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Jack Chick

Oct 24, 2016#1

Denbrought

The author of Dark Dungeons, a cultural touchstone of our era, has passed.

For context, I see chick tracts in the wild about once a month here in GA, usually at boardgame meetups and other social functions.

I will leave you with the last missive he published, it really speaks for itself:

Dear ones in Christ,
Is your tummy upset over our political circus? Are you fearful about the way everything is going? Do you bite your nails watching all the news that has nothing but “breaking” news about trivial things? Do you notice that no one seems to have any answers?
Now, why do you think all this is happening? Do you remember that the world is the Devil’s? He offered it to Jesus if He would bow down and worship him. Legally that’s true. Satan is the god of this world’s system that produces ungodly leaders: the worst of people, vile, greedy, --because the Devil is their god. The unsaved are in charge. This is not our world.
Any truth out there? Anyone you can trust? Only the Lord Jesus Christ and His precious King James Bible. All else is baloney!
Everything is being set up for the anti-Christ. When we see all this happening, what are we supposed to do? We’re supposed to look up, for our redemption draweth nigh (Luke 21:28). Our King is coming.
But the world needs to know, there is hope in Jesus. That’s why we must pass out tracts to share that hope with the lost. The only thing we have to hang onto is the glorious gospel.
Your brother in Christ,
Jack Chick

Oct 24, 2016#2

PatrThom

I vote we move all the other Chick stuff over into this thread.

--Patrick

Oct 24, 2016#3

Denbrought

PatrThom said:
I vote we move all the other Chick stuff over into this thread.

--Patrick

Ah shit, I didn't notice it was posted to the Comic Book Thread.

Oct 24, 2016#4

Yoshimickster

I vote we revel in this idiots death for thinking Harry Potter had anything to do with actual occultism. Seriously, that's both a compliment AND an insult to J.K.Rowling given the nature of the book's lore.

Oct 24, 2016#5

bhamv3

I disagree with almost everything Jack Chick has ever said, as well as how he said it. But I'm still gonna miss him and his tracts.

Oct 25, 2016#6

Timmus

the world got a little less weird

Oct 25, 2016#7

IronBrig4

I feel bad for his family. Still, that guy spread so much hate and paranoia through his work so I can't really say I'm sorry he's gone.

Oct 25, 2016#8

Dave

This is the first time in a long time I've heard about a death and said, "Huh. That's fine with me."

Oct 25, 2016#9

ThatNickGuy

I'd never even heard of the guy until people started talking about his death.

Oct 25, 2016#10

sixpackshaker

I did not know he was still alive.

Oct 25, 2016#11

Sara_2814

The wife of a guy my husband used to work with put Chick Tracts in their Christmas cards. Nothing says Merry Christmas like "Burn in Hell, Unbeliever". :confused:

Oct 25, 2016#12

GasBandit

Who Will Be Eaten First?

Oct 25, 2016#13

jwhouk

sixpackshaker said:
I did not know he was still alive.

I honestly believed him to be passed on as well.

I'll be honest - tracts have never struck me as a very efficient form of evangelism.

Oct 25, 2016#14

Denbrought

jwhouk said:
I honestly believed him to be passed on as well.

I'll be honest - tracts have never struck me as a very efficient form of evangelism.

I imagine they are one of the more useful types of pamphlets for reaching people with lesser literacy (such as children and some social classes), hence the very expressive drawings and (at times) simple plot-lines.

Oct 25, 2016#15

strawman

Though the message diverges from my beliefs of Christ and the purpose of life, I do wonder how many people benefited from his efforts, as well as how many people were hurt by them.

Oct 25, 2016#16

Covar

stienman said:
Though the message diverges from my beliefs of Christ and the purpose of life, I do wonder how many people benefited from his efforts, as well as how many people were hurt by them.

Part of me thinks it's low on both counts.

Oct 25, 2016#17

Gruebeard

jwhouk said:
I honestly believed him to be passed on as well.

I'll be honest - tracts have never struck me as a very efficient form of evangelism.

I don't know. I'm rather tempted by this Yog Sothoth is the gate thing.

I mean I get to do all the shit I want to. That sounds great. And the growing too insane to notice the Apocalypse? That's a bonus.

Oct 25, 2016#18

Dave

stienman said:
Though the message diverges from my beliefs of Christ and the purpose of life, I do wonder how many people benefited from his efforts, as well as how many people were hurt by them.

My guess is more were hurt by it than helped. The biggest one he ever sold was the Dark Dungeons one about D&D. Because, you know, D&D is all about actually summoning demons & shit.

Oct 25, 2016#19

Terrik

Dave said:
My guess is more were hurt by it than helped. The biggest one he ever sold was the Dark Dungeons one about D&D. Because, you know, D&D is all about actually summoning demons & shit.

I mean, if that's the greatest harm--on noes. Some kids (including me) couldn't play DnD till high school. As far as egregious harm goes, this ranks fairly low.

Oct 25, 2016#20

sixpackshaker

His anti-Catholic tracts were amazingly bigoted.

Oct 25, 2016#21

Denbrought

sixpackshaker said:
His anti-$group tracts were amazingly bigoted.

FTFY because, really, the only tracts that weren't horridly bigoted were the more positive-minded ones.

Worth noting that those seem far more popular with the local outreach people here, which is a small mercy.

Oct 25, 2016#22

bhamv3

I just remembered that, back on Fark, someone once posted a photo of Jack Chick. He was notoriously private about his own appearance, so this was a big deal. The photo showed a guy who basically looked like a real life version of Ned Flanders. None of the Farkers had any way to confirm whether the picture was real, but everyone agreed that, yes, that's basically how they all imagined him.

Oct 25, 2016#23

PatrThom

I wonder how this is going to affect Ghastly's Chick Boy.

--Patrick

Oct 25, 2016#24

Hailey Knight

I've read and screwed with the tracts online for many years.

But I remember being excited three or four years ago, I think I was visiting friends in NYC, went into a bathroom and "holy shit, it's a Chick tract! A real, physical Chick tract!" That was the only time I ever saw one IRL.

I did not remove it from the bathroom where it belonged.

Oct 26, 2016#25

jwhouk

sixpackshaker said:
His anti-Catholic tracts were amazingly bigoted.

Yeah, I'd forgotten about that one. (insert "giant sucking sound" meme here)

Oct 26, 2016#26

SpecialKO

Dave said:
My guess is more were hurt by it than helped. The biggest one he ever sold was the Dark Dungeons one about D&D. Because, you know, D&D is all about actually summoning demons & shit.

Depends on the meaning of "help". My gaming group did annual readings of Dark Dungeons at holiday parties with much hilarity. I can honestly say that Chick provided us with entertainment for years.

Oct 26, 2016#27

Dave

SpecialKO said:
Depends on the meaning of "help". My gaming group did annual readings of Dark Dungeons at holiday parties with much hilarity. I can honestly say that Chick provided us with entertainment for years.

I know personally of a kid whose mom found out he was playing D&D so she burned all the books he bought with his own money, then severed ties between he and all of his friends. He was isolated and preached to and possibly beaten because of it. We never found out for certain as he wouldn't talk to us at all but he showed up with random bruises like he'd been in a fight. We tried to tell someone but were told that it was up to his parents who he hung out with and they completely ignored our concerns about the abuse.

Dude went absolutely mental, getting into drugs and all sorts of bad shit. He's homeless now. All because of bullshit like these fucking chick tracts things that were lies and religious stupidity. And yes, I fully realize that it was probably not the whole story, but he wasn't cut off and isolated until the whole D&D scare, and as far as we knew, he'd not suffered any abuse until his isolation.

So fuck Jack Chick and everything he stood for.

Oct 26, 2016#28

SpecialKO

Fair enough.

Oct 26, 2016#29

PatrThom