Confronting the Blame Shifters Part Two

 

Confronting The Blame Shifters

Some commenters claim that Elizabeth Williams is being victim shamed. What they fail to understand is that Elizabeth is both victim and perpetrator. This blog and hundreds of commenters expose Elizabeth's intentional coverup of her husband's sexual abuse of her goddaughter 20 years prior to current events. When confronted with this fact, the commenters neither confirm nor deny the rape of the 15-year-old Stephens girl by Matthew Williams and Elizabeth refuses to comment. Insults and misdirection are the commenter's most common tactics. We are told to "rot in hell" and that it is we and not Elizabeth who are causing harm to the children. This is classic blame shifting.

Blame-shifting. This involves blaming someone else for the unwanted outcome that they caused or contributed to.

JTO has called on Elizabeth Willams to confirm or deny that she knew of Matthew's sexual abuse of the Stephen's girl 20 years ago. Her silence on this matter for 20 years is not acceptable and will continue to be the catalyst for others to refuse to see her as a victim in the current situation. Meanwhile her apologists and defenders continue their futile campaign to malign the reputation and character of those who have exposed her 20-year cover-up of her husband's crimes.

Elizabeth: What did you know and when did you know it?

 

Matthew Williams Arrested- UPDATE

Matthew Williams

According to Detention Officer Eller of the SW Regional Jail Authority in Abington, VA, Matthew Williams was arrested and booked into the jail today with no bond.

According to Eller, specific charges are pending, and other information will be released on the facility website by Sunday or Monday.

JTO will keep readers apprised of the ongoing situation. Readers are welcome to contact JTO with information at journeytoorthodoxy@gmail.com.

Updates:

1. According to at least one unconfirmed report, Williams turned himself in. UPDATE - Confirmed.

2. https://virginia.arrests.org/Arrests/Mathew_Williams_64382611/

Hebrews 12 Destroys The Trinity Illusion

By: David Lopez 

Hebrews 12:23–24 pulls back the curtain on HEAVEN ITSELF.

And what do we see?

23. to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of {the} righteous made perfect, 24. AND to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than {the blood} of Abel.

 

Bonus Verse: 1 Timothy 2:5. For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men the man Christ Jesus.

GOD — the Judge of all.

JESUS — the mediator of a new covenant.

The Holy Spirit? Completely missing.

Let that sink in.

This is the final, climactic heavenly vision in the Book of Hebrews—and there's NO Trinity here. Just TWO distinct beings:

God — the Ultimate Judge of all!

Jesus The Mediator— highlights Jesus' subordinate and distinct role; he's not God, he's mediating to God!

Use logic: If Jesus were God, he couldn’t mediate to God.

If the Holy Spirit were a co-equal divine person, why is he absent in heaven’s ultimate roll call?

No “three-in-one.”

No Three co-equal divine persons.

Just what the Bible actually says: ONE GOD, and one glorified Son.

Hebrews 12:23–24 is a devastating blow to Trinitarian doctrine—and a powerful confirmation of True Biblical Monotheism.

When the veil is lifted and heaven is revealed, it's simple and stunning:

The Father is God.

Jesus is not God.

The Holy Spirit isn’t present as a separate third

person Being.

This is the Trinity’s blind spot—and it’s wide open!

Another "Drive By" Comment Debunked

"Nathan clearly fears retribution from ROCOR hierarchy, not acting on his conscience. There's a clear pattern where he is very gentle to hierarchs and their lackeys."

What is a drive-by comment? It is a lazy commenter who drives by JTO and ignorantly fires off an attack comment directed at JTO, which is obviously false. It would behoove the commenter to read a bit more. At the very least, look at the column to the right side of the JTO blog to see the most visited posts, all of which, at the very least, are not "gentle" to the ROCOR Hierarchs and date back to 2018. Rather, they are directed prophetic words indicting the ROCOR Hierarchs and even encouraging others, you the readers, to "Rise up" and confront those who are enabling such deviants to continue to destroy the people they claim to pastor. 

For the sake of this lazy commenter and others with similar anemia, I have posted links to several of the JTO posts that expose the ROCOR hierarchy. JTO will wait for the commenter to show integrity by issuing another comment correcting this false statement. Unless, of course, the commenter enjoys the anonymity in issuing such ad hominems and the commenter's role as a "lackey" of the literally challenged. 

Commenter! How can you read these and say, "There is a clear pattern where he is gentle to hierarchs and their lackeys", unless you haven't read them...

Journey To orthodoxy: Rape and the Holy Man - The Alleged Sexual Crime of a ROCOR Priest

Journey To orthodoxy: A Blast Is Coming, ROCOR

Journey To orthodoxy: Rape and the Holy Man Part Three -All are Punished!

Journey To orthodoxy: Is There Not One ROCOR Bishop Who Will Act?

Journey To orthodoxy: ROCOR Bishops Were Warned

Journey To orthodoxy: "They Must Be Plucked Out"

Journey To orthodoxy: The DNA Of Methods And Tactics

Journey To orthodoxy: ROCOR, Are You Next?

Journey To orthodoxy: Does ROCOR "Fear God and Care What People Think?" Perhaps They Should

Journey To orthodoxy: What Did Bishop Nicholas Know and When Did He Know It?

Journey To orthodoxy: Rise Up People of God!

Journey To orthodoxy: To Orthodox Hierarchy: "What Is Your Game?

Journey To orthodoxy: A Mother Maligned

Journey To orthodoxy: A Summary Of The FMW/ROCOR Matter

Journey To orthodoxy: Comment Profile on Father Matthew Williams

Journey To orthodoxy: Father Matthew Williams Has "Formerly Resigned"

Journey To orthodoxy: "They Look Like Men"

Journey To orthodoxy: Appeal To His Eminence NICHOLAS

Journey To orthodoxy: Hey ROCOR, Do You Concur?

Journey To orthodoxy: Happy New Year - ROCOR Style

Journey To orthodoxy: Does ROCOR Have A Systemic Problem?

Journey To orthodoxy: ROCOR and Sexual Misconduct

Journey To orthodoxy: Rape and the Holy Man Part Four - Sincerely, Carole Anne Stephens

Journey To orthodoxy: Comment to A Commenter on Rape and the Holy Man

A Biblical Unitarian Manifesto

A BIBLICAL UNITARIAN MANIFESTO

Reclaiming the Faith of Jesus, Not Just Faith in Jesus

WE BELIEVE IN ONE GOD—THE FATHER ALMIGHTY.
Not three persons in one essence.
Not "God the Son" or a co-equal "Holy Spirit."
Just as Scripture teaches:

“For us there is one God, the Father.” – 1 Corinthians 8:6
“The Lord our God, the Lord is one.” – Mark 12:29

WE BELIEVE IN JESUS THE MESSIAH, THE SON OF GOD.
He is the anointed one—not God Himself, but the man appointed by God.
Born of a woman, tempted, obedient, crucified, and raised.
Now exalted and glorified, seated at God’s right hand—not as God, but as God’s chosen King.

“There is one God, and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus.” – 1 Timothy 2:5

WE BELIEVE IN THE HOLY SPIRIT AS GOD’S POWER AND PRESENCE.
Not a third divine person.
The Spirit is how God moves, speaks, fills, and empowers—not someone else beside Him.

WE REJECT THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY.
Not out of pride.
Not out of rebellion.
But out of loyalty to Scripture and the words of Jesus himself.
The Trinity is not biblical.
It is a philosophical patchwork, invented centuries after the apostles.
It confuses what the Bible makes clear:

“The Father is the only true God.” – John 17:3

THE BIBLE NEVER SAYS:
"God is three persons."
"Jesus is God the Son."
"The Holy Spirit is a distinct co-equal person."
Instead, it says:

“This is eternal life: that they know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent.” – John 17:3
“God is one.” – Galatians 3:20
“God is not a man.” – Numbers 23:19

WE AFFIRM:
Jesus is the Messiah—not a second God.
The Spirit is God's breath and power—not another person.
The gospel is about the Kingdom, not metaphysical formulas.
The Father alone is God. Period.

WE ARE BIBLICAL UNITARIANS.
Not heretics.
Not cultists.
Not liberal deniers.
We are Bible-believing Christians who take Jesus at his word.
We believe what he believed.
We worship his God—not a man-made mystery.

OUR CALL IS SIMPLE:

Return to the God of Jesus—the Father.
Follow Jesus as Lord and Messiah.
Reject human creeds.
Cling to the Scriptures.
Proclaim the gospel of the Kingdom with clarity and courage.

“Do not fear what they fear… The LORD Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy.” – Isaiah 8:12–13

John 20:17

This is our faith. This is our fight. This is our future.

#OneGod
#BiblicalMonotheism
#JesusIsTheMessiah
#UnitarianChristianity
#DeconstructTheTrinity 

Whom Did Jesus Identify As God? Book Recommendation

Click HERE for Amazon

Introduction: 

In John 17:1-3 Jesus prayed,

"Father...this is everlasting life, that they know You the only true God, and Jesus Christ who You have sent."

In English the pronoun you can refer to one person or to more than one person. However, the language Jesus spoke and the language in which this was recorded have a singular [one person] form and a plural [more than one person] form for the pronoun of you. Here the singular form is used.

Jesus addressed this prayer to his Father, used the singular form for the pronoun, and described this one person as "THE ONLY TRUE GOD."

Thus, according to Jesus,

HIS FATHER ALONE IS GOD!

With this the apostle Paul agrees. At 1 Corinthians 8:6 he wrote,

"...yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and from whom we exist..."

and at Ephesians 4: 4-6, 

"There is... one God, and Father of us all, who is above all and through all and in all."

However, an almost universal belief among Christians is that the God of the Bible is a Trinity of three divine Persons called God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit; each Person individual and distinct, yet fully God: co-equal, co-eternal, and possessing all the same attributes of deity. Even so, there are not three Gods, but one God.

Those puzzled by this mathematical Mystery may well wonder; What did Jesus have to say about the Trinity? Answer: Nothing! Nowhere did he say anything about God's being a Trinity. 

[If Jesus had not wanted to exclude himself as a deity, he could have said 'that they know Us the only true God or rearranged the phrase saying, 'that they know the only true God, You and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.' But he did not.]

In fact, nowhere does the Bible reveal that God is a trinity. Trinitarians can only infer their doctrine by sewing together a tapestry of proof-texts.

However, these texts of Scripture can be understood in ways that do not imply that doctrine, and, more importantly, do not contradict Jesus' statement that his Father is the only true God.

This booklet considers 30 such trinitarian propositions. This information is of the utmost importance. Jesus charged the religious leaders of his day,

"Thus, you nullify the word of God by your tradition." (Mark 7:13)

Examine this evidence carefully and prayerfully so you may not be guilty of nullifying the word of God as they were.

 Amazon.com: WHOM DID JESUS IDENTIFY AS GOD?: The Trinity Revisited eBook : Dicken, Jay: Kindle Store

Letter From Matushka Elizabeth With Commentary By JTO

The current situation regarding the sexual abuse crimes of Matthew Williams is tainted by Matushka Elizabeth's past callous and sinful response to the reported rape of Carole Stephen's daughter. Had she acted then, her own daughters may have been spared, and the then Deacon Matthew Williams would never have become Father Matthew Williams.

Delivered to Met. Hilarion 2018

In reading Elizabeth's December 2024 letter, with the Subject Matter "Truth", circulated to the members of the church, I have great mercy and sympathy for what was perpetrated on her by her husband and by the public vitriol. But my mercy and sympathy is limited when I see her obfuscating about her knowledge of the rape of their goddaughter and her specific actions to silence the victim and the victim's mother via phone calls to each. Given that, I must counter her attempt to position herself as the innocent victim while she continues to cast aspersions on Carole Stephens.

JTO's 7-year effort to see spiritual and legal justice in the matter of the reported rape of the 15-year-old Stephens girl, can only be complete when Elizabeth confesses her knowledge and involvement at the time the mother, Carole Stephens, confronted them by letter and by phone. For the full story, read the 2018 JTO article, which was originally presented to Metropolitan Hilarion of ROCOR before posting on JTO:

RAPE AND THE HOLY MAN- THE ALLEDGED SEXUAL CRIME OF A ROCOR PRIEST.

JTO sent a request for comment via email to Elizabeth Williams before posting this article:

Elizabeth,

I am Nathan Lee Lewis, the editor of the Journey To Orthodoxy blog (JTO).

I am working on an article in response to your December 2024 letter sent to various parish members.

In the 2018 JTO post, Rape and the Holy Man, Carole Stephens claims that both you and your husband had a phone conversation with her after she became aware of the sexual abuse of her daughter by Matthew.

In her account, she says, "I confronted the assaulting couple. The deacon had been ordained a priest of * St. Tihkon's Russian Orthodox Church in Bristol, TN in [the] interim. I wrote them for an explanation. They proceeded to harass my daughter at school and beg her to keep me off of their backs...Father Matthew called me and tried to set up a meeting and begged forgiveness...Elizabeth did say that she should have known better than to have a teenaged girl in her home. Matthew did say that if it made me feel any better, Elizabeth almost left him for the incident. I told him that he should love his wife all the more. They reminded me of all that they had done for me in the past and Elizabeth did say that her husband does a lot of good for people as a priest. They offered to do something for me financially. He was evasive about dates, location of the crime, and to what extent (how many times did it occur?) as I was asking point blank questions. They begged forgiveness over and over but were non-specific. Of course they wanted to avoid prosecution."

Did this conversation happen, and if it did, is the content of the conversation accurate? Were you aware of the allegation of sexual misconduct of your husband at that time?

I am offering you this opportunity to comment on and correct any wrong information. If you respond promptly, I may include your comment in the article. If you choose not to respond, I will release the article as it is.

Thanks for your consideration,

Nathan Lee Lewis

JTO Editor

Elizabeth did not respond.

The following is the JTO commentary inserted into Elizabeth's letter. 

Be prepared. At this point in this sordid and sinful saga, JTO is pulling no punches. If you demand mercy and sympathy for Elizabeth, that can be found in prior JTO posts or the above paragraphs. It will not be found here:

 

From: Elizabeth Williams (email omitted)

Date: Wed, Dec 25, 2024, 11:38 PM

Subject: Truth

To: Elizabeth Williams (email omitted)

My beloved brethren in Christ,

The time has come for me to speak openly to you, as you deserve. Thus far, this has been my family's own personal Golgotha. [JTO: No, Elizabeth. This is not nor has it ever been your "family's own personal Golgotha." You are leaving out Carole Stephen's personal Golgotha and that of her daughter. Theirs was the death of innocence and the crucifixion of the soul of her daughter. It is time for the church to "speak openly to you as YOU deserve."]  And yet our beloved church family has entered into it, and I pray that we can all grieve together, not falling into rancor, not battling against one another. [JTO: The local church has entered into it partly because of your desire to protect your husband for his sexual crimes. Your clarion call is 20+ years too late. If the church was truly beloved by you, you would have informed Hilarion years ago. It is the height of hubris for you to present yourself only as a victim when you are partly the cause. Now you seem to want to be seen as the mother hen gathering around your children. In the past you allowed a wolf to devour another woman's child. Your goddaughter needed professional and spiritual help back then. You cared only for your own. How did that work out for you? How are your children doing? "Do not be deceived: God is not mocked; for whatever a person sows, that will he also reap."] 

 

I am writing this because I believe that we all share a single goal of protecting the Church and the faithful, and especially the innocent and vulnerable. [JTO: Elizabeth! Was your 15-year-old goddaughter "innocent and vulnerable"? Carole Stephens: "I confronted the assaulting couple. The deacon had been ordained a priest of * St. Tihkon's Russian Orthodox Church in Bristol, TN in [the] interim. I wrote them for an explanation. They proceeded to harass my daughter at school and beg her to keep me off of their backs...Father Matthew called me and tried to set up a meeting and begged forgiveness...Elizabeth did say that she should have known better than to have a teenaged girl in her home. Matthew did say that if it made me feel any better, Elizabeth almost left him for the incident. I told him that he should love his wife all the more. They reminded me of all that they had done for me in the past and Elizabeth did say that her husband does a lot of good for people as a priest. They offered to do something for me financially. He was evasive about dates, location of the crime, and to what extent (how many times did it occur?) as I was asking point blank questions. They begged forgiveness over and over but were non-specific. Of course they wanted to avoid prosecution."]

To begin with, I have not and will never coerce or shame a victim into silence. [JTO: Parse words much? Carole:  "I found [a]out the truth around the time of [sibling's] high school graduation... He (Matthew) would never answer.  Then I typed out an e-mail.  It took me 3 months to send it.  Right away, I got a response from [daughter], for they had harassed her by phone to get me off of their backs...  Matthew was only willing to call me when the letter hit the metropolitan's office...but later called [daughter] and convinced her to lie to the metropolitan's investigator..."]

The lies and allegations against my children and myself are out of control. These claims are that I never reported the sexual abuse to the hierarchy [JTO: Still talking about your own children, but you did not report the previous crime of your husband, did you? You do not get to publicly defend yourself and tout your good conduct and clear up the "lies" directed to you until you confess your previous lies and failures to report. Carole and your 15-year-old goddaughter...remember them?] are exposing both me and my children to huge slander [JTO: slander "the action or crime of making a false spoken statement damaging to a person's reputation." Is this not what you have caused to occur to Carole Stephens all of these years? Is this not what you are doing in this very letter?] and further damaging our family and our parish. People are already so unwound due to the allegations [JTO: "allegations"? The use of this word by you at this point is clearly obfuscation. Honesty and transparency would dictate you say, "due to my husband's failure or crime, or how about his sexual abuse of little girls.] against Fr Matthew; believing that their matushka made no efforts to protect the parish (and her own children) is already causing chaos to abound. [JTO: Blaming and rebuking others for reacting strongly, and at times wrongly, to the chaos you and your family caused is not well received by many.]  I write this not just to defend myself against these terrible accusations, but also to provide some much-needed truth.

I have followed my beloved spiritual father of twenty-seven year's direction throughout this period of sorrows and betrayal. [JTO: What did your beloved spiritual father say when you told him that your husband had raped your 15-year-old granddaughter? You did tell him, didn't you? If you didn't, you are exposed as a liar. If you did, your spiritual father is exposed as aiding and abetting and failure to report a felony crime. The only other option is to dismiss Carole and her daughter as liars. Which is it?] It has been excruciatingly painful for me to remain dumb in the face of those accusing me of lies, [JTO: Kind of like the pain Carole has endured?  Now, you are asking publicly for sympathy. Sympathy is most often offered after contrition and repentance.]  and even more so in the face of those just wanting to know the truth; however thus far this is what I have been instructed to do by my spiritual guide. [JTO: Now he is your spiritual "guide", not your spiritual father? This is an unbiblical, cultic term. "Spirit guides are non-physical beings who help you find your way in life, make decisions, and navigate obstacles. They communicate in symbols, signals, and dreams. A spirit guide can take many different forms, from ancestors and departed loved ones to spirit animals, angels, and deities. Even in Orthodoxy a spiritual father does not dictate or take control of your life or free will. YOU must obey the Holy Spirit first and always. Was Father Matthew Williams someone's spiritual father? It is somewhat perilous to put your soul in the hands of any man!] My family’s salvation, and that of all of my dear parish family is my greatest desire.

The clergy (aside from Fr Joseph, who was un prepared and ignorant of all of this) are so removed from the suffering of our people, and don't seem to grasp what is occurring in our community. Aside from his moral failings, [JTO: Of course, you meant alleged moral failings, didn't you?] Fr Matthew strove to be ever attentive to the suffering of our people, and we all were accustomed to his care. This makes the abandonment all the more devastating, as the faithful are not being cared for in the ways in which they were accustomed to being cared for. [JTO: Fr Matthew was a deacon who lied or hid his felony sexual crimes (rape of a minor) from a Bishop to be ordained a priest, partly because his wife thought his ability to "do a lot of good" superseded the sin. Is this the "care" you are so piously presenting here? Look what you have wrought!]

I pray that this information will help clarify the situation, and put a stop to the mass hysteria. I am sharing with you some facts regarding this situation in order to clarify matters regarding my family so that you may better understand the timeline and to debunk [name removed for privacy]’s malicious lies and slander. [JTO: Will you afford Carole and her daughter the same? Debunk the "malicious lies and sander" they have had to endure. Apparently, your timeline does not go back far enough.]

I must clarify that Nadya Loban was never harmed in any way by Fr Matthew.

[Name removed for privacy] made up and spread these lies after having it confirmed by Nadya’s sister (and herself ) that they were complete fabrications. At this point, the harm that has been done to Nadya has been from people gossiping and spreading lies about her. The initiator of these lies snd slander (whose name will be withheld for privacy) knew absolutely nothing firsthand, and made up everything he said about my family and many others based on rumors, third and fourth hand, and also outright lies. His motives I will leave up to him to explain. God help him! [JTO: God help you!]

It is in fact true that some of my daughters were harmed by their father in the past. [JTO: "in the past"? This is obvious attempt to downplay the current and lasting harm that both you and Matthew caused.]  I have chosen to remain silent on the specifics of this situation out of respect for privacy and out of propriety. There was no rape involved. [JTO: Such good news, because that would be worse would it not? Ask Carole and her daughter.] Learning about this abuse is the reason that I removed my husband from my home in mid September, as cited in my letter to the hierarchs. In regards to others outside my family potentially harmed by Fr Matthew, I am not in a position to speak for them, and it is up to them to report any misconduct to the clergy or other authorities at their discretion. [JTO: Again, with the obfuscation. "potentially harmed"? They have reported--for years. You ARE in a position to speak for them and should have spoken as far back as 2004. You knew of the rape of your goddaughter by your husband and now you want to be praised for removing your husband from your home in September of 2024? 20 years too late. ]

Earlier this week after various parishioners reported lies and slander about me, my care for my children, and the condition of my home to the Department of Social Services, I willingly allowed social workers into my home to investigate my family, and have been cleared of all personal charges of negligence. The social worker commended me for swiftly removing the perpetrator [JTO: "swiftly"-- "Occurring suddenly or within a very short time." It took you 20 years to act swiftly... and remember, JTO is in possession of emails written to the JTO Editor by your son-in-law that shows he reported his concern about Matthew's sexual abuse in the home to your Bishop in 2019. Can you say you were totally unaware of this even then?] from my home and my children’s life, changing my locks, and reporting him to church authorities immediately.

I sent my initial entreaty to the Metropolitan on October 30 after having been in contact with Fr [removed for privacy] regarding the abuse (to no avail) since late September, having learned from my daughter of the misconduct earlier that week while out of state. [JTO: "misconduct"? Someday these children will see such obfuscating words and demand an answer of you for your conduct. "Mom, why did you say that what daddy did to me was just misconduct, and why didn't you remove him before it happened? Ask any sexual abuse counselor the validity of this statement.]

I would encourage you all to only believe accounts if you hear them from THE source, not someone’s idea of a “reliable source.” [JTO: So, aren't Carole and her daughter also THE source? The Rape and the Holy Man article contains documentation from THE source - the daughter and the mother's emails where they discuss the "fool around" event. "If a secretly disturbed married man can fool around with a girl..."] Otherwise they are rumors, and should be ignored. Unfortunately, there are people in our midst who are spreading lies which harm our beloved parish, and more specifically, my family. [JTO: ...and the Stephen's family?]

I ask for your prayers, and for your forgiveness. [JTO: Forgiveness comes after repentance and confession. You have done neither in the case of your direct involvement in the coverup of the rape of your goddaughter...have you?] How I wish that so many things could have been different. [JTO: So do Carole and her daughter.] God has allowed, and now we can only go forward [JTO: You can only go forward when you have faced the past. Anything else is continued secrecy and coverup. There will be no peace if you continue to ignore the peace of the ones you have participated in harming.] trusting that in His wisdom He will care for us. I still believe that we can heal and go forward as a community.

Holy Hierarch and Confessor Tikhon pray to God for us! [JTO: Asking prayers of a Confessor while refusing to confess? Elizabeth, the state of your soul is at stake. "If you will confess YOUR sins he is faithful and just to forgive you your sins and to cleanse YOU from all unrighteousness." Your healing, and that of your family will only begin when you totally humble yourself before Him and care more about the life another more than you do of your own...even to your own detriment.  CAROLE STEPHENS AND HER DAUGHTER.]

May God hear our prayers and our weeping for one another, and send us consolation, healing, and renewal. [JTO: Amen. Does that include your goddaughter who was reportedly raped in YOUR home by your husband? Is she even in your thoughts when you offer prayers such as this? "Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar, and there you remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Come to an agreement with your accuser quickly ["swiftly"], while you are with him on the road to court, otherwise your accuser may deliver you to the judge, and the judge deliver you to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. Truly I say to you, you will absolutely not get out of there until you have paid the very last quadrans."]

In Christ,

Matushka Elizabeth

Do You Accept Or Do you Believe?

I recently had a commenter note that I don't "accept" the Trinity. I was also told that Jordanville has told people that I am a heretic and to pay no attention to me. Are we to accept or are we to believe? Are we to accept doctrines from a board of directors or councils commanded and supervised by Roman Emperors over 300 years after Christ; or are we to believe because the truth has been given to us via the Scripture and the inspiration of the Spirit of God? If those boards, councils, and emperors follow the faith once given to us, then they are to be embraced; if they don't, then flee from them. But how will you know unless YOU are "diligent to present yourself approved before God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth." After 17 years in the Orthodox Church, I know the difference between sole fide and sole scriptura and neither relegate the current or future state my soul to a body of human hierarchs. Have you abdicated the future of your soul and what you believe to such a group?  How's that working for you?

Suggestion: To be "approved by God" takes diligence. Take some time and study every Scripture reference below. If you do that and can still call me a heretic, then there may be other issues involved. Why does it bother some so much to call Jesus a man? The Scripture does.

For this, I am called a heretic:

Who is Jesus?

Borrowed from Spirit and Truth

He is the only man ever born by way of God putting a seed in the womb of a virgin (Matt. 1:18; Luke 1:35). God put a perfect seed in the womb of Mary so that Jesus would be born without the sin nature that every other human being inherited from the First Adam. Therefore, Jesus is the only-begotten Son of God (John 3:16) and the Son of Man (John 5:27).

He is the only man who is called “the Last Adam” (1 Cor. 15:45). As the only-begotten Son of God, Jesus was the genetic equivalent to the first “Son of God,” Adam (Luke 3:38). As the only man born without inherent sin, Jesus was thus the only man equipped to be the Savior and Redeemer of mankind. Romans 5:12-21 is the classic comparison of these two Adams and the respective impact each had on mankind.

He is the only man who had perfect faith in God, and who, by his free will choices to trust God, lived a sinless life, always doing the will of his Father (John 8:29). Jesus was not a robot, programmed to obey God. If so, he could not have been genuinely tempted to sin, just like all men he came to save (Heb. 4:15). The absence of a sin nature was not the reason why Jesus did not sin. We know that because the First Adam also had no sin nature, and he sinned royally.

He is the only man who died as the perfect sacrifice for our sins (Heb. 10:12-14; 1 John 4:10). By his virgin birth and his lifelong obedience to God, all the way to his dying breath on the Cross, he became the perfect sacrifice for the sin and sins of mankind (Heb. 2:17). Thus, he was the complete propitiation for fallen men to be redeemed. [For further study read How can a man atone for the sins of mankind?]

He is the only man God ever raised from the dead unto everlasting life in order to confirm that he was who he had said he was—the Son of God (Acts 17:31; Rom. 1:4). The resurrection of Jesus Christ was God keeping His promise to His Son, and also His affirmation to all men that Jesus is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). [For further study read Resurrection: The “New Birth” of Jesus Christ.]

He is the only man whom God highly exalted as “Lord” and “Head of the Church,” and to whom God has given all authority in heaven and on earth (Dan. 7:13-14; Phil. 2:9; Acts 2:36; Eph. 1:22; Matt. 28:18). As Pharaoh exalted Joseph to his right hand and gave him all authority in Egypt (Gen. 41:37-46), so God has given Jesus functional equality with Himself. Jesus Christ is now God’s “right hand man” (Eph. 1:20), carrying out the work that will eventually restore this fallen world.

He is the only man who is now the Mediator between God and mankind (1 Tim. 2:5). It is Jesus Christ to whom God has given the power to “save to the uttermost” all who call upon his name, because he ever lives to make intercession for us (Heb. 7:25).

He is the only man who will gather together all Christians to meet him “in the air” (1 Thess. 4:17) and give each one a new body like his own (Phil. 3:21). As the promised “seed” of the woman (Gen. 3:15), Jesus Christ will produce fruit after his kind, a race of people living forever.

He is the only man who will one day return to the earth, destroy all evil men (and eventually destroy Satan and his evil spirit cohorts), and rule the earth as King for 1000 years (Rev. 19:11-20:7). At his first coming to the earth to Israel, Jesus was the sacrificial Lamb of God, but he will come again as the Lion of Judah to save his people, Israel, and destroy all God’s enemies.

He is the only man who will raise from the dead every human being who has ever lived (John 5:21, 25). As God has given Jesus “life in himself,” so he will raise up all people.

He is the only man who will judge all men and women of all time (John 5:22, 27). Jesus will righteously judge all people, granting everlasting life to those who deserve it, and annihilating all the wicked (Acts 17:31; John 5:28, 29).

He is the only man who will restore on a new earth the Paradise that the First Adam lost (1 Cor. 15:24-28). As “the Last Adam,” Jesus was God’s Contingency Plan to salvage His original plan that Adam’s disobedience thwarted, that is, a perfect race of people living forever on a perfect earth. Amen. [For further study read Where Did the Idea Originate that Believers Would Live Forever in Heaven?]

He is the only man who is our Savior, our Redeemer, our Mediator, our Lord, our constant Companion, our Best Friend, our Big Brother, the Light of our lives, our Peace, our Joy, and our Mentor in the art of faith.

He is the Lover of our souls, and that is why we love him and confess him as Lord (Rom. 10:9).

***

Addendum:

“the only true God.” This is similar to John 5:44 and is one of the many places that give good evidence that Jesus Christ is not God. When Jesus prayed and called God “the only true God,” he was simply acknowledging a truth that was clearly stated in the Old Testament: For example, Nehemiah 9:6-7 says, “You are Yahweh, even you alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens with all their army, the earth and all things that are on it, the seas and all that is in them, and you preserve them all. The army of heaven worships you. You are Yahweh, the God who chose Abram” (cf. Ps. 86:10; Isa. 37:16; 43:11; 45:5). Yahweh is the Father and “the God,” the “only true God” that Jesus recognized and prayed to.

The Trinity, the doctrine that “God” is both three and one at the same time is mysterious, incomprehensible, and unbiblical. It is never described in the Bible and attempts to come close to explaining it have to use language that is not in the Bible. For example, that Jesus is said to be both “100% human and 100% God” is both unbiblical and self-contradictory. Also, the Trinity doctrine says there are three “persons” in the one God, but then Trinitarians are quick to state that “persons” does not actually mean “persons” in the ordinary sense, but then they cannot exactly define “person” in the Trinitarian sense. That is because a “person” is an individual, but the “persons” in the Trinity are not individuals in the ordinary sense, but are part of “the one God,” so they are persons but not persons at the same time.

Trinitarians say that God is “one what and three whos,” but that is, as stated above, both incomprehensible and unbiblical. When we read the Bible, God always speaks of Himself as one being. He uses “I” and “me” and “my,” and never refers to Himself as an “essence” or “nature.” The same is true of Jesus. John 17:3 is clear, succinct, and understandable: God is “the only true God,” and He “sent” His Son, Jesus Christ, who is a human being (1 Tim. 2:5). 

From the REV Commentary

Warrant Issued For Father Matthew Williams

Elizabeth and Matthew Williams

According to sources, an arrest warrant has been issued out of Virginia for Father Matthew Williams. Father Matthew Williams, a Bristol, Virginia, Orthodox Priest, was initially accused of an inappropriate relationship with a woman in his church and subsequently was accused of sexually abusing one or more of his daughters.

In the wake of these revelations, it was discovered that Williams had been living separately from his wife and family for months, unbeknownst to his parishioners. Child services and law enforcement had reportedly visited the Williams farm to do a welfare check and to interview Elizabeth Williams, Matthew Williams' wife.

Over six years ago, JTO, posted an expose' on Williams' alleged rape of his 15-year-old goddaughter. Before posting the article, Rape and the Holy Man- The Alleged Sexual Crime of a ROCOR Preist, the JTO Editor corresponded with the Metropolitan of ROCOR (Russian Orthodox Chruch Outside Russia) and provided him with documentation confirming Williams criminal act of sex with a minor including information confirming that Father Matthew's wife knew of her husband's rape of his goddaughter and attempted to silence both the minor child and her mother. The Metropolitan brushed off the information and said the matter had already been investigated.

Recent events have also exposed what seems to be a systematic mishandling of sexual abuse by ROCOR. Members of Father Williams' own family reported their concerns about Williams' sexual crimes to the ROCOR hierarchy as early as 2019. The hierarchy allowed Williams to remain a priest until recent events were made public. Rather than have their priest report to law enforcement, he was reportedly removed to a monastery and was seen attending an Orthodox Church in another state.

JTO has published numerous articles and updates related to the story and will continue to provide information as it becomes available.