That is a lousy suggestion! Was it a joke? Rocker arm and a safety belt, so you want to maybe bend the rocker arm before the vise grips slip and the whole thing falls, damaging itself, you and the any bit of the car underneath. If that was a joke you need to make it clear, the OP said he has never done this before!
To OP your engine hoist will come with a piece of chain that you can bolt as suggested earlier, most hoists have a hook that can be repositioned on the chain to change the lift angle. Usually I end up resting the engine on the X memebr at some point during the lift and repositioning the hook. Safely block the engine before repositioning hook and remember there are some idiots around.