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Document: C. Vanderwaal, Hal Lindsey and Biblical Prophecy (St. Catharines, ON.: Paideia Press, 1978).
Excerpt: On a trip to Canada in 1974, I visited St. Catharines (near Niagara Falls), where I got involved in a discussion with a preacher (the Rev. Raymond J. Sikkema of Trinity Christian Reformed Church) and a businessman who had started a publishing company (John Hultink of Paideia Press). In the course of our conversations, I was given a copy of Hal Lindsey’s book The Late Great Planet Earth. A request was made of me: Would I be willing to read carefully through this book, which had made such an impression on evangelicals in North America? Could I perhaps write something about Hal Lindsey and his approach to Biblical prophecy? That request I accepted as an assignment.
Reading The Late Great Planet Earth convinced me that Hal Lindsey is a spokesman for a movement with a tremendous impact on the Christian public. I then went on to study some other publications of the same sort and became acquainted with the source from which they had sprung—Darbyist dispensationalism. As a result, I felt called to write about Lindsey’s views. Yet it did not seem wise to write about Lindsey alone, for another Hal Lindsey might soon rise to prominence and supplant him, presenting essentially the same dispensationalist viewpoint in a popular, engaging style. A book devoted solely to this rising star would not be quite as useful as one that also dealt with the background of his thought and the source of his ideas. Early in the book, therefore, I will deal with dispensationalism.
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Hal Lindsey and Biblical Prophecy – C. Vanderwaal.pdf