Christians Doubting Salvation, Secret Sin, Leaving Your Church

Summary

Wretched Radio with Todd Friel

Episode: Christians Doubting Salvation, Secret Sin, Leaving Your Church
Date: May 12, 2026

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Overview

This episode of Wretched Radio, hosted by Todd Friel, dives deep into three core struggles often faced by Christians: doubts about salvation, battling secret sins, and discerning when—or if—it is appropriate to leave your local church. The discussion combines biblical counsel, probing questions, and candid reflection to address assurance, sin, and church community with Friel’s trademark mix of insight and humor.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Struggling with Assurance of Salvation

[00:33–15:10, 15:21-26:01]

• Commonality of Doubt:
  Many sincere believers struggle with doubts about their salvation. Friel emphasizes that a lack of assurance is not equivalent to a lack of salvation—just a lack of the fullness of joy that God wants believers to experience.

• Introspective Questions:
  Todd introduces a set of introspective questions to help listeners diagnose the roots of their doubts. Key questions include:

  • “When you think about your salvation, what specific fears or doubts come to mind?” [01:39]
  • “What scriptures give you confidence that you belong to Christ? Which passages trouble you?” (e.g., Hebrews 6)
  • “How do you respond when you sin, especially big sins?”
  • “Are there particular sins that make you feel disqualified from salvation?”
  • “Do you believe God’s grace is greater than your worst sin?”

• Assurance and Response to Sin:
  Friel discusses the biblical truth of justification—that through Christ, believers now have peace with God and permanent acceptance, even when wrestling with persistent sin.

  “You are facing toward God, and guess what? He never turns his face from you.”
  (Todd Friel, 06:18)

• Conviction vs. Condemnation:
  Christians should distinguish true conviction from the Holy Spirit (which leads to repentance and restoration) versus condemnation from the enemy or one’s own conscience (that leads to despair).

  “The Holy Spirit wouldn’t tell you, ‘Oh, you’re not saved anymore.’ Because when He saved you, He sealed you... And God can’t go back on that.”
  (Todd Friel, 09:56)

• Comparison with Others & Emotions:
  Comparison and emotional ups and downs can fuel doubts, but assurance is based on God’s promises, not feelings or how one stacks up against other believers.

  “Feelings do not determine your salvation. They have no judicial power... Instead, you need to believe what the Bible says.”
  (14:48)

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2. Secret Sin and Assurance

[15:10-26:01]

• Ongoing Sin as a Roadblock:
  Secret or besetting sins, particularly sexual sin such as pornography, are often linked to struggles with assurance.

  • Friel addresses correspondents who write about assurance, asking point-blank if pornography is involved—almost without exception, the answer is yes.

• The “Value” Principle:
  The ability to overcome sin (even ingrained habits) is linked to what the believer values most.

  “If I offered you a million dollars to not touch porn for the next 48 hours, could you pull it off? The answer is, yeah, you could... The problem is, right now, you want the porn more than you want holiness, more than you want Jesus...”
  (Todd Friel, 20:55)

• Cultivating a Greater Affection:
  The path to victory is to “elevate your esteem of Jesus” so that sin becomes unattractive by comparison.

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3. Church Community: Should I Stay or Should I Go?

[29:36–40:26, 43:49–53:55]

• When to Leave a Church:

  • Leaving a church should never be done lightly—it ought to be as painful as leaving family.
  • The primary allowable reasons for leaving are doctrinal error or spiritual starvation—other, lesser matters should be worked through patiently.

• Case Study Letter:
  Listener writes about leaving a Word of Faith church (with warm fellowship but poor doctrine) for a solid, expository-preaching church that didn’t have a “family feel.” After years, they still struggle with not feeling connected.

• Counsel on Leaving for “Warmth”:
  Friel counsels that sound doctrine should outweigh the emotional component of “feeling like family.” If a church is doctrinally sound with godly elders, the right course is to stay and seek to improve the fellowship.

  “It’s better to go to a church with sound biblical doctrine because they're so hard to find, than feeling like you’re in a family.”
  (Todd Friel, 53:13)

• How to Address Lack of Warmth:

  • Talk to the Elders:
    Approach leadership with concrete, charitable feedback—they may be unaware of the issue.
  • Self-Examination and Contribution:
    Consider ways you can personally help cultivate warmth and hospitality in the church.

    “You should fight to make it a place that is warm and familial so that the next people who walk through the door will feel welcomed and they will not have to ask, should I stay or should I go?”
    (Todd Friel, 53:36)

• Unity in the Church:
  True unity and warmth are achieved by emphasizing brotherly and sisterly love (cf. 1 Peter 3:8). Differences on non-essential matters should be met with mutual humility and deference.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Assurance:

  “Just because you doubt it doesn’t mean you’re out.” (00:59)

• On Church Leaving:

  “Leaving a church should be brutal for you. Leaving a church should feel like you’re leaving your family behind at the border and you’re never going to see them again.”
  (Todd Friel, 31:03)

• On Affections and Sin:

  “You need a greater affection for Jesus. And what does that do? It diminishes your affection for sin.”
  (Todd Friel, 22:14)

• On Comparison with Other Believers:

  “If you’re going to compare your spirituality to anybody else’s, you need to compare it to Jesus, and wow, do you fall short... He is strong. You are weak.”
  (Todd Friel, 15:22)

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Important Timestamps

• 00:33: Introduction of assurance and doubt in salvation.
• 01:39 - 11:32: Introspective questions diagnosing assurance.
• 14:48: The problem of feelings driving assurance.
• 15:10 - 22:14: Secret sin, especially pornography, and its impact.
• 29:36: “Should I stay or should I go?”—when to leave a church.
• 43:49: Recap and analysis of the listener letter about church warmth.
• 53:13: Resolution—why sound doctrine trumps feelings of fellowship.

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Summary Table of Discussion Flow

| Topic | Timestamps | Core Points | |----------------------------|---------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Assurance/Self-Examination | 00:33–15:10 | Key questions to diagnose doubts, distinction between conviction & condemnation, assurance rooted in Christ’s finished work | | Secret Sin & Assurance | 15:10–22:14 | Persistent sin, especially pornography, erodes assurance; victory depends on valuing Christ above sin | | Emotions and Comparison | 14:48–15:22 | Assurance is not feelings-based; dangers of comparing oneself to others | | Leaving Church: When & Why | 29:36–53:55 | Leaving should be rare, for weighty reasons; listener case study on lack of fellowship; counsel to stay and foster warmth in a sound church | | Unity and Love in Church | 48:23–53:55 | True unity and warmth must be pursued; emphasis on humility and loving the body despite differences |

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Tone and Language

Friel’s tone throughout is pastoral, direct, and often humorous. He is honest about the intensity of doubt and struggle but unflinching in calling listeners to a deeper, biblically rooted faith rather than simply seeking emotional comfort.

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Conclusion

Todd Friel encourages believers to dig deep into the reasons behind doubts about salvation, to confront and forsake sin by cultivating greater love for Christ, and to value doctrinally faithful churches—taking responsibility to build community rather than seeking out easier, warmer alternatives. Assurance is found in God’s promises, not in feelings, and Christians are called to pursue unity, love, and faithfulness in their local congregations.

Transcript

[A]

Wretched radio begins in 3, 2, 1.

[B]

God gave me a Ferrari because I am a Ferrari. You're a Ferrari too. When God made you, he had all the options put on. You are fully loaded and totally equipped. So do this with me. Where did we ever come up with the style of preaching we have today? There is some entertaining preaching, but not convicting preaching. And the legacy has been tragic.

[A]

It's time for Wretched Race Radio with Tod Friel.

[B]

How can you know why you don't know? This is Wretched Radio. That was not a trick statement. How do you know why you don't know, you say. What are we talking about here? The answer is assurance. You don't know that you're saved, but you don't know why. You don't know that you're saved. You've repented and put your trust in Jesus Christ. You believe in him and yet you didn't believe enough, you didn't repent enough. Or you're sinning too much and you think you are suddenly out of the kingdom. You don't know for sure, but we need to figure out why you don't know. How do you do that? If you're one of the myriads, and I mean myriads of Christians who struggles with doubt, ongoing nagging that you're not saved, you have a lack of assurance. And please note this. Well, just because you lack assurance doesn't mean you lack salvation. What it means is you're lacking the full joy of the Lord that you could be experiencing. Just because you doubt it doesn't mean you're out. Go ahead and tweet that. Somebody please tweet that. Jimmy, that one's yours.

[C]

Okay. Come on.

[B]

If you mean out, doesn't mean you're out. Because we can be weak and we can be wobbly kneed and you're not alone. But the Lord doesn't want you to stay there. Just because you got lots of company in the land of lack of assurance, it doesn't mean God wants you to stay there. He wants you to enjoy him more fully every day. How can you do that? Well, I hold in my never before nicotine stained fingers a series of introspective questions that you can ask yourself to get to the heart of the matter. I think that's a Don Henley song. Heart of the matter. Very underrated singer. How do you know why you don't know? These questions might help you dig down deep to discern what's going on there so that you can overcome the reason for your lack of certainty. That's crucial because if you just try to put a band aid on it. If you just try. Well, I'm just going to try a mantra. I'm just going to try to. I'll just block the thought. Block the thought. Block the thought. While that can be a helpful exercise, it doesn't get to the root of the issue. We gotta go do some heart surgery. Are you ready to go under the knife? Here we go. Question number one. When you think about your salvation, what specific fears or doubts come to mind? Now you're thinking about, I got saved. What pops into your brain? What is the fear? What is the doubt? If you lack assurance, think about it. Ponder this. Is it because you don't have a conversion story? You don't have a testimony? Maybe it's because you don't have a spectacular testimony, which is kind of funny because every testimony is spectacular because God takes a dead person and makes them alive. But you didn't do crack, or at least not much. You weren't a crack addict. So your testimony, it's not that good. Furthermore, I don't know if I know the date of when it happened. I never really experienced something like, whoa, bu Saul on the road to Damascus. Stop for a second and figure out what it is, because it's going to help you to address it. If you don't know what it is, you can't speak into it. If you can't identify what is the root, how are you possibly going to dig it up when you don't know what you're digging for? So the question again. When you think about your salvation, what specific fears or doubts most often come to mind? Number two, what scriptures give you confidence that you belong to Christ? Which passages trouble you? There are some passages that cause people to stumble. They'll read up probably Hebrews 6. Oh, no. Does that mean that I can lose my salvation? Perhaps I have. I just saw a video. There's a young man, it seems he goes out to campuses. He's gained quite a following. And the video was something about somebody approached him. He was kind of doing a Charlie Kirk sort of affair at the campus, sitting there, taking questions. And the young man approached him and said, you know, was talking about assurance of salvation or being able to persevere to the end. So perseverance of the saints. And this young man he brought out, I believe, Hebrews 6, like, aha, see right there, you can lose your salvation. Well, aha. That's not what it's talking about. The book of Hebrews is written to at least three different groups of individuals, those who definitely are saved, those who are thinking about it, and those who are rejecting. And it depends on which verse you're in. So the author of Hebrews, Bob, the author of Hebrews, was addressing in Hebrews chapter six, those that were familiar with Christianity, that were pondering Christianity, but they were attracted to Jewish things, meaning temple ceremonies, sacrifices, the festivals. Oh, that's like home for me. That's where I came from. And Bob is saying, don't go back. No, no, no, no, no, you don't want to go back there. Don't go back there. Come forward. Rest in Christ, the ultimate sacrifice. The Lamb of God who takes away. Doesn't just cover. Takes away the s. So Hebrews 6 shouldn't trip you up, but you need to identify which verse does so you can go after it and you can figure out what it is actually saying or deal with it through counsel or through study. Number three. How do you respond when you sin? This is a biggie. When you sin. Now let me put an adjective. When you commit a big sin, you know the one. It's probably your besetting sin or the thought that you wish never rattled around your noggin. What do you do? What's your reaction specifically toward God? Is it run? Is it flee? Is it push it out of your mind? Is it be quiet? Is it don't communicate with God for several days until maybe it's kind of somehow now you've been. Time has purchased your redemption and you can talk to him again. Or maybe he's not so mad at you because you committed your big sin again. What is your sin? And what do you think about God when you commit that sin? And therefore, what is your response? Are you running away or running to. Just heard a snippet. Oh, this is. I just. Milton, Vincent. Wow. By the way, if you lack assurance, you need to go hear this whole sermon. We played it here before. It's one of my favorites. It's his teaching on justification. I think it's five or six. Six points of the doctrine of justification. From Romans 5, 1, 2. We have peace with God, he said. It speaks of towardness. You were running from God, but now you're face to face with God because of justification. It brings peace with God, toward God, face to face with God, and guess what? He never turns his face from you. Now, you might try to turn your face from him, but because of Jesus and justification, you are facing toward God, that needs to be embedded into your brain so that you don't think about turning and Running. And he wants to hear you when you sin. He wants you to respond, confess your sins. Why? Because he's faithful and just. To forgive you of your sins and cleanse you from all unrighteousness. Do you run from God? Do you run to God? Number four. Are there any particular sins from your past or present that make you feel disqualified from salvation? Probably. That big whopper sin, that besetting sin, is it tripping you up? Why? Why is that sin not forgiven? No. You're probably thinking, yeah, it is, but I shouldn't keep doing it. You're right, you shouldn't. But what is God's attitude toward you when you are fighting against it and you fall? I didn't say that. You're diving into a cesspool of sin and you're swimming around doing the backstroke with a Mai Tai and a raft. That's not the heart of the Christian. But that's not what I'm describing. You're warring against sin. You fight sin, you fall to sin. Now the question is, what is God going to do with that sin? And the answer is, it was already paid for on the cross. If you are in Christ, it can't disqualify you. Number five. Do you believe God's grace is greater than your worst sin? Number six. How would you distinguish conviction from the Holy Spirit versus condemnation from the enemy or from your own conscience? That could be it, couldn't it? Maybe that's what's going on. How do you distinguish conviction from the Holy Spirit? Because remember, if you're feeling bad after your sin, good. You should. Even if you're tempted by it and you're entertaining it and you feel conviction, praise God for that. That's conviction of the Holy Spirit. But it's possible also that your mind is also perhaps making the sin greater than it is, putting the sin out of the reach of God's grace or inflating the sin to the degree where you feel like it has condemned you. That's you. It's not the Holy Spirit. Because the Holy Spirit wouldn't tell you, oh, you're not saved anymore. Because when he saved you, he sealed you. And he can't unsave you because you have been justified. You have been declared righteous. A proclamation was made in heaven that was heard throughout the universe that said righteous when you got saved. And God can't go back on that. You're in, you're in, you're in. And if you're being convicted of your sin, be careful. It's not just you. Because if it's been just you condemning yourself all along, then you need to stop listening to you. But if it's conviction by the Holy Spirit, then you should stop and say, this doesn't mean I'm not saved. It is actually a sign that I've been regenerated. How are you doing? Are we getting anywhere near the aorta? That's the only heart term I could think of. This is wretched radio.

[C]

Ask most Christians what they know about hermeneutics and you'll likely get Herman who? That sounds like somebody's uncle? Is that the guy that always comes and just stays quiet in the back of the small group? Hermeneutics is actually the art and science of interpreting scripture and if you don't know how to do it rightly, you're going to read the Bible wrongly. Worse, you're actually going to be an easy target for every false teacher with a podcast and a proof text. Herman, who is basically a Master's level education in how to read the Bible correctly and it's condensed into something that you can actually finish. You'll learn how to interpret a 2000 year old book in a 21st century world without twisting it into something it was never meant to say. By the end of it, you'll never read Scripture the same way again, and you'll never have the wool pulled over your eyes by someone who sounds confident but but doesn't know what they're talking about. Herman who it is streaming right now for free on Fortis. Download the app on your smartphone, on your smart TV, or just simply go

[B]

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[C]

admit it, you're like the rest of us. You've got 47 streaming services and you're paying for at least six of them. But somehow every night you sit down on the couch and you say there's nothing to watch. Meanwhile, Fortis plus is sitting right there for free on your Roku, your Fire tv, Apple tv, Android, hundreds, maybe even thousands of hours of content on theology, marriage, parenting, manhood, cultural issues, stuff that actually matters. And you know what? We keep adding more, of course. You could scroll through Netflix clicks for 45 minutes looking for something that won't rot your brain. Or you could pull up Fortis and learn something that'll actually help you be a better husband, dad or Christian by the time the credits roll. Download the Fortis app right now. It is absolutely free and it's on your tv. And unlike that true crime documentary that you've watched three times, at least it might actually do you some good.

[A]

Know your Reformers John Calvin was a French pastor, an author of the Institutes of the Christian Religion. His writings and ministry made Geneva, Switzerland, a hotbed of Reformed theology. His institutes are still guiding documents for Reformed churches across the globe. This is Wretched Radio with Todd Friel.

[B]

Forgiveness,

[C]

forgiveness even if, even if you don't love me anymore.

[B]

So effortless. This is Wretched Radio trying to get down to the heart of the matter. Why you lack assurance. Why do we bang this drum regularly? Because there are so many people who need to hear it banged. I think that's the right verb tense. You need to understand why you are having those feelings. You've got to get to the heart of the matter. To do that, I have some questions that you can ask yourself. Don't worry, you don't have to pass your paper forward. This is between you and the Lord. Be as introspective as you can possibly be. These are intended to help you discover. That's it. That's why it's that issue right there. Question number whatever we're on. Do you tend to compare your spiritual life with other believers? Uh oh. You could be in trouble from a lot of different perspectives. First of all, you can start comparing your spiritual life to others and conclude, I think I'm doing pretty well. Oh, look out danger. You're going to be in trouble with that one. On the other hand, most likely, if you are one who struggles with assurance, you see other people and it seems like they read their Bible all the time, every day, all day. That's all they do. They never seem to sin. Everything seems to be right in their world. Don't compare yourself to others because you don't know the struggles that they have. You don't know what's going on behind closed doors. Furthermore, it's just not helpful. It just doesn't help to compare. Because truthfully, if you're going to compare your spirituality to anybody else's, you need to compare it to Jesus and wow, do you fall short. And that's when you go running to that Jesus who welcomes you and says, yeah, yeah, I get it, I understand. I'm a sympathetic high priest and I just keep on forgiving you. I keep on sustaining you because I know your faith is weak. He is strong. You are weak. And to simply compare yourself to others, you're just going to hear nothing but condemnation, not encouragement. Be careful how you do that. If you do it. Number what role do emotions play in your assurance? Do you equate feeling saved with actually being saved? Mmm, I just don't feel saved. I'll never forget the first time that I heard very famous radio guy say, you know, sometimes I pray and I just feel like my prayers are just bouncing off the ceiling. And what does that feel like exactly? Tell me, tell me about that feeling. Because the Christian's prayers don't bounce off the ceiling. They're efficacious because of Jesus. So what is that feeling? What is it supposed to feel like for God to hear your prayers? What does it feel like to be saved? Do you walk around and you just got a little tingle? Just a little. Yep, I've got a little buzz nobody else has. What does it feel like to be saved? Feelings do not determine your salvation. Now, it is true that there are times we need to deal with conviction. It is true that if we are lacking joy, joy, joy, joy down in our heart, that we need to address that and perhaps be more disciplined. But don't let feelings make the final declaration about the status of your soul. Your feelings, they have no jurisdictional power. Judicial, that would be better. Judicial power. They can't slam the gavel and say, yep, you feel right, you're saved. Instead, you need to believe what the Bible says. And the Bible says that if you turn from your sins and put your trust in Jesus Christ, you are saved. Let the declarative words of scripture confirm that God has saved you, not your feelings. Number 10, I think, are there unresolved patterns of disobedience or secret sin that may be affecting your fellowship with God? I think that I've shared this before, but nevertheless, it is so constant. I get emails from young men saying, hey, I'm really struggling with assurance. And the email will be longer, it'll be shorter, more or less details. And my response will be a single sentence. Are you looking at porn? And I don't think that there's ever been a time that somebody who has written in, who's struggling with assurance didn't say, yes. Why because they go hand in hand. Sin will do that, especially sexual sin. It's a special category, sin and how it affects us because it's so precious. And God wants you to use that joy in a particular way. And when you are doing something that is so bad and so bad for you, it affects you in profound ways. And one of those ways, lack of assurance. So do you have an ongoing sin? That could be why you're lacking assurance. So what do you need to do to have assurance? Stop that sin. That's too simple. No, I don't think so. I am quite certain. I think it was Paul Washer who came up with this illustration, and you could do a variation on the theme. But I think he said you struggle with pornography and you say you just can't stop it. What if I offered you a million dollars to not touch it for the next 48 hours? Could you pull it off? And the answer is, yeah, you could. Why? Because you want the million dollars more than you want the porn. The problem is, right now, you want the porn more than you want holiness, more than you want Jesus more than you want to be a vessel set apart. You can stop sinning. The challenge for you is that you need an object more worthy of your affection and devotion. And sometimes this is where people get tripped up. Well, okay. Well, I know the answer to that. It should be Jesus. So then if I'm tripping up, that must mean I don't believe in Jesus. No, that's not what it means. What it means is you need to elevate your esteem of Jesus to the point where porn is like, bleh. Ugh. I'd rather have the million dollars. I'd rather have Jesus than that. We talk about that. By the way, if you're one who struggles with pornography, play the man. It's on fortisplus.org, it's totally free. We have a video version. Jimmy, is that thing two hours? Do I remember that?

[C]

I believe so, yes.

[B]

Yeah, we did that together. That was two hours long. You can watch it, you can read it. It's there. I think it's even been translated into Spanish, if I'm not mistaken. It helps you to see that you need a greater affection for Jesus. And what does that do? It diminishes your affection for sin. And when that happens, you'll stop sinning as much. And guess what? You're going to have more assurance. Question number 11. How do you understand adoption? Do you believe that God relates to you as a loving father? This is why the Paucity of preaching on the doctrine of adoption is such a tragedy for the evangelical church. It is a glorious doctrine. You're a son or daughter, period. You can't get out. You can't get out of the family. You just can't. You can run away and you can be a rascal for a short season, but you can't get out of the family. And you wouldn't want to anyway. You've been adopted. Do you know that? 12. Have you experienced legalistic teaching, spiritual abuse, or just really bad representations, bad views of God that could possibly contribute to your fears? So in other words, you've got some theological issues, or you were maybe abused spiritually, or you were abused physically by somebody who claimed to be spiritual. I don't know that it gets any more wicked than that, frankly. Or legalistic teaching. And that remnant, it just. You can't scrub it off. I just got to do stuff. Oh, if I did that, then I'm in really big trouble. That could be affecting your lack of assurance. What are we doing? We're going down to the heart. What's there? That's what these questions are for. When you read passages about perseverance, apostasy, or judgment, how do you interpret them? Do you think you can lose your salvation? Then you will forever think you have? It's just natural, because the reality is the honest observer of oneself when it comes to keeping themselves secure through their works. Anybody who's honest will realize, haven't, can't, don't fail, I'm out. And you will be perpetually miserable and lacking assurance. If struggling. If a struggling believer came to you with the same fears you have, what counsel would you give them from Scripture? That's a really helpful question, isn't it? Because now, if you can discover what those verses are, guess who you should apply those verses to? Yourself. And furthermore, those verses probably help to identify what's going on at the heart level, what needs to be corrected, what needs to be rebuked, what needs to be encouraged, what needs to be comforted. If you lack assurance, God will help you. But you can't keep skimming the surface. You gotta go down deep. If you know somebody who's struggling with assurance, these are the types of questions that you have to ask them. By the way, we got through 13 or 14, I've got 16 more. And each one of them is just a different angle. It's a different approach. Why? Because you've got to figure out the root. And then once you put an X to it, you can replace it with a correct biblical root and have the correct fruit of assurance. This is Wretched Radio.

[C]

And it's now time for your daily Fortis News break. A production of Fortis Institute. In Alberta, the health minister is finally saying what shouldn't really need saying, and that's that a baby who survives a botched abortion is in fact a human being. Adriana lagrange, a Catholic mother of seven, told a Christian Leadership Summit that any child who survives birth deserves respect. And she's ordering Alberta Health Services to review its policies. And in Iowa, lawmakers took a more decisive approach. The legislature has passed a bill banning mail order abortion pills, requiring an in person visit before a woman is prescribed them. It now heads to Governor Kim Reynolds, who is expected to sign. Mail order pills are the engine of the abortion industry right now. As we've been talking about quite a bit lately, Planned Parenthood just bragged. Yeah, bragged about committing a record 434,000 abortions in the last year, 8% more than the year before. And Iowa just put a wrench in their machine. In Arizona, the state Senate passed a bill that requires public schools to teach students how babies actually develop in the womb. Age appropriate and factual, with no politics involved, just biology. The catch? It heads to the desk of a pro abortion Democrat, Governor Katie Hobbs, who will almost certainly veto it. Yeah, I guess that is just going way too far in one direction with the truth and whatnot. Out in California, the absurdity of letting boys compete against girls is just. Just hit a new low. Amy Hernandez, a male senior at a high school, swept the girls jumping events at the CIF Southern Section preliminaries, winning the triple jump by several feet and beating the nearest actual girl and the long jump by more than a foot. And AOC is at it again, this time trying to recruit the founding fathers into the socialist movement. In a video recently posted to her followers, she claimed the American Revolution was, in her words, against the billionaires of their time. Now, a quick history reminder for the Congresswoman. George Washington was one of the wealthiest landowners in Virginia, and John Hancock was one of the richest men in the colonies, which is why his name is the biggest signature on the Declaration. The Founders pledged their lives, their fortunes and sacred honor because they had fortunes to pledge. The American Revolution wasn't a workers uprising against rich people. It was a war for self government against a king. But when your worldview is Marxism, every historical event has to be made to fit into that worldview. And finally, GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen offered to buy eBay recently for $45 billion. Asked how he would pay for it, he joked that he's auctioning items on ebay to raise the cash. Ebay promptly suspended his account. They've since reinstated it, but they clearly show they have zero sense of humor. And that wraps up today's Fortis News Break. I'm Jimmy Hicks. If you want more, you can download Fortis plus or sign up to become a Fortis Insider for exclusive daily content, both which can be [e-mail] and don't forget, you can subscribe to Fortis News on your favorite podcast app in order to get these updates daily. And until tomorrow, go serve your king.

[A]

Books of the Bible Luke was a physician and companion of Paul who wrote an orderly account of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He meticulously details names, places and events. Luke shows great concern for people of every class, especially overlooked or undesirable people. We are all from various places and classes, but Jesus Christ is the saviour for all mankind. This is Wretched Radio with Todd Friel.

[B]

This is Wretched Radio. Wow, that's hot. Guess. Go ahead and guess. What question are we going to try to resolve? Should I stay or should I go? That's the one right there. This is Wretched Radio. Should you stay? Hey, I did pretty good. I talked over it, but I still got to the thing. I could be a radio professional. Should you stay or should you go? How do you know when to leave a church? Received an email from a couple who's struggling, if not for a reason, though, that you would imagine. Let's see if we can use their scenario to help us come up with rules to determine when you leave a church. This is a subject that these days, courtesy of Henry Ford, we all have to wrestle with because it's very easy to leave, isn't it? And there are times when you can. We've tackled this subject many times before. You can find all of those videos on the YouTube machine [e-mail] I know with Mike Fabaras we did a series on this subject. When do you go? I think with Phil Johnson, we did a series on this subject. There are times you can leave, but leaving a church should be brutal for you. Leaving a church should be so painful. Leaving a church should feel like you're leaving your family behind at the border and you're never going to see them again. Why? Because, well, you're breaking up with your family. In a sense, you're leaving your family. Now you're going to go get embedded into another family. I Trust. And those people are still your brothers and sisters. But because you are in that unique relationship with your local church, leaving those folks, it should be really hard. And so it's got to be a really high bar reason. It can't be something trivial. Furthermore, there's other things to consider when leaving a church. What kind of church am I leaving then? Why am I leaving a church like this? It must be done slowly and considerately. And there are times when we can say, yeah, it's good to go. Even if it's not a theological issue. There can be times. For instance, the opportunities for you to learn. They just have more classes, they have more Bible teaching. Please notice I didn't say events. Please notice I didn't say whoop dee doo for the kids. By the way, Jimmy, I found some whoopty doo.

[C]

I think you found some whoopty doo.

[B]

Well, it describes itself as whoopty doo. The headline from Crosswalk is a dude perfect themed VBS is coming to churches.

[C]

That is whoopty doo.

[B]

What's dude perfect?

[C]

It's. I think it was a very popular YouTube, like one of the very first YouTube shows. And then I think they got on regular mainstream tv.

[B]

Are they still popular?

[C]

I don't know, to be honest with you.

[B]

See, now my g. Now look, I'm just guessing. I'm going to go with they were popular 10 years ago, which is why they, not the church, has now embraced them. You're right to be current and hip

[C]

because my kids watched them 10 years ago.

[B]

You know, the church, we're right on top of it. We are relevant is what we are, right here. So here's this. This is these five who wrote this. These five guys are in love with Jesus and they've been looking for an opportunity to share their faith. Can we just lose that phrase? It just has too much romantic baggage. You can say you love Jesus. In love with Jesus. It doesn't border on creepy. It just plain is a dude. Perfect theme. Vacation Bible School for 2027, describing it as a week filled with high energy games. Why is that? First you got to have the hook to get the kids to come. They think engaging teaching and unforgettable moments, whatever that means. Where kids will explore how God is calling them into something bigger than themselves. That is potentially a good teaching and potentially a bad teaching. It's potentially good because we are called into something bigger than ourselves. We're called into expanding Christ's kingdom. Needless to say, that's bigger than ourselves. However, I've heard that phrase used Deletoriously, you can do great things. God has great plans for you. I can't wait to see the great things that God is going to have you accomplish. Hold it. First of all, define great things. God's style or the world's understanding of a great thing. Second of all, why does somebody have to do what the world esteems to be a great thing? You don't have to become the president to do a great thing. You want to do a great thing. Be a godly husband, be a faithful wife, be an obedient child. That's a great thing. Those are God's great things. You've got to become the CEO of a Fortune 500 company. Otherwise you haven't done great things. You hear that at graduations all the time, don't you? Go out there and do great things, conquer the world. Well, you can knock yourself out and do that if that's your calling. But for most of us, it's just being faithful. That is what is a great thing. That you just persevere and you keep striving to become more godly. That is a very great thing. So my question about this vacation Bible school is why does it have to have high energy games? I know it's vacation Bible school, I get it. But what are we telling the kids? We're the church. Why do we feel like we have to put mayonnaise all over it for them to possibly endure the flavor of the meat that we want to serve them? Okay, that wasn't the greatest culinary illustration, but why do we have to put barbecue sauce all over the roast beef for it to be tasty? We want to serve them the meat. We want to give them truth and the gospel. Why do we have to just. Everything just has to be ha ha ho ho, whoop de do. And hey, now we're just going to take a minute for some engaging teaching so that can do some great things. I know I'm a fuddy dud. I know I'm just a stick in the mud. But we're the church. They can get whoop dee doo anywhere. And they do get it anywhere. And furthermore, what does it say about the object of our faith that we have to make him entertaining? He's not interesting enough. We're going to hold your attention by whatever it is that dude perfect does. Look, maybe this Bible study is great. I'm just reading the press release here and it leads with high energy games as a part of vacation Bible school. So no critique. I don't know who these guys are. Let's Trust that they are in love with Jesus. But vacation Bible school? How's about something that actually pulls the kids up and presents it to them as something important, not as something trite, not as something that you've got to endure until we get back to the whipped cream fiesta. Why do we have to dumb things down for our children? Isn't that kind of our problem? That we dumb everything down for kids and we don't pull them up and we don't see them maturing as fast as they should? But I digress. Let's get back to our church conundrum. Should you stay or should you go? Dear Todd, my husband and I come from 20 plus years of attending word of faith churches. Despite that, we felt like we were family and loved the fellowship aspect. Pastor, please stay tuned for this letter. There's something. If you're not aware of it or if you at least haven't considered it or addressed it in a while, I think there might be something here for you to ponder. However much of what we were hearing in the pulpit then just didn't line up with God's word and we eventually were starving spiritually and realized we needed to change quickly. That's a good time to leave a church. You're in a prosperity church. You're in a word faith church. Time to go. Don't need to debate it. Scoot. Get out the door. Get away from it because it's bad for your soul. That's easy. By God's wonderful providence, our family is now approaching five years attending a church that has sound, verse by verse, expository preaching. Awesome. We started attending toward the end of the pandemic. That word. My husband and I. Jimmy, there's a new one coming. Hunt of virus, something like that.

[C]

Oh, that was. Yeah.

[B]

Is that. Is that a real deal or is that just another. Yeah. That scare you?

[C]

Yeah. Well, that. I think that was just related to the people on that ship. I don't think it can. From my understanding of the news stories, it's not going to spread.

[B]

Okay. Yeah. Do you know? Do you want to know? I can tell you. Do you want to know how it got on that ship?

[C]

How?

[B]

UFOs. That's what I'm telling you.

[C]

Thanks, Perry.

[B]

My God. Now send us money. That would be to be Perry stone. Hey, there's UFOs. Send me money. By God's wonderful grace, we've been in a place five years. Expository preaching. We started at the end of the pandemic. My husband and I. Oh. Didn't receive a super warm welcome. It wasn't a family feeling. Perhaps because everyone was on edge because of the pandemic. Yeah, that's very possible. That's my theory, writes this individual. But we stayed because the expository teaching of God's Word was so refreshing and everything we dreamed of for us and for our children. Yes, that's good. The pastors are great people love the Lord, by the way. Note that. So you got expository preaching that they are getting refreshed there and they've got elders who love the Lord. We've made friends with members that also love the Lord, yet we're struggling with feeling like we belong, bonding with the local body and experiencing sweet fellowship. It doesn't feel like family and we're discouraged. We've chatted about it, we've talked about whether we should stay or should we go, and we've made a decision. What is that decision? Please Google the word cliffhanger. We'll tell you in just a moment. But my question is, would you go? Would you leave a church like that? Now, assuming everything that we've just heard is accurate, that it's great teaching, it's godly elders, but it's not the warmest place in the world. Would you you stay or would you go? Next, on Wretched radio,

[C]

no Retreat. That's the name of Fortis Institute's Spring match campaign, and here's why. The culture we live in right now has made it pretty clear it has very little interest in the true gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. We're being told to keep our faith quiet in public or to soften what we believe so it goes down easier. Fortis Institute has no intention of doing either one. We exist to advance the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, and this spring we're doing it as loudly and as boldly as we know how. Your gift will help launch two new podcasts. It puts Todd Frill's new book, Go Serve youe King into print through HarperCollins, and it puts the gospel back onto college campuses, where it's least welcome and most needed. Our goal is $250,000, and we're asking if you would prayerfully consider helping us get there. You can find out more right [e-mail] donate most men don't make one big decision that takes them off course. No, it happens gradually, and eventually you look up and you realize, I've been coasting for years. Dr. Adam Tyson has created Walk Like a Man. It's available now on Fortis Plus. Dr. Tyson knows that's the story for way too many guys right now. And so he gets into God's word and he lays out what it actually looks like to walk with wisdom and live with real conviction. And the way he teaches it, you'll walk away from every episode knowing exactly what to do and why it matters. This is biblical teaching that puts solid ground under your feet and gives you a clear path forward. Forward. It's streaming right now, with new episodes dropping every Monday on Fortis plus for free. Download the Fortis plus app right now. Wherever you download apps on your smartphone, your smart TV, or just go to fortis plus.org and walk like a man. Hey, thanks for listening to Wretched Radio today. You know, finding Bible teachers you can actually trust is not as easy as it used to be. There is a lot of content out there, but not all of it's faithful. That's what Fortis Institute is building. We've brought together a team of fellows, people like Tim Challis, Dr. Jason Lyle, Dr. Andrew Walker, Dr. Greg Gifford, Pastor Brad Bigny, Todd Friel, Dr. John Kratz, Libby Glossin, Dr. Adam Tyson. And they're all committed to teaching the word without apology. These aren't influencers. They're not chasing trends. These are serious teachers doing serious work. And the reason that we've been able to bring voices like this together in one place is because of our gospel partners, men and women just like you, who find value in what we're doing at Fortis Institute. And if you appreciate what we're doing and you want to be a part of it, would you consider joining us as an ongoing monthly gospel partner? Help us to continue building something that matters? Just go to fortisinstitute.org right now. Wretched Amazing Grace Amazing Gospel.

[A]

Titles of Christ in the Bible, Jesus is given many titles that teach us about who he is and what he has done. Jesus is called the bridegroom. Christians are waiting for Christ's return, which the book of Revelation describes as the wedding of the Lamb. Christ will come to usher his bride, his church, into eternity with him. This is Wretched Radio with Todd Friel.

[B]

If you're listening, Greg Gifford, please forgive me. This is Wretched Radio. So the other night I'm reading an article which I just discovered sitting on my desk as we're preparing to return to the question du jour, which is also the question of the day, should you stay or should you leave your church? It was an article that Greg Gifford had written. I printed it out, I read it at home, and I marked it up. There was some helpful stuff, but it's like that just didn't quite seem up to his standard. Nevertheless, I marked it up, brought it in here to the radio studio, put it on my desk, and now I just picked it up. And I remember thinking, oh, yeah, there's some good stuff in here, but I don't know that there's enough stuff for it to be really helpful. And then I turned the page over and I realized, oh, I'd actually printed the article on both sides, and I didn't read three pages of it. I missed. No wonder why. It seemed a little choppy. Greg, I'm sorry I doubted you. Please forgive me if you don't listen to Greg Gifford and his Transform podcast. I'm telling you, don't skip an episode like I just skipped three pages. You will benefit so much from biblical counseling. He will talk about issues that we're all dealing with, and he will apply it directly to your heart, through your head. The numbers on it. It's crazy. It is growing really, really fast. It's already in the top 0.5% of all podcasts, but very soon it'll be like, 0.4%. It's really, really growing. He does an awesome job. You can find it wherever you do your Spotify, Google, Apple business. And as long as you're on your computer, don't forget about our spring matching gift campaign, no Retreat. Double your gifts right now, courtesy of our spring match gift campaign titled no Retreat. If you would like to consider supporting us, we'd be super grateful at this time. Matching gift campaign, fortisinstitute.org donate now to the question du jour, which is also the question of the day. Should you stay or should you go? Jimmy, I gave you the scenario of this couple. They found themselves a good church. They left a word of faith church. Really warm, friendly, nice people. Doctrinally, a disaster. So they left. They found a great church, great preaching, great elders, but it doesn't have the same warmth, and they're feeling a little detached. They do have some friends that are inside of the church, but it just doesn't seem to be the same as it was. And they're making a decision, should I stay or should I go? What would you do, Jimmy?

[C]

Well, I mean, you know, my initial answer is gonna be something that we haven't discussed as they talk to the pastors.

[B]

Well done, Jimmy.

[C]

Because that's, you know, that's gonna determine.

[B]

You're just handsome.

[C]

Thank you.

[B]

You're intelligent.

[C]

I have a brain, too.

[B]

Well done. No that's exactly right. If they haven't yet, if these elders. The key in this email was these are elders who love the Lord and they're trying hard. They will welcome you. A pastor who's a shepherd will hear from you and want to know. Okay, tell me what you're experiencing. I want to know. I want to understand so that you can start working with them to help address it. If there really is a cultural deformity at your church, he wants to know about it because the pastor probably doesn't feel it. He probably isn't aware of that. Why? Well, because everybody knows the pastor. Everybody was, you know, the pastor greets everybody or at least tries to greet everybody. So he probably senses all is well in the church and maybe he doesn't know. So, Jimmy, well played, sir.

[C]

Thank you.

[B]

Before you go or before you commit to staying, you can just talk to them, but you're going to have to. This gets a little tricky because this could be a little playdoughy. It's not quite concrete. It's a little bit feelings based. You don't feel as welcome. You don't feel like people are as friendly without throwing anybody under the bus. You're going to have to try to come up with as concrete of examples as you possibly can. You don't need to name names, but you could share that. Because a church shouldn't be a cold place. Church should be a very familial place. Jimmy, want to know what I'm doing right now?

[C]

What are you doing?

[B]

I am woofed off fighting temptation. This Sunday sermon is about this subject. I did not bring this up for that purpose, but I'm just thinking about it. In fact, I think the title of the sermon is going to be your relationship with your church, because Peter is trying to bring about unity in the church. And guess what the centerpiece of that unity is brotherly and sisterly love. There's other components, but based on the chiasm that Peter presents in 1 Peter 3, 8:12 ish 13, it's very clear that we've got to be loving one another. And that's what brings about unity. Yes, you need to have doctrinal purity. You need to be on the same page as much as you can. But the reality is, while we can be on the same page theologically, that does not mean that we're always going to be the same page applicationally, meaning the running of the church, how we do stuff around here. I'm not necessarily talking about the church service, but maybe church polity here's a scenario for you. You've got 10 Christians in a room. All 10 of them agree on the five SOLAs. All 10 of them affirm grace alone, faith alone, Christ alone. The cardinal doctrines of the faith. We will die for these things because our Savior died for us. How many elders do you think we should have? One side says three, the other side says five. What's going to happen in a lot of churches? We'll go to war. We'll go to war. And I think it's helpful in those moments to step back and say, wait a second. We have unity. We have brotherly and sisterly love. How we go about the business of applying what we believe here in the running of the church. You're just going to have different opinions. And guess who should give in. All ten of you. All ten of you. Oh, I'm sorry. So you want five, I want three. Then guess what? I want five, too. Why? Because we do believe in the essentials together. We have unity together. I love you, you love me. Barney has nothing to do with this. Jesus certainly does. And I am going to bow to you because I will give deference to you. I will have humility in this, which Peter also talks about in 1 Peter 3. 8. That we have to be humble about these things. And it staves off the fracturing of the church because what he is seeking in these verses is unity in the body. So if you've got an issue with somebody in church, remember brotherly and sisterly love. I love these people. These people love me. Now, let's return to the situation at hand. Whether you should stay or should you go. You approach the pastor and you bring it to his attention. What might the pastor glean from a conversation like this? A good one. I can't tell you about a stinker, but I can tell you what a good one is going to do. He's going to start pondering. Okay, I'm going to assume that what I've just heard is true. Why? What's coming out of the pulpit or not coming out of the pulpit, that is failing to foster unity and love and familial warmth inside of this church. What do I think is the solution for a situation like this? I think the solution is to examine the preaching and the teaching. What is it cultivating in the church? Could this be rising to the level? It may, it may not. But could it be rising to the level where this. You know what we need a topical sermon series on unity. We can't wait to arrive to it in the text. Because unlike Alpharetta Bible Church. We're not in First Peter 3 this week. That's alpharettabiblechurch.org so we're gonna have to wait until we talk about unity. And you might just elevate it and say, no, we gotta talk about it now. We're gonna preach through a bunch of verses on unity and fostering that love with one another. He's going to want to know that so he can ponder it. He might also start thinking along the lines of, okay, have we become the Corinthian church where we've somehow broken up into sects that we've become too cliquish? It can happen. It doesn't have to be about, well, I like the associate pastor. I like the senior pastor. I like the pastor. It doesn't have to be that. It can just be that a church becomes cliquish. It does happen. You know how you're inclined to find those same people every week? Maybe you're just drawn to them. You've got to resist that temptation. You got to fight being in just one group of people all the time. Because a church can become very cliquish. And the pastor could then go about the business of addressing those things. Let's go back to our letter for a moment. Drum roll. Jimmy, I didn't say gargle.

[C]

Well, that was the quickest.

[B]

What happened to you? Are you all right? It's not like you're swallowing your tongue, frankly. My husband and I have the conversation about this. We've asked the Lord for his wisdom and guidance. We decided it's better to go to a church with sound biblical doctrine because they're so hard to find, than feeling like you're in a family. Now, I think that that right now is the right decision. That is the right decision. When there's a bump in the road in your church. Now, as I mentioned before, could there ever be a bump that causes you to take your car and put it into a different lane? Yes, yes, we've said that. But not so fast. You don't take the first immediate off ramp. You help smooth out those bumps. Stay there, bring it to the pastor's attention. Think about ways that you could help. Think about people that you could talk to, to bring into this, to say, hey, you know what? Have you noticed this about the church? Not because you're trying to gossip. How could we. How could we fix it? How could we help to cultivate an environment where we are all loving each other more? What could we do? And you see it as your ministry. Now, if it ever became so detrimental, it was stunting your walk and your kids are struggling with it and they hate going. Well, you can talk through it, but in the meantime, because you've got godly elders who love the Lord, they're preaching the word. I say you should stay and you should fight. Fight to make it a place that is warm and familial so that the next people who walk through the door will feel welcomed and they will not have to ask, should I stay or should I go? And until tomorrow, go serve your king.