03/13/05 a.m. (later) The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has a variety of photos at http://www.jsonline.com/

In one, a Mary Kay Balchunas, a chaplain from Children's Hospital, is led into the Sheraton Saturday afternoon following the shootings. This would be to speak to hotel guests as the Living Church of God does not have chaplains or female ministers (though we do have deaconesses).

In another, a cross is shown (and a cross is mentioned in some of the articles I have already quoted). For the record I should add that we in the Living Church of God do not use crosses or similar objects either personally, in worship services, grave sites, etc.

03/13/05 p.m. NPR reports, "Police in Wisconsin are still searching for a motive for Saturday's violence at a church meeting, in which a man opened fire and killed seven people before shooting himself. Witnesses say Terry Ratzmann fired a barrage of bullets at a Living Church of God meeting at a hotel in the western Milwaukee suburb of Brookfield. As police continued to investigate Sunday, a makeshift memorial of flowers and crosses began to grow in the snow outside of the busy Sheraton Hotel where the violence occurred. The Living Church of God is a small but far-flung church based in Charlotte, N.C. Chuck Quirmbach of Wisconsin Public Radio reports." http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4533136

Small, but far flung, is accurate as we have about 290 churches or groups in 40 or so countries. Of course, any crosses are being placed by those without direct affiliation with the Living Church of God.

03/14/05 p.p.p.m. WTOV reported, ""Seven crosses stand side-by-side at the scene of Saturday's shooting at the Sheraton hotel in the Milwaukee suburb of Brookfield. Each represents one person killed. One last cross is standing against a nearby tree -- for the gunman. "We had talked about putting up an eighth cross, but we decided we would put it up and lay it on the ground instead of in the same row with everybody else's," carpenter Greg Zanis said. Zanis drove up from Illinois to place the crosses there. He said they are a symbol of prayer. "We just still want to pray for everybody here and family," Zanis said...Dozens of people -- young and old -- were moved by the stories of the victims. Joel Golsteyn, of New Berlin, said his 11-year-old daughter inspired him to add to the growing memorial. "She gathered some of her beanie babies and stuffed animals that she had and she said, 'Lets put them out there,'" Golsteyn said. The memorial grew larger all weekend with letters, flowers and cards -- placed by a man who said he was called to bring hope. "I will not accept a donation. I'm a carpenter, and who else can make a cross," Zanis said." http://www.wtov9.com/news/4282122/detail.html

While I am sure that Greg Zanis must have meant well, all need to understand that since we in the Living Church of God do not use crosses for worship in anyway, that we would prefer they not be used to honor our dead. All of the victims would have agreed. Flowers, prayers on behlaf of the survivors, etc. would be considered appropriate. The link to the above article has a photo of Terry Ratzmann.

03/15/05 a.m...On other matters, I was accused in an email of being an 'enemy of the cross' (Philippians 3:18), because of my comments that we in the Living Church of God do not consider that physical crosses are appropriate parts of our religious, worship, or death practices. Please understand that the word translated as cross in the previouly mentioned verse (and pretty much everywhere in the Bible) is a Greek term:

"NT:4716 stauros (stow-ros'); from the base of NT:2476; a stake or post (as set upright), i.e. (specifically) a pole (Biblesoft's New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright (c) 1994, Biblesoft and International Bible Translators, Inc.)".

Furthermore, the expression 'enemies of the cross' was simply a statement from Paul about those who are against the Gospel concerning Christ. It was not a statement to endorse the use of religious icons.

03/15/05 a.m. (later) Slowplay reports, "After the tragic murder-suicide that took place this weekend in Brookfield, people are naturally inquiring about The Living Church of God. The killings happened just a few miles from where I live so I’ve been following the local media and their in-depth coverage of the story. The national media has also picked up heavily on the story and have been gathering information about the church. A lot of different information about the church has come out from a lot of different sources. Some even speculate that the motive of the killer was somehow tied to the church teachings...We’ve mirrored the main beliefs of the church in case they have more site problems. The best site I’ve seen with information on the church is COGwriter. The writer has been posting responses to different media reports about the religion, confirming or rebutting statements from the articles. Some of the unclear reporting associated to the religion, according to COGwriter, include (1) calling a minister of the church a Reverend, (2) reporting that the religion thinks all non-members will go to hell, (3) associating the cross with the religion in any way, and (4) saying that the church would not be considered radical (This was in response to our original report; the writers says many would consider them radical.) The entire site is well worth a look for anyone interested". http://www.slowplay.com/archives/2005/03/14/information-on-the-living-church-of-god.php

I am pleased when those in the media take the time to try to ensure their facts are correct. This differs from some who seem to have a particular slant or predetermined view while reporting. We in the Living Church of God are totally open with our beliefs. We do not mind our beliefs being highlighted (and actually encourage it, Matthew 5:14-16;24:14), as long as they are truly our beliefs.

03/17/05 p.m. From Christianity Today, Armstrongism Is Wrong, But Not Murderous A Christian who left the Worldwide Church of God before it turned orthodox says the Living Church of God isn't responsible for Terry Ratzmann's rampage. by Mark A. Kellner...The same article concludes with, "At the same time, believers in the midst of tragedy should be patient with the media and the world at large. One member of the Meredith organization, on a website to which I will not link, takes great issue with the erection of memorial "crosses" outside the hotel where the shooting took place. Why? Because Meredith and his followers do not believe the "cross" is anything other than a pagan invention; they assert that Christ was crucified on an upright stake or tree, and that crosses were introduced later. Another objection was to the view that the deceased are, at this moment, "in a better place," i.e., heaven. The Meredith-supporting writer emphasized his church's view that the dead are "asleep" and unconscious until the resurrection, casting aspersions on a heartfelt expression from people who are presumably of good will. Neither the symbolism of the cross nor the question of the state of the dead is a debate I wish to enter here. Nor do I wish to disparage the sincerity of the other writer's convictions. However, it could easily be viewed by the general public as ungracious at best for people in one church to disavow a kind gesture from another, different church because those other people didn't know the etiquette that the first church follows. In a time of tragedy, when emotions are raw and hearts are wounded, I believe it is better for all concerned to merely accept whatever condolences are offered with the words, "Thank you," and then move on. This isn't the time for an "educational message" about paganism, so-called "soul sleep" or anything else. It's a time to accept what is offered with thanks, and in so doing perhaps opening the door to further discussion at a later time."

Those comments were apparently directed towards me. FWIW, I never actually used the term 'soul sleep' and was specifically referring to the shooter, but that is besides the point. Whether or not Jesus used any type of a cross was also not my point, nor did I post that it was a pagan invention.

But I did, and still, feel that the public should understand that the use of crosses is not something that the deceased would have preferred. I consider that for proper respect for the dead, as well as the survivors, most of whom are members of the Living Church of God, our position was a good thing to point out--especially BEFORE the funerals. My comments were not intended to be ungracious. I considered my comments to be the courteous thing to do for those unfamiliar with our beliefs.

I do appreciate the positive outpourings we have received (and have posted many, including the one below that I put on this page before I read this piece from Christianity Today) and have so stated this at the COGwriter page. Nor have I attempted to cast aspersions on those doing things out of good will.

But, the author and I will also disagree on this one point: In my view the time to explain to people what we believe is when people are interested in what we teach. To not comment on misreporting of our doctrines and practices would leave people with inaccurate information about us. Jesus taught, "for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice" (John 18:37).

Anyway, again I will state that I appreciate the condolences, prayers, etc. from those concerned about this tragic incident. I should also add, that believe or not, overall, I liked the article in Christianity Today, though there were parts that I felt were not relevant, and of course not biblically accurate (also as a former WCG member, he must know that we do not use the term 'Armstrongism').

04/08/05 a.m...

On other matters, I noticed several inaccurate comments about me at the Ambassador Watch website recently, including some today. I would like to address some here by stating that, no RC Meredith was not correcting me nor putting me firmly in my place in his 3/19/05 must-play sermon, I spoke on tithing in my sermonette in Tugun (Australia), and no, my comments about LCG and crosses should not have been offensive to any who actually read what I wrote. The fact that a reporter mischaracterized what I actually wrote is sad, but media bias does occur.