The Curse of Baphomet - Tract #101 (CORS)
Art by Jack Chick - © 1991 Chick Publications
First Published: September 10th, 2011
"The Curse of Baphomet" is Chick's primary anti-Mason tract. In this story, Tommy Scott attempts suicide, and his parents are confused until Ed, a helpful friend, informs them that by becoming Masons they have invited the demon Baphomet into their home. Ed talks about the supposed occult origins of Masonry, then tells them the only way to be free of this curse is to burn Masonic objects and repent. They do so, and Tommy recovers immediately.
Introduction ⇑ ⇓
 Andrew |
Ever heard of Baphomet? No, not Bahamut. Chick wants you to belief this bit of spurious mistranslation is an actual demon, and that Freemasonry is dedicated to his worship. Follow along as Uncle Jack leads your through his contorted logic! |
 Jessica |
A tract about the Curse of Bahamut would be a heck of a lot more interesting than this side show. |
Cover / Page 1 ⇑ ⇓
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| Andrew |
Now there's the kind of cover we expect from Jack Chick- a glowering demon. It advertises a tract full of demonology, and it does not disappoint. |
| Jessica |
I'd say that sometimes, studying what whackjobs religious nuts think about demonology can be so much more interesting than studying actual demonology. |
Page 2 ⇑ ⇓
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| Jessica |
We couldn't reach you by phone... because of the storm... phone... storm... Nope. That still doesn't make a bit of sense to me. |
| Andrew |
I guess because the power's... out? Or something? I love how the father has no audible reaction. "My son Tom? Since when do I have a son? I think you've got the wrong house." |
Page 3 ⇑ ⇓
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| Jessica |
Tommy went out in the middle of a monsoon to shoot himself is some undisclosed location? Wouldn't it have made more sense if he had just done it in his room? Or is Tommy their grown son. In which case, WTF? |
| Andrew |
I'm assuming the kid shot himself in some not-especially life threatening place- i.e. he didn't put the gun in his mouth, or to his temple. Anyone think that the kid might not have the will to live because he was suicidal? It's not like he got shot playing with his dad's gun. |
| Jessica |
He's given up the will to live. Great. He's going to pull that Padmé Amidala bullcrap. I tend to get this tract confused with "The Crisis" and keep waiting for the parents to refuse to let Tommy have a blood transfusion while Mr. Scott's elders frantically rush around trying to keep him in the fold. Chick must have a serious problem with hospitals. |
Page 4 ⇑ ⇓
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| Jessica |
It's always like this... "Where did WE go wrong?" "WE gave that kid everything." You know folks, suicide isn't always about you and what you have and haven't done, you know? |
| Andrew |
And as it is, Chick's argument seems to be that it's not even really about Tommy at all- it's about his parents' Masonism, which apparently invoked the curse of Baphomet. |
| Jessica |
They keep talking about having "no will to live" like it's some sort of medical condition. I know one's mental state can have a profound effect on one's health, but they seem to think that if you don't want to live you'll just die regardless of whatever medical intervention you happen to receive. And that's just stupid. |
Page 5 ⇑ ⇓
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| Jessica |
What the hell does being a deacon and a lodge member have to do with your kid shooting himself? |
| Andrew |
And who is this guy, anyway? He seems to know the parents pretty well, but has no idea they are Masons. Even Mr. Scott finds it hard to believe. "Didn't you know that, Ed? I'm a Shriner!" |
| Jessica |
There he is! There's my old buddy Bill! God how I love that crazy bastard. Did you know he used to be a high ranking Raëlian who was involved in the Kennedy Assassination and was in charge of numerous Reptilians under the authority of the Egg Council??? It's true! I read it on the internet!!! Masonry, witchcraft. To-may-to. To-mah-to. |
Page 6 ⇑ ⇓
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| Jessica |
"The Bible is ALWAYS open at the lodge." We use it to put our cigarettes out. |
| Andrew |
Here Chick deploys something familiar- "You can worship demons without realizing it. You can think you are a Christian, but you actually aren't. Only I know how to tell the difference." |
Page 7 ⇑ ⇓
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| Jessica |
Is this guy supposed to BE William Schoebelen before he grew that Dungeon Master beard? Chick's authorities are always such smug pricks. "Oh yes I DO! I know exactly what I am talking about! So Nyah!" |
| Andrew |
There's always a guy who claims to have come directly out of such and such awful pagan tradition, and is now prepared to share all the juicy details with us, all for the price of a few books. Isn't your soul worth that much? |
| Jessica |
Baphomet is ugly, frightening, completely Satanic and a total Doody-face! What are we? Six years old? |
Page 8 ⇑ ⇓
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| Jessica |
How freaking absurd is this? You go along as a good (Mason/Catholic/Muslim/Scientologist) helping your community and living a respectable life. Then you graduate to some predetermined new designation in your group and a bunch of men take you in some shadowy, smoke filled back room and tell you that you all actually worship Satan instead of whoever you thought you were worshipping. And you... what? Just go along with it? Just like "Oh, okay. Cool. I'm a Satan worshipper now. Par-tay. Sally is going to be psyched. She always loved blood orgies." |
| Andrew |
That in itself shows how little Chick understands about human psychology, I think. He assumes that people will start acting in a way contrary to all their previous beliefs at the drop of a hat. And we're not talking a Road to Damascus experience here, just a "by the by, our Church actually worships demons. Hope that wasn't too much of a shock for you, old boy." |
Page 9 ⇑ ⇓
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| Jessica |
This weirdo keeps a picture of Baphomet in his car. Well, I guess I can't complain. I always have a picture of Yngwie Malmsteen rocking out with a guitar shaped like a giant boner in my glove box. You know, in case I get pulled over or something. Also, I think it's really "scarey" spell checkers didn't exist in 1991. |
| Andrew |
I'm surprised Chick lets this image go without the assurance that "you need not burn this book!" Who brought the gasoline? |
| Jessica |
Whatever else Baphomet may be, you have to admit one thing, zie has a totally bodacious rack. And by the way, I hate to burst everyone's bubble here, but Baphomet is an entity completely made up by some unfortunate Knight Templar's (corrupted by Muhammad) who were getting tortured all to hell under King Phillip. I'll tell you what, if the Inquisition was peeling me like an onion, I'd tell them I willingly gave birth to Alex Trebek's Satanic bastard love child if I thought it would make them stop. |
Page 10 ⇑ ⇓
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| Jessica |
Ummm... you mean this Eastern Star? Do you recognize any of those names? |
| Andrew |
Congrabulations. You can put a symbol inside another symbol. A winner is you. |
| Jessica |
And the Goat of Mendes? Drawn in the 1800's by Eliphas Lévi, a frenchman who actually spent some time in Seminary and is pretty much the only thing he's really known for. By the way, It's entirely possible to draw satanic images and parallels in other people's iconography as well. Don't dish it out if you can't take it. |
Page 11 ⇑ ⇓
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| Jessica |
Would you let that poor bastard Albert Pike rest in peace, please? He may have been a confederate officer but he's been dead for over a hundred and twenty years. Talk about beating dead horses. |
Page 12 ⇑ ⇓
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| Jessica |
Ah, yes. Nothing quite like a Christian Quote-Mine. This line about Lucifer being God is the perpetration of a hoax, even as it originally appeared in La femme et l'enfant dans la franc-maçonnerie universelle (If you know French, go to town.) It's been floating around since 1894 and it is still regurgitated just like the retardation about poisoned Halloween candy. |
| Andrew |
That means something like "The woman and child in universal Freemasonry." I took a brief stroll through that book, but I confess my French is a little rusty. The title page illustration is pretty awesome, though. |
| Jessica |
"See that tiny, indecipherable, barely visible symbol on his jacket??? THAT'S BAPHOMET!!!! For cereal, you guys!" |
Page 13 ⇑ ⇓
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| Andrew |
Looks like a variation of the Cross of Lorraine or the Jerusalem (Crusader's) cross. I'd wager these are references to the old Knights Templar, who of course had one of the oldest conspiracy theories wound around them. I'm sure that, to Chick, that association would just prove his point, but from another perspective, it shows the sort of fear-mongering company Chick keeps. It's also possible to find that symbol, or similar ones, used in alchemy. Does that mean the symbol is occult? Therein lies the problem with symbols. They have no meaning other that what is ascribed to them. Consider the swastika, used by today only by Hindus, Buddhists... and Neo-nazis. It means very different things to those different people. To use a less polarized example, the American flag has a very specific meaning for Americans, for whom it represents home, pride, and a variety of other emotions. We know what is meant by the numbers, colors, and shapes as well. To people in other nations it could represent friends, or foreigners, or even swaggering imperialism, depending on the relations between the two countries. But the flag is just a flag. The important question to ask is what does somebody intend when they use a symbol. Otherwise, one denies the difference between a Buddhist and a Nazi, and that's pretty stupid. |
| Jessica |
Clausen was also one of the main investigators of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Coincidence??? I think not!!! |
Page 14 ⇑ ⇓
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| Jessica |
That's just freaking stupid. It would seem denying Jesus is a relatively simple thing to do. You would think that to deny Jesus you'd have so say something along the lines of... oh... "I deny Jesus." Everything means something else to these people. |
Page 15 ⇑ ⇓
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| Jessica |
Here, Chick finds himself in company with the sort of feminist theorist who finds the phallus in virtually anything that is longer than it is wide. Though I don't think Chick will be subverting the dominant patriarchy anytime soon. |
| Jessica |
I agree it's absurd to see phalluses in any long, relatively straight object. But why are men so obsessed with their penises anyway? |
Page 16 ⇑ ⇓
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| Andrew |
Love that circular logic. "See this symbol? I told you up above it means something different than what Masons say it means. So now, when you see it on Masonic things, it proves my point, because if they didn't believe what I say they believe, they wouldn't put the symbol on things!" It's like a magic trick or something. |
| Jessica |
"First, I make shit up. Then I make more shit up to justify my original shit. This stuff just writes itself!" |
Page 17 ⇑ ⇓
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| Andrew |
"Through a combination of innuendo and fabrications, I've proved that Masons worship Baal. Therefore, all this other stuff is also true." Chick should conduct a master class or something. |
| Jessica |
He asks them to let him help, by which he means he wants to just give them a bunch of advice to follow. He doesn't really DO anything! |
Page 18 ⇑ ⇓
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| Andrew |
Legal ground? There are laws that apply to this sort of thing? Where? Under whose jurisdiction? |
| Jessica |
Yeah, can you take the devil to court for a breach of contract or something? I always wondered how that worked in the case of demonic pacts. Of course, Chick has an ass-pull answer for that one, too. |
| Andrew |
Uh, Jack, it's a hat. Seriously man, you need to get out more. According to Wikipedia, the Fez is in fact named for the city with the same name in Morocco. This is because Fez (the city) had a monopoly on making them in the Ottoman empire. About the only thing close to accurate about Chick's description is that the hat is often associated with Islam. |
Page 19 ⇑ ⇓
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| Jessica |
Actually, what holy book is used in a particular lodge tends to be somewhat dependant on the lodge itself. In some lodges, Christians take oaths on Korans, and in other Muslims take oaths on Bibles. I suppose they have no problem dishing it out, but can't take it. By the way... for the last god-damn time God and Allah are the SAME THING!!! They are the same concept. What is wrong with you people? |
Page 20 ⇑ ⇓
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| Andrew |
Symbols, yeah, but occult? That seems like a matter of opinion. Judging by George Washington's apron, the symbols have pretty clear meanings, most of which are taken from the Old Testament. Well, I guess Chick could say that that's all lies, and that it all "really" means something else, but once you start that kind of thing, where do you stop |
Page 21 ⇑ ⇓
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| Andrew |
I guess it took them two hours to build that garbage can fire. |
| Jessica |
They are going to set that tree on fire. Then they'll probably blame that on Baphomet, too. And wait a minute!!! I thought it was raining like the dickens! Looks like a sunny day to me. How much time has passed in this hospital? How many days did Ed spend trying to convince them of their covert witchcraft? |
Page 22 ⇑ ⇓
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| Jessica |
Immediate results. That's pretty amazing. God usually doesn't have that quick of a turn around time. |
| Andrew |
And that... is the end of it, apparently. Tommy tried to kill himself because of Baphomet. Q.E.D. Truth be told, I had forgotten about the kid. |
| Jessica |
This just seems horribly irresponsible to suggest. You renounce Masonry and everything just turns into peaches and cream. That can lead to an awful lot of disillusioned ex-Masons if you ask me. |
Conclusion ⇑ ⇓
| Andrew |
Chick's argument boils down to this: "It's what I say they mean, not what THEY say they mean. Because they lie. And their lies prove that what I'm saying is the truth, or they wouldn't lie!" Chick hangs his entire argument on a few bits of misunderstood flotsam, such as the "Cross of Bahamut", outright fabrications, such as "Lucifer is God", fear mongering: "you don't know about this, so it could be true!", and a whole lot of circular logic. It's conspiracy bunk, plain and simple. My understanding is that Masonry, as is true with groups like the Elks, is largely about making connections and drinking with other people of similar social standing. I have no attachment to Masonry whatsoever, but this sort of crap is exactly the same sort of thinking that got a bunch of Knights Templar burned at the stake for the crime of owning too much property. And that's always been one of the things at the heart of fear of Freemasonry- lots of powerful people, including many U.S. presidents, were members. That, plus the secretive nature of the organization, is an instant recipe for fear, a fear William Schnoebelen exploits to sell books and lecture tours. |
Further Reading ⇑ ⇓
- Vintage page at Boolean Union
Other Reviews & Commentaries ⇑
- User Slick146 (Space Battles Forums) - https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/lets-read-chick-tracts.525049/page-30#post-36479503
- Trick Tracts - http://skatoolaki.com/tricktracts/l_baphomet.html
Jessica
Andrew