Christians & Atheists, have you read this wonderful true story of Angels saving children from terrorists???

Question

By WHITNEY ROYSTER
Star-Tribune staff writer



[oas:casperstartribune.net/news/wyoming:Middle1]
COKEVILLE -- More than being survivors, many of the former students and teachers at Cokeville Elementary School believe they were something else on May 16, 1986: witnesses to miracles.

The theme of being witness to miracles, and to a higher power, is so compelling in this predominantly Mormon community that a book of the same title has been published.

People held hostage at the school have stories of seeing angels, of being told by them what to do, and of divine intervention being unquestionably a part of that spring day.

JaNene Nostaja, the mother of a child held hostage, was serving as an emergency technician that day, and she remembers seeing the schoolroom where the kids and teachers were held hostage the next day.

"When I saw the shrapnel in all the walls, embedded in the ceiling ... and not one kid got hurt?" she said. "When we stood and looked at the wall -- there's no way."

There's no way, she said, there wasn't divine intervention.

Nostaja also said the day after the bombing, the entire room was caked in black. But on one of the walls was a white outline of Christ.

"There's some of all religion in Cokeville," Nostaja said. "Whatever religion, they knew they had been blessed and protected that day."

Kliss Sparks, a former teacher, said she, too, saw the white outline.

"I saw it, too," said Celeste Excell Jackman, now 32, then a sixth-grader at Cokeville Elementary.

Jackman doesn't particularly enjoy talking about the incident of 1986. She doesn't like to be in the spotlight, and says the hostage event is not the "main focus of my life."

But she is willing to share the story as a way to talk about God's love, and a way to talk about miracles.

Many survivors talk about seeing guardian angels in the schoolroom -- one for each person. The idea of angels protecting people was the subject of a book and a television movie, "When Angels Intervene to Save the Children."

Sharon Dayton, director of the Cokeville Miracle Foundation, said there were about 10 people who talked about angels in the room. Hostages received "instructions" from them, and feelings of peace and love.

Before the bomb went off, the angels surrounded the bomb to protect people, Dayton said.

Some people later recognized their angels in old photos, saying they were family members who had died years before.

"We're really talking about a Cokeville miracle," he said.

Karla Toomer, Cokeville mayor who was also instrumental in putting together the new book, said most everyone talks about "heavenly help."

"When they heard what was really going on and what was supposed to happen, everyone talks about heavenly help," she said. "Everyone says, 'Of course there was help.' Each kid getting out was a miracle. Angels being visible is a miracle."

Sparks said when she left the room after the bomb exploded, there were two boys in the hall whose hair was on fire.

"I put it out," she said. "I knew then, somebody was taking care of us. When I saw the bomb had not gone off in the way it should have, I knew then."

Jackman agreed. "I was being told what to do, or I wouldn't have known what to do."

http://www.jacksonholestartrib.com/articles/2006/05/14/news/wyoming/d36aa853aa1a14498725716d0070b595.txt

Answer 1

Well I'm convinced. This story offers so much proof and their couldn't be any other explanation. Especially since none of this came out until years later....

Answer 2

Well the beginning is pretty interesting and the concept is not bad. However I would try to keep it from sounding like propaganda. The mother is a poor portrayal of atheists. I suggest you talk to some atheists and learn more about them before you try to write a character that is one. BTW the story cut off.

Answer 3

Then why did those angels allow terrorists to kill all the other kids?

Sorry, but that's just bunk. There are no angels.

It's amazing how people will selectively pick out a fortunate event out of thousands of tragedies and claim divine intervention, while ignoring the rest of the hardship.

Answer 4

Some people only see what they want to see. Too bad those angels were out to lunch on 9/11.

Answer 5

I never read fiction.

Where the hell where those Angels in WWII? Why couldn't they "surround and protect" those kids in the Nazi "Kozentrationslager"?

Or what about those kids that got napalmed in Viet Nam in 1972 in that famous picture?

Answer 6

No , I have not read yet.
Quiet interesting.
However, as middlest . I would prefer to count miss also.

A lot of religion , count the hits but forgot the miss.

Answer 7

One thought comes to mind...angels are separate and distinct creations of God and not the same as family members when they die.

Answer 8

ARGUMENT FROM INCOMPLETE DEVASTATION

(1) A plane crashed killing 143 passengers and crew.
(2) But one child survived with only third-degree burns.
(3) Therefore, God exists.

Yeah... sure.

Answer 9

Where were they during 9/11, or the great tsunami disaster that killed 500,000 poor folks?

Answer 10

Pretty sure there were some angels on Flight 93.