Come And Listen To A Story ‘Bout A Man Named Brown

Israel’s energy luck has changed in recent years due to the discovery of natural gas deposits off its northern coast.  Now there’s even a possibility of using its oil shale to extract black gold, something that wasn’t economically feasible a few years back.

But all of this was no surprise to Christian Zionist John Brown, founder of Zion Oil & Gas.  He’s in Nashville at the National Religious Broadcasters convention this weekend where the local press reported:

Brown, whose company’s U.S. base is in Dallas, sees these new developments as signs of God fulfilling his promises in the Bible.

“I think it’s God’s blessing for the nation of Israel,” he said.

Zion Oil and Gas Co. was inspired by a passage in the Old Testament, Genesis 49:25: “Even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee; and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under.”

So far Zion hasn’t actually uncovered any oil deposits nor have they been involved in the gas discoveries.  For a change, the local press expressed a modicum of skepticism:

“There might be some good reasons to look for oil in Israel, but the book of Genesis isn’t one of them,” said Jay Phelan, senior professor of theological studies at North Park University in Chicago.

Phelan thinks that believing the Bible predicts oil in Israel is more Indiana Jones than theology.

“It’s reading the Bible like there is a puzzle and there is prize hidden if you find the right answer,” he said.

It seems that the search for Israeli oil and gas supplies is a big theme among the ready-to-rapture crowd.  I wonder if they need it for their rapture-mobiles?

If Israel does make a bunch of money on this, I’m sure that most it will go to the Haredim anyway.