This evangelical company believes that finding oil in Israel is part of God’s plan: report

Far-right white evangelical Christian fundamentalists have a complex relationship with Israel.

On one hand, they consider themselves very pro-Israel. On the other hand, their severe, dogmatic, ultra-strict interpretation of the New Testament teaches that Jews and other non-Christians will be condemned to eternal damnation unless they convert to fundamentalist Christianity before they die.

Many Catholics and Mainline Protestants, in contrast, have interfaith activities with synagogues and have agreed to disagree with Jewish allies over whether or not Jesus is the Messiah. The modern-day Vatican, in fact, even has a policy against proselytizing to Jews, although atheists and agnostics are considered fair game for conversion.

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One of the far-right evangelical outfits that has a strong connection to Israel is an energy company: Zion Oil & Gas, which believes that searching for fossil fuels in Israel is part of God's plan. But according to The New Republic's Kate Aronoff, the company (which was founded in 2000 by evangelical John Brown) appears to have no oil presently.

"Outlining his vision for the company," Aronoff explains in an article published on November 17, "Zion Oil & Gas Founder John Brown claims he has been 'ordained by God' to discover oil in Israel. 'I believe,' he writes, 'that God has promised in the Bible to bless Israel with one of the world's largest oil and gas fields, and this will be discovered in the last days before the Messiah returns.'"

Former Zion CEO Victor Carillo has claimed that finding oil in Israel will "hasten the second coming of Jesus Christ."

Aronoff reports, however, that according to recent filings by the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission, Zion presently has "no economically recoverable reserves."

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According to Aronoff, "It's on that faith that Zion appears to have courted faith-based investors in its project of striking oil in Israel despite having yet to find anything to sell…. Despite Zion having been granted a new exploration license from the Israeli government in September, the company's prospects seem, by its own account, bleak."

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Read Kate Aronoff's full report for The New Republic at this link.