Drake oil well in Pennsylvania
Posted on 06/23/2005 12:17:38 AM PDT by nickcarraway
Tel Aviv, ISRAEL -- John Brown resembles a typical American tourist, dressed in sandals, shorts and t-shirt, as he sits waiting in the tourist-filled lobby of Tel Aviv's swish David Intercontinental Hotel. Only two things betray a purpose other than sightseeing: in his hand, Brown holds a Bible rather than a street map, and his baseball cap displays the logo of "Zion Oil and Gas", instead of a typical tourist motif.
Indeed, Brown, a friendly Texan Evangelist in his mid 60s, is not here on vacation. He is founder of Zion Oil and Gas, based in Dallas, Texas, and his mission is to find oil in the 'Holy Land', according to what he believes are very specific clues in the Bible.
"It's just getting bigger and bigger," Brown exclaims as we take a seat in the grand hotel lounge, "It's nothing but the influence of the Lord in my life." He is referring to the growth of Zion Oil, which started as Brown's dream almost 20 years ago, and has become a multimillion-dollar enterprise that is currently drilling for oil in the northeast of the country, convinced that it will be found there in the near future.
Brown flips through his well-thumbed copy of the Bible. "Let me show you where it all began." He turns to Genesis, chapter 49, and points to a section in which Jacob tells his sons of "the Almighty father who shall bless thee, with ... blessings of the deep that lieth beneath ... the blessings of the everlasting hills, they shall be on the head of Joseph."
These "blessings", believes Brown, are direct references to oil, and the "head of Joseph" is a clue to the oil's location. He then turns to a passage in Deuteronomy, chapter 33, in which Moses blesses the "sons of Israel" with "the precious things of the Primordial hills", continuing, "let the blessing come upon the head of Joseph".
Again, says Brown, these are references to oil and its position. "And when you have two people as big as Moses and Jacob talking about the same item," he adds with a smile, "you immediately grab a lot of people's attention".
The references to "Joseph's head", believes John Brown, date back to the territory of the twelve tribes of Israel, one of which is roughly shaped like a head. The area is located in modern Israel on the edge of Kibbutz Ma'anit near Afula. Here, Zion Oil has acquired a government oil and gas exploration license, and is waiting, with baited breath, to strike it lucky.
What separates Brown from most other Middle East oil prospectors, however, are the humanitarian principles at the root of his long-awaited "Project Joseph".
"I've put all the money I've earned in my entire life into this project," Brown explains earnestly, "And all my shares go to a nonprofit trust to feed the poor and hungry. Anything I earn from this will be given to charity. We're here because I know this is my purpose and destiny in life, to help Israel with its material needs and do what I can, as a Christian, to help."
John Brown believes that he inherited this 'destiny' from God, soon after he became a born-again Christian in the early 1980s. Then one of the shareholders in a multimillion-dollar tool company, he had a life that, from the outside, was enviable.
"Socially, I had everything I could wish for: money, a ranch, a yacht, five private jets. But I had a hole inside me; something was missing."
Brown developed a drinking problem, which sent him in-and-out of four rehabilitation institutions. Try as he might, he was unable to free himself of his addiction, "It was destroying me," he recalls.
But his transformation came when, finally, his wife asked him to leave their home. The man who helped him move into his new apartment, though materially poor, seemed content and fulfilled. On asking why, Brown discovered that the man was a born-again Christian, or Evangelist, who encouraged him to pray with him. "Jesus entered my life right there," he recounts.
Following this formative incident Brown soon begun to believe that God was sending him details of his 'calling': to locate oil in Israel, and thus help the nation become economically free, and, he adds, "to be freed from the influence of Washington".
On first visiting Israel in May 1983, his mission was cemented. "I knew in my heart that this was my purpose and my destiny. It was all by faith; as yet, there was no substance to my belief and I knew nothing at all about the oil business. It was huge for me, but it would take years and years before I had the means and support to do something about it."
Over the next two decades Brown slowly assembled world experts on oil and gas, to put scientific power behind his personal faith in his visions. And indeed, his team of highly educated, skeptical, rational scientific minds: engineers, geologists and gas and oil exploration professionals, all believe, as he does, in the whereabouts of oil in Israel. Financing has been raised for Project Joseph among wealthy private individuals in the US.
"Not from the Church," says Brown, firmly. "We're very careful about who we get involved with, as Evangelists are often not very sophisticated investors and we don't want to mislead anyone."
Equally, Zion Oil is also careful not to overstate its current situation: the signs, so far, are good, but they are reluctant to release any firm data until their findings are definite. And even if they do not find oil at Kibbutz Ma'anit, says Brown, they will just continue looking elsewhere.
"I never knew the journey would take me 24 years," he says, smiling, "But I won't give up till we find oil. God gives you wealth as a gift, so that you can help other people. And that's what I intend to do."
I wonder what he baited it with?
Cool.
Even better, Israel built itself up from nothing but the skills and hardwork of its people. They didn't have the crutch of petrodollars like all the Middle Eastern kleptocracies.
If they become energy independent now, well, good for them.
ZOG . . . ?
Juat wait. Soon as they find oil, the representatives of "the Palestinian peoples' struggle" will claim that the wells sit on ancestral Palestinian land that was stolen by the Jews. They will demand that Israel pull out and give up its "ill-gotten" gain back to the "Palestinian people."
yeah that and a load of American taxpayer cash
The guy's heart seems to be in the right place. I especially noted the source of his funding...If he was raising money from devout, but unsophisticated, churchgoers, I was going to cry Fraud. That doesn't seem to be the case. OTOH That part of the world has been gone over with a fine tooth comb over the last hundred years. If nobody has found substantial deposits of oil yet in Israel, it's probably because it's not there.
But maybe he'll prove the experts wrong. Good luck to him. I have to say the Israelis must be used to well-meaning, but slightly eccentric, Gentiles roaming around the countryside by now.
Well this certainly would change the equation now wouldn't it. hope he's right.
He may be a con artist, or simply deluded. Or maybe he's on to something. I'm not sufficiently up to speed on the petroleum geology of Israel to venture an opinion.
But if the article is correct, his financial backers seem to be of the type who can afford to make a speculative investment. A year from now we won't be reading articles about Christian pensioners who lost their life savings on a dry hole in Israel. That's something, at least.
The guy may be as mad as a Hatter, but he's certainly putting his money where his mouth is...
Good luck to him, and those that might benefit from his luck
"the Almighty father who shall bless thee, with ... blessings of the deep that lieth beneath ... the blessings of the everlasting hills, they shall be on the head of Joseph.."
There appears to be small deposits of 'potential' oil resources off the coast of Israel in the mediterranian basin indicated by airborne geophysics not the bible.
Oil is associated with sedementary basins. The only oil in Isreal proper is associated with this guy's promotional brochures.
My guess is that Zion Oil and Gas is a private company otherwise the FCC would have this guys ass in jail in a nano.
Show me one oil deposit in the world that was descovered in the 'hills' let alone the 'everlasting hills'.
Count on that one. And the U.N. will yelling the loudest.
Unless of course God makes it "there" at the appropriate time. Since he can turn water into wine, then sand to oil is not so hard.
I was in Israel a month ago for the first time. Israel is the most impressive place. The people have built a wonderful country from really nothing. I would recommend any American go and see Israel. At no time did we feel afraid.
The infrastructure is as good as any city here.
Drake oil well in Pennsylvania
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