The Late, Great Planet Earth
Encyclopedia
The Late, Great Planet Earth is the title of a best-selling 1970 book co-authored by Hal Lindsey
and Carole C. Carlson, and first published by Zondervan
. The book was adapted in 1979 into a movie narrated by Orson Welles
and released by Pacific International Enterprises
. It was originally ghost-written by Carlson, whom later printings credited as co-author. Lindsey and Carlson went on to write several sequels, including Satan is Alive and Well on Planet Earth and The 1980s: Countdown to Armageddon.
, dispensational
eschatology
. As such, it compared end-time prophecies in the Bible
with then-current events in an attempt to broadly predict future scenarios leading to the rapture
of believers before the tribulation
and Second Coming
of Christ
to establish his thousand-year (i.e. millennial) Kingdom on Earth. Focusing on key passages in the books of Daniel
, Ezekiel
and Revelation
, Lindsey originally suggested the possibility that these climactic events might play out in the 1980s, which he interpreted as one generation from the foundation of modern Israel
in 1948, a pivotal event in most evangelical (especially conservative evangelical) schools of eschatological thought. Cover art on the Bantam edition boldly suggested that the 1970s were the "era of the Antichrist
as foretold by Moses
and Jesus," and called the book "a penetrating look at incredible ancient prophecies involving this generation." Descriptions of alleged "fulfilled" prophecy were offered as proof of the infallibility of God's Word, and evidence that "unfulfilled" prophecies would soon find their denouement in God's plan for the planet.
He cited an increase in the frequency of famine
s, war
s and earthquake
s, as key events leading up to the end of the world. He also foretold a Russia
n invasion of Israel. Like many previous books, The Late, Great Planet Earth postulated an Antichrist ruling over a ten-member or ten-nation European confederacy. Lindsey believed that what was then the six-member European Economic Community
(later the 27-member European Union
) could be a forerunner of this confederacy, which he considered to be a revival of the Roman Empire
. He found little in the Bible that could represent the United States of America
, but he suggested that Ezekiel 13:13 could be speaking of the United States in part.
Although Lindsey did not claim to know the dates of future events with any certainty, he suggested that Matthew 24:32-34 indicated that Jesus' return might be within "one generation" of the rebirth of the state of Israel, and the rebuilding of the Jewish Temple, and Lindsey asserted that "in the Bible" one generation is forty years. Some readers took this as an indication that the Tribulation or the Rapture would occur no later than 1988. In his 1980 work The 1980s: Countdown to Armageddon, Lindsey predicted that "the decade of the 1980s could very well be the last decade of history as we know it".
Hal Lindsey
Harold Lee "Hal" Lindsey is an American evangelist and Christian writer. He is a Christian Zionist and dispensationalist author. He currently resides in Texas.-Biography:...
and Carole C. Carlson, and first published by Zondervan
Zondervan
Zondervan is an international Christian media and publishing company located in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Zondervan is a founding member of the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association .- History :...
. The book was adapted in 1979 into a movie narrated by Orson Welles
Orson Welles
George Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...
and released by Pacific International Enterprises
Pacific International Enterprises
Pacific International Enterprises is an American film production company and film distributor, founded by Arthur R. Dubs as a producer of family films. PIE is a privately held company that has been in business for over thirty years as "A Universal Force in Family Film Entertainment"...
. It was originally ghost-written by Carlson, whom later printings credited as co-author. Lindsey and Carlson went on to write several sequels, including Satan is Alive and Well on Planet Earth and The 1980s: Countdown to Armageddon.
Premise and plot
The Late, Great Planet Earth is a treatment of literalist, premillennialPremillennialism
Premillennialism in Christian end-times theology is the belief that Jesus will literally and physically be on the earth for his millennial reign, at his second coming. The doctrine is called premillennialism because it holds that Jesus’ physical return to earth will occur prior to the inauguration...
, dispensational
Dispensationalism
Dispensationalism is a nineteenth-century evangelical development based on a futurist biblical hermeneutic that sees a series of chronologically successive "dispensations" or periods in history in which God relates to human beings in different ways under different Biblical covenants.As a system,...
eschatology
Eschatology
Eschatology is a part of theology, philosophy, and futurology concerned with what are believed to be the final events in history, or the ultimate destiny of humanity, commonly referred to as the end of the world or the World to Come...
. As such, it compared end-time prophecies in the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
with then-current events in an attempt to broadly predict future scenarios leading to the rapture
Rapture
The rapture is a reference to the "being caught up" referred to in 1 Thessalonians 4:17, when the "dead in Christ" and "we who are alive and remain" will be caught up in the clouds to meet "the Lord"....
of believers before the tribulation
Tribulation
The Great Tribulation refers to tumultuous events that are described during the "signs of the times", first mentioned by Jesus in the Olivet discourse...
and Second Coming
Second Coming
In Christian doctrine, the Second Coming of Christ, the Second Advent, or the Parousia, is the anticipated return of Jesus Christ from Heaven, where he sits at the Right Hand of God, to Earth. This prophecy is found in the canonical gospels and in most Christian and Islamic eschatologies...
of Christ
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
to establish his thousand-year (i.e. millennial) Kingdom on Earth. Focusing on key passages in the books of Daniel
Book of Daniel
The Book of Daniel is a book in the Hebrew Bible. The book tells of how Daniel, and his Judean companions, were inducted into Babylon during Jewish exile, and how their positions elevated in the court of Nebuchadnezzar. The court tales span events that occur during the reigns of Nebuchadnezzar,...
, Ezekiel
Book of Ezekiel
The Book of Ezekiel is the third of the Latter Prophets in the Hebrew Bible, following the books of Isaiah and Jeremiah and preceding the Book of the Twelve....
and Revelation
Book of Revelation
The Book of Revelation is the final book of the New Testament. The title came into usage from the first word of the book in Koine Greek: apokalupsis, meaning "unveiling" or "revelation"...
, Lindsey originally suggested the possibility that these climactic events might play out in the 1980s, which he interpreted as one generation from the foundation of modern Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
in 1948, a pivotal event in most evangelical (especially conservative evangelical) schools of eschatological thought. Cover art on the Bantam edition boldly suggested that the 1970s were the "era of the Antichrist
Antichrist
The term or title antichrist, in Christian theology, refers to a leader who fulfills Biblical prophecies concerning an adversary of Christ, while resembling him in a deceptive manner...
as foretold by Moses
Moses
Moses was, according to the Hebrew Bible and Qur'an, a religious leader, lawgiver and prophet, to whom the authorship of the Torah is traditionally attributed...
and Jesus," and called the book "a penetrating look at incredible ancient prophecies involving this generation." Descriptions of alleged "fulfilled" prophecy were offered as proof of the infallibility of God's Word, and evidence that "unfulfilled" prophecies would soon find their denouement in God's plan for the planet.
He cited an increase in the frequency of famine
Famine
A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including crop failure, overpopulation, or government policies. This phenomenon is usually accompanied or followed by regional malnutrition, starvation, epidemic, and increased mortality. Every continent in the world has...
s, war
War
War is a state of organized, armed, and often prolonged conflict carried on between states, nations, or other parties typified by extreme aggression, social disruption, and usually high mortality. War should be understood as an actual, intentional and widespread armed conflict between political...
s and earthquake
Earthquake
An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. The seismicity, seismism or seismic activity of an area refers to the frequency, type and size of earthquakes experienced over a period of time...
s, as key events leading up to the end of the world. He also foretold a Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n invasion of Israel. Like many previous books, The Late, Great Planet Earth postulated an Antichrist ruling over a ten-member or ten-nation European confederacy. Lindsey believed that what was then the six-member European Economic Community
European Economic Community
The European Economic Community The European Economic Community (EEC) The European Economic Community (EEC) (also known as the Common Market in the English-speaking world, renamed the European Community (EC) in 1993The information in this article primarily covers the EEC's time as an independent...
(later the 27-member European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
) could be a forerunner of this confederacy, which he considered to be a revival of the Roman Empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
. He found little in the Bible that could represent the United States of America
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, but he suggested that Ezekiel 13:13 could be speaking of the United States in part.
Although Lindsey did not claim to know the dates of future events with any certainty, he suggested that Matthew 24:32-34 indicated that Jesus' return might be within "one generation" of the rebirth of the state of Israel, and the rebuilding of the Jewish Temple, and Lindsey asserted that "in the Bible" one generation is forty years. Some readers took this as an indication that the Tribulation or the Rapture would occur no later than 1988. In his 1980 work The 1980s: Countdown to Armageddon, Lindsey predicted that "the decade of the 1980s could very well be the last decade of history as we know it".
Place in popular culture
The Late, Great Planet Earth was the first Christian prophecy book to be picked up by a secular publisher (Bantam, 1973) and sell numerous copies. Despite some increasingly dated content, 28 million copies had sold by 1990.See also
- 2012 phenomenon2012 phenomenonThe 2012 phenomenon comprises a range of eschatological beliefs that cataclysmic or transformative events will occur on December 21, 2012. This date is regarded as the end-date of a 5,125-year-long cycle in the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar...
- Apocalyptic literatureApocalyptic literatureApocalyptic literature is a genre of prophetical writing that developed in post-Exilic Jewish culture and was popular among millennialist early Christians....
- Bible prophecyBible prophecyBible prophecy or biblical prophecy is the prediction of future events based on the action, function, or faculty of a prophet. Such passages are widely distributed throughout the Bible, but those most often cited are from Ezekiel, Daniel, Matthew 24, Matthew 25, and Revelation.Believers in biblical...
- Death from the SkiesDeath from the SkiesDeath from the Skies!: These Are The Ways The World Will End is a book by the American astronomer Phil Plait, also known as "the Bad Astronomer". The book was released in 2008 and explores the various ways in which the human race could be rendered extinct by astronomical phenomena...
, book - Human extinctionHuman extinctionHuman extinction is the end of the human species. Various scenarios have been discussed in science, popular culture, and religion . The scope of this article is existential risks. Humans are very widespread on the Earth, and live in communities which are capable of some kind of basic survival in...
- RaptureRaptureThe rapture is a reference to the "being caught up" referred to in 1 Thessalonians 4:17, when the "dead in Christ" and "we who are alive and remain" will be caught up in the clouds to meet "the Lord"....
- Unfulfilled religious propheciesUnfulfilled religious propheciesThis article lists predictions of notable religious figures that failed to come about in the specified time frame. They are listed according to the religious groups of which they were members.-Adventism, Millerism:...
External links
- Late Great Planet Earth Revisited by Hal Lindsey at WorldNetDaily