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Alex Marintzer
I believe that most Christians go through very similar “stages” in their walk with Christ. We all start with thoughts about ourselves, a list of who we think we are. Whether that is because our friends have told us this is who are, our family has told us this is our identity list, or even who our church leaders have told us that we are. I think that we start with this false identity list in our first stage, then we have an encounter with Christ as our second stage, then we move into the third stage of Him telling us who we are and Him teaching us what our purposes in life are and finally, we have a new list fourth stage–our real identity–that was given to us from our Creator. I am going to tell a story of a young woman named Annie, before her first encounter with Christ she was convinced that this was her identity.
Stage 1: False Identity
Annie Lobert
- Lost
- Unwanted
- Unloved
- Bitter
- Angry
- Poor
- Scared
- Addict
- Cancer patient
- Anxiety
- Prostitute
- In bondage
Stage 2: Encounter with Christ
Annie Lobert had a childhood somewhat similar to the rest of us, she had a mom and dad, and she grew up in a pretty safe town and had many friends. She did have a dad that did not show her the kind of love and attention that she desired and needed as a young girl growing up. Like many of us that do not have a parent that shows us the love and attention that we crave, we try to find it—anywhere. She moved out of her parent’s home the day she graduated and moved to college. She worked three jobs to pay for school and rent. One of her girl friends and her decided one day that they should hit the clubs and bars to find a rich guy that would be willing to help pay for their way through school and maybe even offer some love and attention that she so badly craved. She found what she was looking for, nice guys with fat billfolds. Her friend started to seriously date one of the men they had met and she decided to move to Hawaii with him. Annie’s friend called her later and told her how great it was in Hawaii, she was able to sit on the beach, sip on margaritas, eat the best food and wear the best clothes money could buy. She asked Annie if she would want to pack up and move to Hawaii too, Annie later would say that she knew something was not right, but it sounded too great to pass up. So, Annie did pack up and move to Hawaii, the first night she was there she sold herself for the first time. The money being a prostitute was great, she said she could never go back to working three jobs making $3.50 an hour; she was making $5,000 a night.
A few years later, she met the man of her dreams. He didn’t mind what she did to make money, he said he wanted her anyway and loved her the way she always wanted to be loved. They moved to Las Vegas together and after her first client in the new city, she came home to her boyfriend asking her to give him all of her money she had made and when she said no, he beat her almost to death and told her this was how it was going to be from now on, she would sell herself and give him all of the money. She continued to endure the beatings, the bondage, the isolation from anyone but her clients and her now pimp. Another few years later she would discover that she had cancer, the chemotherapy and cancer was so painful that she was put on a high dose of pain medicine that she became addicted to. That turned into cocaine and then she was freebasing cocaine regularly. She still was being sold to clients as well during this time, men would still pay to be with her while she was bald, thin, pale, sick and addicted. She got away one night to a hotel and told herself that she didn’t want to feel anymore, so she took more cocaine then she had ever taken before. She started to blackout and said that she felt a dark and evil presence, she then cried out “Jesus, if you’re real, let me live and get me out of this!” The Dr that was at the hospital later that night would tell her “I don’t know how you’re alive with that much drugs in your system, but someone is looking down over you; you’re very lucky to be alive”.
Stage 3: Christ Showing us our True identity and Teaching Us Our Purpose
Annie got away from her pimp; she got herself clean and into a job where she wasn’t selling herself. Her relationship with Christ continued to grow until years later God told her to go back to Las Vegas and help the girls who were like her. So, she did and now she owns a home where they have 30 women living and healing; they are at max capacity, they are looking to build another home for more women.
Here is what Annie has to say about the home she has in Las Vegas: “There’s a scripture in Matthew 4:19. The first four disciples were fishing on the shores of Galilee and Jesus was walking along the beach. He said to these men that he had just met, “Come follow me and I will teach you how to fish for people.” And I thought about that and it stuck with me. I thought to myself, “You mean, Jesus can walk up to someone and say, ‘Hey, I know that’s what you’re doing for a living, but if you come follow me, I can help you catch people instead of fish.’”The entire mission behind Hookers For Jesus and Destiny House is just to hook ladies out of sex trafficking. Help them transition out of their lifestyle and heal [them] with the love of God and our services. Helping them, showing them we care and giving them a new hope for their future. They can look back and not regret what’s happened to them and decide to take what they’ve been through and make it into something that they use to help other people. Aside from Destiny House, we have many different services. One is K.I.S.S., which stands for “Keeping Innocent Sisters Safe.” That is a preventative program. Letting people know this is what’s happening to us and how to prevent it. We also have Saturday Night Love, which is our outreach on the Las Vegas strip with gift bags. And then we have Ladies of Destiny, which is our self-help classes and a support group that we have for women that are currently in the sex industry and being trafficked.” –Taken from an interview with Annie with MSNBC. 
Stage 4: Our Creator’s Identity List
Annie Lobert
- Found
- Loved
- Beautiful
- Chosen
- Set apart
- Holy vessel
- Sanctified
- Healed
- Whole
- Pure
- Virgin
- Set free