As there are not many books written about the subject of our struggle, we are the vanguard of this entire movement. We are the ones pushing forward the frontiers of leaving Pentecostalism, Charismaticism and other allied fringe groups of religious fanaticism. In being the Vanguard of the entire movement, we are the first to arrive at the new ideas and the first to implement them. There will be attempts, advances and retreats because we were there First. We now have come to the point where we have advanced completely to where we have Former Pentecostals who have been through the entire process of recovery and have launched a new life of effectiveness and inner peace. We know the path, we know the way, because we have been there, and we can show the way to others with supreme confidence in our navigational abilities. We can chart the course and bring them out successfully. We have done it time and time again.
Now is the time to launch plans for a new phase in our movement. We have called ourselves survivors for a long time. There is the necessary stage of coming out where the person must recognize that he was a victim of Mind Control and that he is a Survivor. After the process of mourning the loss of the former life, the person must begin the process of rebuilding his life. After he sets up a solid structure of a new life with which he is confident and with which he is at peace in his/her soul, he must begin the most powerful and exciting phase of the Former Pentecostal: the transition from Victim to Conqueror. When the Former Pentecostal is at the stage of Conqueror, he is in full control of his life, he is at peace with the community in which he lives and he is confident in his/her career. He is a new person. He is fully restored to a state of Health. This should be the aim of this entire movement, folks.
When we are at the Conqueror phase, we can begin personal leadership training to inspire others to better navigate the rough waters of exiting Pentecostalism and its allied groups. We are to set the tone that this is the best life possible. As I mentioned before, when at this phase, we have cultivated the Four areas of living life to the fullest: (1) Body, (2) Mind, (3) Heart, and (4) Spirit. There are many places one can study the art of personal effectiveness, but the ideas I have found take these four areas of humanity and illustrate the habits necessary to cultivate the four areas. Covey suggests this: (1) Discipline for the Body, (2) Vision for the Mind, (3) Passion for the Heart, and (4) Conscience for the Spirit. (1) Our bodies need to be healthy and strong as we can make them – we need to take care of ourselves. This takes Discipline to make sure that we do all we can to stay healthy and strong. (2) Our minds need to be refreshed and challenged with new intellectual pursuits, and we need to stay on top of our game in our career on the best thinking out there. Refreshing our Vision of things as they can and should be can cultivate the images in the mind to see things there that we could not see before. (3) Our hearts need Passion and we need to find out what gets our engine running – what drives us? What motivates us? (4) We need to cultivate Conscience in that we must try to do the right thing. We must become trustworthy and build trust among our families, our community, our jobs, and possibly with our religious organizations that we may choose to be a part of.
Moving higher and upward as we leave the life of the Victim and launch into the life of a Conqueror is what makes this journey so worthwhile. We should inspire others with the vision of what is waiting for them on the other side of the long journey and escape from the clutches of Pentecostalism and Charismaticism. If we - and they - keep up the hard work of rebuilding our Four areas of life, we will transform ourselves completely from Victim to Conqueror. This is a worthwhile goal and an exhilarating accomplishment. The big payoff at the end of this strenuous journey is worth everything.
So those of you who are asking yourselves if this is all worth the pain and agony of escape from the craziness of your current religious situation in Pentecostalism, we say with a shout: Yes! Keep on working hard on rebuilding your life and you too will become a conqueror. The status of the Victim is only transitory. It will not last forever, but it is a necessary stage. But the richness of living the good life is waiting at the end of the journey.
Many of us have made it. You can too. Begin today, and launch a new life. Become the Conqueror you were born to be.
derkrash-at-earthlink-dot-net
JP Istre
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