Dr. Couch, what do you think of the influence of Hal Lindsay’s best seller of the 1970s, The Late Great Planet Earth?
ANSWER:
I am sure I think of his book what the Lord thinks! Since I believe in
God’s sovereignty, the Lord works in all our works that are done for His
name sake. While the book is certainly not perfect, neither is anything
you or I will ever do! However the book was translated in about a dozen
languages, and at the last count, sold over twenty million (or even
more) copies. I believe it was Time magazine that called that
publication during the social revolution of the 1970s: "the handbook of
the Jesus people movement."
I think it would be safe to say that millions
of young people came to Christ because of the book’s message, which was:
the prophesied coming tribulation followed by the dramatic return of
Christ the Savior to earth to reign and rule!
Hal did pull a faux pas (a blunder) in the
book, however. He wrongly calculated in the Bible a "generation" as
being forty years from Matthew 24:34. Lindsay calculated that the nation
of Israel came into being in 1948, and therefore, forty years later
(1988) the tribulation events would take place! This was a big goof! The
Covenant guys, the allegorists and preterists, loved this and have gone
about crucifying Lindsay ever since.
Matthew 24:34 is an easy passage to explain but that is not the purpose of this question.
Always thank God when the truth goes forth,
especially when that truth holds fast to the integrity of the entire
message of Scripture. Hal’s book does that, but again as I wrote,
imperfectly so!
Thanks for asking!
Dr. Mal Couch
