Julie Roys Explains Why She Spoke Out Against Moody Bible, Decries Evangelical 'Machine'
The woman who lost her job after calling attention to the doctrinal drift and suspicious administration activity at Moody Bible Institute is explaining why she spoke out, decrying the evangelical Christian "machine."
In a Wednesday post on her blog, Julie Roys, formerly the host of Moody Radio's "Up for Debate," wrote about her recent experiences, which The Christian Post has covered at length, beginning in January when she finally decided to go public with her findings of an investigation she conducted into institutional corruption and a slide among the faculty into theological liberalism, at a school long known for its commitment to Scriptural fidelity.
"It's been brutal, both professionally and personally. But I knew this would happen," Roys wrote, recounting how her career had recently plummeted. Roys was fired from her Moody Radio post days after she published, has had speaking engagements canceled since she spoke out, and has missed good opportunities to promote her new book, Redeeming the Feminine Soul: God's Surprising Vision for Womanhood, during an important time for it to succeed as a result of her actions.
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"I'm not naive. I've been in Christian media and ministry far too long to think I could take on a giant like Moody and not suffer consequences."
She further explained that the main reason she spoke out was simply because God prompted her to do so. While the cost was great, she felt convicted that if she did not tell the truth of what she discovered her voice would inevitably become "worthless."
In the weeks that followed Roys' firing, the Moody board of trustees removed the school's president, provost, and COO. The school has also formally adopted The Chicago Statement on biblical inerrancy, a move that encourages Roys.
But the even larger issue is how evangelicals protect their own people who gain popularity, even when they are culpable for various wrongs.
Some years ago, a "media-savvy consultant" advised Roys against publishing an article about a radical communist headlining a major evangelical conference, telling her that she should wait until she had tens of thousands of Twitter followers and that she needed to "ingratiate" herself to evangelical heavy-hitters instead of confronting them. She could then say whatever she wanted, she was told. Roys could not abide that counsel given how many leaders seem to have gained sizable online followings by gradually suppressing nudges from the Spirit to expose malfeasances from within evangelical Christianity over time.
And Jesus did not shy away from confrontation, Roys noted, mentioning His regular and public tough words for the Pharisees.
"When I published, I didn't just take on Moody. I took on the machine," she explained.
"This is why I suffered much more than a canceled show and the loss of a paycheck. In the machine, friends protect friends whether they're deserving of it or not — and whistleblowers get crushed."
Moody leadership previously forbade Roys from airing a story on Moody Radio that exposed the promotion of far-left ideology at her alma mater, Wheaton College, whose education department was instructing their students to be "agents of change" for "social justice" based on the ideology of radicals like domestic terrorist Bill Ayers and Brazilian Marxist Paulo Freire. Moody reportedly killed the piece in order to protect their friend, Wheaton. Roys' reporting eventually aired on another show — the host faced considerable blowback — which precipitated some notable reforms within the department.
While at Moody, "[m]anagement killed commentaries and show topics, and even scolded me once when I published an important article elsewhere that negatively impacted a ministry partner," she added, realizing that these "Christian" maneuverings were no different than similar machine tactics in the secular world, "and I could not serve it and serve God."
"But if there's one thing the #MeToo movement has shown, it's that sometimes the vulnerable, armed with truth, can prevail. I knew I had to try."
But her personal losses pale in comparison to what is at stake for the future of the Christian faith, Roys went on to say.
"The evangelical church is facing a major crisis of orthodoxy. Increasingly, we're succumbing to all sorts of liberal errors — from embracing the LGBTQ agenda and a leftist-inspired form of social justice to abandoning the inerrancy of Scripture and what it teaches about origins, the fall, and redemption," she stressed, highlighting how this is especially playing out on Christian college campuses.
The issues at her previous employer showcase the issues afflicting much of evangelical Christianity though such problems are not new, she said.
"As Paul lamented two millennia ago, 'Everyone looks out for their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.' This is what makes the 'machine' evil, but it doesn't have to be that way."
The former Moody Radio host intends to announce "exciting developments" about her future in the coming weeks.
