Bethany Joy Lenz, the former “One Tree Hill” actress who has turned toward Christ and will star in Hallmark’s “A Biltmore Christmas” in the winter of 2023, recently discussed the cult she was in for a decade and how she turned away from it and toward Christ thanks to the work of Ne York’s Tim Keller.
Her comments on the cult came when she appeared on the “Drama Queens” podcast Monday and told her former co-stars, Hilarie Burton Morgan and Sophia Bush, “I was in a cult for 10 years. That would be a really valuable experience to write about. And the recovery — 10 years of recovery after that. So, there’s a lot to tell.”
Continuing, she added that it would be hard to write about the story of her experience with the unnamed cult and recovering from it because of legal restrictions, saying, “And also I don’t know how much I can say because there are still people and legal things in place that make it more complicated for the timing of that.”
The podcast interview came after she, in a May of 2023 Instagram post, explained how New York pastor Tim Keller helped her build her faith and trust in Christianity and in God and escape the teachings of the cult that had controlled her for so long.
Beginning, she explained that the cult had used her faith against her, twisting her into obeying it, saying, “This man changed my life. The only reason I’m still a Christian today is because, 10 years ago, after many years of faith being used against me as a tool of manipulation, Tim Keller taught me how to re-build my faith using reason and logic.”
Continuing, she said that Keller’s teachings about Christ helped engage her mind and made her confident in her faith because they helped her build trust in the belief system and in Christ Jesus, saying, “A belief system that fully engages my mind while still leaving room for wonder and mystery. I am so much more confident and secure in my faith now than I’ve ever been, because of Tim Keller’s teachings and the relief they gave me to trust again and fall in love with a Jesus I never knew.”
She added that Keller is a strong voice for God that combines personal humility and compassion with a rational and researched explanation of Christianity and she is very glad that she found him and his church in 1999, saying, “His is a trustworthy, humble, researched, rational and compassionate voice that God once used to bring me out of a pit of despair, walk me through intense healing and into the glorious freedom of the real Christ. I will forever be grateful for the day I walked into Redeemer Presbyterian church on the Upper East Side in 1999.”
Ending the post about Keller, who had passed away that day, she said, “Thank you for everything, Tim. I’m so glad for you to rest in His arms ✝️❤️🔥 @timkellernyc”
Featured image credit: By Bethany Joy Lenz – Bethany Joy Lenz, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=40176165
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