The Victorious Warrior: Challenging Young People to Aim toward the Good

The Victorious Warrior: Challenging Young People to Aim toward the Good The LORD your God is in your midst, a Victorious Warrior. He will rejoice over you with joy. (Zephaniah 3:17) The purpose of The Victorious Warrior: Challenging Young People to Aim toward the Good is to inspire youths to become responsible young adults whose identity, meaning, and direction are found in aiming toward the good-that is, aiming toward the God of the Bible. Not long ago in America, Judeo-Christian values permeated the culture. Young people received positive moral messages reinforced by all sectors of society. These messages gave our youth a common identity grounded in a firm sense of right and wrong. Pursuit of excellence, love of truth, and serving others were values that helped them make good choices for the best outcomes in life. Today, however, twisted voices have formed an unholy alliance in a declaration of war on Judeo-Christian values. Young people are anxious and confused as they look to social media and other godless sources for identity, meaning, and direction. These sources are too often perverse and destructive. Our children are the prime target of the enemy of God. How are we to guide young people through that topsy-turvy kaleidoscope of lies and inspire them to make good choices for their best lives? They desperately need adults to offer them the truth. In this crisis of culture, where can they encounter a Judeo-Christian framework for living in a language that engages and inspires them-one they can claim as their own? The Victorious Warrior offers a competing voice to counter the destructive messages too often given to young people. Grounded in basic Christian teachings and imaginatively presented, it brings young readers (ages thirteen to eighteen) into an exploration of the great spiritual battle between good and evil. The young readers learn to approach the struggles of identity and desire by adopting a spiritual warrior's mindset, as one would in preparation for battle. They learn to make good choices and take their place as contributing members of society. They discover the Victorious Warrior, Jesus, and learn what His victory over sin and death means for them. They adopt a simple three-point code to help them aim toward the good. They learn that the value of their identity is found in the love of the one who made them. They learn practical tools alongside spiritual understanding for tackling challenging issues. The Victorious Warrior includes teen-ori