Mission to Lebanon and Syria
February 2017
From the moment we had announced that Vassula was coming to Lebanon, all hell-broke-loose to forbid the messages of Jesus from being transmitted.
A Greek Orthodox priest, who is considered, by the followers of his church, to be a fanatic, started publishing calumnies on his Facebook page against Vassula. He also used mobile phone messages to put fear in the hearts of many, while spreading lies about Vassula. He accused her of being the daughter of the devil and indicated that we should not listen to her. With his offensive fervor, we could say that he managed to get the phone numbers of all the Lebanese people.
The TLIG group in Lebanon was distraught, since the lies were being spread onto all mobile phones. Consequently, we asked for prayers from the TLIG groups in France and elsewhere. We sadly thought that all our efforts would go in-vain. However, Vassula with all confidence knew that no one could stop the Lord’s Word from being spread because it was Jesus’ will to send her to our country, so as to spread the TLIG Messages in Lebanon and Syria. She only said “Yes” to His will.
This priest and his followers had contacted every clergyman who had invited Vassula to speak, asking them to cancel her talk. He even went as far as to ask a prominent sheikh who had prepared a big interfaith meeting for February 10th with Vassula as the keynote speaker, to cancel the event. We learned about this when this sheikh called to inform us that a priest called to tell him many negative stories about Vassula. Therefore, to off-set his reserve, we sent him the true official position of the Vatican towards Vassula, confirmed by His Beatitude Patriarch Sfeir, along with other proofs from cardinals who declared that the CDF allowed the propagation of the True Life in God Messages after having received clarifications from Vassula. Since this truth had been clarified to the sheikh, he received Vassula at the meeting, defended her and rejected all the false declarations the priest had been feeding him.
February 10, 2017 – Lebanon
So Vassula arrived in Beirut on Feb 10, 2017 accompanied by Fr. Rolf Schönenberger from Switzerland. On this same day, they had the inter-religious meeting mentioned above.
Sheikh Muhammad Ali Al Hajj invited Fr. Rolf, Vassula and many participants from different denominations to the interfaith meeting.
Vassula offers the HIR book to Al Sayed Ibrahim Srour (in the middle) and Sheikh Muhammad Kazem Ayad.
“UNITY BY DIVERSITY” Vassula is in attendance with different church and religious representatives: Catholics, Orthodox, Protestants and Muslims.
Sheikh Muhammad Ali Al Hajj introduced Vassula and her worldwide mission, as well as the mission of the Beth Myriams. He mentioned that Westerners have an elevated spiritual and humanitarian mind that pushes them to help those in the East.
In her speech Vassula used this verse from the Koran: “Allah chooses from the angels messengers and from the people. Indeed, Allah is Hearing and Seeing.“ (Surat 22 Al-Hajj, verse 75)
The following is part of what she said: “God has always manifested Himself to humanity; not to give us anything new, but rather to remind us of all that He has given us in His Word. I was called by God in 1985. God gave me a particular grace, without any merits, to dictate His Messages for our times, because He said: through your wretchedness I will show the world My Mercy.
In response to this world-wide apostasy from God, we notice that for many years now the Creator has been manifesting Himself as well as Jesus and the Virgin Mary, who appear in various places, to remind us of the Word of God. When the Virgin Mary appeared in Cairo, Zeitoun, on the top of a church, She projected Her Light on everyone; all saw Her, even president Abdel Nasser, and all the sick were healed. So God, through Her, has not made any distinction between Christians and Muslims.”
God tells us: live as though it is your last day on earth… because on Judgment Day you will be judged according to the measure of love you have had on earth.
The Virgin Mary: “I have asked you for prayers; many of you pray, but without love; many of you fast, but without love; so many of you speak of My messages, but very few follow them because love is missing in your hearts; … if you practise all that I have been asking you without love, you are still in the dark;” (December 6, 1993)
One of the participants said that this meeting was the first stone in the mission of the Assembly, due to the diversity of the denominations that were present. He also said that such meetings need to be done in Europe because Europe is suffering today from a misunderstanding of Theology. Vassula responded with this sentence from Jesus: “the only theology, and I would strongly add, the only true theology is the contemplation of Me, your God.” (February 12, 2000). She added that it is not the technical theology that is of concern, but rather the contemplation of God.
One of the priests in attendance thanked Vassula for her speech and said that when our Lady appeared in Egypt, she not only appeared to Christians, but also to Muslims. Even the Muslim president of Egypt, back then, declared her apparition authentic. This priest said that their assembly together at this meeting is a sign of brotherhood and love. He continued by saying that “If there was no love between us, we would not have assembled for this meeting. Without love we would have probably been carrying swords and rifles. Our presence in the East is a medicine for the East. If the billions that are being spent on wars were spent on the needy, we would not find any poor person on Earth. What brings us joy is that in Lebanon, Egypt and within the region we still have brotherhood, love, encounters with one another, and we still live together.”
Another attendee said that he was very happy to be at this meeting and that this assembly is a ‘ray of light’ in the darkness that we live in, an imprint and an encounter with a smile of love. He also said that when he was first invited, he found the mixture of denominations unusual, so he was determined to attend. In his opinion, it is not enough to speak; we need to transmit the values shared at this meeting to our societies. He said that politics divide the citizens of one country, even those who belong to the same religion, leading sometimes to division in the same family. He insisted on bringing the message shared at this meeting to today’s youth in order to diminish hatred, grudge and separation. He said to Vassula and Fr. Rolf that “we, in Lebanon, wish that these values to be instilled in us.”
Reverend Nicolas AYOUB said that after reading nine chapters from Vassula’s book “Heaven is Real but so is Hell”, which she had offered him in Paris earlier in the year, he did not find anything opposing the Holy Scriptures. He feels that God’s role in what is happening with Vassula is large, unlike what happens to other people who pretend to encounter such experiences, but when their values, actions and perceptions are tested in reference to Holy Scriptures, they prove invalid. Her true authenticity was the reason he had the courage to attend this meeting. He then asked Vassula to tell the assembly what is her message to the people of this world, and whether she considers herself a prophetess, a saint or a messenger. Vassula answered that she is a mother of two children. God, in-spite of her wretchedness, with no merits, has given her this gift through His Mercy. She doesn’t know the reason He gave it to her, but we cannot question God. She never calls herself a prophetess or a messenger; she calls herself a housewife with a charisma. The Lord formed her for three years in silence, without anyone knowing. That’s how God works: in silence and in peace. After three years, He sent her out to the world. He opened the doors. She never seeks for an audience; for example, she never sought to be at this meeting. God works with everyone and He has sent her to eighty-five countries. She has been witnessing for thirty-one years.
A sheikh from among the group said that when he hears a Christian priest speak about love and morals, he feels as if a Muslim sheikh is speaking. All clergymen of all religions agree that peace, love, beauty and goodness are from God. He continued by saying that Vassula’s message is a beautiful one of love which agrees with the Torah, the Gospel and the Koran. He then asked Vassula if she has received something new, something other than the teachings found in the Divine Holy Books. Vassula answered that God told her in a message that He comes to remind us of all that He has already given us. There is nothing new in the messages she received. God does not add new things. What is added is the fact that He may give Vassula certain predictions as a prophecy; for example, the prediction of the tsunami of 2004. Vassula explained how she had received messages about that event three times, and that she had even seen it in a vision. She said that the tsunami devastation was used to explain how God cannot bear the world’s apostasy. Moreover, the message about the devastation of the Twin Towers of New York that God had given her ten years prior to the date of the event was a warning to the world and a sign that God was not pleased with us. The crumbling down of the Twin Towers was a sign of our own sins and our lack of repentance.
One of the priests asked Vassula whether the tsunami and the Twin Towers was a sign of God’s anger towards the human race. Vassula said “no, of course God is sad, but He says in the Messages that our rebellion, our apostasy and our atheism draws God’s justice on us. His severity is as great as His mercy. He does not like to punish us. We attract evil upon us. God says in His messages that whatever [evil] comes out of the earth returns back to earth…(May 21, 1994) If we do good, we receive good things, but through our sins we attract evil. That was said twice; once by our Lady and once by the Lord.”
Another sheikh wished that meetings such as this one to be fruitful. He said the East has always and will always be the beacon for the West. He called Vassula a Messenger of Peace. He asked her about the apostasy in the West. Vassula answered that it is true that in the West the churches are being sold because few people today are committed to their faith. She also strongly emphasized that what is being said and shared in the meeting room should not remain within its four walls, but it has to be spread.
Another participant said that he was touched by the Coptic priest’s intervention, as well as by Vassula’s remark that it was not enough to live our faith by fasting and praying in an outward appearance of religion; our faith should be apparent in our daily life through our love, our forgiveness and our peace. He said that as an Alawite Muslim, he has to love Christ and our Lady who are mentioned in the Koran; the same thing applies to his brothers the Shiites, the Sunnis and the Druze. He said to Fr. Rolf that we should not allow the brambles to kill or overcome the flowers because we need to teach the coming generations: to implant, in their minds and hearts, love, peace and forgiveness between the children of one nation and those of the whole world.
Yet another sheikh spoke about love. He said that scientists say “I think, so I am” but Sufis say “I Love God, so I am a believer.” He asked Vassula about the methods TLIG as an association uses to consolidate the elements of faith. Vassula answered that faith without works is dead. She spoke about the thirty-three TLIG sponsored Beth Myriams that exist in the world, saying that we have to practice charity as well as faith. On the Day of Judgment we shall all be judged according to the measure of the love we have bestowed here on earth.
Fr. Emile Abou Mrad, a respected priest from the Greek Orthodox Church said that he has been involved in the ecumenical field for thirty-five years, even before he became a priest and studied Theology. He has also worked with movements that deal with unity between Christians and Muslims. However, although he has been preaching intensively about unity for twenty years in his parishes, he has noticed that people, after one month, forget about what he had taught them and they allow themselves to be affected by the ‘cheap’ news. One of the main things he said is that in today’s world, although we are facing Islamist fanaticism, we have discovered through our inviting Vassula to Lebanon that we also have Christian fanatics who call people ‘infidels.’ He was referring to the persecution Vassula received from a Greek Orthodox priest who was also violently persecuting another priest.
Fr. Fadi Khawand, a priest in attendance from the Maronite Church, asked Vassula about the Catholic Church’s position in relation to her books. Vassula answered that there are churches that have a positive regard, churches that have a negative regard and churches that are prudent. When she lived in Rome, Cardinal Ratzinger, the future Pope Benedict XVI, did a study of TLIG for two and a half years. He had the entire TLIG message collection and the videos. He gave all the books in the original language to three theologians to read. If they were valid, then he would watch the videos. If the videos were valid, he would ask Vassula some questions to completely clarify any respective issues. And so, after the theologians read the Messages and he watched the videos, he asked her five questions and told her to take her time in answering. She answered the five questions and waited. Cardinal Ratzinger told her that if her answers were acceptable, he would meet with her. A few months later he told her that her answers were acceptable and she met with him for thirty minutes. He gave her a letter and asked her to give it to those who persecute her. He also asked her to put the respective questions and answers in her books. That was the only thorough study of the True Life in God Messages undertook at the Vatican.
Vassula also said that the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Alexandria, Theodoros, welcomed her. He was positive and happy about the work and he read all her Messages. Other clergymen, however, say that the Messages are not valid, even without having read them. They persecute her and say calumnies against her. That’s how it is; the way of God is never easy.
Then, one of the meeting participants said that the diversity present here cannot be seen by society unless it is also included in political life. He mentioned St. John Paul II’s letter to Lebanon. Vassula replied that if politics was honest, incorrupt, following God’s laws and commandments, we would all be friends.
It is a benefit to be aware that Noursat TV (Télé Lumière) filmed this important event and it was covered by many local news agencies. We think the Lord was glorified.
It is also noteworthy to mention that after the meeting one of the sheikhs asked Vassula this question: “In our faith we believe, that at the end, a person will come to save the world. Who is that person in your opinion?”
Vassula answered that a grace is coming upon the world. Everyone will see themselves through the eyes of God, regardless of one’s religion. It is at that point when the world will experience a fundamental change. All who were present loved her answer and agreed with her.
February 11, 2017 – Lebanon
The next morning Vassula and Fr. Rolf were interviewed on a Lebanese morning show on the television channel OTV.
Fr. Rolf and Vassula spoke as usual about unity in diversity, repentance, love, intimacy and the new book Heaven is Real but so is Hell. Fr. Rolf read some TLIG Messages from our Lady because it was the Feast day of our Lady of Lourdes, reminding us that unity will come on us suddenly like the fall of Communism. Vassula ended the interview with a TLIG Message that Jesus has given to everybody: “lower even more now your voice so you may hear only Mine; lower your head, so that Mine would be seen; lower yourself so that I can lift you up to Me;” (September 26, 1991)
You may watch the interview in both English and Arabic