Chronicles of the End Times
Occasionally, people say, are we really in the last days? How do we know? Does it matter one way or another? We will try to answer these questions and many others in this study. But the most important question may be, how can we reach others with hope in these changing times? One part of prophecy is often emphasized over another, causing us to lose perspective and miss the blessing and beauty of prophecy in scripture. I have taken the information in this study from many authors and teachers who have their lives studying God's word. I have added some insight that the Holy Spirit taught me. With God's help, I have endeavored to keep the whole counsel of the word of God in full view to give us an accurate picture of Christ and His great love for a lost world. I pray that this will challenge you and cause you to grow in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, as it has me preparing it. Let's begin!
Chronicles of the End Times
Part 2. Interview with authors, Biff Price, D.I. Hennessey and Doug Dial.
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What happens when four Christian authors gather to discuss spiritual warfare, authentic faith, and the end times? A powerful conversation emerges about standing firm in an increasingly hostile world.
Biff Price opens with raw honesty about spiritual battles: "Satan has beat me up and thrown me down the stairs in recent years." This vulnerability sets the tone for a discussion about how following Christ comes with real costs. The authors explore the protective power of "putting on God's armor" daily and facing opposition with unwavering faith.
A fascinating exchange occurs when Biff shares how he responded to his grandson saying he wasn't religious: "I'm not either," Biff replied. "Christianity is not a religion. It's the way, the truth and the life." This distinction between institutional religion and living relationship with Christ resonates throughout the conversation as the authors examine why so many choose paths leading away from God despite clear eternal consequences.
The dialogue takes a global turn as they discuss the 16.2 million Christians facing persecution in Africa alone. Rather than viewing hardship as something to avoid, they frame it as "fertilizer for the church" - a powerful agent that separates genuine believers from cultural Christians. D.I. Hennessey reminds listeners that promises like "all things work together for good" were originally written to believers facing death for their faith. Doug Dial adds that "heat is what irons out the wrinkles," transforming believers into the spotless bride Christ desires.
Against rising voices claiming the Old Testament's irrelevance, the authors mount a passionate defense of Scripture's unity. They explore how current Middle East conflicts connect to biblical covenants about the land "from the river to the sea," while celebrating reports of revival among young people - including 70,000 university students accepting Christ and 7,000 people recently baptized in California.
Ready to strengthen your faith for challenging times? Listen now and discover why authentic Christianity will always stand distinct from cultural religion, especially as we approach what many believe are the end times.
Welcome everyone. This is Russ Galzo. Chronicles of the End Times. Thank you for being with me today. Today we're going to continue our interview with Biff Price, di Hennessey and Doug Dial, three authors that have written some wonderful books and have some great insight into what's going on around us today. So let's get started. We pick up where we left off. Doug Dial has just given his personal testimony of some of the things that he went through and the book that he hopes to write. Biff Price has some comments on the spiritual warfare that he went through.
Speaker 3I think we're under attack every day. I mean Satan has beat me up and thrown me down the stairs in the recent couple of years and he attacks me one way or the other. I mean I can't tell you how many times he's come after me, but I know that the wings are over me, the arms are around me, the hands are on me and I have to hang on to that, because being a Christian costs you. Jesus said you're going to be persecuted, you're going to be. You know they're going to come after you and, of course, the end times.
Speaker 3Prophecy says that in the last days the love will grow cold and all kinds of evil will be going on all over the world. Now, when that is, we don't know, we're not given to know, and I don't want to know it. I mean, he's not interested in prophecy to that extent, but we have to be equipped to go out and do battle every day. We do battle every single day.
Speaker 3You put on the armor God's armor, as it says in Ephesians the helmet and the breastplate, and carry the sword and so forth. You have to defend yourself because he's going to come at you through your family, through your friends, through situations he's going to try to twist you around and turn you inside out. The greatest problem we have in the world is the level of hypocrisy that we all carry around, and when I get like that and I do quite often I stop and if I can find a mirror, I'll say well, that was really good, mr Christian, because we have no reason to be proud, we have no reason to be filled with ourselves. We have to be humbled, and humility is not something that this world deals with real well in the recent times, or any time for that matter.
True Christianity vs. Religion
Speaker 3But I think God wants us to be humbled and he wants us to be in love with him. And as I said recently to somebody I said, one of my grandsons. He said to me well, you know, I'm not religious. And I looked at him and I said I'm not either. He didn't know what to say to that and I said well, you know I'm not religious. And I looked at him and I said I'm not either. He didn't know what to say to that. He said what do you mean? I said I'm not religious. I said Christianity is not a religion. The world wants to call it a religion. It isn't a religion why? Because it's the way, the truth and the life. There's only one access to heaven and God, and it's Christ.
Speaker 2That's it.
Speaker 3It's not a religion. You can call all these other things religions if you want to, but they're not going to get you into heaven. The other amazing thing to me is you've got two choices in life heaven or hell. It's amazing how many millions of people are choosing hell. Why would you ever do that? If you have a good mind and a rational mind, why would you ever choose that over heaven? I don't have an answer for that, but every human being on this planet has got to answer that question sooner or later.
Speaker 1Yeah, absolutely. I mean that is how it goes. Statistic this past week that in the continent of Africa there's 16.2 million Christians under persecution right now that have either been physically affected or uprooted from their homes and had their churches burnt down, their homes destroyed. We're obviously isolated in America. You know. We're blessed in this country. You know, but we don't sense a lot of that. You know there's people listening to us today that are in that continent of Africa and could very well be going through these things or, you know, in other parts of the country. I even have some listeners in China. We know what's going on there. You know the crunch is on against the church but still the church thrives because persecution is almost like fertilizer for the church. It seems like the more the enemy comes at it, the stronger they get. But it does divide the true believers from the non-believers. I know you got some thoughts on that, danny.
Speaker 2Well, I mean, that's obviously the New Testament was all about that. I mean, that was the experience that was happening in the New Testament. Count it all joy. You know when you fall into diverse temptations, and you know even the verses where we always love to quote all things work together for good to those who love, those who love God and are called according to his purposes. That was written to the Roman church that was being thrown to the lions, I mean it was. He was saying all things work together for good to people who were being brutally persecuted. And so you know, you're right. It is all part of the journey, I guess, and that's one thing.
Persecution and Transformation
Speaker 2I think that as you get older in life, you kind of realize new revelations. Right, one is that you're not going to live forever. You begin to certainly understand that and you know it really drives the point anyway you anyway eventually comes to you is that this whole life is not about this life. This life is about preparing us for something that's going to last forever. And when you think about whatever, even if it's 100 years here on this earth, it's so minuscule compared to eternity. And what God is preparing us for I have not seen, you have not heard.
Speaker 2I'm talking about reigning with Christ. It's just an amazing eternity, a picture of eternity that you realize that God is really trying to transform us here in this life. He's using all of these things that happen to people here on earth to turn us into something different, to make us into something. And you know, it's when we've got to the end of that journey and been transformed, we're going to be more thankful for the crosses that sanctified us than we will be for the ones that God immediately took away from us. You know.
Speaker 1I'm into that. That's why I love doing Chronicles of the End Times, because not only is it about the so-called bad stuff that's coming, but it's about our future, our inheritance. To think that Jesus said just as I'm sitting on my throne with my father, you're going to sit on the throne with me, it's like it's mind-boggling. I said I'll be happy just to run water for people.
Speaker 2Exactly, rather than be a doorkeeper.
Speaker 1Yeah, you know, whatever you got going on here, it's fine with me, I can't imagine. But his love is so great His whole heart is to share his kingdom. Well, you know, we talked about a lot of different things with books and being an author and all that stuff, but we're dealing with a world that's lost its way. We've had these discussions before, but it's worth talking about and we're just talking about it a little bit off mic. You know, you expect the world to do what they do, because that's the world and we were in the world but expect the church to do something else. I think we all agree that we need revival, we need a move of God to put people back in perspective and the word of God. I've also heard it said by very famous preachers and I'm not going to name them, you can look for yourself that the Old Testament is no longer relevant. No need to read it, it's all about the New Testament. Any thoughts on that from you guys?
Speaker 2well, I think it's funny you should say that because I've been, you know, doing my annual through the bible, um, and I've been in deuteronomy and, uh, joshua, you know some of the just the long litany of the commandments of moses and that kind of and some of them are just wild.
Speaker 2I mean, nowadays, you know, reading that it just like makes you stand up and notice the kinds of things that God said. Just the fervor with which God hates evil, I guess really comes through in that. Yet you really understand, in the context of Deuteronomy, what Christ accomplished on the cross right, and even the contrast between the way Jesus spoke to people and you know, and even his parables, the prodigal son, you know all of these things where it's all about mercy and understanding and forgiveness. And he's the same master of the Lord's host who met Joshua below the walls of Jericho and was like kill them all, don't let anybody live. So it's because of what Christ accomplished on the cross that he's able to present this forgiveness for everybody. I think that's such a powerful part of the whole Christian message. The New Testament is not an eradication of the Old Testament, it's a fulfillment of it. The whole Old Testament is all about what God was going to do through Christ, and then Christ is the fulfillment of that.
Speaker 1Without knowing that you can't appreciate the cross Without the side that says, hey, that you can't appreciate the cross, don't have to decide. That says, hey, buddy, you're in trouble. How can you appreciate when somebody saves you from that trouble? What you said is I love that. That Jesus is the. I am, he was the. I am in the bush. You know he was the captain and the host, as you mentioned, to Joshua and in so many places. You know this is who he is. God is the same yesterday, today and forever. We're only seeing part of his, who he is. The Old Testament, you know, is important, doug. I know you're a Bible school guy. What's your opinion of that as far?
Old Testament Relevance Today
Speaker 4as the Old Testament. I think, as the four of us, as writers, we try so hard to bring out the reality of who God truly is and the true church, the bride of Christ, has to be differentiated between the American church. There's a big difference between those who attend church and those who are Christ's disciples. Jesus said if you pick up your cross daily and follow me, then you are my disciple and then you shall be free. Indeed, we want a free pass today. We want a gospel that's easy and brings in the masses. Jesus said, paul said to the young Timothy. Yet those that want to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. Well, I'm not persecuted, don't brag about it, because if you're living godly, if you're speaking the words of Christ, you're going to be hated. The bride of Christ hates sin. The bride of Christ is holy, spotless, pure, but today's church is anything but so. What's the dilly? The dilly is the difference is going to happen.
Speaker 4Heat is what irons out the wrinkles. You put the iron on a wrinkled garment and it's brought out spotless and clean. And the heat that's being applied now in many nations of the world. Many nations are suffering. As Russ brought out a minute ago, 16 million people in Africa have been chased from their homes and they're being persecuted because of their faith. The true believer and the church today in America are very, very different. John Piper has a book out called Reading the Bible Supernaturally. It talks about the white, hot worship of the true saints of God and how Jesus is everything. He's Lord, he's King, he's Savior. He's a center of our hearts. He needs to be our everything.
Speaker 1Amen to that. It is the truth. The spirit of god is what draws us, being in his presence. Right? I've heard it once said that having the anointing of god or this scent of god on you is like because you're so close to god, it's like if he was wearing perfume or aftershave. You got some on you. Sometimes you hug somebody in church or somewhere and then you start smelling like they are. Sometimes that's good, sometimes that's not so good, but when it comes to Christ, the closer we get to him, we do, we have that, we become that, and that's what draws people. It's not us, but the fact that we've been close to him.
Speaker 3Dan mentioned Joshua and, in recent times, the whole thing with the university students on Hamas' side and what happened and the horrible thing that went down in Israel and where things are now, and they were carrying signs on the campuses saying from the brook to the sea. In Joshua, joshua is taken over, moses has died and Moses is gone. And now Joshua leads them to the promised land and when you read the book of Joshua, he's apportioning various sections of the land to the various tribes. When he gets to Judah, okay, you know where he takes him From the river to the sea, from the river to the sea Gaza. Gaza was given to the Jews by the Lord, god Almighty. Now here's a question, and I thought about this yesterday If God gives you something other than faith, do you have a right to give it away? If he gave it to you? That's a good question.
The Bride of Christ vs. American Church
Speaker 3That's something I can't not qualify even to discuss, but the point is that the blessings of God are eternal, whether they're given here on earth or they're given there in heaven, and we can't deny that. Okay, so that really applies to the Jews from the river to the sea. Does not apply to anybody else, because God gave it through Joshua, to the tribe of Judah. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1It's precious to the Lord because that was his exit point and it's going to be his entrance point, landing on the Mount of Olives. Right now, we see the religions of the world are at war. We have India and Pakistan at war, we have the Hindus and the Muslims and the Shiites. It's just a mess, and we have it in the Middle East. Christianity stands as the one with open arms and saying god loves you, come to him well he?
Speaker 3he mentioned revival earlier. I heard about a woman just a few months ago. I don't know, I don't wish I'd written her name down. She started a ministry on college and university campuses years ago and a few months ago I heard her say there are up to 70,000 university students that have accepted Jesus.
Speaker 3So that's a really good sign and you talked about young men coming to them and young women. In our church we have every age group little people, toddlers, teenagers, what have you? It's wonderful. All the races of men are there. And I look out at the church and say there's a future here. When I'm gone, or when the rest of us are there at my age, are gone, it'll still be here because they'll be here, because they love God. You show me a church with young people in it and babies and toddlers and parents and everything else. I'll show you a church with a future. You show me a church with nothing but old people in it. It's dead. When they're gone, it's gone.
Speaker 3The gospel has to set fire to the lives of people and to make them flame inside. I say often to the Holy Spirit set your fire within me and burn away all that's evil. And we have him in us. But many days we forget that, especially when things get tough and it's really easy to walk away or turn your back or stop. You know, get your love grows cold and whatever. And I'm not saying that we're all perfect we're not but we're Christians and Christianity is a war, as already been pointed out here. We're in a war For the souls of men and women. And here we're in a war For the souls of men and women and children. We're in a war every day in this world. It's a war. The Old Testament's outdated? No, it's not. It's the foundation of everything that Christ is.
Speaker 3It's where it began, and if you want to turn your back on it and not read it or ignore it or be selective, well I like that verse, but I don't like this psalm and what it says. When you start nitpicking the Bible, you're going to have a discussion with someone one day and every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord, whether they like it or not.
Speaker 1Yep, there's only one king. That's it. I pointed it out before. One Lord, one Savior.
Speaker 1It's just awesome to be being used by Him in any way, shape or form and I encourage everyone listening today to share your faith, you know, share it in love, share it in confidence that God's going to reach out and touch people. And that's what it's about. When we stop and we, like Jesus said, you don't put a light under the table, you don't hide it, but you put it up where people can see it. I think, as the world gets darker, our light should be even brighter because of the contrast, and people are looking for the contrast. You see, where they just baptized 7,000 more in California, they started that ministry where they've been praying towards baptizing people. They did 10,000 last year and they got 7,000 just the other day in the ocean.
Revival Rising Among Young People
Speaker 1There is something going on, but there is a dividing going on between, like Doug was saying, between the bride of Christ and those who call themselves Christians. It really affects the world and it affects all our writing. Every one of you guys, your books portray that line, that dividing line who God is, who God isn't? You know, and there's a book I've been thinking about writing for a couple of years, called the Designer God. It could be a room with 200 and you might have 50 or 60 different gods, all conformed to whoever. However, everyone is living Kind of like the Greeks. Right, the Greeks, their gods were like them. They were petty, you know. They were always angry. They were vicious because they designed them after themselves.
Speaker 4We desperately need to have a glimpse of the god of the bible. Paul said he's able to do exceeding abundantly. Above all, we ask or think according to the power that works within us, and if we don't view the world through a scriptural lens, we'll get it wrong. Every the gospel is not an American gospel. The gospel is God's Word, and a true picture of the true God will only be found in His Word. It's to be read, memorized, meditated upon, shared, poured over cried and and and. Then we begin to see who god truly is, only through god's word amen to that amen.
Speaker 1His word is his book. I think if people thought about it as here's a book from god, it sounds real simple. But people don't think of it that way. Here's a book God gave us. Here's the book of God. You want to know who he is and what he can do for you.
Speaker 3Read this book. In the 70s there was an author I think his last name was Hill. He wrote the King's Kids books. I remember that and I think he calls it the manufacturer's handbook.
Speaker 4Yeah.
Speaker 1The warranty book, the covenant book. You need the manual.
Speaker 3Yeah, that's right.
Closing Thoughts and Recommendations
Speaker 1I have really enjoyed this getting together with you, with Biff and Danny and Doug. It's been awesome and we're going to do this again in the very near future. Those of you who have been listening along, we appreciate you so much and don't forget to check out Doug Dial's Five Minutes of Hope. He's on Facebook and he has a podcast out there. Wherever you get your favorite podcasts, doug will be there and it will really lift you up, along with all of DI Hennessey's books and Biff Price and please check out DI Hennessey's books his two series, and Biff Price's three series and Doug Dial, with so many amazing books of poetry and personal testimonies from people. This is the kind of stuff that raises you up, lifts your spirit, builds your faith. So thank you for being with me today. Love you all. This is Russ Galzo of Chronicles of the End Times. Keep looking up. King is coming.