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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 :
New homepage design; Existing topics updated or replaced; New topics added.



MAJOR HIGHLIGHTS


The Great Hindu Milk Miracle of 1995

"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.

Hindu Milk Miracle topic


Giant Crosses of Light Appear in Knoxville, Tennessee.

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."

Crosses of Light topic


Christmas - The Season of Miracles

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 )

Images and Icons topic


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.

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


1997 Highlight - Buddhist Miracle in Central Asia

"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.

Buddhist Miracles topic

See also the summary article "The Age of Miracles Has No End!" in the Introduction




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