Weird Tract Number 103: "The Secret Terrorists" by Bill Hughes of Truth Triumphant Ministries

Troy Davis writes:

Bill Hughes of Truth Triumphant Ministries of Eustis, Florida is a Seventh Day Adventist preacher and notorious Jesuit-baiter.  His 151-page book The Secret Terrorists (2002) was part a huge package I recently received in the mail. The book reflects Hughes' conspiratorial approach to American history in which he argues that since the 1820s, the Jesuit Order has targeted the United States with an unrelenting terror campaign as part of its effort to destroy Protestantism. Hughes cites a slew of Catholic-bashing authors published by Chick Publications: Charles Chiniquy, Edmond Paris, Avro Manhattan, and Alberto Rivera.

Hughes would have us believe the following:

• Jesuits were behind the poisonings of U.S. presidents William Henry Harrison, Zachary Taylor, and James Buchanan.
• Jesuits were behind the Confederacy.
• Jesuits were responsible for the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.
• Jesuits sank the Titanic.
• Jesuits were behind both world wars.
• Jesuits were in favor of The Vietnam War and bumped off JFK.
• Bill Clinton is a Jesuit who intentionally massacred the Branch Davidians at Waco.
• Clinton and the Jesuits were also behind the Oklahoma City bombing 
• Jesuits were behind the 9/11 attacks.
  
  
  

  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 102: "Eternal Damnation or Eternal Life" by Anonymous

Troy Davis writes:

This anonymously-written two-sided card is pretty straightforward: Buck up and enjoy eternal paradise or f*** up and get thrown into the Lake of Fire! I've included the other side for your perusal below.  The list of things that lead to perdition remind me of the list of "doorways to demonic possession" that I include in my Chick tract parodies (Click here to read how my list became a viral phenomenon).

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.

The other side

Weird Tract Number 101: "Broadway or Narrow Way: Which Are You Traveling? by L.E. Singer

Troy Davis writes:

This 1932 double-sided religious circular by L.E. Singer has been reproduced by The Pilgrim Tract Society.  I love the illustration; the skull-car is tops! Good composition, title font, and use of color. The other side of the tract is below.

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.

Click to enlarge

Weird Tract Number 100: "Hippie, Come Home!" by Vic Lockman (Rusthoi Publications)

Troy Davis writes:

I previous wrote about Vic Lockman, who is one of the most prolific comic book writers and artists. Like Jack Chick and Al Hartley, Lockman did both secular and religious comic books. Lockman was so prolific that, unlike Chick and Hartley, he continued to churn out Disney comics after he decided to make books with a sectarian bent.

Hippie, Come Home! (1968) is 24-page mini-comic. It is one of my favorite religious tracts for a lot of reasons including Lockman's stylized art, the hilariously stilted dialogue, and Lockman's ham-handed approach to the '60s counterculture. The story begins with teenager Rick, a square sporting a flat-top and varsity sweater, declaring his independence from his smothering parents. He meets up with side-burned Two-Stroke and his fetching girlfriend Korla. They all take off on Rick's bike (which is stolen) to meet Rick's friend Hanoi[!]. When they get there, Hanoi is a slovenly bearded creep with a third-eye tattoo on his forehead. Hanoi shows Rick a joint and asks, "How about a weed?"(keep in mind, Lockman was about 40 when he wrote this). Hanoi also offers LSD; Rick is rightly alarmed at the sight of a poor schlubby guy having a really bad trip.

Rick starts having second thoughts about his rebellion and starts preaching about the need for societal rules. Hanoi, who is now shooting up, rebuffs the "square" right as the cops arrive to deal with the bike Two-Stroke stole. Hanoi is furious that Two-Stroke parked a "hot cycle" at his place and stabs him. The fuzz arrest Hanoi and Two-Stroke is taken to the hospital. In the hospital, Two-Stroke and Korla mend their ways and accept Jeebus. Righteous stuff.

NOTES ON VIC LOCKMAN:  This article looks at the role of long-forgotten publisher Ralph Rusthoi on the tract-publishing of Lockman and Jack Chick . . . In the 1970s, Lockman and Walter Lang take on ancient astronaut theorist Erich Von Däniken in the tract "Was God an Astronaut?" . . . Lockman goes into Bircher mode with the tract "Who's Calling The Shots?" . . . Lockman and Walter Lang team up on an anti-evolution tract "Have You Been Brainwashed by Ape-Men?"

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.

Add caption

Weird Tract Number 99: "Operation Rescue" by Randall Terry (signed by the author)

Troy Davis writes:

This 1988 288-page book is by stoner-turned-fundamentalist-turned-Catholic anti-abortion operative Randall Terry. Terry founded a diret action group Operation Rescue that sought to shut down women's helath clinics through harassment and trespassing  The Sectarian Right fell in love with him The book has forwards by Pat Robertson (work on him in the museum here), Jerry Falwell, and D. James Kennedy (museum post about him here). Not surprising, Terry, a notorious media hound, exploited the Terry Schiavo episode (for a tract on Schiavo by fellow religious fanatic Tony Alamo, click here).

Even though the book was signed, it was only a couple bucks. I got it at The Paradox Bookstore in the picturesque Centre Market in Wheeling, West Virginia. A few years ago, The New Yorker magazine did a squib about the bookstore and included a photo of the front that has some peculiar signage.

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

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 98: "Mark of The Beast: RFID" by Anonymous

Troy Davis writes:

 Like the other tract in the museum's collection that warns that The Beast will use RFID technology to track those pitiful souls who face The Great Tribulation, this is an anonymous 6-page, black-and-white pamphlet.

The pamphlet discusses RFID chips, bar codes, and how The Antichrist will use them on those Left Behind (i.e., the people who stood there gobsmacked when their saved fellow humans were sucked up into Heaven during The Rapture). During The Great Tribulation, people remaining on Earth need these electronic Marks of The Beast to buy and sell.

According to the tract:

1. All people will [be] required to have  biochip. All economic operations will use this chip thereby replacing today's unit of monetary exchange.

2. There will be privacy invasion and freedom will cease to exist. 

3. A charismatic leader, who is the Anti-Christ, will rule the whole world through a system that is interconnected and interdependent.

The tract goes on:

MARK OF THE BEAST IN THE HUMAN BODY, WE MUST NOT RECEIVE IT. (REV 14:9, 14:11, 16:2)

1. Accepting this mark is the irreversible act of selling your soul to Satan. This sin is unforgivable and cannot be reversed by physically removing the mark (Rev 14:9-11). Your soul belongs to God. Therefore, if you receive this mark, you belong to Satan. 

2. If you receive this mark, you are willingly placing your faith in man and not in God. You are actively choosing to live without a loving God who desires to spend eternity with you in Heaven, God does not want you choosing Hell's path. 

The tract tells the reader how to become saved so that the issue of receiving The Mark is never broached.  Demented stuff.


The museum received this contribution Kate from North Carolina (Twitter account @kareful70).

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

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.