Exit 8 NJ Turnpike - East Windsor Jesus

Carol Erickson EAST WINDSOR, N.J. (CBS 3) ― From the outside, an East Windsor home, situated on a wooded lot across the street from a church, looks like a typical New Jersey house. 

Married couple, Jerry and Wendy Divock, said everything was normal until something unique happened. 

An animated virtual spokesperson from the couple's Web site explains:

"Something very unique and spiritual happened in their home in New Jersey."

Ten years ago Wendy felt a soft touch on her cheek. 

"I turned to see if it was my husband, but it wasn't and then looked and I saw this guy," Wendy said. 

The "guy in the door," as they once referred to the image on the door, bares a striking resemblance to Jesus, as artists have depicted him through the ages.

After consulting with the Pentecostal Pastor in the church across the street from their home, Jerry said they learned the image is, "Very significant and that it's authentic."

The couple decided to reveal their Jesus-like image to world and face the skeptics.

"It's not like this is a grilled cheese sandwich with the image of the Virgin Mary on it," said Jerry.

"It's real. It's no phony bologna crap," insists Wendy.

The other door in the home that is now receiving a lot of attention is the ever-revolving front door, bringing the faithful and curious alike who have to see it, to believe it.

http://www.jesusinthedoor.com/

John 10:  “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved…”

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Exit 13A NJ Turnpike - Elizabeth Jesus

During the Revolution, the Brits occupying Manhattan and Staten Island realized that Elizabeth was not named after their past queen and attacked the city with due diligence.

Way back in the 1800’s the city was home to not one, but two Electric Car manufacturing plants. Go figure. It is currently home to The Hope Center which is the launching pad for the New York City Relief buses providing bread and soup in the name of Jesus to places in the city few dare to travel.

Saturday, I was offered a rare opportunity to work a little OT. Living in North Jersey, I could surely use the cash. I was also offered the opportunity to feed the homeless in the South Bronx with New York City Relief. Feed the poor, or make some cash? There really wasn’t a choice. My colleagues at work thought I was nuts.

The weather was brutal, wet and windy. Driving down the NJ Turnpike to the Hope Center, I thought of Micah 6:8 and then tried to find an "out clause" for wind and rain – to no avail.

I felt pretty darn sure no one would stand in a nor’easter for a cup of soup. Stupid me.

Standing in the windblown rain outside that soup truck on a vacant lot on 148th Street, I witnessed it. People came, lots of them, individuals at first, then whole families and extended families. They came for a slice of bread, a cup of soup and a little bit of Jesus. For a fleeting moment, I couldn’t comprehend that this slice of NYC is America for many, many people.

During the course of the day I was speaking with an ex-gang leader recently released from jail. He explained how he once ruled this part of the South Bronx dictating who got mugged, robbed or knifed. He told me his buddies call him Lucifer, the Devil, Satan and Evil and that those names now brought him down.

I remembered a video at Liquid Church where the screen showed individuals who were downtrodden and negative descriptions of them were flashed on the screen only to have their faces appear again with words of how God sees them – loved. I told him to cast out those names and replace with how God sees him Worthy, Loved, God’s special child. It was a bit remarkable but then he began focusing on some of the positive things he’s done for others and what others have done for him.

I'll tell you what it means to worship the Lord. Remove the chains of the prisoners who are chained unjustly. Free those who are abused! Share your food with everyone who is hungry; share your home with the poor and homeless. Give clothes to those in need; don't turn away your relatives. Isaiah 58

Exit 159 GS Parkway - Saddle Brook Jesus

Except for the occasional flood, not much ever happened in Saddle Brook since it was inhabited in 1716. All that changed when in late 2004 Gary Brolsma sat at his PC in his bedroom to lip-sinc the first Numa Numa video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60og9gwKh1o

800 million views later, we have:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7si10ipel0&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ysz8HqoE-k&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1M-sWWonjo&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXleQldbFFE&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOor0OLIbFc&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAfPzUy8Gz0&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3med-8reH8&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puVmKfCwb4M&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHJjY0Lj1oA&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKcm8oPqs4k&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5FXD56LGnY&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pHShKhCnjY&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwGCaxJP5AI&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aMaAM_B37s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_pMN-R2IGQ&feature=related

In addition to one very addicting video, Saddle Brook is home to one of the few Walmarts in North Jersey. This retailer caused quite a stir last Christmas as it offered Christian toys during the holiday season. Well here in Saddle Brook, this Walmart has been quietly selling Jesus candles since, well, forever. For less than a cup of Dunkin’ Donuts coffee, the light can shine through the Sacred Heart of Jesus candle and the Jesus Crucifixion candle. For twenty cents less than Jesus, one can pick up the Lady of Guadeloupe.

I wonder if Margaret Mary Alaoque could have ever imagined that the vision of Jesus she saw in 1671 would be retailing for $1.55?

"I could plainly see His heart, pierced and bleeding, yet there were flames, too, coming from it and a crown of thorns around it. He told me to behold His heart which so loved humanity. Then He seemed to take my very heart from me and place it there in His heart. In return He gave me back part of His flaming heart."

Beautiful words, really. I would have never thought to literally paint the exact picture and put it on a candle and sell it a Walmart but hey.

John 3:"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son …..whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God."

Exit 15W NJ Turnpike - Kearny Jesus

In 1668, it was known as "New Barbadoes." A few centuries later the town leaders realized "this place looks nothing like Barbadoes" and renamed it after the local Civil War hero, General Philip Kearny. Dubbed, "Soccer Town," Kearny is best known for what is now gone.

Satriale's Meat Shop*-gone.

Scottish Pipers-gone.
Western Electric-gone.
Bunny Land Zoo-gone.
Schuyler Mansion-gone.
West Hudson Hospital-gone.

The orphanages: St. Anthony’s, Sacred Heart and Boystown-gone.

St. Anthony’s is now a Montessori School. Scared Heart is now apartments and houses. Boystown is primarily houses with a church and Catholic service center. Boystown, however, still has its Jesus sculptures along Belgrove Avenue for all to see. There’s the larger-than-life Sacred Heart of Jesus and huge crucifix reminding the locals that he loves them and died for them.

Cultural and economic changes account for the disappearances of many things in this town -except for the orphanages. They can be attributed to one thing: Rowe vs. Wade.

I wonder if Rowe vs. Wade  is overturned, will Christians be prepared rise to their calling to care for the children? Sadly, I’m not so sure.

Matthew 18 :In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost.

*Satriale's pork store photo used by permission, ::: Luca Brasi :::

Exit None (one of many "Last Exit in NJ") -Hoboken Jesus

Hoboken, the Birthplace of Baseball, soft-serve ice cream, Frank Sinatra, the zipper, the Oreo cookie, the Blimpie, America’s first brewery and the automated parking garage is also home to the winking Jesus. Yes, the winking Jesus.

I’m not particularly fond of the methods of street preachers -I guess I’m a little bit biased against crazed guys shouting at me telling me I’m destined for hell and they don’t even know me. One of these guys placed a plaster Jesus in a make-shift shrine on Jackson Street.

A little background on this statue: the preacher found it in a dumpster and it is in disrepair - well, of course it is, if someone is trashing a plaster Jesus -

A little background on the preacher: unemployed and partially blind.

Next thing you know, preacher man claims Jesus winked at him! Now Jesus would wink at a partially bind street preacher to convey what exactly?

How you doin’?
Thanks for taking me out of the trash, I owe you one.
Well done my good and faithful servant.
Hey, nice duds, dude.

A winking Jesus is quite a news story and all the New York press crossed the Hudson to cover the event…..Some claimed it was a miracle, a sign from God …..

A 14 year old girl put things in proper perspective, “It’s just a sculpture. I think somebody just scraped its eyelid off.”

We’re always looking for signs and wonders.

Luke 2: “This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

Exit 52 Route 80 - Fairfield Jesus

As with other New Jersey townships, Fairfield shares its namesake with yet another in the state. Known as Fairfield only since 1924, you would have thought the townsfolk would have come up with something a bit more original.

I recently walked into a Christian retail store in town and to my surprise, Jesus was for sale. When exactly did Jesus leave the church and get into the retail business?

Didn’t Protestants once bash Catholics for buying indulgences and absolution? Forget all that, I can go straight to the god-man himself, for a price.

Ya know, I was always taught, "Jesus paid the price for my sins," so why would I need to buy a Jesus?

The makers of the Jesus doll (yes, doll) state, "It is an interactive figure for children and adults alike. It conveys love, compassion and security. It is incredibly huggable…it gives and takes loving, meaningful hugs whenever they are needed." After an argument with the Mrs. or a bad day at the office, there’s nothing like getting a big ole meaningful hug from a fiber-filled Jesus.

Also in the toy section was, "The Risen Savior Set." "Experience and celebrate the death and resurrection of Christ with these educational action figures," so says the box. An action figure Jesus? Wait, he’s on the shelf next to….is that, Bibleman? Look, there’s even a plastic Bible in B-man’set, then again, The Risen Savior does come with a roll-away stone.

At what point do parents explain that Jesus is real, and Bibleman is, well, that guy from Celebrity Fit Club 6?

We are a total consumer-driven culture as Jesus steps down from the sanctuary and on to the retail rack.

1 Corinthians

"You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men. "

Which kind of contadicts the concept of buying a retail store Jesus.

Exit 43A-B Route 80 - Morristown Jesus

Morristown is known as the "Cradle of the Revolutionary War." In 1773 George Washington slept here. On this particular Saturday it was known for something else: water.

The Green in the town center was transformed into a 2008 version of Water World, but without Kevin Costner. Sponsored by Liquid, this local Morristown church is having global influence by raising awareness for clean water in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Waterwalk: For each local resident who carried canisters of water down the waterwalk, Liquid provided access to clean water for a child for the next 20 years.

Waterslide: Not just for kids, this slide told a story of well, water waste.

Water bottles: To remind us that unsafe water and lack of basic sanitation cause 80% of all sickness and disease, and kill more people every year than all forms of violence, including war. Of the 42,000 deaths that occur every week from unsafe water and a lack of basic sanitation, 90% are children under 5 years old.

Liquid’s tag line, "Living water for a thirsty world," is derived from Jesus’ words: "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him."

There were lots of believers, streams of living water and streams of just plain water as the skies opened and the water flowed.

Matthew 10: And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward."