EP: 466 Inside Hollywood's Babylon System from a Child Actor Who Escaped with Todd Coconato

September 22, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

From Hollywood Clubs to a Hospital Bed: Todd Coconato on Escaping the Babylon System

Todd Coconato was eight years old when his family moved from Cincinnati to Los Angeles, and a chance connection with a prominent child manager launched him into the orbit of Hollywood's child actor scene. He wasn't famous himself, but he spent years in the same audition rooms, trailers, and eventually parties as the stars of the 80s and 90s. By his late teens, he was deep into the LA club scene—fake IDs, underground parties, VIP access, selling drugs, making five thousand dollars some weekends. Then, at twenty-one, he was stabbed nine times, once in the heart, by a man on drugs during a night out. In the car on the way to the hospital, bleeding out, he heard an audible voice ask: Do you want to live or do you want to die? He said he wanted to live. The voice replied that if he lived, he would have to tell people God is real and serve Him for the rest of his life. He woke up in the hospital to a nurse telling him he should not be alive.

The Hollywood System as Babylon

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What you'll learn

1 (03:00) **Hollywood as the Court of Babylon** - Todd introduces the idea that Hollywood’s physical layout and award ceremonies are modeled after the ancient Court of Babylon, where people bow down to idols.
2 (07:41) **Growing Up in the 80s Hollywood Scene** - Todd explains his entry into the industry as a child actor, moving from Ohio to California and getting a top-tier manager.
3 (12:57) **The Near-Death Experience and a Mandate** - Todd recounts the moment he heard God’s voice in the car after being stabbed, asking if he wanted to live or die.
4 (18:30) **Choosing Forgiveness Over Revenge** - Despite pressure from his family to retaliate, Todd describes a supernatural call to forgive his attacker.
5 (21:42) **Prophetic Confirmation in Unlikely Places** - After the stabbing, Todd struggled with bitterness and questioning God, but received three identical prophetic words from strangers.
6 (29:29) **The Shame of the Past vs. The Power of Testimony** - Todd discusses his initial shame about his past life of drugs and partying in the Christian culture.
7 (33:17) **The Babylon System: Definitions and Mechanisms** - Todd defines the "Babylon system" as the mechanism by which Hollywood uses idolatry and fame to fill a void that only God can fill.

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Show Notes

The stage where they hand out the Oscars sits on a plaza built to echo the Court of Babylon. Todd Coconato has been inside that world since he was eight years old, a child actor on studio sets who grew into the LA club scene and all the money and access that came with it. He says there is a reason so many of the people he ran with died young or lost their minds. Hollywood sells itself as the definition of success, and Todd got close enough to see what actually fills that void, and what never can.
Then came the night that changed everything. Stabbed nine times, once in the heart, he heard the audible voice of God on the way to the hospital and walked out a different man. Today he pastors a church in Nashville and pulls back the curtain on the industry that raised him. Luke and Nate get into the studios and the gatekeepers, Operation Mockingbird and predictive programming, the cost of refusing to play along, and why a remnant armed with nothing but a small stone still terrifies the giant. It is one of the most candid Hollywood conversations the show has hosted and one of the more remarkable testimonies of God's redemption you will ever hear.

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