The Throw Away Kid (tract)
The Throw Away Kid is a religious tract written by Jack Chick. It was originally printed in 2014, and remains an in-stock title. It is listed on their website under the subject "Abandoned" and also tagged as "Basic Gospel" as well as "Child Abuse".
The tract tells of a woman (never named in the tract) arrested. While being arrested, a neighbor watching prays for the woman's little girl (who's original name is not stated, but is around three years old based on later events). The remainder of the tract is portrayed as God's answer to the woman's prayer.
The woman is sentenced to 13 years in Federal prison; her mother refuses to raise her own granddaughter and convinces "Clara" (the relationship is not disclosed between Clara and the mother) to raise the child, promising her $100/month. Clara isn't concerned about how her husband, Herbert, may feel since "Herbert loves little girls. His computer is filled with them." The girl along with $650 is given to a young couple (Jan and Josh); Josh discusses the concept of "throwaway kids"[1] and suggests to Jan that they do this with the girl and take the money. An angel causes the car to blow a tire; Jan takes the girl into the woods, abandons her as Josh repairs the car (with an old spare tire). They leave and get up to 101 MPH before the spare tire blows, sending the car into two gas pumps, resulting in an explosion and sending the two to their deaths and their souls to Hell.
Meanwhile, the angel spares the girl from a mama bear, then brings a dog named Cookie to guard her while he stands by as well. At the angel's direction Cookie takes the girl to his house, where Mrs. Baker (a widow who's husband and daughter are deceased and in Heaven, no first name is given) is singing "Jesus Loves the Little Children". The girl loves the song, but has no idea what her name is ("Everybody calls me little brat! "); Mrs. Baker names her Joy and takes her in.
Three years later, two angels stand outside a church. In the intervening years Mrs. Baker has taken Joy (who is now six years old) to church every week, but this week she will hear a salvation message. After hearing it, Joy trusts in Jesus Christ as her Savior, thus answering the prayer of the neighbor three years earlier.
References
- ↑ A "throwaway child" is a variation on the traditional "runaway child", in that the parents take action to involuntarily remove the child from the family home, as opposed to the child leaving the home on his/her own.
