In 2010 a guy named Victor Carrillo ran for re-election to the Texas Railroad Commission and lost in the Republican primary. He blamed the loss on a built-in bias against Hispanic surnames in the Republican party.  Hey, it’s his party, not mine.

But now he says that it was all God’s plan because … you might want to take a deep breath here before you read on … it’s his duty to bring about the second coming of Jesus by finding oil in Israel though Zion Oil company.

Zion’s ultimate purpose is to hasten the second coming of Jesus Christ. Citing Genesis and Deuteronomy and biblical promises of treasure buried deep, Carrillo and other Zion officials say discovering oil in Israel would be another sign of the imminent return of the Christian Messiah.

I’m telling you.  The end of the world is not only their goal, it’s their damn duty.  They cannot wait to see Jesus throw you into lakes of fire.

Despite the weight of biblical imperative, Carrillo and Zion also face the unavoidable reality that, while smaller oil fields have been found, no especially rich deposits have been discovered in the Promised Land.

Calling on a passage that promises “blessings of the deep” and on a hopscotch of geographic clues dotting the Bible, Zion is the latest in a series of companies and individuals that have enticed investors with the promise of biblically oriented oil profits.

Zion, which has focused exclusively on drilling in Israel, also has worked to inspire the biblically minded to invest — raising money through stock offerings to pay salaries, office leases and drilling costs.

You gotta kinda admire Christian Republicans – they never stop dreaming up ways to take people’s money.  Remind me again about Jesus and the moneychangers in the temple.