Customer Reviews

The Late Great Planet Earth

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A generation before there was a Left Behind, there was The Late Great Planet Earth by Hal Lindsey and C. C. Carlson. This is the book that broke the dispensationalist view of the end times into the consciousness of America. A phemomenal best seller, it was a watershed event in the growing Christian publishing industry. For many Christians, their first reading of this book was an energizing event that shaped their future. A generation later, many of its former supporters now see in its pages a complete misreading of Holy Scripture, sensationalistic attempts to correspond Biblical prophecies to current events, and an unhealthy enthusiasm for seeing the world obliterated.

So why bother with what can easily be written off as paranoid millenarianism? Well, while many have outgrown its simplistic approach to world events, it still resounds for much of the Church and this is shown in the continued audience for books by Lindsey and other "prophecy pundits." While it is certainly true that Tim LaHaye has replaced Lindsey as the popular voice of dispensationalism, it cannot be denied that Left Behind was made possible by this book.

Part of the commercial success of both authors has to do with their placing the dispensationalist view in a popular book form. For LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins, it was the pulp novel. Back in 1970, Lindsay and C. C. Carlson did the same with a popular genre of their day - the sensationalistic expose. Like most books of this type (e.g., The Bermuda Triangle, Chariots of the Gods?, The Philadelphia Experiment, The Population Bomb), it is written in a breezy soundbite style that is long on conjecture and short on facts. Like most of these books, it was a peculiar period piece of American life at a time when the fabric of the nation seemed to be coming apart at the seams. Like most of these books, it is laughable in retrospect.

If the book were out of circulation and I were reviewing this for historical purposes, I would almost be tempted to give it a free pass as a kitschy period piece...sort of a fundamentalist lava lamp. The original was so over the top and written with such enthusiasm one could almost have forgiven the fact that the authors got everything wrong. After all, it was the 1970's when wild conspiracy theories, distrust of any traditional authority, and predictions of impending disaster were all the rage. When viewed within a time frame that produced predictions of a soon to be ice age, a UFO invasion, a famine around the corner, and California falling into the Pacific Ocean, the authors' claims of the coming Armageddon look downright trendy.

However, in the intervening years, the revisions of this book just kept piling up. Make a bad prediction? No problem, edit the book with the old gaffes removed, add a few trendier predictions, and release it as a new book. Lindsey, now well into middle age and hurtling towards his golden years, still clings to the long discredited dispensationalist hypothesis (Carleton's contribution is more stylistic) despite his failed scenarios. Lindsey's original view was that the end times events would take place in the 1980s (he even wrote a book The 1980's: Countdown to Armageddon trumpeting this belief). Well that didn't pan out, so he then jumped on the Y2K bandwagon (another of his books was Planet Earth 2000 A.D.: Will Mankind Survive?). Oops, wrong again. First communism was the main source of evil in the world but more recently it is Islam (a more recent book is The Everlasting Hatred: The Roots of Jihad). When one bogeyman falls, he is quick to insert a new one in its place.

Between the failed predictions, the hilarious misreadings of the original languages, the bizarre correlations between apocalyptic symbolism and modern military technology, and the hysterical pleading for contemporary events fulfilling the Biblical prophecies "right before our eyes", it is not surprising many of those energized by this book became convinced of the imminent end of all things. This trend continues to this day for the many followers of dispensationalist worldview as they are perpetuated in the many novels based on dispensationalist beliefs - notably the Left Behind series of novels.

If you can find a copy of the original version from 1970, it can be interesting in much the same way as a Brady Bunch episode - not for its merit but as an example of a particular moment in the consciousness of the fundamentalist subculture at a particular time. Just as many Catholics have vivid memories of nuns and the Baltimore Catechism, fundamentalists of that era will never forget this book and the movie A Thief in the Night.

However, for the reedited version here presented as a guide to interpreting biblical prophecy, it is best to pass. For all its success as a cultural marker, its usefulness in properly understanding Biblical prophecy is basically nil. For this, its original purpose, The Late Great Planet Earth is completely worthless.

I don't know why all the previous commenters were so negative about this book. In fact, as far as I know some of these predictions are taking place right now!

We believe what we want to believe.

There, he said it. Quoting Demosthenes at the very outset of the book, we've been put on notice. The mystery is, why do people want to believe this?

I remember 'The Late Great Planet Earth' from many years ago. I believe I was 15 years old at the time when I first read the book, an easy-to-read text even then, so much so that I completed it in one sitting. However, I am reminded of the letter of Paul to the Corinthians - when I was a child, I thought like a child. I have grown up, and contrary to many of the messages that 'The Late Great Planet Earth' seemed to impart, the earth is still here.

The Bible is full of prophecy, and people are interested in prophecy. There are people who seem to need prophecy of death and destruction - this is as true today as it has been throughout most of history. Most cultures have had an apocalyptic strand of prophecy. One thing that amazes me, however, is the ease with which we in the late twentieth/early twenty-first centuries co-opt someone else's prophecy and start preparing for our own destruction.

*How to read the Bible*
There are many different ways to read the Bible. In fact, there is disagreement in religious communities today about how to read the Bible, drawing from the more liberal interpreters on the one hand, and the more fundamentalist/literalist interpreters (and let us not forget that to take things literally is a choice of interpretation) on the other, with a myriad of views falling outside of these two primary camps. Lindsay is part of the fundamentalist camp - which perhaps makes it all the more amazing the often extreme non-literal interpretations attached to the various prophecies. Those who are so insistent on a word-for-word literal rendering of the beginning of the Bible are the first to attach the most non-literal interpretations to the last book of the New Testament (I have yet to meet anyone, fundamentalist or not, who literally expects a seven-headed monster with ten horns to arise from the sea). The principles by which some things can be treated as symbolic and other things must be taken literally are never made clear.

Lindsay's interpretations do not come solely from the Revelation to John, but draw from prophecies collected through the entire biblical text. Daniel figures prominently, as do other prophets major and 'minor' from the Hebrew scriptures. Lindsay also finds end-time prophecies in Genesis, Chronicles, and the gospels.

With this material, Lindsay constructed a scenario worthy of any apocalyptic novel, but did not see his product as fiction; nor did the tens of millions who flocked to bookstores to purchase this. Perhaps the most crucial element, one repeated frequently by Lindsay, was the restoration of Israel. Lindsay pinned much on this fact and his reading that the end times, the rapture, and the second coming would take place 'within a generation' of this event. He even went so far as to say the crucial date should be 1988. And the year is now...?

Lindsay put many things together in his synthesis. For example, the monster of Daniel was the European Community, which at the time had ten nations, seven major and three minor. This was the ten-nation confederacy needed for the antichrist. The European Community today has twice that number of nations and continues to grow, and is highly unlikely to produce an antichrist figure; indeed, one wonders why the more obvious choice of the Arab nations (most of whom also occupy former Roman territories) were not chosen; politics today would look to them (from Morocco to Turkey there are ten nations, seven major) who are increasingly popularly characterised as anti-Christian.

*What about Prophecy?*
There is a difference between prophecy and fortune-telling or future-telling, and Lindsay's text never makes this crucial distinction. Prophecy is, quite simply, truth-telling. To be prophetic is not to predict the future, but to call attention to the issues of the day and what needs to be reformed. One of the important things to realise, if you will forgive my awkward language, is that prophecy need not come true to be true. The Bible testifies to this - Jonah's prophecy toward Nineveh was true, even though the destruction he foretold did not happen; Jonah was unhappy about this, but the fact that the compilers of the Bible chose to include a story of 'failed' prophecy shows both that God has the infinite capacity for mercy, and can decide differently, but also that any particular interpretation we put on prophecies might not be the proper ones.

The Bible itself says we will not know the end times - how could this book unlock those mysteries? Wouldn't that prove at least part of the Bible false? Another truth we overlook is that end-time prophecies have been coming true all along - Nostradamus is perhaps a good counterweight here, seeing not one but many antichrists in history; perhaps bar-codes are the mark of the beast for our present day, just as the blemishes of bubonic plague were the mark of the beast for another age; perhaps the great fire followed by the great plague in London in 1665/1666 (ominous numbers echoed in other prophetic texts) were the fulfillment of death and fire prophecies for those times. Christians have been living in the end of times since the beginning.

Lindsay's text is flawed but interesting, but perhaps even more interesting is the reaction of people to it. Faith should be more based on love and God's goodness, not fear of destruction. I have little doubt that Lindsay's purpose was pastoral concern - as my friend Ron Allen (a New Testament scholar) once said, the Revelation to John is one of the more pastoral works in the Bible - it is concerned that people be ready, be prepared, and this was probably Lindsay's primary intention as well. However, we still wait, and watch. Stay tuned...

I really enjoyed listening to the cd's. I'm not much of a reader but really enjoyed this on my 10 hour trip.

Found the book information to be extremely interesting and forthcoming. To those that understand, this is a must to read.

I found this book to be an excilent start for me into the end times and Biblical prophecy. I believe that Hal has recieved a lot of flac for inacurate perdictions. He is not a prophet! He is only making educated guesses about the end times. I found his ideas to be very insightful. Because of his book, my christian life has been strenghthend and have myself researched Biblical prophecy and end times scriptures since I read the book. This was formerly a topic that I knew nothing about, and now have become pretty knowlegable.

I strongly recomend this book to any Christian who is interested in knowing more about the end times. The only down side to his book that I found is that in time it had become dated and some of the current events that he speaks about are alomost forgotten. I think some of his more recent books on the same subjects would be a good compliment to this one.

God Bless You! "With God all things are possible" - Matt. 19:26

Perfect transaction. The book is in good shape, and it arrived in a timely manner. The person for whom I ordered it is happy.

Had been looking for this book for some time. Glad I finally found it on this site. Great condition and fast delivery.

Twenty five some years latter, and people actually still take Hal Lindsy serious? Incredible.... Do yourself a favor... Take the money you were going to use to buy this book, and use it to feed starving third world children. Then read your Bible, without the Schofield notes, and let It speak for Itself. Yes I did read this book, and it was a waste of my time...

I have the clearest memories of being right in the middle of what folks now call the Jesus movement in the early 70's. This book was hot stuff! It certainly beat just about anything else on the block, and I remember only my old pastor gently sighing as he watched me read it avidly.

I'm still a Christian - no less, I hope, a lot better than that 17 year old.

The book is actually exciting, but its also terribly, terribly wrong. And in so many areas, it can make you feel like you are sucking a lemon.

The big problem is the good old cold war. The entire book is based around the premise that the USA was going to be nuke out of existence by a very strong Russia.

What you may not know is that since the USSR has disolved, some evangelicals, Lyndsey being one are actually hoping that the old rusty military machine will start up again for the sole purpose of attacking Israel (which they interpret those sections of Ezekiel to mean). In fact, they want this much more than that....

The fact is, the little differences between what this book says and what the bible says is unbridgable chasm.

This book is now essential reading, but certainly not for it's original purpose. Now the enemy has changed, the book is a valuable glimpse into the ways that loose reading of the prophetic texts can be used with such appalling effect.

Of course, we are in the middle of that right now...