Backstory: Praying for petroleum

Mr. Perry did some research and determined for himself that geologically the region has the capacity for producing oil: "I personally believe it's just a matter of time." (Israeli oil discoveries have been meager: In the '50s, for example, a southern well produced 18,000 barrels - hardly enough even to power the population's toasters.)

Brown knows his mission may be hard to fathom for nonbelievers. Before his own spiritual awakening, he admits he found the fervor and certainty of born-again Christians "kinda spooky." And he has a measured sense of his vision: He may have used all the wealth accumulated in his career as a manufacturing executive to finance Zion Oil, but he's realistic about others' putting their money where his mouth is. Zion's shareholder prospectus warns: "We could remain unprofitable for a long time."

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In a soft voice, John Brown tells his story as a religious testimony. His spiritual journey started in midlife in 1981 when he was a tool company executive with all the material toys - fast cars, luxury homes, company jets - and an alcohol problem. Rehabilitation had failed, and the faithful Roman Catholic took a small apartment alone for a marital timeout.

"The fellow that moved me into the apartment was a born-again Christian," recalls Brown. "I had always been very suspicious of them." But then something happened, he says, still amazed at the power of epiphany: "Right in that room I could feel the presence of God, and it was incredible.... I felt like I was being washed with a fire hose.... I didn't know chapters and verses, but I do know I had a 'born again' experience with the Lord."

Brown kicked alcohol, switched to a non-denominational church, and met an Evangelical preacher who lectured about the oil waiting to be discovered in Israel. Though he had no background in oil, he was inexplicably hooked. For a couple of years, he pored over the Bible, searching for clues to the location of the elusive substance.

Then in 1983 on his first trip to Israel, he prayed specifically for oil and came away with a green light: "God said, 'yes,' " says Brown. "We're taught in the Scriptures that once you pray by faith and believe that you will receive it, then you will have whatever you ask."

He has encountered much skepticism. Some people don't believe that a word the Bible says is literally true. Then there are Christian and Jewish scholars who think that he has misinterpreted the texts (olive versus crude oil). Others are suspicious that he's out to profit from the vulnerable, by raising finances from Evangelicals willing to believe his extraordinary claims. Some Israelis feel that his real goal is to convert them.

"I know there are zealous people within Christianity who're out to convert everyone, to 'catch a Jew,' " he says, "but I'm not one of them." He doesn't even try to raise money at Christian churches - though most investors have, not surprisingly, been Christians.

Brown's aims are hard to fault. He's established two charitable trusts into which his profits will go, if Zion strikes oil. And the area in which Zion is drilling, where Arab Muslims and Christians live side by side with Jews, would benefit from jobs creation if a well is established.

"It's about building bridges between the Arab population and the Jewish population," says Philip Mandelker, Zion general counsel.

"It would be important for the region's future," agrees Ilan Sadeh, chairman of the Menasseh Regional Council, which oversees the area in which Zion's drill site lies. "We hope, if it succeeds, it will bring new opportunities to the area for Jews, Muslims, and Christians alike.

"If, of course, it works next time," he says of the hoped-for second round of drilling.

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