Hal Lindsey's Geopolitical Future
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Hal Lindsey’s geopolitical future: towards a cartographic theory of anticipatory arrows Sturm, T. (2020). Hal Lindsey’s geopolitical future: towards a cartographic theory of anticipatory arrows. Journal of Maps, 1-7. https://doi.org/10.1080/17445647.2020.1819902 Published in: Journal of Maps Document Version: Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Queen's University Belfast - Research Portal: Link to publication record in Queen's University Belfast Research Portal Publisher rights Copyright 2020 the authors. This is an open access article published under a Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the author and source are cited. 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Sep. 2021 Journal of Maps ISSN: (Print) (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/tjom20 Hal Lindsey’s geopolitical future: towards a cartographic theory of anticipatory arrows Tristan Sturm To cite this article: Tristan Sturm (2020): Hal Lindsey’s geopolitical future: towards a cartographic theory of anticipatory arrows, Journal of Maps, DOI: 10.1080/17445647.2020.1819902 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/17445647.2020.1819902 © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group on behalf of Journal of Maps Published online: 24 Sep 2020. Submit your article to this journal View related articles View Crossmark data Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=tjom20 JOURNAL OF MAPS https://doi.org/10.1080/17445647.2020.1819902 Hal Lindsey’s geopolitical future: towards a cartographic theory of anticipatory arrows Tristan Sturm Geography, School of Natural and Built Environment, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, UK ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY Hal Lindsey & Carlson’s, 1970 book, The Late Great Planet Earth, was the best-selling non-fiction Received 22 October 2019 book of the 1970s. In it, using the eschatology of premillennial dispensationalism commonly Revised 15 August 2020 believed by American evangelicals, he conflates biblical prophecy with current geopolitical Accepted 27 August 2020 conflicts. He exploits the uncertainty of the nuclear age, civil rights movement, and ‘wars and ’ KEYWORDS rumours of wars in Asia by giving readers a certain explanation: Christ will soon return. Arrows on maps; Hal Lindsey; Within his book, Lindsey provides two maps depicting his narrative for the battle of the Late Great Planet Earth; Armageddon. The maps are devoid of borders, and only show troop movement via thick geopolitical futures; black arrows. This article focuses on these arrows and their geopolitical function. The article Armageddon; anticipatory argues, beyond symbolizing mobility, that arrows on maps also symbolize future anticipatory geographies cartographic temporalities. It is theorized that Lindsey’s arrows potentiate and help actualize a narrow geopolitical future. “If you have no interest in the future, this isn’t for largely ignored. Spector’s (2004) detailed writing on ” you. Late Great mentions the maps in passing and an MA Hal Lindsey, The Late Great Planet Earth 1970:np thesis on the book mentions the maps only once: Lind- sey ‘even includes maps of the Soviet battle plans for its 1. Introduction European takeover’ (Basham, 2012, p. 23). In this article, I ask how we might theorize, specifically Lindsey and Carlson’s (1970) The Late Great Planet from Lindsey’s unique temporality, geopolitical apoca- Earth sold over 35 million copies and was the ‘number lyptic narratives and cartographic arrows as anticipatory one non-fiction best-seller of the decade’ according to cartographic strategies. Focusing on Lindsey’s book, Late the New York Times (Harding, 1994, p. 33). As is a Great, I engage with: (1) Lindsey’s apocalyptic geopoliti- common practice among the evangelical community, calimaginationand(2)hiscartographies of the future, the book was ghost-written by Carole C. Carlson specifically the cartographic technique of arrows used although little is known about her. Initially published to actualize the future in the present (see Figures 1 and by a small theological press, the book was reissued by 2). Here I illustrate how the cartographic arrow more Bantam Books in 1971. In 1979, the book was made generally replaces time with space. I first give a brief into a film narrated by Orson Wells that appeared in background to Hal Lindsey and outline his geopolitics theatres across the USA. The Late Great Planet Earth in relation to the maps. I then review the cartographic lit- (henceforth Late Great) includes two geopolitical erature on arrows, for which scant attention has been maps of future events. Using arrows, the Main maps paid in cartography and geography literatures. In the graphically depict the narrative of the battle of Arma- conclusion, I suggest that such cartographic arrows can geddon. The arrows indicate an anticipatory geopoli- foreclose possible futures and actualize a future. tics and prognosticates the end of the world through the prism of an evangelical Christian eschatology called premillennial dispensationalism (henceforth ‘premil- 2. Lindsey’s apocalyptic geopolitical lennialism’): a field of thought about future prophetic imaginations events shared by approximately 20 million Americans 2.1. About Hal Lindsey (Weber, 2004, p. 9; cf. Sweetnam, 2011).1 Premillenni- alism and Hal Lindsey have been the discussion of geo- Hal Lindsey was born in 1929 as Harold Lindsey. He political scholarship (Sturm & Dittmer, 2010), but served in the Korean War and afterward worked as a there has been no engagement with Lindsey’s cartogra- tugboat captain in New Orleans. Lindsey began studies phy of Armageddon. In all other fields, the maps are in 1958 at the Dallas Theological Seminary which is the CONTACT Tristan Sturm [email protected] © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group on behalf of Journal of Maps This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. 2 T. STURM Figure 1. Hal Lindsey’s Charts of Armageddon. Source: Lindsey, (1970) The Late Great Planet Earth. most influential institution for premillennial thought Granting himself a ‘topos of [geopolitical] authority,’ (O’Leary, 1994, p. 140; Spector, 2004, p. 48). He on campuses he tested the resonance of his ideas in would later mingle with university students during the upheaval of the nuclear era, wars in the Middle the countercultural era of the late 1960s as a preacher East, and the civil rights movement (O’Leary, 1994, and missionary for Campus Crusade for Christ. p. 143 and 147). Lindsey popularized premillennialist Figure 2. Hal Lindsey’s Charts of Armageddon. Source: Lindsey, (1970) The Late Great Planet Earth. JOURNAL OF MAPS 3 eschatology and ‘fundamentalist doctrines of the end geopolitical language, on End Times events: the foun- times that used accessible language and a pseudo-hip dation of the state of Israel in 1948, the military seizure writing style to target baby boomers on the edge of of Jerusalem in 1967, an alliance of what he calls an the counterculture’ (McAlister, 2005, p. 294). He tar- ‘Arab confederation’ against Israel, the development geted what he called, the ‘searching generation’ for of the Cold War and rise of the USSR, European inte- ‘answers to the large problems of the world’ (Lindsey gration leading to a one-world government, and the & Carlson, 1970: epilogue, np). To appeal to that decline of American Empire. Lindsey predicts the searching generation, Late Great was sold alongside building of a Third Temple over the Haram esh-Sharif, other new age literature on Buddhism, and was com- further Arab invasions of Israel, and a major ‘Russian’ monly found at pharmacy checkout counters (Harding, advancement into Israel which will spark the final bat- 1994, pp. 33–34). tle of Armageddon (Kidd 2009, p. 94). Lindsey’sinfluence potentially extended beyond cul- The two central state actors for Lindsey’s geopolitics tural interest to international politics. President Reagan are Israel and the USSR. Concerning the first, the Bal- invited Lindsey to speak at the Pentagon on his geopo- four Declaration in 1917 was largely understood by litics of the future (Halsell, 1986,p.47).Hewouldwrite believers in premillennialism as a fulfilment of Jere- about the experience, ‘itseemsthatanumberofofficers miah 29:14: ‘I will bring you back to the place from and non-military personnel alike has read Late Great which I sent you into exile.’ The day ‘the prophetic and wanted to