Day: December 19, 2018

 

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational and research purposes:

ASHLAND, Ky. — A Virginia man who was found guilty
in 2016 of aiding in international parental kidnapping and conspiracy
for driving a woman to New York, where she then fled the country with
her daughter—as she wanted to avoid an impending court order that would
mandate that she hand over her child to her former lesbian partner—has
reported to prison to begin serving his three-year sentence.

An update on a fundraising page for Philip Zodhiates outlines that
the Virginia business man reported to prison in Ashland, Kentucky on
Dec. 5.

“The Bible talks about in the latter days when [men] call good evil
and evil good, and that’s exactly what’s happening here,” Zodhiates said
during an interview with Sam Bushman of Liberty Roundtable just days
prior.

“This is a poster case of over-criminalization. They’re using it to
basically push a political agenda, and it’s a sad commentary on our
justice system,” he remarked.

As previously reported,
Zodhiates was placed on trial after being indicted on accusations that
he drove Lisa Miller and her young daughter to Buffalo, New York, where
the mother and child then took a taxi the rest of the way and crossed
Niagara Falls’ Rainbow Bridge into Canada. Miller and her daughter
boarded a plane to Nicaragua after reaching Canada. (See the indictment here.)

Zodhiates says that he didn’t know what Miller’s plans were—that she
was going to flee the country with her child. He states that he just
agreed to give her a ride to New York.

“The story that got told to the jury was that I’m homophobic and that
I hate homosexuals, and that’s why I did what I did,” he stated. “I
love anybody in the name of Christ. I don’t hate homosexuals; that’s a
lie. They refused allow any evidence in court that would allude to the
fact that I did this just to help somebody. They wanted to portray it as
an act of hatred, and that was absolutely not the case.”

Zodhiates outlined that he used to have a lesbian employee for a
number of years, whom he viewed as a friend, and doesn’t believe that he
had a fair trial, as he was falsely portrayed as the “ringleader” of a
kidnapping operation. He says that he was offered a plea bargain, but
refused to plead guilty as he believes he didn’t break any laws.

Zodhiates is the son of the late Dr. Spiros Zodhiates, a Greek-born
Bible scholar who founded the missions and relief ministry Advancing the
Ministries of the Gospel International (AMG). His father also published
the Hebrew-Greek KeyWord Study Bible and was a radio and television
host, teaching on the New Testament from its original Greek meaning.

Zodhiates and his wife have six children, all adopted. Attorney
Robert Hemley, who represented the Virginia businessman in court,
described him as a “unique and special individual” who seeks to help
others.

“Lisa’s secrecy and deception should not rub off on Philip,” Hemley stated. “There is no such thing as guilt by association.”

During the trial, the prosecution presented numerous witnesses,
including Miller’s own father, Terry Miller, who painted a strained
relationship with his daughter, calling her “hard-headed,” “introverted”
and “very much secretive.” He testified that she asked him to call
Zodhiates to provide the location of the Walmart where she was waiting
to be picked up, but said he did not know why and did not ask.

Zodhiates made similar statements about his motivations before he was
sentenced, outlining that he believes “we’re put on earth to make a
difference,” and that was all he sought to do—to help a woman who said
she was in need. He said it was not his objective to keep the
ex-lesbian’s former partner away from the child.

As previously reported,
Miller had previously been married to Kirk McConchie, her college
sweetheart, but the marriage was very brief. The Washington Post
reported in 2007 that Miller struggled with being intimate with her
husband due to a physically and emotionally abusive childhood, which
adversely affected their marriage.

“I tried [to secretly date men],” Lisa told the outlet at the that
time, advising that her mother, who she described as “mentally ill,”
forbid her from having relationships with men. “She would always find
out. ‘All men are evil.’ That’s what I grew up with. ‘They only want one
thing.’”

She said that she turned to alcohol in an attempt to deal with her
problems, and soon ended up in AA, where she met lesbian Janet Jenkins
and entered into a relationship with her, although “I did not feel
sexually attracted to women.”

In 2000, Miller joined in a civil union with Jenkins in the state of
Vermont, one of the few states that allowed  homosexual arrangements at
the time. Following an artificial insemination procedure from a male
sperm donor, Miller gave birth to a daughter, named Isabella, in 2002.

But Miller said that she had concern even then.

“There were numerous incidents of Janet going to [the Internet] and
putting up naked women on the screen saver, and I would ask her to
please change it,” Lisa later told the court, according to the
Washington Post.

“I don’t have clean hands, either. Previously, before … the baby was
born, [pornography] was used in our relationship,” she said. “When we
moved to Vermont, Isabella was 4 months old, and I said this stuff has
to go … There’s a baby in this house now. I don’t want that.”

In 2003, Miller and Jenkins split over continued tension in their
relationship, part of which involved the miscarriage of Miller’s second
pregnancy, and Miller moved to Virginia. She renounced her involvement
in homosexuality and reportedly turned to Jesus Christ to be born again.

“It wasn’t a struggle,” she recalled of walking away from the homosexual lifestyle. “I felt peace.”

When the civil union between Miller and Jenkins was officially
dissolved, the court gave custody to Miller, while also granting
visitation rights to Jenkins.

Miller and IsabellaWhile
Miller did allow Isabella to spend time with Jenkins for a while, she
reportedly became concerned at the information that her daughter was
providing to her following the visitations.

Later, Miller wrote in affidavits that the visits were causing great
trauma to Isabella. She claimed that at six years old, the girl was
forced to take baths together with Jenkins, and that the girl was openly
touching herself inappropriately. She also stated that Isabella was
withdrawn and talked about suicide at times.

“Isabella came home and said, ‘Mommy, will you please tell Janet that
I don’t have to take a bath anymore at her house,’” Miller told reporters in
2008. “I asked her what happened. She said, ‘Janet took a bath with
me.’ I asked her if she had a bathing suit on. ‘No, Mommy.’ She had no
clothes on and it totally scared Isabella. She had never seen this woman
except once in 2 ½ years and she takes a bath with her.”

“Last year, Isabella put a comb up to her neck and said she wanted to
kill herself after one of the visits,” she outlined. “She took a comb
and pressed it into her neck and said, ‘I want to kill myself.’ I don’t
know where she got that. It was immediately after a visit. Other people
have seen huge changes.”

Miller then filed for exclusive custody of Isabella, and the court
agreed. She told the Washington Post, “I don’t see Janet as a parent,
first and foremost. Secondly, I don’t want to expose Isabella to Janet’s
lifestyle. It goes against all my beliefs. I am raising Isabella to
pattern herself after Christ. That’s my job as a Christian mom.
Homosexuality is a sin.”

However, Jenkins fought the ruling all the way up to the Virginia
Supreme Court, which in 2008, ruled in favor of granting Miller’s former
lesbian partner visitation rights. Miller refused.

The following year, family court judge Richard Cohen warned Miller
that she must allow Isabella to visit Jenkins and threatened that if she
did not do so, he would transfer full custody to Jenkins. In November
2009, Cohen followed through with his threats and ordered Miller to hand
the child over to Jenkins.

However, Miller had fled the country with Isabella before he issued
the transfer order, and for some time, none knew the whereabouts of the
two. It was later discovered that they had fled to Nicaragua via the
help of a number of Christians and their contacts, although to this day,
it is not known exactly where Miller and her daughter are located.

Three individuals, including Zodhiates, were indicted in the matter.
It was mentioned on at least one occasion that Jenkins had never sought
to adopt the child—and declined to do so twice—and therefore, she cannot
be considered the legal parent.

Jenkins testified against Zodhiates in court in 2016, stating that
she is determined to do “anything and everything” to get Isabella back.
The girl is now 15. Jenkins has since “married” another woman, and they
raise a three-year-old together. She has filed a civil suit against
Miller, Zodhiates and his daughter, Miller’s attorney at Liberty
Counsel, and others over the situation.

Miller is quoted as stating just two months before fleeing the
country, “This battle is not only about Isabella and me; it is about
parents’ rights everywhere in the nation. … Isabella is a political
hostage and is being used by the gay agenda to push their agenda of gay
marriage. They say, and have said in the past, in regard to gay marriage
that it will not hurt anyone. Well, they are wrong; a little
seven-year-old girl is being hurt, and they want to rip her away from
her biological mom (me) and give her to a legal stranger.”

“We are still a Christian nation, and I believe that it is a
Christian’s duty to stand for what is right in God’s eyes. I still put
my trust in God and am blessed that He has been and still is with me
every step of the way…”