Chick Tracts

Post by **_Anonymous** » Mon May 15, 2006 7:56 am

My school received a commendation from The Pacific Justice Institute, which is something good, I guess. The problem was that a seven year old was distributing Chick tracts at our school. She had thousands of them!

So what do you think of Chick Tracts? Are they appropriate for children? Here's one of the ones the little girl was passing out: Charlie's Ants. That one isn't as graphic as some of them were. Some of the Catholic kids were very upset and tore the tracts into pieces, which upset the Calvary Chapel kids.

You haven't heard anything until you hear 7 and 8 year old kids debate theology. (Well, maybe if you've read the Eschatology forum...) Anyway, what do you think?

Post by **_Paidion** » Mon May 15, 2006 8:33 am

These tracts, being pictorial, have a strong impact on children. For them, it's like reading comics.

In my opinion, some of the Chick tracts are effective in bringing truth to children.

Others, especially those which deal with demons, have the effect of frightening children. It may be good for children to become aware of the influence of demons in our society today. But I think children need adult guidance when reading the Chick tracts which deal with demons.

Post by **_GCS 98** » Mon May 15, 2006 10:51 am

I think they tend to be extreme. I once saw one where a guy holding an NIV had a devil's tail. I think they use a lot of propagandha techniques and many people could be offended by them for the wrong reasons.

Post by **_Anonymous** » Mon May 15, 2006 11:01 am

Paidion wrote:These tracts, being pictorial, have a strong impact on children. For them, it's like reading comics.

In my opinion, some of the Chick tracts are effective in bringing truth to children.

Others, especially those which deal with demons, have the effect of frightening children. It may be good for children to become aware of the influence of demons in our society today. But I think children need adult guidance when reading the Chick tracts which deal with demons.

I agree, Paidion, that adult guidance would be helpful. I'm not to sure that every public school teacher is going to be the best adult for that guidance.

GCS, some of them are VERY scary!

Post by **_Steve** » Mon May 15, 2006 12:00 pm

When I was a kid, I really liked Jack Chick's tracts. They were the first comic-style tracts I ever saw (I think he created the genre), and they inspired me, when older, to draw some of my own.

Chick's first tracts were pretty straight-forward gospel presentations in story form. The originals, "This Was Your Life," "A Demon's Nightmare," "Somebody Goofed" and "Holy Joe," were all inspiring to me, as a kid.

Some of Jack Chick's associates, at his headquarters, once told me that Chick's philosophy is, "Kick them with both feet!" Thus his tracts were always very confrontational, with and emphasis on graphic portrayals of hell and judgment. It may have also been this philosophy that led Chick into other forms of sensationalism.

In the seventies, Jack Chick began to espouse conspiracy theories and to promote them in his tracts. He became acquainted with a man named John Todd, who claimed to be a high-ranking defector from the Illuminati. John Todd claimed that witches controlled every aspect of government, media, commerce, and the institutional churches. Chick published several comic books and tracts to expose this conspiracy theory.

Later, a man named Alberto, who claimed to have been a high-ranking defector from the Jesuit order convinced Chick that the Jesuits were infiltrating every Protestant group with a mind to take over the world. Several comic books and tracts appeared promoting this theory as well.

Chick has also pushed the King-James-Only view in his literature.

Chick tracts, it seems to me, lost credibility when Jack Chick moved away from mere presentation of the salvation message to the promotion of questionable theories not related to the gospel itself. However, some of his older tracts have led thousands of people to Christ.

Post by **_Rae** » Mon May 15, 2006 2:40 pm

Steve,

Do you still have the comic books tracts that you made? I know you have the long ones on your website, but did you make any shorter "hand out at the grocery store" type tracts?

Post by **_Steve** » Mon May 15, 2006 4:03 pm

Yes. I had over 50 different titles of small, 24-page, hand-out comic tracts published by various publishers. Only a very few are still available, and I have not actively distributed them for years, because a defunct address is printed on all of them!

Post by **_glow** » Fri May 26, 2006 1:20 pm

Hi Michelle,

I think tracks can be very helpful if age and atmoshpere appropriate. I am some what cautious myself though on the ones depicting demons and very scary drawings etc. I remember as a kid being handed them to me by Catholic relatives when I was to sick to go to church with them while visiting them, one Sunday. Aftert reading it I thought I was doomed for sure to hell, no matter what I did, especially backed up at night with all their hail Marys on their beads. and it actually it had a very negative affect on me for years ( I was nine then and never had a real church upbringing.)

I also remember reading them years later and still being some what fasinated and repelled by them at the same time because of my sinful nature and childhood experience.

Years later after becoming "saved" one Halloween which we usually tried to stay out of, we decided we would pass out a piece of candy with a track. I tried to find something very simple basic with a code you had to decipher so they were actively engaged in it and it was colorful, so a child might be interested in it.

I have no idea if I enraged parents or encouraged kids,but at that point I felt like it was worth a try. I quess as in anything we consider, we should pray and try to desern the best approach to each situation and than apply it the best we can.

Sounds like you are trying to be sensitive and thoughtful in a possibly explosive arena . Thats great! Glow