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The Road to Holocaust
Here is the bestselling author of The Late Great Planet Earth 's most shocking revelation the disquieting facts about a new spiritual movement that would take over our churches and government and lead us to disaster.
Just as current events are converging into the precise pattern the biblical prophets predicted would herald the return of Jesus Christ, a new movement has arisen within the Evangelical Church that denies it all, allegorizing away the clear meaning of prophecy. This movement, commonly known as Dominion Theology, reintroduces an old error that brought catastrophe to the Church and the Dark Ages to the world—the same error that founded a legacy of contempt for the Jews and ultimately led to the Holocaust in Nazi Germany.
In clear, compelling language, Hal Lindsey sounds a vital warning about Dominion Theology—and explains why he believes it poses such a great danger not only to Israel but to every Christian as well.
Just as current events are converging into the precise pattern the biblical prophets predicted would herald the return of Jesus Christ, a new movement has arisen within the Evangelical Church that denies it all, allegorizing away the clear meaning of prophecy. This movement, commonly known as Dominion Theology, reintroduces an old error that brought catastrophe to the Church and the Dark Ages to the world—the same error that founded a legacy of contempt for the Jews and ultimately led to the Holocaust in Nazi Germany.
In clear, compelling language, Hal Lindsey sounds a vital warning about Dominion Theology—and explains why he believes it poses such a great danger not only to Israel but to every Christian as well.
295 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1989
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68 people want to read
About the author
Hal Lindsey
105 books60 followersHarold Lee Lindsey was an American evangelical writer and television host. He wrote a series of popular apocalyptic books – beginning with The Late Great Planet Earth (1970) – asserting that the Apocalypse or end time (including the rapture) was imminent because current events were fulfilling Bible prophecy. He was a Christian Zionist and dispensationalist.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 27, 2024
LINDSEY'S CRITIQUE OF "CHRISTIAN RECONSTRUCTION"
Hal Lindsey (born 1929) wrote in the first chapter of this 1988 book, "The purpose of this book is to warn about a rapidly expanding new movement in the Church that is subtly introducing the same old errors that eventually but inevitably led to centuries of atrocities ... and culminated with the Holocaust of the Third Reich. I do not believe that the leaders of this new movement are consciously anti-Semitic---their historical predecessors were not either. But just as their historical counterparts did, they are setting up a philosophical system that will result in anti-Semitism."
"The fact is that for over two decades the Reconstructionists did have a huge superstructure of philosophically based eschatology with no exegetical foundation. (David) Chilton (in The Days of Vengeance: An Exposition of the Book of Revelation) was given the assignment of finding some Biblical passages on which the system might be based... that was not the best atmosphere in which to promote objectivity." (Pg. 53-54)
About the infamous disagreement between Rousas Rushdoony and Gary North, Lindsey states, "The principle of walking in the Spirit by faith, which works through love, is one that has apparently been missed by some Reconstructionists. A number of their main leaders have had such arguments that they no longer speak to each other. This reveals a failure to walk in the Spirit." (Pg. 161-162)
About the proposed A.D. 70 fulfillment of Matthew 24, he asks, "The LORD said that the abomination that causes desolation was something that would stand in the holy place of the Temple. So what does the destruction of Jerusalem have to do with that? Furthermore, He instructed the believers of that day to flee for protection to the mountains. Jerusalem was besieged for some two years before it was finally destroyed. So if its destruction... was the abomination... it would have been too late to flee anywhere." (Pg. 226)
Lindsey's critique of the Reconstruction/Dominion movement will be of interest to his own fans, and also critics of the Dominion movement.
Hal Lindsey (born 1929) wrote in the first chapter of this 1988 book, "The purpose of this book is to warn about a rapidly expanding new movement in the Church that is subtly introducing the same old errors that eventually but inevitably led to centuries of atrocities ... and culminated with the Holocaust of the Third Reich. I do not believe that the leaders of this new movement are consciously anti-Semitic---their historical predecessors were not either. But just as their historical counterparts did, they are setting up a philosophical system that will result in anti-Semitism."
"The fact is that for over two decades the Reconstructionists did have a huge superstructure of philosophically based eschatology with no exegetical foundation. (David) Chilton (in The Days of Vengeance: An Exposition of the Book of Revelation) was given the assignment of finding some Biblical passages on which the system might be based... that was not the best atmosphere in which to promote objectivity." (Pg. 53-54)
About the infamous disagreement between Rousas Rushdoony and Gary North, Lindsey states, "The principle of walking in the Spirit by faith, which works through love, is one that has apparently been missed by some Reconstructionists. A number of their main leaders have had such arguments that they no longer speak to each other. This reveals a failure to walk in the Spirit." (Pg. 161-162)
About the proposed A.D. 70 fulfillment of Matthew 24, he asks, "The LORD said that the abomination that causes desolation was something that would stand in the holy place of the Temple. So what does the destruction of Jerusalem have to do with that? Furthermore, He instructed the believers of that day to flee for protection to the mountains. Jerusalem was besieged for some two years before it was finally destroyed. So if its destruction... was the abomination... it would have been too late to flee anywhere." (Pg. 226)
Lindsey's critique of the Reconstruction/Dominion movement will be of interest to his own fans, and also critics of the Dominion movement.
January 22, 2024
Back in the 80's, I read every Hal Lindsey book I could find. I guess I stopped just short of this one. I’m surprised that I’m reading another Hal Lindsey book at this late stage and enjoying it.
According to Lindsey, the third-century church father Origen's allegorical style of interpretation set the stage for Hitler's holocaust. That’s because Christianity believes the church has inherited the Old Testament promises made to Israel. Modern Dispensationalism believes those promises are still in effect. Lindsey says Platonic allegory contrasts with the literal interpretation that premillennialism uses. However, he confirms that there is allegory in the Bible.
“The issue is to let the text determine when to interpret allegorically instead of our preconceived notions.” p.65
Should we accept Lindsey’s preconceived notions?
“Irenaeus clearly believed in the literal promises of the Old Testament and the Book of Revelation concerning not only an earthly Messianic Kingdom, but also concerning the literal restoration and glorification of Jerusalem.” p.75
What did Irenaeus have to say about it?
“Truly has Justin remarked: That before the Lord’s appearance Satan never dared to blaspheme God, inasmuch as he did not yet know his own sentence, because it was contained in parables and allegories;” V.XXVI.2
“The distinctive doctrines of Postmillennialism cannot be documented earlier than the sixteenth century. As a doctrine, it made its strongest showing in the nineteenth century. But beginning in the early eighteenth century, at the same time as the resurgence of literal interpretation, Premillennialism had a rebirth.” p. 254
Lindsey singles out the postmillennial belief called Dominionism. They wrote a book in response.
The Legacy of Hatred Continues: A Response to Hal Lindsey's The Road to Holocaust
According to Lindsey, the third-century church father Origen's allegorical style of interpretation set the stage for Hitler's holocaust. That’s because Christianity believes the church has inherited the Old Testament promises made to Israel. Modern Dispensationalism believes those promises are still in effect. Lindsey says Platonic allegory contrasts with the literal interpretation that premillennialism uses. However, he confirms that there is allegory in the Bible.
“The issue is to let the text determine when to interpret allegorically instead of our preconceived notions.” p.65
Should we accept Lindsey’s preconceived notions?
“Irenaeus clearly believed in the literal promises of the Old Testament and the Book of Revelation concerning not only an earthly Messianic Kingdom, but also concerning the literal restoration and glorification of Jerusalem.” p.75
What did Irenaeus have to say about it?
“Truly has Justin remarked: That before the Lord’s appearance Satan never dared to blaspheme God, inasmuch as he did not yet know his own sentence, because it was contained in parables and allegories;” V.XXVI.2
“The distinctive doctrines of Postmillennialism cannot be documented earlier than the sixteenth century. As a doctrine, it made its strongest showing in the nineteenth century. But beginning in the early eighteenth century, at the same time as the resurgence of literal interpretation, Premillennialism had a rebirth.” p. 254
Lindsey singles out the postmillennial belief called Dominionism. They wrote a book in response.
The Legacy of Hatred Continues: A Response to Hal Lindsey's The Road to Holocaust
March 20, 2024
Dominionism Weighed in the Scales and Found Wanting
A book more timely in 2024 than in 1989 when first published. Christian Zionism is enjoying a galvanized resurgence due to the Israel-Hamas war coupled with a shift in the ill winds leading countless Christians to turn to and trust in political solutions to spiritual problems. The current rise in Christian Nationalism can be traced to Christian Reconstructionism, Dominionism, and/or Postmillennialism.
When I was in Bible college in the 1990s Rousas Rushdoony and Reconstructionism were on the ash heap of theological history. The World Wars, we were taught, had kiboshed the optimistic eschatology of the postmillennialists who (mis)believed the world was sure and steadily being won for Christ and getting better and better, paving the way for Christ's return.
But Reconstructionism wasn't gone even if relegated to simmer silently on a back burner. Hal Lindsey had an eye on that back burner and presciently predicted the peril it posed for Christianity but--and this is the book's Achilles' heel--especially for Israel and the Christian Zionism that comes part and parcel with Premillennial Dispensationalism, the eschatological system to which Lindsey holds.
Postmillennial Dominionism stands in stark contrast to Dispensationalism. Instead of a "perhaps today" hope for an imminent Rapture of the Church initiating a seven-year Tribulation followed by a thousand-year Millennium, Lindsey writes:
"Most Dominionists teach that the Church will have bound the activity of Satan and established dominion over the world system at the time of the Lord Jesus' return. In fact, an essential part of their eschatology teaches that Jesus will not return until this has been accomplished." (p. 46)
The Road to Holocaust reminded me of another book I recently read, Eric Metaxas' 2022 screed Letter to the American Church. Both men frontloaded their books with history lessons drawing ominous parallels between Germany in the 1930s and '40s and contemporary Christianity, but then the road forked and each writer reached different conclusions. Lindsey saw the church abandoning Israel (for him, synonymous with "God's chosen people") and Metaxas saw the church passive and tacitly complicit in the face of emerging societal evils. Metaxas, incidentally, is a Reconstructionist and a tireless promoter of Christian political activism.
Neither man has a cause to fear. Christian Zionism, stoked by popular and influential teachers like Lindsey, John Hagee, and Jay Sekulow among many others, have Christians unwaveringly and uncritically supporting the secular state of Israel like never before. And despite Metaxas' suggesting Christians are politically passive, Christians are more politically active and ambitious now than even in the days of the Moral Majority and Christian Coalition. The "Seven Mountain Mandate" (often abbreviated 7MM) promoted by Bill Johnson and his confreres in the New Apostolic Reformation have made the term and the objective virtually a household phrase among Christians, even those unaware it is a page torn from the Dominionist playbook.
This book is dated as far as addressing the revived Reconstructionism of Metaxas, Bill Johnson, and the Christian Nationalists. But it's valuable for providing a firm foundation of the movement's origins, its major players and their influential books. In addition to Rushdoony, Gary North, David Chilton, and Gary DeMar are discussed. I remember when Chilton's book Days of Vengeance was enjoying popularity among preterists, who formed an early alliance with Dominionism proponents.
Lindsey brings heft to the book by delving into the flawed hermeneutics of Dominionism, especially the system's dependence upon allegorizing Scripture (versus the plain reading of dispensationalism). There was also an informative section on the dating of Revelation and how Dominionism (and Preterism) stands or falls on a pre-A.D. 70 composition. Lindsey also brought in a ringer, Tommy Ice, a former Dominionist who brought to the table keen insight and a devastating critique.
It's a shame this book is little known even among Lindsey fans. I suspect this engaging and substantive book's popularity and enduring legacy were hindered by a poor cover design and an awkwardly phrased subtitle. The book isn't perfect, especially if one doesn't idolize the modern state of Israel or see it as a pivotal player in End Times events. But Lindsey's Zionist zeal was not a dealbreaker. I skimmed a few sections, filtered the Zionism and hyperbolic fearmongering of another Holocaust, and in the final assessment this book bore more wheat than chaff.
A book more timely in 2024 than in 1989 when first published. Christian Zionism is enjoying a galvanized resurgence due to the Israel-Hamas war coupled with a shift in the ill winds leading countless Christians to turn to and trust in political solutions to spiritual problems. The current rise in Christian Nationalism can be traced to Christian Reconstructionism, Dominionism, and/or Postmillennialism.
When I was in Bible college in the 1990s Rousas Rushdoony and Reconstructionism were on the ash heap of theological history. The World Wars, we were taught, had kiboshed the optimistic eschatology of the postmillennialists who (mis)believed the world was sure and steadily being won for Christ and getting better and better, paving the way for Christ's return.
But Reconstructionism wasn't gone even if relegated to simmer silently on a back burner. Hal Lindsey had an eye on that back burner and presciently predicted the peril it posed for Christianity but--and this is the book's Achilles' heel--especially for Israel and the Christian Zionism that comes part and parcel with Premillennial Dispensationalism, the eschatological system to which Lindsey holds.
Postmillennial Dominionism stands in stark contrast to Dispensationalism. Instead of a "perhaps today" hope for an imminent Rapture of the Church initiating a seven-year Tribulation followed by a thousand-year Millennium, Lindsey writes:
"Most Dominionists teach that the Church will have bound the activity of Satan and established dominion over the world system at the time of the Lord Jesus' return. In fact, an essential part of their eschatology teaches that Jesus will not return until this has been accomplished." (p. 46)
The Road to Holocaust reminded me of another book I recently read, Eric Metaxas' 2022 screed Letter to the American Church. Both men frontloaded their books with history lessons drawing ominous parallels between Germany in the 1930s and '40s and contemporary Christianity, but then the road forked and each writer reached different conclusions. Lindsey saw the church abandoning Israel (for him, synonymous with "God's chosen people") and Metaxas saw the church passive and tacitly complicit in the face of emerging societal evils. Metaxas, incidentally, is a Reconstructionist and a tireless promoter of Christian political activism.
Neither man has a cause to fear. Christian Zionism, stoked by popular and influential teachers like Lindsey, John Hagee, and Jay Sekulow among many others, have Christians unwaveringly and uncritically supporting the secular state of Israel like never before. And despite Metaxas' suggesting Christians are politically passive, Christians are more politically active and ambitious now than even in the days of the Moral Majority and Christian Coalition. The "Seven Mountain Mandate" (often abbreviated 7MM) promoted by Bill Johnson and his confreres in the New Apostolic Reformation have made the term and the objective virtually a household phrase among Christians, even those unaware it is a page torn from the Dominionist playbook.
This book is dated as far as addressing the revived Reconstructionism of Metaxas, Bill Johnson, and the Christian Nationalists. But it's valuable for providing a firm foundation of the movement's origins, its major players and their influential books. In addition to Rushdoony, Gary North, David Chilton, and Gary DeMar are discussed. I remember when Chilton's book Days of Vengeance was enjoying popularity among preterists, who formed an early alliance with Dominionism proponents.
Lindsey brings heft to the book by delving into the flawed hermeneutics of Dominionism, especially the system's dependence upon allegorizing Scripture (versus the plain reading of dispensationalism). There was also an informative section on the dating of Revelation and how Dominionism (and Preterism) stands or falls on a pre-A.D. 70 composition. Lindsey also brought in a ringer, Tommy Ice, a former Dominionist who brought to the table keen insight and a devastating critique.
It's a shame this book is little known even among Lindsey fans. I suspect this engaging and substantive book's popularity and enduring legacy were hindered by a poor cover design and an awkwardly phrased subtitle. The book isn't perfect, especially if one doesn't idolize the modern state of Israel or see it as a pivotal player in End Times events. But Lindsey's Zionist zeal was not a dealbreaker. I skimmed a few sections, filtered the Zionism and hyperbolic fearmongering of another Holocaust, and in the final assessment this book bore more wheat than chaff.
January 7, 2021
I wish every Christian would read this book, especially those in the United States. Hal Lindsey warned about what we are living through right now. This is January 7, 2021 and yesterday I saw our current President call on his followers to storm the Capital.
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