Men of God do not make false prophecies.. In the Old Covenant, false prophets were stoned. In the New, they should be ostracized.
Go to a library, and get Late Great Planet Earth. See how, because of his expertise as a Bible teacher, he thought in the 1970's the Soviet Union would ally with Libya, swoop in, take over Israel, and get their butts handed to them. When Y2K happened, he was at the fore of the "end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it" types. Both were grand fizzles. After either, he should have quietly stepped aside, never to speculate prophetically again.
If you want to listen to a riverboat pilot without a college degree, be my guest. He doesn't have the expertise in Biblical exegesis to know what he's talking about. But understand, those of us who know anything about historical theology only snicker when presented with Hal Lindsey's attempts to peddle his scaremongering.
WEll, we will respectfully disagree then. I think Hal only speculates on what he thinks MIGHT happen. He doesn't say something for sure will definitly happen. IMHO..I read his book and get his Prophecy Updates daily and I don't take anything anyone says along these lines as definite. But there is no reason to bash him. One thing about Prophecy...it either will or will not happen. But the Bible says there is a crown ready for those who look for the return of the Lord. Hey I can use all the help I can get.