Let There Be Light Crude

Published on February 4, 2008

Lest anyone accuse Paul Thomas Anderson of going over the top in his juxtaposition of God and oil in There Will Be Blood, Mother Jones features in its latest issue a story -- non-fiction -- about an evangelical oil hustle that bilks believers of their retirement funds with a plan to drill for oil in the Dead Sea, drain the Arab oil fields, provoke an attack on Israel, and set off Armageddon.The headquarters for this scheme features an oil well bursting out of a giant Bible. The article, by Mariah Blake, is sloppy in spots. "It is widely believed among evangelical Christians (and some Orthodox Jews)," she writes, "that Scripture foretells a massive oil find in the Holy Land." Widely believed? Hardly. But with a history of God-for-oil schemes to tap, Blake doesn't have to dig deep to hit black gold. This story's a gusher of American weird religion creepy goodness!

Lest anyone accuse Paul Thomas Anderson of going over the top in his juxtaposition of God and oil in There Will Be Blood, Mother Jones features in its latest issue a story — non-fiction — about an evangelical oil hustle that bilks believers of their retirement funds with a plan to drill for oil in the Dead Sea, drain the Arab oil fields, provoke an attack on Israel, and set off Armageddon.The headquarters for this scheme features an oil well bursting out of a giant Bible. The article, by Mariah Blake, is sloppy in spots. “It is widely believed among evangelical Christians (and some Orthodox Jews),” she writes, “that Scripture foretells a massive oil find in the Holy Land.” Widely believed? Hardly. But with a history of God-for-oil schemes to tap, Blake doesn’t have to dig deep to hit black gold. This story’s a gusher of American weird religion creepy goodness!

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