May 5
The Oil in Israel Myth
For as long as I've been studying Bible prophecy, I've heard people talk about the possibility of oil riches being discovered in Israel. Because so much error and outright fraud are being promoted in the name of Bible prophecy, I have decided to offer my view on this subject.
By today's standards, it might seem odd that God would direct Moses to a land flowing with milk and honey and not petroleum. Of course, ancient Israel would have no need for oil. If I were living in the second century B.C., I'd certainly pick Judah over the sweat box we now call the Persian Gulf.
Now that oil has become a precious commodity, second guessers would seem to think that Moses & Co. should have kept on walking. There are some who suggest that God didn't leave the Israelis out of the oil bonanza. The oil prize is there, waiting for someone to discover it.
Some Christians have said that prophecy suggests that oil wealth will come to the Jews. They point to a desire to steal Israel 's oil wealth as what will trigger the Gog invasion. The prophecies in Ezekiel make no reference to oil being the reason for the attack.
In the past decade, several oil companies have been founded with the goal of finding biblical oil in Israel. None of them has had any success.
I've become very concerned about these types of companies. They often come to churches telling members about how their firms are about to strike "the big one," and that the churches can get in on the action by buying shares of the companies.
The result is always the same. A few years down the road, the ventures go bust, and the Christians who foolishly buy into these Bible-based oil schemes typically end up losing all of their investments.
Over the years, these firms have become rather sophisticated in attracting investors. I know of two firms that traded on the major stock exchanges, and several others were listed as penny stocks.
Ness Energy International is one example. In the late 1990s, a Texas oilman by the name "Hayseed" Stevens was promoting the idea that a vast reservoir of oil was under that Dead Sea region.
Mr. Stevens based his conclusions on ideas that would make any respected geologist pull his hair out. He told people at a series of prophecy meetings that the earth contains a layer of hydrocarbons and that the southern part of the Dead Sea is the fountainhead of this oil reservoir. Stevens also said there is a plumbing system that would eventually drain the Arabian oil fields. Yes, all this time the Arabs have been stealing Israel 's oil.
The undoing of Stevens’ eccentric theories came when he began drilling. After punching through a salt plug that was said to be capping the oil, nothing was found. I remember him sending out one update to reassure investors, saying that the drillers had found oil; but it wasn't the right kind oil they were looking for. I thought oil was oil. Did they hit a pocket of vegetable, mineral, or baby oil?
The curtain call for Ness Energy came in January when a stock report said, "Mr. Stephens tendered his resignation as Director and President effective immediately."
Dennis Stricklin, listed as the new director of the firm, issued the following report: "Presently the company has debts that we have identified in the $2 million range with possibilities that it could be as high as $3 million with there being no major identifiable assets of value.”
Zion Oil & Gas Inc. is another such company. Last month, I happened to meet some of the members of this firm in Tulsa. They steadfastly believe they are going to find "the big one" in Israel. The stock price of their company shows the reality of their progress. At its January 2007 IPO, Zion Oil’s stock traded at the $12 range. Today, it’s down by 50 percent at 6 bucks a share.
A huge factor working against any hope of a major oil find in Israel is the nation's size; it is too small to accommodate a major oil field. Most large-scale oil finds take up an area encompassing dozens of square miles. The East Texas Oilfield, the United States' most productive field, is 218 square miles. After years of drilling that only resulted in dry wells, it's not practical to assume that a similar find can be located in Israel.
I think the greatest argument against oil wealth in Israel is the amazing history behind the nation. The Jewish state is at a huge disadvantage to its Arab neighbors. It has very little natural resources, and yet it has greater prosperity than any Gulf state. Israel 's affluence can only be explained by God's grace.
If Israel were to suddenly hit the mother lode in oil, the material wealth would largely void the supernatural work that God has accomplished in this nation. The blessing of God is worth far greater than a billion barrels of that black gooey stuff.
-- Todd
Key to the Beast Regime
Economic matters are central to the unrelenting drive to unify the world. While the movers and shakers of globalism continue their determined course to force all nations into one world government, one world religion, and one world economy, the effort is not all smooth sailing, particularly not when it comes to the region that is key to the unfolding of Bible prophecy.
The covert but assiduous planning by the powers that be, stipulating that Planet Earth be divided into trading blocs yet become economically unified as one, seems an exercise that defies reason. There is considerable resistance both within the European Union (EU) and within the most volatile region on earth. Nonetheless, the implementation of this paradoxical blueprint must not be impeded, according to the man slated to take over the presidency of the EU in July, 2008.
TUNIS, April 30 (Reuters) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Wednesday the Israeli-Palestinian conflict must not be allowed to obstruct his planned Union for the Mediterranean, which he said would "change the world."
Sarkozy aims to launch the new grouping of 27 European Union countries and their southern neighbours in Paris on July 13.
He was forced to scale back plans for a full EU-style "Mediterranean Union" after fierce resistance from Germany, which feared it would split the EU and siphon off common funds… "I know that, inside the project of the Union for the Mediterranean, there is the issue of Israel and the issue of Palestine," Sarkozy said.
"I'm fully aware that all this is in the background ... but this should not stop us acting. It should encourage us to act’” (Reuters, RPT-Mideast conflict must not hinder Med Union-Sarkozy., Wed., April 30, 2008).
Excessive devaluation of the American basic unit of currency, the dollar--engineered, I’m convinced, by internationalists--might have produced unintended consequences, at least to the extent that have eventuated in recent days. That devaluation was engendered in part by the European currency’s (euro) swift rise.
The dynamic monetary interaction worldwide has thrown unforeseen perplexity into the mix of the world-governance gurus’ attempt to put together the various trading regions, whose seminal concept almost certainly was centered within Europe, with America’s champions of globalism joining in the collusion. In my view, at least, the North American Union (NAU) was born directly from this collusion, and is destined to grow as part of what will become a 10-region global system of commerce.
While America, its buying power diminishing, seems moving willingly toward the amero as an alternative to the failing dollar,the nations marked for Mediterranean Union offer the stiffest resistance to the plans to build the global economic order.
The region, with its new-found confidence of indispensability because of realities involved in the stunning increases in price per barrel of oil, feel empowered to resist the European and American fiscal engineers to put them in a regional box of worldwide commerce. Those Mid-East nations and their visceral hatred for Israel are bound to exert pressures on America and Europe to marginalize Israel even more than at present. Make no mistake, the internationalist movers and shakers will show the tiny Jewish state no favoritism in the matter of getting their way in producing the global trading regions they want. The Olmert government–or Israel’s successor government, will find itself under unparalleled pressure to acquiesce to the Mid-East petroleum powers.
It isn’t out of bounds to conjecture whether the oft-examined prophecy of Zechariah might revolve around currently developing matters:
“The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him. Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it” (Zech. 12:1-3).
Again, the prophecy toward which this generation rages is clearly delineated by God’s Word: “And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast” (Rev. 17:12-13).
The key to the beast system coming forth is the presently developing economic convulsions taking place in America and around the world. This means that Christ’s return for His Church–all born-again believers in Jesus for redemption, for reconciliation, for salvation—will, perhaps very soon, take place in the twinkling of an eye. Then will begin the journey to the Father’s house, their home for eternity.
--Terry
