Every Young Man's Battle: Strategies for Victory in the Real World of Sexual Temptation »

Stephen Arterburn is coauthor of the best-selling Every Man Series from WaterBrook Press. He is founder and chairman of New Life Clinics, host of the daily “New Life Live!” national radio program, creator of the Women of Faith Conferences, a nationally known speaker and licensed minister, and the author of more than forty books. He lives in Laguna Beach, California.

Fred Stoeker is coauthor of the best-selling Every Man Series. He is founder and chairman of Living True Ministries and a conference speaker who has counseled hundreds of men and married couples. Fred and his wife, Brenda, live in the Des Moines, Iowa, area with their four children.

Sexual temptation. It’s everywhere you look. On TV, in the movies, on the Internet. And sometimes it feels like you can’t escape its clutches. But God wants his children to be sexually pure.
How?

Here’s powerful ammunition from two counselors on the front lines: Stephen Arterburn and Fred Stoeker. It’s the companion to their challenging book, Every Young Man’s Battle. And it’s all about how to guard your eyes and your mind–every moment of every day. How to handle the guilt God’s way. How to clean up your thought life. And how to develop a battle plan that really works–even in the sex-drenched culture you live in.

Lynn Evarts - VOYA

This reviewer readily admits a bias regarding sexual education for young people, being of the opinion that youth should be provided with as much accurate information as possible, enabling them to make informed decisions and not be frightened or shamed by their thoughts and feelings. This book is published in association with Alive Communications of Colorado Springs, Colorado, and stays quite true to its professed strict Christian philosophy. Libraries searching for the Christian view of sexuality might consider this book an option for promoting abstinence. Unfortunately, it moves far beyond that viewpoint by professing, "Masturbation is progressive.... This is bondage, and God hates bondage in His sons." In the chapter that discusses marriage ending the masturbation cycle, the authors state, "You see, before marriage, Satan does everything he can to get you to have sex with your girlfriend; after marriage, he does everything he can to keep you from having sex with your wife. Do we need to repeat this point? If so, please read the above paragraph again." When exploring the idea of stopping all sexual thoughts, looks, and actions, they say, "Hopefully, nocturnal emission will kick in quickly to take the edge off while the river dries up... but those banks may never get filled because of 'overuse.' Some guys have never had a nocturnal emission simply because their regular masturbation and promiscuity keeps the banks from filling up." The primary theme of the book is expelling all "lustful" and "sinful" thoughts and walking with God, allowing nothing to distract a young man from his faith. Unfortunately, although this conviction might be the fervent goal of some Christian teens, it might alsocause a great deal of shame and guilt for young men who are struggling with their sexual feelings. VOYA CODES: 1Q 1P S (Hard to understand how it got published; No YA will read unless forced to for assignments; Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12). 2002, WaterBrook Press/Random House, 227p,