Jim Roope
For many American Christians, Halloween is innocent, harmless and fun, and they trick-or-treat, carve pumpkins and don costumes with gusto.
For others, though - especially for some conservative and fundamentalist Christians - Halloween is a celebration of evil and has no place in the life of a believer.
"We don't endorse that or we don't celebrate that," said Joe Hernandez, pastor of Worshipwalk Church in Los Angeles, which belongs to the conservative Pentecostal tradition. "People are celebrating the devil's holiday."
Halloween's roots are believed to date back 1,400 years, to the Irish-pagan New Year's celebration. The Celtic New Year began on November 1. People would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off roaming ghosts and evil spirits.
Some Christians, like Hernandez, believe Halloween's pagan roots can open the door to evil. That's why Worshipwalk is hosting a harvest festival in its church parking lot on Monday, with kids' games and face painting.
Hernandez calls it harvesting hearts for God.
Some conservative churches go a step further, attempting to co-opt the holiday with haunted houses - called "hell houses" - that are designed to give a glimpse of eternal damnation in hopes of strengthening faith.
"There's Satan's lies and there's Jesus' redemption and there's a message that will change your life," said Keenan Roberts, who says he is the inventor of the hell house, which people walk or call through, just as they would a haunted house.
"It's designed to reach the 'sight and sound' age," said Roberts. "The message is sacred but the method is not."
Hell houses can be graphic. In Roberts' hell house - which he markets through his Hell House Ministries - live actors depict scenes of abortion, rape, suicide and murder, though the journey through the house culminates in scenes of redemption through Jesus.
Pastor of the fundamentalist New Destiny church near Denver, Colorado, Roberts said that his ministry has received a lot of criticism for what critics say is "going too far."
But he said today's kids are so desensitized that he will do whatever it takes to get the message of salvation to take root.
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