24 thoughts on “Hero Worship”

  1. I’ve seen this in person.
    When I was in the 8th or 9th grade, I went with my church youth to help a church in Chicago. It was a great trip. We helped out a local church for two or three days. We were also able to see a Bulls home game (Michael Jordan’s last season with the Bulls). On the way back we went to a Hyles youth confrence.
    I couldn’t tell who got the most applause, Jordan or Hyles.
    Ridiculous.

  2. Who do you think deserved more applause, A basketball player or a man who through his preaching led scores to Jesus?

    1. You mean an egomaniac who deceived scores with ‘easy believism’….”1-2-3 repeat after me”.

  3. Where do we learn in the Scripture that the faithful servant ‘deserves’ the applause of men?

    Let the world applaud for Jordan. I say unto you that he has his reward.

    But where in Scripture do we see a mere man accepting adoration from a crowd?

    “So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do…”

  4. Someone please tell me I didn’t see what I just saw. Did this happen all the time or was this just a one time thing perhaps with the video taken out of context? If it was the former, then it is just sickening. The faculty were just as enthralled as the students, and the waving of God’s word like that makes one want to weep. There’s just so many Biblical principles that condemn this type of behavior (for both the followers and for Hyles). They don’t do this with Schaap these days do they?

  5. Evangelicals can be just as bad, but its object is usually different. They may go that nuts over a musician instead of a preacher.

  6. I visited a Hyles-clone church years ago; did a walk-around – every classroom had a big 8×10 of the pastor hanging on the wall, usually with a construction paper “We Love Our Pastor!” taped beneath it. His mug graced most of the hallways, too.

  7. When I went there, Jack Hyles would often come and speak in chapel on Wednesdays. It was not every Wednesday, however. So as a student waiting in the auditorium, you were anticipating that he might be there. When the door opened and he stepped out, it went crazy. I don’t think they ever had guest speakers on Wednesdays because it was always a noticeable letdown if he wasn’t there and Dr. Evans or some other staff was speaking.

    This does not make it right at all. He loved the “hero worship.” He often had special evening meetings with only the girls and they adored him. I bet there is none of that on video.

    Looking back, I can see so many things wrong with this. At the time it seemed ok.

  8. Thanks for the nightmares…my brother went to that college and I sat in that seat to visit him at school….he made me slightly ill….

    sorry for the pause…I just had to throw up in the squatter..but I’m back now. 🙂

  9. He was supposed to come preach at bus conference at my school’s church and the students were going to sit in and I was really excited to hear him live because I had heard of him my whole life, but the day that he was supposed to speak at our school was the day he died. They announced it over the school’s intercom. I was sad then, but now I’m glad I never had to endure it.

  10. Just wait ’til you see the video of me at Spike ‘N’ Lucille University.
    (Spike and Lucille are my cats’ names.)

  11. I remember being there one Wednesday for chapel, when a group from our church in Michigan was given a prize (yeah a prize!) to go to First Baptist for the day, see the college, hear the great one preach in chapel, have lunch there, then go to the Sears tower that afternoon and return to the church to hear hyles preach that night.

    I didn’t know what to expect. It seems hyles would travel on Monday and Tuesday to preach in some other church and return to preach in chapel on Wednesdays. When he stepped out it was just like this only the applause and cheering went on for 10 FULL MINUTES! I couldn’t believe it! I was exchanging looks with others that came with us thinking what IS this?

    Sick, that’s what it was. 😳

  12. A pastor should be the most humble and repudiate anything close to ‘hero worship’….including idolatry like ‘pastor appreciation’ day, etc. Nor should a pastor be a paid hireling & have a (paid) ‘staff’. A church shouldn’t be a business!

    1. Yerra, what’s the use of talking? ‘Tis a dead man’s whisper.

      Paddy in Eugene O’Neill’s The Hairy Ape.

      B.R.1

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