A Pattern for Good Works — Jack Hyles

The First Baptist Church as a Model for Other Churches

Beginning. He says, the most influential church in the world today is the First Baptist Church of Hammond, Indiana. That's a mighty big start. Did you hear what I said? The most influential church in the world today is the First Baptist Church of Hammond, Indiana.

He goes on to say in his article that more churches copy the First Baptist Church than copy any other church in the entire world. There's no doubt about that. You know, I used to wonder why God had put me on the scene across the country, preaching up and down the country.

I could understand why Lee Robertson preaches across the country. I could understand why John Rice does, but I couldn't understand why I did. What part would I have to play? And then one day it dawned on me, there's only one John Rice, there's only one Lee Robertson, there's only one Bob Jones.

I take it back, there's Bob Jones III, Bob Jones II, Bob Jones I. In fact, they pray down there in the name of the Father and of the Son and of Bob III. But there's only one Bob Jones. But you know, all across this country, there are a bunch of little jack houses having troubles.

And splitting churches. One fellow I recall in California, and he said, I came to the pastor school, came back home, did what you said. My church has voted me out. Now what you going to do with me? But honestly, it's the truth.

How Churches Imitate First Baptist Church

Did you know what our church does? Churches all over America do. Did you know that? I just listed a few things, and some are humorous. I got off the plane in a distant state recently, and the pastor met me at the airport.

Usually, they meet me, they take my bags and take me to the car. And the pastor met me and he said, right in the waiting room, he said, Dr. Iles, would you be seated here, please? I thought he was going to send me back home, because it was right there in the waiting room where folks were waiting to catch the plane and come back.

And I said, all right. So he said, put your bags down, I want to talk to you. Now he said, get your pen, get your pen and a piece of paper. Well, nobody ever let me like that before. He said, get your pen and a piece of paper.

Well, I got me a pen and a piece of paper. He said, now write down what I tell you. I said, okay. He said, stay in Crete. And I wrote down, stay in Crete. He wrote down, he said, Russian roulette. And I wrote down, Russian roulette.

And he said, how to fire the preacher. And I wrote down, how to fire the preacher. And he kept calling off sermons, titles of my sermons. He called off about 25. And I said, look, I can't preach that many while I'm here.

He said, these are not the ones for you to preach while you're here. These are the ones you can't preach while you're here. He said, I've already preached them. And I said, come to think of it, I better take the next plane back home because there's nothing left.

But you know, all across the country, that's the way it is. One fellow, one fellow, uh, my tapes go out, uh, oh, all across the country. Many, many States that preachers get my tapes. And, and one fellow said, not long ago, he said, I, uh, I quit getting your tape.

But he said, after two or three weeks, he said, I had to get your tapes again. Every sermon I preach here goes all across the country, even up to Canada. Up in, uh, what's that big college in Alberta, Canada, big one up there.

Yeah. Prairie Bible Institute. And, uh, they have a Jack Hiles night up there. Some of the students got together and hear every sermon I preach. They hear it up there. And this fellow said, he said, um, uh, I stopped getting your sermons, but he said, I decided it's better to pay that much money than have to study.

And, uh, so he said, I preach. And he honestly said, I preach every sermon you preach the next Sunday after you preach it. Now I'm not for, not necessarily for that, but if a fellow is going to preach somebody else's sermons, he may as well choose mine.

And, uh, but anyway, uh, what I'm saying now is going out too, by the way, and I'll get it. But, uh, I'm saying that this is the most copied church. So Elmer, Dr. Elmer Towns says, uh, I was in it. I go to church after church, after church and brother, uh, Bordway, we don't use just as I, just as I am anymore.

Uh, so much, but church after church and, and the invitation time comes and the choir saying just as I am without one plea, but that thy blood was shed for me. And that thou bidst me come to thee, O Lamb of God, I come and come.

And, uh, wonder where they got that. Well, they didn't get it that well. They're going to sing it that well. Wonder where they got that singing just as I am, like the owner of Ben-Hur's chariot race.

God at first Baptist church in Hammond. Last week, one of the funniest things ever happened. And one of the most humiliating things ever happened, happened to me. I was in a trove Pennsylvania. And, uh, so I got there just a bit late.

Well, actually I could have made it in time for the start of the service, but, um, uh, I wouldn't have had time to shave. And so I told the pastor, I said, look, uh, he said, I'll come in and get dr. John Rice at the six 15 service start six 45.

He said, if you want to stay in shape and freshen up and change, I'll, um, I'll come back and get you. And I said, okay, come back and get me please about seven. It's only a five minute drive to the church or five or six minutes.

Get me at seven. And, uh, that means I can get there by five past seven or 10 past, and I'll be able to hear all but a few minutes with dr. Rice would actually start preaching about seven and I'll be able to hear all but his introduction of his sermon.

Well, the church didn't have a vest of you. They brought an old school building and they cleaned out the entire, all the walls out. And you just came in from the outside. Now, a lot of you are ahead of you know what I'm going to say, and this really happened.

And so I got there and dr. Rice had just begun preaching. Well, he preaches an hour, as you know, and he hadn't preached for five minutes. So I, uh, I walked up and the usher said, hey fella, you can't go in.

And I said, why? Well, he said, uh, you can't go in while somebody's preaching here at our church. Well, I said, it's, it's Franklin out here. He said, doesn't matter. He said, you can't go in. Oh, shut up.

And, uh, so, uh, you're enjoying this, aren't you? And, uh, so, uh, I said, uh, but, but look, I said, I, I, I'm the, he said, I don't care who you are. He said, you can't go in fella. It was, he didn't know me from Adam.

And, uh, there I was standing out in a drizzling rain, no place to sit out on the front porch of the church. And I said, uh, is it this way all the time? He said, didn't used to be, but said our pastor went over to Indiana to some kind of a pastor's meeting.

And it's been that way ever since he got back. I stood out there 55 minutes outside and, uh, waiting for my time to come in. And to my dismay, we're the most copied church in all the world. Did you know that all across the country, people are having letterheads made and the letterhead has, uh, the people out in front of the church building.

Nobody had ever heard of that until we started it 12, 13 years ago. We had a picture of our people out in front of the church and put that up on the letterhead. And now we get letters all the time with pictures of the audience, a congregation out in front of the church building.

I was out in California several months ago. And, uh, uh, so during the, between the service, I was preaching last and between the services, I decided to walk downstairs, walk up down the hall, pray a while in a lonely hall.

And a fella came running down to the hall. I never saw such an ugly fella in my life. And he's, he, I didn't, I wasn't expecting to see anybody. And I want you to know he had made for the fist look good.

And that's ugly. And, uh, so, uh, he came running, he came running into the hall and scared me to death. I thought he was going to attack me. I said, who are you? He said, Silly Billy! And kept on going.

And somebody was having a program for the kids and they were using Silly Billy. Wonder where they got Silly Billy? They got Silly Billy from the First Baptist Church of Hammond, Indiana. I carry a little, I carry a little tape recorder.

I use it for dictaphone machines. It's about that big from my hand up. Not even that big. A little Norelco tape recorder. But I use it for dictaphone. And so I'm, I'm writing a book on prayer. And, uh, so I was in a service not long ago and I was, I was, uh, dictating back in the back in the corner.

Usher came back and said, no, we don't allow tape recorders in this service. I said, where'd you get the idea? He said, Dr. Jack Hiles. And then he grinned. He knew who I was. Where'd he get the idea?

Uh, First Baptist Church in Hammond. Did you know that the bus ministry in America was started basically right here? I can recall when our bus ministry was advertised as the largest bus ministry in the entire world.

You know how many we had? 600 in attendance. Right. The world's largest bus ministry, 600 people attending. I'm sure this morning we had well over 2 ,000. And now churches all across the country. Oh my, there are dozens of churches, scores of churches that have over 600 folks riding on the buses.

Now I am, I was in, in, let's see, flying through Atlanta, Georgia, from Atlanta to here. I either stopped in Louisville or Cincinnati somewhere, Charlotte, somewhere between there and Atlanta. And, uh, I picked up, it was on Saturday, picked up a newspaper and it said certain, certain Presbyterian church invites you to Old Fashioned Day tomorrow.

Presbyterian church. And, uh, and then had listed all the things going to happen. Guess what they were? Kerosene lamps and lanterns in the service tomorrow night. Old fashioned pump organ. Uh, uh, hallelujah offering.

And all of it. Wonder where they got that? Did you know that literally thousands of churches in America have Old Fashioned Day? Where did it all start? Started, well, as far as getting nationwide, started right here at the First Baptist Church in Hammond.

I, um, I was in Western Pennsylvania last week, as I said, and a man said to me, he said, he said, we're on the verge of revival in Western Pennsylvania. Said, wonderful. He said, you know that nothing is going on in the Pittsburgh, West Virginia area.

In fact, the largest, largest Sunday school in Pittsburgh for a Bible-believing church right now runs 350. 3 million people in greater Pittsburgh. The largest Bible-believing Sunday school averages 350.

And the fellow said, he said, I came to the pastor school at First Baptist Church of Hammond. I came back home with my battery charged and became a one-man public relations committee for the pastor school.

I begged people, bribed people and got them to come. And he said, now, Dr. Howe, honestly, he said, the only thing that West, Western Pennsylvania has had in this generation has been the influence of the pastor school at First Baptist Church of Hammond.

Well, you say you're bragging. No, I'm not bragging. I'm telling you what other people are saying. At a certain university in this country, they, they say I've written a new book. Have you heard about it?

The new book I've written? And they don't like me very much. And they say, Dr. Howe's written a new book and the title of it is The Ten Greatest Soul Winners in America and How I Won the Other Nine. No, I didn't do it, but I'll tell you what you can say if you want to.

Honestly, they came from the influence of this church. And this tape is going around the world. And you can laugh at it, make fun of it all you want to, but I'll tell you what, the, the churches in this country are looking to us.

Building a Nationwide Christian Influence

Now, what am I saying? I'm, by the way, I picked up a church newspaper yesterday. And they, and on the headline it said, we're building, well, it was a story of the Lord, uh, in Tampa, Florida. I'll be at that church, but we can't connect.

Tampa, Florida. They're building what? Baptist Acres, wasn't it? Baptist what? Faith City. Faith City. Yeah. Faith City. What are they going to have? College, high school, grade school, senior citizens.

Huh? Faith City. I picked up a paper from down in Kentucky, not long ago. And the fellow said there, said, Sunday night I preached my sermon on my vision. But it was my vision. Remember that sermon I preached on my vision?

Huh? Five things we're going to do. Every one of them, he had the same vision I had. Same one I had. We both been eating onions on our hamburgers at night. And had the same vision I had. Five things, he said.

We're going to start a college. We're going to start us a high school. We're going to have grade schools all over this area. We're going to have some senior citizens apartments. And my vision. And he called his Baptist Acres.

Wonder where he got it? First Baptist Church, Harlan. Now I'm not trying to build you up tonight. I'm trying to stir you up to show you that when we have a fall program, the whole world has a fall program.

I was, and I forgot about this. Honestly, and most of you folks won't even know what this means, but a few of you will. I went to use the restroom in a big church out in Colorado not long ago. And I wasn't preaching there.

I was touring the place and went in the restroom and opened the door and a big fella about nine feet tall was standing there. And I bumped into this fella and hit him right about the midsection and began to look up.

And on the top, it said, this is Ezurp Yibu. How many remember Ezurp Yibu? That's boobie prize backward. It's a fellow we gave away here about eight years ago in the old auditorium even. Nine years ago in the old auditorium, we gave him away to the worst class.

I recall John Penley got him most every Sunday, if I recall, and called him Ezurp Yibu. That means, that spells boobie prize backwards. And really, Ezurp Yibu almost caused me to have a heart attack a few days ago.

And where'd he get it? First at the Church Hammond. Stuart Epperson. Stuart Epperson owns three or four radio stations. He's a wealthy man. And by the way, I baptized Stuart Epperson in the Jordan River.

And he's about six foot seven inches tall, big giant of a fella. He came to visit our church recently, after the service on a Sunday night. He'd never been here. After the service on Sunday night, Stuart Epperson came to me in the fellowship hall, and he said, man, it's good to be here.

He said, your church is everything I've heard it was. And he said, to think, I'm at the church where it all started. And I said, what do you mean? He said, this is where it all started. I said, where all of what started?

And he said, this is the place where the big church movement in America started. Now, I haven't told you not anything that I've said. I'm telling you what other people are saying. I'm telling you what I've seen, what others have said.

Now then, as I said, Dr. Townes said, the world's most copied church. I wandered back, my mind wandered back, as I read with the Townes. Let me just stop and say this. Somebody might think I'm bragging tonight, and I just want to make it very clear that I am.

I just want to really give you some real fodder. I am. Just so happens I'm proud of my church, and it just so happens I happen to think it's the greatest church in the whole world. And it just so happens that I'm bragging about my church tonight.

I've said this across the country. I've said it, I said it the other day to Brother Vineyard. I said, I believe the greatest collection of Christian workers in the world today, at one place, are at First Baptist Church of Hammond, Indiana.

I mean that with all my heart, and I'd gladly say it. Now, what I'm trying to say is this. My mind wandered back to the Room 11 at the Widener Inn at Bill Rice Ranch, where one night I decided to resign the church.

Oh my, the battles were so many, and it looked like there's no way in the world to clear up the thing here. And I just felt like I could not stay, and I decided that I'd resign the church. And God kept me awake all night that night, and on my knees, God spoke to me.

He said, there ought to be a model church in America. There ought to be some big First Baptist church, downtown church, that fights a battle and becomes a great, soul-winning church, and a pattern for churches all across this country.

And there has not been seven days passed from that day until this, I'll take it back, from I'd say a year after that until this. There's not been a seven days passed. But what people have not written me, or called me, or come to see me, and say, we are modeling our ministry after First Baptist Church of Hammond.

The Fall Program and the Church's Responsibility

Now, that means, that means folks, if we stop, think how many others stop. If we do not have a great fall program, think how many others. People look to us, and they say, for example, a brother of mine told me, he spoke down at the Sword, had a bus lecture or two down at the Sword anniversary, where I've been speaking for a few days, and somebody asked him, they said, how do you get along with Hiles?

He said, fine. Says, what's the difference in working for Hiles and Falwell? Well, he said, it's just as simple as this. He said, at Falwell's church, I was the mean fellow, and Falwell was sweet. And he said, at Hiles' church, he's the mean fellow, and I'm sweet.

I haven't noticed any sweetness on his part, but that's what he said. Dirty, bric-a-brac-a-brac-a-lomer, but anyway, that's what he said. Now, the honest, simple truth is, folks want to know. Folks want to know.

Folks want to know. They're saying, what's going on? We have Baptist City, somebody has Baptist Acres, somebody has Faith City, and we have Old Fashioned Day, other folks have Old Fashioned. Listen, old timer.

Did you know the old timer is all over America? The truth is, that the stock in the mob company has gone up tremendously since we invented the old timer. Did you know? Did you know there are folks all across America who've gone on high-calorie diets, trying to gain weight, so they can have a peewee at vacation Bible school next year.

I mean, it's all over America. We've got peewees all over America. And old timers all over America. Why? I'll tell you why. Again, I say, we have got to keep going. If we don't, then we're going to hold the blood of America on our hands.

There's not a church in this country that has the opportunity that we have to influence this nation and save it for God and for good, for decency, and keep it from being destroyed by the wrath of God, the judgment of God, like the First Baptist Church of heaven.

Now, tonight I'm talking to you as your pastor, and I do this about once or twice a year before our fall program. I'm calling you tonight to arms. I'm calling you tonight. Now, we haven't had much going on this summer.

We've had a lot of folks saved. We've had a good summer, best we ever had. But as you know, we haven't had the push. We haven't had the pressure. I haven't scolded you. I haven't said, let's get with it.

Let's do it. Let's move. Let's go all. Let's not quit. Let's go forward. Let's go higher. I haven't said much of that in the last few months. And now I've come tonight to call you as my people to arms.

It is time again, as the Bible says, and David, it is time for the kings to go forth to battle. It is time for us to give a concerted effort. It is time for us to launch into a great fall program. Tonight, I'm taking this hour as an hour, maybe giving up a little bit of evangelism and the usual type service so we can have more of it next Sunday and more the next Sunday.

And I'm calling, I'm calling you young folks tonight to get your friends and get your neighbors and get the folks in your neighborhood. I'm calling you boys and girls tonight to get your playmates and folks in school with you and get them in Sunday school.

I'm calling on you couples tonight to get your friends and get them in church this fall. I'm calling on you bus workers tonight to get out and shake the bushes and fill up your buses. I'm calling on you Sunday school teachers tonight to launch a program the like of which you've never launched before and get the attendance up and you superintendents and all of us, each person committing himself to realize there's more to it than having a big attendance.

Listen, the least thing in this world to me, I mean this, the poorest reason in this world for having a fall program is to try to win that, that plaque that says we're the largest Sunday school in the whole world.

Who cares about that? Who cares about that? But I tremendously care about us reaching everybody we can for God. Did you know there are boys and girls in Chicago by the hundreds of thousands that know nothing about the plan of salvation.

Salvation by Grace Through Faith

You walk over to Chicago, you walk down the street in Hammond sometime and just stop some people on the street and ask them, do you know if you died you'd go to heaven? And see what they reply. Well, I do pretty good.

I don't bother anybody. I mind my own business. I'm a pretty good husband. I'm a pretty good fellow. I don't do anything to hurt anybody else. The honest simple truth is you can be a pretty good fellow and go to hell.

You can be a good husband and go to hell. You can be a good wife and go to hell. You can be honest and go to hell. You can be a church member and go to hell. You can tithe and go to hell. You can read your Bible every day and go to hell.

The honest simple truth is the average person in this town doesn't even realize that salvation is by grace, through faith, the law and nothing else in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, if they're going to find out, we're going to have to tell them.

We're going to have to tell them. And because of that, I called you. But more than that, I call on you because what we do this fall, churches, little and big, all across this land, will be doing it in months and days and years to come.

That means when you bus workers go out and knock on a door. It's not like a bus worker in Ames, Iowa, going out and knocking on a door. It's not like that. It's not like a bus worker in Buffalo, New York, going out and knocking on a door.

When the bus workers of First Baptist Church of Hammond go out this week to knock on doors, you are a pattern. If you don't believe it, let me prove it to you. Churches call me, wanting our staff members.

I mean, our ladies. Of course, Brother Fisk goes out and teaches soul winning, probably every other week, won't you? Dr. Billings travels around the country teaching schools, and Brother Vineyard goes around the country teaching the bus ministry, and I preach once or twice a year places myself, and tell about our church.

But that isn't it. Do you know what? Let's see, you have the third largest church in all the state of Michigan is. It's the Calvary Baptist Church in Hazel Park, Michigan. They have their annual workers' banquet.

Big thing. Last year we probably had 800 people there. Guess who spoke two years ago? I did. Guess who spoke a year ago? I did. Guess who's speaking this next, this week, I think it's Friday night, at the large, famous Calvary Baptist Church, Hazel Park, where Dr. David Allen is pastor.

Guess who the speaker for the banquet is? Faye Meredith. Yeah, little old runt. She's going to speak. Yeah, one of our ladies is going to speak. You know why? They heard me, and they said, there's got to be something better up there.

Yeah. Why? I asked her what she was supposed to do, and she said, they said, to ignite the workers. She looked like she didn't know what ignite meant. I said, Faye, that means set them on fire. Or in her language, set them on fire.

Well, Mrs. McKinney, the other day, went to the largest church in Mississippi. Well, I guess the largest church, the second largest church in all the state of Missouri, and taught. In fact, I told her, I said, I've sent your books ahead, and I've got your reservation at the airport, and I've called ahead to have someone meet you.

That's what she always does for me, and so now that I'm doing the secretary of work, and she's speaking around the country, well, the least I can do is do up my job as a faithful secretary. I told Miss Meredith this morning, I'll be glad to take care of getting her ticket, and sending her books ahead, and so forth.

But I'm saying, why? Why do they want somebody from First Baptist? I'll tell you why. They want to ignite the workers. That's exactly why they want. And if we do the job, we've got to keep going. We've got to keep moving.

Soul Winning as Every Christian's Duty

No time to stop. I was thinking, I'm going to surprise you for a minute, and I hope I don't embarrass you. Well, I hope I do. But I've been thinking, this church has grown all these years, now listen to me, from 700 in 1960, average, a little over 700, to 5 ,912 last year, without a single theology professor, without a single college professor, without a single college student, without Bob Jones University and Tennessee Temple graduates teaching in our high schools, did you know what, and I say this honestly and kindly, did you know that the faculty members alone, we're going to find out whether you're as good as our people or not.

I was thinking, with all the men here on the platform, and all the college professors, and all the high school teachers, and all the grade school teachers, and all the preacher boys, it's a disgrace and a shame for us not to have a dozen folks ready to walk the aisle every Sunday night before we ever walk in this room.

Here's what you do, and let me say this, our people, I'm not saying our people lay down and quit, I'm saying, you keep on, but you folks that have come in here, you better set the pattern, I mean you folks that have your doctor's degrees, and your master's degrees, and your bachelor's degrees from these great colleges and universities, if you don't step right in here and start soul winning and bring folks down the aisle, well then you're not worth much, no you're not, uh uh, no.

I'm saying everybody ought to, everybody, nobody, I teach theology in the college, that's no excuse for soul winning, not soul winning, no substitute. Well, hey what now, I'm helping little boys and girls in the grade school, well okay, but that's no excuse, that's no substitute, not at all, not at all.

I'm saying the people of this church who have been working through these years, keep it up, don't quit, don't quit, stay going. Those of you that just come in, now you take up the burden too, you bring folks down the aisle too.

Don't you leave it to the bus workers and a few deacons and a few Sunday school teachers to be better soul winners than you folks who've had the opportunities of going to Christian colleges and majoring in Bible and preparing to serve God full time.

I don't have any confidence in your Christianity if you're not out winning souls to Christ and getting folks down these aisles. I mean, I'd be ashamed if I were you to have some students, one more folks than I, and you students by the way, I'd be ashamed to be dedicated to full time Christian service and not be out witnessing and bringing folks down the aisle.

I'm saying we ought to run 10 ,000 in Sunday school this fall if we'd utilize the power we have. No excuse for it, none. I mean, men like are on this platform, trained men, full time workers for God, men like are on our staff and our bus staff and our college staff and high school staff and deacon board and Sunday school staff, all of us ought to be a part of the soul winning activity.

And I'll tell you what, if the day ever comes, if the day ever comes, when a person thinks he's not supposed to be a personal soul winner because he teaches in a college, I'll close the doors on that school.

I'll do it. The day ever comes when a person says, my way of serving God is teaching in the grade school, we'll go out of the grade school business. We'll be a substitute for soul winning. We're building a supplement for soul winning or we'll close the doors.

A Patterned Church for the Nation

I'm simply saying the whole world is looking at us. Let the pastor of this church examine himself tonight and say, I'm going to go forward this fall. Let the staff of this church examine itself tonight.

Everyone say, I'm going to go forward this fall. Let the administration of our schools examine themselves tonight and say, I'm going to go forward this fall. Let the faculty of our college examine itself tonight and say, I'm going to go forward this fall.

Let the faculty of our high school and grade schools examine themselves and say, I'm going to go forward this fall. Let the student body of Hiles Anderson College say, we're going to go forward this fall.

We're going to go higher and higher and higher and higher, and do greater things for God than we've ever done before. I call you tonight to give your best to God, and give your best to soul winning, bringing folks to the church, and getting visitors to come, and bringing folks down these aisles.

Why? Because we need to reach people, but more than that, because we're a patterned church. A patterned church. Bus workers, you're patterned bus workers. Sunday school superintendents, what you do, other churches do.

Teachers, what you do, other churches, teachers of other churches do. Now I say this, and I say it as I've said so often, I believe America, as sure as I'm standing here, America is headed straight for hell.

America, Sodom, and the Need for Righteous Witness

I sat night before last on a plane. I've never been on a rougher ride in my life. I'll tell you what, that tornado that came through here on Thursday night, the front continued down this way, and we came, I was on a little DC -9 plane, small jet, and I'll tell you, we bounced all over the sky.

I thought for a time or two we were just gone, that's all. The plane almost turned over, but I got on the plane, and right beside me, I was next to the aisle, and right across the aisle, in the aisle seat beside me, was a big colored fella, six feet ten inches tall.

I looked him in the stomach and said, hi. And so we began talking, and I said, you play basketball, don't you? He said, yes. I said, you play for the Harlem, no I didn't, I said, who do you play for? He said, I'm trying out for the Harlem Globetrotters.

And he said, I played for the number one team in the NAIA, small college division, no, small college division, NCAA, Tennessee A &I, or Tennessee State. Big fella. We got to talking, and he got to telling me what he learned at college.

This is a southern college. I don't know whether you know it or not, but the south goes last, because it's newer, and there are more fundamental Christians in the south than in the north, and less a Catholic influence in the south than in the north.

But this is a Tennessee State University, and he got to telling me what they taught, and what's going on. And I got to discouraged, I didn't know what to do. I got discouraged because I stopped to realize that it is gone south.

I got discouraged because I stopped to realize that the schools, the universities are gone, and they are feeding the high schools and grade school with teachers. Our country is about gone. Now the only thing in this world that's going to save this nation, now listen to me carefully, and I've said this before, and I've preached it across the country.

Remember the story of Lot and Sodom? The Lord said, I'm going to destroy Sodom. Abraham loved Lot because Lot was his nephew, and he grew up in his own home. Abraham came to God and said, God, don't destroy the city of Sodom.

The Lord said, I must. Abraham said, Lord, if I could find fifty righteous people, would you not destroy Sodom? And the Lord said, I wouldn't destroy it for fifty. And you recall the story, Abraham searched all over Sodom.

How long it took, I don't know. It may have taken weeks or months, I don't know. Abraham came back and said, Lord, I couldn't find fifty, but said, Lord, I love Sodom. Please don't destroy it. Lord, if I could find forty, would you spare the city?

And the Lord, loving Sodom, too, said, Abraham, I'd spare it for forty. How long it took Abraham to scan the city, I don't know. Abraham went out and tried to find forty righteous people, came back to God and said, Lord, I couldn't find forty righteous people.

But Lord, I love the city. Don't, don't destroy it. My nephew, Lot, is there. Don't destroy it. If I could find thirty, would you spare Sodom? And the Lord said, Abraham, if you can find thirty, I'll spare Sodom.

Abraham went out. How long it took, I don't know. But he came back and he said, Lord, I couldn't find thirty. But, oh, God, he said, could I ask you, please, if I could find twenty, would you not destroy Sodom?

And the Lord said, Abraham, if you can find twenty. Abraham went out and couldn't find twenty. He came back and he said, dear Lord, I couldn't find twenty. But he said, don't think I'm presumptuous. But, Lord, if I could find ten righteous people, would you spare the city?

And the Lord said, I'll spare it for ten. Abraham went out and could not find ten righteous people in Sodom. Now, why was Sodom destroyed? Ah, yes, because of homosexuals. Yeah, homosexuality is as dirty as the hell from which it came.