And as long as certain facts remain hidden, he's still seen in certain quarters as an expert on dating.
Hal's flirting with dates came out in the open in his 1970 mega-seller "The Late Great Planet Earth." Many still don't seem to know that his "Late Great" (which blended in science-fiction and the occult - including pyramidology - with scripture!) came out on the heels of Curt Gentry's 1968 science-fiction thriller about an earthquake devastating all of the Golden State. Curt's book title: "The Last Days of the Late, Great State of California."
My book "The Three R's" quoted the late (and truly great) British scholar F. F. Bruce who referred to "the influence of Hal Lindsey and his religious 'science-fiction' (more fiction than science)."
Hal's "Late Great" (p. 54) stated that "a generation in the Bible is something like forty years." He then said "within forty years or so of 1948 [the birth of Israel], all these things could take place."
In short, Hal made many think that the second coming to earth could occur in 1988 and that the rapture - seven years earlier - could take place in 1981.
Hal psyched up his readers to warmly embrace his 1981 date by issuing "The Terminal Generation" (1976) and "The 1980's: Countdown to Armageddon" (1980). And the 1981 pretrib rapture date became even more attractive when compared with the horrible, city-smashing lineup of planets called "The Jupiter Effect" which Hal repeatedly claimed would happen the following year in 1982 and could help bring in the great tribulation!
Since these fizzles, date-setter Hal has seemingly divorced himself from specific predictions and relied basically on "the rapture is imminent" statements.
I have a suggestion. Some have declared that a Biblical generation can be 70 years long. Since 2018 is 70 years after the establishment of Israel in 1948,Hal could continue to hold the hand of the Goddess of Mammon and with his other hand quickly write a book focusing on a 70-year generation and add another million to his estimated net worth of 15 million dollars (according to online site "richestcelebrities.org").
Also Google "Hal Lindsey's personal life (Wikipedia)" for some stunning info about 87-year-old Lindsey who can offer more than one definition of the word "dating."
My books have long covered Lindsey and I discuss him on 16 pages in my most important work on pretrib rapture history entitled "The Rapture Plot."
For further details related to Hal, Google "Pretrib Hypocrisy," "Pretrib Rapture Dishonesty," "Pretrib Rapture Secrecy," "Hal Lindsey's Pretrib Rapture Proof," and "Evangelicals Use Occult Deception."
Finally, let me end this composition by declaring that I really don't care a fig for date-setters!