What do you know about Hal Lindsey?

Hal Lindsey ^

[Hillary's Lovely Legs]

I have been directed to read Hal Lindsey about the choice of Cardinal Ratzinger and future prophecy.

He appears to be a commentator, but I am getting a funky vibe.

Does anyone know anything about this guy and his prophecies?

[tang-soo]

The Bible says that no one knows the day or hour of the Lord's return. That's good enough for me.

Not quite true ...

The lesson from the fragment you quote is that we are to not prepare, look for, be concerned about or hope for the coming of Christ. Matthew 24 speaks of the parable of the fig tree that addresses this issue ...

32) “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near.

33) Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door.

34)I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.

35)Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

In other words, we will not know the exact time, but we should recognize the "birth pains" that lead up to this event. Birth pains was another metaphor used by Christ that characterizes the increased frequency and the severity of the events preceeding his return. I hope this helps.

[Richard Kimball]

I've got an original 1970's copy of Late Great. I don't recall him making any date predictions. Can you point to anyplace where he sets dates? I seem to recall him specifically saying on several occasions that he would not set dates.

[Steven W.]

thank you for your clarification(s) as they are correct!

[redhead]

"Your funky vibe is justified. His thing is prophecy about end of the world. He is wrong OFTEN."

Yes. But he made scads of money getting there. Please do NOT take any of the so-called 'prophecies' regarding the number of popes until the end times as anything more than wishful thinking, speculation, and self-aggrandizement. God's time will be fulfilled in GOD'S time, and not because someone with an interesting dream thinks they've heard from Him directly.

[mugs99]

He appears to be a commentator, but I am getting a funky vibe

Just google his "facts" and "quotes". The man is a liar.
...

[TomSmedley]

educated at one of the finest seminaries in the world (Dallas Theological Seminary) which will always drag him back to center when he is tempted toward vain speculation.

Also one of the most irrelevent. When the passionate student radicals of the late 60s were questioning the foundations of America's civil religion, DTS had nothing to say. When Roe v. Wade happened in their own back yard, DTS had nothing to say.

[Steven W.]

you are right too!

[Xenalyte]

Beat me to it!

[ahayes]

I ain't saying yes. I ain't saying no. But you might want to check out this http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=43690

Interesting. . . I'm not much for extra-biblical prophecy, but I won't flat-out say it doesn't exist either.

If you found that article interesting, you'll probably be interested in this online book too: http://www.yadayahweh.com/fh/fh_toc.html Check out the appendix for a summary of his most unusual ideas!

The author of this online book is a bit too credulous as far as extra-biblical stuff goes and can be quite imaginative in some of his interpretations, as well as having an anti-established religion slant, but he's quite thorough and I think argues his points pretty well.

[Steven W.]

you are right - Lindsey is what I would consider a interpreter & commentator with the biblical gift of discernment with regards to prophecies, not that he is or considers himself any kind of prophet.

[tuckrdout]

Mine is packed in a box. I don't know what page! If you read it you should have remembered that prediction!

Geez, do I remember worrying about it!

Lindsey and the movie, "the man who saw tomorrow" about Nostrodomus, made me sick for days!!

[Steven W.]

he - as were many others - wrong about Y2K. He has no understanding that I'm aware of with regards to technology. But the same can be said of many of the folks here on FR who were totally wacked out more than near any other time, into complete & total kookness, so he was far from the that IMO.

[tang-soo]

And I don't believe that everything will center on Israel. This is a popular misconception.

You must have a different Bible than myself. If you interpret the Bible literally, Israel is at the center of all end times prophecy. Here's a quick servey ... Daniels' 70 weeks, Ezekiel 34, 38, 39, the entire book of Isaiah, Zechariah, Micah, The Gospels passages that speck of the end times ie Matthew 24-25, a significant quote from Christ is Matthew 24:15 "“So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’spoken of through the prophet Daniel–let the reader understand", this speaks of the Anti-Christ in the newly constructed Temple referred to in Daniel Chap 9. And of course the book of Revelation. It all speaks of Israel heavily being in the center of end times.

[Fred Hayek]

I get wary of people who play "pin the tail on the Antichrist".

[TomSmedley]

Did Hal, or Salem Kirban, or David Hunt, predict the sudden collapse of the Soviet Empire?

Nope.

Instead of glorifying God for taking down that threat, that enemy of humanity, the fortune tellers began looking frantically for other antichrist candidates to cower before.

[MileHi]

To some of you who say that HL has been wrong so often, post the prediction and the book it is from so we can see.

I have read some of his books and I don't recall any hard predictions. Some conclusions drawn from scripture and current events that he saw a fulfilling prophesy in the Bible. I recall him alwasy saying that in the end no man can know. So lets see all of these missed predictions, quote 'em.

[Wiseghy]

I read a lot of Hal Lindsay in High School, (late 70's) I'm embarrassed to admit. He's a former tug-boat captain (!) one day wrote a book about biblical predictions. He had lots of chatter about the "the eagle and the bear", mysterious biblical visions of combat "helicopters", and strange references to the European Common Market. Unsurprisingly, almost nothing came to pass and he has been thoroughly debunked by nearly, if not all serious biblical and religious scholars. I'm shocked that anyone takes him seriously anymore. He seemed sincere, if a bit deluded, at the time, just as I probably was.

[tang-soo]

Very cool. I have enjoyed CHuck Missler's teachings for several years. I have listened to many hours of his breoadcast online at the link you posted. I attended a prophecy conference about a year ago where he and Zola Levit spoke. It was outstanding.

You comment about taking the Bible seriously as a result of Missler's teachings, one of the things I've heard him say often is that over the years, he has had to rethink previous ideas about The Word because of his missunderstandings, BUT in every case, these missunderstandings came about because he had not taken the Bible literally enough.

[Cecily]

Especially Zechariah. Jesus Christ will return to fight the enemies of Israel.

[Tolkien]

How should I put this? Most of the people who have posted thus far are correct. While he is a conservative christian, he does have marrage problems and I would not hold to his teachings on escatology at all. If you read "The Late Great Planet Earth" today, you could hardly keep from laughing.

His book did, however, put out a renewed look into Christianity in the 70s that was not there before. I know 2 people that came to Christ because of that book and still are to this day, so I have to give credit to him because the Holy Spirit was able to use it. When it comes to biblical teaching however, there are far better choices out there. Hope this helps!