For years, Naghmeh Panahi heroically advocated for the release of her husband—Iranian-American pastor, Saeed Abedini—from an Iranian prison. Yet months before his release, Naghmeh revealed a dark secret: for years, Saeed had been physically, emotionally, and sexually abusing her.

Yet rather than rallying to support this battered wife, Naghmeh says the Christian community attacked her. And she says some—including Franklin Graham and Jay Sekulow—relentlessly pressured her to reconcile with her abusive husband, or to even lie about what happened.

From the fall of 2012 through 2015, imprisoned Iranian-American Pastor Saeed Abedini and his wife, Naghmeh, were the public face of persecuted Christians. As part of a global #SaveSaeed campaign, millions of dollars were raised, and Saeed was freed from prison in January 2016.

Yet when Naghmeh revealed that she’d been abused by her husband, she went from being the darling of the Christian community to an outcast.

In this episode of The Roys Report, Julie Roys investigates why the once seemingly united evangelical movement is splintering into sharply opposed factions.

The conversation centers on the high‑profile upheaval at Bethlehem Baptist Church, where John Piper’s successor, Jason Meyer, resigned, citing a rising “neo‑fundamentalism” in the church. Julie shares leaked emails and new evidence that expose deep tensions at Bethlehem over race, culture, and alleged abuse—tensions that mirror broader conflicts across American evangelicalism.

Guests Michael Graham and Skyler Flowers, pastors and coauthors of the influential article “The Six-Way Fracturing of Evangelicalism,” unpack the emerging camps within evangelicalism—such as white nationalists, “woke” Christians, and ex‑evangelicals—and explain what’s really driving these divides.

Together, they explore:

If you’ve been confused by how people under the same “evangelical” label can think, vote, and act so differently, this episode offers a clear framework, fresh insight, and a starting point for deeper reflection and healthier dialogue.

Natalie Hoffman spent more than 10 years at Bethlehem Baptist Church—the church where John Piper pastored for over 30 years. During that time, she says she was stuck in an abusive marriage. Yet rather than helping her, she says Bethlehem blamed and shamed her, and left her suicidal.

On this edition of The Roys Report, Natalie Hoffman joins Julie to tell her story—an account that’s extremely relevant, given current events at Bethlehem.

Have Scriptures been twisted to keep women in bondage—and to promote a patriarchy movement that’s grossly misogynist?

On this edition of The Roys Report, author Rebecca Davis joins Julie to examine this movement and the Scriptures used to support it. Diving into Rebecca’s book series on Untwisting Scriptures That Were Used to Tie You Up, Gag You, and Tangle Your Mind, their talk centers on book two in the series entitled: Patriarchy and Authority.

Twelve women have filed a civil lawsuit, claiming that Liberty University is “enabling on-campus rapes.” On this episode of The Roys Report, one of the 12 Jane Does filing that lawsuit—as well as two of her allies—tell their story spanning 16 years.

Their story starts in 2005, when “Jane Doe #2” in the lawsuit was gang raped on Liberty’s campus.

From his shuttered church in Seattle to his “cult” in Arizona, author and celebrity pastor Mark Driscoll has taken pastoral entitlement, bullying, and control to new lows. Even after Part 1 of Inside the Driscoll “Cult,” two former members of Driscoll’s security detail have much more to share. 

On this edition of The Roys Report, Chad Freese, the former head of security at The Trinity Church, and his former colleague, Ben Eneas, reveal more details about the cult of personality and family business that Driscoll has cultivated.

The cultic activities of Mark Driscoll and The Trinity Church have escalated to a whole new level. As Julie’s guests describe on this edition of The Roys Report, Driscoll is now sending cease and desist letters, threatening to sue whistleblowers. And the threat is not in vain. Driscoll reportedly has amassed a $10 million dollar litigation fund to sue whistleblowers into oblivion.

Does the Bible really teach that Christians are supposed to give up their rights? If you speak out against someone who’s sinned against you, does it mean that you’re bitter? And is it really wrong to “take up offenses” for someone else?

The short answer is, No! But as Julie explains on this episode of The Roys Report podcast, these are all examples of twisting the Scriptures to condition Christians to accept abuse.

Sixteen women say Pastor Wayne Aarum sexually abused them. Still, he remains the president of the well-known Circle C Ranch in Western New York. In this podcast, two of his alleged victims speak out.

On this episode of The Roys Report, the women—Joy McCullough and Michelle Poulsen—explain how Aarum systematically groomed them in the 1990s at both Circle C and The Chapel, a megachurch where Aarum served as the youth pastor.