Preparing Boys for Battle (Scott Brown)

Preparing Boys for Battle

From the Battlefield of My Father’s Youth

Here’s a handbook for dads to help them train their sons for battle. But in a unique approach!  Because Preparing Boys for Battle draws lessons for manhood that arise from the WWII battle for Iwo Jima with its fighter planes, amphibious assaults, foxholes, cave warfare, and flamethrowers.

It contains seventeen critical points that fathers must deliver to their sons. Why? To discipline them to be the mighty warriors God intends them to be. This is a book about leading boys to be truly great boys and someday, men. It uses a personal, modern example – my father and other godly men the author has known – to illustrate what God has already said in Scripture.

A generation of heroes does not arise in a vacuum.  Such heroes are prepared by their fathers.

It is appropriate to remember the WWII generation. That generation of warriors spent their youth laboring to eke out a living after the Depression. They forged their character on hard work and frugality. They were farm boys and clerks and ditch diggers. Most were not raised with silver spoons and almost none of them had much leisure time. Then they went to war and saved western civilization from the godless tyranny of Hirohito and Adolph Hitler.

Learn about the Battle for Iwo Jima from eyewitnesses. This beautiful new hardback edition of Preparing Boys for Battle is filled with remarkable true stories from the Battle for Iwo Jima and the ensuing air war over Japan. Scott Brown’s own father was a P51 Mustang pilot who arrived on Iwo Jima during the early days of the battle.  He spent hours interviewing him and his friends and also visited the island itself to see where it all happened. These are their stories.

Key features of Preparing Boys for Battle:

• Each story in this volume points to the great truths of the Bible. They all explain indispensable gospel themes that fathers need to communicate to their sons to prepare them for the battles ahead. Each chapter explains what every son needs to hear his father say.
• You will have a graphic and accurate history of the battle from first-hand testimony of eyewitnesses. It is a living history connected to biblical truth.
• This edition offers an expanded array of original battle photos that document the scenes of the battle for Iwo Jima in a fresh and beautiful new layout.

With this book, you will have an engaging way to prepare a boy for battle with living history and practical theology.

Contents

• How to Use This Book
• Introduction: The Battlefield of My Father’s Youth
• The Book I Always Wanted

1. Unmatched Battle: Don’t Waste Your Youth
2. Mount Suribachi: Lead Courageously
3. Life in a Foxhole: This World is not Your Home
4. Division of Labor: Pull Your Weight
5. The Terror of Flamethrowers: Repent and Believe in the Gospel
6. The P-51D Mustang: Choose the Right Weapons
7. Massive Deployment: Take on Mighty Challenges
8. Handling Dire Straits: Trust in the Sovereign Hand of God
9. Training Harder Than the Real Thing: Accept Tough Discipline in Training
10. The Meat Grinder: Consider It Joy When You Encounter Trials
11. Black Friday: Don’t Pre-Judge Disasters
12. Shot Down in Enemy Waters: The Lord Goes Before You
13. For Your Tomorrow We Gave Our Today: Sacrifice for the Next Generation
14. Buddies: Make Long and Loyal Friendships
15. Boxes from Home: Flee Immorality
16. The Church Triumphant: Never Neglect the Church

• Journey to Honor My Father
• Epilogue: Last Chance to Honor

About the Author

Scott T. Brown is the director of Church & Family Life. He is also pastor at Hope Baptist Church in Wake Forest, North Carolina. Scott is author of Journey Through the Bible and A Weed in the Church.  He has a Master of Divinity degree from Talbot School of Theology. Scott’s passion is to give his best to his church in expository preaching and local pastoral ministry.  He also leads conferences on biblical doctrine and church and family reformation.

Scott and his wife, Deborah, have four grown children. He considers it his calling to help people think biblically about the two greatest evangelistic and discipleship institutions God has provided: the church and the family.