July 30
Oil and Bible Prophecy
Oil prices are nearing all-time highs. The news of faster-than-expected economic growth had light, sweet crude for September trading at $77.02 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The price was a penny shy of the highest-ever settlement price for a front-month contract that was set July 14, 2006. As troubling as the short-term price of oil has become, the long-term price looks far more menacing.
Jeffrey Currie, a London-based commodity analyst, says $95 crude is likely this year unless OPEC unexpectedly increases
production, and declining inventories are raising the chances for $100 oil. Jeff Rubin at CIBC World Markets predicts $100 a
barrel as soon as next year.
``We're only a headline of significance away from $100 oil,'' said John Kilduff, an analyst in the New York office of futures
broker Man Financial Inc. ``The unrelenting pressure of increased demand has left the market a coiled spring.'' "New
disruptions of Nigerian or Iraqi supplies, or any military strike against Iran , might trigger the rise," said Kilduff.
Oil prices could triple in three months to more than $200 a barrel, given the right circumstances, according to Matthew
Simmons, chairman of Simmons & Co., a Houston investment bank.
We are a long way from 1998-1999 price crash when oil briefly fell below $10 a barrel. It seems hard to imagine that crude is
now up 8 fold. In just the past 6 months, this precious commodity has risen 51 percent.
The key reason for the dire predictions is the simple fact that demand is up a million barrels a day. The demand increase is being led by the booming economies of India and China , which means more cars and trucks and
more factories that burn oil and gas.
Another area that is putting upward pressure on oil prices is the decline in production on the part of major oil companies. The
supply of oil is down by a million barrels a day. Most of the major oil firms reported their earnings last week, and every one
of them reported a decline in their ability to bring oil to market:
British Petroleum said oil and gas output fell 5.3 percent to 3.804 million barrels per day in the second quarter of 2007
compared with a year earlier.
Exxon Mobil said the company's production dipped 1 percent on an oil equivalent basis. It saw the most weakness in
fields that produce natural gas.
ConocoPhillips' daily production for the quarter averaged 1.9 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, down from 2.1
million barrels a day in the year-ago period. The company attributed the decrease to normal field declines, planned
maintenance in the North Sea and its exit from Dubai , among other factors.
Occidental Petroleum Corp. said in its latest report the daily oil and natural gas production averaged the equivalent of
583,000 barrels of crude a day during the quarter, down from 609,000 a year ago.
Royal Dutch Shell - Production slipped 2% to 3.18 million barrels of oil equivalent, hurt as violence in Nigeria has halted
onshore production, and the country has moved to restrict offshore output to meet OPEC targets. Due to what Shell calls the
"security situation," 195,000 barrels of oil a day were shut in.
Venezuela's national oil company -- a major supplier of fuel to the United States -- has seen oil production fall to 2.37
million barrels a day, down from 2.6 million barrels a day a year ago.
Bible prophecy makes no direct mention of oil, but I strongly believe it will be a major catalyst for several key end-time
events. Any type of oil shock will draw the world’s focus towards the Middle East.
In the coming days, we may see the oil shock forecasted by all these commodity analysts. Israel is facing a series of
conflicts with several of her Arab neighbors, and any type of war-related disruption of oil will send prices soaring.
The Antichrist's primary role in the final peace agreement may have a more practical purpose. Instead of seeking after the Noble Peace Prize as some prophecy writers have predicted, the real reason for his involvement may be to simply create a stable environment for the flow of oil.
-- Todd
The Next Mid-East War
There is much talk of war in the Middle East brewing just beneath the surface of international diplomacy these days. This is right in line with all the other signals of where we likely stand on God’s prophetic timeline.
There is one active war between the U.S., Iraq , and some coalition nation forces versus the terrorists that mainstream media call “insurgents,” militants,” and other softball names--thus, to attempt to get their readers, viewers, and listeners to infer that George W. Bush is waging war against indigenous patriots.
Jesus said there will be wars and rumors of wars, along with the many other birthpang-like convulsions going on just before He intervenes into the madness mankind has created on Planet Earth. That conflict, as troubling as it is, pales in comparison to the war that is rumored on its way to erupting at any moment. Certainly, we have wars and rumors of wars in the Mid-East region. From Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria, Iran, and Lebanon, to Israel, Egypt and most others of the region come rumors of a war that might be unstoppable, once begun.
The war in Iraq that is the nucleus, for the moment, of the war on terrorism worldwide, despite those who claim there is no such threat as global terrorism, is, these charge, nothing less than Bush’s attempt to inflict America’s hegemony over the oil-producing nations of the region.
The seriousness of the rumors of other, more ominous, wars are punctuated by the swift movement of Tony Blair directly into the new position of mediator/negotiator for the “Quartet.” There are good reasons for their wanting to head off a major war between Israel and those terrorist-laden nations surrounding the Jewish state. Those hate-filled enemies once again threaten to attack the tiny state as in 1948, 1956, 1967, and 1974 –not to mention lesser assaults throughout the intervening history such as occurred last summer.
The desire to head off nuclear defensive strikes by Israel are central to the concerns of the powers elite. And, although many complex issues are involved in the brewing war, the honest observer must conclude that it is Middle East oil that is the biggest concern of the powers that be. The powers represented by the Quartet –the U.S., EU, Russia, and U.N.--must keep the oil pumping, the spigots open, and the channels of transport open at all costs.
The United States now imports far more oil than it produces. The environmentalist-socialist movements want no more drilling, for what good reasons, no one can explain. But, lawmakers seem oblivious to America’s need to become energy independent. And, they are obviously cowed by the senseless call for the nation to become totally global in thinking –including the call to hurt ourselves so the have-not countries can catch up. An insane idea at best, a traitorous course of action at worst.
The European Union imports most of its oil from Russia, who is also dependent on others for its own oil –particularly petroleum from the Middle East. The U.N. is desperate to continue to dupe the world of diplomats that matter that they are relevant--that they still serve a purpose, particularly that of “peace-maker.” Without oil revenues from member countries –and the American taxpayer in large part--their income base for supporting their ruse will begin to dry quickly.
While the rumors of weapons stockpiling for a, perhaps, imminent attack from Israel’s enemies grow –and I get them in profusion every day from news sources around the world—pressures grow for Israel to give in to land for peace. This, despite history’s proof such transactions have not worked, except in a quasi-way when Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, and Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat came to a meeting of the minds in 1978. Even this ended in disaster for the Egyptian leader, who was murdered by fellow Islamics for his dealing with the greatly hated Israel.
Despite that history, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert seems to ignore the preparations for war at every point of the map north and east of Jerusalem.
One news report presents in excerpts below matters involved in the proposal of giving more land for peace:
“Prime Minister Ehud Olmert confirmed Wednesday that he intends to engage in negotiations with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas on the formation of a Palestinian state. Olmert was responding to a Haaretz report, according to which he offered to hold negotiations toward an 'Agreement of Principles' for the establishment of a Palestinian state comprised of the Gaza Strip and most of the West Bank…According to surveys, Olmert knows that the Israeli public is overwhelmingly supportive of a two-state solution, and that the current balance of power in the Knesset will allow him to rally a firm majority of 82 MKs behind such an agreement… The likely principles that Olmert will offer as part of the agreement will be the establishment of a Palestinian state comprising about 90 percent of the territory of the West Bank and in the Gaza Strip… The Palestinians will be able to declare Jerusalem their capital…” ("Arab ministers in Israel for land-for-peace talks" www.reuters.com, 7/25/07).
The Quartet’s intention is to calm raging hatreds and assert peace in the region so the oil can continue to flow. Israel wants only to survive and have its rightful place among the nation-states of the world. The antagonist Arab-Islamic nations want Israel and every Jew gone, PERIOD. Peace and safety, because of this last point, can’t happen before the true peacemaker –the Prince of Peace-- comes to earth.
Some form of acquiescence to the pressures brought to bear upon God’s chosen nation in the last days will take place. Here’s God’s Word on that coming to pass, and the terrible judgment associated with its fulfillment: “I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land” (Joel 3:2).
Here’s what will happen someday when Israel gives in to its enemies and allows God’s land to be divided, according to Bible prophecy:
“For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape” (1Thess. 5:3).
War is brewing, although at the moment, it's only a very troubling rumor. There will be a “next” war; that is a prophetically guaranteed matter –as good as already accomplished. Whether the next major conflict is the one that will move the world into tribulation we will perhaps know soon. If it is the time of the peace made with death and hell (Isaiah, Chapter 28) Christians will watch it from the portals of heaven.
--Terry
