← Wretched Radio with Todd Friel
Wretched Radio with Todd Friel
Donald Trump, Chaos in Culture, & Theo Von
00:54:59
Segment 1 • Political violence is ramping up… and the cause is more than strictly political. • The problem isn’t necessarily ideology - it’s exactly what scripture tells us it is. • Could evangelism—not political outrage—actually reduce cri...
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Todd Friel
Assassination attempts, Theo Vaughn baring his soul. All of that to come. But first, would you be kind enough to Visit our website fortisinstitute.org specifically donate why we've got our spring matching gift campaign and thank you to all of the people who are so kind. We thank you for your trust. We thank you for your goodness to us. We do not take this stewardship lightly and we are filled with gratitude for those of you who have participated participated in the spring matching gift campaign called no Retreat. If you have not yet, we would be very grateful and truly we will steward your gifts. Well, you can learn more about this ministry, what our goals and plans are and what the Lord is doing here by visiting fortisinstitute.org donate now under the assassination attempts in Teovad, Wretched radio begins
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Todd Friel (Wretched Radio Host)
in 3, 2, 1.
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Todd Friel
Time for the church to acknowledge that we have brothers and sisters who are gay. LGBTs have to find a household of worship that reflects what your views are and what you believe. A gay person who still wants to attend church after the way the church has treated the gay community, I'm telling you, they have more faith than I do. They have more faith than a lot of you.
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Fortis Institute Announcer
What's not loving is to look someone in the eye when God says they are in jeopardy of an eternity in hell and merely wink and nod at their sin because you're afraid of being called names.
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Todd Friel (Wretched Radio Host)
It's time for Wretched Radio with Tod Friel.
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Todd Friel
Yes, we are going to talk about this, but no, we're not gonna talk about it like that. This is right shit radio. No doubt the political talking heads. Ho ho, ho, ho ho. It's a big day for them, courtesy of an assassination attempt. Just one more assassination attempt. I do believe the total is now seven assassination attempts on President Trump. This one not just aimed at the President Trump, but the entire administration. It took place Saturday night. Hilton Hotel correspondents dinner. A professor, a teacher anyway, at Caltech rushed the ballroom and that dude, he was lightning. That guy, he must have stretched because that dude was booking, ran through security firing shots in an attempt to. To assassinate the President and the entire administration. It's the recent attempt and no doubt the political pundits, they are having themselves a field day and we're going to let them. Why? Well, first of all, I'm not qualified to talk about political things. There, I said it. Second of all, I think that there are other areas of interest, questions that should be asked and answered from a Christian perspective. There are Christian things happening here and we need to filter this because we have a foot in the political realm, whether you like it or not. You and I, we participate in government. You and I participate in the realm of church. You and I participate in the realm of family. We have a foot in the political realm. And whenever something big like this happens in government, we do well to ask some questions. And they certainly can be asked from a political perspective, but others are doing that. Let's ask some Christian questions. Here's the first one. Why? Why is this happening? In fact, why is this happening? More and more, I do believe it is safe to say, because this is attempt number seven. No other president has had this many attempts. Now, they probably all had an attempt or two. We're up to seven. And we're just about six years into his term with two more years to go. Why is this happening more and more now? If you turn on the msnbc, no Fox News, probably they're going to tell you it's because the guy was a liberal, woke a Progressive who gave $25 to the Kamala Harris campaign. That's why he did it. Well, I'm sure that's a part of it. That's what his manifesto said. But I think we can go deeper than that. This man wasn't a Christian. Christians don't shoot presidents. Christians don't endanger other lives simply because they're attending a banquet. This is happening because pagan people are acting like pagans. What can we do to stop assassination attempts? You probably say, well, nothing. That's not even my job. That's CIA, Secret Service. They're supposed to handle those things. Oh, there's something we can do. The Christian religion is salty and it's light and it can invade these places and it can change things. But how? And I think the answer is quite obvious. The theme that is repeated over and over and over again in the New Testament is salvation. If that dude were born again, he wouldn't have done that. He wouldn't have done it. Not if he was genuinely born again. He would not have committed such an atrocious crime. But he wasn't born again. There are other people out there who are probably as unhinged as this fellow is. They might give it a go, too. What can you do about it? Evangelize them. Witness to them. If Christians were witnessing to more people, there would be fewer assassination attempts. There would be fewer. You list the crime, you list the perverted behavior. The response to something like this is not to simply look in the political realm and say, well, how can we trash the other side? Or whatever. You know, we need to shut these people down. They're just whack jobs and they're. No, our response is we need to double down on our efforts to evangelize people. If you don't like seeing assassination attempts, share your faith. If you don't like the trajectory of our country. Witness to somebody. I'm sorry, First Peter. It's the book of the Bible that we're in right now at Alpharetta Bible Church. Over and over and over again, Peter sneaks in. Sometimes it's overt, sometimes it's a little bit more subtle. But the repetitious theme and I think the major theme of the book of First Peter's evangelism. Now, this week, this upcoming week, we're going to be talking about wives submitting to husbands. On Sunday, we talked about submitting to a bad boss. Why? Why? What was Peter's reason for this? And I think the answer is found in 1 Peter 2, 21, which follows it. You are called to this. And then it gives a description of everything that Jesus did to die for sinners. You are called to live a life just like Jesus did. How did Jesus live his life? Why did he live his life? What was his mission? And the answer is he lived his life to die for sinners. That people could be saved so God could be glorified. That was his calling. You are called to this. And so now, next week, when Peter addresses wives, why is a wife supposed to submit even to an unbelieving husband that he might get saved? Why are we to submit to government that we might silence the mouths of evil doers? In other words, we are about the business of being living testimonies for the Lord Jesus Christ that people will see our behavior, ask about the hope that lies within us, and we'll get to proclaim his excellencies. They'll get saved. God will be glorified on the day of visitation. That's why we're here. This is what you are called to. This is everybody's calling. And if we get about the business of answering that call, we'll simply see less. You're weary from woke politicians. All right, get them unwoke. How do you get somebody unwoke? Well, I guess you could try to persuade them with reason and logic. But knowing that the reason and logic machine is broken. They need a new mind. They need the mind of Christ. How does one get that? Well, you don't go to the dollar store. You need to be regenerated by the spirit of Go. How does he do that? Regenerating work through the proclamation of his word, we can make a difference. This nation can change, but it is not going to change from the top down. It has to change from the bottom up. It has to change in the heart level. Not through persuasive speech, not through showing stats and graphs to show which system is better, socialism versus capitalism. No, our mandate is clear. Proclaim His Excellencies and things will change. The political realm will change. It's fascinating, isn't it, in the context of 1 Peter 2, when Peter is writing to slaves who are being treated harshly by their masters, and they would be treated very harshly, it's estimated. This is speculation, but it's historical speculation. They think about half of slave owners were decent folks pretty much most of the time. About 25% could be pretty gnarly. The other 25%, look out, you could get cuffed for sneezing, you say, well, that's a silly example. No, that's actually a historical fact. A slave that was beaten because he sneezed at an inappropriate time. That was the treatment of many back then. Why didn't Peter say, get revolt hello or assassinate your master? Didn't do that, did he? And there's a lot of reasons for it, but number one is you're called to where you are. You're called to this. The Lord has you there because that's where he wants you. And he subverts the institution of slavery, which is a purely human institution. He subverts it not by telling them to resist or rebel or revolt, but by doing what? Submitting, doing everything unto the Lord Jesus Christ. You're not working for man, you're working for the Lord, said Paul. Ephesians 6. If I'm not mistaken, then that's what we're called to do. And what is the effect of that? How did Christianity ultimately subvert slavery? More and more people were becoming Christians and they understood. Black, white, purple. These are human beings. These are image bearers. And they wanted to set them. They wanted to set them free. What happened? What caused that revolution? It was not a revolution because Peter didn't give revolutionary advice. But in a sense it was revolutionary because it's so counterintuitive. Instead, he addressed slaves behaved like this staggering response to ill behavior. But masters get addressed too. You have to answer to God too. And all of a sudden there were constraints put on this institution for masters and for slaves. And ultimately, through the propagation of the gospel of Jesus Christ, slavery was abolished because we wanted to. Why? Because hearts had been converted. Hearts had been transformed. And they desired the liberation of people. That's how Christianity changes things. Scared, concerned, frustrated, angry from another assassination attempt. Proclaim His Excellencies. This is Wretched Radio.
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Fortis Institute Announcer
No Retreat. That's the name of Fortis Institute's Spring Match campaign. And we chose that name for a reason. It means something. See, the church has been quietly backing up for years. A doctrine gets uncomfortable, a truth sounds a little bit too exclusive. So we set them aside, and before long, you realize the gospel your church is preaching sounds more like an apology than an announcement. Fortas Institute exists to advance the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, the actual gospel. And right now, through the end of May, every dollar you give to the no Retreat Spring matching campaign will be matched dollar for dollar. Our goal is $250,000. And your gift will help launch two new podcasts, publish Todd Frill's book Go Serve youe King through HarperCollins, build biblical resources the church desperately needs, and fund gospel proclamation on college campuses. The gospel doesn't move backwards, and neither should we. You can find out more right now@fortisinstitute.org.
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Todd Friel (Wretched Radio Host)
LEXICON Pneumatology is a study of the Holy Spirit. Scripture reveals that the Holy Spirit is a person, not a force or manifestation. And he is God, the third member of the Trinity. His work is not to provide emotional highs or show up in glory clouds or gold dust. The work of the Holy Spirit is to bear witness to the Savior, Jesus Christ. This is Wretched Radio with Todd Frio
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Todd Friel
h. Why was this so hard to find? This is Wretched Radio. Cole Allen, a teacher at Caltech, attempted to kill the President of the United States and his entire administration on Saturday night. The world is agog. We Christians, we are pondering the issue from a different perspective. This is not a political issue. This is a spiritual issue. And if anybody can speak into it, it is we Christians. Especially when he writes a manifesto where he invokes Christ, suddenly we have a very keen interest, don't we? So the question that I have is, this dude who wrote an over 1000 word manifesto, why did I struggle to find it on the Internet? Not kidding. People talked about it. They would report a line or two, they would write about it. But I only found one place that actually where I could print it. And then printing it was just torture. I had to, like, copy it, put it into a different document because it was printing it sideways. It's like, why is this. Why aren't we. Why isn't this thing front and center? Oh, yeah, because the contents indicate this guy was Very, very woke. This guy was. This is, this is crt to its almost to its logical conclusion. What do you ultimately need to do to the oppressor? If they're evil, you got to take them out. And that's exactly what this manifesto points toward. This guy was woke. He talks about oppression. He also talks about apparently at some point in his life going to church. He talks about. He seems to describe himself as a Christian. Kind of hard to find this document. I wonder why. Nevertheless, I hold in my never before nicotine stained fingers the manifesto from one Cole Allen. He writes this. I am no longer willing to permit and I'm not going to repeat it. He makes a bunch of accusations about the President that are quite grotesque. I'm no longer willing to permit a man like that and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes. So clearly, who was he after? Well, we think that he might have been going after the President. Really? We think that he wrote it. Administration officials, not including Mr. Patel, they are targets prioritized from highest ranking to lowest. Why are we speculating about this? At this point? It's pretty clear what the dude was after. He wrote this. I would still go through most everyone here to get to the targets if it were absolutely necessary because people chose to attend a speech by blank person like that and thus they are complicit. But I really hope it doesn't come to that. So he was trying to avoid widespread collateral damage, but he was willing to create it if necessary. In other words, in his world, the ends justify the means. Now here's his objections. Objection number one. As a Christian, you should turn the other cheek. Huh? So it appears that the fellow identifies in some way, shape or form with being a Christian. So let us all with one voice as Christians say, no, he wasn't. This is not the behavior of a Christian. We reject this behavior. There is absolutely no justification for this type of behavior. And so if somebody, and probably somebody already has, well, the dude was a Christian. We need to shout, no, no he wasn't. Just like I wish the Islamic community would do with terrorists and assassins. They should be willing to say, no, he's not a Muslim. I don't hear that. But we should be speaking it so that people do hear us say, this is not Christianity. So here's his rebuttal. He gives an objection. You should turn the other cheek because you're a Christian. Here's his response. Returning, the other cheek is for when you yourself are oppressed. Ah, the word oppression. Actually, turning the other cheek is for you when you Are offended when you are slighted, when you are spoken ill of. Not sure I would call that oppression, necessarily. But nevertheless, I'm not the person raped in a detention camp. I'm not the fisherman executed without trial. I'm not a school kid blown up or a child starved or a teenage girl abused by the many criminals in this administration. So therefore, he thinks of himself, apparently, as a hero, as a vigilante who is not turning the other cheek. No, no, no. Instead, what he is doing is what is just in his perception. And this is the very definition of anarchy. And this is why the Bible gives us clear instructions about our posture toward government. Yes, there are certainly exceptions to our submission, but the posture of the Christian is we don't do stuff like this. This is just. We don't take. Because we're not given the sword, we have a foot in that jurisdictional realm. Not in an authoritative way, but because we participate in it, because we are citizens. But unless we're an elected official, we have no authority. We do not bear the sword. We are the church. We are the family. Those are our two jurisdictional realms. If you're a parent, then you have that authority. You raise your kids the way you want. Government shouldn't get involved. And frankly, pastors shouldn't be getting involved in the way you parent. Unless, of course, you're sinning and it's a spiritual issue. That's mom and Dad's realm, and that needs to be honored. Same thing with the church government. Sorry, you can't come in here. This is not your realm of jurisdictional authority. This belongs to Jesus Christ. He is the one who regulates everything that happens here because that is an assigned realm. Government is a minister. It's an assigned realm. They're given what authority? Now, it's a limited authority. It is over a vast number of people. But they are given the authority of punishing evildoers. That's their job. It's not ours. There's nothing inside of Christendom which suggests that we should go about the business of trying to assassinate presidents. We submit to bad governments. That's what we do. Because the alternative is absolute chaos and anarchy. If every single person can say, I'm disgruntled with the president, therefore I'm going to do what is just in my eyes. Sounds like the Book of Judges to me. Then nobody's going to stand for 10 minutes. Nobody's going to want to be president. It'd be utter chaos. We'd be living on the Lord of Flies Island. And therefore God administers government. And he says submit even when they're crummy. Objection number three. You didn't get them all rebuttal. Gotta start somewhere. Objection 4. As a half black, half white person, you shouldn't be the one doing this. What does skin color have to do with everything? Why is it always skin color? Rebuttal. I don't see anyone else picking up the slack, so why do you even bring it up? What is nobody should be doing this. Half black, half white, half orange. What difference does it make? What does skin color have to do with all of these issues? Oh, yeah, CRT has made it an issue. Objection number five. Ready for this? Yield unto Caesar. What is Caesar's? So glad he brought up that verse because it is a support verse for Romans 13. What did Romans 13 say? That the government is a minister of God. It is given a limited amount of authority over a vast number of people. To do what? Wield the sword. That is their mandate. Punish evildoers, reward those who do good. That is a realm of jurisdictional authority. That's Caesar's realm. But Jesus also said, you render unto God that which is God's. So if you will, this is a support, I think, of the church realm, where we handle spiritual matters, where we handle issues of the soul, where we handle. Yes, second tablet, but first tablet issues. There's also the family realm of jurisdiction. And these three realms cannot be like the jingle bell rock, jingle bell, jingle bell. No mixing and mingling. The realms can't mix. The church can't tell parents when to put their kids to bed because that's not the realm of authority that we're given. Parents get to do that. The government can tell the church what to do. And the church and the family can't be telling the government what to do with the authority of. Hey, we've been given authority. Well, God, he draws some lines of authority. And the government is given the authority to bear the sword. Church handles spiritual matters. Parents handle family matters. Now listen to his rebuttal. The United States of America are ruled by the law, not by anyone or several people. Oh, so we submit to the law, but not to people, is the argument. Insofar as representatives and judges do not follow the law, no one is required to wield them anything. So unlawfully ordered. That's a little bit of a tricky sentence. If the government commands you to sin, you don't do it. If the government forbids you from obeying a command of God. We obey God, not the government. But that's not what he's saying here he's saying anything unlawfully ordered. In other words, if I don't think that they should be giving us that rule of law because I think it's unlawful, then I do not have to submit to those people. Furthermore, his argument is I can take them out. This is the Book of Judges, and this is why Peter and Paul are both emphatic. Christians are a submissive people. If everybody is allowed to make this decision, I don't think that that is lawfully ordered. It is utter chaos and we would be living in a perpetual bloodbath. And that is why the Bible has jurisdictional realms of authority. We are the church, we obey God in every one of these realms, but we submit to the government. The alternative Scarface would have nothing on what America would look like if we were not an orderly, civilized and submissive people. This is Wretched Radio.
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Fortis Institute Announcer
And it's now time for your daily Fortis News break, a production of Fortis Institute. A would be assassin opened fire outside the White House Correspondent's Dinner on Saturday night, forcing President Trump and the first lady to flee the Washington hilltop. The gunman, 31 year old Cole Thomas Allen of California, charged a security checkpoint with a shotgun, a handgun and multiple knives. He fired several rounds before Secret Service agents took him down. Allen is a Caltech grad and minutes before the attack he sent a relative of manifesto mocking Christianity, sneering at turning the other cheek as complicity in oppression. Last fall, he urged trans identifying followers to stockpile guns before Trump could ban them. And in Canada, one of the original architects of pediatric gender medicine just told a University of Alberta audience she'd no longer medicalize most of the kids walking into her clinic. Dr. Corinne Kachadourian started prescribing hormones to gender distress minors back in 2014 after roughly 250 patients. She's pointing at social contagion and the role of peers in social media and permanent infertility she now calls one of the hardest conversations she has. She also admitted her colleagues stay silent because activists punish anyone who steps out of line. Parents have been raising every one of these concerns for a decade now, and they were called bigots for doing it. Dr. Katchadourian gets a respectful profile in the national post. A 12 year Disney veteran named Josh Dawes says the woke fever inside the company peaked in 2020 and has been breaking ever since Trump's election. Dawes, who was recently laid off, told followers the internal mood has shifted, and he says he's cautiously optimistic. So is everyone else, right up until June, when Disneyland has two Pride Nights on the schedule. Senator Raphael Warnock tried to corner Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Over cuts to the rabies team at HHS. Kennedy reminded the senator that America sees one to three rabies cases per year and that one staffer can probably keep up. Warnock, of course, had no follow up. And on Capitol Hill, Lila Rose's Live Action is leading more than a dozen pro life groups, impressing Majority Leader John Thune to make last year's Planned Parenthood defunding permanent. The current ban Trump signed on July 4th expires this coming month. July 4th. If the Senate lets that date pass without acting, 830 million taxpayer dollars per year resumes flowing to the country's largest abortion provider. Pro lifers want it to end for good. The Senate now has to decide whether it actually means what it said last summer. And that wraps up today's Fortis News break. I'm Jimmy Hicks. If you want more, you can download Fortis or sign up to become a Fortis Insider for exclusive daily content. Both of those things can be done@fortisinstitute.org also. Also, don't forget you can subscribe to Ford is News on your favorite podcast app in order to get these updates sent directly to you every single day. And until tomorrow, go serve your king.
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Todd Friel (Wretched Radio Host)
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 a curse for us. When Adam sinned, all creation came under a curse, and everyone who breaks God's law is cursed. But Jesus bore our curse on the cross so that we may receive the blessings of God. This is Wretched Radio with Todd Friel,
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Todd Friel
the heart cry of countless souls. This is Wretched Radio. A Theo Vaughn, standup comedian, mega podcaster, recently received a phone call of a fellow who was baring his soul to Theo Vaugh. And I believe this is the heart cry of so many people who are trying to figure it out. There's got to be more to life than this. Why do I feel this way? Where is the hope?
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Caller or Guest (possibly Theo Vaughn or a listener)
And I think I've been struggling lately with feeling like almost like I'm stuck in the cycle where you know, you're alone, you're lonely, you're by yourself, which, you know, sometimes it isn't like the best thing for you to do, but it's almost like second nature. It's just what you retreat to. You kind of wake up the next day feeling like you're like, I'm not even any closer to my goals. I'm not getting where I need to be. I lost my job last year and a lot of time I just kind of let the days go by and now I'm stuck here by myself, sitting in my room after the weekend. I don't know, man, feeling down. And I don't even know why. And I just wanted to know how you deal with this, how you get yourself out of this, how you get to a better life. How do you get to a place where like, you're not just cycling through and you're actually moving toward things that
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Todd Friel
you want that could be expressed by countless Christians. What is happening in this fellow's heart? Well, of course we can't dialogue with him, but based on his lengthy question to Theo Vaughn, I think that we can recognize this is an individual who is not connected to reality. You say, wait a second, that seems a little philosophical. No, being connected to reality is sort of. That's sort of like the foundation on which we must walk. If we do not know what reality is and if we are not rightly aligned with it, this is the consequence. This is what life feels like. This is the book of Ecclesiastes. You can try anything that you want to, but if you are not connected to reality and living in alignment with it, vanity, vanity, it is all vanity. That's what this fellow is expressing. Just, I'm stuck. And many people feel that way. And they feel like they are not achieving a goal. And they feel like tomorrow is not gonna be any brighter than today. What do I do to get out of this? And the answer is you need to understand reality. You need to understand that this life does not have a magic formula for making you happy. Instead, that formula is given by the Creator of your soul, the one who has made your being. He is the one that defines what reality is and says if you get in alignment with it, your life will steadily improve. Not that you perhaps could. You might not get a higher paying job, but you will find fulfillment in your work. Why? Because, well, you understand that it is a calling of God, that I am not laboring unto men, I'm laboring unto God. That brings purpose and fulfillment. That's exactly what Solomon discovered. I've tried this, I've tried that. I tried concubines, I tried sex, I tried partying, I tried education, I tried property. I tried all of these things and it left me feeling empty. Until here's the resolution. Until I realized I've gotta be doing this for God. I've gotta obey God. These are the things then that have eternal Significance, because none of this stuff does unless it is done unto the Lord. That's reality. That's reality. Nobody will ever be genuinely happy. They certainly will not experience shalom until they come into submission of what God has designed the planet to be about. And that is the glorification of himself through the redemptive work of his son. And when you submit to that, and then when you go through a transforming of your mind, which is not an overnight process, it happens the entirety of our lives. Until you go through that, this is the result. This is the consequence. I'm miserable. I'm so unhappy. Now Theo Vaughn is gonna respond. And this fellow who is very popular standup comedian, he's been very transparent about trying to sort his life out. He's given up vices. He's going to a Bible study with some country singer. He's trying to get a handle on it. And I can't read what's happening inside of his heart, but wow, this guy, he's expressing what I think a lot of people feel. And based on what he is saying, I think that we could offer a word to Theo von. Hey, you're circling it, dude. You are in the atmosphere. You're thinking through these things rightly, but it's missing something. What is it?
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Theo Vaughn
But I'll tell you what, for me has been helpful recently, and I'm sorry if I sound a little animated. I just. I've been like, going through this in my own life recently, and it's on the tip of my thoughts and feelings. You know, sometimes I realized for myself I would pray to God to help me get away from certain behaviors in my life.
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Todd Friel
That's good, isn't it? But that's okay. That's. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, but that still is not going to bring you happiness because you can never get away from all of the bad behaviors. You just can't. Furthermore, you've got all the bad behaviors from the past that are still u hauled to you. You're there connected to you. You're dragging them around. So it is good that he's seeking to forsake sins. But we need to remember what Peter said in 2 Peter, there are some people, and I'm not saying this is true of Theo. I'm just. This is what the Bible says about those who simply try to jettison sins. It works for a bit. They come seeking cleansing, but they don't repent of their sins. And if you will repent of their sins, as in, I don't want to be doing those things anymore. Typically, though not for the right reason. It's not because it's an offense to God. It's because I've seen the consequences of my sin. Furthermore, they have not surrendered themselves to the kingship of Jesus Christ. In other words. 2. Peter is describing somebody in chapter 3. Somebody who tries to clean themselves up, but they don't believe in Jesus Christ. What happens to that individual? Their latter end is worse than the first. Why? Because it's not easy to clean yourself up. Those things were fun, and now you jettison those and what have you got? Desires to do those things. Then what happens? You don't feel fulfillment, you don't feel peace. You just still feel the struggle. So what happens? You go back to them, and then you get locked into them and you get stuck in them. And then the cycle is almost irreversible. This reminds me of Charles Finney, his circuit preaching in the middle of the 19th century. He went around and preached moralisms that you should believe in God so that you'll stop sinning so that your life will be better. He really wasn't interested in people trusting Jesus as much as cleaning themselves up and behaving more morally. And it was very successful. The anxious bench was full and he traveled this circuit. But then rumors started coming back to HB Cue that these people who had given their heart to Jesus on the anxious bench were behaving worse than before. They supposedly got saved from the preaching of Charles Finney. And so a group of men, they went and rode the circuit to interview these people and to try to figure out what was going on. And what they discovered is those people were cold coal. That's what they called them, cold coal. Because they tried to reignite them. They tried to rekindle their faith. They couldn't get him going. Why? Because their latter end was worse than the first. They tried to clean themselves up. It maybe worked for a season, but then it got hard or a difficulty happened and then they got bitter and they went back to the pigsty. Because they never were cleansed because they never put their trust in Jesus Christ. I'm not saying that describes Theo. I'm saying that describes those who. Who simply tried to be moralist.
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Theo Vaughn
But at the same time that I was praying, there would be a part of me that knew I was probably going to do those things again. Like I beg God, please help me. I don't want to do this anymore. I don't want to have this behavior. But there'll be a little part of me that was like, I know even as I ask, ask for God's help that I'm going to do it again.
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Todd Friel
Got to tell you, my heart just breaks for this guy. I don't know. The status of his soul, I don't know. But what I know is there are many who have this struggle. Those people who are professing Christians who have this nagging that won't go away that says, hey, you're a phony. Hey, you really do want to do those things. Hey, you're going to go back to those things anyway. Or the other thing that Theo just expressed. I'm not sure about the sincerity of my request to God. I'm doubting that. I really am looking for it to be over. I'm filled with doubt and I'm filled with a sense that I'd really kind of like to go back and do those things again. Oh, wow. Is that common for Christians? What he just expressed, I think is right up there. It's akin to a degree of a cousin of scrupulosity, where these thoughts, these intrusive thoughts, these lying thoughts enter the brain and they go round and round and round and what do they do? They cripple. They debilitate. And I can't help but wonder if Theo is stuck in that cycle. Oh, how I would love to spend time with Theo. And by the way, here's an early promo for you. My next book, go serve your king. It's written for Theo von. It is written for those who are wondering, okay, well, how does all of this stuff work together? Why do I have this sense of detachment? Why aren't I feeling whole? That book will be out in September. We'll make sure we send a copy to Theo, and we'll continue listening to the heart cry not just of Theo Vaughn, but of countless tortured souls. Next on wretched radio.
- [40:26]
Fortis Institute Announcer
Remember when the craziest cultural ideas stayed in dystopian novels? Yeah. Those days are over. We're living in the brave new world now. And it showed up faster than anyone expected it to. Social media didn't just change how we communicate, it changed how everyone thinks. And if you're not ready, as a Christian, to defend what you believe about gender and sexuality and race and entertainment and a dozen other hot button issues, you're going to get steamrolled. Worldview 2 picks up where the first one left off. Todd Frill and Dr. Nathan Buznitz tackled 22 more issues through a biblical lens. Critical race theory, modesty, persecution, environmentalism, secular entertainment and more. The stuff you're actually seeing in the headlines and hearing at your dinner table. Because the Christian world Worldview is under assault and I don't know, isn't going to cut it anymore. Wretched Worldview 2 is available in streaming right now for free on Fortis Plus. You can download the app on your smartphone, on your smart TV or simply
- [41:23]
Todd Friel
visit fortisplus.org Is it possible a Christian university can actually be ranked high when it comes to preparing students for the real world? Hat tip to Master's University? You want to send your kids someplace where they actually still teach the Bible. Not just based on a document that they may be having a file cabinet someplace, but they actually use the Bible there. The education at the Master's University, not only biblical but oh so practical courses, diplomas, degrees, they can be achieved online or of course on their beautiful campus in Southern California. Would you like to learn more about the Master's University to prepare you or your child for the future? I encourage you to visit Masters Edu Wretched Masters Edu Wretched.
- [42:24]
Fortis Institute Announcer
Well, you can't judge me. Yeah, you've heard that a thousand times. It's the verse people quote when they don't want to be corrected. Even people who've never opened a Bible. But here's the question. Is that actually what Scripture teaches or have we been misreading one of the most misunderstood commands in the entire Bible? Thou Shalt Judge is a 13 lesson series with Todd Friel and Justin Peters that sets the record straight. They demonstrate why failing to discern truth from error doesn't make you loving, it makes you dangerous. Righteous judgment isn't hateful. It's one of the most loving things you can do because it protects people from the damage of false teaching. This series even includes a free study guide. It's perfect for your family, your youth group, or just working through yourself. If you've ever been told that calling something wrong makes you the problem, this is one you'll want to watch. It's streaming free on Fortis right now. Download the app where you download apps on your smartphone, your smart TV, or just simply go to fortisplus.org.
- [43:29]
Todd Friel (Wretched Radio Host)
Of God Psalm 139 tells us that God is omnipresent. If I ascend to heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. God is not only outside and above his creation, he is present in every place, seeing what is happening. This is a comfort for those who love him, but a terror to those who hate Him. This is Wretched Radio with Todd Friel.
- [43:56]
Theo Vaughn
So I Started praying like this. I started praying like, God, please help me with this. This is a broken part of me that I bring to you. I need help with it. And then I would add to my prayer, I would say, and even God, even as I pray to you right now, there's a part of me that knows I'm probably lying to you. There's a part of me that knows I'm going to do that behavior again. So can you come into that part of me?
- [44:19]
Todd Friel
Man, this is wretched radio. I'm not sure the producers of the Theo von program are thrilled that their is so transparent, but I am. Why? Because I think he is articulating what many people experience. There are people that are. They're groping, they're still in the dark, they have not been converted. And it's like, how does this work with Christianity? And I'm not sure that I am. I think that I'm in. But I've harbored these thoughts. I've got doubts about this or that or I still want these desires. But that attitude can still persist in the heart of a genuine believer. I don't know where Theo is at with his faith. I genuinely hope that the man is saved. And I would encourage Theo to find a Bible believing church near him and plug in and these issues will increasingly sort themselves out. Or of course, he could read my new book, go serve your king. Okay, sorry, that was just a blatant plug. It's not even out until September. But go serve your king. It is addressed to the Theo Vons of this world. It's not like it's not all happening, it's not all clicking perfectly. Now I will say this. Increasingly it will click, but just because everything is not quite articulated in your mind that you don't have a complete understanding of the Christian life, don't let that sideline you. This is a progressive experience, being a Christian, that you learn more and more and more and more about how holistic Christianity is in that everything about our existence, it is about Jesus Christ, everything. And if we don't understand that, well, then we will continue to sound like Theo Vaughn, who's like, how come? Why isn't this. I don't know. And all I can do is speculate about Theo, but we'll let him be the test case for so many people who feel this way. It could be that their understanding of their own depravity, they believe it is greater than God's ability to rescue them. Or it's an individual who believes that their faith needs to be okay, not a 10, but at least like an 8. That's a misunderstanding of what a Christian faith actually looks like. Because here's the reality. None of us have a 10 faith. We all have. When you compare it to the faith that we should have, we're all mustard seed size faith. So Theo could be confused about that. Furthermore, he could be confusing justification and sanctification. He thinks that if he has an unsanctified thought, therefore he's not justified. He might not even be understanding the process of sanctification and what it looks like and what the battle against sin actually charts. Like, what is the trajectory of it. If his thinking is I shouldn't have any of these desires, well then he's confused about sanctification. Furthermore, he might be confused. We talked about this, I believe, last week on the subject of scrupulosity. The difference between temptation and sin, the difference between harboring a dumb thought and sin. If you entertain a dumb thought or a doubt or a temptation, then it becomes sin. But just because it enters in doesn't mean it is sin. You resist that temptation, you mortify that, but that doesn't mean you committed that. So the presence of sin does not necessarily mean the participation in sin. In other words, what it sounds like Theo could use is some theological instruction. That's exactly what every new believer needs. Let's hope that he's a believer. Theo needs to be in a local Bible teaching church. He needs to be learning these great truths and the distinctions of theology so that he never mixes and mingles justification and sanctification. Because if you recall, adoption is the bologna that keeps the two slices of bread apart in the sandwich of justification and sanctification. Let me explain that. You got justification as a slice of bread. You've got sanctification as the other slice of bread. You never want those two pieces of bread touching. So what do you do? You put a slice of cheese in between it, and that separates those two doctrines. And that slice of cheese is adoption. You are in the family. You didn't earn your way in. You can't earn your stay. God has it all. You've been adopted. And I wonder too, if Theo doesn't need to hear more Christ exalting preaching, that his heart would be thrilled that God is that good, that he's that lofty, and yet he stoops to know the lowly he needs preaching like that.
- [49:25]
Theo Vaughn
Help me there. Help me in the part of me that knows as I pray that I am, that I'm lying. And I don't know if that sounds crazy or not, but I started to think that, like, a connection between us and a higher power. It's so. It's such the realest. It's like, in my life, it's one of the realest things that I've ever witnessed. Right. In my whole life, I'd done everything by myself. I thought I had. And so something that's just been helping me recently is just praying differently. Because whatever's inside of me that's broken is really. It's manipulative. And it would be good at pool because it's good at the angles.
- [50:00]
Todd Friel
That's a good line. But maybe his language is revealing something. I don't know. But maybe his language is revealing something. Notice he talks about brokenness, and that is actually a right term because we are broken people. But brokenness, really, by comparison, is not nearly as big a problem as our sinfulness. And I wonder if he's come to terms with that. Until a man is brought low, it is likely that he will live in this state of confusion. You must be brought to the point where you have absolutely nothing. Not because of consequences, not because of health issues, but because you realize you have sinned against your Creator who has been so kind to you, and that it's the kindness of God that leads people to repentance. And then those doubts go away. Because the first step in not thinking that your prayers have to be pristine in order to know that you are in the right relationship with God, you need to recognize nothing you do is pristine. Nothing. The totality of your being is filled with not brokenness, but sinfulness. I wonder if Theo has gotten to that place.
- [51:18]
Todd Friel (Wretched Radio Host)
But.
- [51:18]
Theo Vaughn
So, yeah. So I've just been praying that God comes into those parts of me. Don't just come into, like the water inside of me. Come into the what? Come into the well? Come into the walls of the well.
- [51:31]
Todd Friel
There isn't a pastor on the planet who wouldn't, go, sit up, son. We've got so much to talk about. What does he want? He wants. He's. What he's describing really is Christianity. That's what he's describing there. That God isn't just a here or there, this bit or that part, that he's in the totality of my being. That's a lovely heart cry. It sounds to me like what Theo could use more than anything is just an individual who knows the Bible to sit down with him and say, oh, let me show you this. Let's turn there. If any man is in Christ, he's a new creation. You are no longer a citizen of this world. You're an alien. You're a stranger. Why? Because you're a member of Christ's kingdom. You are a Christ one. You're a royal priest. You are a part of the priesthood of all believers. You are a royal priest, a holy priest. You are a living stone being built up into a spiritual house. You are part of God's own possession. He needs to hear that. And what does that do? Grand preaching about God, all of the things that he's done for us in Jesus Christ, it helps us to go, okay, everything is about Jesus. He is in every crack and every crevice and I need to totally surrender all to him. I don't know, but it would be a good question to ask Theo. Theo, are you trying to get the. Why are you trying to get the brokenness fixed? Why? If it isn't because he sinned against God and he no longer wants to do those things, that would be a good direction to point him toward. Because if somebody just comes seeking a cleansing and a fixing, but not the Christ who provides it, they will get
- [53:15]
Theo Vaughn
neither come into the, the, the, the mortar or whatever that's between the bricks. Because I'm broken all the way there, you know, And I don't mean that like in self pity, but if there's a part of me that doesn't even want the best for me, then that there's something inside of me that is off. So that's something that's been helping me.
- [53:37]
Todd Friel
This guy's, this guy's brave. I gotta tell you. You talk about transparency, this guy just brought it in spades. I appreciate it a bunch. Are you Theo Vaughn? Do you feel like that God's promises are precious and true and all of the promises in the Bible that involve you are for you, not for others, but for you. Why aren't you resting? Why aren't you trusting fully? Why aren't you reclining in the luxurious comfort of knowing that Jesus saves sinners? And if these issues are still a struggle, then my encouragement to you is the same. Make sure that you are in a Bible teaching church. Make sure that you're being discipled by somebody who is older and wiser. And don't give up if he's echoing what you feel like in your heart. Oh, I'm promising you there is hope. But it's a progress. It's a progression. It's not a one time event. So if you feel like, Theo, hang in there and until tomorrow, go serve your king.