More disturbing books: Planet Earth 2000 AD by Hal Lindsey.
This book is one in a long line of publications authored by a Right Wing Christian Fundamentalist. It is very biased and one sided, and reads like a bible of the Militant Right. Even a cursory browse through the pages would make the browser think that the author was deluded, had a persecution complex, and was an avid conspiracy theorist, justifying his far out predictions with selective and creative interpretation of Biblical text. Several blurbs on the back cover of the book praise the book, but they are not accredited to anyone. Perhaps they are quotes from Hal Linsey himself, praising his book.
The author deals with many issues. Among them is the state of Israel. He views it as the centre of the world and asks how Israel could survive the relentless barrage of Arab attacks besides divine intervention. He neglects to mention that Israel receives a large share of America's foreign aid, indeed it is the largest single recipient, thanks to the efforts of the Jewish lobby, and the disunity among the Arab nations that prevents them from forming a united and cohesive front against Israel.
The book laments the secularisation of the USA when in fact there is much evidence that the reverse is happening. The spirit of the 60s is attributed to demonic inspiration. The campaign against nuclear weapons is alleged to be bankrolled by communists. The Second Coming is proclaimed to be at nigh. I don't know about that, but such has been trumpeted many times before, all to no end.
Demonised are many groups. Among them, Communists, Muslims, Humanists, European integrationists, Liberals, non-fundamentalist Christians, and the left in general. Perhaps the only group free of sin are the Right Wing Fundamentalist Christians. What a coincidence. Satanism is equated with the rise in secularism, relativism, humanism and New Age Philosophies, so maybe in the future all of us will become satanists. With selective examples, the author makes his case that Christians are being persecuted, but he says nothing about how radical Christians are persecuting Muslims, supporters of abortion, multilateralists and more.
People trying to make the world a better place by raising the public's self-esteem and its ability to solve conflict (now how is that an unworthy cause?) are criticised, as are shows of religious tolerance, consisting merely of representatives of different religions gathering peaceably. Somehow, the United Nations is transformed into a World Government, promoting New Age religions. Boutros Boutros-Ghali is proclaimed to be the most powerful man on the planet (in 1996), and the US is 'pliant' to the UN. I believe any casual observer would be able to see that the UN Secretary-General has little power compared to the President of the United States, and if anything, it is the US that bullies the UN by refusing to pay its dues, imposing all sorts of conditions on it, stomping out of UN bodies like a petulant child, manipulating the Security Council and more. Hal Lindsey is upset that US soldiers are placed under foreign commanders in UN operations, but he conveniently neglects to mention how soldiers from other countries were under US command in Korea and the first Gulf War.
Many of Hal Lindsey's far out conspiracy theories are putatively proven and corroborated, not only with selective and creative interpretation of Scripture, but by way of his unnamed "primary intelligence sources", which are constantly referred to but never described in any but the vaguest of terms, and which know of some very unbelievable things, like Rafsanjani's proclaiming that Muslims want to take over the world.
Other conspiracy or far fetched theories:
- The world is moving towards a global government
- The EU is going to become a super-state and the Anti-Christ will head it
- The World Bank forces sterilisation and abortion
- UFOs are demons
- Holding land privately (as opposed to publicly) is good for the environment because it lowers the occurence of deforestation. The effects of logging and clearing the forests for agricultural or industrial use are conveniently ignored. He claims that the Bald Eagle is endangered because it lives on lands protected by the government. I can't believe even he can believe that this argument holds any water.
There are many more lies, half-truths, misleading arguments and distortions in his book, but to tackle all of them would take the whole day. He seems to be turning a religion of Love into one of Hate.
I wonder if he's been eating Magic Mushrooms.