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Summary: GR8 overview..
Review: I've read over 50 end-times commentaries and this 1 makes my top 5. A little intense and detailed for the very new believer but allready saved Christians will find this a gem.
Rating: 
Summary: Fundamentalism's original flub-up? Or original sin?
Review: Lindsay tries to persuade people that his so-called 'literal' interpretations of biblical prophesies are correct, when all he's really doing is guessing, and probably [no, let's make that certainly] badly. By literal, he means 'historical'. In other words, he assumes that the powerful symbolical poetry found expressed in biblical prophesy is supposed to literally represent (clothe itself in?) powerful world events that will unfold chronologically in time. (Instead, these powerful symbols serve more as maps to guide our progress through the spiritual and temporal dimensions of our time, and other people through their own times). The Holy Bible being great literature, it is at times very symbolic--some of its symbols are so arcane and impenetrable that this self-proclaimed expert exegete is unlikely to get at the inherent truths merely by being anal. A lot of the "Book of Revelation" and similar writings are more like Bob Dylan's dream songs than like some historical tract. They illuminate tendencies in the collective and individual psyches of humankind, and enshrine sources of spiritual and poetic power which are tapped into in different ways by each reader. They represent patterns of energy which never die, though they may alter themselves over time [and new ones may be born, or synthesize, in a way like sexual reproduction, from the 'genetic material' of previous myths and power complexes]. Universal symbols are not waiting for the prophets to 'invent' them: they exist in an unformed but potential state at all times. They parade before many of us in our dreams. The prophetic worker hooks into the chain (or is hooked by it), and if he's got the necessary writing or memory skills, passes on what he can. The battle of good versus evil, as well as the other great machinations elicited in the prophetic books of the Bible, are constantly going on within us and swirling around us. They should not be tied down to some past, present, or future historical events, as is being attempted by this self-serving demagogue--there are wider associations and deeper wellsprings to be tapped into than are being offered to us by this narrow-minded fellow...
Rating: 
Summary: Wrong, but for understandable reasoning.
Review: The spiritual Christian has a flaw in that when someone qoutes Bible scripture they accept the information being supplied. Hal Lindsey is the scripture qoute king. I admire him for staying with what he believes and extends that to protect his readers from non scripture. However Hal is a good teacher, super versed, and sharp, but he is not a prophet himself, leaving the analysis he writes seriously off target. I give 5 stars since Hal is pushing forward in an honest attempt at what he and millions believe. If you are looking for prophecy read Karl Maddox SB 1 or God which uses both biblical and science of today that has proved true and predictions have been fulfilled. Including the terrorist attacks and bio war. Hal Lindsey got his start in the Charismatic movement when there was belief that this was the last great out pouring of the spirit. If that is true then this is the reason why his books no longer pack the punch they did, or could it be that he is just honestly wrong. I think so, but as it is said, nice try. Read SB 1 or God or at least read the reviews to make your call.
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Summary: After September 11, A Must Read
Review: I first read "The Late Great Planet Earth" twenty years ago. Over the years I had been all but convinced that Hal was nuts. How could plagues, pestilence and nuclear war described in the book come to pass in my lifetime? Since September 11, 2001, I no longer ask that question. Plausibility is no longer an issue. I am rereading this book to refresh my memory and to better understand what is happening to this planet today. Hal's exegetics may not be 100%, but they are certainly worth a second look.
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Summary: The Ultimate in a Reading Experience
Review: I am an avid reader but no other book has so greatly impacted my life as this one has. The contents of this book, when it first came out, not only dramatically transformed my life but also the lives of many of my relatives and close acquaintances. Back in the 80's, I bought quite a few copies of this book to pass to friends and relatives. Now I am buying it again to educate and provide another person the benefits and rewards associated with understanding the Holy Word. As the events of our times take a deadly turn such as the disaster in New York City, we should get informed and knowledgeable in what options we have to face life on a daily basis. Those tragic events should be a signal in our life alerting us that there is not always another tomorrow. Whoever reads this book will never regret it. You've got to read this book.
Rating: 
Summary: He Called It
Review: Be the book junk or not is a matter of opinion. But Hal got one thing correct- In 1970 he predicted that the Final battle would be between US and Russia Allied vs China and the Middle East. No one in 1970 thought it possible that the US and Russia would be allies- this was at the height of the cold war. Here we are in 2001 with China selling arms to Syria and Iran. Maybe Hal got lucky on this one.
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Summary: It'd be funny if it weren't for all the destroyed lives...
Review: In 100 years, Hal Lindsey will be remembered in footnotes of history books that equate him with past failed prophets like William Miller (the Adventist who predicted the coming of Christ in 1843), Ann Lee (the Shaker founder who declared the start of the new Millennium in the 1840s), Joachim of Italy (the world would end in 1260), Jan Matthys (a Reformation-era doomsayer who caused a Branch-Davidian style slaughter), and Montanus (the original false prophet of doom, who said Jesus would return in Asia Minor in the 2nd century). Like them, Lindsey felt behind him a trail of disappointed, dispirited people who took him seriously. Lindsey predicted that the world would end by 1988 - and guess what, we're still here! A lot of people altered their entire approach to life; they put off college, put off marriage, and did NOTHING to make the world a better place - after all, why help care for the poor, fight the persecution of Christians overseas, or work to stem the moral decline of America when IT'S ALL ABOUT TO GET BLOWN UP ANYWAY. In fact, the rise in abortions, environmental destruction, starvation, disease, etc. is A GOOD THING, because it confirms our FAITH that the RAPTURE is about to happen! Unfortunately, Hal Lindsey's basic system - that the end times were inaugurated with the regathering of Israel in 1948, and that the Anti-Christ will be the man who signs a peace treaty between Israel and its Arab neighbors - has been kept alive in the minds of millions of people thanks to writers like Tim LaHaye, Jerry Jenkins, Grant Jefferies, Jack Van Impe, etc. That's too bad, because NOWHERE in the Bible does God say this. (The oft-quoted prophecies in Daniel actually refer to events that were fulfilled in the days of Alexander the Great and the Maccabean revolt, not the coming of the Anti-Christ. If these writers bothered to look up Hannakuh in an encyclopedia, they'd know that.) Someday, I'm sure that someone WILL broker a treaty between Israel and the Arabs. When that happens, millions of American Fundamentalists are going to quit their jobs and go up to a hilltop to await the Rapture. It'll be another black-eye on American Christianity when it doesn't happen.
Rating:
Summary: Save your money
Review: Misinterpretation of Revelation run amuck! Try reading The Lamb's Supper by Scott Hahn or something, anything that predates the dispensationalist premillenium assumptions of evangelicals since Darby and Scofield et al.
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Summary: It's Time to Take a Second Look at Lindsey
Review: In the early 70s I would've given this book a five star rating. It was an important book in my spiritual journey, and I gave several copies away. Over the years I've learned that Lindsey promotes a view of end time prophecy not shared by most reputable biblical scholars. More importantly, it flies in the face of the historical position of the Christian Church (whether Protestant, Catholic or Orthodox) from the days of the Early Church to present times. Basically, the vast majority of Christian teaching states that the Second Coming of Christ is a one-time event, and that He's coming to judge everybody. The Church traditionally has never supported the position that Jesus will rescue a select few through a "rapture." As a matter of fact, the rapture view is a relatively new innovation, only having been around for a couple of hundred years, and having been brought into the mainstream through writings such as "The Late Great Planet Earth." For readers who wish to re-examine the views of Lindsey and others like him who teach a pre-tribulation rapture, I would suggest taking a look at a book available here at ...... called "A Second Look at the Second Coming," by T.L. Frazier. His research is impressive and quite thorough, and he leaves some embarrassing holes in Hal Lindsey's position. One of my college roomates is a Christian largely because of reading "The Late Great Planet Earth" in the 70s, and he has spent his adult years in Mexico as a missionary. This book has been influential in the lives of many, but in my opinion, it's time to take a second look Hal Lindsey and others like him.
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Summary: Interesting Fiction.
Review: Prophets have it made. Immortality awaits those who simply mumble a few clever phrases hinting at future catastrophe. Couch it in religious double talk, and throw in a few dates for good effect. Invariably, the wanna-believers will twist and parse the text to suit their fancy, picking momentous historic events that seem to fit the references and claiming the prophet saw it all in advance. Nostradamus's "hister" is a prime example. We've been told for decades that this was obviously a reference to Hitler. Whatever. Edgar Cayce, the Sleeping Prophet, is another revered one, owner of a purportedly 92% prophetic accuracy. Never mind that his greatest prediction of millennial disaster failed to play out. The Late Great Planet Earth falls in this milieu. Hal Lindsey exerts maximum effort to tie a slew of Biblical prophecies to past events, and to provide a glimpse of the Armageddon due any day now. Luckily, this dated book is now thirty years old, and we're all still here. It's enough to make you feel sorry for those Californians who committed suicide to join the space ship hiding behind Hale-Bopp comet. If only they'd waited and checked out a few more of their leader's prophecies. For skeptical or open minded readers, this book is enjoyable. Parts of it are very interesting, thought-provoking, even compelling. But by the end, you see the many stretches Hal has had to make to prove his points, and realize further that the same prophecies could be tagged to any number of events and called accurate. For wanna-believers this book is deadly dangerous. Lindsey will convince you that the end is near. You will quit your job, sell your possessions, leave your spouse, and move to Waco, or Jonestown, or L.A. Don't read it. --Christopher Bonn Jonnes, author of Wake Up Dead.
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