Lindsey's claims were based on a dispensationalist interpretation of the Old and New Testament.[11] Lindsey claimed from the Bible that Jesus Christ will return from heaven to earth someday and establish eternal peace and harmony among all people.[12]

Lindsey claimed the Bible contains numerous prophecies that foretell of certain conditions and events that will occur in the world prior to Christ's return and that as these things occur, they are to serve as signs and reminders that we are in the era that the Bible calls the end times or last days.[13] Lindsey believed a prophetic event that officially begins the end times is the regathering of the Jewish people to their ancient homeland to form an independent nation after a prolonged worldwide dispersion.[14] He claimed that the establishment of the State of Israel in May 1948 is the fulfillment of this major prophecy.[citation needed]

In The Late Great Planet Earth, Lindsey wrote that the biblical prophets identified certain nations that would ally with other countries to form "four major spheres of political power" during the same era that Israel would be reestablished as a nation.[15] Lindsey wrote that these nations and their allies can be identified as: (1) Russia with its allies, (2) China with other nations of the Orient, (3) Egypt with other Middle East countries, and (4) an alliance of Western European nations.[16]

According to Lindsey, the alliance of Western European nations is a revived form of the ancient Roman Empire, predicted in the books of Daniel and Revelation symbolically as ten horns and ten kings.[17] In The Late Great Planet Earth, Lindsey quotes from a 1969 Time magazine article that the goal of the European Economic Community, which preceded the European Union, was to establish a ten-nation economic community.[18] Lindsey concludes, based on this and other sources, that this alliance will help cause the fulfillment of this prophecy and will ultimately be ruled by the Antichrist.[17]

Lindsey noted that the prophets did not refer to the United States directly or indirectly. He concluded that this is an indication that the U.S. will no longer be a great geo-political power by the time the Tribulation of the end times arrives.[19]

In a later book, titled, The 1980s: Countdown to Armageddon,[20] he indicated that he believed it was possible that the battle of Armageddon could occur in the not too distant future, stating, "the decade of the 1980s could very well be the last decade of history as we know it."[21] He noted again that there is no reference to the U.S. in Bible prophecy. He listed a few scenarios that seemed plausible to him at the time: (1) A takeover by communists, (2) destruction by a surprise Soviet nuclear attack, or (3) becoming a dependent of the 10-nation European community.[22] The book was on the New York Times bestseller list for than 20 weeks.[2]