In this insightful episode of Family Talk, Anne Graham Lotz delivers a profound message on the significance of navigating these challenging times with strong faith. Drawing from scriptural prophecies and current world events, Lotz challenges listeners to reflect on their spiritual journey and encourages them to return to God. Her compelling narrative emphasizes the imminent possibility of revival if people are willing to rend their hearts and commit to change.
Hello, everyone. You’re listening to Family Talk, a radio broadcasting ministry of the James Dobson Family Institute. I’m Dr. James Dobson, and thank you for joining us for this program. Well, Happy New Year and welcome back to Family Talk. I’m Roger Marsh. In Matthew 24, 21, Jesus spoke of a time of, quote, great tribulation. Such has not been seen from the beginning of the world until now. No, and never will be. Looking at today’s headlines, many of us wonder if we’re actually approaching those times right now. So how do we navigate these challenging days, and how can we help restore America’s spiritual foundation? Well, today on Family Talk, we’re going to hear a timeless message from Anne Graham Lotz, daughter of the late Billy Graham, and a powerful voice for Christ in her own right. Though recorded several years ago, her insights on the last days are more relevant now than ever before. So let’s kick off our first broadcast of 2025 with a look at the last days and listen now to Anne Graham Lotz here on this special edition of Dr. James Dobson’s Family Talk.
SPEAKER 01 :
Verse 9, they rush upon the city, run along the wall, they climb into the houses like thieves. They enter through the windows. What does that remind you of? Matthew 24, doesn’t it? When Jesus said that day will come upon you like a thief, don’t let it come upon you like a thief. And he was speaking of the rapture, which makes me think that that’s simultaneous with judgment on America. Think of all the believers that are going to be gone at that moment. The believers in government at every level, the businesses every level, families, just if every believer, every person who put their faith in Jesus in America was suddenly disappeared, that would be judgment on America. And it comes like a thief because you and I are expecting it. So we’re looking for that sky to unfold. We’re listening for the trumpet sound. We know Jesus is coming back any moment, but the secular world thinks it’s a joke. And thanks to Harold Camping, who made it a laughable matter. Nobody takes it seriously. So it will catch them like a thief. It will come suddenly. And… It’s destructive. It involves the environment. Verse 10, before them the earth shakes, the sky trembles, the sun and moon are dark, and the stars no longer shine. Earthquakes, cosmic disturbances, and that’s what Jesus said. And I know Jesus was talking about the end of the tribulation period, but this is a harbinger, okay, when he said, the sun will be darkened. That’s a solar eclipse. Sun will be darkened. And the moon will not give its light, Jesus said. Those are lunar eclipses, Jesus said. The day of the Lord, his judgment is accompanied by signs in the heavens. The sun darkened, the moon will not give its light. The stars will fall from the sky. Those are meteorites. And not only is this destructive, but, oh, get this, please. Verse 11, directed by God. God is in charge. The Lord. This is your Lord, okay? This is our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the creator of the universe who came down from heaven to become your savior, who rose from the dead to be your king who sits on the throne. It’s the Lord who thunders at the head of his army. His forces are beyond number. Mighty are those who obey his command. All of this is under his command. The day of the Lord is great. It is dreadful. Who can endure it? The lion of Judah is roaring. And he’s getting ready to rule the world. And when you see things falling apart, they’re not, they’re falling into place. He’s bringing about his kingdom on this earth. And it’s going to be preceded by judgment. Judgment is coming. Zephaniah says, the great day of the Lord is near, near and coming quickly. The cry on the day of the Lord is bitter. And this is in caps. The mighty warrior shouts his battle cry. And they think he’s not paying attention. They think he’s indifferent. They think he’s too old to act. Oh, just wait. He’s coming. And that day will be a day of wrath, a day of distress and anguish, a day of trouble and ruin, darkness and gloom, clouds and blackness, a day of trumpet and battle cry against the fortified cities and the cornered towers. And this is God. I will bring such distress on all people that they will grope about like those who are blind because they have sinned against the Lord. Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to save them on the day of God’s wrath. Judgment is soon, judgment is sure, and judgment is severe. How seriously do you take God’s word? That’s what God’s word says. And Jesus says, not one jot or tittle would pass away until all would be fulfilled. God’s word is so, what it says it means, what he means he says, you can take it to the bank. God is moving in judgment, and we can look at our world and know that. And I just pray this resonates in your heart. I don’t care if it does scare you to death, you know? But listen to me. He’s coming for the bad guys, all right? And as we see some of the bad guys on the front pages of our papers, I just say, Lord, bring it on. But even Isis, I would give him opportunity to repent first. Then I would take him out. But that’s what he says next, isn’t it? God is moving, but God is loving. And Habakkuk 3.2 says, oh Lord, I’ve heard of your fame. I stand in awe of your deeds, oh Lord, in wrath. Remember mercy. Return to the Lord. And that’s an opportunity he gives. Verse 12, even now. Even at this so late time. Even as Alan pointed out in the last seconds. even now you can return to the Lord. And he says, return to the Lord, even now declares the Lord. That’s an opportunity that’s offered by God himself. The one who is bringing it on, the Lord who’s directing the army says, even now you can return to me. And who is he? Isaiah said, in the year that my life began to unravel and bad things began to happen and the harbingers, you know, and King Uzziah died, I looked up and I saw the Lord seated on the throne, high and exalted. And Jesus said, Isaiah saw my day and rejoiced. Isaiah, when all of that was falling, but he saw a vision of Jesus seated on the throne. Ezekiel, You know, when Daniel, Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego were taken in that deportation, they landed in Nebuchadnezzar’s palace. Ezekiel was taken in the deportation. He landed in a refugee camp. He was discarded, not good enough to be in the palace. So he’s sitting on a garbage dump beside a dirty irrigation canal, and he’s looking towards the west. You know, he’s longing towards Jerusalem, and he wants to go home, and a storm comes into his life, so things get worse. But on the wings of the storm, there’s a crystal platform. And on the crystal platform is the throne of Sapphire. And on the throne of Sapphire is someone who is exactly like the son of man. Coming to Ezekiel in his storm and he saw the Lord. High and lifted up, exalted. And there’s a vision of Jesus. The apostle John on Patmos looks up at the end of human history and he sees heaven opened. And Jesus is still seated on the throne. In charge. He is high. No one in all of the universe is higher than he is. He’s exalted. No one has more authority than he has. And he’s exalted. No one is greater. No one is more powerful. He is the almighty. And it’s the almighty, all-powerful, high, exalted king who sits on the throne, who offers you and me the opportunity to return to him even now. Rend your heart, he says. not your garments. What does that mean? It means when you come to the cove, and I spoke to one of you last night, you’ve been here 19 times, so thank you for spending your time here, but let me ask you something. When you come to the cove, And you say, you listen to the speaker and you say, you know, I really need to start that. When I go home, I need to do that. I need to go there. I need to cut that out. I need to repent of that. And you go home and you don’t go there and you don’t say that and you don’t do that and you don’t repent. That’s rending your garments. You know? To have regret, that was Judas. To repent and weep tears of bitterness is like Peter. So rend your heart. That’s just a beautiful description of deep repentance. And I believe it’s time to repent. For God’s people to follow through on the commitments that they keep making to him. And Jesus said, didn’t he, that you have to eat of me. And people thought, ooh, is he talking about cannibalism? But he’s talking about eating my word and swallowing it and ingesting it until his word becomes part of your life. You live it out. That’s what he told Ezekiel. I love Ezekiel, by the way. Great old crazy prophet. But Ezekiel was somebody that God said, eat the scroll, eat the word. So he ate it and he was chewing it and chewing it and chewing it. But he was keeping it up there. And God said, Ezekiel, swallow it. And he had to swallow it. And how many of you come here or to a seminar, you go to church, you go to Bible, and you keep the word all in your head. It’s just all head knowledge until you know everything and you can answer every question. But swallow it. Take it into your life. Apply it. Obey it. Live it out. Rend your heart, not your garments. Hosea says… Chapter 14, verses 1 and 2. Return to the Lord your God. Your sins have been your downfall. Take words with you and return to the Lord. If we want revival, do you know where revival begins? Gypsy Lee Smith, who was a British evangelist, was asked that question. And he said, you know where revival begins? He said, you draw a circle around yourself and you make sure everything in that circle is right with God. That’s where revival begins. So you can go to convocations, sacred assemblies, the National Day of Prayer, seminars, prayer groups. Pray for them. And we’ll never have revival. Not until you and I, as God’s people, rend our hearts. This became very personal for me several years ago. I was up on the mountain preparing for a seminar here. It was our intensive. So it went for four days. I would be giving six messages, seven workshops. And so I got that, set aside 10 days to prepare all the material. And the first day I pulled out my Bible, my notebook and, you know, went to… Start preparing the first message and I could get nothing. And I said, God, help me. Please break open the passage. Nothing. So I thought, well, Ann, you’re tired. Get a good night’s sleep. So I did. I got a good breakfast and I got up and I got my pad and my pen and I was nothing. And I said, God, you see, I’ve got this big seminar coming. I need to get this message done so I can get the next one done. The next one. I had it all, you know, patterned out and nothing. And then there’s a little whisper. Ann, I don’t want to talk about the messages. I want to talk about you. And I said, I don’t want to talk about me. I want to talk about the messages. And after I give the messages, then we’ll talk about me. Silence. Until I got on my knees with tears coming down my face. And I said, all right, God, let’s talk about me. For seven days. we talked about me. And it was triggered by a book I was reading on revival so that I could prepare my messages. I had brought it for them. And in this book, this old-timey revivalist had written a list of sins. And he said, read through the list three times. So I thought, all right, to humor this old-timey revivalist, I’m just going to do that. So I read through the list the first time, and I was so smug and self-righteous, I felt so good because not one of those sins was in my life. So I thought, all right, I’ll read it through again. So I wrote it through the second time, and this time I felt very spiritual because I could see maybe two or three of those in my life. Third time I read it through, I saw every sin on that list in my life in one form or another And I’m here to tell you, I repented for seven days. Every time I opened my Bible, every time I read something, a verse would leap off the page. And God was convicting me of something else, sin I didn’t even know was in my life. And that’s when he gave me those verses from Hosea and returned to me with words. Stop making assumptions. Confess your sin. Call it what I call it. So I did. After seven days, he let me know from his word he was through, or at least for that time, you know. I asked him to make sure, and he assured me he was through. God said, if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I’ll hear from heaven and I’ll forgive their sins. And I’ll heal their land. That doesn’t sound like judgment to me. Maybe he’s just waiting until you and I stand in the gap for our nation. So return to him. And to turn to him is to turn to him in prayer. To return to him is maybe reactivate your prayer life. How’s your prayer life? We can pray 24-7 as we’re traveling, as we’re carpooling, as we’re shopping, as we’re doing our business. But I believe we need to return, he says, with fasting. And that means turning away from everything so we can turn to God in prayer. Do you fast? Jesus said, Matthew 6-7, when you fast is not an option. Make time to get along with God. one of the ways God has moved in my life in the last two years. And it’s not been easy. It’s been so different. And he called me home to take care of my husband. To get off the road, he closed the door to arena revivals, so many things as I travel. And so I’m home doing laundry, cooking meals, managing meds, talking to doctors, arranging schedules. You know, I am the caregiver. My daddy has a team of people. I’m the team. And I have some of his wonderful friends that help me with the transportation and stuff. But while I’ve been home, I’ve had extended quiet times to turn to the Lord and turn away from everything else and listen to him speak. And during those times, he pressed on my heart to offer 777 last year, our prayer call for revival. And 911, that emergency call to pray for the peace of Jerusalem and put other things on my heart. I don’t think I would have been open to that. You know, I take my iPad now into my quiet time. And if God puts somebody on my heart and seems to speak to me through the word for somebody, I just text them or email them and it’s amazing what he’s done. I love it. It’s what I think angels do. We can go to one person or we can go to 10,000 people, you know, but just to be used of God to speak into somebody else’s life. What are you missing? Because you’re not spending time alone with God in prayer. And somewhere I’ve lost my list of all the people. Let me just run through it real quickly because Noah was alone with God when God revealed that judgment was coming and how he could offer salvation to his generation. His generation wasn’t saved, but his family was. Abraham was alone with God when he received God’s promise and then God’s covenant that would impact his descendants up until the present day. Jacob was alone with God when he was changed from being a manipulator, a deceiver, into a prince who had power with God. Moses was alone with God when he heard him speak through the burning bush. When he was on Mount Sinai and he received God’s word. Joshua was alone with God when God told him how to overcome the enemy stronghold. Gideon was alone with God when he called him to deliver his people. Elijah was alone with God on Mount Carmel praying for rain. And alone with God in the cave when he was recalled to ministry. Elisha was alone with God praying for the widow’s dead son when he was raised to life. Peter was alone with God when he had that vision to go to Cornelius and open the door for the gospel to go to Gentiles without becoming Jews first. Saul of Tarsus was alone with God for three years in the desert where he was transformed into the Apostle Paul. John the Apostle was alone with God on Patmos when he saw the revelation of the glory of Jesus. What are you missing because you don’t spend time alone with God? Just tick through some of those. Are you missing how he wants to use you to bring your family to salvation? Are you missing the promise he has for you and your descendants that you can claim and drive a stake in and stand in the gap for your children? Are you missing the transformation of your own character from somebody who’s been maybe like Jacob into a prince who has power with God, princess? Are you missing hearing him speak like Moses did? Like Joshua did. How you can overcome the enemy’s stronghold. Are you missing a recall into ministry? Are you missing a vision of the glory of Jesus? How do you know what you’re missing? If you don’t get back, return to God. Turn away from everything else. God himself is extending this offer to you. He’s giving you an opportunity. Even now, return to me. Rend your heart, not your garments. Turn away from everything else. Turn to him. Spend time this afternoon when you go home, going through that list, asking God. And you know something? When you finish that list, don’t be limited to that list. I expect there are things in your life I would never have a clue about, but God sees and God knows. I want you to understand something. Oh, please let me clarify this. If you’ve ever been to the cross and you’ve confessed your sin, you will never come under God’s judgment for the guilt of your sin because Jesus on the cross paid it all. He has taken God’s judgment for your sin. But God disciplines us, doesn’t he? He chastens those whom he loves. And no one enjoys the discipline. No one enjoys the chastening. It’s painful, but it produces in us a fruit of righteousness. And he wants to make some adjustments, realign your priorities, cleanse you, that he might bring revival to your heart and then through you to somebody else. So, if we turn to him, if we return to him, if we rend our hearts, how will he respond? Verse 13, he is gracious. That means he’s inclined to show favor when it’s not deserved. He’s compassionate. That’s the way you would describe a mother’s love for her baby. He’s slow to anger. He’s patient even with the wicked, evil, rebellious sinners. That’s why he pauses in his judgment. It’s progressive. He’s just so reluctant. That’s why he does it slow. Abounding in love, overflowing with covenant-keeping loyalty to you. And then it says, who knows, but that he would relent. That’s breathe a sigh of relief. That he doesn’t have to bring the judgment now. Who knows that he would relent and leave behind a blessing. Revival is possible. That’s why I believe this message is heavy on my heart. Judgment is coming. I can see it on the horizon. It’s coming in that black darkness and I can feel it and see it. But… There is hope. The light shines in the darkness. There is still time for God’s people to wake up. Revival is still a possibility. Otherwise, God wouldn’t be warning us. And he’s telling us even now, you can return to me, rend your heart, and I’ll relent of the judgment that otherwise is going to fall. Revival is possible for us to have a third great awakening. But the price is very high. The price is a broken heart and a changed life. Are you willing to pay the price? So, never mind yesterday. This is now. That was then. From this day forward, return to God. Rend your heart. And recall God’s people. I’m not going through the last of these. Just touch on verse 17. Let the priests who minister before the Lord weep between the temple porch and the altar. Where was that? Between the temple porch and the altar. You know where that was? It was on the way to the place of sacrifice. Recall God’s people to the cross. Recall God’s people to the gospel. The cross is not just for them. It is. Praise God. It’s for sinners who can come and get right with God and have their sin forgiven and receive eternal life and know they’re going to heaven when they die. But the cross is for you and me. Come back to the cross. Ground is level at the foot of the cross and we come to the cross and we confess our sin, bring words with you, confess your sin, ask God to cleanse you and by your example, lead others to the cross. So in the light of the harbingers, there is hope. God is moving and his judgment is sure and It’s slow, it’s soon, and it’s severe. But he’s also loving. And he’s offering you and me the opportunity right now, even now, to return to him.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, what a powerful message indeed from Anne Graham Lotz here on Family Talk. Her deep understanding of Scripture and her passion for the Lord always shines through when she’s teaching. We’ve spent the last couple of days here on the broadcast exploring her thoughts on the end times. I know this is one of Dr. Dobson’s all-time favorite messages, and I hope you found it as enlightening as I have. Thank you so much for joining us. allowing us to reach even more families with biblical wisdom and hope in the year ahead. Throughout the year here at Family Talk, we receive countless messages from listeners who share how our programs have touched their lives. And while many have already requested our 2024 Best of Broadcast collection, please know there’s still time for you to receive and enjoy these impactful conversations. Now, this is the perfect resource to add to your personal ministry library or to share with friends. The collection is available as a six-CD set, or a digital download, and we’ll be happy to send it to you as our way of thanking you for your gift of any amount in support of Family Talk. These carefully selected programs have inspired spiritual growth and brought positive changes to families just like yours to people all over the country. So request your copy today when you make a donation online. at drjamesdobson.org. Our website’s absolutely secure at drjamesdobson.org. Or you can send your request through the U.S. mail when you write to us at Dr. James Dobson’s Family Talk, P.O. Box 39000, Colorado Springs, Colorado, the zip code 80949. Well, I’m Roger Marsh, and on behalf of Dr. Dobson and the entire team here at Family Talk, thanks so much for listening. Join us again next time right here for another edition of Dr. James Dobson’s Family Talk. This has been a presentation of the Dr. James Dobson Family Institute.
