Ben O.
Hal Lindsey is an evangelical Christian speaker and writer. He is most known for his 1970 book The Late Great Planet Earth, a book that predicted the coming end of the world by interpreting current events in the context of the book of Revelation's apocalypse. Careful not to predict specific dates he did use the book to make some generalizations. Lindsey is a dispensationalist, meaning that he believes history to move according to dispensations from God interjecting in the world. His view is that at any time the literal interpretation of the prophecy of the book of Revelation will be upon us. Since the publishing of The Late Great Planet Earth Lindsey has published 13 other books, making him a very prolific author.
Currently Lindsey also makes and publishes a video series called “The Hal Lindsey Report”. The program is an interpretation and report of current events in the context of his prophecies and religious beliefs. While there are an incredible number of these videos (they are published weekly) I watched and summarized an episode from March 2013 right when Pope Benedict was retiring and before the conclave.
To set the stage for his message during the video, a graphic of a red tinged word, a computer chip, and St. Peters Basilica is behind him. Resting under his arm is a bible, though as it is not referenced seems to be a bit of a preacher prop. In the video Lindsey makes the point that the government will soon force national ID cards upon us to work and buy things, and that soon we will all need to be RFID chipped with access to out medical and financial records. This is clearly a reference to the mark of the beast, and while he doesn't explicitly mention it he refers to the fact that he has brought it up on the program before several times. He goes on to say that the retirement of the Pope and the election of the new Pope line up perfectly with a document called The Prophecy of the Popes attributed to a 12th century St. Malachy and published in the lat 16th century. As an aside this document seems to be accurate only up to its publishing date in the 1590's and is believed to be a hoax. He goes on to say that the new predicted pope will be “Peter the Roman”(predicted by the Prophecy of the Popes) and will reestablish the Roman empire and bring about the antichrist and the false prophet.
This summary covers about half of what was covered in a 15 minute show and I think that its scattered and lengthy nature shows how Lindsey works. He seems to apply prophecy to anything and everything that he can in a hope that something sticks. How he interprets prophecy seems to be flexible with what is currently going on in the world. The key quote I pulled from this episode is when about the biblical apocalypse Lindsey says, "We may literally be standing at the threshold of these events.” Which seems to me to be exactly his message, from the first book in 1970 till now.
Hal Lindsey is an evangelical Christian speaker and writer. He is most known for his 1970 book The Late Great Planet Earth, a book that predicted the coming end of the world by interpreting current events in the context of the book of Revelation's apocalypse. Careful not to predict specific dates he did use the book to make some generalizations. Lindsey is a dispensationalist, meaning that he believes history to move according to dispensations from God interjecting in the world. His view is that at any time the literal interpretation of the prophecy of the book of Revelation will be upon us. Since the publishing of The Late Great Planet Earth Lindsey has published 13 other books, making him a very prolific author.
Currently Lindsey also makes and publishes a video series called “The Hal Lindsey Report”. The program is an interpretation and report of current events in the context of his prophecies and religious beliefs. While there are an incredible number of these videos (they are published weekly) I watched and summarized an episode from March 2013 right when Pope Benedict was retiring and before the conclave.
To set the stage for his message during the video, a graphic of a red tinged word, a computer chip, and St. Peters Basilica is behind him. Resting under his arm is a bible, though as it is not referenced seems to be a bit of a preacher prop. In the video Lindsey makes the point that the government will soon force national ID cards upon us to work and buy things, and that soon we will all need to be RFID chipped with access to out medical and financial records. This is clearly a reference to the mark of the beast, and while he doesn't explicitly mention it he refers to the fact that he has brought it up on the program before several times. He goes on to say that the retirement of the Pope and the election of the new Pope line up perfectly with a document called The Prophecy of the Popes attributed to a 12th century St. Malachy and published in the lat 16th century. As an aside this document seems to be accurate only up to its publishing date in the 1590's and is believed to be a hoax. He goes on to say that the new predicted pope will be “Peter the Roman”(predicted by the Prophecy of the Popes) and will reestablish the Roman empire and bring about the antichrist and the false prophet.
This summary covers about half of what was covered in a 15 minute show and I think that its scattered and lengthy nature shows how Lindsey works. He seems to apply prophecy to anything and everything that he can in a hope that something sticks. How he interprets prophecy seems to be flexible with what is currently going on in the world. The key quote I pulled from this episode is when about the biblical apocalypse Lindsey says, "We may literally be standing at the threshold of these events.” Which seems to me to be exactly his message, from the first book in 1970 till now.