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Hal Lindsey | |
|---|---|
| Born | Harold Lee Lindsey (1929-11-23)November 23, 1929 Houston, Texas, U.S. |
| Died | November 25, 2024(2024-11-25) (aged 95) Tulsa, Oklahoma, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Dallas Theological Seminary |
| Occupation(s) | Writer,evangelist |
| Spouses |
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| Children | 3 |
| Website | hallindsey |
Harold Lee Lindsey (November 23, 1929 – November 25, 2024) was an Americanevangelical writer and television host. He wrote a series of popular apocalyptic books – beginning withThe Late Great Planet Earth (1970) – asserting that theApocalypse orend time (includingthe rapture) was imminent because current events were fulfillingBible prophecy. He was aChristian Zionist anddispensationalist.
Lindsey was born inHouston on November 23, 1929.[1] He enrolled at theUniversity of Houston and served in theUnited States Coast Guard during theKorean War.[1][2] He graduated fromDallas Theological Seminary in 1962 with a Master of Theology degree, majoring in the New Testament and early Greek literature.[2][3]
With his second wife, Jan, he worked withCampus Crusade for Christ and continued with them until 1969.[2] He then helped a mission inSouthern California which continued until 1976. He was also a frequent speaker and Sunday School teacher atMelodyland Christian Center inAnaheim, California. During 1969, he wrote his first, and best-known book,The Late Great Planet Earth. Published during 1970 byZondervan, this book became a bestseller. Coming on the heels of theSix-Day War, the book fueled the popularity ofdispensationalism and its support of ethnicJews as the "chosen people of God". Many of Lindsey's later writings are sequels or revisions and extensions of his first book. In 1994, he earned his Doctorate of Theology from theCalifornia Graduate School of Theology.[4]
Lindsey hostedInternational Intelligence Briefing on theTrinity Broadcasting Network and served on the executive board ofChristian Voice.[5]International Intelligence Briefing was eliminated from broadcasting by TBN for the entire month of December 2005. Lindsey claimed that this was because "some at the network apparently feel that [his] message is too pro-Israel and too anti-Muslim."[6] TBN ownerPaul Crouch, however, contended that "TBN has never been and is not now against Israel and the Jewish people."[7] Crouch said that Lindsey's show was pre-empted for Christmas programming.
Lindsey resigned from TBN on January 1, 2006, and indicated that he would pursue another television ministry. His next program,The Hal Lindsey Report, emphasizedbiblical prophecy and current events, and is broadcast by theAngel One andDayStar networks. During January 2007, Lindsey announced that he would be returning to the TBN network.[8]
Lindsey was married four times and had three children from his second marriage.[2] His second wife was Jan Houghton, and his fourth wife, to whom he was married at the time of his death, was named JoLyn.[2] He lived inTulsa, Oklahoma, and died at home on November 25, 2024, two days after his 95th birthday.[1][9][10]
Lindsey's claims were based on adispensationalist interpretation of theOld andNew Testament.[11] Lindsey claimed from the Bible thatJesus Christ will return from heaven to earth someday and establish eternal peace and harmony among all people.[12]
Lindsey claimed the Bible contains numerous prophecies that foretell of certain conditions and events that will occur in the world prior to Christ's return and that as these things occur, they are to serve as signs and reminders that we are in the era that the Bible calls theend times orlast days.[13] Lindsey believed a prophetic event that officially begins theend times is the regathering of the Jewish people to their ancient homeland to form an independent nation after a prolonged worldwide dispersion.[14] He claimed that the establishment of theState of Israel in May 1948 is the fulfillment of this major prophecy.[citation needed]
Like others in the AmericanChristian right such asPat Robertson, Lindsey was concerned with theNew World Order (NWO), perceived to be "animated by a small number of overlapping philosophies, including, for example,socialism,feminism, andenvironmentalism", all falling under the label ofglobalism used by the Christian right. The NWO is believed to be created by globalists at organizations such as theWorld Trade Organization (WTO), theEuropean Union (EU), and theUnited Nations (UN), and at odds with Christianity.[15]
InThe Late Great Planet Earth, Lindsey wrote that the biblical prophets identified certain nations that would ally with other countries to form "four major spheres of political power" during the same era that Israel would be reestablished as a nation.[16] Lindsey wrote that these nations and their allies can be identified as: (1) Russia with its allies, (2) China with other nations of the Orient, (3) Egypt with other Middle East countries, and (4) an alliance of Western European nations.[17]
According to Lindsey, the alliance of Western European nations is a revived form of the ancient Roman Empire, predicted in the books of Daniel and Revelation symbolically asten horns andten kings.[18] InThe Late Great Planet Earth, Lindsey quotes from a 1969Time magazine article that the goal of theEuropean Economic Community, which preceded the European Union, was to establish a ten-nation economic community.[19] Lindsey concludes, based on this and other sources, that this alliance will help cause the fulfillment of this prophecy and will ultimately be ruled by theAntichrist.[18]
Lindsey noted that the prophets did not refer to the United States directly or indirectly. He concluded that this is an indication that the U.S. will no longer be a great geo-political power by the time theTribulation of theend times arrives.[20]
In a later book, titledThe 1980s: Countdown to Armageddon,[21] he indicated that he believed it was possible that the battle ofArmageddon could occur in the not too distant future, stating, "the decade of the 1980s could very well be the last decade of history as we know it."[22] He noted again that there is no reference to the U.S. in Bible prophecy. He listed a few scenarios that seemed plausible to him at the time: (1) A takeover by communists, (2) destruction by a surprise Soviet nuclear attack, or (3) becoming a dependent of the 10-nation European community.[23] The book was on theNew York Times bestseller list for 20 weeks.[2]
His 1994 bookPlanet Earth 2000 A.D.: Will Mankind Survive?, while still emphasizing the EU, shifted its focus of concern towards the UN. Lindsey believed the UN used its massive influence to promote paganism, idol worship, globalism, and aone-world government. His 1998Planet Earth: The Final Chapter, however, describes the UN's power as waning.[15]
InThe Dominance of Evangelical Millennialism, 1970–2000, religion historian Crawford Gribben states that Lindsey andThe Late Great Planet Earth had a significant impact on the administration of US PresidentRonald Reagan:
The Late Great Planet Earth exercised enormous influence inside Reagan's White House, and a number of cabinet members, including Attorney GeneralEd Meese, Secretary of DefenseCaspar Weinberger, and Secretary of the InteriorJames Watt, shared the president’s dispensational views. Significantly, it was in a speech to theNational Association of Evangelicals (1983) that Reagan made his apocalyptic reference to the 'evil empire' of the USSR. AndThe Late Great Planet Earth was central to this emerging political–theological platform. Lindsey appears to have briefed staff at the Pentagon, as well as military intelligence committees and staff at the State Department and the American Air War College, and there is evidence that some in the military elite were attracted to his analyses.[24]
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