Reflections on the Life of Jack Chick

Chick Productions announced that their founder, Jack Chick, died peacefully in his sleep last Sunday evening at age 92. He was the creator of a series of tracts which presented his perspective on a variety of theological matters in a comic format. According to a statement on his website, “His burden has always been to get the gospel into the hands of millions of lost people around the world.”

This Was Your Life!” is the most popular Chick tract, which describes what would probably occur if someone dies lost without Christ and what one needs to do to avert that frightening destiny. That very popular tract has been translated into over 100 languages.

Jack Chick has had an enormous impact on the world. His company, Chick Publications, has reported that it has sold over 900 million tracts. It can be argued that he is the most read author on the planet.

The Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History included several Chick tracts in an exhibit on American pop culture. He could easily have been awarded a superstar status distinction at the Comic-Con gathering in San Diego, California if it were not for the religious nature of his material.

Unable to find a firm that would publish his work, Chick self-published his first cartoon revival book in 1961 using $800 he borrowed from a credit union. Chick Publications has been housed in a low-profile office in Rancho Cucamonga since it was founded in 1970.

Of course, you are not going to see any reference to Jack Chick on the nightly news. The few newspapers that bothered to make note of his passing only had negative things to say about him. They all slapped him with their favorite dirty word—fundamentalist.

He is remembered by some as the king of scaremongers. One site calledJezebel had the headline: “Jack Chick, the Creator of Bigoted Yet Weirdly Enjoyable Evangelical Comic Books, Has Died.” The LA Times noted that “Chick managed to offend Catholics, Jews, Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Muslims and Freemasons—who found their beliefs discounted, ridiculed or condemned as false—or worse.”

Mr. Chick’s work got the attention of many atheists. There are several links on YouTube which has a group of atheists reading out his tracts, and then providing profane mocking commentary. It proves the point that you can judge a man by his enemies.

The reclusive Chick did very few interviews. The last full interview he gave was in 1975. Jack did speak in 1997 to a Daily Bulletin reporter, Mike Cicchese, in his driveway for 10 minutes. He was also camera shy. Amazingly, there are more claimed photos of Bigfoot than of the man who ran the most successful tract ministry in world history.

From what little information there is written about Jack Chick, we learn that he chose comics over the pulpit after hearing a radio missionary explaining how the Chinese used comics as propaganda. Chick was an Independent Baptist who followed a pre-millennial dispensationalist view of the end-times.

David Daniels, Jack Chick’s chosen successor, said “Chick is widely misunderstood as a hateful person. He was a plain, ordinary guy who liked to draw. He was just a guy who wanted to please the Lord, use his drawings for God and help other people not go to hell. And that was it.”

My first experience with Chick tracts was when I was given them as a child in the early 1970s by my Sunday school teacher. They were easy to read and their low cost to produce makes it easy to understand how they spread all over the globe.

The world is rapidly becoming so dark; the day may soon come when much of his commentary is barred as hate speech. His books have already been banned in Canada, denounced by Christianity Today and the Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles and ejected from many Christian bookstores.

Years ago, I wrote an article titled, “God’s Billionaires.” It listed some of the people who obtained heavenly riches. I’m sure Jack Chick would be included on any expended lists of those who achieved wealth in the Lord. It is my hope that we will all soon join Jack in sharing the blessing that God has prepared for those “who love his appearing.”

“But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9).

“Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you” (Matthew 5:11-12).

–Todd

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Satan’s High Anxiety

Lucifer, the ultimate rebel against everything godly, is perhaps the most brilliant being produced from the holy mind of the Creator. This proud creature wanted and continues to want to supplant the one who created him. He has been about that iniquitous, self-appointed mission since the thought came into his thinking (Isaiah 14:14).

Satan, as he is now called by God, knows Bible prophecy. He believes Bible prophecy–all except the part where it says that he loses in the end.

The devil, as the Bible also refers to him, knows that God cannot lie, that the Creator of all things knows every intimate detail of everything from eternity past into eternity future. God has said that Satan loses at the end of human history. Yet the ultimate rebel believes he will still come out victorious over the omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent God of Heaven.

Lucifer the fallen one–who was instrumental in man’s downfall in Eden–is the being that serves as best example of possessing the reprobate mind as outlined by the apostle Paul:

“And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, Without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.” (Romans 1:28-32)

God’s Word calls Satan the father of lies. The Bible says of unbelievers that they are of their father, the devil. Those who continue to refuse God’s way–belief in Jesus Christ–ultimately suffer from the same insanity their spiritual father suffers–a reprobate mind.

This is a spiritual insanity that cannot discern truth. It is upside-down thinking in which the world as a whole is immersed. This is the reason we are witnessing the insanity in most every area of human endeavor at present. The affliction will one day soon bring all of humanity to the point of annihilation. Only Jesus Christ, Himself, will be able to save humankind (Matthew 24:22).

So Satan, obviously insane, though brilliant in his madness, continues on a course he believes will wrest control of planet earth from God Almighty. He knows and believes Bible prophecy, thus–I surmise–uses Bible prophecy to plot his overthrow of God’s Kingdom. He doesn’t know, however, the intimate details of how Bible prophecy will play out. He didn’t know, for example, that murdering God’s Son on the cross would result in Christ’s resurrection three days later and that this would be the formula to redeem mankind. Satan played into the Lord’s holy, perfect plan that provides salvation for lost men, women, and children.

The devil, I believe with all that is within me, knows there will come upon earth the final earthly dictator and a one-world-order regime. He has, I think history shows, had a man ready to assume that role of earth’s last and most terrible tyrant on a number of occasions throughout history.

Lucifer the fallen has been working increasingly harder with each succeeding era, with each succeeding generation, to bring about that Antichrist regime outlined in Revelation chapter 13. As we have covered in these commentaries, as have many others in their various forums, the devil has worked tirelessly to bring all nations into configuration ripe for his pawns–the supernatural and the geopolitical human minions–to institute the new world order.

America, as I have tried to point out, is, I believe, the primary national entity that is blocking the rest of the world from falling into line with the satanic blueprint for global order. National sovereignty–national borders–must be erased to accommodate a neo-Babel structure.

Satan cannot foresee the future, but can only try to anticipate with now-perverted supernatural intelligence. He knows–as do we who look at world events and developments through God’s lens of Bible prophecy–that everything seems just right for removing America as that roadblock. This election presents a clear-cut demarcation between maintaining America’s founding as a sovereign, God-inspired, republic, and bringing the U.S. into the neo-Babel configuration the globalist elites are determined to inflict.

That seems to me the reason we are witnessing an astounding attack upon the presidential campaign that wants to maintain the nation’s constitutional integrity as founded. The assaults, as anyone with any honesty at all will admit, constitute unbelievable rage from every possible quarter. They are absolutely satanic in their ferocity.

Satan knows everything is set up for his big opportunity to at last bring in his kingdom–the kingdom of Antichrist. But, he is full of uncertainty that this is the time Bible prophecy has given for the development of that end-times kingdom given by Daniel the prophet and John the Revelator.

The wicked one is full of anxiety about this election–thus the over-the-top rage as we near the day for voting in this presidential election. He doesn’t want to take any chances. His minions are in full attack mode.

Most who want a return to sanity in our beloved nation are anxious, of course. But, our nervousness don’t compare to the obvious anxiety Satan and his forces are projecting. The Lord has each of us who are called by His name here, at this volatile yet fascinating time, for His own good purposes. He will finish the work He has started in us, we are promised in His Word.

We as God’s people don’t have to be overly concerned. We are in the mighty hand of the One who knows the outcome of this election, of America’s fate, and of our glorious destiny in Jesus Christ.

“For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” (2 Timothy 1:7)

–Terry

Jerusalem Has No Historic Connection to the Jews?

For many years the UN has been a mouthpiece of nations that hate Israel. This organization has passed an endless number of resolutions that seek to defame Israel— mostly for defending its right to exist.

Last week, UNESCO, the Paris-based UN cultural body, attacked Israel’s history by approving a resolution that said the Temple Mount and the Wailing Wall have no historic connection to the Jews.

The measure was put forward by several Arab countries, including Egypt, Lebanon and Algeria. There were 24 votes cast in favor and six against with 26 abstentions and two absentees.

The U.S. voted against the resolutions. With the presidential election less than a month away, the Obama Administration had no choice but to play it safe. The State Department issued this voice of opposition:

“We are deeply concerned about these kinds of recurring politicized resolutions that do nothing to advance constructive results on the ground and we don’t believe they should be adopted,” spokesman Mark Toner said.

UNESCO chief Irina Bokova has herself expressed reservations about the resolutions. Radical Muslims had threatened to kill her if she blocked a final vote on the draft. Bokova tried to distance herself from the controversy by saying “Nowhere more than in Jerusalem do Jewish, Christian and Muslim heritage and traditions share space.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blasted UNESCO; saying the body has lost its legitimacy.

“To say that Israel has no connection to the Temple Mount and Western Wall is like saying China has no connection to the Great Wall of China or Egypt has no connection to the pyramids,” said Netanyahu.

There must be some type of brain virus going around that’s causing international organizations to lose touch with reality. A couple days after the UNESCO vote, the Nobel prize committee announced that rock legend Bob Dylan would receive this year’s prize for literature. He will be the first musician to be awarded the Nobel Prize in literature.

The Jews connection to Jerusalem goes back 3000 years. The religion that Muhammad dreamt up didn’t come along until 610 AD. The idea of Jerusalem’s Old City being Islam’s third holiest is the product of a recent rewriting of history. There is no mention of Jerusalem in the Koran. Islamic scholars ignored this city for hundreds of years. It wasn’t until the Jews started coming back to the Holy Land that Islam suddenly discovered Jerusalem’s importance.

The Old and New Testament clearly state that Jerusalem is a Jewish city. Since God Himself made this declaration, UNESCO would need to call the Lord of heaven a liar to change the city’s heritage. “The Lord appeared to Abram and said, ‘To your descendants I will give this land’” (Genesis 12:7a).

We may soon find that UNESCO has come out with a revised edition of the Bible:

“And Jesus went into the Al-Aqsa Mosque Temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the Al-Aqsa Mosque Temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves” (Matthew 21:12).

This struggle over the Jewishness of God’s Holy City can also be found in various reference sites on the Internet. On Wikipedia’s “Jerusalem” page, previously well-known facts are now qualified with openers like this: “According to the Bible, King David’s son Solomon built the Holy Temple.” And, “Because of the status quo policy, the Wall is the holiest place for Jews.”

Instead of going by a mountain of artifacts that point to Jerusalem’s Jewish past, you find statements that say “Jewish nationalists (Zionists), who claim the right to the city based on Jewish descent.”

Articles about the Jewish Temple Mount now have to include Arab names of this location. When you bring up an article about the “Al-Aqsa Mosque,” there are no Hebrew names and there is only a brief reference citing the Temple Mount as the holiest site of Judaism.

I recently found a YouTube video titled, “10 Countries You Didn’t Know Existed.” Most of these nations are unrecognized because they are ignored by the rest of the world. Some of them have their own money, government, and language. Their dreams of statehood go unrealized partly because the UN is too busy worrying about a host of trivial matters related to Israel.

The willingness of UNESCO to defy basic logic over the history of Jerusalem would seem to indicate that we are close to the end.

“Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it” (Zechariah 12:2-3).

–Todd

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The Twinkling

You and many others who have chosen to read this commentary are likely in agreement. We find ourselves at a time in which the future is indeed murky. The very fact makes it a time of uneasiness–of profound uncertainty.

With so many existential threats (factors portending possible, even probable, future disruption for our lives), many look to November 8 with a shadow of oppressiveness clouding their thoughts.

We have watched our American way–our laws and traditions–dismantled. We have watched the process happen with the acquiescence, even the complicity of those with whom we entrusted our vote to stop that degeneration.

More troubling is the almost certainty that if the presidential candidate presently leading in polls (according to most polls) succeeds, the tearing down of America as founded will be put on the fast track. The “promise and change” declared by the current president–issued in January of 2009–will, it is feared, soon after this election be completed. The global architects will, in that case, have removed what I believe to be the last roadblock from their ambition–to tear down national sovereignties.

America, in the earthly sense, is that roadblock–thus the all-out effort by national and world politicians as well as media–both news and entertainment–to utterly destroy the candidate in opposition to their vision for one-world order.

With most everything else in place for setting up for the Tribulation (Daniel’s seventieth week), including Israel again in the spotlight, hounded by UNESCO in denying Israel’s historical right to the land, we have as of late added some truly profound rumors of war. Russia and the American presidential administration have entered into an extremely dangerous era of international intrigue and gamesmanship. With the Clinton campaign and the administration of Barack Obama pointing the finger of blame at Vladimir Putin and his regime as guilty of hacking emails and giving to Wikileaks in order to influence the outcome of the election, not just the Cold War, but a hot war might be forthcoming it is conjectured by some.

The Russians have moved, uncontested, into the Middle East. They have naval power and growing ground and air force capabilities in position to defend the Syrian dictator. This American administration has lifted not a finger to oppose this shift of Russian power into the region that is mentioned in Bible prophecy like no other.

Obama has, through his ineptness–or, as I more am prone to suspect, his deliberate action–allowed the development of the forces of ISIS (ISIL, as he calls them). America has U.S. Air Force assets now in regions that some believe equates to a provocation-of-war-incident waiting to happen. Again, I’m convinced it’s all part of the globalist orchestration being used by Satan himself to bring his own son of perdition to power. So many who consider all of this sense an incident or action in the immediate future that will explode in uncontrollable ramifications. Yet, nothing, no matter the circumstances, has to this point happened to initiate the long-anticipated catastrophe.

The Russians are seemingly trying to instigate direct confrontation with American aircraft. China is trying to provoke, seemingly, a confrontation in the South China Sea. Iran is firing, through proxies, upon U.S. warships, apparently begging to be hit in return so as to start something.

The economic bubble of insanity continues to build to the bursting point. And, we have a presidential election in two weeks that some believe will bring on an even greater national schizophrenia and possible civil war, no matter who wins.

My great friend, the late Jack Kinsella, had tremendous insight, as many reading this column know. He left us some God-engendered thoughts for just this time in which we find ourselves. He wrote the following in one of his Omega Letter commentaries.

“We live in the most terrifying time of uncertainty in human history–the wrong move by the wrong guy could set off a chain of events that could potentially exterminate the human race. We have but a short time to spread the message of salvation, and it doesn’t help if we are paralyzed by fear. The Lord knew the conditions that would exist just before His return. Which is why Paul ends his explanation of the Rapture with this exhortation: “Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” (1st Thessalonians 4:16-18)

Jack had just written a fabulous piece on the Rapture. The “comfort” of which Paul assured us was all about that twinkling of an eye moment that Jack and I–and, I hope you–believe is about to occur based upon all of these things that have begun to come to pass (Luke 21:28).

–Terry