Greetings from Massachusetts!

I was raised in a Unitarian "Church" (not really a Christian church, even by their own admission), and became an atheist in my teen years after reading a number of books by the likes of Charles Darwin, Harlow Shapley, Julian Huxley, et al. When I attended Harvard, I found myself right at home with my atheistic thinking.

In my early twenties I had a job working beside a Jehovah's Witness, and conversations with him helped me to believe in God again, but also resulted in my joining that cult, where I was trapped for the next thirteen years, eventually becoming a JW elder and presiding overseer (=pastor).

In order to become better JWs, my wife and I began reading the Bible itself (which most JWs don't do), and we began telling others about what we found in Scripture. We came to realize we should be following Jesus as head of the Church, instead of a group of men at Watchtower Society headquarters in Brooklyn, NY. As an elder, I gave a sermon to the congregation in which I urged them to read the Bible instead of The Watchtower if they didn't have time to read both. You could have heard a pin drop in the Kingdom Hall audience, and that was the last time they let me speak to the congregation.

So, I started publishing an underground newsletter secretly, using the pen name "Bill Tyndale, Jr." After a close friend reported me, my wife and I were put on trial and disfellowshipped. That was 1982. After meeting in our home for a while to read the Bible with other disgruntled ex-JWs, we found a Baptist church (ABC) and joined.

A few years later I authored Jehovah's Witnesses Answered Verse by Verse (Baker Book House). I continued researching Bible topics and served for a decade as a contributing editor of the late Dr. Walter Martin's Christian Research Journal. Over the years I wrote several other books on the JWs and their history, also teaming up with an ex-Mormon to write a few books exposing Mormonism and its history.

All of this research eventually led me farther back, to the writings of the Reformation. I read works by Rev. Dr. Prof. F. N. Lee, as well as commentaries by Calvin, Luther and others -- all of which led me back to the original Reformed faith.

After moving to the Buzzards Bay area on the Massachusetts coast a few years ago, Penni and I joined a 300+ year old Congregational church (NACCC) -- which was once Reformed in its teachings -- where we try to interest people in the Bible and the original teachings of the Reformation through the Bible studies that we conduct and participate in.

It has been a long road, but that is to be expected, considering how far from the truth I started out.

It has been a joy to find The Puritan Board, and now to join.

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David A. Reed
NACCC, Massachusetts
http://www.LeftBehindAnswered.com
author of
LEFT BEHIND Answered Verse by Verse
Mormons Answered Verse by Verse
Jehovah's Witnesses Answered Verse by Verse

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Daniel Ritchie
Saintfield, Northern Ireland - Queen's University, Belfast:History/Politics
Member of Dromara Reformed Presbyterian Church of Ireland (Covenanter)

What a great testimony brother. Welcome!!

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1689 Baptist Confession

Psa 55:16 As for me, I will call upon God; and the LORD shall save me.
Psa 55:17 Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice.
James Farley, Wilderness Road Baptist Assembly.
Husband of Melissa and father of Ann.
www.wildernessroadbaptist.org

Hello, David and welcome to the Puritan Board. I was blessed to hear testimony of the Lord's grace at work in your life. I have used your material over the years and find it very helpful. I believe there was an article a few years ago in the magazine that Dr. Peter Masters, from Metropolitan Tabernacle in London, publishes, that had an article about your ministry. I have dealt with Jehovah's Witnesses for years and am grateful that you are here on the Puritan Board. May the Lord continue to bless you in your ministry.

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Stephen Welch
PCA Teaching Elder
Nova Scotia

Wow, what a website you've got brother. Looking forward to exploring it.

It's a pleasure to meet you. I must follow the link to your book about Left Behind. It looks like something I will enjoy.

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Sterling Harmon
Coventry, CT
PCA
Deacon
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"Whatever is laudable in our works proceeds from the grace of God."
-- John Calvin, Institutes III:xv.3.

"Our Lord God must be a good man, to be fond of worthless fellows. I cannot like them, and yet I, myself, am one."
-- Martin Luther, Table Talk

Shazam!

Welcome to the PB!

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Ivan Schoen, Pastor
Maranatha Baptist Church
Poplar Grove, Illinois USA
http://maranatha-sbc.org/
Husband to Nancy
Father to Sherril, Sarah, Kathryn
Grandfather to Phillip
Faith is the refusal to panic. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Wow! It's always amazing to see how God moves in people's lives to bring them "back to the true faith"

God's blessings and welcome to you David.

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Steve Butts - Former SBC-er
Three Forms of Unity - Bradenton CRC - Bradenton, Florida
(A conservative member in a conservative congregation)

"It is a good thing God chose me before I was born, because he surely would not have afterwards." — C.H. Spurgeon

Thank you, David for the link to your website. You have some great resources on the site that are so refreshing to see in this day of millenial madness. I would be curious to see if you have done any research in the rise of millenialism since the 1800's. All of the millenial cults, such as Adventism, Armstrongism, JW's, and other sects came about the same time when there was a great interest in millenialism.

to the Puritanboard. Nice to have you. Thank you for taking the time to introduce yourself to us.

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~Jay~
Husband of ENS, father of J II. | Indian Trail, NC
Teacher Aide, Union County Public Schools, NC
Communicant Member, Precentor | Presbyterian Reformed Church of Charlotte, NC | Presbyterian Reformed Church

What an amazing journey...welcome!

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~Beth Ellen Nagle~
Lakeside Church -Wales, WI (PCA)
Married to John
One wonderful daughter, Chaela Joelle
Creative Outlet: www.eclecticstudiocafe.com/blog

Enjoyed reading the testimony of God's grace when I approved your membership.

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Rich
Okinawa, Japan

SoliDeoGloria.com - A Community for Reformed Thought and Discussion
WebsiteMaven - Web Hosting Reviews, Guides, and Advice to build and promote your web site.

Thank you ALL, for your warm welcome!

Yes, I had the privilege of teaching on Jehovah's Witnesses at the Metropolitan Tabernacle's annual Theology School a few years ago. It was a great blessing.

Thank you, Stephen, for your kind words about my material.

Praise the Lord for what He has done in your life!

And welcome.

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Rev. Daniel Kok
Pastor of Grace Reformed Church (URCNA)
Leduc, Alberta CANADA
Church Blog

"there is no creature, either in heaven or on earth, who loves us more than Jesus Christ"
Belgic Confession, Article 26

Greetings and Mega Dittos! It's great to have you. LOVED the fingers of condemnation!!

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Timothy Johnson
First United Presbyterian of Moline
PCUSA (Yea, I know)
Theology/Philosophy Sunday School Teacher
Davenport, IA

Welcome to the Puritan Board! And praise God for the wonderful work he has done in your life!

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Andrew Myers
Husband of Jessica, Father of Jackson, Katie and Samuel
Member, Presbyterian Reformed Church of Northern Virginia
Warrenton, VA USA
Editor, The Matthew Poole Project

"On land, at sea, at home, abroad, / I smoke my pipe and worship God." -- J.S. Bach

It's a pleasure to have you here on the board, David!

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Davidius
Husband of Emilia
Member: First Reformed Presbyterian Church of Durham (RPCNA) - Durham, NC
Student: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, German Literature and Classics

This may explain the old adage about Baptists being Methodists with shoes, and Presbyterians being Baptists who can read. To round out the adage, Lutherans might qualify as Presbyterians who drink to excess, and Episcopalians as Lutherans who know when to say when. - D.G. Hart

Stephen, yes, in LEFT BEHIND Answered Verse by Verse I do discuss the rise of dispensationalist teaching in the context of the early 1800's: Baptist layman William Miller's predictions that Christ would return in 1843 or 1844, and how that led to the formation of Adventist sects including the JWs, and how the Watchtower's founder Charles Taze Russell prominently featured dispensationalist time-charts in his book The Divine Plan of the Ages. There is even more on this particular aspect in my earlier book Blood on the Altar: Confessions of a Jehovah's Witness Minister (Prometheus Books). But in the new book I relate it to Left Behind and its popularising of dispensationalist belief among church-goers and non-church-goers alike.

Rich, thank you! It is wonderful and encouraging to see that Puritan Board reaches as far as Japan.

I had the privilege of speaking in Osaka, Tokyo and Atami a few years ago when my book Behind the Watchtower Curtain was released in Japanese. And I learned from the missionaries who sponsored my visit that at that time there were more people gathering at JW Kingdom Halls on Sunday mornings in Japan than in all of the Christian churches combined. It was a dramatic illustration of how far the apostasy has spread.

Thanks, again. And thank you for approving my membership.

David:

Just wondering. Do you have any material/examination of/ or critique of Clarence Larkin's "Dispensational Truth" either in the book about Left Behind, or available elsewhere?

No problem at all. I was actually thinking about "breaking the rules" and welcoming you in this forum because I found your bio so fascinating. Of course, in each of our own ways, God's grace is profound but I found your various stops very interesting.

You're not kidding about the JW's. One of the deacons out here is a dear Filipino brother and he has JW missionaries at his door quite often. We've been going through Hebrews in men's Bible Study and I've been giving him some pointers about how to deal with them.

There's really no "burned over" region here for the Gospel so the JW's have a lot of fresh ground. I think the JW's would actually work pretty well in this society which is, by and large, very moral and obedient to authorities. In fact, they have a hard time understanding what sin is because they consider themselves to be law keepers. A JW theology plays right into their culture in some ways.

Blessings!

Rich

Welcome!

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~James Helbert~, Wytheville, VA
Providence Reformed Presbyterian Church, RPCUS
TheBibleAlone.com / The Edinburgh Inn
"Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?” - Zechariah 3:2