Cynematik • Cyndi Greening

QUOTE FOR 31 AUGUST 2003

“No true believer could be intolerant or a persecutor.”

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)
French philosopher and Political Theorist

Hell Houses .. brought to you by Jerry Falwell and friends. A Hell House consists of a group of horrific scenes within a type of haunted house. The customer walks through a sequence of tableaus designed to create terror and revulsion. The last scene is different; it is typically a portrayal of heaven. The visitors are then asked to accept salvation by repenting of their sins and trusting Jesus as Lord and Savior. Some hell houses are disguised to resemble conventional secular haunted houses. The customer only realizes that they have a religious theme after they have bought their ticket and gone part of the way through the scenes.

The earliest hell house appears to have been created by Rev. Jerry Falwell in the late 1970’s. The concept was picked up in 1992 by Keenan Roberts. His first Hell House was in Roswell, NM. Since then, he has become a pastor of the Abundant Life Church in Arvada, CO. He sells “Hell House Outreach” kits to other churches. Included is a 263 page manual which covers “everything from media publicity to casting and costume.”

Hell Houses are a relatively new evangelistic technique used by many hundreds of conservative Christian churches in North America. One intent is to proselytize the unsaved public. Another is to promote certain conservative Christian beliefs. Read more about this frightening practice at ReligiousTolerance.org.