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"Happy Halloween" Baptist style!

Our family church in Montgomery presents an annual "Judgement House" each October around the Halloween season. The church is a Southern Baptist church, so very few (if any) hell-fire & eternal damnation punches are pulled-- even though small children are frequent attendees. The first year I attended it was in the company of my sister and her two sons, Jacob and Keenan (just 7 and 8 years of age).

Our little group entered the abandoned grocery store building that had been converted into the "Judgement House". We were all asked to fill our questionnaires regarding our state of salvation. You know, "Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal savior?" etc. We helped Keenan answer his questions since he was still learning to read. "Are you saved?" the sheet pronounced in large type. Additionally, " Is your name written in the Lamb's book of life?" "If you died tonight, what would happen?" We completed our questionnaires quickly, not thinking about them again as we entered the "House".

The Judgment path led us through various scenes which were acted out in different rooms: one involved a troubled teenager who was out drinking with his buddies when one of them falls in the lake and drowns. The remaining teenagers then sober up and ponder their own lives and the hereafter. Another scene involved a young family with an alcoholic father. The father was violent and suicidal. The scene ended with a teenage child telling his dad about Jesus as a way out of the hell they were living in. All the settings were lit according to the mood of the message, creating an eerie ambiance over the entire place.

Finally, we approached the last scenes. We entered a beautiful throne room - full of gorgeous, comforting soft lights, white fluffy materials, lots of gold, and a large white throne in the center. A gray haired, long-bearded, yet tall and muscular, kindly-looking apparition sat on the throne. As we entered he watched us all closely and lovingly, as though he really knew us and had been expecting us. Several angels joined him. He motioned slightly and one of the younger angels opened up a very large white, velvety-looking book. The apparition on the throne began calling out our names. After each name, the angel would accordingly answer, "Yes, my Lord, that name is here," as he followed with a finger in the book. Our little group clung close together, with Jacob and Keenan in front of us: eyes wide open, mouths forming little "o's" as they took in the very real looking scene before us.

After the Lord had called about 5 or 6 names, he paused and called out, "Keenan Worthington?" The angel was silent. The Lord called out the name again, "Keenan Worthington?" Of course, Keenan's eyes were now the size of saucers and he was so pale that his freckles stood out in colorful relief upon his little face. The angel slowly and sadly shook his head before answering, " No, Lord, that name is NOT written in the Book of Life." Suddenly, a group of half men/ half horses (satyrs) burst into the room. These were large hairy men without shirts, wearing the masks of horses or mules. They were grotesque! They herded us into a passageway lit with flashing strobe lights. When the lights were on for brief moments, we would see the satyrs up very close to us. Then we saw Lucifer on his throne, laughing horribly and welcoming us to an eternity of evil without the Light of the Lord. It was horrific and frightening. "It's too late! It's too late now!" the ugly, horrible demon spat at us, "You once had your chance but now it's too late!"

As we exited the Hell scene, we were all shaken up. Little Keenan still looked pale, and he kept close to his brother Jacob. I knew both boys would have a litany of questions after we left the Judgement House. As for me, I recommitted my life to Christ than night. Yes, it was a somewhat stagy, Heaven or Hell, Do or Die type message within the House. However, the scene of the loving Lord and his Book of Life, compared to the irrevocable horror and ugliness of Satan in Hell, made a huge impression-- not just on little Keenan but also on me.

-Ms. Worthington is a Speech Pathologist practicing in Atlanta, Ga.

Rev. 1.26.01