STAGES OF AWAKENING ASSESSMENT

This assessment is designed to provide an in-depth exploration of the stages of the Hebrew Awakening as articulated in Dr. Ken Howard's upcoming book, "Stages of the Awakening." Through the examination of social, psychological, and spiritual stages, you will gain a comprehensive understanding of the awakening process, including the challenges and transformations individuals face along the journey. This assessment encourages self-reflection and personal growth as you identify your own stages within the awakening process.

Over the course of the semester, this assesment aims to:

1. Understand the concept of the Great Hebrew Awakening and its implications on his/her journey.
2. Identify and articulate the stages of awakening as described by Dr. Ken Howard.
3. Reflect on personal experiences related to each stage and their impact on individual growth.
4. Engage in discussions with others about the social and psychological ramifications of the awakening process.
5. Foster community and support among mishpacha navigating their awakening journeys.

 

 

ONCE YOU HAVE FINISHED THIS ASSESMENT AND CLICK THE SUBMIT BUTTON YOU WILL BE GIVEN AN OPPORTUNITY TO DOWNLOAD A PDF VERSION OF YOUR SCORE BY CLICKING THE PDF DOWNLOAD BUTTON.

This framework outlines the evolution of an individual’s journey through each stage of the great hebrew awakening, highlighting their unique characteristics, personalities, weaknesses, and how they navigate relationships throughout the process. Each stage is characterized by distinct challenges and growth opportunities, significantly impacting personal and social dynamics.

To determine the minimum points needed to safely fall into Stage 4 (Reassurance) out of a total of 50 points distributed across all four stages, we can set thresholds for each stage.

Point Distribution by Stage

1. Stage 1: Cognitive Dissonance/Denial
- Points: 4-20

2. Stage 2: Rejection/Testing
- Points: 4-20

3. Stage 3: Acceptance
- Points: 4-20

4. Stage 4: Reassurance
- Points: 4-20

What Group of Words Currently Describe your Awakening Experience?: Below are rows of word clusters. Look at all the clusters in the first row (A, B, C, D). Read the words and decide which of the lettered clusters is most like you. Give that box a “4”. Then rank order the next three clusters from 3 to 1 in descending preference. You will end up with a row of four boxes with numbers “4” (most like you) to “1” (least like you). Continue this process with the remaining four rows until you end up with five horizontal rows that each have a 4, 3, 2, and 1.

 

If any of the scores in the boxes are less than 5 or greater than 20 you have made an error. Please go back and read the instructions.

Congratulations! You now know your stage in the Awakening. Here are some general descriptions of each Stage and Phase:

 

1. Stage 1: Cognitive Dissonance/Denial

• Cognitive Dissonance/Denial Phase
• Inquiry Phase
• Frustration Phase

2. Stage 2: Rejection/Testing

• Rejection/Testing Phase
• Isolation Phase
• Doubting Phase

3. Stage 3: Acceptance

• Acceptance Phase
• Blow The Trumpet / Spiritual Ego Phase

4. Stage 4: Reassurance

• Reassurance Phase
• Maturation/Growth Phase

 

Minimum Points for Any Stage 4 points

Maximum Points for Any Stage 20 points

 

• Weak (Weak traits of this Stage) 1-5 points
• Intermediate (Intermediate traits of this Stage) 6-10 points
• Strong (Strong traits of this Stage) 11-15 points
• Accurate (Your Accurate Stage) 16-20 points

 

STAGE 1 Cognitive Dissonance/Denial

Characteristics:
- Strong attachment to traditional Christian doctrines.
- Emotional discomfort when faced with conflicting information.
- Rationalization and dismissal of new evidence.
- Overwhelm from cognitive dissonance.

Personality Traits:
- Defensive: Quick to protect their beliefs.
- Insecure: Relies on familiar doctrines for comfort.
- Resistant to change: Struggles to unlearn ingrained teachings.
- Overwhelmed: Often feels mentally and emotionally fatigued.

Weaknesses:
- Inflexibility: Rigid adherence to traditional beliefs limits growth.
- Emotional turmoil: Inner conflict leads to stress and anxiety.
- Avoidance: Tendency to ignore uncomfortable truths.
- Lack of critical thinking: Over-reliance on established doctrines.

Types of Relationships:
- Defensive communication: Relationships may become strained with disagreements.
- Isolation: May withdraw from friends or family who challenge their beliefs.
- Limited interactions: Engaging primarily with those who share similar views.

Stage 1 indicates that you are in one or more of these Phases:

1. Cognitive Dissonance/Denial Phase — Often, the first stage of the Awakening is denial. You have become so indoctrinated with lies of Christianity that you will protect the lie by any means necessary. Your core belief in the Christian doctrine is so strong that when you’re presented with evidence that works against those beliefs, the new evidence of who true is Israel is or sound biblical truth cannot be accepted. It creates a feeling that is extremely uncomfortable and difficult to accept for you. And because it is so important to protect the lies of Christianity, you will rationalize, ignore, become dismissive, and even deny anything that doesn't fit in with your traditional core belief. Once you have accepted centuries of lies, you come to rely on it. That lie gives you comfort and security. You find ways to justify your doctrinal beliefs that aren't supported by the Scriptures, Historical Accounts, or Literary Consistency. It’s a struggle for you to unlearn the lies taught to you in Sunday School, Sermons, and Bible Studies throughout the years. Your issue isn't that you're not exposed to the Truth, your issue is that you allow your cognitive dissonance that causes you to reject such truth when presented. 

This is also the phase of the awakening where you feel the most overloaded and overwhelmed. Your religious ego fights against all the unfamiliarity as your charter unseen territory with this new knowledge, and you can feel extremely tired. 

2. Inquiry Phase— Everything you once accepted as fixed and stable (Christian doctrine, ideologies, worldviews, nomophobia [law done away with], origins of pagan holidays, heritable identity [as Hamites]) is called into question. This is when you begin spiritual, historical, and biblical exploration. This is where you start binging on information about anything and everything that has to do with the Awakening and juxtapose it with what you’ve been traditionally taught. This stage is oftentimes marked by a period of information gathering, self-study, prayer, fasting, hours on YouTube, and delving into scriptures for yourself. You are investigating [in the private] the same truth that you once vehemently denied to see if there’s any veracity to these claims. With your access to resources, information, and the guidance of the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) you are discovering the plethora of inconsistencies of Christianity. Through research, manuscripts, historical documents you are discovering your authentic heritage. Additionally, you are searching the scriptures for yourself finding answers to age-old questions where the Christian Church have covered up or just failed to produce sufficient answers.

3. Frustration Phase — Your self-study and shrewd research is providing you with irrefutable evidence surrounding the history of Negroes. You see the scriptures through a new lens as you engage biblical historical/cultural criticism. Your new revelatory insights are making you become bitter and frustrated. The Awakening can invoke a very aggressive emotion after finding out you’ve been lied to. You’re angry and suspicious of the Church, Government, Catholicism, Christian Pastors, and the dominant culture (oppressors) for conspiring to hide your identity and altering the truth of the scriptures. You are discovering that these systems have lied and codify paradigms to continue to foster the lies. Yah, over the course of time, teaches you through the Ruach (Holy Spirit) how to be tempered, balanced and not so aggressive against such systems.

 

STAGE 2 Rejection/Testing

Characteristics:
- Fractured relationships with family and friends.
- Feelings of anger and frustration toward traditional systems.
- Increased emotional volatility.
- Self-imposed isolation and withdrawal from social environments.

Personality Traits:
- Passionate: Deeply invested in uncovering the truth.
- Confrontational: Engages in verbal disputes over beliefs.
- Vulnerable: Experiences loneliness and isolation.
- Defiant: Willing to challenge established norms.

Weaknesses:
- Anger and resentment: Hostility toward opposing views can escalate.
- Paranoia: Distrust of family and friends who don’t support their beliefs.
- Social isolation: Fear of rejection leads to self-isolation.
- Inability to compromise: Rigid thinking prevents finding common ground.

Types of Relationships:
- Conflictual dynamics: Relationships marked by arguments and misunderstandings.
- Loss of connections: Friendships and family ties may deteriorate.
- Desperation for acceptance: Seeking validation from new communities.

Stage 2 indicates that you are in one or more of these Phases:

4. Rejection /Testing Phase —  Unfortunately your name become synonymous with verbal attacks, tongue lashing, vulgar onslaughts, and religious tirades. Your passion and love for the truth is mistaken, by your family and friends, as unsavory rhetoric, extreme religious zeal, uninviting doctrine, and heretical expressions. This causes your naysayers, family, friends, and former fellow church members to ostracized you and ignorantly lump you into a cult-like group. You become shunned and duped into the affiliation of such groups that herald vicious insults and biblically misaligned doctrines. This treatment by family, friends, and associates causes you to begin to feel alone and rejected. Opposing family deliberately begin to exclude you from family gatherings and social outings. The irregularities and scarceness of phone calls, by family and friends, become glaringly apparent. Years of close and interpersonal friendships are suddenly terminated without notice. Your labeled as the odd ball. Fellowship opportunities from former fellow church members comes to an inconspicuous cessation. Private discussions are held and prayer groups are seemingly established hoping to deliver you from your newfangled spiritual blindness. People who once flooded your social media timeline with likes, hearts, emojis, and well wishing comments suddenly all come to a screeching halt. It becomes glaringly obvious that you’ve been intentionally left out to the loop and eschewed into vilified territory of the minds of the people.

5. Isolation Phase — During this Phase, you’re not just isolated by family and friends but you start to isolate yourself. You quickly become aware that you have few to no friendships anymore. You find yourself retreating into isolation and withdrawing from unwanted social environments. This stage can have a detrimental impact on your life. It may lead to feelings of loneliness, depression, and even small bouts of psychosis can become a factor in this stage. Any previous episodes of mental challenges can be triggered during this period.

For most awakened Hebrews on this journey, eventually, Yah cures this isolated by helping them build their ‘own Mishpacha’ outside their family and friends circle. This makes it much easier to share your shared awakening experiences with strangers across the world than the person you’ve known your entire life. Learning how to build strong emotional, social, and spiritual bonds with other Hebrews helps an individual cultivate personal acceptance and a healthy support system.

 6. Doubting Phase — Did I make the right decision? Is this really Yah? These are many internal questions that you ask within yourself during this stage. Many enemies, rivals, urban apologists, life circumstances, personal limiting beliefs, altering questionable doctrines, or even personal setbacks can block your progress forward. Antagonists, detractors, naysayers, non-believing family members, and the many many doctrines in the Hebrew community can repeatedly knock you down, test your resolve, and make you question your awakening experience. Additionally, such setbacks make you doubt yourself and your commitment and may even persuade you to give up or doubts of returning to Christianity. At this stage, you may doubt the authenticity of your awakening experience, feel lost or helpless, as if you have succumbed to a false movement or doctrine. Your staying-power and fidelity is being challenged at this point. This stage, as the Mashiach told us, requires both fortitude and courage to stay on the narrow path.

 

STAGE 3 Acceptance

Characteristics:
- Acknowledgment of past deceptions and commitment to new truths.
- Embracing cultural and spiritual heritage.
- Struggle with ingrained traditions and beliefs.
- Desire to share newfound knowledge with others.

Personality Traits:
- Determined: Committed to personal growth and understanding.
- Reflective: Engaging in self-examination and confronting biases.
- Empowered: Gaining confidence in one’s new identity and beliefs.
- Eager: Enthusiastic about sharing newfound truths.

Weaknesses:
- Overzealousness: Desire to "wake up" others can come off as aggressive.
- Pride: May develop a sense of superiority, alienating others.
- Emotional vulnerability: Struggling with past traumas affects stability.
- Fear of backsliding: Anxiety about returning to old beliefs.

Types of Relationships:
- Evangelistic approach: Attempt to share beliefs can strain relationships.
- Selective associations: Comfort found in like-minded individuals, leading to alienation from others.
- Diminished patience: Difficulty engaging with those still entrenched in traditional beliefs.

Stage 3 indicates that you are in one or more of these Phases:

7. Acceptance Stage Phase — You are accepting that you’ve been lied to. You’ve finally accepted that (a) the law is still relevant, (b) Easter, Christmas, etc is grossly pagan, (c) we as a people must return to Torah & Commandments to overcome our social, economic, and spiritual conditions, (d) abandon Sunday Worship and honor the Sabbath, (e) based on through genetic testing, forensic scientific studies, DNA, linguistics, prognathism, SNP-STR Trackers, migration routes, literary consistency, ancient maps, archeological evidence, manuscript evidence, eye witnessed accounts, corroborating accounts, literary consistency, prophetic consistency and more importantly through the Scriptures that Bantus Negroes are the Hebrews of the Scriptures.

The accepting stage is not without struggle, however. By its very nature, this stage of the awakening confronts you with your own fallacies, indoctrinated traditions, regurgitated dogmas, lawless shortcomings, self-deceptions, cognitive biases, and resistance to change. This is the first sign of growth. Growth can be an uncomfortable process at times. This can be a very miserable stage for many as you are confronted with layers of truth. These truths can make you miserable as you’re being purged and detoxified of the lies told to you. You’re now are being challenged to walk out what you know - to live out the the scriptures. You’re now beginning embracing culture, customs, and the ancient path of the Scriptures and Hebraic way. 

8. Blow the Trumpet / Spiritual Ego Phase — You want to wake everyone up. You see Christianity for what it is —-nothing more than a thin veneer slapped on a synchronized pagan traditions. You’re on a newfound mission to “wake up” all your family, friends, and anyone that has an ear to hear. You want all to come out of Christianity and the syncretism that fictitiously fuels it. It’s unfortunate that at this stage your name become synonymous with Hyper-Criticism of Christian love ones and the Christianity. Your intentions are not to browbeat however because most people are married to their beliefs therefore anyone telling them anything that goes against their core beliefs is considered as attacking their comfort and stability, hitting them where they live. This can lead to ad hominems, verbal attacks, vicious arguments, social media doctrinal wars, and family fallouts. The truth being shared is very unwelcomed and so are you who is delivering it. You appear to others to be inflammable, explosive, angry, fanatic, and insensitive.

Now that you’ve accepted who you are and have been enlightened to the truth of the scriptures,there’s a subtle sense of pride rising within. You may think that you are rare because you woke up, but not everyone does. You may have subtle thoughts that you are better than those that don’t live according to the laws, statues, and commandments of Yah. Yah uses the next two steps to humble you.

 

STAGE 4 Reassurance

Characteristics:
- Resilience built from overcoming initial challenges.
- Strengthened relationship with Yah and deepening understanding of scriptures.
- Increased knowledge and skills in biblical studies and teachings.
- Balanced approach to sharing beliefs with others.

Personality Traits:
- Grounded: Settled in new beliefs and practices.
- Scholarly: Knowledgeable and insightful in scriptural matters.
- Balanced: More measured in discussing beliefs with others.
- Committed: Dedicated to spreading truth without aggression.

Weaknesses:
- Complacency: False sense of security may lead to stagnation.
- Judgmental attitude: Increased confidence can result in harsh judgments.
- Resistance to critique: Difficulty accepting feedback or alternative perspectives.
- Burnout risk: Desire to teach can lead to emotional exhaustion.

Types of Relationships:
- Rebuilding bridges: Attempts to reconnect with family and friends, though it can be challenging.
- Balanced engagement: Communication with understanding and empathy.
- Supportive networks: Building relationships with other awakened individuals for community.

Stage 4 indicates that you are in one or more of these Phases:

9. Reassurance Phase — The first set of major challenges are over. You’ve past many tests by not wandering back to the land familiarity. In this stage, you come back home - Congratulations! Your sticktoitiveness, regular prayer life, unrelenting wavering, diligent study, encouragement of like-minded believers, connection to a local assembly, endurance of tests, and self-discipline is giving you new life. You are dedicated to the Awakening more than ever before. You’re familiar with its twists and turns, up and downs. As your relationship with Yah deepens, you become increasingly more adept and more knowledgeable, your faith walk is becoming impenetrable. You are becoming a shrewd scholar, apologists, and biblical exegete. You have an incredible zeal for preaching the Besorah of Kingdom, the way the Messiah instructed, and is determined to make a lifelong committed to dispelling centuries of doctrinal lies that Christianity and Islam forced on our people. This time you are more balanced in your approach of sharing this truth and filtering false discouraging doctrines.

10. Maturation /Growth Phase — A permanent shift has taken place and you awaken fully to your true identity, convinced of biblical truth, and assured of this walk. You take the Scriptures [laws, statues, and commandments] more seriously as you’re gaining understanding. Rejection and melodrama have less influence over you. You are settled. You don’t have to the debate the truth; instead you have an innate desire live out the truth. You find less time to defend and begin to make more use of your time living out the scriptures and by teaching others.

• Minimum Points for Stage 4
  
  To fall safely into Stage 4, an individual would need at least 16 points. This means that if the total score is 16 or higher, they would be categorized in Stage 4, indicating a significant level of understanding, maturity, and commitment to their beliefs.
  
  Stage 4 Breakdown
  
  - 16 Points: Entry level into Stage 4, indicating a basic understanding and acceptance of new beliefs while still possibly grappling with some weaknesses.
  - 17-20 Points: A more solid presence in Stage 4 with increased resilience, knowledge, and balanced relationships.
  
  Summary
  
  - Minimum Points to Enter Stage 4 (Reassurance): 16 points out of 50.