Rebellion. The word seems to carry a certain sense of anger, or hurt, or maybe a feeling of oppression in its tone. But what would we say rebellion represents? How can we understand it biblically rather than emotionally? Judi and I would like to take a couple of moments to share some thoughts from our mini-book, HELP! My Teen Is Rebellious. You can see the book here.

In order to help you to identify the rebel in your child, we have included a chapter in the book that does this very thing for you. The way that we unpack the identification of the rebellion and its different forms is by looking at the different words Proverbs uses for the fool.  Why the fool? Foolishness is in essence the bent away from God. That bent away from God is rebellion or the desire to be independent of Him. This bent started in Genesis 3 and has been innate to our human condition since then. This bent is to be addressed by several means according to Proverbs.

Now, what are the different kinds of fools or rebels found in the Proverbs, and how do we recognize them? The Bible uses five different words to describe a series of progressions away from God. The word progression is not always recognizable in our English. You can look at our book to get the specifics in the Hebrew and its nuances. The SIMPLE FOOL is immature and open to influence, good or bad  (Proverbs 7:7).  The SLOW FOOL is dull and obstinate. He/she has a tendency to make wrong choices (Proverbs 10:23). The SETTLED FOOL is moving into a pattern of insolence of anti-God living in his/her choices (Proverbs 10:14, 21). The SHAMEFUL FOOL has closed his/her mind to the voice of reason and discussion about what God desires and sees as right. He/she does not care about the consequences (Proverbs 17:21; compare Psalm 14:1). The SCORNING FOOL is extremely contemptuous in his/her attitude and actions towards anyone who represents God or God’s authority (Proverbs 22:10).

Parents and others in authority must distinguish these forms of rebellion. As with any other progression, the transitions or movement from one nuance to the next is not so much linear as it is a building of layers away from God and righteousness. How we respond to the rebel will depend on his/her overall movement and attitude or display of godlessness. We may decide that someone shows traits of the scorner, so we may have to remove them from influencing others for a time to see if they change their trajectory back towards God. But we must first deal with the rebellion in our own hearts. Feel free to get out book which explains further in detail the process of seeing our own rebellion and then responding to our children’s rebellion.

I was privileged to take in many sessions at BCTC (Biblical Counseling Training Conference) in Lafayette, Indiana, and Faith Church. The two most sobering sessions were on human trafficking and family abuse. I am still working through all the implications of what I heard in these sessions. I know this kind of activity takes place in the darkness around me. I am asking God to help me to respond to it. But how?

Physical abuse in families is a terrible reality. I know it goes on everywhere. Perhaps I was more aware of it in northern Wisconsin because of the rural life and ministry to the kids and teens of our school every week. I am just at a loss as to where to begin. But in a sense, we had already been addressing the problem by helping to give the kids hope in their hearts from God. But I don’t want to stop there. That, unfortunately, is all the church at large has often done. We cannot just “shout at the darkness.” We must be a part of the solution. Kids must know that we care enough to seek justice and change. PRAY with me as to some specific steps we can take in this regard.

Human trafficking is an entirely different blight on our planet and is harsh darkness for people to have to live in. I am so moved by the information and testimonies that I heard in Lafayette. I believe that God can give hope and help to people who have gone through such horrors. And we have to be His hands and feet to them. But I will say that getting involved in fighting human trafficking or ministering to the victims is a very dangerous activity. I do not encourage anyone to do so until you have spent a good amount of time reading and studying this tragedy of human sin against those who are weak and defenseless.

The weak and defenseless. These words link the two crimes and awful sins that the darkness of depravity has brought on our world and into our communities. Think of people taking advantage of other people and using their weakness to entrap them. The children, the teens, the women, and the men that find themselves trapped in a dark world hope that we care. PRAY that God helps the right people to intervene. And if God gives us the means to do so, then we must step up and let HIM be our SHIELD.

Judi: So I notice in the workbook that you focus on the goodness and greatness of God. Why? How does that focus help everyone in their battle for Soul Purity? 

Dave: Let me respond first with the greatness of God. When our view of God is small, then our view of trouble and temptation is big. These sin struggles appear to be mountains, and God is small like a bump in the road. You see what I am trying to say? We can’t seem to put sin away or say, “No” to such a big and powerful temptation. It seems like God is smaller than all of these temptations. But when I begin to see a GREAT God, I am in awe of who He is and what He can do. I am humbled by His gracious and merciful moving in my life. I am thankful that He has promised to give me anything I need in Christ and the gospel. Humility. That is something we need. The proud person does not need God. The proud person continues to make wrong choices for human reasons. The Isaiah 40 kind of God, describing the greatness of God, makes our world and its sinful temptations seem so small.

Judi: Why the focus on the goodness of God?

Dave: If the greatness of God moves my heart to be humble, then the goodness of God moves my heart to be thankful. I need a thankful heart when I face daily temptations to sin. How can I desire anything else that God has withheld from me when I am so AMAZED at His goodness to me in the cross, in redemption, in the good news of being a child of God, and being complete in Him? But when I take His goodness for granted, I begin to doubt that I have all that I need. I want more. I want things I should not have or that are not yet God’s will for me. I will even turn from Him to other god-replacements that this world and Satan send my way. These are the idols that will control my heart and my life. I enslave myself to them in order to have more satisfaction. We lose our Soul Purity to puny gods.

Judi: Can you give us a peek at something else that is in the book?

Dave: Yes, the focus on the cross every week is so critical to turning the heart from the cesspool of sensuality and idolatry back to the purity of God. This is the gospel at work. We are rescued by the power of Christ in overcoming sin and Satan at the cross. We do not have to say, “Yes” to self and sin and the world. We can have Soul Purity.

The Soul Purity workbook is now available. Check out the Soul Purity tab for more information on how to order it individually or in larger quantities. In the meantime, I want to take a couple of moments to share with you the specifics of this resource. If you will, please first follow this discussion between Dave and Judi about the workbook.

Judi: What motivated you to go to the work of this study guide?

Dave: I wrote this workbook out of the reality of my own journey towards soul purity in a badly tainted world. As I worked out the biblical pathway to purity, I found that many others around me were trying to find the same path. I realized that our churches and people needed a solid theology to walk them through this jungle of sensuality that the world presents daily. I also noticed that much of the philosophy seems to be summed up in “Stop it!”  People seemed naively to assume that those that struggle could stop doing pornography and move on–problem over. Sadly, they lacked the biblical sense of stop, recognize sin, and repent, followed by replace, rebuild, and renew an intimacy with a great and good God.

Judi: Why did you go with the workbook format?

Dave: As I have counseled with hundreds of men and women about purity, I have found that they often look for short cuts to spirituality and to permanent change. Many times they have not developed the spiritual disciplines and a walk with God that are foundational to victory in times of temptation. They need someone to walk them through the reading, meditation, journaling, and transformation that is found in God and His Word. I also realize as a biblical counselor how awesome it is to have ready-made biblical homework at the fingertips. Dealing with the idolatries of the heart is not a simple and quick fix. The idolatry of pornography, for example, does not have a quick fix.

Judi: So what does this concept of idolatry have in common with addiction?

Dave: I was just talking with another counselor about this question. She was wondering if pornography is just one of those things that cannot be overcome. I explained that addiction to sensuality of any form is a form of idolatry. Idolatry is the biblical word for addiction. Idolatry is much more helpful as a term because it places this struggle with pornography in a context that links the battle and temptations to our view of and our love for God. When people desperately long after something they don’t find in God, then that longing translates into something that will rule their hearts.   

Judi: Why is it that people seem to struggle with pornography more than other temptations to sin?

Dave: Admittedly, this struggle hits at something given to us by God as good. Sex is good when enjoyed within the biblical guidelines. But for some people, they may never be called to marriage. For others, it is a matter of sexuality becoming a driving force in their lives that overtakes many other parts of their inner being. The core issue is their relationship with God. If someone has been satisfied with a fairly shallow Christianity, but then they experience sex or even diluted forms of sex that seem to be such a powerful stimulant, their Christianity seems vaguely unsatisfying. And the more they are drawn to forms of pornography, the more their Christianity seems less than satisfactory.

Judi: How does the workbook help to change the level of Christianity a person is living and the kind of God they are serving or thinking about on a daily basis?

Dave: An integral part of this workbook is the daily meditation themes that focus on the goodness and the greatness of God. Also, the workbook progresses from people seeing God correctly to their seeing themselves and their actions and thoughts biblically. My goal is to help them become convicted of the evil of their inner desires. I want their repentance to drive them to love and to enjoy the true God. As they daily see Him in all his glory and goodness, they should begin to hate the sin that they idolize in His place. You see, a “weak,” “puny” God cannot uproot the sensual pleasures in their soul, or so they think. But a crucified, risen Lord certainly can and will! The question is whether they love Him or are willing to pursue a love for this glorious God. It will take nothing less than daily meditating, journaling, turning of the heart, and longing after God for the next 8-10 weeks for this grip of pornography to lose its hold on their soul. Soul Purity is possible. Most of us need to retrace this pattern and study of the book several times in order to find true power and victory over temptation and soul-satisfaction in God alone.

We are thankful to God for the relaunch of my purity workbook. Previously entitled Building A Pure Life, the new look and the newly updated workbook is entitled Soul Purity. This workbook was first published in 2013 and was ranked as one of the top biblical counseling books of the year.

In the coming weeks, I hope to highlight portions of the workbook for you so that you can sense why this resource is so critical and so helpful to the 21st century Christian. In some ways, this workbook is a needed help for every Christian. We are all in a battle for a pure soul in a sensually drenched world. Soul Purity is based on the concept that we need daily drenching in the soul-cleansing goodness and greatness of our God.  

I am indebted to Jim Holmes from greatwriting.org for his encouragement and his enthusiastic help in the process of the relaunch and update of this workbook. See Jim’s work at  http://www.greatwriting.org/  Soul Purity has been well-received and used by people in churches and counseling centers for the rebuilding of the inner man towards God.  We hope to use the principles of Soul Purity in some one-day or two-day conferences in 2016. If you know of a church that would like to host one of these conferences, please contact Dave.

Please keep watching here and on Facebook for coming developments as far as availability and purchasing the workbook. Soul Purity is on Amazon; and it will also be available in certain quantities for a lower price through me or Jim. The best link for multiple copies is  http://cheaperindozens.com  where you can buy several copies at a lower price for your small group or for your resource center.

Recently I received these words that I will paraphrase from a friend: It would have been a summer several years ago that I had the opportunity to meet with you weekly to work through your purity study. I was struggling with pornography and needed to find a way to focus on God again. I remember getting a new view of my sin, a new view of God, and a godly sorrow over my idolatry. I have read back through the study several times and want to use it with some friends that have similar struggles. On behalf of my family and kids, I want to thank you for this study.