My guest is the author of three marvelous books,
Satan is Alive and Well on Planet Earth, The
Late Great Planet Earth, and There's a New World
Coming. And immediately everybody says, I know
now who Catherine Cooman's guest is today. It's
Hal Lindsey. And God really has blessed these
three books. Yes, he has. In fact, I feel like
it was a victory for the Lord last couple of
weeks because There's a New World Coming was
chosen in the trade edition paperback as number
two on the New York Times bestseller list. You
can't ask for anything more than that. And The
Late Great was 10th. We're quite thrilled about
it. And the thing is that they're scriptural
in spite of the Holy Spirit. All right, hell,
we're going to get into something that's vitally
important. And you understand, of course, my
stand with these young people. And I appreciate
it that there are thousands and thousands that
we're in contact with. And you know my stand
when it comes to exorcism. And I'll tell you
why I'm so... exercised about the whole thing
and have really like i said the other night you
know with the thousands out the convention center
i said i don't know whether uh i'm here out of
courage or sanctified guts you know it's just
kind of all like that but i know the truth i
know the scripture and you see I'm so exercised
over this whole thing is because right now this
thing can become very dangerous. Millions of
the young people have seen the picture. Now,
prior to this, they have gotten all involved
with dope. They have really gotten all the thrill
that they can possibly get when it has come to
dope. When it comes to sex, they have tried everything
in the book and some of the things that aren't
in the book. They have tried everything, everything
for a thrill. This is the very first time that
thousands and thousands of them have realized
that there is such a thing as Satan. They, for
the very first time, have been shown that there
is such an experience of being demon -possessed.
And so... Here's a portion of them who have become
so frightened that they are turning to God. They
see the danger of it. On the other hand, there'll
be those who've tried everything else for a thrill.
They've gotten so involved. They'll turn and
say, maybe there's one more thrill left. I'd
like to know what... it feels like and what it's
like to become demon -possessed. And they don't
realize that when they get involved with demon
possession, they're involved with something that
is the most dangerous thing that is possible
for a human being to become involved in. Right?
Right. They just can't walk away from it the
way... You can't. You can't. It's true. It's
different than dope. It's different than sex.
It's different than anything else. And there
is your danger. And somebody has got to come
forth and show these young people the danger
in the whole thing. Well, I believe that the
unprecedented success of this movie, The Exorcist,
and I saw it when it first came out just because
I knew it would be asked. They didn't. Ask about
it a lot, see. I believe the amazing success
of the movie points to something much deeper.
It's a well -written play, I think, from my point
of view, as far as technical technique of getting
an idea across. So not to fault Blatty on that,
but the fact that people are responding to something
about demon possession and that there is such
a tremendous interest in this today indicates
that we're in a new stage of Satan's dealing
with man. there's a tracing through the way satan
works in history in various cultures he has basically
three ways that he works the first is to work
by convincing people he doesn't exist and when
you've got a culture where they're basically
rationalistic and very materialistic this is
his best approach is to remain anonymous and
there's still some over 40 who think that way
but There's another approach where he uses religion.
He uses deception and subtlety, twisting the
truth, using false religion to get people to
miss the truth about how to really know God.
But the third way, and this is usually what he
uses in a pagan culture where the authority of
the Bible has really waned and has lost its influence,
he uses this approach of fear and intimidation.
In fact, in places like Haiti and some parts
of Africa, you'll find that the witch doctor
will use these supernatural things to really
strike fear into people and bring them in bondage
to demons through fear and intimidation. Well,
I believe the exorcist is setting the stage for
a lot of people to just be frightened into submission
to a lot of demons. Now, I believe also... just
to give you my impression of the movie. I believe
that the movie sets forth accurately a number
of phenomena and symptoms that you would find
in actual demon possession. I think it's very
important for people to realize that this is
founded on a real case and on Blatty's investigation
of other case histories. Where you get a kind
of a misinformed, out -of -proportion picture
is that he throws all of the symptoms that you
find in demon possession into one case, and you
rarely would, I don't think you'd ever find that.
There's no case in history where this has happened.
He puts such things as levitation, speaking in
another language and the power of the devil,
another voice speaking through you, the power
to have clairvoyant knowledge, to know things
that you couldn't have known otherwise. the tendency
towards self -destruction, the ability to have
unprecedented supernatural strength, physical
strength. He put all of this in one case. Well,
these are things that you do find, as I'm sure
you know, in cases of real demon possession,
but you don't find them all at once. But the
greatest disappointment, and this is where I
know that you'll get exercised, the greatest
disappointment. was that although he portrayed
the phenomena associated with demon possession
fairly accurately, he did not portray accurately
the overwhelming power of Jesus Christ over demons.
A person who sees this movie comes away feeling,
well, you know, the priest... the priests really
didn't have the power and authority of Christ
because they kept invoking the name of Christ
and nothing happened. And here's the coup de
grace. That's right. That's the reason these
young people left feeling that it's so hopeless
and they were so frustrated. And so there was
no hope given. After all, it is true that wherever
you find the reality in the spiritual, you'll
always find Satan coming along with the counterfeit.
You understand always, you know. And because
that... was the cause of his fall. I will be
like unto the Most High God. But we've got to
realize that the power of Satan is great. There
is only one power that's greater than the power
of the enemy. Right. Hell, sitting here, if you
and I could, we talk about it, and sometimes
I wonder if we fully can comprehend that there
is only one power greater than the power of Satan
that makes the power of Satan very great. That's
right. Very great. And the only one who can give
deliverance is the power of God. And that's why
we have to be so very careful. It still takes
the blood of Jesus. Somebody says, how, when
it comes to people talking about God and talking
about Jesus, how can you tell the genuine from
the counterfeit in that also? Because everybody
that's carrying a Bible, you know, and everybody
that's talking about Jesus isn't a child of the
king, isn't born again. But listen very closely
when they talk about the blood of Jesus Christ.
Satan can quote scripture. Satan knows the word
of God better than either one of us. Or the greatest
saint that ever lived. And Satan talks about
Jesus. But it takes the blood of Jesus Christ.
Absolute deity and absolute divinity. These young
people need to be taught that. Well, you know,
the thing that really got me. is that this movie
was misnamed. Now, here's what I mean by that.
An exorcism never really took place in the movie.
Technically, it was a transference because the
priest did not order the demon out of this child
by the power of Christ. He invited the demon
to come out of the child and into him. That's
a transference, not an exorcism. Now, I know
you've had experiences with this, but I've had
an experience too, and I'd like to just share
it briefly. I was in Indiana a few years ago,
and speaking at a conference, there's one lady
I noticed there in particular. She wore black
leotards and a plaid kilt the whole weekend,
and I thought, well, there's a real individualist.
Well, I got to know her the final day of this
conference, and she heard about my book on prophecy,
and we got to talking about prophecy, and she
said, well, I've always been able to tell people
about themselves and to predict their future.
All of a sudden, I got this uneasy feeling, and
I said, no. What do you mean by that? And all
the ladies who came with her said, well, she's
told us things about ourselves that no one could
have known. And I just impulsively said, this
is not of God, and if you don't reject it, it's
going to destroy you. And as soon as I said it,
I knew I was right. I looked on her finger, and
she had a ring that made my blood run cold. It
was a ring that had the emblem of Satan worship.
Now, she was not a certain Satan worshiper consciously,
but she was attracted to this. In fact, she said
she had thousands of dollars worth of artifacts
like this. I invited her to go and talk with
me outside, and we walked for a while, and I
showed her from Acts 16. After I talked with
her, I was sure this was her problem. I showed
her this place where it says, that it happened
that as Paul was going to the place of prayer,
a certain slave girl having a spirit of divination
met us who was bringing her masters much profit
by fortune telling. And following after Paul
as she kept crying out saying, these men are
bond servants of the most high God who are proclaiming
to you a way of salvation. And she continued
doing this for many days, but Paul was greatly
annoyed and turned and said to the spirit, I
command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come
out of her. And it came out at that very moment.
And he spoke to the spirit. Right. The demon
in her, the disembodied. Exactly. And the demon
came out. Well, I showed her this and I said,
I believe that this is your problem. And she
began to confess that her husband had left her,
that her life was really disintegrating. And
she said, you know, I talk with this spirit.
at night. And to the best of my memory, she said
that that's one of the reasons her husband left.
She almost went into a convulsion one night,
arguing and wrestling with the spirit. And her
husband just said, you know, I don't want any
more of this. And her life was really going to
pieces. She was beginning to drink heavily. And
I said, would you like to be delivered to this
spirit? And she said, yes, I would. I said, will
you renounce in the name of Jesus Christ, your
involvement with this psychic power and renounce
it as being satanic? She told me her mother and
her grandmother had also had the psychic power.
And she said, yes, I will. Although it'll be
difficult because I've never been able to say
that name before. And I said, then you renounce
and I'm going to pray for you. And then I want
you to say, I believe that Jesus Christ is the
son of God. that he died for my sins and ask
him to come into your life. She shook her head
that she would. She began to pray. And as she
did, it was almost as if a hand choked her because
she couldn't speak. She tried to speak and she
couldn't. And I just prayed in the name of Jesus
Christ. And I said, demon, in the name of Christ,
I command you to come out of this woman and to
leave her alone. She began to shake and to tremble.
And all of a sudden she looked up. And she said,
I'm free. And she prayed and invited Christ to
come in her life and then just took off and started
back toward the conference. The first person
she ran into was my wife, Jan. And she said,
do you know what your husband just did to me?
Well, my wife jumped back. She didn't know what.
And she said, he just cast a spirit out of me.
And my wife said, yes, but did Jesus come in?
And she said, yes, he did. But the amazing thing,
Catherine, is that. Before the conference ended,
she pointed to the plaid kilt and she said, do
you know what plaid this is? I said, no. She
said, this is the Lindsay plaid. And the reason
I'm wearing it is because in Scotland a few weeks
ago, I had a vision that I was going to meet
a man named Lindsay and that he was going to
change the course of my life. She went home.
Unknown to me, her mother had not walked for
many years, was in a wheelchair. She tried to
tell her mother about this. She went into a frenzy.
She saw you on television, had never heard of
you. And she heard that you had power with God
to heal. So without telling her mother what was
happening, she put her mother on a plane, took
her to Pittsburgh, took her into the meeting.
Her mother got out of the wheelchair and walked
and accepted Christ. And the two of them together
are still being real witnesses for Christ. The
last I heard of them, they were both really witnesses
for Christ. Hell, Lindsay, there are only two
forces in the world. That's right. If only men
and women could understand it. You see, we need
to get back again to the Word of God. This could
be the church's greatest hour. I would like to
get on my knees and plead with every minister
and every Catholic priest. I would beg you. Let's
get back to the Word of God. Fathers, mothers,
young people. But remember something, this is
real. What we're talking about, what Helen and
I are talking about today, is the most real thing
in the world. There are only two forces. The
forces of righteousness and the forces of unrighteousness.
The forces of Satan and the forces of God know
that. And there's only one power that's greater
than the power of the forces of unrighteousness,
and that's the power of God. And I don't care
who you are. You can be set free from the power
of the evil one through Jesus Christ, the Son
of the Living God. And whom Christ sets free
is free indeed. This is what Jesus died for,
to set you free. You don't have to be bound by
the powers of sin and of Satan. He'll set you
free. If you want to be free.