[Update: Thank you for all the financial help; the funds needed for this project were raised on January 15, just a few days after I posted this.]

Each week that I stand in front of my congregation to preach, I assume I look out into many eyes that looked at pornography the previous week.

These same people—both men and women—got up early on the weekend, showered, dressed, and drove across town to gather with God’s people for church. They put in this effort to hear truth from God’s word preached, truth about the beauty of the gospel, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Deep down, this is what they want to hear about. But they also gather as those who feel guilty and ashamed because they gave into temptation the previous week.

Most of these men and women, I assume, want their church and their pastor to help them with their struggle but don’t know where to begin to look for that help.

A Book to Help Struggling Saints

I don’t think it’s wise to talk about pornography in the sermon each week. Many other issues are worthy of our attention, and, besides, talking about porn too often tends to give this one particular struggle too much gravity. The war against lust, I believe, is often won by attacking from the flank, not from a direct assault. To say it another way, feasting on Jesus curbs our appetite for junk food.

But just because I can’t address something each week in a sermon doesn’t mean that I don’t want to help. I do want to help. This is why I wrote a book a few years ago called Struggle Against Porn: 29 Diagnostic Tests for Your Head and Heart. I wrote it to help men not struggle passively with porn but rather struggle proactively against it, hence the title had the word against. The book was published by Rainer Publishing in May of 2019 and received endorsements from Tim Challies, Drew Dyck, Garrett Kell, and Tim Chester.

A New Spanish Translation Coming Soon!

For the last year, my friend Kevin Halloran has encouraged me to find a way to get the book published in Spanish. Kevin is bilingual and tells me there are few gospel-centered resources in Spanish to help men win the war against lust, especially compared to the abundance of English resources. So, Kevin connected me with Soldados de Jesucristo, a prominent Christian website in the Spanish speaking world (Soldiers in Christ, in English).

Now, fast forward a few months, and Soldados de Jesucristo and I are working on a professional translation and publication of the book.

Additionally, when the book is released in Spanish, Soldados de Jesucristo will post all the chapters from the books in a long blog-series on their website. The material is so important, we want to make it freely and widely available to anyone who wants help. Lord willing, we’ll publish the book’s Spanish translation by early summer of 2021 (this year!), and the blog series on Soldados de Jesucristo will follow shortly thereafter.

Will You Donate to the Translation Project?

I would love your help. The cost of translation and editing is $700. All the other work—the cover design, the book layout, etc.—will be covered by the publisher.

In fact, let me just be candid. The publisher for this project is my self-publishing imprint Fan and Flame, which means I will cover all costs. I’ve already paid for the translation too. I’m just reaching out to see if anyone else wants to participate in this opportunity to bless others.

Let me put it another way. As an author and publisher, I’ve been pushing a “boulder” to the top of a new hill, and it would be wonderful to have a few people help me give it a final shove down the other side. (Well, maybe a boulder is not the right metaphor, but you get the idea.)

Would you consider donating to the translation? For every donation over $50, I will add your name to the book’s copyright page to say thank you.

If you’d like to ask more follow-up questions, please send me an email at benjamin@fanandflame.com. If you happen to be able to read Spanish, let me know. We’ll need a few people to spot read sections of the book before it launches.

You can donate to the translation project here.

(And just in case it matters to you, let me mention one other item. Unfortunately, donations will not be tax-free. Even though my blog does not make any money, I’m considered a “for-profit organization,” so I can’t hook you up with a donation receipt. Sorry about that.)

* Photo by Štefan Štefančík on Unsplash