Many forget that there were apparitions of the Blessed Mother and allegedly Jesus in Iraq and that they occurred at Mosul -- the very place where now virtually all Christians, including Catholics, have fled, their churches and monasteries decimated.

“Ninety-nine percent of the Christians have left Mosul,” pastor Haitham Jazrawi told a newspaper following the takeover of Iraq’s second largest city—and its ancient Christian homeland—by al-Qaeda-linked Jihadist militants, as one news source put it.

Last week, the Chaldean Catholic archbishop fled. Priests, nuns, and faithful have been murdered.

Notably, the apparitions, to an Orthodox girl named Dina Basher -- who bore stigmatic wounds that exuded oil (approved by her Patriarch) -- included messages in which the Lord warned of great coming trials.  "Dina, tell them," she quoted Jesus as saying. "Announce this, my message, to all the churches. Bear all. You will be exposed to many pains and dangers, but I beg of you to bear it so that you may be with Me always and I will help you in everything and I am with all of you. Tell My people I suffer like you; tell My dear ones I suffer so much. My daughter, obey your priests and obey your deacons and obey all who tell you something good. Pray with your priests and all the people. Unite, unite, My brothers. Unite and you will receive the power to fight those who oppose Me." She claimed the Second Coming was drawing near. That's for your discernment. However such predictions pan out, the Patriarch has issued a decree referring to the happenings as "astounding miracles and wonders" and the Bishop of Baghdad has described the phenomena as a manifestation of God's living power [full report here]. 

Aside from occurring in this city that is now the very hotspot of crisis in the world, Mosul is in the very vicinity of the ruins of ancient Nineveh -- where Jonah issued a warning to this city that was the commercial, cultural New York of its day (and was later destroyed by invasion and natural disasters).

Iraq is also home to ancient Babylon.

Meanwhile, another woman with phenomena and messages remarkably similar to Basher's had her experiences in Syria -- a country that is now on the cusp of the same conflict, bombing inside of its neighbor Iraq just days ago as Iranian and American forces prepare to intervene, providing us with an alphabet soup of potential players in a conflagration.

The Syrian woman was a Byzantine Catholic, Myrna Nazzour, and she quoted Jesus as saying (November 26, 2001): "The act of Adoration, meditation, thanksgiving and spiritual guidance rejoice Me. But the whole is incomplete without your unity at the altar. I am giving you My Body and My Blood as a proof of My fidelity and love. Receive from Me this sacrament with trust and faith, because this sacrament comforts you, provides you with strength and wisdom and increases you in grace. Difficult days are coming. Turmoil within the Church." The alleged phenomena, near Damascus, began in 1982. It too bore apocalyptic indications. You can read more here.

The unsightly nature of some stigmata has caused certain observers to raise concern about the origin of the phenomena. We'll leave that up to future discernment. The interesting element is that these two very similar cases (Myrna's wounds also exuded a perfumed oil) occurred in these neighboring countries that could draw the world into conflict. Let us recall that in Rwanda, apparitions in the small impoverished village of Kibeho preceded a genocide -- and that Mary (again in Church-approved apparitions) said that her dire warning (that there be a return to her Son or disaster would come) was intended not just for that African nation, but for the world.

[Note also: Michael Brown retreats: Connecticut!]

[Michael Brown's books]