1

While I totally agree with you about Chick tracts--and loved your commentary on this one--there's one thing I'm afraid Chick was probably right about. I haven't looked at any stats, but I'm afraid witchcraft IS a growing trend among young people. And one look at the Family Channel's offerings during the past week or so would indicate that it's a very popular topic of TV movies aimed at the younger set.

(Spoken as a Baptist preacher's daughter who loved "Bewitched" and "Dark Shadows" as a child. Eeek...)

2

I remember commenting quite a bit on this one last year...now Joe is rerunning it. In the meantime I've been reading GK Chesterton's The Everlasting Man and found his commentary on 'good paganism' versus 'bad paganism' very, very interesting. Chesterton's a bit tougher to follow than CS Lewis but I'm wondering if anyone has read him and would like to apply his comments to this topic? Christmas is another place, I have at least one friend who is devoutly Christian but considers the holiday of Christmas to be mostly pagan and suspect.

3

You think that Chick track is absurd/funny/disturbing? I read one that talked about the Pope having a computer with the DNA of every person in the world stored inside of it!
Alberto, the former Catholic priest who got saved, exposes the diabolical plan at this link http://www.chick.com/reading/comics/0114/0114_fourpages.asp?Pg=01 as well as the historical fact that Catholics started all the World Wars, and are responsible for global warming.

4

"they did so by appealing to an unncessary fear of Satan"

Is there really such a thing? Joe, did you word that the way you intended it? That says that there is an unnecessary fear of Satan? That implies that none should fear Satan? Certainly those that are on the Lord's side have no fear, but what about those who do not? Or did you mean "unneccesarily appealing" to fear of Satan?

5

I have never believed in repressed memories...until today. I grew up in a southern Pentacostal church where the 'Chick-lit' was very much in vogue. When I saw that cover of the 'Excorcist' comic book, suddenly I recalled the lurid full color drawings of that boy foaming at the mouth. That book scares me, and it was 25 years ago that I read it. Probably gave me nightmeras, but didn't get me saved.

6

The BHT's own Scott Ward has provided a helpful translation of "Boo!" from Chick-speak into English. Scott has done fine work translating all of the Halloween-themed Chickies.

7

Could not agree with you more. I know what I'm doing for Halloween, and it's not handing out Chick tracts, which I have long considered to be more hurtful than helpful. Now if I only knew why so many people recommended them...

8

Boonton,

Well done on reading The Everlasting Man - it's one of my favorite books.

9

Jack Chick messed up your head, too? Did you know how long it took to get Chick's Great White Throne scene (God as Cosmic Josef Mengele with lightbulb head) out of my head?

It's been forty years for me, and the scars are still there.

Re Alberto Rivera (as in Jack Chick's "Alberto"), he was exposed as a complete fraud around 15-20 years ago. There's a Cornerstone expose on him (as well as fellow frauds Mike Warnke & John Todd) somewhere in the Cornerstone online archives at cornerstonemag.com.

As for Halloween, back when Rich Buhler was hosting "Talk from the Heart" on KBRT (and making it one of the best afternoon talk shows in SoCal), he always used to say he could tell when it was October because all the "Christians vs Halloween" calls would start coming in.

10

Okay, so despite not being a Chick apologist, I'll probably be labeled as one because I'm going to defend some of what he does.

Yes, Chick may represent an extreme version of the ideas he's presenting, but nothing he's presenting is ultimately untrue.

Hell is real and most people are going to wind up there.

Demons and demon-possession are real. You mess with them and they'll mess you up--badly.

Satan is a real enemy and there are people in this world who align themselves with him, whether on purpose or through ignorance.

Everyone will stand before the Lord, either at the Great White Throne Judgment or the Judgment Seat of Christ.

Perhaps Chick overemphasizes those realities, but at the same time, most of us act as if they hardly exist. If we scandalize Chick, then we must also point a finger at ourselves for failing to understand the depth of spiritual reality we face now and in the future. Our blithe disregard for issues we don't wish to confront makes us less than serious about the faith we say we believe with all our heart.

For this reason, I'm not willing to dismiss Chick or take him as lightly as some people do. No, we may be uncomfortable with the avenues he uses, but that does not negate the fact that he is showing what will be the end of most people unless they repent. Nor am I willing to casually disregard his influence for the good in the lives of people who may have come to Christ as a result of his tracts. I'll probably never be able to claim that I've led as many to Christ as just one tract Chick's put out in his many years of writing these tracts.

11

Yes, Chick may represent an extreme version of the ideas he's presenting, but nothing he's presenting is ultimately untrue.

Well actually what he is presenting is untrue. The Pope is NOT keeping a DNA database of non-Catholics. Halloween did not originate with Samhain and Samhain did NOT involve human sacrifice. These are, quite frankley, lies.

Now your post wasn't arguing that Chick is right about the Pope or Halloween but about supposedly 'larger' issues like the nature of evil, the reality of hell, Satan and demons. But if Christianity is about truth can one preach it with lies?

Last year I raised this issue to Christians again in the spirit of taking them at their word. Yes some men have found God in a whorehouse but I don't think you'd approve of people going to whorehouses because of that would you? Why approve of telling what are quite frankly lies (mostly about other Christians!)

12

Boonton: I agree with your assessment that it is not right to try to present truth by putting it in the context of lies.

Now to the more interesting point. Are you saying you accept the truth of the Bible's assertions about the nature of evil, hell, Satan and demons?

Also, I've read Chesterton, but not "The Everlasting Man", so I can't really engage you on that book, but would be interested in reading your thoughts on it. How do you read it?

13

jayf,

Your background and current approach are quite interesting. While I was never a preacher, I come from small-town, Christian roots and after experiencing the difference between Christians' talk and their actions I've come to conclusions similar to yours. Some Christians — like some Jews, some Muslims, some atheists, etc. — are people who lead exempliary lives and are people I admire. But this collection of hard-core, rightwing evangelicals who are covinced they are following the One True Way while disingenuously shouting about their humility, who believe everyone else is going to Hell, who have politicized their religion to the point where it seems to be an arm of Bush-Chenney-Rovianism, .... Well, I think it is useful to participate in their open forums from time to time if only, as you say, to provide the evangelical-curious other points of view.

Here at EO I've gone from being eager to learn about evangelicals to being just plain disgusted with what I've found. Rather than starting with the message of Jesus and honoring the Sermon on the Mount, they use the Bible to justify the more divisive, self-serving, ingroup, irrational positions one can imagine. Rather follow people who preach goodwill, they choose leaders who advocate ill-will. And they've gained enough polical power to negatively affect our lives and the lives of our children.

14

Instead of worrying about Halloween, I think Christians ought to be worrying about the upcoming election. Satan is indeed very much alive and well as shown by the unholy alliance of the "religious right" and and the republican party. Think about it, The Gospel of Jesus Christ is now being associated with the expansion of tax cuts for the wealthiest americans, support for a pre-emptive act of naked agression causing the deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis, the protection of corporate interests, and lack of concern for God's creation.

It's nice that Bush once said Jesus was his favorite philosopher, but I see no evidence of this in his administrations policies.

FYI, I am a born-again christians and voted for Bush in 2000. Also, I don't think a "religious left" is the antedote to the "religous right". Democrats are not the answer either, but perhaps we need some thing to check the current administration.

John Wyatt

15

Boonton,

To answer your question, a la Chesterton, I absolutely agree that Pagan influence is no reason to throw something out. Heck, in a sense, the cross is a pagan influence. Look how well that symbol of suffering and shame was Christianized! So something merely being pagan in origin (which really just means not-Jewish, since the whole world was pagan) is not enough to damn it - it has to be a bad thing in itself.

Now, having said that, I do think Halloween a rather rotten holiday in its own right. The trivialization and celebration in horrific things is, well, a bad idea. My father-in-law passed away this year; I was in the room when he died. And let me tell you - death is ugly. It's not something to be played with and laughed at. So I think the spirit of the holiday really doesn't have a lot to commend it - though wearing costumes and eating candy is a lot of fun and surely harmless.

16

Ogre Is there really such a thing? Joe, did you word that the way you intended it? That says that there is an unnecessary fear of Satan? That implies that none should fear Satan? Certainly those that are on the Lord's side have no fear, but what about those who do not? Or did you mean "unneccesarily appealing" to fear of Satan?

I could be wrong, but I don’t think Scripture ever says that we should fear Satan. That is not to say that Satan is not a threat or a concern. But I don’t think sinners don’t have to worry so much about being attacked by Satan. They tend to align their wills with his rebellion enough that he needn’t bother.

DLE Okay, so despite not being a Chick apologist, I'll probably be labeled as one because I'm going to defend some of what he does.

I won’t call you a Chick apologist -- even though you seem to be apologizing for Chick. ; )

I have to say, Dan, that I am rather surprised that you would defend what he does. I have a lot of respect for your discernment but I think you are way off base on this one.

Yes, Chick may represent an extreme version of the ideas he's presenting, but nothing he's presenting is ultimately untrue.

Well, yes and no. Chick believes in Satan, which is a point in his favor. But he presents such a un-Biblical presentation of the Prince of Lies that people either end up fearing a cartoon or dismissing Satan as a myth. Both are extremely dangerous.

Hell is real and most people are going to wind up there.

True.

Demons and demon-possession are real. You mess with them and they'll mess you up--badly.

True.

Satan is a real enemy and there are people in this world who align themselves with him, whether on purpose or through ignorance.

True.

Everyone will stand before the Lord, either at the Great White Throne Judgment or the Judgment Seat of Christ.

True.

Perhaps Chick overemphasizes those realities, but at the same time, most of us act as if they hardly exist.

The problem is not that Chick overemphasizes those realities but rather that he presents the old “You need to be saved so you won’t go to hell” view of God rather than a true presentation of Christ.

I'll probably never be able to claim that I've led as many to Christ as just one tract Chick's put out in his many years of writing these tracts.

I couldn’t disagree more. In fact, I will go so far as to say that Chick has probably caused more people to turn toward hell than toward Christ. For every person who claims to have been led to the “sinner’s prayer” through a Chick tract you’ll find a dozen who’ve decided they want nothing to do with such a despicable religion as is presented by Chick’s warped view of God’s love.

John Wyatt Instead of worrying about Halloween, I think Christians ought to be worrying about the upcoming election. Satan is indeed very much alive and well as shown by the unholy alliance of the "religious right" and and the republican party.

Halloween and elections always bring out the weirdos.

17

Joe,

Not trying to present anything I wrote under the auspices of divine discernment. Saw the post and thought we might bring the conversation a little closer to the middle.

Chick obviously presents the hellfire and damnation type of evangelism. I don't like evangelism to exclusively take that route, so I agree with you that Chick plays to fear more than he does to the glorious Lordship of Christ. No question. That said, the Bible does show people in the NT legitimately coming to Christ because they were afraid of punishment.

I'm just saying that we Evangelicals today have so glossed over hellfire and damnation that we're just as one-sided as Chick is--just on the other side of the extreme. How many of our supposed converts to "Jesus died so you can have all your needs met" are going to wind up in hell because of our own form of deficient Gospel?

I definitely see Chick on the extreme side. But I also realize that Christians who hold his same set of views help keep me in the center, just as people who overemphasize the love of Jesus do. I'm not in either camp, but I also realize that some people are going to go one way or another. As much as I blog about holding the middle ground between the extremes, I also realize some extremes are always going to exist. In truth, they can help us find middle ground if we're discerning enough.

18

What matters is what is in the heart
of the beholder and the believer.

19

In the above comments I see the word
divisive used against fundalmentalist
christians. What say you then when
Christ spoke that he came to divide,
as some would follow him truly while
others disagreed and went another way.
Mother against daughter, son against
father, etc.

20

"While I totally agree with you about Chick tracts--and loved your commentary on this one--there's one thing I'm afraid Chick was probably right about. I haven't looked at any stats, but I'm afraid witchcraft IS a growing trend among young people."

And you think tracts like this will reverse that trend?

Just the opposite, I'm afraid. It makes it look powerful, glamorous, dark, scary. Just the sort of thing that teenagers will find intriguing, especially if it sends their parents into a tizzy.

I've been working with Wiccans and occultists for four years now, had some fairly in-depth discussions with them, and let me let in on a little secret:

Witchcraft is BORING.

Got that? It is BORING. Going to circle isn't a lot different from going to Mass. There aren't any fiery demons coming out of pentagrams to drag little babies off to Hell. It's mostly fat, out-of-shape women casting "prosperity spells" or "health" spells. Does staring at a candle for six hours wishing REALLY HARD that the girl next door will like you instead of treat you as the total loser you are sound like a productive use of your time?

There's nothing particularly interesting about witchcraft when you're actually doing it. It's a religious ritual, no more and no less. The fact that it's being made to honor a polytheism rather than a monotheism doesn't detract from that.

If people treated witchcraft as what it is .. a competing religion .. I doubt our children would be any more interested in it than the typical one is in Islam or Buddhism or Judaism or any one of the bazillion competing "isms" on this globe. Paganism has nothing these religions don't have, is no more "bound in darkness" then these other non-Christian religions, and tends to be FAR less well thought-out to boot.

The only thing witchcraft has that these others don't is a major Hollywood industry that makes Big Scary Movies about it every year. Something, by the way, that drives real Pagans nuts, since it reinforces every negative stereotype they strive to overcome.

So: my point is: If you want to put your kids off witchcraft, these scare tactics are counter-productive -- for every child you scare away, you will intrigue and draw others to it. After all, you don't expect teenagers to believe what their parents tell you, do they?

The way to turn them off it is to treat it the way you do every other non-Christian religion -- treat it as what it is, not some super-secret ultra-cool Path To The Dark Side, simply another religion that's kind of hokey and not all that interesting.

Respectfully,

Brian P.

21

Cheesehead
Also, I've read Chesterton, but not "The Everlasting Man", so I can't really engage you on that book, but would be interested in reading your thoughts on it. How do you read it?

He's a difficult writer and I'm still asorbing his arguments but I'd attempt to summarize them as such. He argued that paganism was mostly good because it expressed a truth that there was a spiritual aspect to life. But this paganism was incomplete so the coming of Christ made it obsolete...Christianity, though, preserved what was good about it.

On the flip side, he identified a 'bad paganism' which he cited Carthage as the prime example. This paganism didn't seek to find comfort in acknowledging a supernatural realm but sought to 'get things done' with 'no nonsense'. This often expressed itself in human sacrifice and Carthage is his prime example because they are thought to have sacrificed infants. The reason the Roman Empire was so extreme was because this type of paganism cannot be lived with by decent people. He also seems to imply that Carthage and similiar societies were really worshipping real beigns who did indeed 'get things done' for them. In other words it wasn't some type of misunderstanding.

wonders
Now, having said that, I do think Halloween a rather rotten holiday in its own right. The trivialization and celebration in horrific things is, well, a bad idea. My father-in-law passed away this year; I was in the room when he died. And let me tell you - death is ugly. It's not something to be played with and laughed at. So I think the spirit of the holiday really doesn't have a lot to commend it - though wearing costumes and eating candy is a lot of fun and surely harmless.

It is very hard to loose anyone but doesn't the Bible ask 'death where is your sting?'? While you can't pretend it doesn't hurt for loved ones to die and you can't pretend you don't fear your own death I think there is something of value in 'standing up to it'. This is one of the reasons I think Halloween and similiar festivels like Mexico's 'Day of the Dead' have such staying power.

Joe:
I couldn’t disagree more. In fact, I will go so far as to say that Chick has probably caused more people to turn toward hell than toward Christ. For every person who claims to have been led to the “sinner’s prayer” through a Chick tract you’ll find a dozen who’ve decided they want nothing to do with such a despicable religion as is presented by Chick’s warped view of God’s love.

I think it might be useful to ask who does Chick inspire us to hate? In the Halloween snippet I don't feel like hating Satan and loving those poor kids fooled by him into dressing up. Instead I feel like Chick wants me to hate the kids who dress up because they might fool me into getting myself dammed. Chick's vision of the Christian religion to me seems to be one of deep paranoia where everyone is your enemy and you can never let your guard down least you foolishly trust another human beign and discover they have tricked you either on purpose or by accident into getting yourself dammed.

22

Guess what? I'm celebratin' Halloween! And I'm taking my 6 year old trick or treating.

Arrguments over the origin of certain holidays are ridiculous, in my opinion, because what truly matters is the reason why **I** celebrate said holidays.

I enjoy watching my son go door to door in his costume, having a great time with his daddy, mommy, and grandmother. That's all that really matters.

23

Why is this blog called the "evangelical outpost"?

24

Care to elaborate on the non-association of Samhain and Halloween? The information presenting the link is readily available...if I am misinformed, can you point me in the direction where I can start exploring this? Yes, I can Google, but a starting point is always helpful. Thanks.

25

Internet Monk has a podcast today, mostly about Halloween.

In it he credits Mike "Satan Seller" Warnke (later exposed as a total fraud) for wrecking the holiday and creating an "anti-Halloween cottage industry" that's been living in a Frank Peretti novel ever since.

26

I would rather get a chick tract than one of those awful peanut butter candies that come in the orange and black wrappers.

27

Entertaining post. Today, Halloween was the day that I announced that I conducted the first interview of Jack Chick in 30 years and that I would be doing a documentary film about Chick and his work: http://scoobiedavis.blogspot.com/2006/10/jack-t.html

28

Sorry for the delay in comments being posted. Yesterday I tweaked my spam filter and it ended up blocking everything except spam.

29

I’ve been thinking about all this...and there’s a lot to think about. And I’m late, by blogospheric standards, getting this comment in so everyone’s probably moved on. But I hate to just stash it away for next year...

The information available for determining why Halloween is celebrated on Oct. 31st is very difficult to draw definitive conclusions from; even the scholars disagree on when Samhain was celebrated and whether it corresponded with the summer solstice or autumn equinox (perhaps both, in different places). The dates as to the origins of All Saints and All Hallows eve celebrations are not so clear either. Even if the Church did invent a celebration involving the dead, which the evidence is not conclusive for, it was celebrated with customs from the culture. And cultures kept customs going regardless of the Church. Granted, our present Halloween customs are a mish-mash, an amalgam of many different traditions and customs, but they didn’t just appear out of nowhere in the 20th century, on October 31st.

I think the real question is, do current Halloween customs and associations, regardless of where they came from, really matter? Does it matter that they are here? Should we celebrate a holiday just because it’s here? Can we celebrate it our way, and ignore those who celebrate it in an unhealthy way? Yes of course. But let’s look at the available options:

1) Halloween had superstitious origins. We can ignore these and participate non-superstitiously.

2) Halloween had superstitious origins. Therefore, we ought not practice any vestigial holdovers but rather celebrate things worth celebrating instead, such as the bounty of the (agricultural) harvest given us by God.

3) Halloween did not have superstitious origins, therefore we can celebrate the traditions. (Although, even if it did originate with All Hallow's eve, our present Halloween does not celebrate, culturally, the saints who have gone before us)

4) Regardless of Halloween’s origins, we can celebrate the traditions because they only mean what we want them to mean anyway.

Either our view of and participation in Halloween is based upon facts of its origins, in which case it behooves us to have solid facts (which don’t appear to be available in this case), or, our view of and participation in Halloween need have nothing to do with these facts or any customs except that we do what everyone else does; i.e., the current general cultural practice/tradition.

Chick aside, Joe, you seem to be basing your opinion somewhat upon the supposition that “Halloween has nothing to do with Samhain, a Celtic agricultural festival that marked the beginning of winter. There is also no evidence that Samhain was a celebration devoted to the dead or to ancestor worship, much less to kidnapping, human sacrifice, playing with chainsaws, or walking with snakes on a rope.”

I don’t know how you can know for sure that Halloween has nothing to do with Samhain or say that there's no evidence for it. It's possible that it did correspond to the time of year we are discussing. From what little I know about it, it appears to have had to do with a belief that the dead could roam free during the time of the Samhain festival, and people could reconnect with their ancestors. I read this in dusty old books at the local library, written by people who've devoted their lives to studying this stuff.

My other interest is to wonder whether, to those who have never experienced the influence of the occult or superstitious belief, it’s impossible to imagine that these influences are real, and that they don’t affect even true believers. I think it’s very possible that different people are susceptible to different things in the spiritual realm, just as different people have different spiritual gifts. People are perhaps drawn to superstition according to their spiritual-gifting areas or predilections. To make light of this or ignore it is dangerous for some and for others, unfair to many of their fellows. Would you drink in front of the former (or present) alcoholic, or offer him a drink?

Your point about fear in your comment to DLE is well taken. But I think there’s more than fear at stake. There is temptation as well, and the matter of honoring and glorifying God. Perhaps the best approach to certain aspect of Halloween is one informed by Romans 14.

30

Ack, in trying to keep my comment from getting way too long as opposed to too long, I didn’t make some things clear.

Where I said, “Even if the Church did invent All Hallow’s Eve...” what I meant was, “Even if the Church did invent everything to do withAll Hallow’s Eve, without adapting or transforming any cultural practices such as Samhain in those areas where it was observed or changing the date of All Hallow’s eve because of these practices, various practices on All Hallow’s Eve still involved cultural elements” because the people practicing the new holy day carried them on. Anything done on a certain day of the year is going to be associated with other customs that have been practiced on that day in previous years unless absolutely everyone completely abandons them, which hasn’t and probably will never happen. Syncretism was practiced by both those who initiated Church holy days and those who observed them. The point isn’t whether this is good or bad, but that it happened; therefore, one cannot say that, for example, a Church holy day has no association with pagan customs.

After one establishes this, then the Christian must establish whether the cultural customs that “linger” can be completely redeemed or must be abandoned, according to their use and purpose. If we’re discussing an actual holy day, or religious day, or Christian holiday as celebrated by Christians in a church, then we must determine whether the customs are appropriate for such a celebration.

In the case of Halloween, though, in America, it’s a secular holiday whose derivation is very complicated. Lots of different traditions and practices from different cultures have come to be associated with Halloween, brought to the New World in various forms by our ancestors. These have been adopted and adapted and combined and spread throughout various communities in our country. Apparently practices still vary in different parts of the country. They will no doubt continue to evolve. But the two things most all of them seem to have in common are 1) association with the time of year and corresponding traditions of thought and practice and 2) association with superstitious practices, i.e., ones that give credence to, and in fact seek power and prestige from, sources other than God. In other words, what they have nothing to do with, except the name of the holiday during which they are practiced and an association, whatever it may be, with the dead, is the original honoring of saints instituted by the Church.

It’s true that many, like our friend Jack Chick, have authored and perpetuated ridiculous myths about the history of Halloween. But this doesn’t mean that the real history is squeaky clean, or even crystal clear.

(Hope this clarifies some of my sloppy writing :-) )

31

What holiday has a truely 'squeaky clean' history? I think you would have a hard time finding any old holiday or tradition that does not have a history that pre-dates Christianity and is totally free of any non-Christian religious overtones.

If your purpose is to write a history then this is an important issue but if you're trying to determine whether or not something is in conflict with Christianity then shouldn't the nature of what the people who practice it today is rather than what people who are long dead and forgotten believed about it ages ago?

32

I recently was told by a friend that her child was given Chick tracts at school and in them they had priests jumping off of bridges and popes doing horrid things. When I went to do a search on it, I came upon this site. Upon reading the comments, I was saddened and could imagine our Lord, Jesus, weeping. Weeping at the words of the person applauding a celebration of the Reformation and many other comments and misrepresentations.

Many of you may skip over my post because I am Catholic, but I ask please that you read it. I was raised Catholic, then left. Then became basically Protestant in my thinking, then was exposed to the New Age, by some well-meaning folks (and by some not so well-meaning folks). (Spiritually dangerous stuff, very dangerous stuff - basically, many if not all of the heresies out there all rolled into one.)

Then, because I begged the Lord for the Truth, His Truth, His Revealed Truth, all of it regarding where His true Church is, The truth about Sola Scriptura, He showed me. He showed me Scripturally, historically and via His love and grace. But, I had to ask, sincerely ask, and say "If I've been wrong and the Catholic Church is the church that you founded when you gave St. Peter the keys to the kingdom, then I will accept. Just please, please, please show me, I beg to know the Truth".

Then, systematically, on the most amazing and heartrending journey I could have ever imagined, He did. As it has been said, "to be deep in history, is to cease to be Protestant". The Early Church Fathers - unmistakeably - if anyone reads the Early Church Fathers you will see the Catholic Church. The true understanding and belief in the nature of the Eucharist. They took the Chapter of John to mean what it said! They understood Scripture AND Tradition to mean what it truly meant. They understood Apostolic Succession and lived and preserved it (Thanks be to God!) Christ promised that the gates of hell would not prevail against it! Ever. Not during the Reformation, not ever. No human hands or minds would be able to alter the words or commands handed down and passed on through the perpetuation of the seat of Moses. Remember the Lord telling the people to do whatever those who sit in the seat of Moses say, but not to do what they do (in case their personal lives do not model the laws they teach and are handed down)? I was well-meaning and seeking before, but I did not have all of the information. I wept and wept when I realized the implications of the two thousand year preservation of Truth and life giving sacraments. I think I spent days on my knees, thanking the Lord for His faithfulness.

On the day that they were going to announce the new pope, I was still in a place of unneasiness, my "these stuffy old men" kind of emotions began to creep in. Especially, because I had never seen Cardinal Ratzinger smile, so I had thought he was probably a grouchy old man and I was in my heart hoping it wasn't him. Then, to my surprise and utter amazement he was chosen. I couldn't believe what happened next. In an explosion of sheer joy and inexplicable tears I began to be filled with the most complete understanding and happiness I had ever known. I began crying inexplicable tears of joy and love!! How could this be possible?!?!?!

My children burst out "what's wrong, what's wrong?!?!" All I could imagine is that it must have been what the Apostles felt on the day of Pentecost when they were filled with the Holy Spirit. I had a new heart and new eyes with which to see. I knew true love. I knew it was the Holy Spirit that had guided the Church into all Truth up to that moment who had guided the decision on the election of this pope and he was who God wanted to Shephard His Flock on Earth.

I would humbly ask that you go to Scripture prayerfully asking the Lord to show you His Truth and ask "Is the Catholic Church the church you established? Is the Eucharist really your body, blood, soul and divinity? Please, help me to know". Read the Early Church Fathers, become steeped in authentic, real history. Currently, most Protestants are missing a great deal of their Christain heritage because they are missing a lot of history.

And then, lastly, go to authentic Catholic Apologist websites and read the conversion testimonies. A great site is The Coming Home Network www.chnetwork.org . Go to the testimony section and read and read! And pray. And go to Scripture and see it with new eyes! The Church has sinners and saints just as any other denomination, find the Truth and God Bless you on the journey!!!

laboure

33

Atheists (like me) don't have to worry about such superstitions. Wicca is just pretend, as is Christianity and all religions. We're going to enjoy this and all celebrations, because life is not a dress rehearsal!

34

My main criticism of Chick would be his presentation. He may, in some cases, use biblical truth, but he doesn't go about in a way that lends any kind of integrity to what he's saying. I think that a good gospel presentation needs to be both biblically sound and culturally relevant. For example, I could have the plan of salvation down pat, but if I show up at someone’s door at 3:00am shirtless and shouting John 3:16, no one's going to get saved that night even though technically I am "preaching the truth". While this is an extreme example, I think Jack Chick comics could be compared to the "shirtless and shouting" presentation of truth.

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There are many different ways of presenting the Gospel. Jack Chick is one way and you should not Judge lest ye be Judged. I know many christians who were challenged and grew spiritually through the ministry of Chick.

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I thought you could relate..:)

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Chick too harsh? I don't think so, you let your children see scary movies; Harry Potter, etc. - God says if you spare the rod you'll spoil the child. If you don't hit hard, spank them; advise them; teaching, etc. they will end up rotten to the core. And when they are grown, you'll feel sorry because how they turned out. All because you didn't give your best warning. Train up a child in the way he should go and he won't depart from it. That's what God says. Give the child a straight and narrow path with a rod to the side. We have some bad and hurtful experiences before we come to Christ, He allows that for us. Sometimes it takes all of that before we come. And I know the reason that He does is for us to recognize Him and who He is. We stopped our foolishness and followed Christ. Jack, your motive must be to get souls saved and knowledgeable of the fruits of darkness so we will understand where we should stand. Some people like to leave a lot of things out, just like they're doing the modern bibles. "A little bit of leaven spoil the whole lump"

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witchcraft IS a growing trend among young people.Thats becuse jesus is a fuking cunt

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fear Satan.jesus is a cunt