the SEXOLOGY magazine's team. He said he approves "the demasculinization of the human male" and advocates what I have preached against from this pulpit again and again and again. This one-world crowd, this one-church crowd, this one-race crowd comes eventually to one-sex crowd. And now they want one sex. The feminization of the American male. Look around at some of these fellows, or whatever they are, and you will see it -- wearing their hair like girls, wearing jewelry like girls. There is a definite correlation between feminine dress, feminine hair styles and homosexuality. Hold it. I didn't say that every hippie is a homosexual. But I say when a nation gets to the place when you can't tell the men from the women, there is a reason for it.
He says -- Mr. Montagu -- that the feminization of American males is a step in the right direction.
I have read to you and am reading to you a list of men whose pictures ought to be in post offices across America with the word WANTED underneath them. They are doing more to curse America than the biggest convict in this nation. Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker couldn't reach the hem of their garments when it comes to destroying our nation like these are doing.
"How to Publish Dirty Books for Fun and Profit"
Meet Barney Rossit. SIECUS lists Barney Rossit as a source of information. He has been repeatedly in court because of his pornography. In the SATURDAY EVENING POST for January 25 he was the subject of an article, "How to Publish Dirty Books for Fun and Profit," and he is affiliated with SIECUS, the organization that is putting sex education in our public schools! He is known for glorifying communism.
Now here is the one that will curl your hair. Meet Albert Ellis. Albert Ellis is recommended by SIECUS. He is an oft-married fellow. He said about religion, "The religious person sells his soul so that he may feel comfortable with this heavenly helper he has invented." Another one of your team members! Quote again, "Religion is a needless inhibition."
Would Debase His Sister, He Says
Meet Albert Ellis. Albert Ellis advocates free sex and homosexuality. He made this statement. I hate to read it, but I am going to, leaving out just one word: "If I were stuck on a desert island with my sister, I would almost surely ######### and let the chips fall where they may." Yes, meet Albert Ellis. He says, "Religion is a form of mental sickness."
I hold in my hand a copy of the HAMMOND TIMES, Section B, Sunday, May 25, 1969. "Symposium Schedule, Hammond. Six top men in the field of psychology are scheduled to take part in the second Symposium of human growth and development in October. The second Symposium is being sponsored by the psychology department of Hammond schools. Emotional Education is the subject of Dr. Albert Ellis .... Five of the six sessions will be held in Morton High School Auditorium." This is not in California; it is in Hammond. Dr. Albert Ellis is speaking at Morton School. He said, "If I were stuck on a desert island with my sister, I would almost surely ####### and let the chips fall where they may." "Religion is a form of mental sickness." "Homosexuality is all right." "The religious person sells his soul so that he may feel comfortable with this heavenly helper he has invented." "Religion is a needless inhibition."
Listen! If it is illegal to read this blessed Book, the Bible, in the public schools, it ought to be as equally illegal to have an atheist and a sex pervert like this to feed the minds of our boys and girls rotten filth. I say that if it is wrong in the public schools to say the Bible is true, then it is wrong to say it is false. Either have both sides to present or leave it alone. You say, "I don't like the way you are preaching." But you don't mind the Rap Browns and the Stokely Carmichaels getting up and shouting, do you? It is time some decent people started speaking up. Well, Dr. Albert Ellis is coming to our city.
Meet Dr. Joseph Fletcher, recommended by SIECUS, who said, "For me, there are no rules at all." He was cited by the House Un-American Activities Committee as the sponsor and supporter of the Communist Party. Herbert Philbrick was a secret agent of the F.B.I. who ran with communists for years. He says he worked with Joseph Fletcher actively in the Communist Party. Fletcher is one of the SIECUS team.
I could go on and on and on. I could call off thirty or forty-five names of other men who have this same affiliation and the same perverted, indecent, vulgar minds as these men. Now, whether you believe it or not, or like it or not, when you have a meeting with your school board concerning sex education, though many of them do not even know it, this is the thing that they are promoting, and these are the men whose literature your children will be reading.
How the Sex Education Program Works
What is their program? If you lived in Palo Alto, California, your child in kindergarten would very likely come home and say, "Mama, guess what happened today at school? .... What happened? .... The teacher borrowed a little boy baby and a girl baby and bathed them in front of our class today to show the difference." That is a part of their program.
If you lived in San Diego, California, your child would receive seventeen lessons on sex in the schools. Slides would be shown to the sixth grade, roving teachers would go from school to school giving five days of lectures. Get this. Your child would see a Walt Disney animated cartoon entitled "The Story of Menstruation."
If you lived in Anaheim, California, your child would go to a school system superintended by Mr. Paul Cook. Mr. Cook said, "Not long ago they would have hanged me from the nearest telephone pole for what I am doing now." He said, "God-centered religion in passé." And yet ninety-two per cent of the parents in Anaheim, California, voted to stand solidly behind what he is doing -- the SIECUS program.
A news reporter named John Steinbacker asked a Marine one day on the streets of Anaheim why the Marines all came to Ariahelm on a weekend. Now Anaheim is the show place of SIECUS. Ariahelm, California, is the place where SIECUS has done more dirt than any other place, I think. The Marine's answer to that question was, "Man, everybody knows that high school girls are available here!" I wonder why?
Kirkendall, whose name I mentioned awhile ago, said, "Just sneak it in." What? Sex education. "Go to the PTA. That is where the power lies." And, by the way, let me say a word about them. There is a magazine called the PTA magazine that is going to answer to God for a lot of the rot in America. "Go to the PTA. There is where the power lies." Now get this. This is an above board way to do it. "Don't say you are going to start a sex education course. Say that you are going to enrich and expand and make it better. And sneak it in." Then Kirkendall advised to get a group of leading businessmen, doctors, lawyers -- and form a committee. Get them to endorse it, then you can sneak it in better.
Ladies and gentlemen, what is happening in America is the same thing that happened in Spain, in Russia, in Greece and other nations. They have leveled their attack at the next generation. And we have bowed down before the god of secular education so long that our youth have been sorely affected.
Supreme Court Struck Down Decent Laws Against Pornography
You say, "Preacher, who is the main offender?" Now hang on to your seats for we are really going to ride rough for a minute. I think I see a Texas 'norther' coming up! The main offenders on whose hands rests the blood of America more than any other men are those on the Supreme Court. Earl Warren and his cohorts have opened the door to allow such filth to become respectable.
I have -- and I am not going to show them but I am just going to tell you what it is -- I have two pictures here that are used in sex training. One picture shows two dogs together, and I won't say anything else. The next picture shows a man and woman in bed together.
In Chicago was shown a movie on sex education. Out of 3,200 students, sixteen refused to see the film, and they were branded by the SATURDAY EVENING POST as fundamentalists from the hills of West Virginia. Now you can say what you want to say, brother, but I would rather be an ignorant fundamentalist from the hills of West Virginia who couldn't even write my name nor wear shoes on my feet, than to be so smart I thought I knew more than God Almighty!
I thank God that in the State of Louisiana the legislature there voted ninety-four to four to make it illegal to teach sex in the public school system unless it was approved by every parent of every child. There are a lot of God-fearing, decent American citizens who still have some integrity and character left in these places that are being sold off to you by the news media as bigots, and that is just not so.
There are still a lot of counties in America where they have voted dry and you can't buy beer. The county I pastored in Texas for almost seven years was dry. You couldn't even buy a bottle of beer. Some 300,000 people lived in the area where I grew up and it was as dry as a bone. You couldn't buy a bottle of beer anywhere in that area. We voted liquor out every year in the town where I pastored in Texas. The town only had 28,000 people, and 4,000 of them belonged to my church, one out of seven! And every time we voted liquor down they would say, "It was those Bible-tot'n' Baptists!" Amen!
What are the results? Venereal disease is reaching almost epidemic proportions in our country. You don't hear much about this. SIECUS won't publish this. They won't put this in the movies. Eighty thousand reported cases in America in 1966, and who knows how many thousands of others! A seventy per cent increase over 1956. In one year, 90,000 unwed teen-age mothers. Teen-age marriages have risen 500 per cent, and teen-age divorces are three times the proportion to divorces of those twenty-one and over.
Here is the sad part. You and I are paying for it. The United States government last year invested 1.5 million dollars to promote this program in thirteen school districts across this nation. You and I are paying for it. Now the honest truth is, it is morally wrong to teach another's children religious convictions. Did you hear what I said ? It is morally wrong. Now it is not morally wrong to read the Bible. But it is morally wrong to teach your religious convictions to somebody else's child unless that parent approves.
Now listen. Mr. Kinsey said, in his report that came out some years ago, that the greatest influence on morals is religion. If that be so, sail by one of their own group, that means that when you teach another's child or you allow your child to be taught by another, the subject of sex, they are teaching your child something that is prompted by religious convictions. And it is wrong for our public school system to put our children at the mercy of just whoever happens to be teaching biology this year.
WHAT CAN PEOPLE DO?
Now what can we do? I have skipped a lot, but what can we do?
One. Check on your child. I am going to ask you a question. How many people in this house have children in school? Yes. Many of you do. Another question: How many of you have taken time to read as many as ten pages of any book this year that was required reading for your child at school? Will you be honest and raise your hand? Now there is your trouble. Not one-tenth of the people who have children in school even check what the child is reading.
They showed a sex film in a certain school in this area. I think there were six children who didn't see it, and these went to a room together. And five of them belonged to First Baptist Church of Hammond!
You say, "But how about our church?" Listen. Unless your preacher barks as loud as I do on the subject, folks won't hear him. Look. I had a little run-in with a teacher -- not a serious one; in fact, I probably have as good relation with the teachers of my children as anybody in this area could have. Our kids are required to write notes of gratitude to their teachers every year, and we do our best to keep our relationship wholesome between the school and this church and this preacher. But I was talking with a certain teacher about a rule, and the teacher said, "You have no say in it. Your child is ours when she is at school."
And I said, "You hear me, and you hear me well. I don't care if she is at school or at the zoo, she is my child, And you've got a battle on your hands if you think she is your child because she is at school." And I repeated, "You hear me, and you hear me well. You are going to respect our religious convictions, or I am taking it to the Supreme Court of America."
She said, "I have neither the time nor the money to do that."
I said, "I have the time and I will raise the money."
Check on your child. Stand up, be different. Good night! What is wrong with Christian people in this area! Take a stand. Well, you say, "I am afraid little Johnny will be embarrassed." It wasn't easy on Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, you know. Daniel was not the most popular boy in the Senior class. When Paul was stoned outside Lystra, he wasn't elected "the boy most likely to succeed." He wasn't on his way to the Senior Prom. What's Wrong with Christians believing something, living by it, standing by it, dying for it! Stand for something.
Good night! You Methodists, stand for something! You Presbyterians, stand for something! You Episcopalians, stand!
I heard a story about folks who went to Heaven. And they saw a fellow dancing. He was just dancing all over Heaven and he had a bunch of folks with him. People asked, "What are those folks doing?" And St. Peter said, "That's Hyles and First Baptist." "Well, what are they dancing for?" He said, "They didn't get to dance on earth, so they are living it up, up here!"
They saw a bunch of folks baptizing -- I mean just down up, down up, down up, down up, baptizing, baptizing. "Who are they?" asked the inquisitive one. And St. Peter said, "They are Methodists. They never did baptize on earth, and they are having a time baptizing up here."
Over in the corner were some people just sitting, bored to tears. And the guest asked, "Who are those people doing nothing?" St. Peter answered, "They are Ecumenicals. There ain't nothing they didn't do on earth!"
Stand for something! There are enough Bible-believers in the Calumet region to change some things if we stand. Stand!
You say, "How do we do it?" Well, one way is this way. Walk up to the teacher and say courteously and kindly, "I am not here to cause trouble, but I am here to say that my child cannot participate in this, which is against our religious convictions." Now ninety per cent of the teachers are the kind of folks who will let your child do something else for credit. And it is time somebody stood toe to toe with the other ten per cent and slugged it out. Stand! Good night! Young people, stand! stand!
God Has a Payday for All Who Stand True
We Christian people tonight stand on the blood of martyrs who died for what we believe. People have been burned at the stake for this old Book. People have been dragged to death in the streets, with their brains dashed out on the rocks, for this old Book. People have put their heads in the guillotine, and had their heads severed from their bodies, for this old Book. People have been stripped naked and boiled in hot water until they died, for this old Book. People have been thrown to the lions in Rome, thousands of them, for this old Book. People have shed their blood, had their tongues cut out, had their eyeballs plucked out with sharp pincers; people have been dragged to death, beaten to death, stoned to death; people have been gassed and suffered every form of martyrdom in the world; people have lost their lives, their families, their homes -- everything so you and I would have the Book. Now let's do something about standing for it, too.
Must I be carried to the skies
On flow'ry beds of ease,
While others fought to win the prize,
And sailed thro' bloody seas?
Sure I must fight, if l would reign;
Increase my courage, Lord;
I'll bear the toil, endure the pain,
Supported by Thy Word.
And when the battle's over,
We shall wear a crown,
We shall wear a crown,
Yes, we shall wear a crown;
And when the battle's over,
We shall wear a crown
In the new Jerusalem!
What difference does it make if we are hated here. I am called everything a man could be called. I am lied about, gossiped about, and hated, and cussed, and folks won't speak to me on the streets. But I will tell you one thing, brother, when I walk down the golden streets of the New Jerusalem, Peter and Paul will speak to me. I will tell you another thing: those of us who stand for decency and those of us who stand for the Bible, and those of us who stand for what is right and against what is wrong, one of these days they will put on a parade for us. Some of you little mealy-mouthed Christians who never did stand, and folks didn't criticise you, up in Heaven you will have to borrow money for a shoeshine. You didn't stand. Stand! Stand! It wouldn't be so hard on some of the kids to stand if all the kids would stand.
How many times have things like this come up and I have called the
teacher and spoken kindly and I mean it. When I get in personal conversation
with people, I do my best to be kind. That is the honest truth. Don't you go
up to school and preach like I am preaching now. This is my pulpit and the
signs say FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH and you didn't pay to get it. You come to my
house and visit me and I will just romp and stomp all I want to. It is my
territory, and I own it. Not the whole church, but this up here is mine,
deeded to me. I have told the deacons, "You can have all the church you
want, but from right over here in this corner to over here in this corner
belongs to me, and no board, no deacon, no organization, no denomination
will tell me what to say behind this pulpit." I feel sure some of you are
going to choke before you leave! We had better stand so you can breathe a
bit! A lot of you folk never heard a prophet before. To stand true whatever
the people think -- many of you have never heard that before. And that is to
your disgrace. Your boys and girls ought to be growing up in a church that
stands for something. The Apostle Paul wrote to a young preacher and said,
"And having done all, Stand."
Back Up Bible-Believing Pastors and Churches
Number two. Get your family into an old-fashioned, Bible-preaching church, where an old-fashioned Bible preacher can build their faith in the Word of God.
But you say, "Brother Hyles, Granddad belonged to the church that I belong to now. They don't believe the Bible, but I hate to leave Granddad's old church." If Granddad were alive, he wouldn't set foot in it now, if it doesn't believe the Bible. Get in a Bible-believing, Bible-preaching church that has conviction that will instill in your boys and girls decency.
Number three. Get good books for your children to read. My boy David is a freshman in high school. Tonight he rode to church with me. David was quiet and I hadn't said anything. He had a book, and I said, "David, what are you reading?" It was called, I think, The Best of Billy Sunday. I didn't make him read it. He just has good books around his room. We give him good books.
Number four. Oppose SIECUS in your public school system. Oppose it. I mean, let your vote be counted. Oppose it.
Number five. Get in a church that preaches anti-communism,
anti-socialism, and decency. I picked up my newspaper one day and I could
not believe what I saw. A pastor in this area was lauded and was proud that
he uses the PLAYBOY magazine as text for his sermon. If you go there, God
pity you! And God pity him, when he stands before God. And instead of
laughing, you ought to be crying about it. I would rather be a bootlegger
when I stand before the bar of God, than be a preacher who preaches from
PLAYBOY magazine. And I hope to my soul that he is here tonight. God pity
him! Have you ever heard of the Bible?
Be Faithful Sunday School Teachers
Number six. Sunday school teachers, we have a big battle -- a big battle. Son, you on the end, will you come up here? What is your name? Gabriel? Gabriel? I have read about you in the Bible. You blow a horn, don't you! How is Michael doing? This little fellow is good looking, isn't he -- for a boy. Boys are made out of rats, and snails, and puppy dog tails. Did you know that? Is this little boy going to have to sit under SIECUS? Of course, he doesn't have to, because his parents can keep him from it. You say he will flunk. But he will pass in Heaven. If he has to sit under that kind of program five days a week, and you are his Sunday school teacher, God pity you if you just go out of town because you want to go out of town for the weekend every once in awhile, and this boy goes without your teaching on the Lord's day. God pity you if you don't spend your life trying to save this boy. You say Amen to me, yet you teach boys and girls in Sunday school and you won't come forty Sundays a year. Now put your money where your mouth is. Dedicate yourself tonight to say, "By the grace of God, my boys and girls need the best teaching I can give them, and I will do it."
Thank you, little fellow. See there. "You are welcome." He learned that
in Sunday school. Didn't you? "Yes, Sir." Did you hear that? That is the
kind of boys we grow. Our Sunday school teachers dedicate themselves to
combating evil. Give yourself to your class. Choir directors of children's
choirs and folks who work with youth groups, dedicate yourselves by the
grace of God to do your best.
