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The Road To Holocaust
Author: Hal Lindsey
Book Review by Ken Davies
Hal Lindsey is a graduate
of Dallas Theological Seminary, having majored in New Testament
and early Greek Literature. He served on the staff of Campus
Crusade for Christ for 8 years and is currently senior pastor
of Palos Verdes Community Church in California.
Mr. Lindsey has written several
books on the subject of prophecy, including The Late Great
Planet Earth (1970), for which he was named “the best-selling
author of the decade” by the New York Times. His other works
are: Satan is Alive and Well on Planet Earth, There’s a
New World Coming, The Liberation of Planet Earth, The Terminal
Generation, The 1980’s: Countdown to Armageddon, The Promise,
The Rapture: Truth or Consequences, Combat Faith, and
A Prophetical Walk Through the Holy Land. Mr. Lindsey
also publishes a monthly news journal called, “Countdown,”
which can be obtained by writing to him at P.O. Box 4000,
Palos Verdes, CA, 90274.
In this current work, Mr.
Lindsey purports to present an accurate picture of Dominion
Theology (also called Theonomy) and the alleged threat it
poses to those of Jewish descent. He begins by giving a short
history of the rise of Hitler, then goes on to examine the
use of the allegorical method of interpretation in the Church.
He associates the anti-Semitism of Hitler’s regime with the
use of the allegorical method in the Church. The term “allegorical
interpretation ” is anathema to a premillennial dispensationalist,
and is used to denote any “non-literal” interpretation of
Scripture, such as symbolic, figurative, or “spiritual.” No
distinction is made between these methods; all are placed
under the category of “allegory.” This term is a “buzzword”
among dispensationalists, synonymous with error, and eliciting
an emotional reaction whenever it is used. Lindsey makes full
use of its connotation, adding to it even more potency by
associating it with Nazism.
He claims the “allegorical”
method of interpretation used by the Church made people susceptible
to the Nazi doctrine of anti-Semitism. He goes boldly on to
contend that this is the same method of interpretation being
used by those who call themselves Theonomists (e.g. Gary North,
David Chilton, Greg Bahnsen, and Rousas J. Rushdoony), and
that Jewish people everywhere should fear for their lives!
According to Mr. Lindsey,
it was the allegorical method of interpretation that made
the Church think of itself as the new Israel, and this “false”
idea led to the persecution of Jews. He cites various times
in history when fanatical groups arose and killed Jews in
the name of Jesus. He does not, however, inform his readers
that one of the main tenets of these groups was the belief
in the imminent return of Christ! (Those interested can find
accounts of these groups and their activities in a well-researched
and documented study by Norman Cohn: The Pursuit of the
Millennium, New York: Harper & Row, 1961).
The Crusades, which Lindsey
blames on an allegorical interpretation of Scripture, were
actually caused by interpreting the promises of the Promised
Land in a literal sense (which the dispensationalist/premillennialist
says is the only true way to interpret Scripture)! Had the
Church been consistent in its spiritual application of prophecy
(following the example of the N.T. writers), they would have
seen that the land promised to Israel was in fact the “heavenly
country” spoken of in Heb. 11:16. In the process of bemoaning
the harmful effects of “allegorism,” Lindsey mentions transubstantiation
(p. 20), and says this doctrine resulted from taking “something
intended to be figurative in a literal sense”! Isn’t this
the same objection the preterist has to the futurist interpretation
of prophecy?
Of course, Mr. Lindsey vigorously
upholds the standard dispensational party line that says the
Church is entirely separate from Israel and in no way fulfills
the promises or covenants made to that nation in the Old Testament.
“The Jews are still (God’s) elect people with a definite future
in His plan” (p. 24).
Much of this book is directed
against the “Dominionists,” whom Lindsey associates first
with the Dark Ages and the Catholic oppression that removed
the Bible from the hands of the laity, then secondly with
the Nazis, the Charismatic movement, and finally Liberals!
He is especially critical of David Chilton’s commentary on
Revelation, Days of Vengeance. According to Mr. Lindsey,
anyone who claims that the prophecies of Revelation were fulfilled
in A.D. 70 is “dangerous.”
In his attempts to “prove”
that the prophecies of the N.T. are still future, he seems
to handle Scripture a little dishonestly. In quoting Jesus’
statement about John the Baptist being Elijah, “To be sure
Elijah comes,” he inserts: “literally, is going to come.”
He goes on to claim, “So, Jesus emphatically promises that
the real Elijah will yet come and prepare the way for the
Second Advent” (p. 67). This he says even after acknowledging
Jesus’ saying that “Elijah has already come,” and that His
disciples “understood that He was talking about John the Baptist.”
Lindsey bases his interpretation on the verb “comes” (Greek:
ercetai). He says it “literally” means “shall come” (future
tense). I found it necessary to look in my Greek N.T. to find
out what word was used in this context, since Hal did not
say what it was (funny, he does in other places)! This verb
is not in the future tense (it would have to be eleusetai
), but is present tense (Present middle deponent indicative,
to be exact). The present tense denotes action that is ongoing
at the time it is used. In other words, Jesus was saying that
Elijah was, at that moment, in the act of coming. No wonder
Mr. Lindsey only gave us his “translation” of the word!
I wish I could say this was
the only example of misrepresentation in the book. On p. 219,
in speaking of the allegedly global nature of the events listed
in Mt. 24, he says that “the only possible meaning of the
Greek word [oikoumenh]” is “the whole inhabited earth.” This
assumes, of course, that the reader has little or no knowledge
of Greek, and will not bother to look it up himself (a sad
commentary on what type of audience Mr. Lindsey assumes).
A good place to test a claim such as this is in the Word Study
Concordance, (an improved version of The Englishman’s Greek
Concordance, by George V. Wigram). This book lists under one
heading every use of a Greek word in the New Testament, regardless
of what English word was used to translate it in the KJV.
Listed under oikoumenh, is Lk. 2:1, which says, “And it came
to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar
Augustus, that all the world [oikoumenh] should be taxed.”
Now, if we accept the statement of Mr. Lindsey regarding the
meaning of this word, it must be assumed that this taxation
by Caesar was global in extent! Is this, I wonder, the type
of scholarship Dallas Seminary produces?
Another disturbing aspect
of The Road to Holocaust is the way Mr. Lindsey completely
ignores the historical fulfillments of the “regathering” prophecies.
An example of this can be found on pages 179-180, where he
quotes from Ezek. 37 (the Valley of Dry Bones). He says this
passage teaches that the nation of Israel was to be regathered
(which he says happened in 1948), and will be reborn spiritually
“at the time of the Messiah’s coming.” He doesn’t even acknowledge
that the people of Israel were scattered at the time Ezekiel
was writing, but “interprets” it as speaking of their condition
today. The only scattering of Israel he admits is the one
of A.D. 70 (thus allowing him to claim a future regathering).
Citing other misrepresentations in this book would make this
review too long to print in one issue of K.C.!
In summary, The Road to Holocaust
is an ad hominem argument (one designed to inflame the emotions
rather than the intellect) and assumes its audience is ignorant
of the Bible and history, and unwilling to search out matters
for themselves. It is apparently directed at new believers,
and those already convinced that dispensationalism is true.
[Editor’s Comments: Since
this book is written in such an obviously provocative style,
one has to wonder if Hal Lindsey is feeling some heat from
preterists for all of his unfulfilled predictions and is lashing
back out of desperation, or whether he is trying to smoke
out his opposition so his friends at Dallas Theological will
know who to target. Premillennialism IS losing ground at a
substantial and measurable rate. The failure of Hal Lindsey’s
predictions will play an ever increasing role in that defection
as the decades roll by. When institutions see their citizens
defecting they increase the volume of hate and fear propaganda
to make the opposition look so evil people will be afraid
to defect. As for Lindsey’s accusation that preterists are
fueling and fanning the flames of another holocaust, very
little needs to be said. When the history of this era is clearly
analyzed, it will record that the most influential ideology
shaping the present crisis in the Mideast was not the preterists
or reconstructionists, but the Zionists and their “useful
idiot” friends (dispensationalists) who are financially and
politically backing every Zionist bullet against the Palestinians.
I’m sure the Zionists are ecstatic over this book. I can almost
hear them say, “Way to go, Hal, we couldn’t have said it better
ourselves.”]
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