The Medjugorje Message: Muslims and Christians Join for Apparitions

The Medjugorje Message: Muslims and Christians join for apparitions

The following excerpt appears on CrownOfStars.blogspot.com:

Up to 100,000 people are expected to attend a two-day prayer event in Lebanon which will host Marija Pavlovic, the Medjugorje visionary who receives Our Lady’s message for the world each month.

The visionary’s visit is in response to a personal request by Our Lady to go to the Lebanon, which Marija received during one of her apparitions with the Blessed Mother. It will precursor the Feast of the Annunciation a week later.

The feast of the Annunciation, March 25, is jointly celebrated by Christians and Muslims in Lebanon and is a national holiday instituted two years ago by the Lebanese government as a national Christian-Muslim day, something that never occurred before in the history of Christian-Muslim relations in the country.

Read more: Muslims and Christians Join for Apparitions

Mysterious Visions of Man in White Draw Muslims to Christ

Mysterious Visions of Man in White Draw Muslims to Christ

The book cover and following excerpt is from EarnedMedia.org:

A new eye-opening book that chronicles a supernatural move of God among Muslims.

Out of Darkness Into Light, tells the first-person accounts of Muslims coming to Christ through visions, dreams and miracles. This book is a gripping collection of true stories. Easy-to-read and inspiring, it offers a rare view into the life and culture of men and women growing up in Islam, and the supernatural encounters they had with Jesus. It is a must-read for Christians who desire to minister to Muslims and for those who recognize their own heart does not reflect God's love toward Muslims.

Author Ali Abdel-Masih (a pseudonym meaning "believer in the Messiah") was a strong Muslim himself. He even wanted to evangelize Christians. One day, Abdel-Masih was alone in the house and a presence filled the room.

"The Holy Spirit fell on me," he recounts. "I knew Jesus was standing in the room with me and that He was the Son of God." To believe that meant that Abdel-Masih was not a Muslim - and he realized he no longer was. Jesus had changed him. Nothing less could have broken his fierce loyalty to Islam, he says.

Abdel-Masih later worked as a missionary to Muslims in the Middle East. He heard many stories similar to his own of supernatural visions or dreams. At great risk to his life, for more than 15 years he helped others there come to know the Man in white. Now, he is a frequent guest on television and radio talk shows, sharing God's heart for work among Muslims.

Out of Darkness Into Light is a book for both Muslims and Christians. Muslims will relate to the nuances - and questions - of life within Islam that each testimony describes. Many will have already heard of the visions without understanding what they mean. This book will help bridge those stories to the truth of the gospel. Christians will see powerful examples of God's heart for Muslims and their openness to the gospel. This book may be the most effective tool your ministry can use in outreach to Muslims.

For bulk copies, review copies, or interviews, contact Ali Abdel-Masih (714) 334-9117

Email: outofdarknessintolight@yahoo.com

U.S. Catholic universities seeing influx of Muslim students

U.S. Catholic universities seeing influx of Muslim students

The following excerpt is from The Washington Post:

By William Wan -Washington Post Staff Writer

On a quick break between classes last week, Reef Al-Shabnan slipped into an empty room at Catholic University to start her daily prayers to Allah.

In one corner was a life-size painting of Jesus carrying the cross. In another, the portrait of a late priest and theologian looked on. And high above the room hung a small wooden crucifix.

After her more than two years on campus, though, it has become routine and sacred in its own way. You can find Allah anywhere, the 19-year-old from Saudi Arabia said, even at the flagship university of the U.S. Catholic world.

In the past few years, enrollment of Muslim students such as Shabnan has spiked at Catholic campuses across the country. Last year, Catholic colleges had an even higher percentage of Muslim students than the average four-year institution in the United States, according to the Higher Education Research Institute. The influx has astonished and sometimes befuddled administrators. Some Catholic campuses are creating prayer rooms for new Muslim students and hiring Islamic chaplains to minister to them. Others are unsure how to adapt.

Muslim students say they enroll at Catholic schools for many of the same reasons as their classmates: attractive campuses, appealing professors and academic programs that fit their interests. But there is also a spiritual attraction to the values that overlap the two faiths.

"Because it is an overtly religious place, it's not strange or weird to care about your religion here, to pray and make God a priority," said Shabnan, a political science major who often covers her head with a pale beige scarf. "They have the same values we do."

Muslim students find themselves immersed in what can seem at times alien iconography. Almost every classroom is adorned with a crucifix. Statues of the Virgin Mary and Holy Child dot the campus. Professors often open their classes with an appeal to Jesus. Courses in theology are an undergraduate requirement.

That's how Shabnan found herself buying her first Bible, for a required Old Testament class. It's also the reason, she said with a smile, that she registered for an introductory course on Islam.

"I was looking for an easy course," she said. "I learned a lot that was new to me . . . and just seeing how someone completely outside our religion views it was fascinating."

During his more than four years as a graduate student at Catholic, Ali Basiri has become one of the regulars at the small chapel in Caldwell Hall, the oldest building on campus. Basiri, 27, has spent so much time in the chapel's pews that he has befriended the organist who practices there.

In Iran, Basiri said, all schools run by the Islamic government are religious. The Iranian university where he studied for his bachelor's degree was named after a Muslim cleric, and his engineering department had detailed rules for praying and a dedicated room separated for men and women by blankets.

But at Catholic, he has forged new ways to connect spiritually. Several times a week, the electrical engineering student makes his way past the marble statue of the Virgin Mary at the Caldwell chapel entrance and listens in the pews to Islamic prayers on his MP3 player.

"I feel there is something powerful here because people are thinking about God all the time and not just about their own life or studies," Basiri said.

He has struck up friendships with equally fervent Catholic believers.

"We do this thing where he teaches me his prayers in Arabic, and I share with him the prayers I say as a Catholic," said one of his friends, Kenny White, 20, a sophomore from Annapolis. "I've learned about God by learning about him and his own faith. It's been a really important and beautiful part of being here."

"I think there's a lot of benefits to having students of other faiths here," he said. "They bring the grace of many of their own religious traditions."

Muslim students there say they have benefited as well. In his years at Catholic, Basiri said, he has experienced a long list of firsts: meeting a nun and priest, celebrating Mass, witnessing Easter and Thanksgiving.

Read More: U.S. Catholic Universities See Influx of Muslim Students

Evangelists Say Muslims Coming to Christ at Historic Rate

Evangelists Say Muslims Coming to Christ at Historic Rate

The photograph and following excerpt is from Charisma News Online:

By Sarah Stegall

Christians ministering quietly in the Middle East say Muslims are coming to Christ at an unprecedented pace.

"Probably in the last 10 years, more Muslims have come to faith in Christ than in the last 15 centuries of Islam," said Tom Doyle, Middle East-Central Asia director for e3 Partners, a Texas-based missions agency.

A former pastor, Doyle has been to the Middle East around 80 times, and last week returned to the U.S. from a trip to Jerusalem, where he said both Muslims and Jews are turning to Christianity.

Earlier this month, more than 200 former Muslims were baptized during a training conference in Europe led by Iran-born evangelist Lazarus Yeghnazar. Brenda Ajamian, a former missionary to the Middle East who partners with Yeghnazar's 222 Ministries International, said the event was unlike anything she'd seen during her years ministering in Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan.

"That many Muslims who converted to Christ in one place boggled my mind because missionaries have worked in the Arab world and Muslim world generally for years and without much fruit," Ajamian said. "God is at work among Muslims."

Doyle said Father Zakaria Botross, a born-again Coptic priest, reaches about 60 million people through his television programs broadcast across the Middle East. "The apostle Paul to the Muslims is no question Father Zakaria," Doyle said.

But many Muslim-background believers have said they came to Christ after having dreams and visions of Jesus.

"I can't tell you how many Muslims I've met who say: ‘I was content. I was a Muslim, and all of a sudden I get this dream about Jesus and He loved me and said come follow Me," Doyle said.

Read more: Charisma Online

Religious Harmony in the Middle of New Jersey

Deputy Adam Gussen and Mayor Mohammed Hameeduddin

Jews and Muslims Live in Harmony in the Middle of New Jersey - CBS News Video

The following article is from CBSnews.com :

By Dave Price

CBS - Any public discussion about religion can quickly turn into a loud argument these days. Dave Price from The Early Show shows a town that's become an example of how to get along - despite your differences. Far away from the religious strife of the Middle East and the simmering tensions of our post September 11 world, there's an oasis of hope in the small community of Teaneck, New Jersey.

Thirty percent of its residents are Jewish, and their new mayor is a practicing Muslim.

Working together to keep this community not only intact but flourishing, are Mayor Mohammed Hameeduddin and his Deputy Adam Gussen - an Orthodox Jew.

Mayor Hameeduddin says Teaneck "is an incubator for understanding." He added, "it's not a homogeneous community - and you want your children in a community where they're going to meet all different kinds of people."

"The things that are most important are the things that we share in common," Gussen added. "Our differences become less important."

Teaneck is like looking through a cultural prism - reflected on "Main Street" throughout its restaurants and shops. The sounds of prayer that ring out from the town form a diverse constituency within a tiny 6 square mile radius.

"Is there a Jewish way to fill a pot hole? Is there a Muslim way to plow the streets," Gussen asks. "The answer is, no."

It's that practicality and synchronicity that are sources of pride for Teaneck's residents.

"There are people of all kinds here, and you should be able to get along with everybody," said Teaneck resident Aggie Siletski.

"So what do you say to the people who say this is a small community in New Jersey - this isn't the rest of the country," Price asked.

Teaneck resident Amber Sheikh replied, "Small little people, small little communities are the ones who get into the world and change it slowly, right?"

This town of 39,000 has often been at the forefront of cultural diversity and change - stretching all the way back to the Civil Rights movement in the 1960's.

In the spring of 1964, Teaneck became the first American town with a white majority to desegregate its schools.

Fast forward 46 years and that mission for equality is still clear.

"Are there things that happen in Teaneck that could happen elsewhere? Yeah, I really think there are," Gussen said.

"It shows that kids can dream a little bigger - that they don't have to worry about all the stereotypes," Hameeduddin added. "Anybody can do anything," he said. "That's what it really comes down to.

Virgin Mary Appearing in Egypt

Numerous reports in various articles throughout the internet have claimed that the Virgin Mary is appearing at the Coptic Orthodox Church in El-Warraq, Cairo, Egypt. Is it a sign from God that Christians and Muslims should work together for a common cause? Is the claims of an apparition of the Virgin Mary a call for Christians and Muslims to live together in peace?

The Daily Star - Arts & Culture - Late nights in Egypt with the 'Virgin Mary'

The following excerpt is written by Agence France Presse from The Daily Star:

CAIRO: Every night in the run-up to Christmas, thousands of Egypt’s Coptic Christians have been gathering in a Cairo suburb eager for a glimpse of a vision that has given hope to their marginalized community.

It is three hours past midnight in Al-Warraq, a poor working class neighborhood, and a 10,000-strong crowd is silently staring at the sky. Then the appearance of a mysterious light over the church’s bell tower jolts the gathering into a frenzy of cries and ululations. They imagine it is an apparition of the Virgin Mary.

Thousands have been coming nightly since the first sighting of the Virgin Mary on December 10, in the hope of being blessed by her light. The prospect of benediction is being depicted as a much-needed morale boost for the Christian minority, which complains of systematic discrimination and marginalization.

Tea vendors and sweet sellers snake through the crowd where thousands of families have gathered with young children and babies.

“The first person to spot … the Virgin Mary was a Muslim neighbor,” said Father Fishay, a priest at the Warraq church. “He took a video and pictures and distributed them to everyone.”

Hassan, the Muslim neighbor in question, was sitting at his coffee shop at around 8:30 p.m. when he saw a strong light coming from the church. Others began to notice the light and saw a bird circling overhead. At around 2 a.m., Fishay said, a vision of the Virgin Mary appeared.

News of the apparition prompted hundreds to rush out with mobile phones to capture the momentous event. “It’s her, with her blue-and-white clothes,” enthused Rami, 36. “There is no doubt about it. It cannot be an illusion.”

“The church closes its doors in the evening,” said Fishay in his measured manner. “We were not there when the image appeared the first time, so we decided to come back the second night.”

Nabil, 32, his wife Mariam, 28, and their three children came from Shubra al-Kheima, some 20 kilometers away, to receive the Virgin’s blessings. “Her appearance means she approves of us and if she blesses us,” Mariam opined. “We will stay ’til morning.”

Her husband said the sighting proves that Christianity is still alive. He is angry over the recent publication of an article in a periodical of Cairo’s Al-Azhar University, Sunni Islam’s highest seat of learning, questioning the foundations of Christianity. “The apparition of the Virgin Mary,” he said, “means that Christianity is real and the Bible is real.”

Around 10 percent of the 80 million population, Egypt’s Christians complain they are kept out of jobs in the army, judiciary and universities.

“It is not possible to know the reason for the Virgin’s appearance,” Fishay said.

“Maybe it will end the state of tension between Muslims and Christians and an end to extremism. Maybe it’ll bring back forgiveness like there once used to be in Egypt.”