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S p e c i a l R e p o r t
Chick Tracts
Their Origin and Refutation
 Part 4 
Jack T. Chick’s Gallery of Anti-Catholic Tracts |
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Special Report
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It’s hard to judge a book—or a comic book—by its cover.
You can tell that some of Chick’s 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 Chick’s 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
Chick’s 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 wicked—including those who remained faithful Catholics—to hell and reward Protestant Fundamentalists with heaven.
Themes: Antichrist, Inquisition/Death to Non-Catholics, Millennium, Rapture
The Death Cookie
Jack Chick’s 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 Mohammed’s wife Khadijah was a Vatican operative on a secret mission to set up her new husband!
Themes: Conspiracy, Mary, Paganism/Idolatry
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 won’t 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
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
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 Protestantism—and 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
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
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 Murph’s 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 explains—based on information from Alberto Rivera—that 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 he’s 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?
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 Vatican’s 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 Mohammed’s 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
Who’s Missing?
A Fundamentalist and the ex-priest from Man in Black try to scare the priest’s 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?
Chick’s 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
Part 3 Part 4 Part 5
Footnotes:
- This gallery includes only the more substantial anti-Catholic Chick tracts. Anti-Catholic themes (typically, brief depictions of repulsive Catholics) occur in other tracts, such as Gomez Is Coming, The Hit, The Thing, Tiny Shoes, and The Trial.
- The themes listed under each tract will be discussed in the "Answering Chick Tracts" section of this report. Two themes we will not list (because they are in almost every tract) are Demons and Faith Alone. These will be discussed in the "Answering Chick Tracts" section.
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