Weird Tract Number 23: "Glory In The Cross" by Saints Alive in Jesus

Troy Davis writes:

This pamphlet is by Saints Alive In Jesus, a group founded by Mormon-turned-fundie Ed Decker (born 1935). Decker is the bane of the LDS church having written the bestselling book The God Makers (which was adapted into a film) and the sequel The God Makers II (the film version was produced by Jerimiah Films, a major producer of religious and political paranoia).  Decker was also behind the short film Temple of the God Makers (which has some really trippy animated sequences--watch them here).

This tract contains typical accept-Jesus-or-burn messaging. There's nothing special in it. The format and style is similar to Jews for Jesus tracts.


The Museum of Weird and Demented Religious Tracts is a project of Les Zazous Postmodern Art Galley of Bellaire, Ohio. For more on the gallery, check out the web site here and the gallery's Twitter handle is @ZazousLes.  The Twitter handle for the museum is @Weir

The Museum of Weird and Demented Religious Tracts is a project of Les Zazous Postmodern Art Galley of Bellaire, Ohio. Read the Welcome Statement of The Museum here.

For more on the gallery, check out the web site here and the gallery's Twitter handle is @ZazousLes.  The Twitter handle for the museum is @WeirdTracts

The index of tracts for the museum's website is here. 

Contributions of weird tracts to the museum can be made by mail: send your weird tracts to Les Zazous Postmodern Art Gallery 3475 Guernsey Street, Bellaire, Ohio 43906.

Weird Tract Number 22: "Want To See Something Nasty?" by The Bible Baptist Bookstore

Troy Davis writes:

This black-and-white Chick tract-sized 12-page comic book tract is just plain freaky.  The artwork on the inside is just as bad as the cover art. This is a "fake-out" lit. A person sees it and assumes that it has salacious content (a la the old Tijuana bibles), but inside is the standard plea to accept Jesus or burn in The Lake of Fire. Bummer.

If you want an up-to-date Tijuana bible, check out my "Cock-Tale: A Modern Tijuana" starring Tom Cruise, L Ron Hubbard, and Galactic Overlord Xenu here.

The Museum of Weird and Demented Religious Tracts is a project of Les Zazous Postmodern Art Galley of Bellaire, Ohio. Read the Welcome Statement of The Museum here.

For more on the gallery, check out the web site here and the gallery's Twitter handle is @ZazousLes.  The Twitter handle for the museum is @WeirdTracts

The index of tracts for the museum's website is here. 

Contributions of weird tracts to the museum can be made by mail: send your weird tracts to Les Zazous Postmodern Art Gallery 3475 Guernsey Street, Bellaire, Ohio 43906.

Weird Tract Number 21: "Witchdoctor's Dilemma" by Arthur Dodzweit

Troy Davis writes:

"Witchdoctor's Dilemma," a 1968 booklet by missionary Arthur Dodzweit, is the really boring story of Kasoba, an African shaman who becomes a Christer. Too boring for me to describe in detail. Really.

The Museum of Weird and Demented Religious Tracts is a project of Les Zazous Postmodern Art Galley of Bellaire, Ohio. Read the Welcome Statement of The Museum here.

For more on the gallery, check out the web site here and the gallery's Twitter handle is @ZazousLes.  The Twitter handle for the museum is @WeirdTracts

The index of tracts for the museum's website is here. 

Contributions of weird tracts to the museum can be made by mail: send your weird tracts to Les Zazous Postmodern Art Gallery 3475 Guernsey Street, Bellaire, Ohio 43906.

Weird Tract Number 20: "Terri Schiavo Says Let Me Live" by Tony Alamo

Troy Davis writes:

I have profiled some real religious wackjobs and predators such as Brother Ralph Stair, Bill Bright, and David Berg. Tony Alamo  (1934-2017) is one of the worst of the weirdos. Alamo and his wife Susan ran a Pentecostal ministry in the late '60s until her death in 1982. By that time, Alamo was running a wacko cult and he became convinced that he could raise his wife from the dead. Susan's body was kept on display; A waggish local disk jockey heard about this bizarre attempt at reanimation and would play the Everly Brothers' song "Wake Up, Little Susie" on his radio show to commemorate the attempted feat. Apparently the late Mrs. Alamo began to reek from the decomposition after six months on display and Alamo finally admitted defeat and put the body in a mausoleum (the body was missing for several years thereafter). Despite this bizarro behavior, Alamo's ministry was running on all cylinders; the ministry had locations in several major US cities in the 1980s.

In fact, Alamo landed on his feet after the Rotting Corpse Fiasco in an unlikely way. In the '80s, Alamo became the jacket designer to the Stars, selling really tacky stonewashed and painted rhinestone-bejeweled jean jackets to Hollywood actors (and to anyone with more money than taste). Each jacket was sold for several hundred dollars; Alamo became rich because they were made with sweatshop labor by members of his cult who worked long hours in horrific conditions with no pay. One news report found that Alamo bought trailer tractors full of stale and insect-infested food for the workers while Alamo hobnobbed with celebrities.

Alamo was also using his converts to spread his anti-Catholic propaganda. Like Jack Chick, Alamo adheres to the belief--not uncommon in 19th century Protestant thought--that the Roman Catholic Church is the Whore of Babylon from the Book of Revelation.

Tony was doing something else in the '80s: abusing the children of the cult. No only did Alamo use unpaid child labor for his jackets, he was sexually abusing the children. Law enforcement eventually caught wind of what was going on, Alamo became a fugitive but was caught and served several years in the slammer. 

By the 21st century, Alamo was still in business. When I lived in Los Angeles, Alamo's people passed out tracts on Hollywood Boulevard and invited people to a free meal at the Alamo compound. I never took them up on the offer but being a collector of religious tracts, I always grabbed their free newsletter & swag. Alamo's tracts sucked. Some were anti-Pope conspiracy essays. Others were PR newsletters for his ministry.

In "Terri Schiavo Says Let Me Live," a tract made in 2005 when the comatose Schiavo was still alive, Alamo claimed that he could heal her. Alamo writes:

If I am permitted to spend some time in the room with Terri Schiavo (her father and brother can be there or anyone else as long as there are no distractions), I know that if I were permitted to talk to her and explain to her the things that God has already provided for her, such as salvation and healing, and if I were permitted to pray with her for her, I know that she would be healed. I’ve done this before with people who seemingly were hopeless.

Not surprisingly, Alamo has harsh words for Schiavo's Catholic religion:

There are many people in the secular government and throughout the world that would be saved and healed if miracles like this were printed and broadcast in the media rather than watching the man in Rome sitting on a balcony, waving his hand or a wand at people. He has his reward. It’s obvious that the Vatican and all religions do not believe God, but I do. Mark 16:17-18 states, “These signs shall follow them that believe; In My name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; THEY SHALL LAY HANDS ON THE SICK, AND THEY SHALL RECOVER.” God gives this power to those who believe all His Word. Christ is the Word of God (Rev. 19:13). “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ [the Word of God], and thou shalt be saved [and healed]” (Acts 16:31). . . We are not to live by our opinions or ideas. Our opinions and ideas, the Word of God indicates, is of Satan. We have the Word of God in this world which tells us the right way to go. What I’ve written here is not my opinion or my idea. It’s the Word of God. The Roman cult, its “new world order,” and its media are soon to be punished eternally for its blatant disregard for God’s Word, God’s people, and all humanity.

The media has painted me to be a Catholic hater, yet the woman whose life and soul I’m fighting for is a Catholic. What’s happening on television and in the media today is that Rome, the new world order, and the mouth of Satan, the media, is attempting to condition the world into believing that it’s all right to kill someone if they’re sick, including family members. According to God even if they will to die, someone who knows God should be allowed to pray for them, to raise them up from their sick bed. Then if God takes their life, at least there was an attempt made to follow God’s perfect instructions. If that woman’s soul goes into eternity unsaved, she will be in Hell. So the ones responsible for murdering her are not only condemned for murdering her but for sending her soul to Hell before she had an opportunity to repent and believe the Gospel.

I and my church are praying that at least one of you who has any ability to save this woman’s life that you repent before it’s too late for you. The Lord is very capable of extracting the spirit out of your body by just telling it to come out, and if He does, your soul will be in Hell for eternity. And in the end Hell with you and Satan in it will be cast into the lake of fire (Rev. 20:14-15).

Alamo again ran out of luck again in 2009 when he was once again convicted for sexually abusing children and died in prison in 2017.

The Museum of Weird and Demented Religious Tracts is a project of Les Zazous Postmodern Art Galley of Bellaire, Ohio. Read the Welcome Statement of The Museum here.

For more on the gallery, check out the web site here and the gallery's Twitter handle is @ZazousLes.  The Twitter handle for the museum is @WeirdTracts

The index of tracts for the museum's website is here. 

Contributions of weird tracts to the museum can be made by mail: send your weird tracts to Les Zazous Postmodern Art Gallery 3475 Guernsey Street, Bellaire, Ohio 43906.

 

I pity the fool who makes fun of my Alamo jacket!

Alamo zombies handing out lit on Hollywood Blvd.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weird Tract Number 19: "Earth According to the Word of God" by an Anonymous Flat Earther

Troy Davis write:

This is one of my favorite items from The Museum of Weird and Demented Religious Tracts. I picked up this anonymous undated four-page screed by an anonymous flat earther in Los Angeles  around 2006 (I think it was on the free lit rack at a store on Melrose Avenue). The image on the cover (click to enlarge) reflects the author's esoteric flat-earth cosmology. Some insights from the tract:

". . . Earth does not rotate!"
". . . [T]he Solar System simply proves to be nothing but science fiction."
". . . "Earth does not move!"

The Museum of Weird and Demented Religious Tracts is a project of Les Zazous Postmodern Art Galley of Bellaire, Ohio. Read the Welcome Statement of The Museum here.

For more on the gallery, check out the web site here and the gallery's Twitter handle is @ZazousLes.  The Twitter handle for the museum is @WeirdTracts

The index of tracts for the museum's website is here. 

Contributions of weird tracts to the museum can be made by mail: send your weird tracts to Les Zazous Postmodern Art Gallery 3475 Guernsey Street, Bellaire, Ohio 43906.

 

Weird Tract Number 18: "The Four Spiritual Laws?" by Bill Bright of the Campus Crusade for Christ

Troy Davis writes:

I previously wrote a Museum blog post about the noxious Bill Bright and his equally noxious Campus Crusade for Christ (now known as CRU). As I noted in the post, the tracts given out by CRU are lame (but ubiquitous; according to CRU, over 2.5 billion of the Four Spiritual Laws tract have been published). You've never heard about the Four Spiritual Laws in the Bible? That's because they're a marketing tool concocted by Bright, a retired candy maker (fellow crackpot Robert Welch, the founder of The John Birch Society was also a candy manufacturer; he was the man behind the Sugar Daddy).

Although the tract itself is weak, it was partly responsible for another tract empire: Chick Publications. Although Chick Publications has produced a billion or so tracts since 1961, it wasn't until the 1970s that tract output was significant. In the early years, the Chick tracts were actually Chick booklets, significantly larger and with more pages that the current pocket-sized 24-page format (see picture below). When Chick was making the larger booklets (I have some--see the post on my Chick collection and see pic below), sales were low.  Chick's printer urged him to make them pocket-sized (and, thus, significantly cheaper and much more likely to be bought and distributed). Chick pointed out that this drastically increased sales and distribution of the tracts:

     We printed large tracts for a couple of years, but sales were very slow until my printer, who was producing the Four Spiritual Laws, asked me to make the tracts pocket-sized. When we did this, the tracts started selling better, and I had to rework some of them to fit the smaller size. The company grew until we had our own print shop, and that is how we are able to keep the cost per tract so low.

Robert Welch Created Candy and Wingnuttery

The first Chick tracts were approximately 5.5 X 8 inches.

 

 

NOTES ON JACK CHICK: In my introductory post, I listed just a few of the many rare and valuable objects from The Museum's extensive Chick-related collection . . . The role of Ralph Rushtoi in the publishing careers of both Jack Chick and another comics-based tract writer Vic Lockman. . . . My thoughts on Jack Chick's spreading of the peace symbol/broken cross mythology . . .  Jack Chick's retro-futuristic car in the scarce 48-page version of "The Beast" . . . Chick tract parody "Constitutional Rites" . . . Jack Chick's cold war tract "Ivan The Terrible" . . . Article on Chick by fellow Catholic-baiting Bob Jones University magazine . . .Catholic-bashing tract by Chick's protege Alberto Rivera . . . Knock-off of a Chick by James Lloyd:"Left Behind" . . . Chick tract parody "Donald Trump Is The Antichrist; Prepare for the Rapture!" . . .The 1972 Chick tract "The Last Generation." . . . .The Chick Publications comic book "Jonah" by Chick and Fred Carter . . . The museum's prized cultural artifact, original art by Jack Chick.

The Museum of Weird and Demented Religious Tracts is a project of Les Zazous Postmodern Art Galley of Bellaire, Ohio. Read the Welcome Statement of The Museum here.

For more on the gallery, check out the web site here and the gallery's Twitter handle is @ZazousLes.  The Twitter handle for the museum is @WeirdTracts

The index of tracts for the museum's website is here. 

Contributions of weird tracts to the museum can be made by mail: send your weird tracts to Les Zazous Postmodern Art Gallery 3475 Guernsey Street, Bellaire, Ohio 43906.

Weird Religious Tract Number 17: "I Discovered The Real Person and Power Behind Witchcraft" by Life Messengers

Troy Davis writes:

I previously wrote about Life Messengers.  Their tracts were the main comic tract competition to Chick Publications in the 1970s. Their tracts had a distinctly funky '70s vibe but they tended, on average, to be less inflammatory than Chick tracts (especially after Jack Chick embraced Alberto Rivera and anti-Catholicism in the late '70s).

This tract from 1973 tells the story of UK-born spiritualist Ben Alexander who attended seances in order to find spiritual truths. He claimed after one séance with a "trumpet medium," a spirit appeared (Alexander notes that he checked the séance room beforehand to detect and chicanery--he found none);  soon thereafter, he was haunted by scary demonic entities. However, he met some Christians at a gathering and devoted his life to Jeebus and against Spiritualism.  The tract warns about Ouija boards, astrology, and drugs  being conduits to demonic possession--kind of like my series of Chick tract parodies. I rate this tract TF for Thoroughly Funky!

The Museum of Weird and Demented Religious Tracts is a project of Les Zazous Postmodern Art Galley of Bellaire, Ohio. Read the Welcome Statement of The Museum here.

For more on the gallery, check out the web site here and the gallery's Twitter handle is @ZazousLes.  The Twitter handle for the museum is @WeirdTracts

The index of tracts for the museum's website is here. 

Contributions of weird tracts to the museum can be made by mail: send your weird tracts to Les Zazous Postmodern Art Gallery 3475 Guernsey Street, Bellaire, Ohio 43906.

 

Weird Religious Tract Number 16: "Foolish Professors" by Peter S. Ruckman

Troy Davis writes:

Peter S. Ruckman, self-proclaimed "junkyard dog" of fundamentalism wrote this diatribe against intellectuals and evolutionists. The front page of this inflammatory pamphlet has an unflattering  caricature of the late astronomer and cosmologist Carl Sagan. Same old creationist arguments.

EXCERPT: FROM "FOOLISH PROFESSORS":  

Do you want to know the truth? Then you better not waste any time.
Get into the Holy Bible for yourself. Never mind all of the pseudo-religious hullabaloo you have seen and the hypocrites and the snake-handlers and the tongues-talkers and the slick money-mad TV "Christian personalities." Don't let a bunch of slick, crafty, Bible-perverting politicians and actors send you to Hell.

 

The Museum of Weird and Demented Religious Tracts is a project of Les Zazous Postmodern Art Galley of Bellaire, Ohio. Read the Welcome Statement of The Museum here.

For more on the gallery, check out the web site here and the gallery's Twitter handle is @ZazousLes.  The Twitter handle for the museum is @WeirdTracts

The index of tracts for the museum's website is here. 

Contributions of weird tracts to the museum can be made by mail: send your weird tracts to Les Zazous Postmodern Art Gallery 3475 Guernsey Street, Bellaire, Ohio 43906.

 

 

Weird Religious Tract Number 15: The Overcomer Newsletter by "Brother" Ralph Stair

Troy Davis writes:

Religious nut, commune leader, sexual predator, and self-proclaimed "Last Day Prophet of God" Ralph Stair is a media phenomenon. He uses shortwave radio and buys time on regular radio stations to broadcast his stream-of-consciousness (and barely coherent) rants about these being the last days (I listen to him on 50,000 watt WWVA radio). Stair runs a commune in South Carolina in which the men wear beards and the women must put their hair in buns. Stair has been arrested several times for the sexual assault of his followers.

A couple years ago, I mailed him a copy of my Chick tract parody "Donald Trump Is The Antichrist" for shits and giggles. I received three or four mailings from him that contained "The Overcomer Newletter," a double-sided photocopy of his insane rants. The letters addressed me as "Bro Troy Davis." (click on the image to embiggen).

The Museum of Weird and Demented Religious Tracts is a project of Les Zazous Postmodern Art Galley of Bellaire, Ohio. Read the Welcome Statement of The Museum here.

For more on the gallery, check out the web site here and the gallery's Twitter handle is @ZazousLes.  The Twitter handle for the museum is @WeirdTracts

The index of tracts for the museum's website is here. 

Contributions of weird tracts to the museum can be made by mail: send your weird tracts to Les Zazous Postmodern Art Gallery 3475 Guernsey Street, Bellaire, Ohio 43906.

Weird Religious Tract Number 14: "Superman Returns!" by Jews For Jesus

Tory Davis writes:

Hand it to Jews For Jesus for having the weakest comic religious tracts. Written attempts by JFJ to proselytize usually involve pamphlets with inane comic characters and childish themes. Usually when members of the group pass out their lame literature to me, I take it and tell them I'm a "Hindu for Buddha,"

This tract is a little more interesting. While its content is weak like all the other JFJ lit, "Superman Returns!" appears to be a one-time-only event-related publication. The only time I've seen it passed out was on June 28, 2006 outside the world premiere of Superman Returns in the Westwood area of Los Angeles (JFJ have an an office in Westwood Village). The appropriated cover art is the Silver Age Man of Steel. I think the artwork is by longtime DC artist Curt Swan.

An interesting weird religion note from the premiere: During and after the screening, I was outside the theaters scamming for tickets to the premiere after-party (I succeeded and had a blast at the party; I saw Kevin Spacey's bald spot!). When the screening was over and attendees were leaving the theater, I gave a quick "Hi John-Roger!" to nutjob cult leader John-Roger (1934-2014) who was a guest of producer Jon Peters (for more on John-Roger and his relationship with the Hollywood crowd, read his New York Times obituary). I knew of John-Roger (born Roger Delano Hinkins) because of his highly-publicized feud with author Peter McWilliams and his public-access TV show in LA (here's a clip).  John-Roger seemed surprised that I recognized him.

Below are the back of the pamphlet and a couple of Simpsons references to Jews for Jebus.

Back of pamphlet

The Museum of Weird and Demented Religious Tracts is a project of Les Zazous Postmodern Art Galley of Bellaire, Ohio. Read the Welcome Statement of The Museum here.

For more on the gallery, check out the web site here and the gallery's Twitter handle is @ZazousLes.  The Twitter handle for the museum is @WeirdTracts

The index of tracts for the museum's website is here. 

Contributions of weird tracts to the museum can be made by mail: send your weird tracts to Les Zazous Postmodern Art Gallery 3475 Guernsey Street, Bellaire, Ohio 43906.

Weird Religious Tract Number 13: "What To Do In Case You Miss The Rapture" by The Bible Baptist Church

Troy Davis writes:

This is a DIY guide to The Great Tribulation for the too-big-for-their-britches scoffers who rolled their eyes at the fundies and their "In Case of Rapture, This Vehicle is Unoccupied" (or worse yet, openly mocked them by getting their stickers that read. "In Case of Rapture, I'm Taking Your Car"). To sum up this six-page pamphlet:
1. Don't panic because at least you were given a warning before you die in your sins and can redeem yourself.
2. Don't take The Mark of The Beast. I give similar advice in "Donald Trump Is The Antichrist."
3. Work on your salvation.
4. Don't trust anyone associated with "a City of Seven Hills."
5. Become a martyr so that at least you save your soul.
6. Become a born again Christian right now so that you will be swept up to Heaven when The Rapture occurs while your mocking and sinful ex-friends are doing double takes when they see righteous people disappear and are dodging unmanned vehicles.

The Museum of Weird and Demented Religious Tracts is a project of Les Zazous Postmodern Art Galley of Bellaire, Ohio. Read the Welcome Statement of The Museum here.

For more on the gallery, check out the web site here and the gallery's Twitter handle is @ZazousLes.  The Twitter handle for the museum is @WeirdTracts

The index of tracts for the museum's website is here. 

Contributions of weird tracts to the museum can be made by mail: send your weird tracts to Les Zazous Postmodern Art Gallery 3475 Guernsey Street, Bellaire, Ohio 43906.