I don't think Lindsey has ever claimed to be a prophet. He's always offered his interpretation of scriptures, with which you can either agree or disagree.
But he does claim to be an "oracle".
Hal has always been careful to weasel-word his comments on end-times events.
"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." (The Late Great Planet Earth, p. 54)
"The decade of the 1980’s could very well be the last decade of history as we know it." (The 1980’s: Countdown to Armageddon, p. 8)
More often than not he has been wrong with his "suggestions" on the unfolding of events.
Quite so.
He's merely a student of Scripture and a researcher. Now, he's acquired a lot of great connections and sources to add to his considerable study on his own.