Chick tract

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Chick tracts are short comic-style tracts created by American publisher Jack Chick. Chicks tracts are often controversial for their enthusiastic endorsement of fundamentalist Christianity. All of Chick Publications' current tracts are available for free viewing on the Chick Publication website. Some tracts are currently out of regular printing, but Chick Publications will print them if requested provided a minimum order of 10,000 is placed.

Contents 1 Style 2 Tracts 2.1 This Was Your Life (It's Your Life!) 2.2 That Crazy Guy! 2.3 Somebody Loves Me (Hard Times) and Trust Me 2.4 Dark Dungeons 2.5 The Bible Series 2.6 Anti-Halloween Tracts 2.7 Tracts opposing Roman Catholicism 2.8 Tracts opposing other religions 2.9 Tracts on Current Controversial Topics 2.10 Other Tracts 3 Notes 4 External links

[edit] Style

Tracts typically follow the themes of punishment or redemption in the afterlife, or set up a confrontation between a Christian and non-Christian in order to spread a religious message. Many Chick tracts end with a non-Christian being converted to Christianity. Other endings provide a contrast between those who accept Jesus and those who reject Jesus; in some tracts, a convert receives entry to heaven, while in other tract, a non-believer is condemned to hell.

Most Chick tracts end with a suggested prayer for the reader to pray to accept Christ. In most of these tracts it is a standard sinner's prayer for salvation. In the tracts dealing with Catholicism or Islam, the prayer includes a clause to reject these religions. Included with the prayer are directions for converting to Christianity.

The graphics in Chick's tracts are often simple, but eye-catching. Some Christians consider them to be valuable witnessing tools, due to the striking nature of the cartoons and their clear-cut messages.

[edit] Tracts

[edit] This Was Your Life (It's Your Life!)

This Was Your Life ^[1] is one of Chick's earliest tracts (originally issued in the 1960's), and has become Chick's most well-known and best selling tract.

The tract features a man who dies and is judged by God. The man had lived a good life, but claimed that he didn't need Christ. On Judgment Day, the man watches his life being revealed before God. The man is shown scenes of himself leering at women, telling dirty jokes, not listening to his pastor's sermon and committing other sins. God then condemns the man to Hell in dramatic style.

The foreign adaptations of This Was Your Life^[2] feature variants of the original art, in addition to translated text. One commentary makes light of differences between these versions, pointing out that the differences in the art and settings are based on cultural stereotypes.^[3]

In 2006 Chick released It's Your Life!,^[4] an updated version of This Was Your Life in English but with art based on the African language versions of the tract. This is a part of Chick's "Black Tracts" series,^[5] created to appeal to African-Americans.

[edit] That Crazy Guy!

There are two versions of the tract that differ slightly in plot: a 1980 version and a 1992 version. ^[6] The 1980 version is out of print.

This tract features a mustachioed, sunglasses-wearing lothario, "Craig", who seduces a young lady (Susan, or "Suzi") into premarital sex in his convertible. (The convertible's custom license plate reads "LOVER", with a frame that reads "do it in the dirt".)

An accessory to this seduction is an older, unmarried woman ("Ms. Damien") who advises Suzi to take the Pill.

Afterward, Suzi is repelled when Craig calls her by the name of another girl. Suzi is relieved to find she is not pregnant, but she has contracted a sexually transmitted disease, and Ms. Damien uses Lysol to sterilize the victim's chair.

A physician appears and notifies Suzi that she has contracted a STD. The particular STD depends on the version – in the 1980 version, it is herpes, while in the 1992 version, it is gonorrhoea. In the 1992 version, he then informs the victim that she also has AIDS and notes that condoms are porous and do not provide adequate protection against the virus that causes AIDS.

In both versions, the doctor witnesses to Suzi, and she is saved from eternal damnation.

[edit] Somebody Loves Me (Hard Times) and Trust Me

A pair of tracts, Somebody Loves Me and Trust Me tell very similar stories with few, if any, words.

In Somebody Loves Me ^[7], a child is sent begging by his (implied alcoholic) father in the pouring rain (an older version features a young girl). When he returns with only a penny, he beats him and kicks him into the street. His only shelter is a cardboard box he manages to find. A tract with the words, "Some Body Loves You" blows into the box. Because he reads it before he dies (and, by implication, trusts in Christ as Savior), he is brought to Heaven by an angel.

A modified version of Somebody Loves Me, dubbed Hard Times, replaces the Anglo character with an African-American character. ^[8]

In Trust Me ^[9], a young boy comes across a group that seems to be a mixture of Satanists, hippies, and bikers. He takes a pill offered by one, and gets high. A day later, he is selling drugs in a park. Three days later, he's stealing televisions to support his habit. Soon, an undercover policeman catches him in a sting, he is sentenced to prison, and he is raped. Three months later, he is dying of AIDS. But, because he reads a tract with the words, "Jesus Loves You," and accepts Jesus Christ as his lord and savior, after he dies he is brought to Heaven by an angel.

[edit] Dark Dungeons

One of Chick's most-satirized tracts is Dark Dungeons. ^[10], which depicts a group of teenagers playing Dungeons & Dragons

When one player's character dies, the other player tells her: "Marcie, get out of here! YOU'RE DEAD! You don't exist anymore." The game master then tells the surviving player that she will teach her how to cast real spells. The reader then sees a hidden underworld of dark sorcerers; Debbie starts casting real spells and with these magical powers is able to exert mind control over her father. This is followed by Marcie committing suicide because her character died. The game master tells Debbie that the game and her character are more important than real life. An evangelist comforts Debbie, telling her that in fact, it is Jesus who is most important. After going to a church meeting, Debbie eagerly converts and attends a book burning of D&D-related materials, at which the preacher calls the game "filth of Satan" and possessed of "demonic forces."

Chick had been told by John Todd that C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien, both noted Christians, were satanic, so the original tract warned readers about these authors. ^[11] These admonitions are removed from the version of the tract published on Chick's website.

There are many parodies of the Dark Dungeons tract. In one , characters from MST3K respond to the tract.^[12] In others, the artwork is largely unchanged, but all of the dialog is replaced. In this parody, ^[13] for example, the characters are rewritten as the psychotically devoted partisans of various popular-music styles. In [1], the gamers face the evil of (Dungeons and Dragons publisher) Wizards of the Coast and the 3rd edition of Dungeons & Dragons. The tract Devil Doll? by Dan Clowes, which was originally published in Eightball #1 [2], simultaneously spoofed Dark Dungeons and several other Chick tracts including The Poor Little Witch, Bad Bob, and Angels?; an apparently unauthorized reprint was included as an insert in the Jello Biafra album Beyond the Valley of the Gift Police.

In fact, while Jack Chick has never translated Dark Dungeons into another language [3], some have even translated the comic [4] for the sole purpose of creating a foreign-language parody.[5]. In any case, the tract is considered a cult classic of unintentional humor by those it was intended to convert. Owning the pamphlet is considered a sign of distinction among committed roleplayers (citation needed).

[edit] The Bible Series

The Bible Series is a series of 25 tracts, each depicting or featuring a passage (based on Chick's interpretation) from the Bible:

1. In The Beginning [6]--Creation and the Fall of Man
2. It's Coming![7]--Noah's Flood
3. Sin City[8]--Sodom and Gomorrah
4. The Promise[9]--Abraham and Isaac
5. The Big Deal[10]--Jacob and Esau
6. Framed![11]--Joseph
7. It's The Law[12]--Moses and the Ten Commandments
8. The Outcast[13]--Rahab and the fall of Jericho
9. The Scam[14]--Joshua and the Gibeonites
10. The Loser[15]--Gideon
11. The Last Judge[16]--Samuel
12. The Nervous Witch[17]--King Saul and the witch at Endor
13. Caught![18]--David and Bathsheba
14. Payback[19]--Ahab and Jezebel and the vineyard of Naboth
15. Real Heat[20]--Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and the fiery furnace
16. The Monster[21]--King Nebuchadnezzar
17. Gladys[22]--Isaiah's prophecies of Jesus Christ (this tract features a holdover character, Holly Parker, from The Nervous Witch mentioned above)
18. God With Us[23]--The birth of Jesus Christ
19. Fallen[24]--The Parable of the Prodigal Son
20. Who Cares[25]--The Parable of the Good Samaritan. The cover shows an airplane about to crash into the World Trade Center on 9/11, and features a Christian helping a Muslim store owner who was beaten up after 9/11.
21. Scream[26]--The story of Lazarus and the Rich Man
22. Good Ol' Boys[27]--Peter's denial of Christ
23. Man In Black[28]--Revelation 17 & 18, told from Chick's viewpoint that the "Whore of Babylon" is the Roman Catholic Church
24. Who's Missing?[29]--The Rapture
25. Here He Comes![30]--The Beast, the Return of Christ, and the Judgement

[edit] Anti-Halloween Tracts

Chick opposes Christians celebrating Halloween, and several of his tracts purport to tell a link between Halloween and Satanism. Among them are Boo! [31] and Happy Halloween [32].

However, Chick believes that Christians can take the opportunity to witness to candy-seeking children by providing gospel tracts along with the treats. Chick features this opportunity in The Little Princess [33].

[edit] Tracts opposing Roman Catholicism

The Last Generation [34] and The Beast [35] are apocalyptic tracts which warn that Christians will soon face persecution at the hands of a brutal planetary regime installed by the Roman Catholic Church. The original versions of both tracts had a dispensationalist, pre-tribulation rapture view of the end times and did not include any overt anti-Catholic content. The content of both tracts was later changed to reflect Chick's increasing hostility toward the Catholic Church, and in The Beast, to portray the Pope as the antichrist. In The Last Generation, the government actively encourages people to turn in "sickos" (born-again Christians) in exchange for free drugs; the Christians are then tortured.

The Death Cookie [36] is another of Chick's anti-Catholic Church tracts. It portrays the Roman Catholic Mass as a religious system invented by Satan to trick people into worshipping a "cookie" (the communion wafer) as God. Other anti-Catholic tracts or tracts which claim the Pope is the Antichrist include Are Roman Catholics Christians? [37], Is There Another Christ? [38], Last Rites [39], The Only Hope [40] (mentioned in passing), and Why is Mary Crying? [41], as well as Man in Black from The Bible Series mentioned above.

The Big Betrayal [42] is the biography of another ex-Catholic priest named Charles Chiniquy who claimed that the Vatican was behind the American Civil War and Lincoln's assassination. The Big Betrayal is the comic version of Charles Chiniquy's autobiography 50 Years In The Church of Rome.

[edit] Tracts opposing other religions

However, Chick does not limit his criticisms to the Catholics. Islam is another major topic for Chick tracts (Allah Had No Son [43], also drawn as Who Is Allah? [44]] for the Black Tracts series, The Little Bride [45], The Deceived [46], The Story Teller [47], Men of Peace? [48], and The Pilgrimage [49]).

In addition, Chick has written against other religious groups such as the Jehovah's Witnesses (The Crisis [50]), Jews (Where's Rabbi Waxman? [51]), Buddhists (The Tycoon [52]), Hinduism (The Traitor [53]), Mormonism (The Visitors [54]), and the Masonic Lodge {The Unwelcome Guest [55]).

Chick also takes aim at ecumenical ministers (Reverend Wonderful [56] and The Chaplain [57]), social gospel missionaries (Flight 144 [58]), and even Christians who oppose tract witnessing (The Letter [59]). Why No Revival? [60] is a montage of various scenes, showing Chick's view of the current state of the Christian church. (According to the Chick biography posted on the company website, Why No Revival? was Chick's first ever printed tract.)

[edit] Tracts on Current Controversial Topics

Several of Chick's publications feature the standard evangelical/fundamentalist viewpoint on modern day topics, such as:

• Abortion (Who Murdered Clarice? [61] and Baby Talk [62])
• Evolution (Apes, Lies, and Ms. Henn [63] and Big Daddy? [64])
• Drug use (The Hunter [65])
• Homosexuality (The Gay Blade [66] and Birds and the Bees [67])
• Modern-day "persecution" of Christians (The Trial [68])

In addition, several of the Bible Series tracts (listed above) cover controversial topics.

Chick is also an opponent of rock music, both secular and Christian rock. Spellbound? [69] is, like The Big Betrayal, a full-sized comic, one of an 11-volume series titled Crusaders. It is based almost entirely on the claims of John Todd and features him speaking in a church under one of his pseudonyms, Lance Collins. Spellbound? claims that the rock music industry is controlled by organized Satanism and that witches are brought in to cast spells on rock music recordings before they are marketed to the public. The purpose of the spells is allegedly to bring listeners under demonic influence. Christians are warned to burn their rock music albums and that Christian rock is also Satanic.

A tract making the same claims about Christian rock is Angels? [70], in which a Christian rock band is required by their producer, Lew Siffer (a pun on Lucifer), to sign away the rights to their souls in exchange for a record contract and commercial success. The band members find themselves drifting far from their faith and getting involved in drugs and vampirism while their lyrics start running to the likes of "embrace me, love of death". After one of the members contracts AIDS and another dies after collapsing onstage, Tom, one of the members, realizes that he has been had and repents of involvement in rock music.

[edit] Other Tracts

The Assignment [71] tells of the battle between Heaven and Hell for a lost soul. Charles Bishop is to die at 3:10 AM on November 22 of a massive coronary (2 1/2 weeks after the announcement of his impending death is made). Two people have the potential to reach Bishop: Tim Dobbs (Bishop's assistant who is portrayed as a milquetoast Christian, and who is quickly removed from the picture) and Cathy Hillman (a strong Christian teenager who is friends with Bishop's daughter, and around whom the majority of the plot is centered). Although Chick's anti-Catholic views are not mentioned, two hidden references to Roman Catholicism are included: the use of the surname Bishop (who in the RCC is the head of a diocese), and November 22 is the date of President Kennedy's (the only Catholic US President) assassination.)

The Contract! [72] is heavily influenced by the American classic short story The Devil and Daniel Webster and follows a similar plotline, that of a nearly bankrupt individual, John Freeman, who (after losing his crops to hail) exclaims he would "sell his soul to the Devil" to get out of his financial straits, only to receive such an offer from Satan (taking the name John B. Fox, the middle initial later revealed as Beelzebub) and gain revenge on the banker who refused to help him. Though Freeman lay dying 10 years later (the same time frame as in Webster), instead of requiring a passioned legal defense to convinced a stacked judge and jury to void the contract, Freeman simply broke the contract by praying for salvation, while a relative (who had no such contract) dies and goes to Hell, and finds out that Satan didn't need a contract to claim his soul – he already had possession from the beginning.

The Fool [73] is a narrative of a king and his "fool" (court jester). The king asks the jester to give a golden wand to any "bigger fool" if one can be found. The jester is unable to find such a person, but is quickly summoned back to the palace, as the king has fallen terminally ill. When the jester learns that the king has not prepared for "a long, long journey" from which he shall not return (his death, implying that the king has not accepted Jesus as Savior), the jester has found the "bigger fool" and hands the king his own golden wand back to him.

Two Chick tracts, The Slugger [74] and The Superstar [75], are nearly identical except for the main characters. Both feature a rich athletic superstar, who (after winning a championship and signing new multi-million dollar contract and endorsement) discovers he has terminal cancer. He comes to Christ through his gardener, then leaves his entire estate to the gardener upon his death. The difference is that The Slugger features a baseball player named Frank Stone (likely aimed at the American market), while The Superstar features a soccer player named Roberto Cordoba (presumably aimed at the non-American market, where soccer is more popular).

Another pair of tracts with similar (though not identical) plot lines are Bewitched? [76] and Party Girl [77]. Both feature a "conference" in Hell between Satan and his demons, with one demon reporting a problem involving a soon to be dead and Hell-bound teenage girl (Ashley in Bewitched?; Jill in Party Girl) and a "praying grandmother" determined to rescue the girl's soul from Hell. In both instances, the young girl is saved (in Ashley's case, only hours before her death).

The Mad Machine [78] features spoofs of economic advisors, group therapy, drug and alcohol treatment (including a humorous skit where a father and son visit a rehab center, only to learn the son, not the father, is the patient), and modern psychiatry. It suggests that the only solution to stress and mental illness is to accept Jesus as personal savior. (This tract has also been revised from the initial version to include a scene where a married man abandons his wife – for another man.)

The Sissy [79] features a tough truck driver and his younger sidekick being led to accept Christ by a Christian truck driver while eating at a truck stop cafe. The tough truck driver calls Jesus a sissy. The Christian truck driver responds with a novel explanation why Jesus said to turn the other cheek: Jesus being God, with "all that power still inside him", would have to turn the other cheek in a fight or else it wouldn't be a fair fight. The conversation ends with both drivers praying to receive Christ. A waitress overhears the conversation and asks if she can accept Christ too. The Chick Publications website advertises this tract as "great for truckers and bikers!"

Recently, Chick has featured two semi-recurring characters in some of his tracts:

• "Li'l Susy" Barnes, an elementary school student (whose parents are deceased and is being raised by her grandfather, whose eyepatch gives him a resemblance to the James Bond villain Emilio Largo) who stands for Christian values in her public school, usually against her teacher, "Ms. Henn", who promotes secular values.
• "Deacon" Carter, an African-American police officer.

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

• The official website of Chick Publications