Weird Tract Number 30: "Satan's Bid For Your Child" by Jack Hyles

Troy Davis writes:

When I first received this tract from Ebay as part of a huge lot, I thought it might be a spoof. This 15-page booklet from 1971 is so over-the-top that it looks to be the work of a wag. I didn't know who Jack Hyles (1926-2001) was at the time and it shocked me when I found out more about him.

The booklet's content is so dated that it's hilarious. I scanned page three (see below; click on the image to enlarge) because it's chock full of unintentionally funny tidbits. For instance, in his questionnaire for children, he seems to have predicted the rise of Hillary because he asks if any of their teachers wear pants suits (Hyles uses the term "pant-dresses"). The back cover notes the author's "homespun humor, convictions, experiences, and philosophies."

When I researched Hyles, I discovered he was the pastor of a megachurch outside of Chicago in Hammond, Indiana. What shocked me is that contrary to Hyles' straitlaced and folksy image, in real life he was an abusive authoritarian who used church funds to keep at least one mistress and used his pull to shield his equally sleazy son's serial adultery from his congregation. Hyles' daughter used a TED Talk titled "From Cult To Change" to speak in detail of her ordeal as a captive of this monster. No wonder Hyles had won the praise of Jerry Falwell (I'm working on a Chick tract parody of the preacher titled "Falwell in Hell").

The Museum of Weird and Demented Religious Tracts is a project of Les Zazous Postmodern Art Galley of Bellaire, Ohio. Read the Welcome Statement of The Museum here.

For more on the gallery, check out the web site here and the gallery's Twitter handle is @ZazousLes.  The Twitter handle for the museum is @WeirdTracts

The index of tracts for the museum's website is here. 

Contributions of weird tracts to the museum can be made by mail: send your weird tracts to Les Zazous Postmodern Art Gallery 3475 Guernsey Street, Bellaire, Ohio 43906.