"Jesus sightings sweep America!" proclaims US tabloid

A cover story in the US tabloid Weekly World News, 'Jesus sightings sweep America!', describes "amazing eyewitness accounts of miraculous encounters with Christ," and asks the question: "Are new Jesus sightings a sign of the Second Coming?"

The article says that since 1 January 1999, over 23,000 people worldwide have reported seeing Jesus, and that, as the year 2000 approaches, the number of sightings has been increasingly exponentially. Numerous Christian theologians are convinced that many of the reports are genuine, according to the article. "There is no doubt in my mind that the person that witnesses are seeing really is Jesus," said Father Franco Tomassi of Rome, who has investigated several hundred of the cases for the Vatican.

Among the encounters with Jesus described in the Weekly World News:
Josip Hoxha, a former lieutenant in the Serbian Army, said: "As a Yugoslav army officer fighting in Kosovo for Slobodan Milosevic, I had killed many times in the service of my country. But from this day forward I will never raise my gun again - because Jesus came to speak to me and convinced me to live the rest of my days in peace...

"When I saw Christ, I was preparing to order my men to murder a family of peasants - three ethnic Albanian men, their wives and four children that our troops had been ordered to eliminate. I remember that my men and I had herded the family into a wooded area where a grave pit had been dug. My men had ordered the peasants to line up by the pit and the women and children were wailing and pleading for their lives.

"Suddenly a younger man whom I had not noticed in the group before stepped forward from among the crying women. He was oddly dressed and calm and gentle in His demeanour. He walked straight up to me, despite my men's efforts to hold Him back. I should have ordered Him to stop - but for some reason I found I wanted to speak with Him. I wanted
to learn what He had to say.

"For a long time this wonderful man stood before me, asking me why I wished to kill the innocent people gathered there in the woods. I knew almost as soon as I heard His voice that I was in the presence of Jesus. As He spoke, I was filled with shame and remorse. I fell to my knees and began to weep and the others around me did the same. Christ's eyes were
extraordinary, warm and full of compassion, yet strangely sad. We never doubted for an instant that this was Our Lord.

"He said: 'The time has come to drive hate from your heart, for I say unto you, the Day of Judgement is near.' "I begged Jesus for forgiveness and He looked at me and my men and He said to us: 'Go and sin no more.' And we knew that we must do as He asked. We knew we must turn away from war and killing and devote our lives to spreading His loving message of redemption.

"After that, Jesus vanished into thin air. I ordered my men to empty their rifles and we turned our backs on the peasant family and let them escape. Then every one of us joined the refugees and crossed the border into Macedonia, where we turned in our guns and quit the war."

"Today, I am working with abandoned children at the refugee camp - and telling everyone I meet that I have met and spoken with Jesus Christ and that He is alive and back on Earth."

Rock-bottom

Victor Reblane of Columbus, Ohio, said: "Before I was visited by Jesus, my life had truly hit rock-bottom. I had been doing heavy drugs for nearly three years and hanging out with a bad crowd. And I had lost my job and didn't have a dollar to my name. Even my drug-dealer pals weren't my friends any more.

"I needed to get money in a hurry - and the fastest way was to steal it from the nearby church where my brother is the Minister. As I stood in the church parking lot late that night, I had every intention of breaking out a window, climbing in and swiping the money. But as I approached the door, a bearded man dressed as a priest appeared before me. I knew
immediately who it was - it was Jesus."

"He told me to be at peace and believe in Him and everything would be fine with me. I spoke with Him for a few moments and then He walked away. But after that brief encounter I felt a rush of joy and exhilaration that I had never felt in my life. Miraculously, my horrible drug addiction disappeared - I was experiencing total freedom."

"The next day my former boss called and offered my old job back. I accepted his offer but I'll be leaving there before long - when I go on a three-month missionary trip to Asia."

Judy Galvereau, from Jacksonville, Florida, said that Jesus "stopped me from committing suicide after the death of my husband, and gave me the will to live." Feeling depressed about her husband's recent death, Galvereau went to a nearby beach and began to cry. "Gradually, I began to feel a warm sensation in my body. I looked up and noticed a man sitting
beside me. I hadn't been aware of him before and I had no idea where he came from. For reasons I didn't understand, I sensed I could trust him. He took my hand but there was nothing sexual or forward in the gesture. He didn't seem to want anything and he said nothing.

"He was bearded and dressed in robes, his hair was long and he had the gentlest eyes I've ever seen. All at once I was pouring my heart out to him ... When I was finished I sensed a lightness, a peace I had never known before. I knew beyond a doubt that I'll see [my husband] Mel again, and that I'll be all right. The man rose to leave and I asked him who he was - even though I somehow knew. He finally spoke: "John: 10:14," he said. I went home and looked up the passage in the Bible. It said: "I am the good shepherd and I know my sheep and I am known by them.'

Morris Hiltfen of Chicago, Illinois, was miraculously cured of inoperable brain cancer after a visit from Jesus. According to Hiltfen: "The cancerous tumour on my brain was growing by the day and three doctors had told me that there was no way anyone could save me. And the truth is, at that point I didn't really want to be saved. I had lost my ability to speak or get around on my own. I was in constant pain and I had lost control of my bodily functions. At 50, I had become such a burden to my family that I simply wanted to die, to end their suffering as well as my own.

"When Jesus entered my room at the hospice, I thought at first that I was simply delirious. But there He was, in his robe and sandals, looking as though He'd just stepped out of the pages of the Bible. He walked silently toward me, placed both hands on my head and told me - in the kindest voice I have ever heard - that my suffering was over and that by
tomorrow I would be fine. I thought He was telling me that soon I would be in heaven with Him. But almost immediately the pain that had wracked my body for months was gone."

"Within hours I could speak as clearly as ever, and I was walking, eating and thinking like a man who'd never been sick a day in his life. My doctor couldn't believe his eyes. And the next day when he took X-rays, he really couldn't believe his eyes, because the giant tumour on my brain was gone - totally, completely, inexplicably gone. Overnight, my life had returned to normal ..."

(Source: Weekly World News, USA)

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