Anne Graham-Lotz, the daughter of 97-year-old evangelist Billy Graham, has revealed that her father's mind is as clear as ever and suggested that God is keeping her father on earth to be an encouragement to those living in the end times.
Lotz, the founder of AnGeL Ministries, was a featured speaker at the Family Research Council's 2016 "Watchmen on the Wall" conference and shared an update regarding her father's health, according to a report from The Christian Post.
While the elder Graham is confined mostly to his bed and wheelchair, he still has a clear mind - even though it "doesn't move as quick as it used to." Nevertheless, he is still "affectionate and loving."
"I am not sure he is aware so much of the world's situation but his appetite is good, his vital signs are good and I know God is holding him for some reason," Lotz said, and suggested that her father's vitality despite his advanced years might have something to do with the Second Coming of Christ.
"I thought it had to do with the Return of Jesus and I won't go there right now, but I wonder also if [my father] is here ... to be an encouragement to you - that there is a man that is still faithful, still has a heart for the Gospel, heart for God, heart for the lost and still prays," she continued. "In fact, he prays in his preaching voice. He is still kicking. Maybe that will encourage you to be faithful through persevering in the ministry to which God has called you."
Graham, who celebrated his 97th birthday last November, has spread the "good news of God's love to nearly 215 million people at hundreds of crusades around the world over the past few decades," according to the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.
In a 2015 interview with FCN, Anne's brother, Franklin Graham revealed that his father "still likes hamburgers" and -- for breakfast -- bacon and eggs. But he "doesn't speak much," and he hasn't been able to walk for about two years due to physical complications related to Parkinson's disease.
Franklin told the news outlet he believes God is leaving his father on earth as a comfort to believers, especially now the Christians are being attacked more and more.
"His desire is still there to tell the world about God's love for them and how God sent His Son, Jesus Christ from heaven to earth to take the sins of all mankind to the cross, die, and arise on the third day," Franklin Graham wrote in a Facebook post. "My father's desire is that all men and women everywhere would come to know Jesus Christ as their personal Savior and trust Him and follow Him as their Lord."
Lotz, who is also the new chairwoman of the National Day of Prayer and the author of the new book The Daniel Prayer: Prayer That Moves Heaven and Changes Nations, frequently discusses the end times and urges America to return to God - or face the consequences.
"Romans 1 describes the type of judgment where we sin, and we refuse to repent of our sin, then He backs away from us," Lotz said in April during an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network, when asked about the spiritual health of the nation.
"He removes Himself from us and He turns us over to ourselves. That's what I think I see in America. I believe we're entering into that phase of judgment, where God is backing away."
Lotz argued that certain events that have occurred in recent years signal the end times, such as the birth of the modern state of Israel, the rise of Islamic extremism, and major natural disasters.
"So when something is record-breaking, which the earthquakes, the snowstorms, the floods - they are record-breaking - that's increasing in intensity," Lotz told CBN.
"When they increase in frequency - so it's not just one historic flood this year, but now it's like this month, and now it's this week, and it's just - they're ratcheting up in frequency and in intensity."
She issued a similar warning in a blog post shared on her website earlier this year: "Our nation is in a mess. Why? Could it be because America is losing God's blessing? His favor. Could our sin be provoking His judgment? Judgment that is not necessarily in the form of a nuclear dirty bomb, or another ISIS attack, or an economic collapse. But a Romans 1 judgment as God backs out of our national life and turns us over to ourselves," she wrote in the post, titled "It's Time to Get Serious."
