The Nightmare World of Jack T. Chick

last SG · 2005-05-05T01:04:01+00:00

I believed that there is a basis of truth within...chick's comics.........it seems that roman catholics actually prayed to mary?......how can u treat mary li...

FrustMom SG

Chick Tracts

Their Origin and Refutation

Youve seen them.

Perhaps left in a phone booth, Laundromat, or other public place. Maybe a Fundamentalist coworker or a street evangelist gave one to you. Perhaps a child gave one to your child at school. They have titles such as Are Roman Catholics Christian?, The Death Cookie, and Why Is Mary Crying? They are Chick tractstiny cartoon booklets produced by Jack T. Chick ("J.T.C.") and his publishing house, Chick Publications.

Youve seen them . . . but have you read one? Do so, and you step into the nightmarish world of Jack T. Chick.

In this world, few things are as they appear. It is a world of shadow and intrigue, a world of paranoia and conspiracy theories, a world where demons haunt people sincerely trying to follow God, and the Catholic faith is the devils greatest plot against mankind.

Here are just a few things you will "learn" if you start reading Chick tracts and comic books:

The Catholic Church keeps "the name of every Protestant church member in the world" in a "big computer" in the Vatican for use in future persecutions.[1]

But the conspiracy is much broader than this, and it has been going on for a very long time. In the sixth century, for instance, Catholic leaders manipulated the Arabian tribesman Mohammed into creating the religion of Islam to use as a weapon against the Jews and to conquer Jerusalem for the pope.[2]

The Jesuits instigated the American Civil War, supporting the Confederate cause and seeking to undermine the Union. When they failed, they arranged the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.[3] Later, they formed the Ku Klux Klan.[4]

"Jesuits worked closely with Marx, Engels, Trotsky, Lenin, and Stalin" to create Communism, and it was "believed that soon . . . Communism would rise up as the new strong daughter of the Vatican."[5] It was Rome that instigated the Bolshevik Revolution and the murder of the czars family.[6] The Communist "liberation theology" movement also is a Vatican plot.[7]

The Nazi Holocaust of the 1940s was a Vatican-controlled attempt to exterminate Jews and heretics.[8] Further, "Hitler, Mussolini, and Franco were backed by the Vatican for the purpose of setting up a one-world government to usher in the Millennial Kingdom under Pope Pius XII."[9]

The Vatican conspiracy is so extensive that, through the Jesuits, Rome controls the Illuminati, the Council on Foreign Relations, international bankers, the Mafia, the Club of Rome, the Masons, and the New Age movement.[10]

The Jesuits created the Jehovahs Witnesses, Mormonism, Unity, Christian Science, and other religious groups.[11]

"Pope John Paul II has been a good Communist for many years"[12] and engineered a phony assassination attempt against himself in 1981 to shame Islam into warming relations with the Vatican, since the would-be killer was a Muslim.[13]

Tracts are only one of the ways Chick spreads his messages of hate and paranoia. His website (www.chick.com) lists large-size comic books, posters, booklets, books, videos, and DVDs for sale. Still, it is the tracts for which he is most famous. According to Chick Publications, more than 500 million of them have been distributed.

With shocking, sensationalist allegations such as these being distributed to hundreds of millions of people, you may be wondering . . .

FrustMom SG

Who Is Jack T. Chick?

Jack Thomas Chick is a recluse. Little is known about him. He does not give interviews. Only two out-of-date pictures of him are publicly known (one is a high school yearbook photo). Rumors about him abound, making it difficult to sort fact from fiction concerning his life. He was born April 13, 1924, in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles, and he was not always a Fundamentalist. According to the biography posted on his web site:

While in high school, none of the Christians would have anything to do with him because of his bad language. They all agreed not to witness to him, convinced that he was the last guy on earth who would ever accept Jesus Christ.

After graduation from high school, Jack won a scholarship to the Pasadena Playhouse to study acting, but his studies were interrupted by the military. He spent the next three years in the Army, which took him to foreign countries like New Guinea, Australia, the Philippines and Japan.

After being discharged from the service, Jack returned to the Playhouse, where he met and married his wife, Lynn, who was instrumental in his salvation. While visiting Lynns parents in Canada on their honeymoon, Jacks mother-in-law insisted that he sit and listen to Charles E. Fullers Old Fashioned Revival Hour radio program. Jack recalls, "God was already working on my heart, but when Fuller said the words, Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow, I fell on my knees and my life was changed forever."

The scene of falling on ones knees to accept Jesus is one repeated over and over again by characters in Chick tracts. But how did Jack Chick make the leap from being an ordinary Fundamentalist to the foremost Christian comic publisher in the world? For a time, he worked as a technical illustrator for an aerospace company in California, but he longed to be work for God:

He wanted to be a missionary himself, but his new wife wanted no part of missionary life. Her aunt had been a missionary in Africa. While pregnant, she was being carried across a river on a stretcher, when one of those carrying her lost a leg to an alligator.

Eventually, Jack started combining his work as an illustrator with his passion for evangelization, producing his first published religious works, Why No Revival? and A Demons Nightmare. He became convinced of the effectiveness of this technique after using it with a group of prisoners:

[Chick] was invited to present the gospel to a group of inmates at a prison near his home. He drew several pieces of cartoon art and prepared a flip chart to illustrate what he was saying. At the conclusion of his message, nine of the eleven inmates present trusted Christ as their Saviour. Jack became convinced that God had given him a method of reaching people with the gospel that worked. That art was later put into booklet form and became the tract This Was Your Life!

Following this episode, Chick Publications became a full-time venture for Jack, and, in the more than forty years since it was started, his tracts, comic books, and other publications have reached hundreds of millions of people, spreading their message of simple Fundamentalist theology fused with elaborate conspiracy theories.

In time, the art in the tracts received an upgradenot because Chick changed his own style of drawing but because he hired an artist with much better skills. Yet he did not announce this fact and did not put the new artists name on the works he produced. Instead, they continued to carry the credit "by Jack T. Chick" or simply "by J.T.C." The difference between the two drawing styles was so dramatic that it was immediately noticed by readers, and rumors circulated about who the "good artist" might be. It would be some time before Chick disclosed that the mans name was Fred Carter.

In 1972, he hired Fred Carter, an African-American painter and illustrator from Danville, Illinois, who had studied at Chicagos American Academy of Art. Carters realistic illustrations and distinctive inking style made him a perfect fit for the [Crusaders comic book] series action sequences and exotic locales. Witch burnings and ritual murders are captured in gleefully visceral detail, while the books sexual overtonesas well as scantily clad biblical sirens like Eve, Delilah, and Semiramishave led critics to describe Carters work as "spiritual porn."

At once, the artwork improved tenfold. Chick, however, kept Carters name off all of the comics. Rumors and speculation about the identity of the so-called good artist at Chick Publications began to spread. For years fans theorized that Carters work was produced by a team of illustrators or an unknown Filipino man dubbed "Artist J." Chick finally revealed Carters identity in 1980, claiming that the artist is "rather shy and declines to put his name on his art."

Jack Chicks art in The Hit

Fred Carters art in The Deceived

FrustMom SG

Who Was Alberto Rivera?

Aside from Jack Chicks own name, the name most familiar to readers of Chick comics is that of Alberto Rivera (19351997). He is mentioned in numerous tracts and serves as the central character in six issues of Chicks The Crusaders full-size comic book. Chick even devotes space to him in the handful of books the house publishes.

Alberto Magno Romero Rivera was born in 1937 in the Canary Islands. He claimed to have been a priest who served as an undercover operative of the Jesuit order to infiltrate and destroy Protestant churches and institutions. He maintained that he was so successful that he secretly was made a bishop. Yet he turned his life over to Christ and became a Fundamentalist evangelist. He claimed to have rescued his sistera nunafter she nearly died in a convent in London.

In the 1970s he met Jack Chick, who publicized his story with much fanfare. It added immense amounts of detail (and implausibility) to Chicks global Catholic conspiracy theory. The Alberto series included some of the wildest claims found in Chicks publicationsthat the Vatican started Islam, Communism, the Masons, and the Klan; that it controls the Illuminati, the Mafia, and the New Age movement; that it created the Jehovahs Witnesses, Mormonism, and is databasing the name of every Protestant church member for a future inquisition.

FrustMom SG

....cont'd

Concerning Riveras claim to have been made a bishop, Metz reported in Cornerstone that:

Alberto now claims that he was once a Jesuit bishop. None of his former associates remember this being part of his testimony until early 1973. Former associate Rev. Wishart (once a pastor of the First Baptist Church of San Fernando), who questioned Alberto about this, reported that Alberto admitted that he had never been ordained a bishop but used the title for prestige. He continues to call himself the bishop of his own church, the Hispanic Baptist Church (Oxnard, California).

In Alberto, Rivera claimed that his conversion to Protestantism happened while he was being detained in a sanitarium following a public break with the Church. Yet Christianity Todays piece noted that:

His later accounts of his conversion are contradictory. While speaking at the Faith Baptist Church in Canoga Park, California, Rivera pinpointed his conversion as March 20, 1967, after three months in the sanitarium, and he said he immediately defected from the Catholic Church. Five months later, however, he gave a newspaper interview in his home town of Las Palmas [in the Canary Islands], in which he was still promoting Catholicism. He said in the interview that he was doing ecumenical work for the Catholic Church in Tarrassa, Spain, during the previous six months, from February to August 1967. According to Alberto, he was in the sanitarium at the time.

Rivera, who now [1981] lives in California, was asked for an interview to discuss the discrepancies in his tale, but he posed so many restrictions before he would agree that a legitimate interview was not possible. He did say that any wrongdoings prior to his conversion to Christ in 1967 were done under the orders of the Catholic Church and that any wrongdoings since his conversions are fabrications by conspirators.

Of course, if Rivera had been a secret Jesuit agent bent on conspiratorial acts, such deception and subterfuge might well have been part of his mission. Yet his fantastic tale lacks credibility. The numerous legal entanglements suggest that he was a simple con man. There are the contradictory accounts of his conversion, his admission that he was married, and the fact that he was the father of two children during his alleged time as a Jesuit priest. And then there is what was uncovered by the Christian Research Institute in its investigation of Alberto:

Bartholomew F. Brewer, a former Catholic priest who is now director of Mission to Catholics International in San Diego [a man long known to Catholic Answers supporters for his anti-Catholic activities and an authentic ex-priest] . . . related to us that several years ago Rivera wanted to work in conjunction with Mission to Catholics. Dr. Brewer did interview Rivera and decided not to use him in his ministry. Over a period of time, however, Dr. Brewer got to know Rivera better and he eventually concluded that Rivera was not only unfamiliar with Catholic theology, by obviously had never been a Catholic priest, let alone a bishop.

In examining the two Chick comics, one finds that statements are made that would seem to substantiate Dr. Brewers views. Rivera is apparently unfamiliar with Catholic doctrine, church history, and other factual information.

For example, in Alberto, Rivera seems to imply that celibacy is a sacrament. Also, he states that students studying for the priesthood were not allowed to read the Bible. He also claims that, in Catholic doctrine, Mary is co-equal with God the Father. These are all misrepresentations of the truth.

Rivera further calls his reliability into question by stating that the masterminds behind the Inquisition were Jesuits. This is an impossibility, since the Inquisition began around a.d. 1200, and the Jesuits were not established until the 1540s.

CRI also discovered Rivera inaccurately quoting sources:

Riveras believability becomes still more questionable in Double-Cross, when he claims that [suicide cult leader] Jim Jones was secretly a Jesuit deacon and an agent for the Vatican. He says that the Jonestown massacre was part of the Roman Catholic Churchs "diabolical conspiracy." For support of this contention, he refers to Dr. Peter Beters Audio Letter #40, November 1978 (Beter is a self-proclaimed "conspiracy" expert). But, on listening to the tape, one discovers that Dr. Beter believes that Jones was a manipulated dupe of the CIA! Thus, the authority Rivera cites for supportive evidence is opposed to his view.

Riveras response to this investigation was to call CRI "a tool of the Jesuits and its director [Walter Martin, at the time] an agent of Rome."[34] He subsequently claimed that Martin "was working with the Vatican and stated that his name was on a secret Jesuit list." CRI further reported:

After our initial research gave us reason to question the comics reliability, we attempted to contact both Alberto Rivera and Chick Publications founder Jack Chick. With no success in contacting Rivera by mail, two certified letters were sent to Chick Publications. In them, we conveyed our concern over some apparent discrepancies in Riveras story and asked for answers. When no reply was made to our letters, follow-up phone calls revealed that Jack Chick would make no reply whatsoever. He said that he was not answerable to any man and that the comic books could stand on their own.

Alberto Rivera went on to found the "Antichrist Information Center" or AIC (which later explained its initials as meaning "Assurance in Christ" ) He died in 1997 of colon cancer, and his ministry was carried on by his widow, Nuzy Rivera.

The impact of Alberto Rivera on Jack Chicks universe is difficult to underestimate. It was Rivera that provided Chick with his most sensationalistic, most anti-Catholic claims and allowed Chicks conspiracy theories to grow increasingly complex and bizarre.

Alberto Rivera and His Comic Book Namesake

From My Name? . . . In the Vatican?

FrustMom SG

Jack T. Chicks Gallery of Anti-Catholic Tracts

Its hard to judge a bookor a comic bookby its cover. You can tell that some of Chicks tracts are clearly aimed at Catholicism just by looking at them. Others you have to read before you discover the anti-Catholicism buried within them. Here is a brief guide to Chicks anti-Catholic tracts and what they contain.

Are Roman Catholics Christian?
Unlike most Chick tracts, this one is not primarily a story. It is an essay intended to prove that Catholics are not Christian. To show this, it tries to walk through the life of a typical Catholic woman"Helen"from the time of her baptism to the time of her death. At each stage, Chick takes swipes at Catholic doctrine and practice.

Themes[39]: Anathema, Anointing of the Sick, Baptism, Clergy & Religious, Confession, Divided Loyalties, Eucharist, Inquisition, Mary, Other Christs, Paganism/Idolatry, Pope, Purgatory, Whore of Babylon

The Attack
Chicks defense of the King James Version of the Bible. According to this tract, the devil and the Catholic Church vigorously opposed the KJV and even murdered some of its translators. In its place they have sought to provide modern translations based on corrupt manuscripts for their own evil ends. All modern translations except the KJV are evil and the product of a Catholic conspiracy. A key objective of the conspiracy is to insert "the Apocrypha" (i.e., the deuterocanonical books of Scripture) into the Bible.

Themes: Anathema, Bible Corruption, Inquisition/Death to Non-Catholics

The Beast
A look at the end times, á la Jack Chick. In the near future the Rapture will occur. Afterward, the pope will be revealed to be the Antichrist and will compel all to take the number 666 on their foreheads or right hands. The world will become a gigantic, occult "witches coven," in which true Christians are persecuted. The battle of Armageddon will be fought, leading to a 1,000-year reign of Christ on earth. Then, God will condemn the wickedincluding those who remained faithful Catholicsto hell and reward Protestant Fundamentalists with heaven.

Themes: Antichrist, Inquisition/Death to Non-Catholics, Millennium, Rapture

The Death Cookie
Jack Chicks most prominent attack on the Eucharist. He tells the story of an unkempt man who wishes to control others. This man is counseled by a sinister (satanic-looking) advisor who encourages him to invent the doctrine of the Eucharist. Based on this advice, the man is soon controlling those around him as the Catholic pope.

Themes: Eucharist, Clerics & Religious, Inquisition/Death to Non-Catholics, Other Christs, Paganism/Idolatry, Whore of Babylon

The Deceived

Two Muslims start reading a Chick tract and are horrified to discover that Islam is a fraud. Worse, they discover that the pope manipulated Mohammed into starting Islam to conquer Jerusalem for him. Even Mohammeds wife Khadijah was a Vatican operative on a secret mission to set up her new husband!

Themes: Conspiracy, Mary, Paganism/Idolatry

to be continued....

Honeybunz SG

Jack Chick is out to make money by publishing such stuff. His literature sounds more anti-Christ than anything.

FrustMom SG

Fat Cats
A Latin American young man named Juan joins a Communist revolutionary movement, only to discover that the movement is tied in with liberation theology. This, Chick informs us, is a Vatican plot. Among other things, it allows Latin American Protestants to be killed as heretics and enemies of the state.

Themes: Conspiracy, Communism, Inquisition/Death to Non-Catholics, Repulsive Catholics

Here He Comes!
The priest who becomes a Fundamentalist is having nightmares about being left behind when the Rapture happens. A Fundamentalist tells him that he wont be, but goes on to him about the horrors to come, including the revelation of the pope and "the Jesuit general" as the false prophet and the beast.
Themes: Antichrist, Millennium, Pope, Rapture

FrustMom SG

Holocaust

After a tense confrontation between a Jewish concentration camp survivor and a group of American Nazis, a Fundamentalist kindly explains that the German Holocaust was actually a Vatican plot to kill Jews. In fact, "the Gestapo was run by the Jesuits" and "Hitler was a faithful Roman Catholic simply following the laws set forth in the Council of Trent." Worse, the Vatican plans a new inquisition in America to force Catholicism on the United States.

Themes: Anathema, Conspiracy, Inquisition/Death to Non-Catholics, Nazism, Pope, Repulsive Catholics, Whore of Babylon

FrustMom SG

Is There Another Christ?

An essay tract in which Chick attacks the pope as the vicar of Christ, the role of the priest as an alter Christus, and the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Each of these, Chick claims, is an infringement on the person and work of the true Christ.

Themes: Clerics & Religious, Eucharist, Other Christs, Pope, Tradition, Whore of Babylon

Kiss the Protestants Good-bye

An essay tract in which Chick details the Vatican conspiracy to wipe out Protestantismand his own role in fighting it! Chick claims that Catholics have subverted Protestant Bibles, including the Scofield Reference Bible, which Chick himself learned from. The goal has been to first rid Protestantism of its anti-Catholicism and then impose Catholicism. Chick has worked to thwart this plot, the tract explains, by publishing the Alberto series of comic books, which infuriate the Vatican.

Themes: Bible Corruption, Conspiracy, Inquisition/Death to Non-Catholics, Rapture, Repulsive Catholics

FrustMom SG

The Last Generation?

In the near future, a global totalitarian state is proclaimed, with the pope as its head. The announcement is made by a Jesuit at the United Nations. True Christian believers are driven underground and betrayed to the sinister superstate at every turn, even by evil "Hitler Youth"-type children.

Themes: Antichrist, Inquisition/Death to Non-Catholics, Mary, Rapture

Last Rites

http://www.catholic.com/images/Image14.gif

This tract tells the story of an unpleasant Catholic man named Henry who gets killed in a car crash. He receives the last rites, but after dying he is taken before God, who condemns him to hell for trusting in Catholic "works" to save him instead of Jesus Christ.

Themes: Anointing of the Sick, Assurance of Salvation, Baptism, Confession, Eucharist, Paganism/Idolatry, Purgatory, Repulsive Catholics, Whore of Babylon

Man in Black

A drunk, suicidal Catholic priest attempts to kill himself but is stopped by a passing Fundamentalist. After the suicide attempt the two discuss Catholic doctrine over coffee. The Fundamentalist convinces the priest that Catholicism is a revived form of paganism, and the priest gives his life to Christ.

Themes: Bible Corruption, Clerics & Religious, Conspiracy, Eucharist, Inquisition/Death to Non-Catholics, Mary, Paganism/Idolatry, Pope, Repulsive Catholics, Whore of Babylon

Murph

An obnoxious Catholic policeman"Murph"is mortally wounded in the line of duty. His ex-Catholic partner tells him that he must trust Jesus instead of the Church before he dies. When Murphs priest comes up short on answers, the dying cop does so and goes to heaven.

Themes: Assurance of Salvation, Purgatory, Repulsive Catholics, Tradition

My Name? . . . In the Vatican?

Chick explainsbased on information from Alberto Riverathat the Vatican keeps the name of every Protestant church member in a "big computer." The purpose is to make future persecutions easier. Chick laments the resistance hes met in getting his Alberto comic books carried and cites the effectiveness of Catholics in getting these comics pulled from Protestant bookstores.

Themes: Conspiracy, Inquisition/Death to Non-Catholics, Repulsive Catholics

The Only Hope

A more-explicit-than-usual look at the future Chick envisions. It expressly tells us: "The last pope will be the antichrist, or the Beast. Satan will enter his body, and he will be worshipped worldwide." In the course of re-treading events from the book of Revelation, it also tells us that "ten nations hate the whore of Rev. 17 and destroy the Vatican by fire" while "the pope (Antichrist) escapes to Jerusalem."

Themes: Antichrist, Millennium, Rapture, Whore of Babylon

The Poor Pope?

http://www.catholic.com/images/Image19.gif
Claims that "the pope controls more wealth than any other man on this planet" and gives a fanciful history of how this came about, with numerous unsourced allegations of wrongdoing on the part of the Vatican in a relentless drive to gain wealth. (For example, when the California Gold Rush started in the 1800s, the Vatican sent "liquor, gambling tables, and Roman Catholic prostitutes to take back the gold from the miners.") The tract declares that "the average person would go into shock if he knew the extent of the Vaticans wealth and political power."

Themes: Conspiracy, Inquisition/Death to Non-Catholics, Paganism/Idolatry, Pope, Purgatory, Vatican riches, Whore of Babylon

The Story Teller

A Muslim returns home after many years abroad and tells his village the story of what he learned. During his travels he met Alberto Rivera and was informed not only that Catholicism is a false religion but that it created Islam as part of a Vatican plot. More recently, the Vatican staged an apparition at Fatima (named after Mohammeds daughter) to cozy up to Muslims. It also staged the 1981 assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II using a Muslim as the marksman "to guilt-induce the Muslim world, bringing them still closer to the Catholic faith!"

Themes: Conspiracy, Mary, Paganism/Idolatry

Whos Missing?

A Fundamentalist and the ex-priest from Man in Black try to scare the priests sister into accepting Fundamentalism by telling her that the pope is the Antichrist, that we are living in the end times, and that if she wants to escape the great tribulation she must become a Fundamentalist in order to be raptured and to escape to heaven.

Themes: Antichrist, Millennium, Pope, Rapture

Why Is Mary Crying?

Chicks attack on Marian doctrine and practice. He tells us that these devotions deeply sadden the real Mary and make her cry. In this tract the Virgin Mary herself declares that she is a sinner and implores Catholics not to believe Catholic doctrine concerning her. She says that Catholic teaching and practice regarding her is an outgrowth of Babylonian paganism and that Catholics must repent and follow what God teaches in the Bible.

Themes: Mary, Paganism/Idolatry, Whore of Babylon

FrustMom SG

Answering Chick Tracts
Its tempting to laugh off Jack Chicks tracts and comic books. Their lurid tales and paranoid conspiracy theories make them hard to take seriously. But millions of people take them very seriously. That is why Chick has been able to distribute more than half a billion of his tracts. What is worse, many are aimed directly at Catholics, attempting to convert them to Fundamentalism. His most anti-Catholic tracts tend to conclude with a final panel like this one, urging Catholics to repudiate their faith:

With many Catholics weak in their faith today, there are a lot of people who are vulnerable to appeals such as this, especially when they have just been told untruths that they dont know how to refute. Even Catholics who are strong in their faith can have a difficult time knowing how to answer specific anti-Catholic charges, because Chick makes so many and such bizarre ones.

This is part of the problem: With the sheer volume of errors, half-truths, and misrepresentations that Chick makes about the Church, there is simply no way to refute them all. Often even a single panel from one of his tracts contains multiple mistakes. Doing a thorough refutation of everything Chick says would require several book-length works.

The procedure this report recommends is to use critical thinking skills whenever one looks at a Chick tractwhether one is a Catholic seeking to answer the tract or a non-Catholic seeking to evaluate what it has to say. To that end, keep several principles of critical thinking in mind:

Use common sense. If something seems to violate common sense, it probably does. Think about it: Is it really plausible that the Vatican is operating a multi-century conspiracy during which it created Islam and Communism, started the American Civil War, World War I, World War II, arranged the assassination of Abraham Lincoln and the assassination attempt of John Paul II? That it keeps the name of all Protestant church members in a database so that they can be hunted down, interrogated, and if need be tortured or killed in a future persecution? That the Vatican created or runs the Masons, the Klan, the Mafia, the Mormons, the Jehovahs Witnesses, and the host of other organizations and religious groups that Chick says it does?

This is all a gross violation of common sense, and that ought to tell you that something is wrong with the picture Chick is painting. So if you encounter something in Chicks works that is incredible, outrageous, or unbelievablego with your instincts and assume that its false unless it can be backed up with solid evidence. This leads directly to the next point.

Identify, evaluate, and check sources. Chick tracts make many assertions but cite few sourcesand fewer reliable onesyet he needs to provide solid sources in order to give evidence for the preposterous claims he makes. Therefore, when reading a Chick tract, you should evaluate the sources he is using. Ask yourself: Does he even provide a source to document this claim? Often he does not. If there is one, ask: Is this a reliable source? Some of his main sources are notoriously unreliable, including Alberto Rivera, John Todd, and Alexander Hislop (discussed below). Finally, check the source. It may not say what Chick would lead you to think it does. For example, above we saw an instance in which CRI found Alberto Rivera erroneously claiming that a source said something it didnt say.

Check for misrepresentations. Very often when Chick cites a source (including the Bible), he misrepresents what it says. Sometimes this is because he doesnt understand how a word is being used. (We will see later that he is greatly mistaken about what the word anathema means.) Other times he will cite Bible verses that are on the general topic he wants but that dont really say what he wants. In other words, they are not relevant to the claim he is making. So ask yourself: Is this passage really relevant? Does it say what he wants it to say? What else could it mean?

Consult authentic sources. Dont let matters stop at what Chick and his sources say. Consult other sourcesthe best ones that you can find. If Chick says that a doctrine is taught by the Catholic Church, look it up in the Catechism of the Catholic Church and find out. If you dont know where to check out a claim he makes, call Catholic Answers.

Note admissions of lack of evidence. Sometimes when Chick doesnt have evidence for what he wants to claim he will try to conceal the fact by saying "this was all covered up" or that someone "secretly" was a Catholic. When this happens, take note of it and recognize it for what it is: an admission that he cant back up the claim with evidence.

FrustMom SG

From My Name? . . . In the Vatican?

Think through the implications. As part of using common sense to evaluate Chicks claims, think through the implications of what he says. Ask yourself: What else would have to happen for this to be true? For example, take the claim that the Vatican has a database of "every Protestant church member in the world." How would the Vatican get such a list? Many countries (the U.S. among them) do not require people to register their religious affiliation. In these countries, most Protestant churches dont publicize their membership rolls. The Vatican would have to spies everywhere, gathering evidence about the members of every one-room, backwoods country church in the world. This violates common sense.

Look for double standards. Chick often will portray a particular belief or practice as an abomination when it is done by Catholics, even though the same thing occurs in Protestant circles. For example, he points to the Catholic belief in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, belief in baptismal regeneration, and the practice of infant baptism as key points in his argument that Catholics are not Christian.[40] Yet each of these is paralleled among Protestants. Lutherans and many Anglicans believe in the Real Presence. The same also believe in baptismal regeneration. And infant baptism is practiced by the majority of Protestants in the world, including not only Lutherans and Anglicans but also Presbyterians, Dutch Reformed, Methodists, and others. Only the Baptist and Pentecostal traditions (and those movements stemming from them) oppose the practice.

Watch for prejudicial presentations. A key technique that Chick uses is to make Catholics, their beliefs, and their practices "look" or "sound" bad by presenting them in a prejudicial light. This happens when he takes something innocent and uses language that makes it sound sinister. Or when he shows Catholics as angry, ugly, and foul-mouthed. Or when he uses exaggerated, hysterical language. Or when he tries to play upon ones emotions by drawing demons lurking about. Be aware that this kind of subterfuge is a major part of what Chick does and be on the lookout for it. When you see it, ask yourself: How could this same thing be presented in a balanced, non-prejudicial manner?
These principles of critical thinking will go a long way toward helping you answer and evaluate Chick tracts. They will let you see through a large number of the errors, half-truths, and misrepresentations that fill their pages. But you also need specific facts to answer or evaluate many of the particular things he says. It is not possible in a special report to do a thorough refutation of all of Chicks claims, but here are some things you should be aware of concerning the most common themes in his tracts, as well as pointers for where to go for more information.

Anathema

Like many, Chick does not understand what the term anathema means. He thinks that it means "damned as a heretic."[41] Elsewhere he uses "damned as a heretic" in place of the word anathema.[42]

But this is not what the term means. In Catholic documents the term refers to a kind of excommunication. By the time of the Council of Trent (which Chick faults for using it), it referred to an excommunication done with a special ceremony. Thus when Trent says things like "If anyone says . . . let him be anathema," it means that the person can be excommunicated with the ceremony. It also did not apply to Protestants since they were not part of the Catholic Church. Only someone who is part of the Catholic Church can be excommunicated from it.

The purpose of excommunication is not to damn a person but to bring him to repentancethe same principle Paul uses in 1 Corinthians 5 and 2 Corinthians 2:510.

Further, though ordinary excommunication still exists, the ceremonial form of excommunication (anathema) does not exist. The 1983 Code of Canon Law ended the penalty. Thus, while one can still be excommunicated for holding beliefs against the Catholic faith, one cannot be anathematized.

Anointing of the Sick

Chick doesnt like the anointing of the sick,[43] but it has a firm biblical basis. The book of James tells us: "Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith will save the sick man, and the Lord will raise him up; and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven" (Jas. 5:1415).

FrustMom SG

Antichrist

From The Only Hope

Chick presents Alberto Rivera as saying that Johns prophecy (cf. 1 John 2:1822) of many antichrists and a final Antichrist "are fulfilled in the dynasty of the papacy and that the Antichrist will be the pope who is in power when Jesus Christ returns."[44] Chick himself agrees. He always shows the Antichrist wearing papal robes and says that "he rules from the Vatican."[45] In The Only Hope we are told bluntly: "The last pope will be the antichrist, or the Beast."[46]

This is not possible. John tells us: "Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son" (1 John 2:22; cf. 4:3; 2 John 7). The Antichrist will deny that Jesus is the Messiah. But the popes authority as the vicar (representative) of Christ depends on Jesus being the Christ. The pope is the one man least likely to deny that Jesus is the Messiah. His job depends on it! For this same reason one cannot refer the "many antichrists" (cf. 1 John 2:1 Cool to "the dynasty of the papacy."

FrustMom SG

Assurance of Salvation

Chick occasionally takes swipes at the Catholic Church for not teaching "assurance of salvation" and cites verses such as 1 John 5:13"I write this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life." Hes taking this verse out of context. John has just been giving tests by which one can tell whether one is in a state of salvation (1 John 4:165:12). These tests include whether one believes in God and Jesus, whether one loves God and ones neighbor, and whether one keeps Gods commandments. This means that one can have a reasoned assurance of salvation but not an absolute one. One cannot claim to "know" that one has eternal life without applying (and passing) the tests, and there is always the possibility that one could be self-deceived about whether one passes the tests. Thus assurance can be only relative, not absolute.

Baptism

Chick singles out two problems with baptism as understood and practiced by Catholics. The first is that one is born again in baptism and the second that Catholics baptize infants.

Scripture clearly indicates that we receive Gods grace in baptism. Peter says that in the ark "eight persons were saved through water. Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body [i.e., not by the physical effect of baptism] but as an appeal to God for a clear conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ [i.e., by the spiritual effect of baptism]" (1 Pet. 3:2021). Paul tells us that when we were baptized we were united to Christs death so that "we might walk in newness of life" (Rom. 6:4), and when Paul himself was baptized, he was told: "Rise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on his name" (Acts 22:16). On the day of Pentecost, Peter preached: "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins" (Acts 2:38 ). The early Church Fathers were unanimous in understanding John 3:5 ("unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God" ) as referring to baptism.

Regarding infant baptism, when Peter preached baptism for the forgiveness of sins, he added: "For the promise is to you and to your children" (Acts 2:39). Jesus himself said, "Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of God" (Luke 18:16), and he was speaking of infants (cf. Luke 18:15)! It is no surprise then when we see entire households being baptized at once (Acts 16:15, 33; 1 Cor. 1:16). This is natural when one recognizes that baptism is "the circumcision of Christ" (Col. 2:11) or the Christian equivalent of circumcisionwhich was applied to infants.

It also is worth noting that many Protestants believe in baptismal regeneration and practice infant baptism. The first Protestant of allMartin Lutherdid so, as does the Lutheran church to this day.

Bible Corruption

Chick is a supporter of the King James Version of the Bible. He denounces multiple other Protestant translations. His chief grievances are: (1) that the other translations are based on corrupt "Alexandrian" manuscripts rather than on the "Textus Receptus" manuscript tradition, (2) that even Protestant preachers "correct the Word of God" according to what the original languages say, (3) that some Bibles have footnotes, and (4) that some Bibles contain the deuterocanonical books of Scripture ("the Apocrypha" ) . All of this, Chick says, is a satanic and Catholic plot.

The issues regarding what manuscripts are the closest to the original is too complex to go into here, but suffice it to say that the differences between the different manuscript traditions are tiny. They do not, as Chick says, "downplay" the deity of Christ, the Virgin Birth, or salvation by grace through faith.[48] Westcott and Hort (the textual scholars Chick blames most) were not "closet Catholics." They were Anglicans.

It is good for Protestant preachers to correct Bible translations in light of the original languages because no translation is perfecteven the KJV. For example, in Acts 12:4 the KJV says "Easter" where the Jewish holiday of Passover is being referred to.

While bad footnotes are a problem in many Bibles, footnotes also can help, given the complexity and obscurity of some passages. When Philip asked the Ethiopian eunuch if he understood the prophet Isaiah, he replied, "How can I, unless some one guides me?" (Acts 8:31).

The deuterocanonical books were reckoned as Scripture by the early Christians. As Protestant church historian J. N. D. Kelly writes, "It should be observed that the Old Testament thus admitted as authoritative in the Church was somewhat bulkier and more comprehensive [than the Protestant Bible]. . . . It always included, though with varying degrees of recognition, the so-called apocrypha or deuterocanonical books."[49] Further, some New Testament passages clearly allude to passages in the deuterocanonicals. (For instance, compare Hebrews 11:35 with 2 Maccabees 7.)

FrustMom SG

To be continued....

Will show you all the evil works and lies of Jack Chick.

NeonTetra SG

why the rattling upon this guy and his tracts?

personally i dun endorsed his tracts, the ones containing 'prophecies' and stuffs against other faith because personally i haven read much abt those histories.

but coming back to the RC thingy.....other doctrinally sound and reasonable people will also tell you about the errors of the Roman church, not because its another major church so we jealous wanna attack it. but it simply do not fit the biblical doctrine handed down from the holy scriptures. thats all. not some denominational fights, rather fighting for absolute biblical truth.

FrustMom SG

Rattling about this guy is because too many Protestants fall into his trap. They end up doing stuff like spending money buying his tracts and putting into people's doorstep. But they all do it every discreetly. Why? It is illegal in the first place to hand out such stuff. If you don't believe, try handing one of this tract to me and let me report to the police. You will see if any action be taken. Why is it illegal? think about.

And his accusation against the Roman Catholic Church is all bull.

Scripture and Tradition
As for the biblical part, please look at this http://www.sgforums.com/?action=thread_display&thread_id=127310

"I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I have delivered them to you" (1 Cor. 11:2).

"Follow the pattern of the sound words which you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus; guard the truth that has been entrusted to you by the Holy Spirit who dwells within us" (2 Tim. 1:13-14).

"So then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by letter." (2 Thess. 2:15)

"You, then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me before many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also" (2 Tim. 2:1-2).

"First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of ones own interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by the impulse of man, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God" (2 Peter 1:20-21).

"Though I have much to write to you, I would rather not use paper and ink, but I hope to come to see you and talk with you face to face, so that our joy may be complete" (2 John 12).

All these above were conveniently ignored by the Protestants. Why so? Because the Protestants do not have tradition. Why not? Because they branched out from the apostolic church and bible was the only thing that they brought along with them when they left.

Everything about why Protestants believe in this or are against that, is every straight forward. Some of the points, I don't even need to refer to the bible and quote the phrases.

As for jealousy? Why not? While so many Protestant Church (esp the newly founded ones) forced and brainwashed their members to donate 20% of their monthly salary to the church, the Catholic church collects a few thousand times more by simply passing the bag around during Mass. No brainwashing required. The recent death of the late Pope John Paul II draws attention from leaders all over the world. We will never see a Protestant leader having this kind of privilege.

FrustMom SG

Let's continue to see the evil works of Chick...

Clergy & Religious
Chick has a big problem with the pope, priests, and religious (e.g., monks and nuns). We will deal with the pope in another section, but as for priests, the word priest is actually taken from the Greek word presbuteros ("elder" ) .

Further, Paul tells us that Gods ministers in the New Testament age do perform "priestly service" (Rom. 15:16).

Regarding monks and nuns, the Old Testament records people who took special vows of consecration to God (Nazirites, cf. Num. 6), the Old Testament equivalent of monks and nuns. In the New Testament, Anna the prophetess seems to have lived like a cloistered nun, as "she did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day" (Luke 2:37). Paul tells us of an order of widows devoted to good works who had vowed to not marry again (cf. 1 Tim. 5:912).

From Are Roman Catholics Christians?

Communism
Chicks claim that Communism is a creation of the Vatican is one that does not pass the common sense test. Historically, Communism has been militantly atheistic, and the Church has condemned it in extremely forceful terms.

Neither is the claim that "liberation theology"the misguided attempt of some third-world priests to fuse Catholicism and Marxismcredible as a Vatican plot. The Vatican cracked down on the movement and censured its theologians.

The claim that John Paul II is a Communist is especially preposterous. He suffered under Communist rule, has written against it forcefully, and is credited by many as one of the key players in the downfall of the Soviet Bloc.

Confession
Chick tells us that "no man has the power to forgive sins." Its true that Gods forgiveness is the one that counts, but this doesnt mean that God doesnt use men as the instruments by which he absolves people.

From Last Rites

The Pharisees made the same charge against Jesus during his own public ministry (cf. Mark 2:7), but Jesus proved he had the power to forgive sins by healing the paralytic man. When the crowds saw it, "they glorified God, who had given such authority to men" (Matt. 9:8, emphasis added).

With the coming of Christ, God began to use men as instruments of his forgiveness, and after the Resurrection Jesus commissioned his disciples to do this, telling them: "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained" (John 20:2223).

Conspiracy
One of the problems with Chicks grand, Vatican-centered conspiracy theory is that so many of the groups the Vatican allegedly created or controls are anti-Catholic. Muslims, Communists, Nazis, Masons, the Klan, Mormons, Jehovahs Witnesses, etc.all are anti-Catholic, some as much so as Jack Chick. Further, many of these movements are large enough that they have been specifically rejected by the Vatican. The idea that the Vatican started or runs them is simply absurd.

From The Death Cookie

From Bewitched........................................From Man in Black.............................. From The Death Cookie

Demons
Demons lurk the pages of Chick tracts, sometimes guffawing at the misfortunes of humans, sometimes plotting devilry, sometimes just hovering sinisterly.

The extensive use of this theme is one of the ways Chick plays on the emotions of his readers. Instead of making a calm, rational appeal for why his readers should or should not believe certain things, Chick wants to engage the reader on a sub-rational level. He substitutes disturbing, even horrific imagery for reason and argument. He doesnt want the reader to think. He wants to generate emotions of fear and revulsion toward certain doctrines and practices and so associates demonic imagery with them. No proof is necessary to show why a doctrine or practice is bad; Chick just wraps demons around it to make the reader want to reject it.

Chick attributes many things he doesnt like directly to the devil. Again, no proof or argument is offered. He simply asserts that something was engineered by Satan. Sometimes he even shows the devil plotting the object of Chicks contempt. Once again, he substitutes fear and revulsion for offering evidence.

Frankly, he gives the devil too much credit. While one may reasonably assume that the devil looks favorably on every moral evil that occurs in the world, this is not the same as saying he causes every individual evil. While he may have set the human race on a bad road in the beginning (Gen. 3), this does not mean that he directly engineered every individual sin since that time.

FrustMom SG

Divided Loyalties
Chick occasionally takes swipes at Catholics for having divided loyalties between the Church and the U.S. (insinuating or directly stating that their loyalty to the former is greater than to the latter). This kind of argument was common in many older American anti-Catholic works. At the time these works were written, many Catholics in the U.S. were immigrants, and their loyalty to their new country was suspect. Most anti-Catholics today have dropped this allegationand with good reasonyet Chick hangs onto it. Its essential to his Catholics-out-to-subvert-the-U.S. conspiracy theory.

The reason that most anti-Catholics no longer make the charge is that now most Catholics in the U.S. are native-born. They are as loyal to America as anyone. They have put their lives on the line for her whenever the nation has gone to war, and many are war heroes.

In addition, Chicks facts are wrong. Catholics are not "citizen[s] of two countries." The Vatican City State has a tiny number of citizensfewer than a thousand. They are mostly people who live and work at the Vatican. The vast majority of Catholics are citizens of only one statetheir homelandand they understand their civic duties as well as anyone. The Catechism of the Catholic Church stresses these duties, and the Catholic Bible says just as much as the Protestant one, "Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesars, and to God the things that are Gods" (Matt. 22:21).

Eucharist
Chick makes the usual charges against the Eucharist. He doesnt like the Real Presence and the sacrifice of the Mass in particular. He even says that the Mass is not mentioned in Scripture, despite the fact that the very first Mass occurred during the Last Supper (cf. Luke 22:1920). The charges he makes have been answered many times.

What is distinctive about his approach is the attempt he makes to link the Eucharist with paganism. He claims: "On the altars of Egypt were sun-shaped wafers made of unleavened bread. These wafers were consecrated by the Egyptian priests and supposedly they magically became the flesh of the sun god, Osiris."

Although Osiris was an Egyptian god, he wasnt the sun god. That was Ra (in some cases identified with Horus). Osiris was the grain god and the god of the dead. There were grain cakes (little and not so little) connected with the worship of Osiris, but, since he wasnt the sun god, they were not shaped like the sun. They were shaped like a man since Osiris was pictured as a man. The use of these grain men was connected with Osiriss annual cycle as the god of grain. Every year, the Egyptians made cakes shaped like Osiris out of grain as an offering asking the grain god to reappear and make the land fruitful again. According to Egyptian wall art, priests even watered the cakes to get the grain in them to sprout and send up shoots. These Osiris cakes werent anything like communion wafers.

Another of Chicks attempts to link the Eucharist with paganism is found in his frequent depictions of the host imprinted with the letters IHS. He tells the reader that this stands for a trio of Egyptian gods (who were not a trinity, incidentally). Chicks claim is nonsense. The letters arent English at all, but Greek. In fact, they are the first three letters of Jesus name in Greek: iota-eta-sigma (capital eta in Greek looks like the English H). This has been a common abbreviation for Jesus throughout Church history.

Though you wouldnt know it from Chick, few Catholics have ever seen a host imprinted with these letters. Most hosts either have nothing on them or a cross design. What design, if any, is imprinted on a host is up to the maker. There is no Church regulation on this, and few makers have used the IHS design. Yet Chick would lead one to believe that it is omnipresent in Catholic

FrustMom SG

This is completely absurb!

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From Man in Black

This goes to show that Jack Chick knows nothing about the Church History. This is one example of problem arising from Sola Scriptura. The bible teaches you the teaching. But you need the tradition to tell you the history.