Wretched Radio begins in three, two, one. If the God of the Bible really exists, I would go gladly to hell. And anybody happy to go to heaven to worship such a creature is morally bankrupt. It is because God's wrath is real that His mercy is relevant. Unless you have a real wrath, the biblical concepts of mercy and of grace are robbed of their meaning. It's time for Wretched Radio with Todd Freel. Oh boy! Here we go! Yippee. We'll see. This is Wretched Radio bringing you the latest in celebrity Hollywood and entertainment news. Woohoo! Slapping a Bible verse on it and calling a Christian radio That's how we roll. Well, I listen to other Christian radio and that's what they do. Let's have at it. Shall we? Well now we know a little bit more about the faith of the Bono, of course the lead singer of the boot I believe is the name of the band because you too. I You, do you mean me too? No, no, not you too. The band is, who's the third base? Exactly. You too, lead singer Bono, many times has made a profession of faith. He sure does care about what's going on in Africa. He seems to have a great heart for people who are hungry. The question that many people have been wondering is what about his Christian testimony? Is he born again? Does his theology support his testimony? His lifestyle, for the most part, he seems to be living a decent life. He's married, he has kids, there's no scandal, he does kind things. And now we learn that he's very excited about what happened in Ireland. It was a landslide vote, just in case you were visiting another planet. By the way, I saw a meme which is what I believe the kids call it. It was a picture of a kid scratching his head, about three years old, looking kind of perplexed. And the little subtext was, so if they find a molecule on Mars that they think maybe has some signs of life, they quickly announce, there's life on Mars! And yet, they're willing to abort a nine month old fetus. without wondering if that's a life. At any rate, the Bono, he was all excited because in Ireland, 62% of Irish people decided to vote for gay marriage. This is a bellwether vote because this is the first country by vote. Every other nation, every other state that is determined they want gay marriage, it has not been determined by the people. It has been determined by the courts. It's been determined by politicians. This is the first by the people vote. We'll see if it's a bellwether. It does hit us as a bit of a surprise that it would be Ireland, as it is a predominantly Roman Catholic country. Now, Ireland has had an awful lot of scandal. If you think the church scandals for the Roman Catholic Church in America were bad, in Ireland they were even worse. And so it seems that people are turning away from anything resembling Roman Catholic morality. They voted overwhelmingly for same-sex marriage, and the Bono hails it as a landmark vote, stating, we have peace in Ireland today. He actually grabbed the clip. Bono we have peace in Ireland today, and in fact on this day. We have true equality in Ireland Millions turned up to vote yesterday to say love is the highest law in the land. Oh, that's a bummer Sure would be nice if God were the highest law in the land and by the way love is a very cruel taskmaster Don't forget everybody talks about love what the world needs now of course is love sweet love if we would just love one another and Hey, quit with all the Christian rules. It's just about love. Let me tell you about all the rules that come with love. You have to love everybody perfectly. That means when you're driving down the street and you see somebody walking down on the sidewalk that maybe looks like they need your help, love says stop your car, get out, check it out, and do something for them. That is how difficult it is to obey the law of love. You got stuff? You see somebody who doesn't? Give it to them. It's commanded. It's demanded. Love is a cruel taskmaster. If we are going to adhere to the standard of love, it should lead us to hopelessness, to go, I can't love perfectly, which, by the way, was the reason for the Sermon on the Mount and those little Beatitudes. It wasn't about be happy attitudes. It was to demonstrate this is how high the standard is. This is how perfect you must be to inherit the kingdom of God and it should cause us to go, we can't. We can't. We need somebody who can love perfectly. We need somebody who can do it perfectly. Which, by the way, I heard a very good sermon on this. King David in 2 Samuel 24. We read about the end of his life, or at least the wrap-up on 2 Samuel, and it seems like it's kind of a bummer. David, the king, the man after God's own heart, he was supposed to be the answer to all the hopes, the dreams, and the wishes. of the Jewish people living in Israel. You recall that they had the perfect government system. It was a theocracy, God rule, perfect form of government. God speaking through a prophet tells you this is exactly what you should do. It doesn't get any better than that. But the people looking around at the other nations who had kings, they gave into peer pressure and said, we want a king too. They begged God. And the prophet Samson said, no, this would, Samuel said rather, this would be a very bad idea. We want him anyway. And so God said, here's your king. His name is Saul. And he was a flop. Along comes David, who is a man after God's own heart. So David, we could safely say, is the best king that Israel ever had. And how did that work out for them? It worked out with murder. It worked out with adultery. It worked out with a child who died, many people who died in battle. It worked out with rebellious sons, a torn home. In other words, David's life was like a soap opera on afternoon TV. It was just a complete hash. And you would think that 2 Samuel would end up on a high note, some sort of a bang, a flourish. And David had this victory. He led Israel to be the great. No. Instead, it shows David completely messed up in his home, completely messed up with his family. And you go, oh, that's kind of a downer. Why did it end that way? Because it should have left the people, and it should leave us saying, an earthly king isn't going to get the job done. An earthly king, even one after God's own heart, is going to fail. It should have led the Jewish people at the time to say, we need a better king. We need a heavenly king. We need a godly king. Please send us that king. David should have led the people to beg for a king, who did ultimately come, and then we killed him. Because we had the perfect king on earth, and we decided, yeah, no thanks. But King David should have pointed us for our need for a better king. That's what the Beatitude should do. It should point us to go, we can't do this, we need your help in this. That is the point. And most people, unfortunately, miss it. And most people miss it when it comes to the law of love. You want to live under that law? Good luck. I'd prefer to live under grace because love has been fulfilled by the only one who is perfectly loving. Bono, not the only one, of course. Oh, by the way, found this story. That is a reminder. It's a brave new world and the Church of England seems to be swayed by it. You can't write this. This is the headline from ChristianNews.net. The Church of England considering a ceremony to re-baptize transgenders in their new name. Go ahead. Yeah. You go ahead and write schtick like that. You could put me in a room with a vat of crack and I wouldn't come up with something as satirical as this. If you put a group of comedy writers into a room and said, don't come out until you got something really good, and they walked out the door and said, okay, here's what we got. The Anglican communion is gonna consider a ceremony to re-baptize transgenders. The boss would say, no, too ridiculous. Yeah, go back to the drawing board. Here are the details. Chris Newlands, the vicar of Lancaster Priory, recently proposed the addition to the General Synod after being approached by a girl who identifies as a boy who wished to be baptized again under his, her, Zid's male name. I said, once you've been baptized, you're baptized. Yep. That would have been the right answer if you had faith first. Newlands recalled to the guardian saying that the person said, I was baptized as a girl under a different name. I said, let me have a think about it. That was your first mistake. So he did, and then we created a service, which has an affirmation of baptismal vows, where we could introduce him to God with his new name and his new identity. This is a subject that we Christians better get up to speed on lickety-split. The number of transgenders seem to be coming out of the woodwork, and we better be ready with a loving response to people who are busted. Their thinking is profoundly, profoundly off. It's the noetic effect of the fall, and we better be ready theologically and pastorally. This fellow soon submitted a motion for the issue to be considered by the denomination as a whole. And guess what? It was approved by the parochial church council. the Deanery Synod, and the Blackburn Diocese, and is set next to be debated by the General Synod, which means it may or may not pass, but it will only be a matter of time. How do we figure out such issues? It is not by hearing people's stories. In fact, I would suggest to you, while that can give us a more compassionate heart, it can also make us go wonky on our theology. Do not start your building of theology based on emotions, based on relations, based on knowing somebody who is in that situation. You will almost inevitably make it a mistake. And by the way, this is typically how liberals will write their arguments. They don't start with theological points. They will start out with anecdote. Now don't you feel bad? Now let's go figure out a way to mangle the Bible to make it support this, because we've been emotionally moved. Cher also weighing in on the gay issue. And the only reason, apparently she looks fabulous at 69. I thought her last farewell tour was a decade ago, but what do I know? I don't follow Cher like 2.5 million people do on the Twitter machines. This I thought was telling. Now I have suggested that we Christians are far too identified with a political party. I get it. We're more inclined to fall into one camp than another. I understand that that is almost bound to happen. But we are off the mark when people, they look at us and they go, Republican, Christian, Christian, Republican, you're one in the same. That is a problem. When we are known just as much for our politics, as important as those issues are, then we are not being good witnesses of Jesus Christ. And the repercussions from that, devastating. Cher unwittingly supports my theory. I don't get it, she tweeted. Why are there gay Republicans? She's confused. Apparently, there's some Republicans who have come out of the closet. I know that there's one who wrote a book with the woman from... She's on the Fox News with Bill O'Reilly. Well, that narrows it down to half of them. But she's not a blonde, so that should help because I think there's only one who isn't a blonde on Fox News. Mary Catherine Hamm. I think I got it right there. She wrote a book with a guy who is now a Republican and professes to be gay. He's out of the closet and Cher is confused about such things. They think, now listen to what she said, why are there gay Republicans? They think you are an abomination against their policies? Nope. Against their platform? Nope. Against their chances of winning re-election? Nope. Against their religion? Wow, Cher thinks that Republicans are Christians and Christians are Republicans, conflating the two together. Again, I get it. We're going to fall with one party more than the other. But when the terms become interchangeable, we've done something wrong. We're just off the mark somehow, that people think that we're one and the same. It seems to me that we are either speaking too much like Republicans from the pulpit, or we're not speaking enough like Christians when we're on political talk shows, or when we're at the water cooler, or when we're talking about issues with people. This is something that we need to absolutely discipline ourselves to do, to start thinking, filtering, talking like Christians, even when we're talking political issues. It's not enough to just be right on the political issue. If we are not talking like Christians, and people know that we're Christians, but we sound just like Republicans and only like Republicans, what are we telling people? that we're political beasts, that we're political animals more than we are Christians. This might come as a shocker to a lot of people, but we are Christians first, then Well, you're a lot of other things, actually, before you're a political party. You should be Christians first. That was about members of a church. The husband of, the wife of, the father, the mother of, then maybe, maybe an American somewhere in there. Then maybe a political party. If Cher is thinking that we're one in the same, I never thought I'd say this, but I think we could learn a little something from Cher. I'm afraid she's right. And by the way, one final note on the gay issue, which, hey, Can we ever get enough of the subject? The sin that dare not speak its name simply won't shut up. The National Review, listen, listen carefully. Can you hear William Buckley spinning like a lathe in his grave? Headline from the editorial manager, I believe, of the National Review, Jason Lee Steorts, S-T-E-O-R-T-S, An Equal Chance at Love, Why We Should Recognize Same-Sex Marriage. How long is your subscription to The National Review? This is Wretched Radio. Right now is your opportunity to get a signed copy of Todd's book, Jesus Unmasked. And because Todd actually hand-signed these, you guessed it, supplies are limited. So whether you buy one copy, one of the bundles that contain Jesus Unmasked, or one of the two new special bundles, you receive a signed copy of Jesus Unmasked. Yes, your Wretched or Wretcheder Club discounts do apply, but supplies are limited. Get all the details right now at wretchedradio.com. And thank you for helping us share the amazing gospel. What do you mean there's a sign warning us to stay out of the water? There's nothing wrong with this water. What do you mean I must be saved? I'm in no danger. The water's not too deep. There's no current here. I don't see any reason for there to be a warning sign. I'm not a bad person. I get along with people. I believe there's a God. Why do I need to be saved? Oh, that sign's so old, I'm sure any dangers there were are long gone. Jesus said that 2,000 years ago. It can't possibly apply to me now. Every day we receive some form of warning. Jesus warned us that we must be saved, that our very lives, where we spend eternity, depends on our relationship with him. You can either listen to or reject his warning. What's your choice? I don't know why that sign's still here, but come on in! There's no danger here, the water's fine! Trust me! A message from Lifeline Productions. 1-800-52-FUNNY at lifelinepro.com Marriage. It can be incredibly wonderful or profoundly painful. Marriage is a school of character and whatever state your marriage is in, whether it's the best ever or currently on the rocks, Drive-By Marriage will radically change your marriage. Get your copy today. Drive-By Marriage at wretchedradio.com. And remember, your purchase helps us reach more people with the amazing gospel. Now here's a clip of one of our favorite pastors here at Wretched Radio. This is Matt Chandler. Why should you pray? It shows and exemplifies our dependence upon God. Prayer is a simple act of humility. I cannot. You can. I do not know. You know. Prayer gets us into fellowship with God. God speaks to us through His Holy Spirit and through His Word, we speak to God through prayer. This is called relationship. In prayer, God allows us to be involved in activities that are eternally important. that when we pray according to God's Word, we're involved in something much, much, much bigger than ourselves. Prayer is a means of confession. It's in prayer that we confess our shortcomings to sin. Prayer is a means to fighting sin. See, when we're praying, we're disconnecting from the sinful fallenness of this world, and we're connecting to what is holy, right, and good. We're commanded to, that God has ordained that through prayer he would accomplish his purposes and so he has commanded to the individual life of a believer to pray and therefore fulfill his purposes. So many people, so many different ways to interpret the Bible. Why is that? Probably because I never watched Herman Hoo. You see, Herman Hoo will teach you how to interpret every passage in the Bible rightly by using the classical method of biblical interpretation. You'll learn simple methods for rightly dividing the truth every time. Get your copy of Herman Hoo at wretchedradio.com. And remember, your purchase helps us reach more people with the amazing gospel. Important dates in Christian history. 312 A.D. Emperor Constantine is converted after seeing a vision of the cross. He becomes a defender and advocate of the oppressed Christians. After his death, Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire, which endured in some form for another 1,500 years. This is Wretched Radio with Todd Freel. One more reason why a man should never get A pedicure. Or a manicure. This is Wretched Radio, the New York Times revealing something that might cause you to be a little bit concerned if you get your tootsies and your pinkies done at a nail salon, especially if it is Dirt cheap. A very interesting expose in the New York Times revealed that nail salons are trafficking centers that people are brought in from overseas illegally and they work in a modern-day sweatshop known as a nail salon. It's not just New York City. But it is really all over the country, and the warning from this article is if you are getting your nails done at a salon where it's dirt cheap, you could be contributing to a trafficking issue. The details of this article are quite troubling. We learn that women basically work slave labor, dirt cheap. They're brought to the salon in vans. They are basically cattled back to one-room shacks in New York City, and this is where this article is based, where they are housed in groups, and it is not pretty. That is what is going on with a new form of trafficking that we've now been made aware of. Labor trafficking. We always hear about sex trafficking. Well, here is another form from the New York Times. Lawsuits are being filed in New York courts. The salon in East Northport, New York, where workers said they were paid a whopping $1.50 an hour. which which is fifty cents less than what we make it wretched that is that's late and i was right there sixty six-hour work weeks the harlem salon of that manicure is said charge them for drinking the water i could understand that in california yet i couldn't work not so much yet on slow days paid them out nothing at all the many chain of long island salons whose workers said they were not only underpaid but also kicked as they sat on pedicure stools and verbally abused. And yet, another sign of the fall. And yet, another demonstration of the world taking advantage of human beings. And as is usually the case, not exclusively, but usually the case, it will be women and children who get the short end of the stick when Christianity is not dictating the terms. And when I say dictating, of course, I mean, well, dictating. Investigators inspected 29 salons and found 116 wage violations. Among the more than 100 workers interviewed by the New York Times, about a quarter said they were paid an amount that was equivalent to the minimum hourly wage. Slave labor. Is slavery alive and well? It is. Would Christians allow for this? Absolutely not. This is the secular world being, well, the secular world. Don't forget, slavery is still alive and well around the globe, but it is not Christian nations that participate in this evil practice. Supplies! It's Muslims. We don't get lectures about that from our president when he visits Africa, do we? Even though we were chastised as Americans for slavery, which, let's see... 1865, that would be... Well, slavery has been gone for a while in America, but Muslims are still practicing it in Africa. The president kind of missed that dock when he was giving his lectures. And by the way, ah! You would think that we were actually organized here at... I would not think that ever. Well, somebody might be confused. From the Christian Post, 700 Kenyan evangelical pastors are urging President Obama not to preach gay marriage support during his visit. They are. Last time he was in town, he lectured everybody. That was kind of the big agenda. In the meantime, you've got Christians being slaughtered in the Nuba Mountains. Nothing about that. But wow, did he do some finger wagging at the Ugandans, at every country that was pushing for any semblance of trying to not have gay marriage. And he lectured at virtually every single stop. And now pastors, 700 of them are saying, don't do that this time. Furthermore, the archbishop accuses President Obama of ruining American society. Now, we just heard about the Anglican communion in Great Britain. I know it. The Anglican version of their denomination in Africa is quite conservative. In Great Britain, it's a mixed bag. I know that there are some great evangelical, wonderful, orthodox Anglican believers in Great Britain. I think of James Pace. He is the vicar of Wimbledon. Tell me that doesn't sound like a BBC movie. Very conservative, brother, and yet it's a mixed bag in Great Britain. We just heard that they want to have a re-baptizing ceremony for transgenders. Boing. And yet in Africa, quite conservative. Bishop Mark Kariuki. Don't go there. Don't go there. Alrighty then. I bet he's good, though. Yeah, I'm sure he is. Typically, if you're willing to get up in a bar and sing in front of people to just nothing but a track, then you got to be a pretty good bishop of the Evangelical Alliance. Told the Kenyan Daily Nation newspaper that President Obama should respect the faith culture and people of Kenya when he comes in July. He should not put homosexuality of his main agenda in the country. The pastor said in a separate statement, President Barack Obama is welcome to visit Kenya this summer, but please leave the preaching to us. I wish you would do the same thing here. And Nairobi Cardinal John Najui, NJUE serves as president of the Kenyan Episcopal Conference. Again, that would be a stream of Anglicanism. Said that President Obama has ruined American society with his support for gay marriage. You know, maybe you just have a better perspective looking at things from an African point of view. Back to New York City we go. The hundred workers that were interviewed by the Times, a quarter of them said they get minimum wage. All but three workers had wages withheld in other ways that would be considered illegal, such as never getting overtime. Some workers suffer more acutely. Nail salons are governed by their own rituals and mores. This was fascinating to me. A hidden world behind the glass exteriors and cute corner shops. It is a rigid racial and ethnic caste system. Fascinating. Wait, how can that be in, you know, upscale liberal New York? That can't be. Well, you see, they don't have Galatians 3. When you're in Christ, no distinction between Jew and Gentile, Korean or Mexican. But the secular world has no basis for eliminating those distinctions, and so in New York City, It is, you are, how you get treated, how you get paid is typically determined by your ethnicity. Korean workers... You listening to this one? Korean workers routinely earn twice as much as their peers, valued above others by the Korean owners who dominate the industry and who are often shockingly plain-spoken in their disparagement of workers of other backgrounds. Chinese workers occupy the next run in the hierarchy. Hispanics and other non-Asians are at the bottom. Just a reminder that if you want racism to go away, you don't have a basis for it. Charles Darwin did not have a basis for it, and that is why he was so racist, and that is why evolution, and specifically social Darwinism, is so infused with racism. Ask Adolf Hitler, who was a pretty big fan of Charles Darwin. Christians have a basis for saying, no, no, no. You see, well, we all come from one ancestor, Adam. Don't need to go looking for bones. We got this one figured out. We all come from Adam. And so there is only one human race with different levels of melatonin? Melanonin. Melanin. Melatonin I think is skin cancer if I'm not mistaken. That's melanoma. Melatonin is what helps you sleep. Ah, maybe I took too many of those last night. I've gotten all confused today. The only way to get rid of racism is to get people into Christ and then it just takes care of itself. Which is why, if you don't mind me saying so, Christian church, if you don't like the comment that the most segregated morning in America is Sunday morning, plans and programs to try to change that, forget about it. Preach the gospel and very soon your church will reflect your immediate community. Your church, if it is predominantly black people that live near your church, Why should it look like it's a mixture, 50-50? And by the way, what 50-50 black, white? Or do we need to go with the demographic of the world? That there are 52% white people and 16% black, so that needs to be the makeup of every church? That's silly. Your congregation should basically look like your neighborhood. Because that is your immediate field, and you as the local church should be attracting those people by going out and witnessing to them. They get saved, they come in, and they're going to basically look the way your neighborhood looks. That's the way that I think we get rid of these... What? Todd, Todd, Todd. You're so naive. Am I confused again? They don't care about the innards, they only want to know how it looks. Well, that's wrong, too. Well, duh, but that's the way it kind of rolls. I don't mind telling you. I'm not nuts about another lecture about how that my church should be more colorful. I don't get that. Where I happen to live, it is predominantly white. We would have to literally go to another side of Atlanta to find those people and then have them commute. That just doesn't make any sense to me. Didn't we try that once with education? The New York Times, you can be assured if you go to a place which, with rock bottom prices, that chances are the workers' wages are being stolen, said a lecturer at Yale Law School who has worked on wage theft cases in salons. Costs are borne by the low-wage workers who are doing your nails. And now maybe you think, well, I give them a really good tip. The problem is it doesn't go into their pocket. It goes into a kitty, and they still get robbed. Now, what do you do with this? If you are a Christian and you go to a nail salon where you perceive this might be happening, you could ask. You could ask the person, the woman who is doing your nails, and then you could inform the authorities if you think that something is going on. Pardon me, just to find a little balance, because the New York Times has never been guilty of balance, I do know that you need to have a license to be a manicurist and a pedicurist. That industry, like salons where they do your hair, those things are definitely policed by the authorities. I don't quite get that, but apparently there's still rusty scissors being used someplace. Or maybe it is, you know? I take that back. I have seen some haircuts that are downright criminal. I've had a few of those haircuts. So I take everything that I just said back. Yes, yes you have. How do these people get away with it? I don't know, but if you're concerned about that, you could inform some authorities. We Christians should be concerned about this. And if you are not a Christian, no worries. Not a problem, because I don't think that you have a moral basis to state this is ru-ru-ru. This should not be. In fact, if Charles Darwin would have his way, I would say to you this is entirely evolutionary. There should be people that we take advantage of so I can get a cheaper manicure. I think I could use some, to be quite honest. I'm just looking. Nah, not gonna do it. Not gonna happen. Wouldn't be prudent nor manly. But the point is, if you're an unbeliever, this is Darwinism and inaction. I win. I happen to be born in a better place. I didn't have to be toted in from overseas. I'm not a woman. I've got the right skin color. So according to you and your leader, Charles Darwin, your chief philosopher, what we read about in the New York Times regarding people being taken advantage of in nail salons, no surprise. Not a problem. This is Wretched Radio. The Biggest Question, available in single copies or spindles of 100 at wretchedradio.com. And remember, your purchase helps us reach more people with the amazing gospel. Beloved, could this be your story? I was molested for two years by a brother. I was a junkie by age 14, married at 18, divorced at 20, and married again. At 21, I got sober. Then I divorced again. At 25, I got saved, and at 27, married yet again. She struggled with bitterness and a keen sense of being in some kind of bondage. The turning point came as she began studying the Bible through a book I'd written called Lord Heal My Hurts. My new friend discovered the liberating truth that our hope is in God and all he promises to be for us. Psalm 40 says, I waited patiently for the Lord and he inclined to me and heard my cry. The answers are in his word, beloved, waiting for your discovery. This is Kay Arthur with precepts from God's word. Yes, we think it's funny. You may simply find it something a little lighter that isn't crude, coarse, or sexual. We call it Wretched Shtick. It's a compilation of the best bits and, well, shtick we've produced on Wretched Radio over the past five years. And the best news is it's actually funnier than this and this. About as funny as this. Get Wretched Shtick at WretchedRadio.com. And remember, your purchase helps us reach more people with the amazing gospel. Happy Anniversary to The Creation Museum! This is Ken Ham, President of Answers in Genesis and The Creation Museum. Today is the eight-year anniversary of the opening of The Creation Museum near Cincinnati. Now, since 2007, we've seen God do so many exciting things in the lives of the believing and unbelieving guests. Since our opening, we've been able to add many high-quality exhibits, like a world-class Insectarium, and a $1.5 million dollar Allosaur exhibit, and so much more, even the biggest zipline course in the Midwest. But eight years and many new exhibits later, the mission at the Creation Museum remains the same, to uphold the authority of the Word of God from the very first verse. We show visitors that science and history confirm the Bible. We want to show skeptics and Christians alike they can trust the Bible's account of history. Come and visit. To learn more about our Creation Museum, as well as the life-size ark we're building, visit our website at AnswersInGenesis.org. Go to AnswersInGenesis.org. Bring up Jesus Christ and you'll get opinions ranging from good teacher to mere myth. Todd's first book, Jesus Unmasked, goes beyond mere opinion and uncovers what Jesus taught about himself. The truth may surprise you as you discover how the Old Testament clearly points to Jesus in the New Testament. You'll never doubt again that Jesus Christ is God. Get your copy of Jesus Unmasked at wretchedradio.com. Remember, your purchase helps us reach more people with the amazing gospel. Books of the Bible. The book of Joshua tells of the conquest and division of the promised land. There are two consistent themes in Joshua, God's faithfulness and his aversion to unfaithfulness. When you wonder how committed God is to his people or doubt the seriousness of idolatry, let Joshua remind you that your God is a jealous God. This is Wretched Radio with Todd Friel. We grew up though in the Baptist church and traditional evangelical churches believing that we're the reason Jesus died, that Jesus died for our sins. Wow! What does Joe Scarborough know? This is Wretched Radio. You are about to hear the very confused lost voice of tony jones we haven't heard much from him lately but he has a brand new book out finally clearing up the confusion of why jesus died on a cross because i don't know if there was confusion well if you've studied christianity for the last two thousand years no consensus whatsoever just complete in fact Some people don't even talk about... Okay, a lot of people don't talk about the cross, but that's for a different reason. They don't talk about it because they just don't understand what happened. It seems to have been some sort of mistake, a bad ending to a pretty good tale about a very nice teacher. Nonsense. There has generally been consensus. Jesus died on the cross for sinners. But now Tony Jones, who was in the emergent camp, I don't know where he would file himself today, is out with a brand new book trying to persuade us and basically rip out virtually every page of the Bible to teach us that Jesus didn't die for sinners. Now, Just in case you're wondering why oh why would we talk about Tony Jones? Why expose him? Well because Tony Jones is a false teacher. Tony Jones, nice guy, I have spoken to Tony several times, I have pleaded with Tony Jones to recant of his universal views, and now this book is yet another nail in his heretical coffin. It is not like Tony is in the camp and he just has a new way of looking at things to give us a fresh perspective. No, no, no, what he's about to share is just rank heresy. And we know, because we've talked to him, that he denies Orthodox Christianity. And if we as Christians cannot call a man who is a universalist, who believes all roads lead to God, that there are other valid paths to heaven, if we can't identify that as heresy, Then I think that we should start ripping pages out of our Bible, because every single book in the New Testament talks about false teachers, with the exception of one, and that would be Philemon. 2 Peter dedicated to false teachers. The entire book of Jude. Okay, it's only one chapter, but the point is, dedicated to false teachers. You are about to hear the voice of a false teacher that our Bible Oh, and by the way, our Savior warned us about. So, yeah, and what I've done over the last three or four years as I've been writing this book is I've been in groups and I've said to people, how many of you have ever heard Jesus die for your sin? Raise your hand. Everyone raises their hand. And then I say, explain how that works to me. Okay. Well, how hard is this? Jesus is the second person in the Trinitarian Godhead. In eternity past, he volunteered to go to a cross to take the punishment, the wrath of a holy God, upon himself for sinners who have violated God's law and deserve his temporal and eternal punishment. He was beaten, He was crucified, taking the wrath of God upon himself so that we could be forgiven. Furthermore, he lived a life of perfect righteousness, obeyed every single law, never sassed mouth his mother or father, never disobeyed, always did that which is right, loved perfectly, never had a potty mouth, never coveted, never deceived, shaded the truth, and all of that righteousness gets credited to us. You know, I just wish that there were a Bible verse or a hundred that talked about that, for instance. How's about 2nd Corinthians 5? Verse 17, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away, behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. That is, God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself. Tony, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf, Tony. be reconciled to God for he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God didn't anybody in his little Bible study groups no 2nd Corinthians 5 or I don't know entire book of Romans pretty much all of Ephesians, and definitely Galatians, and the Gospels, and, well, yeah, pretty much the entire New Testament. Groans, like, among clergy, among lay people. They don't, everyone believes it. Few people can explain exactly how that works. So let's open up our Bibles and figure it out, or let's have Tony come up with a brand new interpretation for the cross. Why don't you explain? Well, there have been multiple versions of this over the years. And like some people have said, Jesus is like a giant magnet, electromagnet on the cross. The love of God, when you see Jesus on the cross, is so overwhelming it draws you into God's love. Well, that's what Romans 2 says. It is the kindness of God that leads us to repentance. I wouldn't call that a magnet, I would actually call that the the Holy Spirit. Other people have said, you owe God something. This is what you and I grew up with. You owe God something because you can't go to heaven because you're imperfect. Somebody has to pay the price. So this is what I call this payment model. Exactly. That's why the Bible uses the word propitiation, because the wages of sin is death, Romans 3, but the gift of God is everlasting life. Now, If somebody is not given the full picture of God, if we don't explain the character and the nature of God, that he is holy, that he is high, that he is otherly, that the foundation of his throne is righteousness and justice, then it does seem a little odd, because we have a tendency to kind of whitewash our sins. Boys will be boys, they're just little boo-boos, hiccups, mistakes, and that's for most pulpits in America. But when we lift him up, as the pure, the completely sinless, the entirely righteous and holy one who loves righteousness so much that he hates sin, then all of a sudden when we realize how much we have sinned with our lying and our stealing and our cheating and our lusting, we realize we should get the wrath of God. But without that, I can understand why somebody like Tony would be confused. All he needs to do, however, is read his Bible, and fortunately he doesn't, and so he comes up with a new way. And by the way, a little rule for you, Hebrews... Hebrews... It's in Hebrews. It's 13 or 10, chapter 13 or 10. When somebody comes along with a new teaching... Look for the exit sign at the back of the building and run like a nobody's business because chances are this is not a perfect rule. This is just a pretty good rule. If somebody says, you know, I've got a new way of looking at this, be very, very careful. Other people say it's like one of the newest theories is really interesting by this French anthropologist that says Jesus is a mirror. When Jesus is hanging on the cross, we look at him and what's reflected back to us by God is the end of all our lives. So he's an example. So we should look at Jesus and say, look, he's an end to all of our violence. Well, if you're taking your cues from a French anthropologist, look, it's bad enough to take your cues, theological leadings, from an anthropologist. But a French anthropologist? What's your theory? my theory is i have this very uh convoluted confused brand new made up out of whole cloth theory kind of intense theory that god really was in jesus really in jesus and that god came in jesus because god had to bridge this gap between humanity and divinity now Let us for a moment think about the bridge theory. Perhaps you've seen this sort of gospel tract, where you're on one side of a cliff, you're man, and you're looking over and God's on the other side, and you need a bridge to get you there. And then of course, the next page, Jesus is the bridge. That's not a theologically accurate presentation of the gospel. Because the imagery in even some of these gospel tracks show the man jumping, and he gets out about three feet. Another guy's a sprinter, and he gets out about 12 feet. Jackie joined her curses, she gets out about 15 feet. But they all fall short. Now here's the problem. we can't jump off the cliff at all because we're lying there on that side dead. Second of all, it has nothing to do with the wrath of God. It's not just about making our way from our zip code to the heavenly abode. It's that we've got a problem. The wrath of God is aimed at us and unless somebody pays for our sins, he assuages the wrath of God, we're in big trouble. All the sacrificial systems and everything in the past, the prophecies had not worked. So God comes, what I kind of say, he jumps into the deep end of the pool. Fully incarnated in the person of Jesus and then all the way to the end like Paul writes in second Philippians God humbled himself even to the point of death on a cross and that this is like This is the ultimate act of solidarity between God and humanity Oh cool, and I can't wait to get home and read second Philippians cuz I I don't... Okay, just a little bit of a tongue slip. Philippians chapter 2. But all you need to do is go to Philippians 2 and you get the gospel flushed out. It would appear that Tony has taken one verse. Jesus humbled himself unto death, even death on a cross. Okay, so he has interpreted that to state... You see, Jesus was just giving a picture. joining us in solidarity. And the problem with that is, that's not what the Bible teaches. That's his imaginings. The Bible makes it clear, go read Romans chapter 1, go read Romans chapter 2, go read Romans, go read Romans. And what you will discover is that Jesus died for sinners as a payment for sin. Tony Jones, however, a brand new concoction. Talk about the conflict, even inside Jesus, because it was, you know, growing up, you're like, okay, Jesus is all-powerful, all-knowing, and God, he knew what was going to happen to him. Then there's that moment, you're a kid on, Jesus on the cross, as he's about to die, horrific suffering, and he says, my God, my God, why have you abandoned me? And you sit there going, okay, wait a second. So this is, I think this is the single most important line in all of Scripture. Wow! That's quite a claim! My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? That has been a verse that has really been misunderstood by a lot of people. Two things, two ways to correctly understand it. Remember, we use the analogy of Scripture. The Bible interprets the Bible. Tony Jones doesn't interpret the Bible. Scripture interprets Scripture. The clear interprets the unclear. Jesus Christ giving a statement of feeling the wrath of God, basically experiencing hell on our behalf, hearkening back to Psalm 22, which was very classic. If you wanted to teach somebody a theology or what you're feeling, you could quote the first line from a psalm and basically go, they're that. And that's exactly what Jesus was doing, not according to Tony. My God, why have you forsaken me? Because God experiences the absence of God. We've got to be really careful with that because that can change the ontological nature of God, so we need to tiptoe very carefully around that. Tony taking this ball and running with it way too far. We all experience We all at some point look up into the stars and say are we all alone is this Have we made this up? even God in Jesus Experiences the absence of God which I think unites God and humanity in a way that they had not and that's the power exactly of you saying God came here and Jumped at the deep end of the pool. Yeah, so he could experience that hmm I could watch a movie and get that. And it doesn't do anything to help me with my sin problem and God's wrath problem. Jesus died for sinners that we might be reconciled in him to God. Wow. If you're hearing a scream, that would be your New Testament getting tortured by Tony Jones. who hasn't repented yet. Until next time, go serve your king.