CC Carlson6 
 

        The Mother of Modern Prophecy 

                   Carole C. Carlson
                                                           
     Hal Lindsey
     The Father of Modern Prophecy
  

     Hal Lindsey is known as the Father of Modern Prophecy. His famous

     Late Great Planet Earth (1970)  took  the  Woodstock generation by

     storm. The number one non-fiction  bestseller of the 70's  sold over

     35 million copies. It laid the foundation  for a billion dollar prophecy

     publishing empire.

 

     Lindsey basked in the limelight for 20 years accepting all the credit

     for creating this  new genre of prophetic literature. However, in the

     early 1990's,  it was   quietly revealed  that  the book  was actually 

     co-authored by a mysterious C.C. Carlson. Years later the mystery 

     co-author's picture began appearing on the back cover. "C.C." was

     a woman!     

    

 

      C. C. Carlson

     The Mysterious Co-Author Revealed

 

     Carole C. Carlson has written, or co-authored, over 21 books (that

     that we know of).  But, there is really no telling who is writing what

     in the  Christian book business today.  It is  a common practice for

     big names  like Billy Graham to have books written for them. Often

     this  is done  to  capitalize  on  name  recognition.  Sometimes  the

     writer is credited and sometimes not.

 

     Hal Lindsey was 40 years old when  he published Late Great Planet

     Earth.  He  had  never  written  anything  longer than a term paper

     prior to that. His background as a soldier in the Korean war, a New

     Orleans tugboat  captain and campus evangelist  does not suggest

     that he had an aptitude for writing.

 

     An active, outgoing,  outdoor type with  strong interpersonal skills, 

     Hal Lindsey is not  the  type  to sit  for hours  behind  a typewriter

     revising drafts for publication.

 

     So while Hal made public appearances, appeared on TV, and made

     80 trips  to visit his Zionist friends in Israel, Carole quietly churned

     out the books  from her home  in Ventura, California.  She allowed

     Hal to have the limelight.  

 

                    

    A Woman Expositor

    An Historical Oddity   

 

    In 1970,  it was still considered  inappropriate for a woman to be a

    teacher  in Protestantism.  Therefore, one can understand why her

    involvement in writing the book was kept a secret.

     

    In fact,  if you  look back  through history  at the leading prophecy

    expositors  it is hard  to find  any women  of note at all. E.B. Elliott

    was an authority  on the history  of prophetic exposition. In Horae,

    he listed  the  leading  expositors  back  to  the second century. A

    woman is never mentioned. 

 

    It was unprecedented therefore,  for a  woman to have written not

    only a  prophecy book  but,   the  best selling  prophecy book of all

    time.  A book  that sold  more copies  than  all  the prophecy books 

    ever published to that time combined!

 

    Certainly  she deserves some  of the praise  and recognition for her

    work instead  of being treated  like  a skeleton  in the closet. And if

    Hal Lindsey is the father is she not the mother of modern prophecy?

      

             Notes    

 

<1>  Gary North  in  his  forward  to  Gary Demar's  The Legacy  of Hate Continues  (1989

        American Vision, Atlanta) comments  on  Hal  Lindsey's book The Road to Holocost:

 

        "The Road to Holocost can accurately  be  described as chloroform in print. I was its

        target and yet it nearly put me  to sleep. (Please, whatever  you do, do not smoke in

        bed while reading this book!).  It is not  just  that he got the facts wrong, it is that Hal 

        Lindsey without C.C. Carlson to ghost write his material is boring!  The man just can't

        write."

 

<2>  In 1990,  David  Jeremiah  and  C.C. Carlson  claimed  to  have  written  Escape the

        Coming Night -  a  book  about the rapture.  It  was soon  discovered that significant

        portions of  the book were plagiarized  from best  selling author  Hal Lindsey's 1973

        work  There is a New World Coming.    After  realizing   that   at   least  47  pages        

        been  plagiarized,  his publisher  Word Books  destroyed  the inventory. In a written

        statement in 1998 they actually admitted theft. (From Christians Behaving Badly)

 

        But, is it plagerism when you use material from a book that you wrote? Carole wrote

        There is a New World Coming.

 

 

        
         Books Written by Carole. C. Carlson

          

         1970 - The Late Great Planet Earth                                  Hal Lindsey

         1971 - The Late Great Planet Earth Study Guide              Hal Lindsey

         1972 - Satan is Alive and Well on Planet Earth                 Hal Lindsey

         1973 - Guilt Trip: How to Realize God's Forgiving Love   Hal Lindsey

         1973 - There is a New World Coming                               Hal Lindsey

         1974 - Straw Houses in the Wind                                     No Co-Author

         1975 - The Liberation of Planet Earth                                Hal Lindsey

         1976 - The Terminal Generation                                        Hal Lindsey

         1978 - Established in Eden                                                No Co-Author  

         1980 - Woman                                                                   Dale Evans Rogers

         1980 - The Married Man                                                    Bob Vernon

         1983 - Say Yes to Your Potential                                     Skip Ross

         1983 - Grandparents Can                                                 Dale Evans Rogers

         1984 - Corrie Ten Boom, Her Life, Her Faith                     No Co-Author

         1985 - A Light in Babylon                                                  No Co-Author

         1988 - Exposing the Myths of Parenthood                        David Jeremiah

         1992 - The Handwriting on the Wall                                  David Jeremiah

         1995 - The Teacher Who Couldn't Read                           John Corcoran 

         1996 - Invasion of Other Gods                                          David Jeremiah

         1999 - Our Values: Stories and Wisdom                           Dale Evans Rogers

         2001 - Escape the Coming Night                                        David Jeremiah

         2004 - Life Lessons from the Hiding Place                        Pam Rosewell Moore

         2005 - In My Father's House                                              No Co-Author