Introduction
Had it not been for the love Timothy and Carla Williams showed me I would be dead.
If anyone says they “knew” Timothy I know him better. If anyone says, “I was there” I was there more. If anyone said “I saw things” I saw more. I was closer to Timothy and his family than anyone else. I lived with him for years, saw him every day, and ate at his table every night. I can give the clearest testimony to his character.
Many have called Pastor Timothy, greedy, a liar, power hungry, a cult leader, a wolf in sheep’s clothing, and the list goes on and on. Those who left Sound Doctrine to hate and slander will say that he gave them harsh rebukes, that they experienced “brainwashing”, and all sorts of other wild claims of being controlled.
These people are liars and do not speak the truth.
- You will be his witness to all men of what you have seen and heard. (Acts 22:15)
I am a witness to the love in Timothy Williams’s life. I am a witness to the love that was in Sound Doctrine Church.
Love of Timothy and Carla Williams
- And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward. (Matthew 10:42)
I was born into the church Sound Doctrine. From the time I was a baby I was raised in and around the church. At a young age I choose to live with Timothy and his family because I saw the love of Christ was in his household.
I spent more time around Timothy than anyone else. I can give the clearest testimony to his character.
The love of Christ in a household is hard to describe. Where the father is the leader, where the mother is submissive and loving, where the children are taught to love God with all their hearts. I found this and more in Timothy’s house. When I saw Timothy speak to people it was with Christ’s love. When I saw him give generously, it was with Christ’s love. When I saw him admonish someone, it was with Christ’s love. When I saw him speak on the phone, it was with Christ’s love. I repeatedly saw him talk, walk, and preach with Christ’s love.
Describing this love is hard. Astronauts will struggle to describe what space is like, soldiers will try to describe what war is like. To those who have never received a cup of cold water from Jesus it’s hard to describe. It’s cool, refreshing, pure, hopeful, and full of life. That’s what living with Timothy was like. He would reach out and give a cold cup of living water to anyone who asked. He follows the example Jesus gave us.
Love at Sound Doctrine
- By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. (John 13:35)
The same love in Timothy’s house flowed over into Sound Doctrine Church. People would give possessions to anyone who had need. Absolute purity among men and women. Love, faith, joy, peace, all such words describe the bound that was formed as its members would strive to give up everything for Jesus. I’ve been to other churches; I’ve sat in Baptist, Catholic, and other nondenominational pews. I have never sat in another church that had the same kind of love, joy, and purity as Sound Doctrine.
Churches today are full of self-centered congregants who are there to feel good and justify the life they live. The love at Sound Doctrine was not focused on one’s self, it was focused on Jesus. To live, walk, eat, and breath as Jesus did.
- But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did. (1 John 2:5-6)
People would leave their own churches and come to Sound Doctrine because at Sound Doctrine it was taught how to “live in him” and “walk as Jesus did”. Someone who will teach you to walk as Jesus did, that person is loving you. Any church that does not teach you to walk as Jesus did is not loving you.
- Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are. (Matthew 23:15)
Churches today are only pointing people to hell. Churches today do not have Christs love.
Ex-members will say Sound Doctrine would brainwash, make you sign over property, you weren’t allowed to leave, you couldn’t talk to family who were not members, etc, etc. I laugh at such claims. These falsehoods are on the same level as Santa and the Tooth Fairy, while many people like to believe them, they are not true.
I Know
I know the love of Christ was in Sound Doctrine Church. I know the love of Christ was in Timothy’s home.
This I am sure of, had it not been for the love I received in Timothy and Carla Williams household I would be dead.
Just as the Prodigal son ran away from his father’s house I too was not faithful to God. I have experienced the wages of sin. I have tasted the world and all that it has to offer. I have seen darkness and more than once come close to death. By Gods mercy I am alive, had it not been for all of those years in Timothy’s home I would be lost forever.
Strangely it is true that you never quite know how good something is until it’s gone. While you defiantly tasted the love in Sound Doctrine Church at the time, it’s only after its gone do you realize how good it really was. I may never quite experience again that love, joy, and peace that comes from being in a church where its members seek to love one another with Christs love.
All the Israelite’s grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, “If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this desert! (Numbers 14:2)
Just as the Israelite’s grumbled against Moses that same grumbling started against Timothy and grew till Sound Doctrine was destroyed. Those with hatred in their hearts used the WA State Government to attack Sound Doctrine and the love it had. They destroyed many peoples lives and had it not been for the power of God my life would have been destroyed as well.
The Pharisees and Sadducees hated Jesus. They hated the love Jesus had. They called him Satan and in the end crucified him. Those same religious men then hated Peter and the rest of the Apostles and sought to silence them, throw them in jail, and put them to death. That same hatred burned against Timothy Williams. That same hatred burned against Sound Doctrine Church.
There are many who hated, lied, and worked tirelessly till Sound Doctrine was forced to close its doors. These people’s names are not even worth mentioning but I do get tired of their never ending squawking.
Final Thoughts
To those bitter ex-members, police officers, government workers, and any other false accusers who speak ill of Timothy Williams or Sound Doctrine Church they should become very quiet and read their bibles for God will judge every careless word.
- But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken.(Matthew 12:36)
While many to this day will slander Timothy I stand by him and am proud to look to him as a father, a model for how a modern Christian should live, and hope to walk with him on the narrow road that few find.
Listen to the sermon below if you want to really love like Jesus did.
