1. The Significance of Hal Lindsey to Christian Zionism

Hal Lindsey is undoubtedly the most influential of all fundamentalist Christian Zionists of the 20th century. Although rarely quoted by other dispensationalists, he has been described by Time Magazine as 'The Jeremiah for this Generation', by the New York Times as 'the best selling author of the decade.'¹ His own publisher describes Lindsey as 'The Father of the Modern-Day Bible Prophecy Movement,'² and, 'the best known prophecy teacher in the world.'³ He was apparently one of few authors to have three books on the New York Times bestseller list at the same time.⁴

Lindsey is indeed a prolific writer, the author of at least eighteen books spanning 27 years, most of which deal directly or indirectly with a dispensational interpretation of biblical prophecy and Christian Zionism.⁵ He hosts his own radio⁶ and television programmes, leads annual pro-Israeli Holy Land tours, and by subscription makes available a monthly Christian Intelligence Journal called Countdown as well as the International Intelligence Briefing. He is also a regular contributor along with fellow Zionist, Grant Jeffries, on the fundamentalist Trinity Broadcasting Network television station, which broadcasts Lindsey's weekly International Intelligence Briefing programme.⁷

Lindsey's most famous book, The Late Great Planet Earth has been described by the New York Times as the '#1 Non-fiction Bestseller of the Decade.' It has gone through more than 108 printings with sales, by 1993, of more than 18 million copies in English, with estimates varying between 25-30 million copies in 31 foreign editions.⁸ Despite dramatic changes in the world since its publication in 1970, Lindsey maintains that the prophetic and apocalyptic scenario depicted is biblically accurate and therefore the book remains in print in its original unrevised form.

Sales of Lindsey's doomsday book increased 83% during August and September 1990 amidst fears in the United States that Saddam Hussein would drag the world toward total world war. Paul Van Duinen, an executive of Lindsey's publishers, Zondervan, admitted, ' Often times we see during a crisis that people more actively turn toward God and things spiritual.'⁹

Lindsey's popularity may be attributed to a combination of his readable, almost fictional style of writing, his imaginative if apocalyptic interpretation of contemporary events which he claims are fulfilling predictions made by the Hebrew prophets, and his assertion that the end of the world is just around the corner.

A further reason for his popularity may have to do with his tendency to rewrite his predictions in the light of changing events. So for example The Final Battle (1994) is essentially a rewrite of the 'Late Great Planet Earth' (1970); 'Apocalypse Code' (1997) is a rewrite of 'There's a New World Coming' (1973); and 'Planet Earth 2000 A.D.' is a rewrite of 'The 1980's Countdown to Armageddon' (1980). Unless people have access to all Lindsey's books they would not necessarily be aware of this as he is reluctant to acknowledge how he has adapted his material to fit the changing world political scene. The introductions to two of his books gives a good example of his approach. Reading Planet Earth 2000 A.D. one would be forgiven for thinking this was the long awaited sequel to The Late Great Planet Earth. Not so, and Lindsey even hints, in the latter, as to why.

1980's Countdown to Armageddon

Planet Earth 2000 A.D.

Ever since The Late Great Planet Earth I have thought about writing another book on how prophecy relates to current events.                   But only recently have I felt compelled to do so. So many of the things which have occurred during the past 10 years are so directly related to prophecy that I now sense an urgent, even desperate compulsion to bring readers up to date.   The goal of this book is not merely to show which prophecies have been fulfilled since Late Great came out in 1970, however. Even more important, it is intended to analyze what will occur in the decade we have just entered...   The decade of the 1980's could very well be the last decade of history as we know it.10

Meanwhile, for 25 years I resisted the mammoth undertaking of writing a book that would go beyond where The Late Great Planet Earth left off, mostly because prophetically meaningful events were occurring so quickly, I wasn't sure how a book could do justice to the subject. Instead of focussing on writing prophecy books that might be out of date by the time they reached the stores, I devoted my attention to radio and television shows, video and audio tapes and a monthly news and prophecy journal. Only now, as mankind approaches the third millennium, do I feel like the Holy Spirit has provided me with the proper perspective - the Big Picture, so to speak - on the mind blowing experiences of the modern world... This book doesn't dwell on the past, it looks to the future. Because we are so close to the final, climactic stages of world history, it is considerably easier today for the student of Bible prophecy to see with some accuracy what's coming next... I am certain... The Second Advent will occur in the next few years - probably in your lifetime.11

The influence Christian Zionists such as Hal Lindsey have, or have had, in American political circles is highlighted by Don Wagner who claims that in 1980,

The election of Ronald Reagan ushered in not only the most pro-Israel administration in history but gave several Christian Zionists prominent political posts... Once the Reagan Administration opened the door, leading Evangelical Christian Zionist televangelists and writers were given direct access to the President and cabinet members. Rev. Jerry Falwell, Christian Zionist televangelist Mike Evans and author Hal Lindsey among them.¹²

 'White House Seminars' became a regular feature of Reagan's administration bringing Lindsey into direct personal contact with national and Congressional leaders. Lindsey subsequently became a consultant on Middle Eastern affairs not only to the Pentagon but also to the Israeli Government.¹³

  2. Lindsey's Literalistic Dispensational Hermeneutic

 Lindsey attributes the development of erroneous views about Israel to an allegorical, non-literal hermeneutic allegedly popularised by Origen.

The man most responsible for changing the way the Church interpreted prophecy is Origen... [He] powerfully introduced, taught and spread the allegorical method of interpreting the Scriptures, particularly in the area of prophecy. From this seemingly harmless fact of Church history evolved a system of prophetic interpretation that created the atmosphere in which 'Christian' anti-Semitism took root and spread. Using this method of prophetic interpretation, Church theologians began to develop the idea that the Israelites had permanently forfeited all their covenants by rejecting Jesus as the Messiah.¹⁴

As has already been shown, it was the consistent approach of the Post-Apostolic Fathers to interpret the Hebrew Scriptures typologically as the Apostles had done before them¹⁵ . In his quest for literalism, Lindsey fails profoundly to appreciate the distinction between figurative or typological employed by covenantal theologians and allegorical methods of interpretation seen typically in pre-Reformation Roman Catholicism.¹⁶

The key difference between the two approaches is in their attitudes toward the historical character of the Bible. The allegorical interpreter seeks to find eternal truths in Scripture, and in doing so may either reject the historical meaning of the Bible, or relegate the historical sense to a very secondary place. Typology, by contrast, takes history seriously; typology is based on the idea that Old Testament history prefigured the events of the New Testament. Thus, for example, the allegorical interpreter would search the Old Testament for symbols of virtue or illustrations of philosophical ideas, while the typological interpreter would search the Old Testament for shadowy images of the coming Messiah.¹⁷

Demar and Leithart clearly show that a typological interpretation of the Old Testament was consistently followed by the Church from the 1st Century, and did not arise with Origen as Lindsey superficially alleges. Indeed they show how,

Origen defended the historical sense of Scripture, tried to reconcile the historical and allegorical senses, attempted to interpret Scripture with Scripture, and was respectful of the church's tradition.¹⁸

  Ironically, Lindsey confesses to indulging in the use of typology when it is convenient. In explaining his hermenutical approach to the Book of Revelation, Lindsey makes a number of assumptions,

How could this first-century man describe the scientific wonders of the latter twentieth century? He had to illustrate them with phenomena of the first century; for instance, a thermonuclear war looked to him like a giant volcanic eruption spewing fire and brimstone... Much of the symbolism John used was the result of a first century man being catapulted in God's time machine up to the end of the twentieth centiry, then returned to his own time and commanded to write what he had seen and heard. The only way that John could obey that instruction was to use phenomena with which he was familiar to illustrate the scientific and technical marvels that he predicts.¹⁹

Some writers have chosen to interpret each symbol quite literally. For example, a locust with the face of a man, the teeth of a lion, a breastplate of iron, a tail than can sting, and wings that make the sound of many chariots would have to be specially created by God to look just like that description.

I personally tend to think that God might utilize in his judgments some modern devices of man which the Apostle John was at a loss for words to describe nineteen centuries ago! In the case just mentioned, the locusts might symbolize an advanced kind of helicopter.

This is just one example of the fast-moving, contemporary, and often deductive manner in which I have chosen to approach the Book of Revelation. I realize I'll be accused by some of making wild speculations...²⁰

 Lindsey's hermeneutics on occasions is more eisegesis than exegesis, in that he reads into biblical texts material that is not there in the original. Occasionally this includes adding words to the text. So for example, in quoting Ezekiel 38:15-16, Lindsey adds the word 'Russia' to reinforce his interpretation.

And you (Russia) will come from your place out of the remote parts of the north, you and many peoples with you...²¹

 3. Lindsey's Unconventional View of Prophecy

  Integral to his literalist hermeneutic, Lindsey has largely been responsible for popularising a somewhat dubious and sensationalist approach to eschatology. In his first work, The Late Great Planet Earth, Lindsey surveys the apparent revival in interest in astrology, spiritualism and clairvoyancy. He then confidently asserts,

However, compared to the speculation of most that is called prophetic today, the Bible contains clear and unmistakable prophetic signs. We are able to see right now in this Best Seller predictions made centuries ago being fulfilled before our eyes. The Bible makes fantastic claims; but these claims are no more startling that those of present day astrologers, prophets and seers. Furthermore, the claims of the Bible have a greater basis in historical evidence and fact.²²

In his third book, There's A New World Coming: A Prophetic Odessey, published three years later in 1973, Lindsey persists in taking a comparative approach to prophecy, likening the claims of the Old Testament prophets to those of the druids of Stonehenge.

Through these stones, 4000 years ago, priests could site the sun, moon and stars and predict with exact accuracy the seasons, sun risings and eclipses of the sun and moon... There have been many, throughout the centuries of man's long history, who have sought to predict the course of human events, but none have had the incredible accuracy of the ancient Hebrew prophets.²³

It seems that Lindsey perceives of biblical prophecy as differing from occult prophecy primarily in terms of greater accuracy rather than contrasting their source of inspiration. Ironically, the last chapter of The Late Great Planet Earth is entitled, 'Polishing the Crystal Ball,' ²⁴ while a paragraph heading in There's a New World Coming, describing the Book of Revelation, is entitled, 'John's Chain of ESP'.²⁵

  Lindsey makes a second questionable assumption regarding prophecy. He assumes that biblical prophecy is essentially futuristic and predictive, the foretelling of the future, and the future of the State of Israel, in particular.

The information in the book you're about to read is more up-to-date than tomorrow's newspaper... I think you will be surprised to see what kind of predictions were made almost two thousand years ago!²⁶

...it is intended to analyze what will occur in the decade we have just entered.²⁷

The center of the entire prophetic forecast is the State of Israel. Certain events in that nation's recent history prove the accuracy of the prophets. They also force us to accept the fact that the 'countdown' has begun.²⁸

Following Darby, Lindsey believes 'prophecy is prewritten history'.²⁹ This is a profound and fundamental error. The Hebrew prophets consistently indicate that their purpose was to call the people of God back to the terms of their covenant relationship. Their role was not simply to reveal arbitrary and otherwise hidden facts about future events.

  The prophet speaks the Word of God. He appeals to his people to be true to Yahweh, the God of the covenant. Thus he functions within a covenant context. He comes to his people with a threat or with words of comfort. Insofar as his message touches on the future, he does point to events down the road. But the prophet never makes predictions as such. His message is conditional; it is tied in with God's promises, on the one hand, and his threats, on the other.³⁰

  Authentic prophecy in Scripture was always conditional rather than fatalistic and always given within the context of the covenant between God and his chosen people.

The false prophets presented flattering visions of a glorious future, while failing to acknowledge that Israel's future depended on its response to God's covenant demands. They cried, 'Peace! Peace!" And did not concern themselves with Israel's apostasy. They painted a bright picture of the future, but they did not spell out the conditions Israel would have to accept if those visions were ever to become reality...

The true prophets constantly held the demands of the covenant before Israel. They threatened Israel with God's covenant wrath and tried to lure their people to obedience by dangling the covenant promises before them. When they talked about the future, it was never to present detached predictions about what would take place. Their talk of the future always fell within the framework of a covenantal appeal for reformation

The true prophets were not concerned with authenticating their prophecies by presenting predictions that came true. In fact, some of the predictions didn't come true at all. When Micah prophesied that Jerusalem would be plowed as a field and turn into a heap of ruins, his words led to repentance under King Hezekiah. As a result, the Lord held back his judgment He had in mind (Mic. 3:12; Jer. 26:17-19).³¹

  Lindsey fails to recognise the intrinsic connection between covenant relationship and prophetic message. He therefore misunderstands the intention of the prophets who were not primarily concerned with predicting future events, satisfying our curiosity, or giving an 'exciting view'³² of human destiny, but with leading God's covenant people to repentance and change.

Three millenniums of history are strewn with evidence of their prophetic marksmanship and to ignore their incredible predictions of man's destiny and the events which are soon to affect this planet will be perhaps the greatest folly of this generation.³³

Hal Lindsey claims to have uncovered prophetic puzzles throughout the Bible. Hidden away within these puzzles are specific predictions concerning the present and imminent future. In the wake of the 'Bible Code' debate, Lindsey capitalised on the speculation by rewriting There's a New World Coming. He renamed it, Apocalypse Code claiming to have deciphered, 'long-hidden messages about man's future and the fate of the earth.'³⁴

To do so Lindsey performs 'acrobatic stunts',³⁵ twisting biblical texts to fit his future scenario, propounding nothing less than what critics regard as a 'new form of Christian Gnosticism,'³⁶ since he reveals a knowledge of the future which only those who heed his books will understand.

In his books, Hal Lindsey uses Biblical prophecy to open a supermarket in which he sells the curious inside information about the near future, especially World War III.³⁷

What Lindsey and many others of the same persuasion fail to take account is the historical perspective one must bring to the reading of Scripture. That's why they stubbornly overlook the initial fulfilments of the prophecies and argue for a fulfilment in a special dispensation to follow the Rapture. Perhaps we could speak of a post-Rapture complex in Lindsey's hermeneutics. As a result of this complex, all sorts of ancient prophecies about nations that have disappeared must be modernized, right down to the weaponry used in warfare.³⁸

4. The Distinctive Apocalyptic Zionism of Hal Lindsey

The titles of Lindsey's books show an increasingly exaggerated and almost pathological voyeurism regarding the apocalyptic.³⁹ His books are replete with dogmatic and categorical assertions that biblical prophecy is being fulfilled in his generation signalling the imminent destruction of the world and return of Christ.

  We are the generation the prophets were talking about. We have witnessed biblical prophecies come true. The birth of Israel. The decline in American power and morality. The rise of Russian and Chinese might. The threat of war in the Middle East. The increase of earthquakes, volcanoes, famine and drought. The Bible foretells the signs that precede Armageddon... We are the generation that will see the end times... and the return of Jesus.⁴⁰

Lindsey has been described as, 'a long haired reincarnation of Scofield.'⁴¹ This may be because of the marked similarities between the pessimistic world views resented by the two authors.

Lindsey's last but one book, The Final Battle, is a good example. It includes this statement on the cover,

Never before, in one book, has there been such a complete and detailed look at the events leading up to 'The Battle of Armageddon.'"⁴⁴

Lindsey asserts that the world is degenerating and that the forces of evil manifest in godless Communism and militant Islam are the real enemies of Israel. An apocalyptic scenario is predicted, centred upon a great battle at Megiddo between massive international armies that will attempt but fail to destroy Israel.

Based on his interpretation of Ezekiel 38 & 39, and selective quotations from speculative 19th Century commentators, Lindsey insists the references to Gog, Rosh and Tubal reveal that the chief enemy of Israel in the final days will be Russia.

You need only to take a globe to verify this exact geographical fix. There is only one nation to the 'uttermost north' of Israel - the U.S.S.R... General Dyan's statement that 'The next war will not be with the Arabs but with the Russians' has a considerably deeper significance, doesn't it? Just think for a moment how incredible a thing we are considering here. How could Ezekiel 2600 years ago have forecast so accurately the rise of Russia to its current military might and its direct and obvious designs upon the Middle East, not to mention that fact that it is now an implacable enemy of the new state of Israel? How could men like Chamberlain and Cummings, for that matter, one hundred years ago have so clearly seen the rise of Russia to its present world-threatening position? The answer is again, it seems to this writer, obvious, Ezekiel once again passes 'the test of a prophet'.⁴⁵

Lindsey's exegetical approach here is very similar to that of the British Israel movement,⁴⁶ taking predictions made about the enemies of Israel in Ezekiel's day and of the Church in Revelation and applying them to contemporary Britain, the United States and Israel.

For example, Lindsey offers detailed illustrated plans showing future military movements of armies and naval convoys, including the American 6th Fleet, leading up to the battle of Armageddon.⁴⁷ He claims these cataclysmic events indicate the imminent return of Jesus Christ to be the King of the Jews who will rule over the other nations from the rebuilt Jewish temple on the site of the destroyed Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem.⁴⁸

 4.1 The Jews of the Bible and the Modern State of Israel

  Lindsey's empathy for the Jews is vividly revealed in his description of a visit to the Western Wall.

The wall is a symbol of the unity of the Jews as a race and of their ancient ties to God. Even battle-hardened soldiers wept when they first approached the wall. I stood by many a Jew when he first touched the wall, and all have felt that at last they had come home. So did I.⁴⁹

Nevertheless, Lindsey is emphatic in holding to a dispensational distinction between the Church and Israel, although the origins of this theological position are never discussed, nor is it named in his writings. Like other dispensationalists, though, Lindsey insists that the promises made to Abraham are unconditional and eternal and that it is the State of Israel rather than merely people of Jewish descent who are the beneficiaries today.

There has been much infidelity in Jewish history, and their present worldwide dispersion and persecution have been their divine discipline. However, God made unconditional promises of eternal blessings to the Jewish patriarchs and will someday restore the Jews to a position of special favour with Himself...

God has promised never to abandon His chosen people, no matter how despicable they treat Him (Romans 11:1,2). The divine hand of protection of the Jews during their recent Six-Day War was just a token of that protective care.⁵⁰

Rather than apply these ancient promises to the Jewish people generally, Lindsey quite specifically, and increasingly overtly applies them to the State of Israel and Israeli citizens.

The God of Israel has sworn in the prophecies that He will not forsake the Israelis, nor let them be destroyed.⁵¹

According to classical dispensationalists, such as Schuyler English, who revised the Scofield Reference Bible in 1967, Israel as a State will have no prophetic significance during the 'church age' until after the so-called 'rapture'.

An intercalary period of history, after Christ's death and resurrection and the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 has intervened. This is the present age. During this time God has not been dealing with Israel nationally, for they have been blinded concerning God's mercy in Christ... However, God will again deal with Israel as a nation. This will be in Daniel's seventieth week, a seven-year period yet to come.⁵²

"Seventy 'sevens' are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy.

25"Know and understand this: From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven 'sevens,' and sixty-two 'sevens.' It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble. 26After the sixty-two 'sevens,' the Anointed One will be cut off and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed. 27He will confirm a covenant with many for one 'seven.' In the middle of the 'seven' he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on a wing of the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him." (Daniel 9:24-27)

  Lindsey believes, as a dispensationalist, that Daniel 9:24-27 teaches,

  ...this amazing prediction of the future events of Israel's career sets forth a divinely ordained time period of 'seventy weeks' of years (490 years) in which God would, in specific ways, deal with the sin of the nation, bring in everlasting righteousness, and send the Messiah to the world. This allotted time period was like a great divine 'time-clock'... Countdown began clicking off April, 444 B.C.E... Then Daniel predicted a strange thing. He said that after sixty-nine weeks of years (483 years) had clicked off on this allotment of time, the Messiah of Israel would be revealed to the Jews and then killed, and the city of Jerusalem and their Temple would be destroyed and their 490 year special time allotment would be temporarily cut short by 7 years...

Jesus himself had thoroughly studied this prophecy of Daniel and related its meaning to his disciples... Then he added something which Daniel hadn't predicted, but Moses had: '...Jerusalem would be trampled under foot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles were fulfilled' (Luke 21:23, 24)... For nearly two thousand years now, this prophecy has been a horrible reality in the life of God's chosen people... Even though Israel is now partially back in her ancient homeland, she isn't at peace with the world around her...

We have one thing to give substance to our hope for Israel. We know that God will never break a promise and He still owes Israel seven years of her allotted 490 years in which to bring about righteousness in her land and purge her people of sin. Then God's Messiah will come again to Israel and give to those of His chosen people and the world who receive Him, the Kingdom of God which He promised so long ago.⁵³

Lindsey does not explain how to fit the nearly 1878 year gap between 70 A.D. and 1948 into Daniel 9:24-27. The seven years he claims is still 'allotted' to Israel during which they will be purged is really a euphemism for the 'tribulation' in which Lindsey believes many Israeli's will suffer and die in the nuclear war of Armageddon.

He also believes that Moses predicted two different destructions of Israel apparently in Deuteronomy 28:49-57 and 28:62-66.

The Lord will bring a nation against you from far away, from the ends of the earth, like an eagle swooping down, a nation whose language you will not understand, 50a fierce-looking nation without respect for the old or pity for the young. 51They will devour the young of your livestock and the crops of your land until you are destroyed. They will leave you no grain, new wine or oil, nor any calves of your herds or lambs of your flocks until you are ruined. 52They will lay siege to all the cities throughout your land until the high fortified walls in which you trust fall down. They will besiege all the cities throughout the land the Lord your God is giving you. (Deut. 28:49-52)

You who were as numerous as the stars in the sky will be left but few in number, because you did not obey the Lord your God. 63Just as it pleased the Lord to make you prosper and increase in number, so it will please him to ruin and destroy you. You will be uprooted from the land you are entering to possess.

64Then the Lord will scatter you among all nations, from one end of the earth to the other. There you will worship other gods--gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known. 65Among those nations you will find no repose, no resting place for the sole of your foot. There the Lord will give you an anxious mind, eyes weary with longing, and a despairing heart. 66You will live in constant suspense, filled with dread both night and day, never sure of your life. (Deut. 28:62-66)

  Lindsey claims these verses teach that,

  Just before the Hebrews conquered the Promised Land, Moses predicted that Israel would twice be destroyed as a nation and twice be driven out of the land because of persistent unbelief. He also predicted that the first destruction and dispersion would come by the hand of one mighty nation. He specifically predicted that in this dispersion the Israelites would be taken captive into this one invading nation (Deuteronomy 28:49-57). This prophecy was fulfilled when the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem in 586 B.C. And took the survivors back to Babylon as slaves (2 Chronicles 36:9-21)...

When Moses predicted the second destruction of the nation, he warned that the second dispersion would be much more extensive and severe than the first... This part of Modes' prophecy was fulfilled in D.D. 70 when Titus and the Roman Tenth Legion crushed Jerusalem, destroyed the Temple and scattered the surviving Jews throughout the known world... Moses, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Amos, Zechariah and many other prophets predicted Israel's second restoration as a nation in the 'latter days.' They predicted that the Jews would return to their ancient homeleand after a long and terrible dispersioon among the nations, and that they would miraculously become a nation again (Ezekiel 36, 37). The most important factor in these prophecies is that God promises the Jews that once they have returned in the second restoration, their nation will never be destroyed again.⁵⁴

Lindsey neglects to point out that the warnings uttered by Moses in Deuteronomy 28 were not predictions of future events but conditional warnings, dependent on whether the Israelites kept the covenant. In between the two passages Lindsey quotes, Moses also warned that the Israelites would suffer all the plagues witnessed in Egypt if they were disobedient, something Lindsey conveniently ignores.

The verses Lindsey quotes do not actually specify that the Israelites will be taken captive 'into this one invading nation', nor that two distinct dispersions would occur. The reference in Deuteronomy 28:63-66 which Lindsey claims predicts a second universal exile actually goes on two verses later to indicate that Egypt, still a feared and great power in Moses day, would be their return destination. Lindsey's insistence on two dispersions is itself a very selective reading of Jewish history ignoring the earlier Assyrian conquest of Tiglath-Pileser in 721 B.C. when the ten tribes of the Northern kingdom were deported and absorbed into other parts of the Assyrian Empire.

Instead of following the position of Schuyler English and other traditional dispensationalists, Lindsey develops his own innovative scheme claiming that there is great significance in the events of 1948 and especially 1967. Quite simply, he insists, 'The center of the entire prophetic forecast is the State of Israel.'⁵⁵

In 1970, In The Late Great Planet Earth, under the sub-title 'Keys to the Prophetic Puzzle', Lindsey explained why his interpretation of contemporary events concerning Israel is more reliable than previous attempts. Then in 1980 Lindsey reiterated this conviction more dogmatically, insisting the 'rebirth' of Israel to be the only 'sign' that the 'countdown' to Armageddon had begun.

Schuyler English (1972)

Hal Lindsey (1980)

Many Bible students in recent years have tried to fit the events of World War I and II to the prophetic signs which would herald the imminent return of Christ. Their failure discredited prophecy... It is because of these unscriptural attempts at calculating days that some eyebrows rise when we speak of Bible prophecy today. The one event which many Bible students in the past overlooked was this paramount prophetic sign: Israel had to be a nation again in the land of its forefathers.56

Many skeptics point out that during World War I and II, some well-meaning students of prophecy claimed that the end of history was at hand and the Messiah would return soon... Naturally, when the world didn't end, all prophecy was discredited. These skeptics have asked me, 'Why do you think that all the various prophecies will come to pass during this generation? The answer is simple. The prophets told us that the rebirth of Israel-no other event-would be the sign that the countdown had begun. Since that rebirth, the rest of the prophecies have begun to be fulfilled quite rapidly. For this reason I am convinced that we are now in the unique time so clearly and precisely forecast by the Hebrew prophets.57

Lindsey bases his interpretation of contemporary events largely on the prophecies of Ezekiel 37-39. Most commentators see in these chapters the prediction of the return of the remnant from Babylon under Ezra and Nehemiah.⁵⁸ Lindsey, however, chooses instead to apply them to 1948.

Some 2600 years ago Ezekiel showed that the Jewish nation would be reborn after a long world-wide dispersion, but before the coming of the Messiah...⁵⁹

Similarly, whereas first Century Christians understood Jesus to be warning them to flee because of the imminent destruction of Jerusalem, Lindsey claims that Jesus was predicting the restoration of the Jews to Palestine in the 20th Century.

But the most important sign in Matthew has to be the restoration of the Jews to the land in the rebirth of Israel. Even the figure of speech 'fig tree' has been a historic symbol of national Israel. When the Jewish people, after nearly 2,000 years of exile, under relentless persecution, became a nation again on 14 May 1948 the 'fig tree' put forth its first leaves.⁶⁰

Nothing, however, in Matthew 24:32 indicates that Jesus intended his hearers to understand him to be promising that Israel would become a nation again. The New Testament is silent on the question of whether the Jews would ever become a nation state again. Nevertheless, Lindsey has popularised the notion that the re-gathering of the Jews to Palestine since 1948 is the fulfilment of biblical prophecy. Lindsey speaks repeatedly of the 'rebirth'⁶¹ of Israel, insisting, 'The nation of Israel cannot be ignored; we see the Jews as a miracle of History.'⁶²

Aware of the justified criticism of other attempts at applying biblical prophecy to contemporary events, Lindsey qualifies his interpretation, but in so doing advocates both a massive secularisation of biblical prophecy as well as a questionable 'second chance' way of salvation for the Jews.

Right here a careful distinction must be made between 'the physical restoration' to the land of Palestine as a nation, which clearly occurs shortly before the Messiah's coming and the 'spiritual restoration' of all Jews who have believed in the Messiah just after His return to this earth.

The 'physical restoration' is accomplished by unbelieving Jews through their human effort. As a matter of fact, the great catastrophic events which are to happen to this nation during 'the tribulation' are primarily designed to shock the people into believing in their true Messiah (Ezekiel 38; 39).⁶³

Because he fails to acknowledge the basis and conditions of the covenantal relationship between God and his people, Lindsey makes the fundamental error of assuming promises made to the covenant people of God apply to contemporary Israelis and the modern Jewish State.

In the Bible 'Israel' is not synonymous with the Jewish people but only with those who keep the terms of the covenant. The privileged status of covenant people was taken away from the Jews at some time between Pentecost and the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. While the apostles Peter and Paul could appeal to the historical link between the Jews and their privileges (Acts 3:25; Romans 9:4-5, 11:28), time was running out and there was a limit to that appeal. In the plan of redemptive history, the rejection of the Messiah by the majority of Jewish people led to their rejection under the terms of the covenant. In Acts 3:22-23 Peter applies the Mosaic warning of Deuteronomy 18:15-19 and Leviticus 23:29 to his generation and makes their response to Jesus Christ the critical test.

For Moses said, 'The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you must listen to everything he tells you. Anyone who does not listen to him will be completely cut off from among his people.' (Acts 3:22-23)

Likewise, Paul explains how only those who believe in Jesus Christ are now the true children of Abraham.

It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. For if those who live by law are heirs, faith has no value and the promise is worthless, because law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression. Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham's offspring - not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. As it is written: "I have made you a father of many nations." (Romans 4:13-17)

  Consider Abraham: "He believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness." Understand, then, that those who believe are children of Abraham. The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: "All nations will be blessed through you." So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. (Galatians 3:6-9)

  The New Testament therefore insists on a limit or boundary to the offer of salvation to the Jews as the chosen people of God. This was probably limited to the generation that witnessed the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. Failure to respond to the claims of Jesus Christ led to the removal of the covenant privileges from the Jewish people. Paul goes so far as to describe the consequences as a complete reversal of the status of Jews and Gentiles. 'Jerusalem' symbolic of the Judaism that had rejected Jesus Christ were now regarded by God as the offspring of Hagar not Sarah.

  ²⁴These things may be taken figuratively, for the women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children who are to be slaves: This is Hagar. ²⁵Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present city of Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children. ²⁶But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother... ²⁸Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise... ³⁰But what does the Scripture say? "Get rid of the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman's son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman's son." ³¹Therefore, brothers, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman. (Galatians 4:24-31)

  Ignoring the flow of redemptive history, the status of Israel under the terms of the Hebrew covenant, and ultimately the impact of their rejection of Jesus Christ, Lindsey erroneously applies conditional Old Testament promises made to 'Israel' and already fulfilled, unconditionally to the contemporary State of Israel.

  4.2 The Territorial Extent of Eretz Israel

  Zionists clearly see the founding of the State of Israel in 1948 as highly significant, signalling the end of 2000 years of exile. Christian Zionists actively encourage Jews in Russia and Eastern Europe especially, to return to their promised land, seeing this as another 'Exodus'⁶⁴. In this Lindsey was the first and probably most successful to popularise a Christian Zionist reading of Scripture since 1967.

4.3 The Significance of Jerusalem

Jerusalem's importance in history is infinitely beyond its size and economic significance. From ages past, Jerusalem has been the most important city on this planet... More prophecies have been made concerning Jerusalem than any other place on earth.⁶⁵

Lindsey insists that the repossession of the Old City of Jerusalem in 1967 was another significant sign of the imminent return of the Messiah, since unfulfilled prophecies concerning the Jewish people must occur within the ancient city. He interprets the prophecies of Zechariah 12-14 as foretelling events that are about to happen such as a siege of Jerusalem by the world's armies and great battle at Megiddo.⁶⁶

It is clear from these chapters that the Jews would have to be dwelling in and have possession of the ancient city of Jerusalem at the time of the Messiah's triumphant advent.⁶⁷

Jerusalem will be the spiritual centre of the entire world... all people of the earth will come annually to worship Jesus who will rule there.⁶⁸

4.4 The Rebuilding of the Jewish Temple

Lindsey not only regards the founding of the State of Israel and capture of Jerusalem as the fulfilment of biblical prophecy but insists the Jewish temple will be rebuilt in place of the Dome of the Rock.

There remains but one more event to completely set the stage for Israel's part in the last great act of her historical drama. This is to rebuild the ancient Temple of worship upon its old site... There is one major problem barring the construction of a third Temple. That obstacle is the second holiest place of the Moslem faith, the Dome of the Rock. This is believed to be built squarely in the middle of the old temple site. Obstacle or no obstacle, it is certain that the Temple will be rebuilt. Prophecy demands it.⁶⁹

Dispensationalists like Lindsey believe in the imminent rebuilding of the Temple based on the somewhat enigmatic passage in Daniel 9:24-27. The sanctuary already appears to have been destroyed in verse 26 yet sacrifices are brought to an end in verse 27 and the one causing the 'abomination that causes desolation' then desecrates the Temple.

After the sixty-two 'sevens,' the Anointed One will be cut off and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed. 27He will confirm a covenant with many for one 'seven.' In the middle of the 'seven' he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on a wing of the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him." (Daniel 9:26-27)

  On the basis of a rather tenuous interpretation, Lindsey confidently argues,

  This prophecy speaks of sacrifice and offerings which demand that the Jews rebuild the Temple for the third time upon its original site. At that point, Judaism and Islam will be placed on an inevitable course of war over the site, a war that will start Armageddon. Many prophecies demand rebuilding of the ancient Temple, indicating that the event is a significant prophetic sign (see Matthew 24:15 and 2 Thessalonians 2:3,4). Therefore any move toward that direction is a crucial clue to what hour it is on God's prophetic timetable.⁷⁰

Lindsey also bases his argument for the rebuilding of the Temple, in part, on the instructions given to the Apostle John to measure the Temple in Revelation 11:1-2.

The Apostle John wrote the Book of Revelation about the year A.D. 95. This means that the Temple... was non-existent for the twenty-five years preceding John's writing... What Temple, then, was John referring to? There can be only one answer - a yet-to-be-built structure!⁷¹

Lindsey quotes Israel Eldad, an Israeli historian, claiming that devout Jews, 'some of whom are in powerful positions in the Israeli government' expect the Dome of the Rock to be destroyed, whether by natural or supernatural intervention, and the Jewish Temple to be rebuilt very soon after.⁷² Lindsey quotes Eldad again in his later work.

"When the Jewish people took over Jerusalem the first time, under King David, only one generation passed before they built the Temple, and so it shall be with us." When asked about the problem of the Dome of the Rock being on the Jewish Temple site, he replied with a wink, "Who knows, perhaps there will be an earthquake!" What Eldad said in jest may be just the thing that will happen.⁷³

Clearly Lindsey believed at this stage the Dome of the Rock would need to be destroyed in order for the Jewish Temple to be rebuilt. He even appeared to know the exact location of the former structure.

Archaeologists have uncovered a pillar from Solomon's porch as the first major find from the Herodian Temple. From its location in relation to the Wailing Wall they have now ascertained where the ancient Holy of Holies in the Temple was located. Imagine my emotions as I stood under a sign at the Wall which read in Hebrew: 'Holy of Holies, 10 Metres,' with an arrow pointing towards a spot thirty feet behind the existing Wall in the direction of the Dome of the Rock!⁷⁴

By 1983 Lindsey had changed his mind about the exact location of the Herodian Temple. Based on the findings of a 16 year investigation undertaken by Dr Kaufman of the Hebrew University into the location of the first and second Temple and published in the Biblical Archaeology Review, Lindsey now claimed,

...Dr Kaufman's dedicated and tireless investigation has provided the world with a priceless discovery. I also believe that this discovery has accelerated the countdown to the events that will bring the Messiah Jesus back to earth. The reason for this belief is that the predicted Third Temple can now be built without disturbing the Dome of the Rock. ...the Temple and its immediate guard wall could be rebuilt and still be twenty-six meters away from the Dome of the Rock. ⁷⁵

Having discovered the true site of the Herodian Temple, Lindsey proceeded to find scriptural verification of this new location.

Revelation chapter 11 indicates this very situation: 'I was given a reed like a measuring rod and told, 'Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, and count the worshippers there. But exclude the outer court; do not measure it, because it has been given to the Gentiles. They will trample on the holy city for 42 months.'' (Revelation 11:1,2 NIV). The outer court, which includes the area where the Dome of the Rock is situated, was given to the Gentiles. So this prophecy accurately reflects the situation that is present today... All of these things are tremendoucly exciting to those who know Bible prophecy. We are literally in the very last days of the Church Age. The Temple will be rebuilt soon!⁷⁶

Lindsey's belief in the imminent rebuilding of the Temple ultimately rests on his interpretation of the words of Jesus in Matthew 24.

Jesus Christ predicted an event which would trigger a time of unparalleled catastrophe for the Jewish nation shortly before His second coming... With the Jewish nation reborn in the land of Palestine, ancient Jerusalem once again under total Jewish control for the first time in 2600 years, and talk of rebuilding the great Temple, the most important sign of Jesus Christ's soon coming is before us... It is like the key piece of a jigsaw puzzle being found... For all those who trust in Jesus Christ, it is a time of electrifying excitement.⁷⁷

Although Lindsey's speculations are popular, they bear little relation to the events described by Jesus in Matthew 24. Many commentators note that the predictions of Jesus were fulfilled in the events leading up to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. when Jewish Zealots desecrated the temple using it as a fortress against the Romans. Eusebius, for example, the 4th Century Bishop and historian refers to the eye witness accounts of Josephus, the Jewish historian of the 1st Century, to show how these predictions of Jesus had already been fulfilled.

It is fitting to add to these accounts the true prediction of our Saviour in which he foretold these very events.⁷⁸

Lindsey ignores this historical position preferring to interpret Matthew 24 as prophecy still awaiting fulfilment. Despite the fact that Jesus warned that these events would be witnessed by 'this generation' (Matthew 24:34), Lindsey understand 'this' to be his own generation.⁷⁹

4.5 The Implacable Enemies of Israel: Communism and Islam

  Ezekiel, Daniel and Zechariah all said that a nation to the extreme north of Israel would achieve great influence and become a threat to the whole world. They said this power would be Israel's mortal enemy. The prophets predicted that this nation would launch an all-out land and sea attack on Israel, the Arab nations and the continent of Africa. This country, Bible scholars agree, is the Soviet Union. A line drawn due north of Israel crosses only one land mass - Russia. And the three tribes Ezekiel predicted would people the nation to the north are in fact the ancestors of today's Russians. Throughout its history, the single most consistent motive of the Soviet Union's military invasions has been the acquisition of warm water ports for its merchant and naval fleets. ⁸⁰

As previously quoted the Russians will make both an amphibious and land invasion of Israel. The current build-up of Russian ships in the Mediterranean serves as another significant sign of the possible nearness of Armageddon.⁸¹

Although confident, if novel in his application of ancient biblical prophecy to current world events, Lindsey's speculations concerning Russia show remarkable similarity to those of earlier Dispensationalists such as Arno Gaebelein.

Arno Gaebelein (1916)	Hal Lindsey (1980)
The time cannot be far off when Russia's millions, augmented by the armies that she will gather from these and other nations, will be thrown by their rulers into Palestine in order to destroy the nation of the Jews.82	...I predicted that the Soviets would begin their Middle East campaign with a sweep through the Persian Gulf area into Iran. The recent Russian invasion of Afghanistan was a first step in that direction.83...to utterly destroy the Jewish people.84

In 1980 Lindsey could confidently assert,

Today, the Soviets are without question the strongest power on the face of the earth. Lets look at recent history to see how the Russians rose to the might predicted for them thousands of years ago.⁸⁵

While believing Russia has this preordained destiny to dominate the world, attack Israel and precipitate a nuclear holocaust, Lindsey nevertheless berates successive American governments for allowing the Russians to gain this military superiority. He does not explain how on the one hand he believes this to be the fulfilment of biblical prophecy yet on the other hand finds it 'incomprehensible'.

The United States was far ahead in the nuclear arms race until the end of the 1960's. Then the situation began to change rapidly. The change occurred because of the U.S. leadership's almost unbelievable misreading of the Soviet goals and intentions. In light of the clearly-stated communist goal of world domination and their constant efforts to attain that status, it is incomprehensible to me that America allowed the Russians to take the lead in the arms race. To understand how the U.S. slipped into this perilous position we must review some recent history.⁸⁶

He then provides five pages of graphs to show how Russia had gained military superiority over the United States in conventional forces, tactical aircraft, military personnel, combat ships, tanks, artillery, anti-ballistic missiles, interceptor aircraft, strategic bombers and nuclear warheads.⁸⁷ Sounding remarkably like an ultra-conservative Republican, Lindsey laments,

Beginning with President Kennedy, each U.S. Administration has grossly misjudged the goals of the Soviet Union and communism in general. Each successive administration has hoped that its own example of fairness and good will toward the world would somehow encourage the communists to abandon their drive toward world domination.⁸⁸

Lindsey repeats this contradiction, berating the U.S. Government for allowing the Russians to gain superiority while at the same time claiming this to be their divinely determined destiny.

In carefully researching this chapter, one thing came through with sickening clarity: The foreign policies of the western nations, especially the U.S., have done more to aid the tremendous buildup of Soviet power than has any other single factor... The Soviet Union and its satellites have now reached the position of military superiority and strategic world power to fulfill their predicted dreadful role in history. The pages of Ezekiel's and Daniel's prophecies are beginning to look like today's headlines.⁸⁹

Uncomfortably for Lindsey they soon became 'yesterdays' headlines also. With the gradual demise of Russia as a world power and the disintegration of her communist empire, Lindsey began to switch his emphasis onto Islam as the real threat to Israel and world peace.

Throughout his books, but increasingly in the latter editions, Lindsey repeatedly denigrates and demonises the Arab nations and Palestinians, in particular. He shows little understanding and even less compassion for their plight. His superficial assessment of their motivation is typical of other Christian Zionists.

'...their common desire to destroy the newly-formed nation of Israel.'⁹⁰

  'All Moslems see Israel as their enemy'⁹¹

  The Arab nations are united in their fanatical obsession to destroy Israel.⁹²

Long ago the psalmist predicted the final mad attempt by the confederated Arab armies to destroy the nation of Israel... (Psalm 83:1-8)... The conditions in the Middle East are already setting the stage for this attack. The whole world is concerned about the volatile Arab-Israelii conflict that is always close to igniting a global war. The Palestinians are determined to trouble the world until they repossess what they feel is their land. The Arab nations consider it a matter of racial honour to destroy the State of Israel.⁹³

  4.6 The Rise and Fall of the United States

  A popular view among Christian Zionists is the belief that God will continue to bless America as long as she remains an ally of Israel. Lindsey is no exception.

  Except for the U.S., Israel has no allies... We are still Israel's friend. But there are strong pressures from within to turn away from Israel. I pray that we do not, for our friendship with the Israelis is one of the reasons we've survived as a nation.⁹⁴

Lamenting the isolation the United States experiences in the United Nations when vetoing censure motions against Israel, Lindsey points out,

  Up to the time of the 1991 Madrid Conference, the Arabs were 'called upon' to 'comply,' 'desist,' 'refrain' etc. four times. Israel was 'demanded,' ordered,' etc. to do General Assembly bidding three hundred and five times. The UN voted six hundred and five resolutions between its inception and the Gulf War. Four hundred and twenty nine of those resolutions, or, sixty-two percent of the total of the UN's resolutions were against Israel or its interests.⁹⁵

  Lindsey seems to delight in finding obscure references to the United States in the Bible. So, for example in interpreting Revelation 12:13-17, he claims that the reference to '...the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly into the wilderness...' actually describes 'some massive airlift' that will transport escaping Jewish believers from the holocaust of Armageddon to the safety of places like Petra.

Since the eagle is the national symbol of the United States, its possible that the airlift will be made available by aircraft from the U.S. Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean.⁹⁶

  Lindsey does not explain why the symbolism of the eagle should be applied to the United States instead of to any one of a number of countries like Germany or the Czech Republic who also include an eagle as part of their national emblem. Nor does Lindsey explain why on this occasion the reference to the eagle should be understood as describing to modern aircraft and not in other passages mentioning the wings of eagles, such as Exodus 19:4, Deuteronomy 32:11-12 or Isaiah 40:31. Such sensationalist speculation hardly corroborates Lindsey's claim to hold to a consistent literal hermeneutic.

Despite this important role in supporting Israel, Lindsey does not see a hopeful future for the United States. In the 1980's when he berated the U.S. Administration for allowing Russia to gain apparent military superiority, Lindsey described America as, 'a second-class military power.'⁹⁷ According to Lindsey there were several stark choices before the American people.

So from the standpoint of Biblical prophecy, the U.S. must fade from its place of leadership for the west and its former supreme superpower status. There are several possible fates for the U.S. They include:

• A takeover by the communists
• Destruction by a surprise Soviet nuclear attack (I don't even like to think about this possibility)
• Becoming a dependent of the 10-nation European confederacy
• A far more hopeful fate than any of the above...⁹⁸

The third reason is that the U.S. has stood behind the Jews and the nation of Israel in their times of need. Both here and in the Middle East, we have fought persecution of the Jewish people and their nation, many times when no one else would help. God said to Abraham, the father of all Jews: 'I'll bless those who bless you, and I will curse those who curse you.' This promise was extended to protect all the descendents (sic) of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Genesis 12:3 and 27:29). I believe that if the U.S. Ever turns its back on Israel, we will no longer exist as a nation. Don't take this lightly, for throughout history the rise and fall of empires can be directly related to how they treated the Jews.⁹⁹

4.7 Europe and the Rise of a Revived Roman Empire

 Like many other dispensationalists before him, Lindsey claims that the European nations will become a revived Roman Empire out of which the Anti-Christ will emerge. His writings show a rare ability to shape prophecy to fit the changing size of the European Community. In 1970, quoting Walter Hallstein former president of the European Economic Community, Lindsey predicted,

We believe that the Common Market and the trend toward unification of Europe may well be the beginning of the ten-nation confederacy predicted by Daniel and the Book of Revelation.

'...At about 1980 we may fully expect the great fusion of all economic, military, and political communities together into the United States of Europe.'¹⁰⁰

In 1973, Lindsey returns to the speculation,

  You'll notice that nine countries are already members of the Community... The European union has therefore been temporarily halted at nine members instead of ten. My personal belief is that God Himself stopped the rapid unification because the Revised (sic) Roman Empire was coming together too fast. Once the confederacy includes the ten nations of God's choosing, the group will begin to look for a leader powerful enough to make this new nation the nucleus of a one-world government.¹⁰¹

 In 1980, he was more assured about things working to his timetable.  

When I wrote that in Late Great, the only possible successor to the Roman Empire (in my opinion) was the European Common Market. But a decade ago, that organization had just six member nations, not the 10 the Bible forecast. In 1979, Greece became the 10th member of the Common Market.

Recently, the Common Market went beyond its original economic and trade functions and elected a parliament. This move will eventually fulfill the Common Market's long range goal - to unify its members into a single political body.¹⁰²

It is possible that more than 10 nations could at one point be admitted. But in the final stages, it will number 10.¹⁰³

4.8 The Coming Holocaust: Armageddon Theology in Overdrive  

In two of Lindsey's early books he includes maps showing the various stages to the war of Armageddon. This comparison shows the evolution in Lindsey's thinking.

4.8.1 The Motivation for the War of Armageddon

At various times Lindsey has speculated as to the causes of the war of Armageddon. To justify his conviction that four great super-powers, a revived Roman Empire, a Russian, an African and the Chinese will all wish to occupy Palestine, Lindsey speculates that Israel will become the wealthiest and most desirable territory on earth.

The prophetic indication is that Israel will become one of the most prosperous nations on earth during the reign of the Antichrist... Israel will become a cultural, religious and economic world center, especially at Jerusalem. The value of the mineral deposits in the Dead Sea alone have been estimated at one trillion, two hundred and seventy billion dollars. This is more than the combined wealth of France, England, and the United States.¹⁰⁶

Together with her strategic significance as a bridgehead between Africa, Asia and Europe, Lindsey argues, based on his interpretation of Ezekiel, that the Russians will invade Israel to gain control of this great wealth.¹⁰⁷

In 1983, Lindsey began to speculate about an alternative reason for the war of Armageddon.

The dispute to trigger the war of Armageddon will arise between the Arabs and Israelis over the Temple Mount and Old Jerusalem (Zechariah 12:2-3), the most contested and strategic piece of real estate in the world. Even now we are witnessing the escalation of that conflict.¹⁰⁸

4.8.2 The Strategy for Russia Occupying Israel

In the Late Great Planet Earth, Lindsey claimed that Daniel 11 and Ezekiel 38 describe the way in which Russia will attack Israel.

When the Russians invade the Middle East with amphibious and mechanized land forces, they will make a 'blitzkrieg' type of offensive through the area... The current build-up of Russian ships in the Mediterranean serves as another significant sign of the possible nearness of Armageddon.¹⁰⁹

Ten years after making his first predictions concerning the role of Russia in the war of Armageddon, Lindsey confidently saw further corroboration.

In the Late Great Planet Earth I predicted that the Soviets would begin their Middle East campaign with a sweep through the Persian Gulf area into Iran. The recent Russian invasion of Afghanistan was a first step in that direction.¹¹⁰

Russia's attack on Afghanistan was its first step into the pages of Ezekiel, chapter 38. It's clear that the Russian strategy is to cut off the supply of Persian Gulf oil to the west and then close all sea lanes leading to that vital area.¹¹¹

The Russian invasion of Afghanistan has telegraphed the Soviet intention to take over the entire Middle East... This area has now fit precisely into the pattern predicted for it. All that remains is for the Russians to make their predicted move.¹¹²

When we apply this prophecy to modern times, it becomes obvious that the Soviets will use their recent conquest of Afghanistan as a springboard to overthrow Iran and gain control of the Persian Gulf area.¹¹³

Unfortunately for Lindsey, they didn't. Instead the former Soviet Union was forced ignominiously to pull out of Afghanistan. In 1990 when asked whether perhaps the Gulf War instead signalled the end of history, Lindsey claimed more evasively,

I've never named a day or time, but I can tell you this: Prophecy is on fast forward. I do believe we live in the generation that will see Armageddon.¹¹⁴

Then in early 1991 Lindsey again insisted the war against Iraq was 'setting the stage for the last, climactic war.'¹¹⁵

4.8.3 The Samson Option: Israel's Response to the Coming Holocaust

Following the war of 1973, Lindsey describes a conversation with one of Israel's 'most brilliant and aggressive generals.'¹¹⁶ At Masada, all Israel's graduating military officers swear allegiance to the State promising as part of a solemn oath that 'Masada shall never fall again.' Lindsey describes how his contact in the Israeli miltary claims this 'Masada Complex' has been superseded by a more aggressive 'MAD' retaliatory stance known as the 'Samson Complex'.

A hint of Israel's new outlook was revealed just after the 1973 war. Time magazine quoted a conversation between General Moshe Dayan, then chief of Israel's defense, and the late Prime Minister Golda Meir. The conversation reportedly took place when Israel's defences were being overwhelmed both in the Sinai and in the Golan Heights. 'The Third Temple (a term for modern Israel) is falling,' Dayan reportedly told his prime minister. 'Arm the doomsday weapon.'... Anyone who understands the history of the Jewish people knows what the Israelis would do if they found themselves about to fall to their Arab enemies... I'm sure that if Israel saw its own destruction near it would use whatever was needed to bomb key Arab cities right off the map.

In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Israel launched an attack on Russia as well, since the Soviets have armed and goaded Israel's Arab enemies. Remember, Israel has the capability of producing nuclear weapons, and its pilots are legends for their skill and daring. If the world were to stand by and allow another holocaust to occur, then, like Samson of old, Israel would surely take its enemies along to mutual destruction.¹¹⁷

4.8.4 The Extent of the Final Holocaust

  Lindsey is most graphic in describing what this war will be like.

The Russian force will establish command headquarters on Mount Moriah or the Temple area in Jerusalem. Daniel pointed this out when he said: 'And he shall pitch his palatial tents between the seas [Dead Sea and Mediterranean Sea] and the glorious holy mount Zion; yet he shall come to his end with none to help him' (Daniel 11:45 Amplified).¹¹⁸

However, Russia and her confederates will be destroyed completely by an act that Israel will acknowledge as being from their God. This act will bring many in Israel to believe in their true Messiah (Ezekiel 38:15ff.). The attack upon the Russian confederacy and the resulting conflict will escalate into the last war of the world, involving all nations.¹¹⁹

The armies of all nations will be gathered in the area of Israel, especially around Jerusalem. Think of it: at least 200 million soldiers from the Orient, with millions more from the forces of the West... Messiah Jesus will first strike those who have ravaged His city, Jerusalem. Then he will strike the armies amassed in the Valley of Meggido. No wonder blood will stand to the horses' bridles for a distance of two hundred miles from Jerusalem! (Revelation 14:20). Its grizzly to think about such carnage, but just to check all this out I measured from the point where the Valley of Armageddon sloped down to the Jordan Valley. From that point southward down the Valley through the Dead Sea to the port of Elath on the gulf of Aqabah measures approximately two hundred miles. Apparently this whole valley will be filled with war materials, animals, bodies of men, and blood!¹²⁰

What Lindsey does not appear to have measured is the elevation from Megiddo to Eilat. Megiddo is approximately 50 metres above sea level. Most of the Jordan Valley is 300 metres below sea level while the region around Eilat rises to around 70 metres above sea level. Without major geological changes, Lindsey's vision cannot be accomplished.

This may still happen, Lindsey speculates, based on Revelation 16, resulting from, '...a full-scale nuclear exchange' that will radically alter the climate causing a 'global heat wave' as well as the topography of the world.¹²¹

While this great battle is raging, every city in the world is going to be levelled. This will take place by what is called an 'earthquake' (Greek seismos), but that's not the only meaning. The word itself simply means 'a great shaking of the earth.' The earth could be shaken either by a literal earthquake or by a full-scale nuclear exchange of all remaining missiles. I lean towards the nuclear conflict; I believe that when these powers lock forces here, there will be a full-scale exchange of nuclear weapons, and its at this time that 'the cities of the nations fall.' Just think of the great cities of the world - London, Rome, Paris, Berlin, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Mexico City, and Tokyo - all these great cities are going to be judged at that time!¹²²

Apparently the devastation will be so tremendous that not only will all the cities be destroyed, but the land itself will be ripped apart. The coastlines and continents will be changed and all the mountains will be shifted in elevation... This chapter closes with multiplied millions of soldiers slaughtering each other in and around Israel.¹²³

4.8.5 Supernatural Deliverance from the Holocaust

Lindsey's constituency need have no fear of the imminent holocaust. Where as Israel is the 'Fuse of Armageddon'¹²⁴ Christians accepting his eschatology will, he assures, be safely raptured to heaven just before the tribulation of Armageddon begins. Lindsey depicts this event seen from the perspective of the non-Christian left behind,

There I was driving down the freeway and all of a sudden the place went crazy... cars going in all directions... and not one of them had a driver. I mean it was wild. I think we've got an invasion from outer space.¹²⁵

While Lindsey is confident that Christians will escape the holocaust through the rapture he seems less certain concerning the fate of the Jews. His writings offer a variety of perspectives, some more hopeful for the Jews than others.

In the Late Great Planet Earth, Lindsey gives the impression that he believes Israeli's will suffer during the war of Armageddon.

...the great catastrophic events which are to happen to this nation during 'the tribulation' are primarily designed to shock the people into believing in their true Messiah (Ezekiel 38; 39)... According to Zechariah, terrible fighting will center around the city of Jerusalem (Zechariah 12:2,3; 14:1,2)... In a battle line which will extend throughout Israel with the vortex centred at the Valley of Megiddo... Zechariah predicts that one-third of the Jews alive during this period will be converted to Christ and miraculously preserved.¹²⁶

In There's a New World Coming (1973), Lindsey claims God will supernaturally deliver those Jews who come to believe in Jesus during the tribulation. The fate of those who do not is left unclear. Based on his reading of Revelation 7:4-8 Lindsey insists,

The fact that God redeems 144,000 literal Jews and ordains them His evangelists not only makes good sense but fits in with the counsel of God... So I say loud and clear: the 144,000 described here are not Jehovah Witnesses, or Mormon elders, or some symbol of the Church; they are Jews, Jews, Jews!¹²⁷

In The 1980's: Countdown to Armageddon (1980), Lindsey is more hopeful for Israelis generally..

The God of Israel has sworn in the prophecies that He will not forsake the Israelis, nor let them be destroyed.¹²⁸

By 1983, in Israel and the Last Days (1983) Lindsey is able to reassure Jews that during the tribulation, despite being at the 'vortex' of a world war involving hundreds of millions of soldiers and despite enduring nuclear as well as conventional attacks from Russia, Europe and China,

In one of the most incredible miracles of all time, Israel will be converted to faith in her true Messiah and then miraculously protected... (Zechariah 12:8,9). As promised, God will strengthen the Israelis to fight with a ferocity never seen before on this earth. He will also supernaturally protect them from being annihilated.¹²⁹

4.9 Dating the Second Coming of Christ

One reason that other Dispensational writers may avoid quoting or making reference to Lindsey's views, is his tendency to set the date for the second coming of Christ. On the back cover of the American edition of The 1980's Countdown to Armageddon, for instance, is the assertion, 'We are the generation that will see the end times ...and the return of Jesus.'¹³⁰ The British edition is more circumspect claiming enigmatically, 'We are the generation the prophets were talking about...'¹³¹  

4.9.1 This Generation

 Having erroneously applied the predictions of Matthew 24 to the modern State of Israel and events since 1948, Lindsey calculates,

Jesus said that this would indicate that He was 'at the door,' ready to return. Then He said, 'Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place' (Matthew 24:34 NASB).

What generation? Obviously, in context, the generation that would see the signs-chief among them the rebirth of Israel. A generation in the Bible is something like forty years. If this is a correct deduction, then within forty years or so of 1948, all these things could take place. Many scholars who have studied Bible prophecy all their lives believe that this is so.¹³²

Lindsey neglects to reveal who these scholars are. In his later work, 'The 1980's Countdown to Armageddon', published in 1980, Lindsey continued to speculate that the tribulation would occur before 1990. 'The decade of the 1980's could very well be the last decade as we know It.' ¹³³

It is ironic that Lindsey should place such emphasis on a 'literal' hermeneutic and yet, on passages such as this, seek an interpretation that is far from literal. When Jesus refers to 'this generation' he uses the same language as in Matthew 16:28, where he predicts, "I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom." In both cases Jesus is referring to those alive at that time, not 2000 years or more later.

 4.9.2 Signs of the Times

  Nevertheless Lindsey insists,

  WE ARE THE GENERATION HE WAS TALKING ABOUT! I say this because, unmistakably, for the first time in history, all the signs are coming together at an accelerating rate.¹³⁴

In 1983 he was more emphatic,

All the predicted signs are before us. No other generation has ever witnessed the simultaneous coming together of these prophetic events. It is because of this that I believe we are the generation that will see the Lord Jesus' return. World events viewed through the grid of Bible prophecy indicate that we are rapidly moving toward the end of history as we know it.¹³⁵

Lindsey goes to great lengths to show that the 'signs' of his imminent return predicted by Jesus, such as wars, earthquakes, famines, etc. are increasing dramatically.

There have been many great earthquakes throughout history, but, according to surprisingly well-kept records, in the past they did not occur very frequently. The 20th Century, however, has experienced an unprecedented increase in the frequency of these calamities. In fact, the number of earthquakes per decade has roughly doubled in each of the ten year periods since 1950... The 1970's experienced the largest increase in the number of killer quakes known in history.¹³⁶

Whilst Lindsey lists the major earthquakes which occurred in the 1970's, he offers no evidence to substantiate his assertion that such disturbances are allegedly increasing exponentially. Quite simply there is none.¹³⁷ Nor did his apocalyptic claim that in 1982, the so-called 'Jupiter Effect' would cause 'history's greatest outbreak of earthquakes.'¹³⁸

While other contemporary dispensationalists like Thomas Ice could insist, '...there are no signs relating to the rapture. The fruit of date setting... has not been gathered from the root called dispensationalism.'¹³⁹ Lindsey and others have proved that date-setting sells books.¹⁴⁰ So in a foreword to The Coming Russian Invasion of Israel, by Thomas McCall and Zola Levitt, Lindsey claims, 'I feel this book is a must for everyone who wants to know where we are on God's time-table.'¹⁴¹

4.9.3 The Anti-Christ is Alive and Well

To reinforce his conviction, Lindsey also speculated in the 1970's and 1980's that the Antichrist was alive and about to be revealed.

We believe that the dramatic elements which are occurring in the world today are setting the stage for this magnetic, diabolical Future Fuehrer to make his entrance.¹⁴²

As I wrote 10 years ago in The Late Great Planet Earth, I believe this man is alive today-alive and waiting to come forth.¹⁴³

He will immediately rise to prominence in the EEC and from that post he will offer the world amazing solutions to all its complex and terrifying problems. Because of his superhuman powers and his solutions to the world's conflicts, the anti-Christ will be chosen to lead the EEC.¹⁴⁴

  5. Lindseyism, Criticism and Anti-Semitism

Confident of his own infallible interpretation of the Biblical prophecy and contemporary events, and following Darby's intolerance of those who take a different position, Lindsey seeks to inoculate his followers from the criticisms levelled against him.

Peter... even warned that in 'the latter times' men posing as religious leaders would rise from within the Church and deny, even ridicule, the prophetic word (II Peter 2:1-3; 3:1-18). If you pass this book around to many ministers you'll find how true this prediction has become.¹⁴⁵

Given his controversial reading of Scripture, Lindsey has attracted criticism particularly from postmillennialists¹⁴⁶ and even from fellow dispensationalists who distance themselves from what they term the popular 'apocalyptism' of 'Lindseyism'.¹⁴⁷

It's obvious that Lindsey does nor represent 'orthodox' dispensationalism. But Lindsey's brand of date-setting dispensationalism is the prevailing system. If Lindsey had not intimated at dates, and used the regathering of unbelieving ethnic Israel to their land as the basis for his speculations, The Late Great Planet Earth would not have been an eschatological novelty. It was the predictions that sold the books. Therefore, many who call themselves dispensationalists are really 'Lindseyite dispensationalists.'¹⁴⁸

Probably Lindsey's most controversial book is entitled, Road to Holocaust. In it, like Darby, he makes eschatology a test of orthodoxy. He accuses those who refuse to accept dispensationalism's distinction between the Church and Israel of actually encouraging anti-Semitism and who thereby, since according to Lindsey, they deny any future role for the State of Israel within the purposes of God.

  ...the same error that founded the legacy of contempt for the Jews and ultimately led to the Holocaust of Nazi Germany.¹⁴⁹

The purpose of this book is to warn about a rapidly expanding new movement in the Church that is subtly introducing the same errors that eventually and inevitably led to centuries of atrocities against the Jews and culminated in the Holocaust of the Third Reich... They are setting up a philosophical system that will result in anti-Semitism.¹⁵⁰

Given that Lindsey's form of pre-tribulational dispensationalism was unheard of prior to 1830, he is essentially condemning all Christians before then as well as those since who hold contrary views of the relationship of Israel to the Church. Of those reconstructionist theologians who had been most critical of his form of Zionism and who hold to a covenantal post-millennial eschatology, Lindsey has apparently asserted,

Man, this is one of the things that's dangerous. This is the most anti-Semitic movement I've seen since Adolf Hitler.¹⁵¹

His critics argue that it is actually Lindsey who is perpetuating the legacy of racism and anti-Semitism. Harold Brown traces the link between Marcion's heretical view of a radical discontinuity between the Old and New Testaments and anti-Semitism.

One consequence of Marcion's rejection of the Old Testament was hostility to the Jews. Both Roman Catholicism and Lutheranism which were much more critical of Old Testament Law than the Reformed tradition are also more inclined to anti-Semitism. The rejection of the authenticity and authority of the Old Testament by nineteenth-century liberalism was followed by virulent anti-Semitism, especially in Germany.¹⁵²

Brown's criticism could justifiably apply to dispensationalists such as Darby and Lindsey who deny the abiding validity of the Old Testament moral law, such as the prohibition to commit murder, on the Gentiles.

Dispensationalism creates an environment for any despot to do what he wants, even murder, since Jewish law, the Old Testament was never intended for the Gentile nations. Hitler murdered millions of Jews, but what law would Hal Lindsey use to judge him? The Ten Commandments? But that's Jewish law.¹⁵³

Donald Grey Barnhouse, a leading dispensationalist insisted, for example,

It was a tragic hour when the reformation churches wrote the Ten Commandments into their creeds and catechisms and sought to bring Gentile believers into bondage to Jewish law, which was never intended either for the Gentile nations or for the church.¹⁵⁴

Without the law of God, protection against anti-Semitism and other forms of racism are removed. It is ironic then that Lindsey charges his critics with anti-Semitism while he himself believes Israel will make a 'Treaty with Hell'¹⁵⁵ and that two thirds of all Jews along with one quarter of the world will die in the battle of Armageddon, the 200 mile valley from the Sea of Galilee to Eilat flowing with blood several feet deep,¹⁵⁶ with,

...death on a massive scale... One-fourth of the world's population will be destroyed within a matter of days... Nearly one billion people.¹⁵⁷

Lindsey does little to further international relations describing the Chinese race provocatively as 'the yellow peril' and 'Asian horde'¹⁵⁸ . His attitude toward the Arabs, who are themselves a Semitic race, is no better. Given his apocalyptic eschatology, he is pessimistic about Middle East politics and blind to any possibility of peace or reconciliation between Jews and Arabs. With sweeping generalisations he insist,

It is this kind of fierce pride and smoldering hatred against Israel that will keep the Middle East a dangerous trouble spot. No Arab leader could hope to remain in power if he were willing to make concessions in negotiating with Israel.¹⁵⁹

All Moslems see Israel as their enemy¹⁶⁰

Demar suggests a reason why Lindsey should charge his critics with anti-Semitism.

The futuristic and unwarranted literalistic interpretation of these passages forces the dispensationalist to predict the greatest holocaust the world has ever seen, all in the name of dispensational premillennialism! Is it any wonder that Hal Lindsey wants to paint non-dispensational premillennialist (sic) as holocaust-orientated? He must cover up the inevitable holocaust predicted by dispensationalism.¹⁶¹  

Perceptive Jews are not surprisingly cynical of Christian Zionist support for the State of Israel when it is realised that they largely share Lindsey's dispensational views on the fate of the Jews, while Christians are safely 'raptured' to heaven to escape the mother of all holocausts.

6. A Summary and Critique of Hal Lindsey's Christian Zionism (to be written)

Lindsey's particular kind of reading of history, coloured by a literal exegesis of highly selective biblical scriptures, is dualistic, pessimistic and confrontational. It justifies the continued demonisation of Russia, China and the Arab nations, and encourages Christian Zionists to lobby the government of the United States to ensure continued funding of Israel.

Revised but uncompleted 1 January 1999  

¹ Hal Lindsey, The 1980's: Countdown to Armageddon (New York, Bantam, 1981), p. 179.

² Hal Lindsey, The Final Battle (Palos Verdes, California, Western Front, 1995), back cover.

³ Hal Lindsey, The Apocalypse Code (Palos Verdes, California, Western Front, 1997), back cover.

⁴ Lindsey, 1980's., p. 179

⁵ Hal Lindsey, The Late Great Planet Earth (London, Lakeland, 1970); Satan is Alive and Well on Planet Earth (London, Lakeland, 1973); There's A New World Coming, A Prophetic Odyssey (Santa Ana, California, Vision House, 1973); The Liberation of Planet Earth (London, Lakeland, 1974); The Terminal Generation (New York, Bantam, ); The 1980's: Countdown to Armageddon (New York, Bantam, 1981); The Promise (Eugene, Oregon, Harvest House, 1982); The Rapture: Truth or Consequences (New York, Bantam, 1983); Combat Faith ( 1986); A Prophetical Walk Through the Holy Land (Eugene, Oregon, Harvest House, 1983); Israel and the Last Days (Eugene, Oregon, Harvest House, 1983); The Road to Holocaust (New York, Bantam, 1989); Planet Earth-2000, Will Man Survive? (Palos Verdes, California, Western Front, 1994); The Final Battle (Palos Verdes, California, Western Front, 1995); Planet Earth-2000, Will Man Survive? Rev. Edn. (Palos Verdes, California, Western Front, 1996); Amazing Grace (Palos Verdes, California, Western Front, 1996); Blood Moon (Palos Verdes, California, Western Front, 1996); The Apocalypse Code (Palos Verdes, California, Western Front, 1997); International Intelligence Briefing (Palos Verdes, California, HLM), monthly journal.

⁶ Lindsey's weekly radio programme is called 'Week in Review' and is aired by several Christian radio stations. http://www.audiocentral.com/rshows/weekinview/default.html

⁷ For more information see http://www.iib-report.com/

⁸ Lindsey, 1980's., p. 11. In 1983 Lindsey claims 30 million copies were in print. For later statistics see George Marsden, Understanding Fundamentalism and Evangelicalism (Grand Rapids, Eerdmans, 1991) p. 77, and Michael Lienesch, Redeeming America: Piety and Politics in the New Christian Right (Chapel Hill, North Carolina, North Carolina Press, 1993), p. 311. See also Gary Friesen, 'A Return Visit,' Moody Monthly (May 1988), p. 30; Lindsey's latest publisher, Western Front, is more conservative referring to 'a dozen books with combined world sales of more than 35 million.' Lindsey, The Final Battle (Palos Verdes, California, Western Front, 1995), back cover.

⁹ National & International Religion Report (22 October 1990), p. 1, cited in Gary Demar, Last Days Madness, Obsession of the Modern Church (Atlanta, Georgia, American Vision, 1997), p. 196.

¹⁰ Lindsey, 1980's., p. 7.

¹¹ Lindsey, Planet., p. 3

¹² Wagner, Beyond., p. 5.

¹³ Wagner, Beyond., p. 4.

¹⁴ Hal Lindsey, The Road to Holocaust (New York, Bantam, 1989), pp. 7-8.

¹⁵ Chapter 2. Early Christian Attitudes Towards the Jews.

¹⁶ J. N. D. Kelly, Early Christian Doctrine, rev. ed. (San Francisco, Harper & Row, 1978), pp. 69-75.

¹⁷ Gary DeMar and Peter J. Leithart, The Legacy of Hatred Continues: A response to Hal Lindsey's The Road to Holocaust (Tyler, Texas, Institute for Christian Economics, 1989), p. 34. See also E. A. Martens, Plot and Purpose in the Old Testament. (Leicester, IVP, 1981); Graeme Goldsworthy, Gospel and Kingdom, A Christian Interpretation of the Old Testament, (Exeter, Paternoster, 1981); According to Plan, The unfolding revelation of God in the Bible, (Leicester, IVP, 1991).

¹⁸ DeMar and Leithart, Legacy., p. 37.

¹⁹ Lindsey, Israel., pp. 32-33.

²⁰ Lindsey, There's., p. 8. The idea that the locusts mentioned in Revelation 9 are Cobra helicopters is raised again on page 141.

²¹ Lindsey, 1980's., p. 65.

²² Hal Lindsey, The Late Great Planet Earth (London, Lakeland, 1970), pp. 17-18.

²³ Hal Lindsey, There's A New World Coming, A Prophetic Odyssey (Santa Ana, California, Vision House, 1973), Back page.

²⁴ Lindsey, Late., p. 180. See also Demar, Last., p. 197.

²⁵ Lindsey, There's., p. 12.

²⁶ Lindsey, There's., p. 7.

²⁷ Lindsey, 1980's., p. 7.

²⁸ Lindsey, 1980's., p. 11.

²⁹ C. Van der Waal, Hal Lindsey and Biblical Prophecy (Neerlandia, Alberta, Canada, Inheritance Publications, 1991), p. 51.

³⁰ Van der Waal, Hal., p. 51.

³¹ Van der Waal, Hal., p. 52.

³² Lindsey, Late., p. 18.

³³ Lindsey, Late., back cover.

³⁴ Lindsey, Apocalypse., back cover.

³⁵ Van der Waal, Hal., p. 54.

³⁶ Van der Waal, Hal., p. 55.

³⁷ Van der Waal, Hal., p. 53.

³⁸ Van der Waal, Hal., p. 84.

³⁹ Hal Lindsey, The 1980's: Countdown to Armageddon (New York, Bantam, 1981); Israel and the Last Days (Eugene, Oregon, Harvest House, 1983); The Road to Holocaust (New York, Bantam, 1989); The Final Battle (Palos Verdes, California, Western Front, 1995); Planet Earth-2000, Will Man Survive? Rev. Edn. (Palos Verdes, California, Western Front, 1996); The Apocalypse Code (Palos Verdes, California, Western Front, 1997).

⁴⁰ Lindsey, 1980's., back cover.

⁴¹ Van der Waal, Hal., p. 48.

⁴² C. I. Scofield, What Do The Prophets Say? (Philadelphia, The Sunday School Times Co., 1918), pp. 18-19. Cited in Canfield, Incredible., pp. 274-275.

⁴³ Lindsey, Late., pp. 96-97.

⁴⁴ Lindsey, Final., front cover.

⁴⁵ Lindsey, Late., p. 66.

⁴⁶ Van der Waal, Hal., p. 78

⁴⁷ Lindsey, Late., pp. 155, 159.

⁴⁸ Lindsey, Israel., pp. 31-48.

⁴⁹ Lindsey, 1980's., p. 41.

⁵⁰ Lindsey, There's., p. 115

⁵¹ Lindsey, 1980's., p. 45.

⁵² E. Schuyler English, A Companion to the New Scofield Reference Bible (New York, Oxford University Press, 1972), p. 135.

⁵³ Hal Lindsey, The Promise (Eastbourne, Kingsway, 1983), pp. 187-191.

⁵⁴ Lindsey, Israel and the Last Days (Eugene, Oregon, Harvest House, 1983), pp. 18-19.

⁵⁵ Cited in 'The Church and Israel' by Michael Horton, Modern Reformation (May/June 1994), p. 1.

⁵⁶ Lindsey, Late., p. 43.

⁵⁷ Lindsey, 1980's., p. 12

⁵⁸ See John B. Taylor, Ezekiel (Leicester, IVP, 1969), pp. 234-250.

⁵⁹ Lindsey, Late., p. 51.

⁶⁰ Lindsey, Late., p. 53.

⁶¹ Lindsey, Israel., p. 19; Lindsey, 1980's., p. 11.

⁶² Lindsey, Late., p. 45.

⁶³ Lindsey, Late., p. 48. The idea of Jewish evangelists replacing the Church during the Tribulation offering people a second opportunity to believe in Jesus is also propounded in There's a New World Coming, pp. 121ff.

⁶⁴ Leon Uris, Exodus (New York, Bantam, 1958); Steve Lightle, Exodus II (Chepstow, Bridge, 1983); Tom Hess, Let My People Go (Charlotte, Morning Star, 1996); Gustav Scheller, Operation Exodus, Prophecy Being Fulfilled (London, Sovereign World, 1998).

⁶⁵ Lindsey, Israel., p. 20.

⁶⁶ Lindsey, Late., p. 54.

⁶⁷ Lindsey, Late., p. 55.

⁶⁸ Lindsey, Israel., p. 165.

⁶⁹ Lindsey, Late., pp. 56-58. This quote reveals Lindsey's basic ignorance of Islam. The Temple Mount on which the Dome of the Rock and Alaqsa Mosque are built constitutes the third most holy shrine to Moslems after Medina and Mecca not the second as Lindsey asserts here and repeats in There's a New World Coming. 'This site is second only to Mecca in sacredness to the millions of Moslems in the world.' p. 160.

⁷⁰ Lindsey, Israel., p. 23.

⁷¹ Lindsey, There's., p. 160.

⁷² Lindsey, Late., p. 57.

⁷³ Lindsey, There's., p. 164

⁷⁴ Lindsey, There's., p. 163.

⁷⁵ Lindsey, Israel., p. 29.

⁷⁶ Lindsey, Israel., p. 30.

⁷⁷ Lindsey, Late., pp. 56-58. This quote reveals Lindsey's basic ignorance of Islam. The Temple Mount on which the Dome of the Rock and Alaqsa Mosque are built constitutes the third most holy shrine to Moslems after Medina and Mecca not the second as Lindsey asserts here and repeats in There's a New World Coming. 'This site is second only to Mecca in sacredness to the millions of Moslems in the world.' p. 160.

⁷⁸ Eusebius Pamphilus, 'Predictions of Christ' The Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius Pamphilus (Grand Rapids, Baker Book House, 1988), 3:7, 92-94.

⁷⁹ Lindsey, Late., p. 54.

⁸⁰ Lindsey, 1980's., p. 13.

⁸¹ Lindsey, Late., p. 157.

⁸² Arno C. Gaebelein, Our Hope XXIII (August 1916), 110. Cited in Dwight Wilson, Armageddon Now! The Premillennial Response to Russia and Israel Since 1917 (Tyler, Texas, Institute for Christian Economics, [1977], 1991), p. 36.

⁸³ Lindsey, 1980's., p. 13.

⁸⁴ Lindsey, Late., p. 160.

⁸⁵ Lindsey, 1980's., p. 68.

⁸⁶ Lindsey, 1980's., p. 69.

⁸⁷ Lindsey, 1980's., p. 70-74.

⁸⁸ Lindsey, 1980's., p. 81.

⁸⁹ Lindsey, 1980's., p. 86.

⁹⁰ Lindsey, 1980's., p. 13.

⁹¹ Lindsey, 1980's., p. 45.

⁹² Lindsey, Israel., p. 33.

⁹³ Lindsey, Israel., pp. 38-39.

⁹⁴ Lindsey, 1980's., p. 45.

⁹⁵ Hal Lindsey, International Intelligence Briefing, 29th October 1998. http://www.iib-report.com/pages/transcripts/10.29.98/oct29.htm

⁹⁶ Lindsey, There's., p. 185.

⁹⁷ Lindsey, 1980's., p. 107.

⁹⁸ Lindsey, 1980's., p. 132.

⁹⁹ Lindsey, 1980's., p. 158.

¹⁰⁰ Lindsey, Late., p. 96.

¹⁰¹ Lindsey, There's., p. 194.

¹⁰² Lindsey, 1980's., p. 15.

¹⁰³ Lindsey, 1980's., p. 104.

¹⁰⁴ Lindsey, Late., pp. 155-159

¹⁰⁵ Lindsey, Israel., pp.37-44.

¹⁰⁶ Lindsey, Late., p. 156.

¹⁰⁷ Lindsey, Late., p. 156.

¹⁰⁸ Lindsey, Israel., p. 19.

¹⁰⁹ Lindsey, Late., p. 157.

¹¹⁰ Lindsey, 1980's., p. 13.

¹¹¹ Lindsey, 1980's., p. 47.

¹¹² Lindsey, 1980's., p. 63.

¹¹³ Lindsey, 1980's., p. 68.

¹¹⁴ National Review (19 November 1990) 49, cited in Demar, Last., p. 200.

¹¹⁵ 'Artswatch,' World (2 March 1991), 15, quoted in Gary Demar, Last Days Madness, Obsession of the Modern Church (Atlanta, Georgia, American Vision, 1997), p. 107.

¹¹⁶ Lindsey, 1980's., p. 37.

¹¹⁷ Lindsey, 1980's., p. 39.

¹¹⁸ Lindsey, Late., p. 160.

¹¹⁹ Lindsey, Late., p. 71.

¹²⁰ Lindsey, There's., p. 215.

¹²¹ Lindsey, There's., p. 230.

¹²² Lindsey, There's., p. 237.

¹²³ Lindsey, There's., p. 238.

¹²⁴ Lindsey, Late., p. 44.

¹²⁵ Lindsey, Late., p. 136.

¹²⁶ Lindsey, Late., pp. 48, 165, 167.

¹²⁷ Lindsey, There's., p. 121.

¹²⁸ Lindsey, 1980's., p. 45.

¹²⁹ Lindsey, Israel., pp. 45-46.

¹³⁰ Hal Lindsey, The 1980's: Countdown to Armageddon (New York, Bantam, 1982), back cover.

¹³¹ Hal Lindsey, The 1980's: Countdown to Armageddon (Basingstoke, Lakeland, 1983), back cover.

¹³² Lindsey, Late., p. 54.

¹³³ Lindsey, 1980's., back page.

¹³⁴ Lindsey, 1980's., p. 162.

¹³⁵ Lindsey, Israel., p. 47.

¹³⁶ Lindsey, 1980's., pp. 29-30.

¹³⁷ Demar, Last., p. 331. See also http://www.bible.ca/pre-earthquakes-history-data.htm

¹³⁸ Lindsey, 1980's., p. 29.

¹³⁹ Thomas D. Ice, 'Dispensationalism, Date-Setting and Distortion,' Biblical Perspectives (September/October, 1988), p. 1.

¹⁴⁰ Gary DeMar & Peter J. Leithart, The Legacy of Hatred Continues, A Response to Hal Lindsey's The Road to Holocaust, (Tyler, Texas, Institute for Christian Economics, 1989), p. 31.

¹⁴¹ cited in C. Van der Waal, Hal Lindsey and Biblical Prophecy (Neerlandia, Alberta, Canada, Inheritance Publications, 1991), p. 14.

¹⁴² Lindsey, Late., p. 113.

¹⁴³ Lindsey, 1980's., p. 15.

¹⁴⁴ Lindsey, 1980's., p. 109.

¹⁴⁵ Lindsey, Late., p. 67.

¹⁴⁶ Samuele Bacciochi, Hal Lindsey's Prophetic Jigsaw Puzzle, Five Predictions That Failed (Berrien Springs, Biblical Perspectives); Gary DeMar & Peter J. Leithart, The Legacy of Hatred Continues, A Response to Hal Lindsey's The Road to Holocaust, (Tyler, Texas, Institute for Christian Economics, 1989); Kenneth Gentry, 'Dispensationalism's Achilles' Head: Comments on Hal Lindsey's The Road to Holocaust' Dispensationalism in Transition, Institute of Christian Economics, Vol II, No. 8 & 9, 1989; Steve Schlissel & David Brown, Hal Lindsey and the Restoration of the Jews (Edmonton, Alberta, Still Waters Revival Books, 1990); Curtis Crenshaw, a review of Steve Schlissel & David Brown, Hal Lindsey and the Restoration of the Jews (Edmonton, Alberta, Still Waters Revival Books, 1990) Contra Mundum No. 3, Spring 1992.; C. Van der Waal, Hal Lindsey and Biblical Prophecy, (Neerlandia, Alberta, Inheritance Publications, 1991); Stephen O'Leary, Arguing the Apocalypse: A Theory of Millennial Rhetoric (Oxford, Oxford University Press); John Mann, a review of Stephen O'Leary's, Arguing the Apocalypse: A Theory of Millennial Rhetoric (Oxford, Oxford University Press), http://homepages.anglianet.co.uk/johnm/apoc.html . See also Dispensationalism in Transition (Institute of Christian Economics, Tyler, Texas); Center for the Refutation of Dispensational Falsehoods (CRDF) web site: http://village.ios.com/~dougg/biblstud/crdf/crdf.htm ; Contra Mundum web site: http://www.wavefront.com/~contra_M/cm/reviews.cm03_rev_jewish.html ;

¹⁴⁷ Blaising & Bock, Dispensationalism., pp. 14-15.

¹⁴⁸ Gary DeMar and Peter J. Leithart, The Legacy of Hatred Continues: A response to Hal Lindsey's The Road to Holocaust (Tyler, Texas, Institute for Christian Economics, 1989), p. 17.

¹⁴⁹ Lindsey, Road., back page. Refuted by Gary DeMar and Peter J. Leithart, The Legacy of Hatred Continues: A Response to Hal Lindsey's The Road to Holocaust (Fort Worth, Dominion Press, 1989)

¹⁵⁰ Lindsey, Road., p. 3

¹⁵¹ Hal Lindsey, The Dominion Theology Heresy, Tape 217, 1987, quoted in DeMar & Leithart, Legacy., p. viii.

¹⁵² Harold O. J. Brown, Heresies: The Image of Christ in the Mirror of Heresy and Orthodoxy from the Apostles to the Present (Garden City, New York, Doubleday, 1984), p. 455, note 38.

¹⁵³ Gary DeMar and Peter J. Leithart, Legacy., p. 25.

¹⁵⁴ S. Lewis Johnson, 'The Paralaysis of Legalism' Bibliotheca Sacra (April/June 1963), p. 109. Cited in Gary DeMar and Peter J. Leithart, The Legacy., p. 24.

¹⁵⁵ Lindsey, Late., p. 151.

¹⁵⁶ Hal Lindsey, The Final Battle (Palos Verdes, Western Front, 1995), pp. 250-252; Israel and the Last Days (Eugene, Oregon, Harvest House, 1983), pp. 20-30.

¹⁵⁷ Hal Lindsey, There's a New World Coming (New York, Bantam Books, 1984, p. 90.

¹⁵⁸ Lindsey, Late., pp. 81-82.

¹⁵⁹ Lindsey, Late., p. 76.

¹⁶⁰ Lindsey, 1980's., p. 45.

¹⁶¹ Gary DeMar and Peter J. Leithart, The Legacy of Hatred Continues: A response to Hal Lindsey's The Road to Holocaust (Tyler, Texas, Institute for Christian Economics, 1989), p. 27.