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After growing up in a cultic sub-group of Christianity, Christy Lynne Wood abandoned her rules and twisted religion. But she couldn’t leave Jesus. Because in the middle of all the crazy, she met a Real and Living Being. Recognizing familiar religious lies in mainstream Christianity, Christy is on a hunt for truth. She invites you to join her weekly in looking for the Real God.
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Christy wraps up four years, nine seasons, and 170 episodes by inviting her listeners to watch for a new podcast coming to podcast apps and YouTube in January 2024. Until then you can find Christy on: Substack, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, or her website: www.christylynnewood.com由Christy Lynne Wood
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Christy shares her frustrations with yet another public Christian leader being accused of sexual and spiritual abuse. She talks about how as our evangelical world falls apart, people's faith is left in ashes. Christy talks about the new Hope Retreats that she is starting to host, and shares things she was thinking about during her own quiet reflect…
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In today's episode Christy leads us into a uncomfortable examination of our own hearts. Following up last week's episode on social media versus real life, Christy explores our desire to be right, have an opinion, and judge others as wrong. Sometimes we even judge God as being wrong when he doesn't line up with our opinions. Reading from Ezekiel 33 …
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Christy contemplates her own experience stepping back from social media the past few months. She shares how she has been intentionally living her real life and thinking about the things and people in it rather than spending spare moments creating content intended to make people like and comment. She has noticed more peace, less fear and insecurity,…
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Christy digs into the difference between fear and worry or anxiety. She takes a look at the many ways we project fear into our future through worry, or choose to fear things that are different rather than learn more about them and get to know people who are not like us. Christy encourages her listeners to live in the present moment with God, remind…
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Christy pushes back at the moralistic focus that seems to be creeping into segments of evangelical America. She reminds her listeners that rules, laws, and getting people to be "like us" will never be enough to connect people with God. We don't need outward goodness, we need a heart transplant that only Jesus can give us through an encounter with H…
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As Christy continues talking about American evangelical church culture, she shares a short parable from Matthew 21:28-32. Christy talks about the difference between following the rules and following Jesus. She ponders her own once pharisaical heart and wonders if--like the Pharisees--modern church people might be missing Jesus by focusing on the ru…
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Christy continues her series on the mess within our modern church by retelling one of Jesus' parables from Matthew chapter 13. The familiar story of the wheat and the weeds, or the wheat and the tares, becomes fresh and new as Christy explores the type of weeds that Jesus was talking about. What do these weeds have to do with the junk that seems to…
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Welcome back! Christy starts Season 9 by talking about what she calls the "megachurch mentality" and relating it to the story of the Tower of Babel. As Christy breaks down the story of Babel she ties it together with what happened to the early church at Pentecost. Both stories involve a group of people gathering together with one mind. Both have a …
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Christy contemplates the goal of Bill Gothard's IBLP cult as expressed on Shiny Happy People: world domination. She remembers feeling like that was the goal back in the day--to take over the world one person, church, and city at a time--so that everyone could experience God's blessings and personal success. Now she is concerned that perhaps they su…
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Christy connects some dots between the teachings of Bill Gothard, founder of IBLP--the Christian cult exposed on Amazon's new documentary Shiny Happy People and Evangelical Christianity. Gothard's teachings on authority (power), obedience (oppression and suppression) and gossip (truth telling) were pretty extreme. But have those teachings trickled …
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Christy talks about the new documentary series out on Amazon Prime called Shiny Happy People. The series exposes the cult she grew up in (IBLP) along with its leader, Bill Gothard. The series was harder to watch then Christy thought it would be. It brought up feelings and memories that she wasn't expecting. But Christy is also grateful that the tru…
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On Pentecost Sunday, Christy explores the Holy Spirit. She wonders why He gets less attention than the other members of the Trinity and is often either ignored or manipulated. Christy reads pieces of her new book, Religious Rebels, coming out June 15th and shares the ways she has encountered the Holy Spirit over the years and just begun to recogniz…
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This episode was originally planned for Mother's Day, but in the uploading process, Christy accidentally uploaded the wrong audio. So we are trying again this week. Knowing we have a mothering God isn't just something we need on mother's day. It's something we need every day! Christy acknowledges the pain that many people feel on Mother's Day from …
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As Christy prepares to launch her book, Religious Rebels, she is thinking about the things we might need to rebel against these days. Growing up. rebellion was "as the sin of witchcraft" and highly discouraged and/or condemned. But when you squash rebellion, you also squash questions, exploration, and people seeking for truth. Christy contemplates …
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Christy comments on a podcast episode she listened to with Russell Moore and David Platt. As much as she appreciates David Platt's heart for people to be genuine Christians and live lives that please God, she's always felt hesitant about his approach. It is so easy for us as humans to get caught up in religion--in doing things for God, or to please…
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Christy explores what can happen when we don't actively reject lies we once believed. During her cult days, Christy taught children's seminars that coincided with Bill Gothard's Basic Seminars for adults. While unboxing some old memory albums, Christy realized that the church she recently attended for the last five years was the same church that ho…
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Since Christy is on vacation, she is posting some of her favorite episodes over the years from the Easter season. Christy takes time to ponder her love for Jesus and her awe of His death and resurrection. With passion and emotion Christy invites her listeners to lay aside their ideas of God and look at the person of Jesus Christ who is God in the f…
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Since Christy is on vacation, she is posting some of her favorite episodes over the years from the Easter season. Christy looks at the last Passover Jesus celebrated with His disciples. Jesus did not fit the Jews' idea of the Messiah even though the entire Passover meal pointed to Him. Where as humans seek for money, power, and fame, Jesus sought h…
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Christy explores the reasons we humans seem to be so quick to fall for false teaching, false prophets, and cults. This world is broken and we feel it. False teachers and cults often promise a short cut to fix the brokenness. They offer identity and purpose. They promise a sense of control. But all the offers and promises are based on lies and can't…
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Christy talks her listeners through a list of things that make her ears perk up and her sixth cult-detecting-sense go off. She then expresses concern over the NAR and the Passion "translation" of the Bible and shares a new book she is reading called Counterfeit Kingdom. Sometimes God can use things because they have a shard of truth in them, but it…
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In this brief episode, Christy introduces her book, Religious Rebels, and reads the introduction. She shares how the publishing process is going and how excited she is for her listeners to get the book in their hands.由Christy Lynne Wood
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Christy contemplates the brokenness that brought many of us to the place of deconstructing our faith in the first place. Our world is filled with pain, sadness, heartache, loss, and more. How do we reconcile that reality with the belief in a good and loving God? What if the brokenness is actually evidence for God rather than evidence against his ex…
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As we reconstruct our faith, we need a foundation to build it upon. In our current Christian culture there are often two views of what to do with the Bible. one side thinks that any doubts or questions are wrong and the other side wants to reject the Bible completely. Christy thinks that we need to take the time to recognize the Bible as an ancient…
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Christy begins a series on reconstructing our faith by talking about the recent move of God at Asbury University along with the other Universities where the awakening has spread. Christy knows that we need to have a good reason before choosing to reconstruct our faith. It has to be a bigger and better reason than theology or religion. The reason Ch…
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Christy takes her listeners on her book writing journey of the past decade. How she started even thinking about it in the first place, the frustration and discouragement she felt along the way, that she finished her manuscript last Sunday night, and the fact that a hybrid publishing company wants to work with her! There is some up-front cost to hyb…
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As Christy finishes her series on church, she ponders her similaries to Jinger Duggar Vuolo. Christy was in the same cult as the Duggar family and got out 20+ years ago. As she has listened to interviews and read articles talking about Jinger's book she has noticed a theme from people responding. Many of them want Jinger to deconstruct even further…
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Continuing her series on church, Christy talks about knowing when to leave your church. She refers to her background as a youth pastor's wife and how the perspective from church staff to simple church member is so different. Christy give three valid reasons to leave a church and gets pretty passionate about the third reason. It is her hope that mor…
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Christy digs into the heart of church. She begins at the beginning with the 1st century church. but instead of idolizing it with rosy colored glasses, Christy points out the familiar problems that we still face today. False teaching, legalism and religion, division, chaos, and sin. Broken people do broken things. And yet Christy still believes in t…
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Christy opens Season 8 by inviting her listeners to join her new series on church. Many of us have been burned by our experiences within the walls of a church building. Today Christy just contemplates the churches that have been a part of her life over the years. She asks the uncomfortable questions but doesn't offer any answers in this episode. Wh…
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Christy finishes her Advent Journey and Season Seven with a contemplation of God's love. Despite the brokenness in the world, despite the pain we face, despite our fears and doubts, we are passionately and intentionally loved by God. Christy looks into the genealogy of Jesus and considers the women who are listed there in Matthew One. She wonders a…
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Christy continues her Advent journey by contemplating the angel's message to the shepherds declaring good news that would bring great joy to all the people. What does it mean for the message to be for ALL the people? Christy contemplates the people that Jesus chose to spend time with when He was on earth. She contrasts that with the religious leade…
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Christy continues her Advent 2022 journey this time with the Candle of Peace. The angles came to the shepherds proclaiming the birth of Jesus and declaring peace on earth. But we don't have peace on earth. If anything the world just keeps getting more riled up and disunified. What kind of peace did Jesus really come to bring us? Can God give peace …
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Christy invites her listeners to join her journey of celebrating Advent for the first time this year. Today, the first Sunday of Advent, we light the Candle of Hope. Have we ever needed hope more than now? Christy ponders how this season of Christmas that is supposed to be "the most wonderful time of the year" is often just full of stress, disappoi…
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Christy shares about one of her students this year who has reminded her of God's crazy love for us. Many of us have baggage from our religious upbringings that form our view of God in an unhealthy way. Christy encourages her listeners to lean into a God who welcomes us with open arms. Scripture Referenced: Romans 8:1, 35-39; Ephesians 2:12-13; John…
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Christy thinks out loud with her listeners about the Kingdom of Jesus, our ordinary lives, and the true reality of the Spirit. It's a gentle ramble that will hopefully challenge norms while bringing encouragement.由Christy Lynne Wood
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Christy re-shares one of her most popular episodes from Season One: But God Isn't a Vending Machine. **trigger warning: pregnancy loss** "Christy shares how God used personal tragedy to challenge the formulaic way she viewed and interacted with Him. She exposes ways we attempt to manipulate God within our religious Christianity." Bible Verses Refer…
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Christy finishes her series on prayer by talking about liturgy, the way more and more people raised in evangelical circles are being drawn to it, and the controversy surrounding it in some churches. Christy talks about the missing frameworks that liturgy provides, her own recent experiences, and conversations she's recently had with others.…
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Christy continues her series on prayer by talking about prayer walks, prayer journaling, and listening prayer. Walks were a huge part of Christy's life as she began to question and then left her cult. They were also vital to her entry into the real world as she processed her beliefs, her self, and the culture around her. Journaling has also been a …
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Christy continues her series on prayer by exploring two ancient prayer practices: silent contemplative prayer and breath prayer. Sharing how these prayer practices have encouraged her own prayer life, Christy challenges her listeners to try something new (or old). Contemplative and breath prayer are both wonderful for times in our lives when we hav…
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Christy begins a new series on prayer by talking about awkward prayer, formulaic prayer, and the ways we often feel guilt and shame for a lack of prayer. She reminds her listeners that at its core prayer is a chance to connect and communicate with God. Christy talks about her own experiences with prayer and introduces some forms of prayer that she …
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As Christy concludes her series on Fringe to Mainstream, she contemplates the political homelessness that exists for anyone in the middle ground these days. Christy ponders a podcast she listened to recently called The Run Up from the New York Times that is exploring how we got to this fraught place of tension in politics. Looking back at last week…
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As Christy continues her series on how the fringe of conservative Christianity is becoming mainstream, she reviews the latest episode of The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill podcast. Listening to host Mike Cosper and author and therapisdt Dan Allender discuss spiritual abuse, narcissism, and trauma, Christy realized something. She knows what it is about …
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Christy chats about her concerns with the way some mainstream evangelicals appear to idolize the family. Their focus on the family unit, protecting their children, fear of the world, and the importance of homeschooling bring her right back to the cult days. Christy knows that trying to isolate and insulate your family out of fear doesn't work. She …
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Christy kicks off Season 7 with an overview of where she hopes to go this season. As she watches modern evangelical culture, Christy is reminded of her days in Bill Gothard's cult. She is concerned about the direction evangelicalism is taking and the way many fringe ideas are becoming accepted in the mainstream church. As she reminisces about how i…
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In this final episode of Summer 2022, Christy tackles the ideology of Christian Nationalism. Unknowingly, this is exactly what Christy was taught and believed growing up in Bill Gothard's Christian cult. It was her desire as a brainwashed 15-year-old to redeem culture by influencing it in a way that would cause all people to end up living like her …
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A friend recently asked Christy how much her children know about her Christian cult days. Thinking that many listeners might have the same question, Christy decided to do a podcast episode. Today she talks about what her kids know and what topics she is cautiously talking through as she parents. Those topics include salvation, modesty, dating, and …
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Christy continues her summer series reminiscing about the cult days by talking about going back to her hometown and house on a recent family camping trip. Because her story took place in the Thumb of Michigan but most of her healing happened away from that space, going back is always an interesting experience. Christy shares how God used KJ Ramsey'…
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On the first Summer bonus episode from 2022, Christy explores what characteristics define a cult. She finds it fascinating that those cult characteristics fit Bill Gothard's Institute that she was a part of in the 90s, as well as Warren Jeffs and his FLDS group, and even Mark Driscoll and the Mars Hill church. This summer Christy plans to release a…
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Christy finishes her series on Christianese Phrases as well as Season 6 by looking at what it means to "get a word from the Lord." She explores similar phrases that can also be used to spiritualize any decision we make. It's easy to use Christianese to justify our own plans and desires.At the same time, Christy believes that the Holy Spirit is real…
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