Until now, it was the kind of evidence Christians only dreamt of. In what is being hailed by believers--and many previous non-believers--as proof of Jesus and His divinity, an approximately four-feet tall, and near photographic, image of Jesus of Nazareth was discovered to have emerged naturally out of rust. The “canvas” for the sacred picture is the side of a long-disabled and abandoned 1981 Holiday Rambler Imperial recreational vehicle, at an Exxon gas station outside Pine Bluff, Arkansas.
The natural miracle was immediately scoffed at by numerous secular organizations. The Freedom From Religion Foundation quickly referred to it as “the biggest con-job since Scientology,” before further evidence was uncovered. Security camera footage of the preceding three weeks showed the completion of the rusty, and perfect, image of a handsome, bearded man of Middle-Eastern descent.
Though the portrait was already and plainly a recognizable, if blurry and imperfect, picture by the time of the oldest camera footage, nobody noticed it. Film shows how hundreds of people casually strode past the image as the picture crystallized, including four perfect bas-relief Crosses, one in each corner. Until all of a sudden, early Wednesday morning and the rusty yet nearly perfect monochromatic image complete, the picture was suddenly seen by all who passed the RV. Comments flooded Chirantan Patel, whose shift manning the cash register inside the gas station began at 5am.
“It was unreal. Customer after person after passerby, all Wednesday morning I got a million questions,” Patel said, “with everyone asking what artist created such an exact image, out of rust, and why they chose to do it on an old RV.”
How the icon appeared, ostensibly overnight and out of nowhere, on the vehicle was a complete mystery before the security footage of the final three weeks was viewed, showing the portrait’s natural completion. A number of people, including Patel, said they could not explain how they didn’t notice the portrait, right there in plain sight, until Wednesday.
It seems a weekly event that examples of people finding images of Jesus are reported, but “Exxon Jesus,” as the rusted likeness has been labeled, makes every claim of Jesus’ vague, barely detectable appearance on, say, a closet door, seem ridiculous. The comparable stick figure on a cow trailer portrayed as Jesus seems equally absurd in light of the Arkansas picture.
Noted atheist champion Richard Dawkins said Exxon Jesus was enough to give even him pause.
“Given the extensive video evidence, it truly does appear that something is going on here. This is the kind of evidence so many rational people have been asking for, this is some of the extraordinary evidence demanded by the extraordinary Jesus claim,” the distinguished biologist said. “Maybe now isn’t the time to gloat about how rightfully stupid this reveals all those other claims like ‘seeing Jesus on the sidewalk’ to be.”