Save America Ministries

Chuck Crismier: Welcome to the world of glossy black gold. It's shining ever brighter across the world and it's causing consternation everywhere—geopolitical consternation, and the world is fighting for it. Black gold and Bible prophecy will be talking about that here today on Viewpoint because oil markets are undergoing a seismic shift.

We've talked about it a bit in the past, but we're going to dig even deeper here today on Viewpoint. As Donald Trump in his oil play threatens OPEC and claims that he's going to have, on behalf of the United States of America, control of 55% of the world's oil and gas, what do you think? Where do you think that would lead? What are the implications of all of this for such groups as OPEC in the Middle East that also included Venezuela? How about Russia? How about China? Where does all this go? And Iran, not to mention Iran and what's happening there.

Are these forces all working together at the same time to lead us toward a biblical fulfillment? Well, I believe that that's true. How quickly that will happen we do not know, but things are moving very, very quickly. Back in 2005, the columnist Robert Samuelson wrote a column called "The Dawn of a New Oil Era." He said we're entering a period where, owing to consistently strong demand and chronically scarce supplies, prices have moved permanently higher. Higher oil demand, he said, has now strained the global production system to its limits.

Well, that's not true at this moment because fluctuations in black gold could be tracked in the price of gold itself. Well, what's happening with gold itself? Today it just went above $4,600, a new high by far than ever gold has reached. But how about oil? Is oil actually diminishing in price? And if oil is diminishing in price, then what would we expect to happen in our world as oil pressure is rising?

What is commonly known is that as of 2009, Russia became the world's greatest exporter of oil, overtaking Saudi Arabia. But where is it now? Well, the United States now has moved into that point, even though under Joseph Biden, we retreated, but now we're moving forward very, very rapidly. And so today on Viewpoint, we take a look at the bigger picture and I urge you to stay tuned. This is conversation with ever-increasing conviction, as always, talk that transforms.

So, the world is being held hostage to oil. There was an article that came out years ago in US News and World Report titled "Hostage to Oil." The writer said as goes oil, so goes the economy. Well, that's true. It's not just the economy in the United States; it's the economy all over the world. And so the whole world's economy is, shall we say, invested in what has been interpreted as the Great Game.

And it's global players, global players of even greater significance than economic, geopolitical, or military consequences. The facts suggest that the world is facing a major oil crisis of end-time significance. But what does it look like? Historically, people have looked at it and thought, you know, maybe oil prices are just going to go up, up, and up. But what if that doesn't happen? What if they actually go down, down, down? Who will be affected?

If oil reaches a certain price, the world will no longer want Israel to exist, wrote Eugene Kandel, head of Israel's National Economic Council. He wrote that back in 2010, alluding to forecasts of the price of oil escalating even to $200 per barrel. But today they're hovering down around $63 per barrel, even lower. It's stressing countries that rely upon oil and gas for their entire economies.

So today on Viewpoint, we take a very interesting journey around the world concerning this matter of oil. It has been said that he who rules the Temple Mount rules the world, but it's also been said that he who controls the energy rules the world. According to players now, it seems that Donald J. Trump is leading the way for the United States to become the world's energy leader all over—oil, gas, whatever.

How will that affect the other nations of the world? How will it affect China, Russia? How will it affect our arch-enemies there? How will it affect Iran? What would it cause Iran and Russia to unite even more tightly and perhaps also with China? All of this before us here on the program today. Again, I welcome you to the program. I'm Chuck Crismier. It's conversation, as always, with ever-increasing conviction, talk that transforms.

And I want to express considerable appreciation to a number of listeners who just in the last two or three weeks have seen fit—apparently the Lord has moved upon their hearts—to make some generous gifts to Save America Ministries. And I can't help but tell you, I am so, so joyful. This is tough business, very, very tough business. And those who understand what's going on in the nature of the message that we bring here on this program realize that it's like paddling a canoe straight up Niagara Falls.

It's not like we're catering to the masses out there. That's not what we're doing. We're catering to those who have an ear to hear and an eye to see and a heart to respond and understand and prepare the way of the Lord in their own hearts for history's final hour. You might say, well, what does oil and gas have to do with that subject? Well, it does. It has everything to do with it, not because we're putting our trust in oil and gas, but because we're putting our trust in God who actually provided the oil and gas and knew very well what was going to happen in the end of the age.

He knew very well the results of oil and gas and the pursuit of it, the need for it to drive the world's energy, but also to provide the military, shall we say, wherewithal for the nations that would come against Israel and the nations that would come against the United States of America would be dependent upon the issues of oil and gas that have been called black gold. So if you do not have any foundational understanding to this, I urge you to get a copy of my book, *King of the Mountain: The Eternal Epic and End-Time Battle*, because you're going to read there an entire chapter, a very long chapter, by the way, called "The Great Game."

The Great Game. It's interesting—the late Golda Meir, fourth Prime Minister of the state of Israel, once humorously noted, if Moses had turned right instead of left when he led the people out of the Sinai Desert, the Jews would have had the oil and the Arabs would have ended up with the oranges. Well, that was her humorous, painful lament over Israel's apparent energy deficiency, while her energy-rich Arab Islamic neighbors, ever designing her destruction, command 25% of the world's known oil and gas reserves. Where is that going now? We'll have to talk about it.

How powerful is oil and gas geopolitically in governing the world and manipulating economies and the function of nations? Well, we get a bit of an insight into that if we went back to 1973. It gives us a window of revelation into the vast implications of oil hegemony and its power to manipulate economies and drive political policy among the nations. The situation was the Yom Kippur War.

It was launched by Israel's surrounding neighbors, Arabs, to effectuate the annihilation of Israel from among the nations of the earth, and it triggered a massive energy crisis. But how or why did this happen? Well, was it merely the result of market fluctuations or adjustments? No, it wasn't. The sole cause was the angry response of Arab members of OPEC, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, to all then as allies of Israel—Western Europe and the United States—that had supported Israel and enabled her to defend herself.

So the resulting Arab oil embargo on the West caused world oil prices to quadruple. Did you get that? Quadruple. The Arab fury forced gasoline rationing and long gas lines in the United States and all over the world—in the West, that is. It triggered the massive inflation in the United States in the latter 1970s, resulting in interest rates that soared as high as 21%. I remember those days. I remember that the average seemed to be 18%.

I remember how thrilled we were when we were wanting to buy a house and the interest rates had been at 18%, were gradually dropping, and when it reached 12.5%, we were able to enter into a 30-year mortgage on the house and we counted our lucky stars, so to speak, that we were able to get a loan at 12.5%. That's how important oil was in controlling things in this country. If the Western world then was so instantly shaken, what might be expected now if the balance of energy hegemony should suddenly be disturbed? How might destiny be affected or determined?

Now, that's what we want to talk about here in the balance of the program. I mentioned the book *King of the Mountain*. Your gift of $15 or more to Save America Ministries will put it in your hands, and you won't be disappointed. I guarantee it. You won't be disappointed because you're going to find your eyes are going to be opened to a vast array of information and understanding so that you will understand from the beginning of the end, from the beginning of creation to now. You will understand what is going on and how it's going on, why it's going on, and the dimensions of the world that are involved in it.

The whole world is moving inexorably toward the final stages of world history, including the final battle for King of the Mountain: who will rule and reign on the Temple Mount. So if it's said that he who rules the Temple Mount rules the world, then you might also, by implication, say he who controls the energy will control the Temple Mount. Hmm. Now, that's interesting. Very interesting, indeed.

I'm not giving you a biblical prophecy. I'm just saying by analogy, using the thinking that we used to have, many of us, when we took our geometry classes, that there is a link between, you know, postulates and corollaries and all of those things that we used to study. So get a copy of the book *King of the Mountain*. Your gift of $15 or more to Save America Ministries. Call us 1-800-SAVE-USA, go to the website saveus.org, or write to us at Save America Ministries, PO Box 70879, Richmond, Virginia, 23255, writing a check and $6 for postage and handling.

All right, now let's launch more into the deep as to where things are right now. What's been developing, not only with Venezuela but now with Iran? Where does Iran fit in this bigger picture? We know that everything is up for grabs right now in Iran. Our president is breathing threatenings and slaughterings against intervening there with American power to topple the Iranian government in support of the citizens of Iran, formerly known as Persia in the Bible.

What is he going to do? Is there going to be a diplomatic intervention, or is it going to be military power? We don't know. We just don't know, and neither does Iran. Khamenei and the mullahs there in Iran do not know. And so there are talks that maybe this is going to be resolved somehow by diplomatic involvement. I doubt it. I really seriously doubt it because the mullahs and Khamenei there in Iran still firmly believe in their pride and their trust in Allah and the coming of the Islamic Mahdi, or Messiah, is so strong that they cannot bear to enter into any kind of agreement that would compromise that expectation.

They believe it's a true prophetic expectation and that their Messiah, Mahdi, is going to come soon and rule the world under Sharia law. They believe that they are the vanguard of the Islamic revolution and that viewpoint does determine destiny and that's their solid viewpoint. It's not subject to compromise. Just not subject to compromise. So where will it lead? Well, you can probably figure that out as well as I. So I'm not going to try to make declarations there. I'm going to just discuss the motivations of the heart and the mind that guide the decisions that are made there in the Middle East, particularly with Iran.

Iran's freedom is near, said the Iranian crown prince yesterday, unveiling a new phase of push to topple the regime. He declared a new phase of the uprising, urging intensified action inside and outside Iran as protests grow, vowing the regime is weakening and that Iran's freedom is near. Is he the one to provide Iran's freedom? Well, that's a big question because his daddy, that once was the Shah in Iran, ruled it as a dictator. Yes, he had Western attraction and the West and the United States were very favorable to the Shah, but we didn't much like the dictatorship. Neither did the people.

So will his son now come in and rule the country as a dictator just like his daddy did? That remains to be seen. Is that a good replacement for Khamenei? So some have said, well, this Pahlavi, the son of the former Shah, is not even eligible to rule Iran. We'll have to see. But that's not what we're talking about here today. That's not our primary focus. The primary focus is the role of oil now and gas in the world in the context of God's explanation, revelation of the future of the world, the development of things, and the state of Israel.

Really, the state of Israel. Now, the top 20 oil-producing countries in the world are these: First, United States, then Saudi Arabia. By the way, you notice United States has now superseded Saudi Arabia and Russia. It used to be Saudi Arabia, then it was Russia over Saudi Arabia and the United States. Now it's United States over Saudi Arabia and Russia. Then China, Canada, Iraq, Iran. Iran is number seven in terms of the producing nations. However, if you go to the oil reserves, it's a whole different picture.

Here is the list of the top 10 countries of oil reserves in the world: Number one is not America, is not Saudi Arabia, is not Iran. It's not America; it's Venezuela with 300 billion barrels of oil reserve. That's 18% of the world's share. Next is Saudi Arabia with 16% of the world's share, then Canada with 10% of the world's share. When do we ever hear of Canada as a great oil-producing country? We don't because it's not operating in its economy to produce oil. It may have oil reserves, but it's not the greatest oil-producing country. In fact, it doesn't even rank, I don't believe, among the top 20.

So below that comes Iran—Iran is number four in terms of oil reserves. Now, when you see Saudi Arabia, OPEC; Iran, part of OPEC; Venezuela, part of OPEC; Iraq, part of OPEC; Kuwait, part of OPEC; the United Arab Emirates also, and Libya—OPEC has about six of the top oil reserve countries in the world. However, the United States is number 11. Now, when you look at these figures and you see that the United States has just leapfrogged over most of these as Donald Trump now says, the US could control 55% of the world's oil. Unveiled a plan to open Venezuela's petroleum industry to American companies. Has said that the US would control more than half of the world's production if American companies regain access to Venezuela's petroleum industry.

That's pretty significant because Venezuela has the world's largest proven oil reserves. It had nationalized the assets of US companies in the 2000s during the presidency of socialist Hugo Chavez. But Trump has cited this unfair nationalization as one of the reasons he sent commanders last week to conduct Chavez's successor, Nicolas Maduro, from his compound in Caracas. Trump said we're going to be working with Venezuela and meeting with executives from oil giants Exxon Mobil, Chevron, and ConocoPhillips at the White House. So American companies will still have the opportunity to rebuild Venezuela's energy infrastructure and eventually increase oil production to levels never seen before.

So we said we have 55% of the oil in the world together when you add Venezuela and the United States together. Now, this is a very big deal. Why is that a very big deal? Well, it's not just for the United States. It's the implications that it has for the rest of the world and particularly for the Middle East and for Russia and for China. So when you consider that, we're looking at something that has tremendous implications for the future of the world, particularly in the next 50 years. How long are we going to be involved here on planet Earth before the Lord's coming?

We don't know, but what we do know is that we seem to be in the latter days of the end times. How long are the latter days? The Bible doesn't tell us, but we do know that it's a period that's much shorter than the end times, which are now approximately 2,000 years since the death and resurrection of Jesus and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. So we're looking at a situation here now where we're in this period of time, maybe it's 50 years, maybe it's 100 years, maybe it's a period of time since 1948 of 80 years, 90 years, 100 years.

But certainly, we seem to be in that period, which means the implications of what is taking place now and what's taking place very, very quickly may soon be realized. Not only on these shores but in Israel, the Middle East, and the motivations—what people don't realize is the motivations of the countries in the world who are antithetical to Israel and to the United States want to control the world, want to destroy Israel, want to destroy the United States. And yet they are the major alternative players in the oil and gas industry or the pursuit of black gold.

So while gold itself has elevated in this last day to well over $4,600 an ounce, black gold is showing ever shinier in the world. It's drawing the world, just like gold is drawing the world, to do everything the powers can to get their hands on it. Where is it going to lead? Let's talk about it.

There are countries that have gold but aren't really able to get to it. There are some countries that have silver and are able to know how or have the capacity to mine it. There are also countries that have vast amounts of gas or oil, in particular, but have not been able to get to it and to retrieve it. That's the case with Venezuela. With Venezuela, the quality of the oil there is very different. It's called heavy and sour.

Heavy and sour, which means that the world's largest proven oil reserves are very difficult for processing. Very difficult, and most countries, most areas are not capable of processing it. That brings the United States into the picture for the refining processes. Only a limited number of oil refineries globally are equipped to handle such heavy oil as Venezuela has. But we are.

Most of the world's oil is what they call Brent or Arab Light—they're light and sweet, what they say. So some people call it Texas oil, you see, or Texas Tea down there, sweet tea. Extra light crudes like Arab Super Light and Tapis sit at the top of the quality spectrum. Their high API gravity and low sulfur content allows refiners to maximize output with minimal processing complexity. That's where the United States comes in with its ability to process Venezuelan oil as the other countries are not able to do so.

So we now shift from Venezuela back to OPEC. An article just came out today titled "Trump's Oil Power Play Threatens OPEC." The United States already exerts an extraordinary 22% influence over the global oil market—nearly one barrel in every five consumed worldwide. President Trump's bid to operate Venezuela's oil threatens to push that dominance much further, potentially giving the US effective sway over close to one-third of global supply. Now, that's still a lot less than Donald Trump's projection of 55% control, but it's still hugely significant and we'll find out why.

That prospect poses a direct challenge to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, that's OPEC, whose ability to manage prices has steadily eroded as US production has surged to record levels, making us number one, by the way. Bringing Venezuela, one of OPEC's founding members, into Washington's orbit would mark a historic shift in the balance of power in global energy markets. Remember, this is called black gold. In other words, it is highly valuable and now its shine is shining ever brighter.

While Venezuela's oil sector has been devastated by years of mismanagement, sanctions, and infrastructure decay, even modest gains in output could have an outsized impact in a market worldwide already grappling with oversupply. And President Trump is preparing a sweeping initiative to rehabilitate Venezuela's oil industry to restore production and channel its output through the US-aligned companies. As we have said, Venezuela holds the world's largest proven oil reserves. Combined with US domestic production and American oil interests in Guyana, the United States could soon exert influence over roughly 30% of global oil reserves and output, according to a recent JP Morgan analysis.

This shift could give the US greater influence over oil markets, potentially keeping prices within historically lower ranges, enhancing energy security, and reshaping the balance of power in international energy markets. Notice the words "balance of power." That's really what's at stake here. Balance of power. For OPEC members, the expression of US influence represents a strategic nightmare. That's the next thing: a strategic nightmare. So we have balance of power and strategic nightmare for OPEC. Saudi Arabia, OPEC's leader, is taking a wait-and-see approach right now.

The Kingdom, that is Saudi Arabia, recognizes the long-term threat. Once Venezuelan barrels are effectively removed from OPEC discipline, they're just not going to return. So some OPEC members see a potential upside. If US control of Venezuelan output disrupts exports to China, Beijing could be forced to rely more heavily on Middle Eastern suppliers. Even so, Gulf producers acknowledge that the broader trend favors Washington. In other words, the US. Low prices strain nearly every major producer except the United States. So when you see the prices at the pump plummet, this is good for us, but it's terrible for OPEC, terrible for Russia, terrible for Iran, terrible for other oil-producing countries.

Now in the United States, you know about shale—shale companies struggle below $50 a barrel because it's so expensive for us to produce that. So the broader American oil ecosystem benefits from lower energy costs, stronger geopolitical leverage, and increased export power. Geopolitical leverage. Those are the next words we need to focus on. By contrast, Saudi Arabia can produce oil for less than $10 a barrel, but it needs prices well above $100 to balance its own budget. Ah. That means it relies on oil and gas for the majority of its budget, as does Russia. Russia's oil sector is under pressure from sanctions, aging fields, and mounting capital constraints. So for both, the US grip on Venezuelan and Guyanese supply tightens the vice. Over whom?

Over OPEC, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which includes Saudi Arabia, Iran, Libya, all of those countries there in the Middle East and Venezuela. So Venezuela's potential shift now into Washington's orbit would accelerate the decline of those countries in OPEC, transforming the United States from the world's largest producer into its most powerful oil broker. Don't forget those words: most powerful oil broker. Such dominance would give Washington unprecedented leverage over energy markets. There you are: leverage over energy markets, rival producers and consuming nations alike, marking the most significant reordering of global oil power since OPEC's rise more than 50 years ago. Does that sound significant to you?

When I see those phrases and I look at the bigger picture from a biblical viewpoint, I see this as tremendously dynamic and of concern. Certainly of interest. Of interest. Now, as you recall, I spoke with you concerning the chapter in my book *King of the Mountain* called "The Great Game." I want to read to you a paragraph that was written concerning a release that came out in 2013, which was 12 years ago.

The World Trembles. It's called "The World Trembles." The trembling over the future among Russia and her Islamic oil and gas cohorts has suddenly and shockingly now become global. The EU Times shook the world on March 11, 2013, with this headline: "World Trembles as US Becomes Greatest Energy Nation in History." Now you think that, well, that might just be American propaganda. No, it was not. Do you know where that came out? A report prepared by Russia's Energy Minister for President Putin.

Here's a direct quote from it: "The United States is preparing to overturn the entire global economic system as it nears becoming the greatest energy-producing nation in all of human history." Now, you can say, oh, well, that's great for the United States and gives us bragging rights and so on, and yes, we're the greatest nation and we're exceptional and all of that kind of thing. Forget about the pride stuff. That's not what we're talking about here. It's not about pride.

It's about the implications for our world with regard to what God has said concerning the world, concerning Israel, which is the centerpiece of the world from God's viewpoint, and then also with regard to America, which has been the largest, most prominent supporter of Israel as a democratic republic since Israel's founding in 1948.

So, surprisingly, global fears raised by the nations as the United States becomes history's greatest energy powerhouse include the European Union, Canada, Nigeria, and the OPEC nations. A revelation driven largely by hydrofracking to recover America's largest known deposits of oil shale in the world. Hmm. The United States global geopolitical positions regarding foreign nations and relations and economy are fully understood, understanding these US energy facts.

And now we take a look at another country. We've spoken about this country before with regard to oil and gas, with regard to the role of Europe, the role of Russia with regard to Europe, and how that leads back to Israel. So here we are in this final segment of the program today, you're wondering where all this is going. Well, you're going to find out in the next few minutes. From the Russian Times came this article today: "German Gas Reserves at Historical Low." Now it's not talking about oil; it's talking about gas. But we're talking about gas and oil. This is the energy that is needed to run the world, to run the economies of the world. And Germany is considered in Europe the number one industrial country. Germany. It leads the rest of Europe in production. But its gas reserves are at a historical low.

What does that mean? Well, stocks could run out before the heating season ends if it withdraws continued at the current pace, according to analysts. Gas storage levels in Germany have hit a historical low for this time of year due to rapid depletion amid a cold snap. Rapid depletion. Rapid depletion. Now, where does the oil come from? Gas infrastructure in Europe figures show levels have dropped by about 13% over the past four weeks.

An expert says, I don't want to sound the alarm, but I want to point out that the current fill level situation is as bad as it was in the beginning of 2022, referring to one of the lowest points in German energy reserve history. When I saw this headline, it reminded me of some facts that have been forgotten amid all the Iranian talk and all the Venezuelan talk, and that is this: that Europe depends 35% generally, a third, on Russian oil and has historically.

Germany has depended 70% on Russian oil and gas. 70%. Now amid all of the efforts to level sanctions on any gas and oil coming from Russia, it has tremendously weakened Europe, the European countries, because now they had to scramble around to try to find sources for energy. Where are we going to get the energy? So now some of the European countries, even though they're under sanctions, have been finding ways to avert the sanctions and go around them and to import more oil and gas from Russia.

That's what they're doing. They're desperate. Germany's desperate. Now at some point, the efforts to bring Russia to its knees through sanctions is likely not to work. It certainly hasn't worked to date with regard to solving the Ukrainian situation. In fact, Russia's even dug its feet in—Putin has dug his feet in even deeper. He's rejected President Trump's 20-point proposal for a peace agreement there in Ukraine versus Russia. He just rejected that last week.

So what does he want? Putin wants what he wants. He wants hegemony over the former countries as much as possible that formed the Soviet Socialist Republics. And certainly he wants Ukraine because it's one of the richest mineral and wealthiest nations in Europe. Believe it or not, it is. It's called the breadbasket of the world, Ukraine.

So Mr. Putin has a vision. He has a vision, and in his mind and in his heart, he believes that Russia is the Third Rome and there will never be another. And through the Russian Orthodox Church and the United of Church and State under that vision that Russia is the Third Rome and there will never be another, he has a belief that Russia is destined to rule the world for righteousness as he sees it, and that Russia will be the one to usher in the second coming of Jesus Christ for the salvation of the world.

Now, in order to understand that, you might want to get a copy of my book *King of the Mountain*. There's a whole long chapter concerning that. $15 will put it in your hands—one of the best dollars you'll ever spend. It's on the website saveus.org. *King of the Mountain: The Eternal Epic and End-Time Battle*. And it is a battle. And it's playing out right in front of our eyes, friends, right in front of our eyes right now. And the world doesn't see it. They don't see it for what it really is.

They're looking at things just from an economic standpoint without biblical implications. They're looking at it for, you know, trying to find some sort of stability in the world. Yes, I understand that. But that's not God's viewpoint, and here on this program, we're attempting to communicate the implications from God's viewpoint of what's going on. Why? You see, that's not what's being talked about. It's talked about who, what, where, and when, but not so much why. We're talking about why now.

So Germany now is in a position again to depend heavily on Russian oil and gas because it's rejected it now under the sanctions leveled by Biden and Trump. So where is this going? The pressure is building. You can call it oil pressure. And when the oil pressure gets too high, something's going to explode. When your blood pressure goes too high, something's going to explode in your body. It ain't good.

And the oil pressure is rising hugely now. You may not personally feel it, but the leaders of the nations of the world feel it, believe you me. You could take their blood pressure and I suspect it would be up in many respects because the pressure, the oil pressure is so great. They don't know what to do. Saudi Arabia doesn't really know what to do. They rely on oil and gas for 90% of the running of their country and everything about it.

But if the prices drop for a long time under $100—excuse me, under $100 a barrel for prices—they're done for. So what are they going to do? What's Iran going to do? And if the mullahs no longer control the oil and gas in Iran, which they're not doing a very good job of controlling as it is, then that is going to connect Iran and Russia even the more so at the hip to gain dominion over oil and gas production because they're both desperate to own it.

And that brings us to the issue of Israel and its role. Remember, Israel has no oil and gas. Well, it has no gas—excuse me, no oil. It does have gas now, was discovered about 10 years ago off the coast of the Mediterranean there. It changed things hugely economically for Israel. It changed the relationships of Israel and many other nations around them from which they were dependent to get gas energy to run their country.

But Israel has not found oil. It has not realized that extraordinary, ever-glossy black gold that shines ever brighter in the world as the number one resource that is driving the world and the world's economy and military. Now, I happen to believe, and I've said this many times, I believe that somehow—since petrogeologists well know that there is vast oil under the ground in Eretz Israel, the land of Israel—they just don't know how to get it. It's way too expensive, so they've punted and refused to go after it.

There is one company—there were two that I know of—there's one company that's persisted for over 30 years believing—John Brown, the founder, believes in his heart, the founder of Zion Oil and Gas, believes in his heart that God has made clear in His word that under the ground of Israel are the great resources that are finally going to be made available in history's final hour, prophetic hour. I happen to think there's a lot of reality in what he says.

I can't give you a "thus saith the Lord." I can point to you the various passages in scripture in the Old Testament that he points to, and I understand that. But even without that, since all of the surrounding Arab countries have the oil and gas and Israel did not, God has said that He intends to greatly bless Israel from the hills. And as we speak, in about their 32nd year of operation, Zion Oil and Gas is drilling in a 90-acre leasehold from the state of Israel in the Jezreel Valley, the north part of the Jezreel Valley under Mount Carmel and Har-Magedon, the Hill of Megiddo.

That's where they're drilling. And it's been a very difficult thing because of all these wars coming in from Hezbollah in the north and from Hamas in the south and all of the threatenings and slaughterings and all that, but they're still persisting. And John Brown, the founder down there in Dallas, Texas, strongly believes and is convinced that ultimately their efforts will prevail. What would require in order for that to happen? Probably just as America has engaged in fracking, God knows about fracking because He also knows about earthquakes, tectonic shaping of the plates underneath nations.

And that area is right where the fault lines intersect: the African-Syrian Rift and its tributary fault lines going out into the west, even out toward Megiddo. What's going to happen? Remainder will be seen. I chose actually years ago to say, you know what? I'm not just going to talk about this. I'll put my money where my mouth is. So I decided to begin some small little investments in Zion Oil and Gas. For most people, they wouldn't be worth the paper they're written on today.

It's okay. I didn't do it to make a lot of money. I did it to show my commitment to the state of Israel and to my belief that indeed God would provide in an unusual way. Get a copy of the book *King of the Mountain*. I think that you'll really enjoy it and be encouraged and strengthened by it. $15 on the website saveus.org. Become a partner, friends. Do it today. This year, do it today.