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Chick Publications 45
Marc Dutroux and a policeman. (AP Photo/Olivier
Dominique Kindermans, the Institut’s high priestess,
was able to satisfactorily demonstrate that she
had purchased animal blood from a butcher. She
also asserted that she never knew Dutroux.
Although the raid was “terrifying,” according to
Kindermans, and although the police confiscated
their materials, no charges were filed and the
investigation was redirected after authorities
determined that there was no connection between
the Institut and Dutroux.
See also Satanic Ritual Abuse
For Further Reading:
Conradi, Peter. “Satanic Links to Belgian Murder
Trial.” Sunday Times. London, UK, December
1996.
Linton, Leyla. “Satanic Sect Raided by Child-Sex
Police.” London Times. London UK, December
24, 1996.
Robinson, Bruce A. “Charleroi, Belgium
Murder/Ritual Abuse Case.”
http://www.religioustolerance.org/ra_charl.htm
Chick Publications
Chick Publications is a conservative Christian
publishing ministry obsessed with Satan’s machinations.
Jack T. Chick, the man behind the
ministry, has been producing tracts, comics and
other materials for over forty years. The original
publications were small, twenty-four-page, 2 x 4-
inch comic tracts, and these remain the core of the
organization’s publishing activity. The ministry
asserts that they have produced hundreds of
millions of copies in almost a hundred different
languages. There are approximately a hundred
different tracts. One indication of their popularity
is the many spoof tracts they have inspired.
Regarded as reflecting an important aspect of
American culture, Chick tracts can even be found
on display at the Smithsonian Institute.
According to the ministry’s short, official biography,
Jack Chick began life as a wayward young
man with a marked artistic talent. He met his wife
at the Pasadena Playhouse, where he was studying
acting. Later, while visiting his wife’s parents in
Canada, his mother-in-law insisted on listening to
Charles E. Fuller’s “Old Fashioned Revival Hour”
radio program. Chick was converted during the
broadcast. He recalls that, “God was already
working in my heart, but when Fuller said the
words, ‘Though your sins be scarlet, they shall be
as white as snow,’ I fell on my knees and my life
was changed forever.” This experience inspired
him to begin looking for some way of using his
artistic talents in God’s service.
While working for AstroScience Corporation
in El Monte, California, Chick read Charles
Finney’s Power from On High. This prompted him
to author his very first tract, “Why No Revival”
Unable to find a publisher, he borrowed $800
from the credit union and paid for the printing
himself. Soon after it appeared, he was inspired to
compose a new tract, “A Demon’s Nightmare.”
This was followed by “This Was Your Life!”
Christian bookstores were initially reluctant to
accept the tracts. As Chick recalls, “A lot of the
bookstores were really outraged at some guy using
these cartoons to present the gospel. They thought
it was sacrilegious.”
This may have had something to do with the
publications after which Chick tracts were
modeled. The official story is that the tracts were
inspired by Chinese communist propaganda:
“One day, Bob Hammond, missionary broadcaster
of ‘The Voice of China and Asia,’ told Jack