The Cult I Left Behind

Amanda tells Kyle about the people and circumstances that created formative moments as she finished high school and left her biological family's home for college. She talks about her older sister finding out about the abuse, the ways IBLP ideology influenced her parents' decision about her college education and relationships, and how Bill Gothard's teachings about authority caused h...

Amanda talks about life after the first time she told her parents about her brother sexually assaulting her. She tells Kyle about getting through high school and trying to protect her younger siblings from her brother.  Amanda also discusses her brother being sent away to an IBLP facility, just like Josh Duggar, and her parents' control over her life and their narrative of the abuse. Support...

Amanda begins her story of surviving childhood physical, emotional, verbal, spiritual, and sexual abuse in the IBLP cult.  Support the show

Amanda details Bill Gothard's pattern of sexual harassment and assault of teenage girls and young women in IBLP that went unhindered for decades.  Edit: Toward the end of the episode, Amanda says Bill resigned in 2004, but she meant to say 2014.  Support the show

Amanda gives Kyle background on IBLP leadership to set the stage for future episodes. She details the Gothard brothers, their various scandals, and the ways IBLP covered them up and put cult members at greater risk of harm. Support the show

Amanda and Kyle open the podcast with a history of the IBLP cult led by Bill Gothard. Amanda explains the cult's early beginnings, exponential growth, and transformation into the organization that exists to this day. She shares the core tenants of Gothard's ideology, as well as her childhood perspective of the teachings she was forced to memorize and live by as a child raised in the cult...