International (MNN) — Most every believer has experienced that stomach-dropping feeling of hearing that a Christian in leadership strayed from purity.
We cringe when we read about King David's affair with Bathsheba. Yet the very fact that such a prominent biblical hero struggled with purity may be a sign of just how common the temptation can be.
Alarmed by not only the number of Christian leaders struggling with impurity, but also the human tendency toward it, Dr. James Cecy with JARON Ministries International decided to study the subject at a deeper level.
The result was, first, a series of seminars to help believers around the globe struggling in today's purity war. Next, Cecy wrote a book based on those seminars. Released in November 2011, it's called The Purity War: A Biblical Guide to Living in an Immoral World.
"It's really a book that's born out of…just grieving over the loss of so many in ministry, so many of our brothers and sisters in Christ. So I did my doctoral research on why pastors and church leaders fall," explains Cecy.
The Purity War is meant to help Christian leaders avoid dipping into the sea of impurity, no matter how tempting its waters.
"The book is primarily proactive," Cecy adds. "It talks about how to guard your minds and your bodies, and even how to guard each other."
The essence of the book, Cecy says, is about the oneness of God and "how God allows us to walk in oneness with Him, oneness in the church, and oneness with each other. Out of that is born a walk of purity."
Since the book was released last year, the demand for it has exploded. The book is originally in English, but that hasn't stopped believers worldwide from reading it and requesting its translation.
"They want to translate it into Russian. They want to translate it into Polish. We're working on translating it into Tagalog. I just got a call the other day about translating it into German," says Cecy. "We've been able to give out about 1,100 copies so far, and we've reached about 22 countries."
The topic is clearly relevant–which makes it all the more vital that Christian leaders do all they can to guard against temptation. Living a life of purity in a morally unstable world reflects brightly the light of Christ.
The Purity War can be ordered online or downloaded for a Kindle. To learn more about Dr. Cecy, click here.
