I just wanted to remind all the Doves, those of us who are fascinated by
prophecy, to support Hal Lindsey and spread the word to others....Hal has certainly been a watchman on the wall for years, and I am very
discouraged at TBN. Not only that they censored him, but that they may not
treated him as they should have in the first place.I have called TBN to suggest they rethink their policy, although they wouldn't
put me through to programming and the woman who finally took my message did
not even take my name. I told her to please pass it along they should put Hal
back on the air, uncensored, and that I also support Perry Stone and John
Hagee, uncensored, as well...I suggest we all make similar calls.
Karin
Special Report: The Rest of the Story
Commentary on the News
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
Jack Kinsella - Omega Letter EditorI continue to get emails from folks asking where Hal Lindsey's International
Intelligence Briefing TV show has gone. Although the story has been fairly
well covered by the Christian community, it has not yet been picked up by the
mainstream.
Hopefully all that will begin to change tonight when Hal makes an appearance
on Fox News' "Hannity and Colmes' TV program, which airs at 9PM Eastern
Standard Time.
Interestingly, the invitation came through Alan Colmes, rather than Sean
Hannity. Hal was a guest on Alan Colmes' radio program earlier this week.
When I say, 'hopefully' the story will be picked up by the mainstream, I am
hopeful for selfish reasons. I'm tired of seeing my best friend being bashed.
I actually KNOW the details. Hal was forced, at age 76, to choose between his
principles and his job. I also know that Hal needed that job.
Contrary to popular belief, Hal is not a wealthy man, despite being one of the
best-selling Christian authors in history.
His most famous book, "The Late, Great Planet Earth" was also his first,
published in 1969. First-time authors are often forced into really bad deals
in order to get published. That book earned millions - for the publisher.
And, although I hate to speak ill of my best friend, Hal's greatest flaw is
that he is too trusting. Over the years, he made millions - for his business
agents.
Hal's only retirement plan is to work until he dies. I know that to be a fact.
I know how high his mortgage is on his house, and that he works at a pace that
I, at 25 years his junior, doubt I could keep up with.
I am going to share what I can of what I know as an 'insider' with you. First,
Hal NEEDED that job at TBN. It was the flagship of his ministry that drove
both his books and tapes and his website ministries. Leaving TBN was a giant
leap of faith.
Hal and I wrote the IIB together. I've worked on every single broadcast since
the very first. I helped develop the format of the program. So, I KNOW the
pressure TBN has been putting on the IIB and the program's complete history
with TBN.
When someone responds to TBN's request to send in money to keep Hal's program
on the air, no part of that money goes to Hal. One hundred percent is kept by
TBN. They do give the airtime and production facilities, for which Hal has
been grateful.
But TBN does not cover many other expenses associated with the program. Hal
pays for the research, writing, the news footage B-roll, and all the other
production costs.
Hal is permitted 30 seconds to promote his books and tapes, website and tours
in each broadcast, which provides the lion's share of his ministry's support.
However, there is rarely ever any surplus from support. Hal's ministry
survives financially from month to month.
And remember, IIB was TBN's top-rated program in the Neilson ratings almost
every week.
TBN's PTL program broadcasts every day for several hours. The IIB aired for a
half-hour once a week. Most weeks, the IIB ratings were higher than PTL's.
Moreover, we insisted on a disclaimer at the beginning of each broadcast that
made it clear that the opinions expressed on the IIB were not those of TBN. It
protected TBN from what we said (and we were frankly happy to be distanced us
from some of the other things being said on TBN).
So it was a mystery when we started getting pressure from the network to
modify our scripts, particularly those dealing with stories about Israel or
Islam. Sometimes, the program would be mysteriously 'pre-empted' without
warning.
To this moment, I can make no logical sense of it. In December, we were
informed the program would be suspended for the whole month of December. There
was no mention of preemption to 'air Christmas content'.
When Hal's show was preempted this time, Hal was told it was because the
scripts were 'too pro-Israel and too anti-Muslim'. When asked by
WorldNetDaily, Hal said as much.
When WND asked TBN's chief counsel John Casoria to confirm the story, Casoria
said Hal's statement was, quote, "absolutely, 100 percent false." In other
words, Hal was lying.
The next day, Casoria admitted a 'secondary' reason for preempting the show
was that it "placed Arabs in a negative light." But, Casoria told WND, "the
overwhelming reason, he still insists, is TBN requires all its programming
during December to have a Christmas theme.
"When a programmer chooses not to do so, they are pre-empted so that TBN can
focus its attention on the holidays," Casoria said. "Hal is very well aware of
this."
Baloney. As noted, I've been involved in every single script and broadcast of
the IIB since its inception a decade ago. I can say with authority that TBN's
statement that the IIB was preempted every December for Christmas content was
just not true.
Every year for the past decade we've not only aired throughout December, but
also produced a Christmas edition of the IIB that aired Christmas Week.
Since then, TBN has changed its story again. They now admit the suspension was
because they say they felt the program was offending Arabs.
The WND report went on to note that, "Lindsey said in a message to supporters
on his website that TBN's decision is "confusing to me because my message is
the same as it has been for the entire 12 years of presenting the IIB program.
It has not changed one iota."
Asked to respond, Casoria said, speaking personally, "Hal Lindsey's program
has clearly changed over the last 12 years, as has Hal Lindsey."
"If you look at his earlier writings and you look at what he writes today,
there is definitely a hard edge," he said. "That's my personal feeling."
Since Hal and I write it together, always have, and there has never been
anybody else except me and Hal, whatever 'hard edge' the program might have
developed regarding Islam was honed by 9/11, not by some spiritual or
philosophical shift in Hal Lindsey himself.
TBN notes one of the reasons for suspending the IIB is that TBN broadcasts to
a number of Arab countries where they say they are trying to reach Muslims
with the Gospel.
Hal told me that the IIB Producer was informed by Mr. Crouch that he had
pulled the show off of the Satellite that fed the Middle East over a year and
half ago - along with a few other shows.
Since our show was aimed at the Western world who were most endangered by
Radical Islam, we thought it was a prudent action.Hal is far more generous with TBN than I am. He has a personal friendship with
Paul Crouch Sr. that is important to him. And I must respect that.
But TBN misrepresented the reason it suspended its number one program on the
network for a reason. It didn't want to admit to censoring its content to
appease Islam. And it certainly didn't want to admit to censoring pro-Israeli
information.
So instead, TBN's executives told a clumsy, easily-disproved story
about 'routine' preemption for Christmas programming, until it could come up
with a better version about Hal making it hard to reach Muslims with the
Gospel.
If you are a TBN donor, you might want to reconsider redirecting that support
to Hal instead. (Hal Lindsey Media Ministries, P. O. Box 1475, Palm Desert, CA
92261)
Bottom line? TBN's head of programming, Jan Crouch, demanded that he adopt a
politically-correct attitude regarding Islam so as not to 'offend' them by
reporting what the Koran really teaches.
Given the choice between compromise and maintaining a comfortable position in
his old age, Hal cast his future on the Lord's shoulders, packed his bags, and
stepped out into the unknown - at age 76!
What now for the IIB? Hal told me last night that we have a time slot on the
Day Star network. We have rented a studio to produce our own program
called 'The Hal Lindsey Report' and will shoot our first program at the end of
January. I will give you firm times and dates when I have them.
So, that is the insider's view of what is really going on between TBN and Hal
Lindsey. Tonight, Hal will be, as I said, making an appearance on 'Hannity and
Colmes' on the Fox News Channel at 9:30 PM EST.
Since this is an 'insider's report' to my friends, please allow me to impose
and ask a favor OF my friends.
Please pray for Hal when he is on tonight's broadcast. Email the program with
your comments - the more emails, the better. Let Fox know that you appreciated
seeing Hal Lindsey on their network and that you'd like to see more of him.
This is a rare opportunity for us to get the message that Jesus is coming soon
out where it is most desperately needed - to the mainstream. Demand more
interviews with Hal Lindsey on Fox News.
Who knows? Maybe 2006 is the year the truth might find its way into the
mainstream. While there is still time.