By Michael Foust — Originally published in Crosswalk.com
Hal Lindsey, the author of the bestselling book The Late Great Planet Earth and a prominent end-times teacher, died on November 25. He was 95.
Lindsey hosted two prophecy-themed programmes on TBN: The International Intelligence Briefing from 1994 to 2005 and The Hal Lindsey Report from 2006 to 2019. Each programme examined current events through a dispensational, premillennial view of Scripture. More recently, Lindsey hosted Hal Lindsey Presents on Daystar, His Channel, and on HalLindsey.com.
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Lindsey became a nationwide name in 1970 with the publication of The Late Great Planet Earth, which sparked widespread interest in biblical prophecy and had a major impact on evangelicalism. In it, Lindsey suggested that the geopolitical climate of the 20th century aligned with end-times scenarios described in the Bible. The book was written with journalist Carole C Carlson.
It was one of the top-selling books of the 1970s and eventually was made into a 1977 movie of the same name, narrated by Orson Welles.
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In The Late Great Planet Earth, Lindsey suggested that Jesus would return within a generation of Israel’s establishment in 1948, leading many readers to interpret this as pointing to 1988.
The return of Christ, he wrote, should lead Christians to live with urgency and purpose.
“Far from being pessimistic and dropping out of life, we should be rejoicing in the knowledge that Christ may return any moment for us,” he wrote. “This should spur us on to share the good news of salvation in Christ with as many as possible. The Holy Spirit is working upon men in a dramatic way, and He will lead you.”
Biblical prophecy, he wrote, can “become a sure foundation upon which your faith can grow”.
“We believe there is a hope for the future, in spite of the way the world looks today,” he wrote. “We believe that a person can be given a secure and yet exciting view of his destiny by making an honest investigation of the tested truths of Bible prophecy.”
His life’s goal, he said, was to point people to Christ.
“One way or another, history continues in a certain acceleration toward the return of Christ. Are you ready?”
Lindsey wrote other books about prophecy, including There’s a New World Coming, The Rapture, Hope for the Terminal Generation, Satan is Alive and Well on Planet Earth, The Final Battle, Combat Faith, and Amazing Grace.
Lindsey “came to faith in Christ as a tugboat captain on the Mississippi River,” according to his official obituary. He graduated from Dallas Theological Seminary. Biblical prophecy, he said, “gave me a certainty that this book [the Bible] could not have been written by mere men”.
He is survived by his wife and three daughters, as well as grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
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