Doug Tanner's Testimony

September 12, 2005

If there is any portion of Scripture that describes the person I used to be before the Almighty God chose to reveal Himself in me it is 1 Timothy 3 1-4 which says; This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;

I was an exceptionally wicked individual and an enemy of God. I was a liar, a thief, a fornicator, a drug addict, and an open Satanist. I was totally lost and confused and I knew I was worthy of hell. But God who is rich in mercy for His great love wherewith He loved me pardoned all of my transgressions and saved my soul. Praise God!!! Here is a brief account of my actual born again experience.

I was twenty years old and had just moved from the Chicago area to San Francisco. I was working construction and in my spare time playing bass guitar in a band, smoking lots of pot and doing lots of LSD and going to as many Grateful dead shows as I could. I was on a continual search for truth, but was thoroughly confused due to my involvement in satanic occult like practices that the devil had me believing all sorts of unsound and crazy things. I believed there was a God, I believed there was a devil, I believed there was a hell and I even knew I was going to go there, but I also believed all sorts of other crazy stuff. I was a child of darkness through and through, but was hungering after truth. In God's mercy he saw my heart and even in my exceeding lost and rebellious condition He was drawing me to Him, but I just didn't understand it.

On day I went to work and I stepped on a board that had a 16 penny nail sticking through it. It drove into my foot and I remember when I pulled it out I was wondering why this happened to me. (I used to believe that every bad thing that happened to me was some sort of judgment or punishment from God for something bad I had done.) I remember looking up to heaven and wondering what this was for. I had been trying to reform my life a little bit at this time and was trying to quit smoking cigarettes and was trying to stop lying so much.

The Grateful Dead was playing for the next three nights in Sacramento so I got off early that day because of the nail accident and headed off to the shows. The first night I did not have a ticket so I was just hanging out in the parking lot and took some LSD and through many unusual circumstances God started really dealing with my heart and manifesting to me how wicked I truly was. At one point in the evening I saw a vision of Christ hanging on the cross and the pain in my foot was throbbing from the nail I had stepped on that morning. I had done LSD many times before, but had never experienced anything like that before. The next day I took some more LSD and again through many crazy circumstances of the which I won't go into God's hand was heavy upon me to the point I finally looked up to heaven and cried out to God to help me and to set me free from the bondage I was in to drugs and all of the oppression of the devil. I think this was the first sincere prayer that I had ever made in my life.

About a week later I was on my way over the San Francisco bay going to Berkley to see the Grateful Dead again and as I was riding the subway I noticed a man gently strumming a harp type instrument called a zither. It was such a beautiful sound and when we got off the train I approached him and he handed me a tract. I had never seen a gospel tract before and I don't think I had ever met a true Christian before. This man started sharing the gospel with me immediately in a powerful way. At first I was kind of afraid of this man and just wanted to get away from him, but after awhile I knew it was God talking to me through him. I went out the next day and bought a Bible and carried it to the next Dead show. I ran into this man again and he shared the gospel with me for about an hour and a half. God was doing little signs and wonders to confirm His word and as we were about to part ways this dear brother of the Lord pulled out a little bottle of oil and anointed my head with the oil and prayed over me. Since that time I have never been the same. I was totally transformed into a new creature. Old things passed away and behold all things became new. I no longer had any desire to smoke, drink or do drugs. My mouth went from being exceedingly foul to clean and sanctified. There was birthed in me an unquenchable desire for the Word of God. Everything changed. It was as if the scales came off my eyes and the plugs that were in my ears were removed and I could finally see and hear perfectly. It all made perfect sense now. I understood that Jesus was God and that the Bible was true and that He was what I had been searching for all of my life. All the lies of the devil were shattered and I was finally free.

That was just a little over 16 years ago that this miraculous supernatural birth took place in my life and I am forever thankful. My Christian pilgrimage has certainly been a struggle and I haven't been the best servant that God has, but by His grace I have kept the faith and do hope to endure unto the end and to redeem the time that I have left here on this earth.

We encourage questions or comments. Please e-mail us at WebServant@ObeyGod.com.

Return to Testimonies of Deliverance.

Return to Obey God home page.