Jack Chick has died

[Lenten_ashes]

Meet Jack Chick

A Conversation with the Granddaddy of the Anti-Catholic Comic Book Genre
By: Jimmy Akin

For decades the cartoon tracts of Jack T. Chick have fascinated and horrified. Their pages contain the most extreme, paranoid conspiracy theories imaginable. Among other things, Chick publications will tell you that:

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 (see his tract My Name . . . In the Vatican? );
through the Jesuits, the Vatican runs an extensive conspiracy that includes the Illuminati, the Council on Foreign Relations, international bankers, the Mafia, the Club of Rome, the Masons, and the New Age movement, among others (Four Horsemen);
the Catholic conspiracy also includes creating venomously anti-Catholic movements such as Communism, the Ku Klux Klan, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormonism, and Islam (The Big Betrayal, The Godfathers: Alberto Part Three, The Force: Alberto Part Four, The Prophet: Alberto Part Six).
Chick’s material is weirdly compelling. It is amateurish, lurid, ham-fisted, and viciously hateful at times. But it is intense, and something about that intensity makes people want to read it. His tracts generate a kind of bizarre fascination. Since he first began publishing them, Chick has distributed over half a billion, making him the most published comic book author in the world.

Yet little is known of him. The seventy-nine-year-old Chick is a recluse. His office does not give tours, he never allows his photo to be taken, and he never, ever gives interviews. Little is known about him beyond what is revealed in the biography on his web site, www.chick.com.

Recently Chick has ventured out of the world of comic book publishing to produce a feature-length movie entitled The Light of the World. I received an unexpected invitation to the premier of the movie. Writing movie reviews is a hobby of mine, and the camp value alone of a Chick film would make it worth reviewing, so I made the trek to the premier—and got more than I imagined I would.

The Light of the World premiered in Ontario, California, where Chick Publications is based. The site was an old auditorium that would have been dazzling in the 1940s and that still boasted an impressive main theater. As I approached it an hour before the screening was scheduled to begin, a small group of people, including a number of elderly men, was out front.

Could one of these men be Jack Chick? I wondered, then answered my own question: probably not. No doubt he’d seen the completed film, and with his reclusive tendencies he wasn’t likely to show up.

Still, I kept an eye out, particularly for an elderly man with a young Asian woman. (After the death of his wife a few years ago, Chick married an Asian woman much younger than himself.)

In the foyer of the auditorium, representatives of Chick Publications had tables set up where copies of the film were on sale on VHS and DVD. One table was cash only, one check only, and one credit card only. Having a copy of the film would let me get exact quotes for a critique of the film, but I didn’t really want to give my credit card or checking account number to a bunch of conspiracy theorists. I approached the cash only table.

Once I had the copy in hand, I began to contemplate the fact that I had just driven two hours to get to the theater, the screening wouldn’t even begin for another hour, and it would be almost midnight before I got back home to San Diego. The thought of driving back and watching the DVD in the comfort of my own living room was attractive, and I was on the verge of heading home when I decided to take one more look around to see if I could spot Chick.

I was sitting in the back row, so I had a good view of the theater. Nobody looked like an obvious candidate to be Chick. The folks in the front row were too young. I couldn’t see an elderly man with Asian wife. There was an elderly guy sitting alone on the far side of my row, talking with a few people in the aisle. I heard one of them say, “It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir.”

I took a closer look at him. He had white hair, glasses, and was wearing a white dress shirt and dark slacks. He had a fancy gold wristwatch (a Rolex?)—the kind that you could afford if you’d sold half a billion tracts.

If it were Chick, what would I say to him? The apologist in me would have loved to debate him theologically. Part of me would want to ask him futile questions like “You don’t really believe all that stuff you publish, do you?” But I decided that, if it was Chick, the most charitable thing I could do was simply be nice to him and chat.

Moving a few seats closer to him, I heard him tell the people, “We got started about forty years ago . . .” Doing some quick math in my head, I realized that was when Chick Publications began.

I moved to the seat next to him (well, technically, next to his jacket, which was draped on th seat next to him), and, when the well-wishers moved on, I said, “Excuse me, sir. Are you Jack Chick?”

“I am,” he replied, smiling warmly. “What’s your name?”

“Jimmy Akin,” I replied. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir.”

We shook hands, and he asked me, “What do you do?”

“I’m an evangelist.”

His face brightened. “Praise God!” But then his eyes studied me a moment. Wearing a Stetson, cowboy boots, faded blue jeans, and a Texas belt buckle, I didn’t look like the typical suit-and-tie evangelist from Chick’s Fundamentalist world.

“I’ve read a lot of your comic tracts,” I said as he settled back into his seat.

Read the rest here: catholic.com/magazine/articles/meet-jack-chick

 

[tawny]

Praying for the repose of his soul & for his family.

 

[LiamQ]

The hatred that man had for the Catholic Church was appalling.

I think, looking at the objective level, that Chick hated what he thought was a demonic impersonation of Christ’s true Church, and that he did so out of love for Jesus. We shouldn’t condemn him for that. Moreover, he was a hardcore conspiratorialist, and I continue to have sincere reservations about the mental and emotional clarity with which such folks view the world.

 

[IgnatianPhilo]

I can’t say I’m sad for the man. He spread false information to the gullible and at the same time made Christianity look like the joke some secularists claim it to. May God have mercy on his soul because I can’t extend any sympathy towards him and what he stood for.

 

[steido01]

May God have mercy on his soul.

 

[KjetilK]

comicvine.gamespot.com/galactus-is-coming/4050-52086/

 

[signit]

I don’t think Mr. Chick had personal hatred toward Catholics, although he had no use for Catholicism (or mormonism, freemasonry, islam, drinking, homosexuality, ouija boards, satanism, drugs or rock and roll for that matter).

Chick’s viewpoint about the Catholic Church was that it was centrally run by conspirators in the Vatican and Jesuit hierarchy who ran the show like puppet masters. His real hatred was against the trolls and demons he imagined in the basement of the Vatican that he thought were controlling the Catholic Church. He didn’t have a realistic view of what they do in Rome or how the Catholic Church is organized.

If he did, he still probably wouldn’t have approved it, but he wouldn’t have adopted such a dark conspiratorial tone about it and looked so nutty.

Agreed.

He definitely did not “hate Catholics.”

He tried to get those of us who are Catholic to convert because he sincerely thought we were going to hell. That’s not the same as hating Catholics.

I just learned that Jack Chick has died. Hope to see him in Heaven; I would not be the Catholic I am today without him.

http://www.jesuits.org/Assets/Regions/USA/news/holy-door-main.jpg

Always remembering that heaven is full of surprises…so that is what I understand and believe.

Agreed.

I wouldn’t be a bit surprised to see him in heaven.

 

[Son_of_Niall]

I can’t say I’m sad for the man. He spread false information to the gullible and at the same time made Christianity look like the joke some secularists claim it to. May God have mercy on his soul because I can’t extend any sympathy towards him and what he stood for.

I would have to agree.
We don’t whitewash Joseph Goebbels, why should we whitewash Chick?
I hope God has mercy on his soul, I don’t dance on his grave. But at the same time lets recognize the legacy of hate and bigotry he left behind. Not just against Catholics, but many other groups as well, including homosexuals.
A few secular cartoonists have stated his was a wasted talent. He could indeed draw very well. But a talent inside a sick mind, and I believe he was mentally ill, is a waste.
Say a prayer for him.

 

[MaryT777]

Great article on Jack Chick

ncregister.com/blog/jimmy-akin/jack-chick-passes-on-to-his-reward-9-things-to-know-and-share

Permission was granted to Email this to others so I assume posting it on the CAF site is ok. Credit to Jimmy Akin.

1. Praying for Chick
   It’s great that Chick lived to the ripe old age of 92!
   Despite his opposition to the Catholic Faith, Jack Chick was a man whom Christ loved and for whom he died.
   My experience of Chick’s sincerity suggests he was innocently unaware of the consequences of his actions, meaning that he would fall under Our Lord’s prayer, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).
   Jack Chick opposed praying for the dead, and it would have meant nothing to him that he died in the Year of Mercy proclaimed by Pope Francis.
   But if his understanding of the divine mystery leads him to experience the particular judgment as standing before a giant, radiant Jesus (like the one depicted in his comics), I hope you will join me in praying:
   Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and may perpetual light shine upon him.

 

[Peter_J]

A bit more charity, please.

No argument there. Nevertheless, there is good reason to warn readers against his stuff … all the more so since it has been stated on CAF that the problem with Chick Tracts is that they “rely on a different interpretation of the Bible than Catholics do”, and also that “Jack Chick tends to be on the right side about homosexuality, abortion, the occult, and Islam.”

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?p=14117369#post14117369

 

[Le_Cracquere]

A prince among kooks, and a deranged outsider artist without peer. R.I.P., Mr. Chick, and may your stay in Catholic Purgatory be both relatively brief and improving.

 

[Darryl_B]

The God of second chances? By the ghost of Christmas future? If I destroy 1000 souls, you pray for those souls, not me.

 

[Peter_J]

If I destroy 1000 souls, you pray for those souls, not me.

I’m going to second Beryllos’s “A bit more charity, please.”

We can pray for everyone.

 

[christofirst]

I still clearly remember finding one of his cartoon tracts discarded in the street when I was about 10 years old (well over 40 years ago now) visiting my grandparents in Central California. There was a lurid aspect to that tract. It was compelling to look at, though I knew even then it was wrong. I could almost describe it now as evangelical porn in the appealing way it exploited misconceptions. Anyway, years later I learned much more about Jack Chick and his anti-Catholic ideas thanks to Catholic Answers, and now he has died. May his soul, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

 

[ffg]

The God of second chances? By the ghost of Christmas future? If I destroy 1000 souls, you pray for those souls, not me.

Sounds like you may have been in a situation where blinders were taken off at some point and in looking back is a frustrating sight and blame for the past is laid on others.

The beautiful part about the human person is that no human person has the power to destroy another’s soul.

Folks that might still have blinders on are not having their souls destroyed. Their minds might be forming toward an influenced end with specific information, regardless of truth in that information…

But the information can’t destroy the soul.

The Rejection of God, His love, and His mercy - does that trick.

We can understand and receive the most fruit of God’s love and Mercy through letting it flow through us, not holding it back like rejecting a prayer for someone (or promoting the absence of prayer).

Want mercy? give mercy.

It’s not easy, if it was, I think we would see a happier world.

I’ve been trying to practice lately when I get in the car saying to myself, ‘give mercy, give mercy, give mercy’. Trying even to repeat it through the drive, because it is so frustrating to see folks drive up along a line and cut in, the line stays long because of these folks!

ugh, give mercy.

 

[Entwhistler]

Requiescat in pace.

 

[Peter_J]

There was a lurid aspect to that tract. It was compelling to look at, though I knew even then it was wrong. I could almost describe it now as evangelical porn …

Good analogy – or perhaps one might compare it with a drug habit.

This isn’t about Jack Chick, but it might help to understand the aforementioned analogies if people remember the euphoria that a bunch of frat boys exhibited last year while singing “There Will Never Be A racial slur] In SAE”. Or the reaction of the congregation at the Apostolic Truth Tabernacle when a four-year-old sang “Ain’t No slur for homosexual] Gonna Make It to Heaven”.

 

[Darryl_B]

I’m going to second Beryllos’s “A bit more charity, please.”

We can pray for everyone.

We can pray for everyone. When they are alive too. My bigger concern is to express concern for the nameless souls from the far reaching impact one can have - be it positive or negative.

 

[Darryl_B]

Sounds like you may have been in a situation where blinders were taken off at some point and in looking back is a frustrating sight and blame for the past is laid on others.

The beautiful part about the human person is that no human person has the power to destroy another’s soul.

Folks that might still have blinders on are not having their souls destroyed. Their minds might be forming toward an influenced end with specific information, regardless of truth in that information…

But the information can’t destroy the soul.

The Rejection of God, His love, and His mercy - does that trick.

We can understand and receive the most fruit of God’s love and Mercy through letting it flow through us, not holding it back like rejecting a prayer for someone (or promoting the absence of prayer).

Want mercy? give mercy.

It’s not easy, if it was, I think we would see a happier world.

I’ve been trying to practice lately when I get in the car saying to myself, ‘give mercy, give mercy, give mercy’. Trying even to repeat it through the drive, because it is so frustrating to see folks drive up along a line and cut in, the line stays long because of these folks!

ugh, give mercy.

It actually sounds like you don’t know me at all, Jack Chick didn’t exist to me until he was mentioned here.

A soul destroyed is a poetic license, a literary device, not a literal device. A soul is destroyed when one rejects God, and even becomes angry towards God. It is a demeanor, it is a state of being.

Victims as a consequence of our actions are simply more important to my prayer, the ones forgot because they don’t have a status, I simply believe they deserve more mention.

 

[ThundersnowIV]

I don’t think Mr. Chick had personal hatred toward Catholics, although he had no use for Catholicism (or mormonism, freemasonry, islam, drinking, homosexuality, ouija boards, satanism, drugs or rock and roll for that matter).

Chick’s viewpoint about the Catholic Church was that it was centrally run by conspirators in the Vatican and Jesuit hierarchy who ran the show like puppet masters. His real hatred was against the trolls and demons he imagined in the basement of the Vatican that he thought were controlling the Catholic Church. He didn’t have a realistic view of what they do in Rome or how the Catholic Church is organized.

If he did, he still probably wouldn’t have approved it, but he wouldn’t have adopted such a dark conspiratorial tone about it and looked so nutty.

Really? Did you ever see tracts such as Catholics receiving the last rites and going to hell for believing in such perverse Catholic blessings?