Hal Lindsey

{{Christianity|1}}{{cquote|The title and cover may change, but the message is always the same: The end is nearer than the last time I said the end is near.|||T. L. Frazier on Hal Lindsey<ref>T. L. Frazier, ''A Second Look at the Second Coming: Sorting Through the Speculations,'' Conciliar Press Ministries Inc. (October 20, 1999). {{isbn|1888212144}}.</ref>}}

'''Harold Lee Lindsey''' {{lived|1929|2024}}<ref>[https://archive.ph/BSwPe Hal Lindsey website], 27 November 2024.</ref> was an [[United States|American]] [[Evangelism|evangelist]] and [[author]] who promoted [[Fundamentalist Christianity|fundamentalist Christian]] [[End Times|end-times]] [[rapture]] dogma and [[dispensationalism]]. He had a television show airing on various fundamentalist networks where he mostly ranted and raved about "[[Islamofascism]]." 

==''The Late, <!--yes, there is a comma in the name--> Great Planet Earth''==
Lindsey was perhaps best known for his book ''The Late, Great Planet Earth,'' that attempted to demonstrate that the [[Bible]] [[Biblical prophecies|predicted the then current state of the world and thus serves as the blueprint for all kinds of fantastic predictions for the future]].<ref>Hal Lindsey, ''The Late, Great Planet Earth.'' Zondervan, 1970. {{isbn|031027771X}}.</ref> These predictions involve virtually every known [[conspiracy theory]] including the rise of a [[one world government]], the [[Illuminati]], the [[occult]], etc.<ref>[https://www.christianhistoryinstitute.org/magazine/article/recent-premillennialism-late-great-predictions/ Recent Premillenalism: Late Great Predictions] at the Christian History Institute.</ref> The book is essentially a popularization of 19<sup>th</sup> Century theologian {{wpl|John Nelson Darby||’s}} premillennial dispensationalism.<ref>[http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/apocalypse/explanation/doomindustry.html America's Doom Industry] on [[PBS]] Frontline.</ref><ref>[http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/apocalypse/explanation/amprophesy.html#darby Prophetic belief in the United States, William Miller and the Second Awakening] on PBS Frontline.</ref>

Somehow, the book managed to become the best-selling non-fiction book of the entire 1970s, selling over 35 million copies,<ref>''[[Penn & Teller: Bullshit!]]'', episode 1.04, ''End of the World''</ref> proving that the public's appetite for fiction is so strong that a fiction book can even top the non-fiction list.<ref>[https://infidels.org/library/modern/gaunilo2/late.html Review of "The Late, Great Planet Earth"] on [[infidels.org]]. "The quote from Demosthenes at the head of the first chapter should have revealed what would follow, but it didn't ring through to the Fool until second reading: '[[Credulity|We believe whatever we want to believe.]]' This is precisely what Lindsey does in the face of all evidence to the contrary."</ref>

''The Late, Great Planet Earth'' was made into a feature film in 1979.<ref>Hal Lindsey, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzkvXp4eihU The Late Great Planet Earth (1979)] on youtube.</ref> It even had a run in the theaters and was narrated by Orson Welles.{{efn|Welles' debasement of narrating ''Late, Great…'' was partly-redeemed three years later by reprising his narrational stylings in Mel Brooks' comedy {{wpl|History of the World, Part I|''History of the World, Part I''|.}}}} Critics were not amused and gave it a near-universal thumbs down.<ref>[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079445/ The Late Great Planet Earth (1979)] on imdb.com. The featured review calls it "One of the dumbest films of all time!"</ref>

==''Satan Is Alive and Well On Planet Earth''==

Lindsey followed up ''The Late Great Planet Earth'' with ''Satan Is Alive and Well On Planet Earth'' in 1972, sounding the alarm over hip young people getting into [[astrology]], [[Tarot]] cards, [[Ouija]] boards, [[marijuana]], [[LSD]], and of course [[Satanism]] in the 1970s.<ref>Hal Lindsey, ''Satan Is Alive and Well on Planet Earth.'' Zondervan, 1972. ISBN 0310277914</ref> He went on to become a major promoter of the [[Satanic Panic]] and [[Satanic ritual abuse]] myths in the 1980s, most notably when he championed the fraudulent "[[testimony]]" of serial fake-victim storyteller [[Lauren Stratford]].

==Armageddon is coming==

In 1980, Lindsey published ''The 1980s: Countdown to Armageddon'', making the prediction that a pre-tribulational [[rapture]] would take place in 1981, seven years before [[Israel]]'s 40<sup>th</sup> anniversary as a reestablished nation, because the founding of Israel set off a "prophetic clock" which committed [[Jesus]] to wrap things up within a "generation" (i.e., 40 years). When Jesus didn't return in 1981 or 1988, he said that a generation could be 70 years, so Jesus should return before 2018 (that ''totally'' happened and we live in a post-apocalyptic world).<ref>Hal Lindsey, ''The 1980s: Countdown to Armageddon'', Bantam, 1981. ISBN 0553013033</ref>

==Y2K==

In ''Facing Millennial Midnight: The Y2K Crisis Confronting America and the World'', Lindsey predicted widespread confusion and panic over the [[Y2K]] crisis, seven years before the 40<sup>th</sup> anniversary of the capture of [[Jerusalem]] by the Israelis, which was the event which ''really'' started the prophetic clock ticking all along.<ref>Hal Lindsey, ''Facing Millennium Midnight.'' Western Front Ltd., 1999. ISBN 1888848294</ref> Of course, Y2K was a bust, and 2007 passed without Armageddon happening, so we're back to the 70 year generation idea. So maybe 2018, but 2037 for sure.

==Pump and dump==

In 2007, Lindsey told viewers of his television show that [[Zion Oil and Gas]], a [[Texas]]-based hydrocarbon exploration company, was "on the verge of discovering oil," and that this points to the imminent return of the [[Messiah]]. He made similar pronouncements in his column on the [[right wing]] nut site [[World Net Daily]]. This caused the stock price of Zion Oil to increase over twenty percent. Lindsey did not disclose that at the same time, he and his relatives owned millions of dollars of stock in Zion Oil.<ref name=blake>Mariah Blake, [http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2008/01/let-there-be-light-crude Let There Be Light Crude.] on motherjones.com, January/February 2008.</ref> This is known as a type of fraud, "[[pump and dump]]", but no charges were filed against Lindsey.<ref name=blake/>

==See also==
*[[David Wilkerson]]
*[[Jack Van Impe]]
*[[Harold Camping]]
*[[List of predictions of the end of the world]]

==External links==
*[http://www.hallindsey.com/ Official website]
*[https://youtube.com/channel/UCn_eHVnwl8H-6s2xWASy9bQ "OmniChristianVids4"] Hal Lindsey's [[YouTube]] channel

==Notes==
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==References==
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[[Category:Authors]]
[[Category:Fundamentalists]]
[[Category:Conspiracy theorists]]

Categories: Authors, Fundamentalists, Conspiracy theorists