Schietpartij bij sabbatvierende kerkgenootschap (diverse artikelen)

In de Amerikaanse staat Wisconsin heeft een man een bloedbad aangericht bij een kerkdienst in een hotel. In de plaats Brookfield waren leden van de streng-evangelischeLiving Church of God bijeen toen de schutter het vuur opende.

In totaal werden zeven mensen gedood. Vier anderen raakten ernstig gewond.

De 45-jarige dader, die waarschijnlijk zelf lid was van het kerkgenootschap, pleegde zelfmoord. Zijn motief is onduidelijk.

DeLiving Church of God komt elke zaterdag bijeen in het hotel om de sabbath te vieren. Het kerkgenootschap viert de rustdag op zaterdag in plaats van op zondag.

Website living Church of God - Nederland

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Tragedy puts spotlight on small, obscure church Illinois-based pastor is among those killed in shooting
The Living Church of God, a relatively new organization born of a contentious split over religious doctrine, is small but spreads its word through weekly telecasts on 150 stations in several countries.

While there was no known motive for Saturday's slayings at a Brookfield hotel, the man believed responsible had been upset about a taped sermon by the church's spiritual leader, Roderick C. Meredith, according to a fellow congregation member who survived the attack. She reported that the sermon by Meredith, who is seen on many of those broadcasts, dealt with a coming "spiritual war."

The shootings brought the relatively obscure church, its members and its teachings into the spotlight in a tragic way.

The slayings came on Saturday, the church's day of worship as practiced in the time of the Old Testament. Members, who believe the Bible is the literal word of God, were gathering as they do throughout the country in small groups at rented halls, hotels and other locations.

Members believe that the "Great Tribulation" - war and famine as prophesied in the Bible - is nearing and that Christ will return as "King of kings."

Meredith, the church's presiding evangelist, warned in a February sermon of the urgent need to prepare physically and spiritually for the "end time," according to a text of the sermon on the church's Web site. He talked of a pending financial collapse that could devastate the United States, and he encouraged church members to prepare by paying off debts and gathering savings to guard against job loss and bank failures.

"We are not talking about decades in the future," Meredith wrote. "We are talking about Bible prophecies that will intensify in the next five to 15 years of your life."

In a recent telecast, he warned that a mysterious spirit war in the next several years will change the world and alter lives.

The non-denominational church dates only to the 1990s, a spiritual descendant of the Worldwide Church of God, which was established by the late Herbert W. Armstrong. In 2003, when it moved its headquarters to Charlotte, N.C., from San Diego, it listed 6,300 members at some 200 congregations in 40 countries. Many of its members are from the Southern United States.

The church produces a TV program, "Tomorrow's World," that is seen around the world. The "Tomorrow's World" Web site lists Wausau as the only Wisconsin city receiving the broadcast. The show airs on WGN television from Chicago early on Sunday mornings. Recent episodes have included "A Nation of Adulterers?" and "Prophetic Milestones Ahead."

The church's beliefs are rooted in the Bible. It cites its mission as preaching the true gospel of the Kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ.

According to an article by Meredith that is posted online, the Living Church of God is where "the full truth of the Bible is taught and practiced."

The Worldwide Church of God splintered over disagreements on doctrine and church governance, according to information on Web sites maintained by that church. The Living Church of God is the second largest group that formed from that split, said Jim King, a longtime member in Omaha, Neb., who is active in choir direction. He said the United Church of God was the largest new religious organization to form from the break up.

Church leaders and members from around the country struggled to take in the stunning news Saturday.

"This is pretty shocking," King said. He said he worried that the public would jump to unfair conclusions about the church.

"We're still trying to put it all together. This is such a shock," said Charles E. Bryce, director of administration for the church at its North Carolina headquarters. Bryce said he would fly to Milwaukee today to learn more about the violence.

One of those killed in Saturday's shootings in Brookfield was Randy L. Gregory, a 50-year-old Gurnee, Ill., resident who church members say had served as a regional pastor for Living Church of God congregations for many years.

"He is a very fine man," said King, who said he met and worked alongside Gregory last fall in Missouri at the church's Feast of Tabernacles, a holy week for the church. "He's very committed and dedicated to his work."

Bryce, a close friend of Gregory's, described the congregation that meets at the Sheraton hotel in Brookfield as "a wonderful group" led by Gregory.

Gregory, a veteran pastor in the church, traveled in the Midwest serving various congregations. His wife, Marjean, accompanied him to the Feast of Tabernacles, according to King.

Gregory lived with his family off a quiet cul-de-sac in Gurnee in a modest, two-story home with basketball hoop. Neighbors said he, his wife and two sons were friendly but reserved.

"He was very quiet, almost overly so," said a friend and neighbor, Toni D'Amore, a dental hygienist.

D'Amore said the family had moved to Gurnee from Texas approximately five years ago and chose the city because it was the midway point between Milwaukee and Chicago, where Randy Gregory also had a congregation.

The couple's younger son, James, was one of those killed Saturday. He was a junior at Warren Township High School, she said. Jonathan, the elder of the two sons, had recently completed studies at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside.

The split in the Worldwide Church of God has had serious side effects, with lingering disputes over doctrine and finger-pointing between people who used to worship together but are now apart, King noted.

According to its Web site, the Worldwide Church of God is a Christian denomination with about 64,000 members worshipping in 860 congregations in about 90 nations. It is based in Pasadena, Calif. That church is a member of the National Association of Evangelicals.

A new leader of the Worldwide Church of God in the late 1980s tried to bring that church's teachings into closer alignment with traditional Evangelical beliefs. That caused turmoil and led to the splintering of the denomination and the eventual formation of the Living Church of God.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporters Graeme Zielinski in Gurnee, Ill., and Marie Rohde in Milwaukee contributed to this report.

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A man opened fire at a Wisconsin church service Saturday, killing seven members of a congregation that preaches nonviolence and "end-time" prophecies before taking his own life, authorities said. Four others were wounded.

The shootings took place shortly before 1 p.m. during the weekly services of a Living Church of God congregation in Brookfield, Wis., a suburb of Milwaukee. The congregation, which observes a Saturday Sabbath, convenes regularly at a meeting room of the Sheraton Milwaukee Brookfield Hotel.

Inside the hotel were five bodies, including that of the 45-year-old gunman, said Sherri Stigler, a Brookfield Police communications supervisor.

Three other people died a short time later at a hospital in nearby Wauwatosa.

Those killed included six males, ages 15, 17, 44, 50, 58 and 72, and a 55-year-old woman, a Brookfield Police spokesperson said. They were not identified. The wounded included a 10-year-old girl who was listed in stable condition at a nearby children's hospital.

The congregation has been meeting at the hotel every Saturday for about five years, officials said.

The victims were all in the same room at the time of the shooting, said Brookfield Police Chief Daniel Tushaus. One of the victims was believed to be the congregation's minister.

Police did not identify the gunman, but an official close to the investigation told The Times on Saturday night that authorities believe the suspect is Terry Ratzmann, who lived with his mother and sister in New Berlin, Wis., a town of about 40,000 people that abuts Brookfield.

"It shocks and dismays us," said Ted Wysocki, mayor of New Berlin. "It makes no sense. It just makes no sense. This is not the way we are. This is not our city."

A member of the congregation who was in the room told reporters outside the hotel that the gunman was sitting quietly but then stood and began shooting. The woman, Chandra Frazier, said the man had three clips of bullets and stopped to reload at least once.

"He planned to shoot us all," she said.

Frazier described a chaotic and hellish scene as the shooting broke out. One man covered a woman with his body. "He took her bullet," she said.

"It was mayhem," she said. "I dove under a chair. The man whose chair I dove under, he died…. The people who died are very nice people, very decent people. I'm just asking myself: Why am I still alive?"

The gunman used a handgun, authorities said. They declined to discuss any possible motives.

The church placed a statement on its website saying that it was helping police.

"This is a terrible tragedy; we are cooperating with the authorities to find out what happened," the statement said. "We have deep concern and are fervently praying for the injured and for the families of the deceased."

The Living Church of God is an evangelical organization that believes its duty is to preach the gospel, provide for the spiritual and material needs of members, and warn the world of "end-time prophecies" and the coming "Great Tribulation."

The church has historically urged its members to remain "separate" from many civic activities — to decline to participate, for instance, in juries or politics. Its members have historically declared themselves conscientious objectors, refusing to participate in wars.

Members of other Living Church of God congregations said the killings were announced during services Saturday.

"We were all shaken, naturally," said Rod Townsend, a deacon of a congregation in North Little Rock, Ark. "We're scattered all over the Earth. But when one part of the body hurts, the whole body hurts."

Townsend said members of his congregation immediately thought of what seems to be a spate of recent and senseless violence, including the slaying of a federal judge's husband and mother in Chicago and shootings in the Atlanta area.

"We live in a terrible time, a tragic time," Townsend said. "There is just no love between human beings anymore. Now, if you get mad, you just shoot somebody."

After the shootings in Brookfield, police and federal agents surrounded and locked down the hotel. Guests were told to return to their rooms and stay there.

One hotel guest, 48-year-old Karen Suick, told Associated Press that she and 15 others had arrived Friday night for a hockey tournament.

"One of our hockey dad's two daughters are still in there," she said. "They called his cellphone. They were OK."

The Living Church of God has its roots in the old Worldwide Church of God, founded by the late Herbert W. Armstrong in Pasadena.

At the height of the church's influence during the Armstrong years, its reputation went beyond its immediate membership, largely due to its magazine, Plain Truth, and Armstrong's television broadcasts, "The World Tomorrow."

But after Armstrong's death in 1986, the church began to change. By 1995, it had disavowed much of Armstrong's "end-time" theology and embraced more mainstream evangelical Protestantism.

But the changes shook much of the membership. In the immediate aftermath of the theological upheaval, eight splinter groups broke from the mother church and began their own "continuing" churches, each maintaining strict adherence to Armstrong's original vision.

One of those was the Global Church of God, founded by Rod Meredith, a former high-ranking evangelist.

In 1998, the Global Church fired Meredith, according to a report by the Center for Studies on New Religions, touching off another schism.

Meredith then formed the Living Church of God.