Episode 20: Hal Lindsey's Projection in "The Road to Holocaust"

Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope: Episode 20

Gary discusses one of Hal Lindsey’s lesser-known books called The Road to Holocaust.

Projection is “a defense mechanism in which an individual recognizes their unacceptable traits or impulses in someone else to avoid recognizing those traits or impulses in themselves subconsciously. For example, someone who bullies another for being anxious and insecure may be doing so to avoid acknowledging they exhibit those same tendencies.” Long before modern psychology gave a name to this practice, the Bible described it.

“Do not judge, so that you will not be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and look, the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye!’” (Matthew 7:1-5)

Hal Lindsey’s book The Road to Holocaust was published in 1989 by Bantam, an anti-Christian secular publishing company. Here’s a funny story that David Chilton told me in his conversation with a woman in a discussion he had with Lindsey and The Road to Holocaust. Bantam is a new York publishing company whose address is 666 5th Avenue. This was more persuasive for her than the content of Chilton’s biblical arguments. It is the epitome of projection, accusing an eschatological position of beliefs that are inherent in your own system. The publication date is significant, one year after Lindsey’s failed 1948 + 40 = 1988 “this generation” prophecy in which he said the following:

The most important sign in Matthew has to be the restoration of the Jews to the land in the rebirth of Israel. Even the figure of speech “fig tree” has been a historic symbol of national Israel. When the Jewish people, after nearly 2,000 years of exile, under relentless persecution, became a nation again on 14 May 1948 the “fig tree” put forth its first leaves.

“Jesus said that this would indicate that He was “at the door,” ready to return. Then He said, “Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place” (Matthew 24:34, NASB).

What generation? Obviously, in context, the generation that would see the signs — chief among them the rebirth of Israel. A generation in the Bible is something like forty years. If this is a correct deduction, then within forty years or so of 1948, all these things could take place. Many scholars who have studied Bible prophecy all their lives believe that this is so.

When Lindsey was interviewed in 1977 about the above 1970 Late Great Planet Earth speculation, he retreated by quipping that if he was wrong, he would “be a bum.” He then went on to say in the same interview, “There are a lot of world leaders who are pointing to the 1980s as being the time of some very momentous events. Perhaps it will be then. But I feel certain that it will take place before the year 2000.”

The Legacy of Hatred Continues

Hal Lindsey was wrong in making eschatology the test of orthodoxy. He labeled anyone who did not agree with him on the issue of eschatology as “unconsciously anti-Semitic.” Lies and slander will accomplish nothing. The problem is not eschatology but ethics, obedience not expectations. ”Anti-Semitism” crosses all eschatological lines, just as love for the Jews crosses all eschatological lines. Hal Lindsey fostered a legacy of hatred among his Christian brethren and among those who desperately need Jesus Christ: the Jews.

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Gary discusses one of Hal Lindsey’s lesser-known books called The Road to Holocaust. In it, Lindsey accuses what he calls “Dominion Theology” of denying the “clear teaching of prophecy” as well as promoting antisemitism (a claim still being made today). The book led Gary and Peter Leithart to respond with a small book called The Legacy of Hatred Continues.

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