Hal Lindsey

Harold Lee "Hal" Lindsey (born 1929) is an American evangelist and Christian writer. A graduate of the Dallas Theological Seminary, a prominent Christian Zionist and dispensationalist, he expresses this theology in his writings. He currently resides in the Palm Springs area of Southern California.

Biography

Born in Houston, Texas, Lindsey dropped out of the University of Houston to serve in the Korean War, then worked as a Mississippi River tugboat captain. His personal web site^* describes that when "his first marriage broke up, he contemplated suicide, but instead found a Gideon New Testament and was converted. Lindsey became an avid reader of Scripture, particularly prophetic sections, which convinced him that the Bible was truly the Word of God."

He entered Dallas Theological Seminary in 1958 (with the help of Lt. Col. Robert Thieme, pastor of Berachah Church in Houston, which Lindsey had attended) where he studied with John F. Walvoord, author of the 1974 best-seller Armageddon, Oil, and the Middle East Crisis. He graduated with a degree in theology. With his second wife Jan he worked with Campus Crusade for Christ and continued with them until 1969. Hal then helped a mission in Southern California which continued until 1976. During this period, in 1969, Hal wrote his first book, The Late, Great Planet Earth.

Published in 1970 by Zondervan, The Late, Great Planet Earth became one of the best selling works of non-fiction in that decade. Coming on the heels of the Six-Day War, the book fueled the popularity of Dispensationalism and its support of ethnic Jews as the "chosen people of God". It has since been published in 54 languages, has reported sales of over thirty-five million copies, and is still in print. Many of Lindsey's later writings are sequels or revisions and extensions of his first book.

He formerly hosted the International Intelligence Briefing on the Trinity Broadcasting Network and serves on the executive board of Christian Voice (USA). Lindsey also promotes various conspiracy theories regarding either the USSR or the European Union being the home of the Antichrist and describes liberals as an "enemy that hides in the shadows, doesn't play by any of the rules, and is determined to use any means to bring about our literal annihilation." [http://www.theocracywatch.org/station_cjr_may_05.htm

The International Intelligence Briefing was removed from the air on TBN for the entire month of December 2005. Lindsey claimed that this was because "some at the network apparently feel that message is too pro-Israel and too anti-Muslim."^* Crouch said that Lindsey's show was pre-empted for Christmas programming, and that it was never canceled, as Lindsey also claimed. (Even TBN's two-hour flagship program, Praise The Lord, was pre-empted for holiday shows).

Lindsey resigned from TBN on January 1, 2006, and indicated that he would pursue another television ministry. Starting February 5 , and as production schedules allow, his new program, The Hal Lindsey Report, will be focused on Bible prophecy and current events, and will be carried on the Angel One and DayStar networks, on Sundays.

He has been divorced three times, and is currently married to JoLyn Lindsey.

Predictions

In The Late, Great Planet Earth, Lindsey wrote that he had concluded, since there was no apparent mention of the United States in the books of Daniel or Revelation, that the USA would no longer be a major player on the geo-political stage by the time the tribulations of the end times arrived. Lindsey also predicted that the European Common Market, which preceded the European Community, was destined (according to Biblical prophecy) to become a "United States of Europe", which in turn he says is destined to become a revived Roman Empire ruled by the Antichrist.

A later book, bearing the title The 1980s: Countdown to Armageddon, implied that the battle of Armageddon would take place shortly after that decade. Lindsey's earlier predictions all assumed that the Cold War would continue indefinitely, and had eschatological significance; he explicitly identified the former Soviet Union with the apocalyptic figure of Gog. He also assumed that the 1960s counterculture would eventually become the dominant culture, and become the source of prophesied "immorality" that would lead to the establishment of a false religion.

Hal Lindsey forecast that the end days would be within the generation of the establishment of Israel in 1948, and wrote in The Late, Great Planet Earth that a generation is "something like forty years." Therefore, by roughly 1988, Jesus should have established his kingdom.

Virtually none of Lindsey's verifiable predictions have been confirmed by history.

Zion Oil

On April 1, 2004, Lindsey used his WorldNetDaily column to promote the sale of shares in the Zion Oil and Gas Company, citing Biblical prophecy as a basis for suggesting that there was oil in Israel. Critics have pointed out that Lindsey failed to mention that one of the directors of Zion Oil was Ralph DeVore, a director of Lindsey's ministries, as well as his cousin. DeVore has since resigned from Zion Oil. [http://blogs.salon.com/0003494/2004/06/13.html

Bibliography

Hal Lindsey's works include:

The Late, Great Planet Earth first edition 1970
Satan is Alive and Well On Planet Earth
There's a New World Coming
Countdown to Armageddon
The Final Battle
The Terminal Generation
The Final Chapter
Rapture
Apocalypse Code
Blood Moon
the Hope of Every Believer
The Roots of Jihad

External links

http://www.hallindseyoracle.com
Articles about Hal Lindsey
The Who's Who of Prophecy - Hal Lindsey biography
http://www.wnd.com/news/archives.asp?AUTHOR_ID=12
http://www.americanvision.org/articlearchive/12-22-04.asp
http://www.americanvision.org/articlearchive/02-18-05.asp
Watch the Hal Lindsey Report