UPDATED 10/24/2017

as told by Don Reed

YEAR BORN: 1961

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Germany, Grew up in U.S. with duel citizenship

HISTORY: Loose conduct, stage illusionist

MY PAST:

Growing up as a Seventh Day Adventist, I saw a lack of unity in religion. It upset me greatly to realize that many of the pastors, decons, and other leaders (men with titles) of more than one Adventist church were lying to me, one being my own grandfather. Irregularly at times I would visit other religions. All were teaching that God is cruel and that he partners up with Satan to punish people, which does not agree with the scriptures. In 1980 while living in Nevada, Missouri -- the Truth found me and I began studying. Amazed by what I was learning, I started to make changes. But like the rich man I had a lot of things in my life that I was not ready to give up.

As a touring stage illusionist (magician) and variety entertainer, my mind was blurred by my six figure income which I thought was a large amount of money, plus I was getting paid to travel. Fame and fortune had a hold on me for over 30 years. During this time I was studying to be a martial arts instructor and was only weeks away from that goal. Struggling to do what was right, I learned at Psalm 11:5 that God hates violence so it was important for me to give it up. My Karate instructor gave me a warning that this was disrespectful and that he did not want me to step back into the door any less than five years. After that day, I never returned!

Family life was difficult living with an abusive, fornicating wife. In 1985 I filed for my first of two divorces. Still not completely dedicated to Jehovah, I left the Truth. I kept trying to make adjustments. The divorce was canceled temporarily and I did stay with my first wife for many more years. But without Jehovah in my life, I was starting do even more worldly things. The marriage did finally end and we parted agreeing to stay out of each others life, I also never saw my son from this same marriage from that point on.

I kept trying to purge the bad things from my life, but each time, they came back and were many times worse than before. Another critical time, hard to deal with came when both of my parents died just a few years apart. My second marriage was also lacking in spiritual direction ending once again in a divorce, losing not only a second wife but also another son. I started spending my nights in dance clubs, taking up an interest in being a D.J., chair dancer, and even a few years doing female impersonation. Relationships seemed to barely last as long as a carton of cigarettes for me.

My mind had enough and it simply gave up. For the next couple of years I was under the influence of many medications which were classified as maintenance drugs and under the care of a psychologist, psychiatrist, several doctors and someone who visited the house weekly to make sure I was not harming myself. One day instead of my medical counselor visiting, the knock at the door was two sisters.

HOW THE BIBLE CHANGED MY LIFE:

My turning point was during a long period of unemployment where I was able to read the bible from cover to cover. Then I was invited to attend the Memorial of Jesus death. This was the first time I had ever been able to attended this important annual event as I was putting an importance on material things and worked most evenings. Needing a change, I became a return visit for some local brothers. As the years passed, I struggled to make more changes, making a dedication to Jehovah.

Within a year of returning to the Kingdom Hall in the town that I now live in, I began putting on a new personality, giving up my former way of life. Under the care of several doctors and Jehovah, I was able to end the maintenance drugs that I was on in a safe way. I was told that trying to stop taking this type of medication without doctor supervision could be dangerous, not only to me but to others around me. Working closely under the care of several doctors, I was able to end all of the maintenance drugs that I was on. And it was mentioned by one doctor that I might have been in better mental health than I ever was. And I soon had copies of a signed release from each medical care person. Of course the medical staff wanted to take credit for this amazing recovery, I give all the credit to Jehovah for allowing me to throw all of my burdens upon him.

Many beliefs that I had learned growing up were not scriptural and I will admit that giving up some of those practices were difficult. I learned that Adventist do not understand the very scripture they use for following the sabbath which they do on a Saturday. Isaiah 66:23: ‘It shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me" The first man made official International Date Line was not introduced until 1972 and was not fully accepted until around 1978. Sometimes the sabbath might fall on a Wednesday. They ignore the scriptures that show this law was introduced to the Israelite only and also ended with them as well. 2 Colossians 2:16 "Therefore let no man judge YOU in eating and drinking or in respect of a festival or of an observance of the new moon or of a sabbath". I soon realized that many religions teach and practice lies that can not be found in the bible such as Trinity (Jehovah, Jesus, and Spirit being equals), immortality of the soul (that at death some part of the body lives in another place), and that god is cruel, punishing sinners in a fiery place of torment, just to mention a few. Jesus did not practice or teach these things.

As mentioned earlier I was a former illusionist or a stage magician. The bible does not say that there are different types of magic, it simply says, do not practice magic. When people watched me cut my assistants into pieces and put them back together or when they would see me levitate in the air, many believed what they saw me do was real, making me a professional liar. At first when I was doing away with my magicians stage equipment, I felt the need to sell these things to get back what I had spent on them. After some consideration I realized that this would only stumble the new owners and I needed to put the rest in the garbage.

I gave up female impersonation as Deuteronomy 22:5 shows that anybody doing these things is something detestable to Jehovah. I began to be less self centered and began thinking of others. I gave up smoking, my immoral lifestyle was going away. Relationships started to improve but I still needed to learn to be with one person for a lifetime, rather than being with many people for a short time.

HOW I HAVE BENEFITED:

How about my family life? I did get married a third time a short time before I became a part of Jehovah's organization. This time though I am using the bible as my instruction book for a stronger marriage. My wife Shyla at first was opposed to the Witnesses, but she has realized that there is no reason to be opposed. She understands that people have been lying and accusing the Witnesses with false accusations. Shyla was finding some things online that did make Witnesses look bad, and angrily confronted me with what she found. I have since helped her to understand that all of the millions of web sites claiming to be the official Jehovah's Witnesses domain are all wolves in sheep's clothing. There is only one god, one faith, one truth, - One Web Site which is JW.ORG, the only link to everything that you ever wanted to learn about Jehovah's Witnesses .

Currently I study with my three year old daughter Madison as often as I can. And my wife and I have been able to have a regular family bible study night each week and family prayer has become very important to us. I would like to have this information published in one of our magazines, but my prayers are that I might be able to include many more positive things about my family soon.

I now seek the glory for Jehovah rather than for myself. I was baptized in a public declaration on June 6, 2010 of that dedication. My regret is that I wasted over 25 years of my life when I could have chosen to stay in the Truth all of those years.

NOTE:

The international date line presents a challenge for those who believe that they must keep a weekly Sabbath on the same day everywhere. The date line is an imaginary line that runs for the most part through the Pacific Ocean along the 180th meridian. Countries to the west of the date line are one day ahead of those to the east.

For example, when it is Sunday in Fiji and Tonga, it is Saturday in Samoa and Niue. So if a person keeps the Sabbath in Fiji on Saturday, members of his religion in Samoa, just 711 miles away, would be working because it is Friday there.

Seventh-Day Adventists in Tonga keep their Sabbath on Sunday, reasoning that by doing so, they are keeping the Sabbath at the same time as their members in Samoa, a little over 500 miles away. However, at the same time, Adventists less than 500 miles away in Fiji are not resting because it is Sunday there, and they observe the Sabbath on Saturday!

Please visit JW.ORG the only official website of Jehovah’s Witnesses.