Crosses of Light in the Phillipines
It was mid-afternoon. With a score of neon lights on and sunlight streaming through two windows, there could be no occasion for hocus-pocus. The piece of glass was set up on its box like a picture frame. It looked exactly like any other piece of frosted glass, almost opaque, one could not see through. A flashlight was pointed at it and switched on and there appeared this even-armed cross of light seemingly within a diamond-shaped aura. Somebody placed another switched-on flashlight beside the first and two crosses appeared. The flashlights were switched off. The crosses disappeared. They were switched on again, the crosses reappeared.
The usually boisterous newsroom was silent. Our inimitable fun-man, Managing Editor Teddy Berbano, who could squeeze out of even the most serious occasion the most hilarious joke, had no punch-line, or any line, this time. As stated earlier, the phenomenon was awe-inspiring, or, at the very least, intriguing. ( Julian Cruz, News Editor, Newsday Philippines, 22 March 1991)
In June 1988, video producer Frances Robinson began a documentary on this phenomenon. In an article, she describes her experiences interviewing those in whose homes the crosses have appeared, and recounts the effects the crosses have had on their lives.
A Journalist's Reaction
"I can't get the hair on the back of my neck to do anything
but stick straight out these days. The crosses are indeed in
the windows at the Copper Ridge Baptist Church. That is a fact.
It doesn't matter if you believe it or not
There at first,
I was a bit of a sceptic myself. But now that I've seen the crosses
of Copper Ridge with these two eyes, I'm a believer
"
( Bob Hurley, columnist for The Greenville Sun )
On November 8, 1995, the members of a small, 135-year-old Baptist church near Knoxville, Tennessee noticed that the light coming in through the windows was in a new ;pattern: the shape of an even-armed cross. All five sanctuary windows, which have been installed in the church for 26 years began to exhibit the same phenomenon.
The crosses are not on the window per se, but are suspended in mid-air like a holographic image some 30 yards away from the building. They appear white in the daytime when the light source is the sun. At night, when a streetlight is the light source, they are a fiery, reddish-gold. And while the image which appears on the glass may only be four to six feet tall, the crosses, as seen through the windows, stretch from the ground upward to about 40 feet.
Since the Knoxville crosses have been made public via word-of-mouth and local, national and international media, more than 35,000 people have visited the church. There have been many undocumented claims of healing ( such as blindness, deafness, cancer, and drug abuse ).
Copper Ridge Baptist Church is at 8726 Majors Road, Knoxville, TN 37938.
Copper Ridge Baptist Church Photo Page
"The Cross Chasers : 19 hours in Knoxville, Tennessee"
by Buddy Piper 'The Modern Miracles Reporter'
More stories about the Knoxville Crosses
Southern California ( 1992 )
On 8 December 1992, Joann Noriega saw a "big, beautiful cross", created by the light of the moon, appear on her bathroom window. She had never seen the image before in the 17 years she had lived in the house in Montclair, Southern California. Noriega opened and closed the window, wondering if the cross would go away. But the cross remained. Noriega got down on her knees and began praying. "It was the Virgin Mary," Noriega said. "I had no doubt. I didn't even try to guess at it."
Noriega saw the Virgin on the lighted cross, surrounded by a host of angels next to her "like the Immaculate Conception." The vision came after midnight and lasted for more than a week before it disappeared. The vision of the Virgin on the cross returns every month during the full moon.
Other phenomena have occured in Noriega's home - additional crosses in the window, rainbows on the ground, oil seeping from a candle in her bedroom, and the sound of bells. In her living room are faint photographs, taken by Noriega at her house, of a man on a cross reaching out to a similar figure in prayer, and a diamond-shaped figure in the sun.
Because of the cross, and a scent of roses in the house, many people make a pilgrimage to her house seeking the Virgin Mary's presence. Each week, Noriega holds a Friday night prayer meeting in her living room. It is here that the Virgin has been appearing for three years, Noriega says. Noriega also invites troubled people into her home to help them overcome despair and renew their faith in God by sharing her miracle with them. "Inviting people here to pray and see the crosses makes them feel good," Noriega said. "They can feel the Holy Spirit. They can feel all these warm feelings."
The cross of light has transformed the lives of many people, including a former drug addict, Hussem Farach, who said: "I believe I've been in the worst places in my living hell... But now I know, whatever happens, God is there for me. He's already proved it."
(Source: Daily Bulletin, Southern California, USA, 1996 )
New Zealand ( 1994 )
Crosses of light have appeared in New Zealand in a house in which Benjamin Creme had been staying during his lecture tour of that country. The crosses were the subject of a prime time news story on national television which was broadcast with the following introduction: "Spiritual phenomena or simple physics?" That is the question dozens of Aucklanders are asking each day as they line up to witness a white cross which appeared on a window of a suburban house.
Orange County ( 1994 )
On 21 May, Maria Ortega of Orange County, in southern California, awoke from a deep sleep at about 3 am. She thought she heard a baby crying and got up to investigate.
She walked through the house, listening for the source of the baby's cry. When she turned on the light to look in the bathroom, she heard a loud rush of wind. Then she saw the cross in the window and fell to her knees and cried.
Since then, life has changed completely for the 12 members of the Ortega family who share the house. Maria Ortega says she feels more spiritual. George, her 21-year-old son, has stopped drinking. And then there is the constant stream of visitors who come into their home, file through the living room and into the bathroom to stand in the tub and look at the cross.
Three hundred to seven hundred people stop by each day. At four in the morning, a mother with a baby knocks on the door. Maria's husband, Margarito Ortega, says that although he feels "a little tired", he cannot deny people the right to see the cross. Says family member David Ortega: "I think it's a message to everybody. Something's going to happen, but we don't know what." (Source: Orange County Register, USA)
Riviera Beach ( 1994 )
A Cross of Light has appeared in the bathroom window of Ida Rollins' house in Riviera Beach, Florida. People are so moved by it that they have been flocking to see it -- so many that the Riviera Beach police have had to put barricades up on the street to keep the cars out.
A radio announcer called it "the miracle of 37th street." In spite of the crush of people around her home, Rollins believes it is a sign from God, a message of hope for one of the poorest areas in town. (Source: Miami Herald, USA)
Canada ( 1994 )
A cross of light appeared in a pane of glass belonging to Calgary school teacher, Ehren Rebmann. Months earlier he heard about the crosses of light, so he bought a small pane and shone all kinds of light through it. Nothing appeared so he put the glass away and forgot about it. Six months later, there was a meeting in his house for a speaker who had a cross of light. During the talk, Rebmann went into his bedroom, grabbed his piece of glass and shone some light through it. A cross appeared.
It remains on the glass today, sitting in his living room. For him, the cross is a symbol of hope. "The main message here is one of hope to mankind," says Rebmann sitting on his couch, the cross of light shining over his shoulder. "We may be going through some pretty weird stuff right now, pretty harsh stuff, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel and it isn't an oncoming train." ( Source Calgary Herald September 24, 1994 )
Southern California ( 1996 )
Hundreds of people have visited the home of Carlos and Ines Alvarez in Bakersfield, California since the couple discovered a large cross of light in their bathroom window on 7 March. The Alvarez' say they can see the cross especially well when the light is just right at about 8 am and 5 pm each day, and at night when the neighbours' lights are on. At other times during the day, the cross is visible when light is focused on the window.
As word spread about the cross, crowds began lining up at the Alvarez' house to see the phenomenon. While viewing the cross, people kneel and pray, say the rosary, cry, and even faint.
"A lot of people think it's a message God is trying to send us because we're in the last days," said Mrs Alvarez. According to the article: "The family has a copy of a locally produced video about the cross, which says: 'Christ is coming soon' across the bottom of the frame in Spanish. ... The family says a priest from Arvin told them the cross was a sign of the Second Coming." (Source: Bakersfield Californian, USA)
Slovenia ( 1996 )
Crosses of light have appeared in the towns of Novo Mesto, Koper,
Ljubljana and Lenart in Slovenia. News of these manifestations
has spread creating much interest in the media.