The Handlebar Podcast 121. A CONVERSATION ON SEXUAL BROKENNESS WITH BEN FITZGERALD
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Jan 26, 2026 Ben Fitzgerald, Australian pastor and Awakening Europe leader who overcame addiction and now mentors young leaders. He recounts childhood wounds and early pornography exposure. He discusses confronting permissive grace, a corrective confrontation at Bethel, and how truth, discipline and redefined accountability led to lasting change.
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From Addiction To Conversion Story
- Ben Fitzgerald became born again at 20 after a life as a drug user and intense sexual addiction rooted in childhood trauma.
- He traced porn use back to age eight and his father's schizophrenia and suicide, which created a longing for love he misplaced in pornography.
Pornography As The Generation's Goliath
- Pornography became the generation's Goliath because it's ubiquitous on phones and often starts in childhood, normalizing secret sexual brokenness.
- Ben explains early exposure created an emotional substitute for love that grew into sex addiction despite a Christian upbringing.
Grace Without Truth Enables Bondage
- Grace without confronting sin can become a license to remain in bondage because 'grace' used merely as forgiveness removes urgency to change.
- Ben says true grace must include the power to change and fatherly confrontation to awaken conscience.