To the casual observer, there is no doubt that Hal’s rhetoric has become somewhat more subdued since the debacle of the 70s and 80s. But Hal is still using current events, mainly in the middle east, to predict (albeit less specifically) the return of Jesus “real soon now”. That’s why a more appropriate label for him today is “date-suggester”. Indeed, most of the prophecy pundits have gotten more sophisticated in their approach to predicting Jesus’ return since those heady days of late 70s and early 80s.
It’s interesting to note that many of the great date-setters of the 19th century had significant followings even after their predictions failed to come true. Two notable ones are William Miller and Charles Taze Russell. Miller was a Baptist preacher who predicted Jesus would return around 1844, and was the founder of the Adventist movement. Even after Miller’s failed prediction, other Adventist faithful continued in the belief that Jesus would still return “real soon now”. Russell believed and taught that Jesus was going to return in 1878, and when that prediction failed, he modified his teaching and went on to found an organization that eventually morphed into the Jehovah’s Witnesses. The zeal of his followers never waned in spite of his earlier missteps. It seems they could rationalize just about anything, including the true nature of Christ’s return.
Has Lindsey ever confessed “I was wrong” about the 1981/1988 prediction, and give an explanation as to why he was wrong? Where exactly did he fail in his interpretation of Bible prophecy? I suspect many of his listeners today do not know of the earlier failed predictions, nor do they care as to why his methodology (futurist literalism, which he still holds to) failed so miserably back in the 70s.
Most Christians are just not critical enough when they listen to or watch these pop prophecy preachers. They take every word as gospel, and often lack the tools to do hard Bible study on their own. Cf. Acts 17:10,11. So if Johnny T.V. Preacher says that Hesitations 4:19 is speaking about events in modern Israel, well then, that just must be true. Why should they doubt Johnny T.V. Preacher? What will folks think of Lindsey, Smith, and Co. in a hundred years? Will they be watching the 22nd century version of YouTube and wondering “What were these guys thinking?”
Ignorance of the Bible and Church history are killing the Church today. Theology is too important to be left to “experts”.
An EMP attack by Iran on Israel, the U.S. and EU would overnight send the most technically developed nations on earth back to the middle of the 19th century. All our electrical grids would be destroyed. There would be no communications by satellite, TV, radios, telephones; no transportation as we know it, no water, no fuel, no electricity, no food, no stoves, no heat, no air-conditioning, no functioning hospitals, no elevators, no law and order, no computers, no banks, very little work force. In addition, there would be very few military weapons systems that would work. ...Lindsey's well-established pattern is to comment on current event items and then make a tenuous yet tortured connection to the Bible. A careful examination of the Scripture in each of these cases will demonstrate that they do not back up Lindsey's assertions. E.g., the is no picture of a “cashless society” in the book of Revelation. One must already have that idea in mind when approaching the text to find it there. Same thing with EMP weapons and invaders on horses. EMP weapons would not make modern soldiers prefer swords over small arms ala Ezekiel 38.I never thought I would say this, but just maybe this is the reason that in chapter 38 of Ezekiel he predicts that the armies that invade Israel in the last days are all riding horses . Could it be that Ezekiel's prophecy is more literal than any of us dared to believe? (February 20, 2009)
Of all the generations in history, it is to this generation that the prophecies of the last days are addressed. Previous generations looked for the signs given by Scripture, but only this generation can truly see them all come together at one time – which is itself a key fulfillment of prophecy. {Lindsey used to believe “this generation” started in 1948 and would end around 1988. Has he ever redefined what he means by this phrase in light of his earlier misstatements?}
The Prophet Daniel predicted these conditions: "And I heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things? And he said, 'Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.'" (Daniel 12:8-9) We are witnessing the "unsealing" of the end-times prophecies . (February 06, 2009)
If the present economic crisis continues to spiral downward into a world depression, as experts reluctantly admit will happen, it can indeed be the "transformational crisis" that forces the world to accept a totally centralized control of a cashless society . All that remains, then, is for the anointed leader the Bible calls the antichrist to step forward and take over.
The Apostle John, under the inspiration of God's Spirit, predicted these things 2,000 years ago on the small island of Patmos. Now what seemed impossible for nearly 20 centuries is developing right before our eyes. (January 30, 2009)
Only the most biblically illiterate person would take Lindsey's commentaries seriously.