When A Church of God Leader Discovers Restraint—Right After Decades of the Opposite

The Living Church of God has never met a late-summer earthquake, fire, flood, or terrorist anniversary it couldn't convert into proof that Satan is personally offended by the Feast of Trumpets and the Feast of Tabernacles. For decades the formula has been reliable: scan the news as Tishri approaches, find something awful, declare it a spiritual assault designed to "deflect" attention from God's master plan, then collect the offerings while the brethren sit in a pleasant state of dread. Bigger body count, better sermon. The bigger the tragedy, the more it gets milked for "end-time events." Armstrongism has always loved this particular flavor of weather-as-theology.

That is why Gerald Weston's latest paragraph lands with such comic timing. After years of the same organization treating every cluster of misfortune as Satan's festival-season sabotage, Weston now writes:

The Feast of Trumpets is almost here. Interestingly, the Holy Day begins on the evening of September 11 this year-the 25th anniversary of those infamous terrorist attacks that took place on United States soil. I mention this because the Holy Days have often seen unusual events occur, though we should be careful not to make too much of what may be only an interesting coincidence. What is certain is that Trumpets will be followed in short order by Atonement, Tabernacles, and the Last Great Day. Spectacular events will take place when each of these days become reality, and that is not idle speculation. May God speed those days!

Ah. Caution. Suddenly. After the church spent decades doing exactly the thing he now advises against.

It is almost as if someone noticed that living in a permanent state of "the end is this Feast cycle" has side effects. One of those side effects sat in a Living Church of God congregation in 2005. Terry Ratzmann had been listening to Roderick Meredith's trademark sermons about death, destruction, and how little time remained. The man lost all hope. Then he opened fire. Eight people died, including the shooter. The organization treated it as an isolated tragedy rather than an indictment of a preaching style that treats despair as a spiritual discipline.

Fear is useful. Fear keeps people watching the telecast, sending in the co-worker letter checks, and staying inside the one true remnant that alone understands why the latest hurricane is actually about Tabernacles. A congregation that is slightly terrified tithes more reliably than a congregation that is merely informed. Weston knows this history; he inherited it. The "we should be careful not to make too much of it" line is therefore not a sudden conversion to epistemic humility. It is a limited-time disclaimer issued while still reminding everyone that spectacular events will occur when these days become reality-and that is definitely not idle speculation.

So the machine continues, just with a new warning label. Satan is still the convenient author of whatever happens in September. The Holy Days are still the interpretive key that turns random suffering into prophetic confirmation. The only change is that the Presiding Evangelist has added a sentence that lets him claim he never really meant the previous forty years of "I told you so."

The Feast of Trumpets begins the evening of September 11, 2026. Something terrible will almost certainly happen somewhere in the world that week, because something terrible happens somewhere every week. When it does, watch how quickly the caution evaporates and the old script returns. The coincidence will once again become evidence. The evidence will once again become urgency. And the urgency will once again be good for the budget.

May God speed those days, indeed. The overhead isn't going to pay itself.