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Former 'playmate' converts after vision of Christ in Light
A former Playboy "playmate" says she came to Christ after a vision of the Lord in an inexplicable light. Daina House, who was featured in the 1970s and worked on and off for the Playboy organization for 21 years, has now forsaken the gifts men gave her and has entered a ministry based on acting for churches and schools.
"In 1983 my sister and my ex-husband brought me to the Lord and I got baptized at Church on the Way," she remembers. "I was crazy, doing drugs, and I was sick and tired of being sick and tired, and my little sister and my ex-husband, who had gotten saved after I divorced him, took me to Church on the Way and I had one foot in and one foot out until March 14, 1986, when my son was born.
"In the hospital I heard the Lord -- not a voice, but I knew that He said to me, 'You will come into your own in seven years.' And I thought, okay! I'm going to be a big movie star in seven years, I'm going to have a record contract in seven years, something really big is going to happen to me.
"Well, seven years later, November of 1993, I was really, really sick in my bed and a guy I was dating was reading the Bible to me and it was in Jeremiah and it said, `I weep in silence for your pride, for My children have been taken captive by the enemy.' I said [to my boyfriend], `Wait, wait wait.' He said, 'What's happening?' I was seeing a vision. I said, `It's a man.' And I closed my eyes and it would still be there and I'd open them and it would be there, like a white glowing. I said, `It's Jesus, it's Jesus!' I was saying, 'Okay, okay, okay. I believe you now!' It was the most incredible thing. It was a white illuminating-like figure, like a bust from the shoulders up. Two days later I began to speak in tongues."
The life of glamour, of hanging out at the Playboy Mansion, of rubbing elbows with Hugh Hefner (who had wanted her as a personal girlfriend), of accepting expensive gifts from rich men suddenly ended.
"I called my agent, told him I wanted to quit what was doing, and told him I was following Jesus," says Daina. "I was living in a huge apartment and was driving a car that a rich man had given me and I gave the car back to the leasing company and then I started selling furs, selling bracelets in Beverly Hills, everything that men had given me."
Daina went without a car for a while, moved into an old rundown guest house outside of town, and worked for the pastor of a church. She now does an inner-city ensemble and performs for churches and schools. She says she would never want to go back to the life she led in L.A. "It was perversion and seduction and lust," says Daina.
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As Daina herself wrote to us:
I was first brought to the Lord in 1983 by my ex-husband and younger sister Holly. I had tried just about everything to find peace and joy. I began doing drugs and running with the elite crowd at The Playboy Mansion with Hugh Hefner and many other famous people. After working on and off for Playboy for twenty one years nothing seem to work and I was sick and tired of being sick and tired so I decided to be baptized at The Church on the Way in Los Angeles.”
“Even at that I was still living a life with one foot in the door and one foot out. I would go to church on Sunday, but by Monday I was not serving the Lord at all. On March 14, 1986, I had a son out of wedlock and heard a whisper in my head that said `You will come into your own in seven years.’ Well I began to dream of great stardom, record deals, or just something really BIG would come that she had always dreamed of. Well something big did happen in seven years: I was very ill one day in 1993 and a friend in the Lord came and read Jeremiah 13:15, where the Lord was speaking to her that He was weeping in secret for her pride because His people had been taken captive by the enemy. Then as if Jesus knew exactly what I needed at that moment, being as headstrong as I was, He appeared at the foot of my bed. It was like the transfiguration in Luke where The Lord appeared in a white illuminating figure at the foot of my bed. I told my friend, "Wait, wait wait." He said, “What’s happening?" I was seeing a vision, I said. "It’s a man.” And I would close my eyes and it would still be there. I would open my eyes again and it was still there. My friend ask me if it was scary and I replied “No. It’s Jesus, it’s Jesus!" I was saying "Okay, okay, okay. I believe you are real." It was the most incredible thing I had ever experienced. Two days later I began speaking in tongues.
The “Life Styles of the Rich and Famous" turned into “The Life Styles of the Rich in Spirit." I have never looked back. The days of glamour and hanging around The Playboy Mansion were over, accepting gifts from rich men suddenly ended, in fact I began to sell furs, diamond tennis bracelets, I even turned in a leased car a rich man had given me one year before the lease was up, even though it was paid for. I knew the Lord did not want me to have anything of my past in my life for that time. I went without a car for two months. I was living in a huge apartment at the time and began looking for a real job.
I called my agent and told him I was quitting Show Business and he thought I was crazy. He said, "Where are you going?" And my reply was that I was following Jesus. He said, "You are following who?" I said, "I’m following Jesus." I don’t think he understood but he accepted my answer and I haven’t talk to him since. I found a job at a Church/Christian School making ten dollars an hour and moved into a small guesthouse near my work that was run down and I have now fixed it up so beautifully that I love it. I now work in the corporate world as an executive secretary and my son is now fifteen and we live out of the L.A. area which is good for raising children and I am very happy. I am in involved in a ministry called “The InterSEEDing ensemble that goes all over Los Angeles to bring salvation to this town through Song and Comical plays as well as Dramatic Arts."
DAINA HOUSE