FROM THE NEWSWIRES...
Weeping Icon - Christmas Miracle in Bethlehem ( November 1996 )
Virgin Mary Apparition in Clearwater, Florida ( December 1996 )
Church Calls Weeping Icon a 'Miracle' ( May 1997 )
Water Stain or Sign From God? ( June 1997 )
See the current issue of Share International for the latest reports on miracles
WEBSITE UPDATES
July 27, 1997
Complete revamp of the website :
MAJOR HIGHLIGHTS
"From Calcutta to Canada, from Southall to Singapore, millions
of Hindus say they witnessed a miracle. In temples and in houses
and village huts, statues of the elephant-headed god, Ganesh and
Shiva, the destroyer, were drinking spoonfuls of milk. Yesterday
in New Delhi and other Indian Cities, the dairies ran dry. All
the milk had gone to the gods." ( The Independent, UK, 23
September 1995 )
On Thursday 21 September, 1995, the news swept around the world
of the extraordinary miracles of milk-drinking Hindu statues.
Never before in history had a simultaneous miracle occurred on
such a global scale. Television, radio and newspapers eagerly
covered this unique phenomenon, and even sceptical journalists
held their milk-filled spoons to the gods - and watched, humbled,
as the milk disappeared. The media coverage was extensive, and
although scientists and 'experts' created theories of "capillary
absorption" and "mass hysteria", the overwhelming
evidence and conclusion was that an unexplainable miracle had
occurred.
1996 saw the biggest cross of light story since the miraculous
holographic images first appeared just over ten years ago. In
January CBS television reported on giant glowing crosses, up to
40 feet high, which had suddenly appeared in the windows of a
tiny Baptist church in Knoxville, Tennessee. In a radio interview
given only four months later, the local pastor said that 29,000
people had come to see the crosses and several healings and other
miracles had taken place.
He also told a Share International correspondent that "My
board members and I have had some strange assurances that something
is really going on. One night, before people came to see the
crosses, we were sitting on one side of the church, when several
of us saw a tall man wearing a turban appear on the opposite side
of the church and walk slowly forward next to the wall. He was
absolutely perfect in form.
"Two other people then appeared who had more of a cloudy
appearance and they followed him forward. Every couple of steps
the last person in line turned slightly towards us and waved in
a friendly manner. When they reached the front of the church,
they turned around and we expected to see the two followers leading
the way back , but the first man was again in front and the others
followed, as before. When they had made the walk three times,
they disappeared. That certainly caught the attention of some
of our members. They're still telling everybody about it!
"And then I got another experience. I had to go to the bathroom
one night and on my way back to bed a small cross appeared in
the room and I heard a voice say: 'Keep those church doors open
and it wont be long till I will be back'. I said: 'Who are you?'
Then the cross and the voice disappeared. I thought I was losing
my mind for a minute."
Two major miracle stories captured the headlines this last Christmas.
The first concerned a weeping icon at Jesus' birthplace in Bethlehem.
The weeping was first noticed by the 60 year old Muslim woman
who cleans the birthplace shrine in the Nativity Church every
morning.
Sadika Hamdan told reporters that she was working alone in the
shrine when suddenly "
a light came from the column
and the picture of the messiah Jesus, peace be upon him, began
to cry. It was beautiful, beautiful. He opened and closed his
eye and later tears fell, red tears. At first, I was very frightened,
and I wondered why Jesus was speaking out to me, a Muslim. But
I went and got the brothers, and they saw it too, and we realised
it was a miracle. I have been coming to this church for 22 years
and it is the first time in history that I have seen such a sight."
At the time of the report about 600 people were visiting the shrine
each day, and thousands were expected to attend the Sunday services.
As well as the tears, pilgrims have also been reporting that
the painting of Jesus was winking at them. There are of course
no shortage of sceptics dismissing the whole story, but Stephanie
Nolen, writing for a Canadian newspaper, had this to say :
"This reporter went to Bethlehem armed with the double protection
of lapsed Catholicism and journalistic cynicism, and joined a
crowd of about 100 kerchiefed Cypriot women clutching candles
and videocorders. 'Tears, tears,' they were whispering, some
with tears in their own eyes. So I looked up - and Jesus winked
at me."
( Source - Reuters, 28 November; The Globe and Mail,
Canada, 4 December; CNN )
Some witnesses said the image began forming about the time of
Thanksgiving, in late November. A couple of weeks later, a customer
of Seminole Finance called a local television station to say she
had seen an image of the Virgin Mary on the building. The station
showed pictures of the image during their newscast, and soon large
crowds began gathering.
"It's quite amazing. It's very spiritual,
very peaceful," said Patty Scharn, a receptionist at the
building. According to police spokesman Wayne Shelor: "People
are making shrines, bringing gifts, candles, flowers, statues.
Some have been overwhelmed and fainted. We have the infirm, the
disabled in wheelchairs, the blind. They're coming 500
at a time.... But it's not a carnival atmosphere. There
is a sense of awe and wonder."
(Sources: Associated Press; Clearwater Times; St Petersburg
Times, USA)
Signs of the Holy Mother topic
"Burmese religious pilgrims flocked by the thousands at the
weekend to Nyaunglaybin township, 160 kilometres north of Rangoon,
to witness a "miracle" of multi-coloured light beams
appearing from a Buddhist monastery." ( Source: DPA, Germany,
March 1997 )
Residents of Nyaunglaybin say the light beams have been occurring
since March 9, and has drawn increasingly large crowds to the
small town.
At the centre of the phenomenon is a Buddhist monk named Sayadew.
In recent years the monk has become known for his hour-long sermons
at which listeners are required to remain perfectly still with
their eyes closed. But this year he changed his technique, shortening
his sermons to 20 minutes and insisting that people keep their
eyes wide open, with no blinking.
Earlier this month some of Sayadew's followers claimed to see
"relics of the Buddha", or mortal remnants of the Lord
Buddha who died more than 2500 years ago, on the monk's robes.
"Scriptures have it that those who have been blessed with
the experience of looking at the relics would be distanced from
Hell by 92 worlds," Sayadew told his followers on Sunday.
Witnesses also say they have seen rainbow-like colours coming
from the roof of Sayadew's home.
See also the summary article "The Age of Miracles Has No
End!" in the Introduction
New homepage design; Existing topics updated or replaced; New topics added.
The Great Hindu Milk Miracle of 1995
Giant Crosses of Light Appear in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Christmas - The Season of Miracles
Also at Christmas reports were beamed worldwide of a three storey
high image of the Virgin Mary which had appeared on the outside
of a bank in Clearwater, Florida. Within three weeks more than
450,000 people had visited the site. The rainbow-coloured image
on the outside of the Seminole Finance building in Clearwater,
Florida, is about 50 feet wide and 35 feet tall, and stretches
across nine panes of glass.
1997 Highlight - Buddhist Miracle in Central Asia