"More kids are dying right now, in obedience to the Jehovah's Witness ban on blood transfusions, than perished in the fire at Waco", says ex-Witness David A. Reed. This former elder, now widely recognized as a prominent authority on the sect, recounts his thirteen years as a Witness. In this lively and engrossing book, drawing on his own experience as well as on extensive research, Reed explains his role in the Witnesses' door-to-door work recruiting new members and details an enforcement apparatus that reaches even into clinics and hospitals. He brings to light recent instructions for Witness hospital employees to turn over information from confidential patient records to the church; he also describes how the Watchtower hierarchy conducts bedside trials of members who accept forbidden medical treatments. This system extends to instructing parents to kidnap their children from hospital beds, and children themselves to resist doctors violently and to give false testimony in court. How can a major religion with headquarters in New York City and thirteen million attending its services worldwide quietly lead victims to early and needless deaths without a public outcry? Blood on the Altar tells an amazing story of how the Jehovah's Witnesses have grown into a huge financial and publishing empire with billions in assets. Reed takes us through a century of the sect's colorful history. He shows us how, combining a selective reading of scripture and bizarre "new truths" with aggressive recruitment techniques and mind control, the Witnesses have commanded an unquestioning loyalty among their followers.