This is the Truth Network. Satan's nightmare, Nakia Koloff. This is a war. This is one war that needs to be settled. What a brawl!
What a fight! And it's out of control here. That's a bad man. No, that's a bad man. You know it.
That's a bad man. Any time, any place, night, day—I don't care. I'm only a phone call away, my friend. Welcome to another episode of Q and A with Koloff, the Devil's Nightmare. You and and I think like you know, one of them is maybe some kind of man up conference or something, if I remember correctly.
But he was always posting these different things with you, and I'm like. You know, I'm surprised that our paths have just never crossed. And and he he spoke. Make sure they they go listen to to our interview on on the Man Up Show, and because they're going to get the get or I should say more of the story, not the full story, because there's so much you've done and and there's a lot of relatability between you and I. I was just on the book.
How about if we do that? That sounds great.
Well, I you know of course feel very blessed. I'm a A fifth-generation preacher raised around ministry, and and you know, I went through the same thing my dad went through. My dad, you know, when he was about thirteen, said he would never be a like, ha ha, yeah. We get there and they have worship, and they and you know, all of a sudden the the host pastor gets up and he said, "I heard Doctor Graham's son Serena preach." He goes. Then after this song, would you come and give us a 15-minute message?
He goes, "I'm sorry to limit you to 15 minutes. We want to give our main speaker plenty of time." But I know everybody. About a year after we got married, we I became a senior pastor and and pastored my first church in upstate New York, and you know that was a a unique experience, but a wonderful experience. And you know we still have great friends up there that were in our our ministry. My buddy Michael David Smith used to have this song called "Place in This World," and that was kind of like when I was younger, like what is my My place in this world.
Let me find it, God, and let me do it for seventy years. You know, and and I I I just realized God never gave me a specific talent, but He gave me a love for law. Rats today, and what He's called us to do today. You know, these were preparations, and at the time I didn't look at this as a preparation or a stepping stone or nothing like that. I went there thinking this is where I'd be all my life.
But I look back and see how God used this time at this place. And you know, got back into film, into the films a little bit, really by accident. Just got asked to be an extra on a film, and and. At the end of the day, they said, "Hey, could you, you know, could you play a priest on on this project?" Then I was like, "Well, I think I could do it, you know." I have have been the lead in three movies, and we're getting ready to film the fourth one this fall, and then the fifth one right before the end of the year. And and you know, and so it's exciting to not only get to do these films, but getting to do them together, all four of our boys.
That's the proper biblical order, I think. God should be first. But I think family should be second, and then ministry, because if you don't have your family, you really don't have a ministry, and so we saw that shift. You know, probably thirty, forty years ago, and and thankful that you know my family really taught me that, and then we've been able to pass that on to our children, and and now to see that you know they've grown up in a preacher's home, and you know my older two boys, they're twenty, almost twenty four and twenty one, and they love God, they love church, and they love mom and dad. You know, I'm thankful for that because so many people who are raised in ministry grow up despising ministry.
And I think a lot of that has to do with you know sometimes we as preachers we you know we tend to put ministry first and you know it's a tough balance but you got to be careful of that and so anyhow but we got in the film business and then God opened doors for us to you know to write some books and we recently wrote a new book called Ignorance and Apathy Two of America's Deadliest Sins and you know I find that oftentimes pastors struggle with you know being engaged and involved. You know, I hear it all the time. People say, "I wish my pastor would speak on this issue or this issue." And a lot of pastors think, "Well, these are social issues. You know, I can't speak on them." But the Bible commands pastors to preach the whole counsel of God. And you'll find that every social issue that is in our world today, the Bible deals with.
These are really biblical issues, and you know, there are absolutes, and God's Word gives us absolutes: what is right, what is wrong. And you know, maybe how we sometimes handle them in the church is not right. You know, we look at you. You know, maybe like the sin of homosexuality. We, you know, we blast that one, but you know, most churches won't preach on adultery, or you know, we kind of pick and choose what we think is a worse sin.
But you know what? What happens? A lot of pastors don't speak on that, and you know they don't understand.
Well, you're not supposed to be involved in in things. Look at Romans, and you know they'll quote that. But then I always remind them: the Apostle Paul didn't end up in jail because you know he went along with what the government said. You know he kept preaching the truth when they told him not to. This is why he was beaten.
This is why he you know went to to go stand before leaders, and as a result of that, was involved in being in a shipwreck. You know, and all these. And you know, and so preachers oftentimes don't understand Scripture. Prophets were, you know, often put to death because of preaching the truth. And then, you know, I look at the founding of our nation.
You know, pastors were engaged. You know, the the Connecticut Constitution was written by a pastor. The famous story of Peter Muhlenberg, who was preaching out of Ecclesiastes. There's a time to live. There's a time to die.
There's a time for war. And he said that time has come. And he took off his black robe and he grabbed his musket and he walked out with a bunch of men in his church, walking out. With him and his brother Frederick Muleberg, who was also a pastor, wrote him a scathing letter, and he said, "How dare you be a man of the cloth? Get involved in this war!
Like you know, this is no place for the preacher. We're to be neutral." Well, six months later, his house is burnt down, his church is burnt down. You know, Frederick's family is nearly killed, and what he found was being neutral does not work, and what he found is being neutral is is not enough, and so he then gets involved and. Frederick Muhlenberg would become the first speaker of the House. You know, he was a pastor.
When Paul Revere is leaving, heading to warn that the British are coming, he goes to Pastor Jonas Clark's house, where Samuel Adams and John Hancock are in hiding. And you know, they ask the pastor Jonas, "Are you are you prepared?" He said, "We are." And he got all of his men ready, and they engaged in the battle. And so, I remind preachers, you know, maybe we don't need to necessarily take up arms today, but we do need to engage. There's a real Spiritual warfare going on today, and you know what? Part of what we talk about in this book is most people's attitude is, "Well, Jesus said in the last days, perilous times are going to come, so you know we can't stop that." You know, and so they think, let's not do anything.
But the reality is, the scripture tells us we're to occupy till he comes. And if you read that word "occupy," it doesn't mean just to stand in place or just to fill a pew. It means to engage in what God has called us to do.
Well, what's He called us to do? He's called us to be salt and light to this this world. And so, we've got to keep sharing Jesus, the love of Christ, but also the truth of Christ that He is the way, the truth, and life. And so. Ignorance and apathy is all about waking up, realizing that God's people are destroyed for lack of knowledge, and so we got to know what's going on.
We've got to engage in what's going on, and we've got to be involved. And so we talk about that in this book, and we put a remedy of how we can fix the problems going on our nation if God's people will just reengage.
Well, and if you are looking for solutions, you are out there listening, and you know we got problems in in America, and you are looking for solutions. Ignorance and apathy, PastorBenGraham dot com. You can find the book there. Correct, PastorBenGraham dot com. That's correct, yes, sir.
So you can find the book there, and GrahamFamilyFilms.com. If you want to learn more about films that that Ben has been involved in, and and there's lots of great ones on that website that for purchase, and encourage you to check check that out. And of course, if you recognize the Graham name, perhaps you'll you'll quickly figure out if you haven't already that he is part of part of the Billy Graham legacy, part of the family tree, and so. Incredible life story that that he has. We've just we've just touched the surface, barely scratched the surface today.
And so, well, Q and A with Koloff Ben. We'll segue here and on that note, and give you the opportunity to ask me a couple questions. And and so let's make that transition and tell me what you got for me today. I love it.
Well, you know, I was blessed to be the pastor of the original Gorgeous George. His name was George Grant, and you know, he had told me some stories. And of course, obviously, he wrestled years before you did, but he told me stories about how they killed off his character, and people actually thought that he actually died as a result of that. And so, you know, he taught me a little bit about wrestling, but I would love to know first off, you know, how you got involved in wrestling. And and I want to know, you know, when you were wrestling, what was the, um, what was the thing that.
That really brought you. Like, what was the thing you enjoyed most about it? I guess is the right way to ask. That's a good question. Of course, the first part, I mean, is fairly well known.
And of course, you know, my book, Wrestling Ring and Redemption, Nikita: A Story of Ring and Redemption, kind of goes into full detail about the unusual way that I got involved in wrestling. Not, you know, not, not, you know, not on my radar as a kid. You know, weightlifting and and bodybuilding and football. You know those were my passions, and you know had nothing to do with wrestling at all as a kid growing up. And eventually, some of my high school buddies had gotten involved, and and one or two of my college buddies, and and they eventually made a phone call and and asked if I wanted to get involved.
And so I had a five minute phone call, you know, sight unseen with a with a I was going to say a pastor promoter, a promoter in Charlotte, North Carolina. And I had that phone call and that conversation, and and you know he just gave me some instructions on when to be in his office, and you know have my head shaved. And I showed up the day he said to be there. Introduced me to Ivan Koloff and Don Knottle, and the kid of Koloff is born in the hallways of June nineteen eighty four. That launched me into this this wrestling career, and and there's so much more to that story.
But I guess I'll just tease the fans, tease those listeners by saying, you know, I guess you'll just have to go get a copy of the book, Ring and Redemption, to get the full story. But all that to say, second part of your your question is, you know, what did I enjoy the most? And and by far, I'll tell you what I didn't enjoy it wasn't I didn't necessarily enjoy the travel. We put a we put a lot of road miles in. In fact, in those early days, Ben, we travel anywhere from two thousand to twenty five hundred miles a week in a Car, and then when we went on the superstation TBS and started traveling, you know, nationwide and eventually around the world, obviously we had to fly.
So at one point, combine my air miles, and I had over a million frequent flyer miles at one point as well. And so, so those aren't necessarily some of the things I. Enjoyed.
However, the highlight for me was to be able to get in the ring and from opening bell to closing bell, you know that time to perform in the ring and entertain the fan, and and the objective being been to draw you, the fan, into the story that we were trying to tell. And you know, it's a different product now as it was than it was then. Back then, we have more what I would call creative control. In that they they maybe told us what what outcome they desired, but then it was up to us to get in the ring and spontaneously tell a story. You know, it wasn't even often that we talked to our opponent prior to getting in the ring because we were in smaller buildings.
You know, dressing rooms would be in the opposite end of the building, and so the first time we lay eyes on our opponents, a lot of times was when we got in the ring, and then through verbal and nonverbal cues. We would begin to tell that story that would lead into that outcome that hopefully drew you into the story, your emotions into the story, and became a part of the story. And that's what I enjoyed the most by far. That's great, and really honestly, it's a little bit like it sounds like you know when we're making a movie. You know, you're the point of entertaining is you're you know you're trying to you know entertain, tell a story, and so you know sounds like you know sounds like you have a lot of experience in that.
Now, let me ask you a little bit about obviously, you know, and and I don't know much about this, and and and you probably tell this somewhere, but. What really brought you to Christ, and and more importantly, what really brought you into the desire to to minister? Because I know that's such an important part of what you do now. You know what really brought you into that arena of of really ministering to people. It's a great question because you know I certainly, by far, we are not we are not five generations of of you know pastors deep here, but to say the least, my dad eventually at the age of forty six.
Came a Christ follower, as he would testify and say he grabbed the old rugged cross at forty six and lived to be ninety two.
So one half of his life he was a Christ follower. I know he prayed for me a lot, and I have an audio. Actually, I highlighted this on on one of my man up shows number early on, and it's in the archives. But an actual audio testimony of him when he when he heard I got into wrestling, he said, "Oh Lord, he's lost now. There's no." Getting him back, you know, he's gone forever.
You know, and fortunately, God had a plan that after leaving wrestling, you know, about eleven months later, you know, through a Christian couple I'd met through other business ventures that invited me to their church, and you know, I didn't grow up in church, but I knew I knew the story, but the story never made the eighteen-inch trip from my head down to my heart until the seventeenth of October, nineteen ninety-three, when it was in that that that service. That I had been invited to, that I went to the altar and surrendered my life to the Lord, and I can definitively say, never in a million years.
Now, again, you can look at your family tree. I mean, with names like Reverend Billy Graham and and your dad and and and many others that are part of your lineage, you know, I didn't necessarily have that.
So so therefore, I wasn't, you know, like I think at an early age you said you felt, you know, the Lord calling you into ministry. Like I will never, I wrote down, yeah, tell God what you will, what you are not going to do. I just envisioned him just laughing, like, okay, we'll see about that, right? I will never become a preacher.
Okay, let's we'll see about that. But anyway, yeah, all that to say, never in a gazillion years did I ever dream I'd be doing anything I'm doing. Kind of like you, Ben. I mean, I kind of pinch myself sometimes. You know, when I think about your story, I mean, from author to acting to you know to to pastoring to raising a family, you know, husband, dad, you know, granddad.
I mean. All of what I'm doing, from from this radio show to the to to writing books to preaching and conferences, camps. You mentioned, you know, Lex Luger and I do a camp called Man Camp where we empower men and send them home, hopefully to with the tools to be godly men, godly husbands, godly fathers. Never in a gazillion years did I ever envision that I'd be doing what I'm doing. And I would summarize to say two words: but God, but but God.
I mean, there there. I remember, I remember one time I ran into a fan. She was checking me in for a flight, and she recognized me and recognized the name. She says, "What are you doing now?" And I go, "Well, believe it or not, I'm an evangelist and book author, and this is." And she she paused and looked at me, Ben, and she's like. Her wheels in her mind were just turning, and she finally she goes pro wrestler, evangelist.
She goes, "That's like two polar opposite ends of the world." I'll never forget her saying, "Right?" I went, "Yeah," and I just look at I go, "But God, there is a God, you know." And and so yeah, so I would say I would say, and I think you agree with this. I think God's done this on in. Quite a few lives of some wrestlers. I mean, I I know there's probably more that need to come to Christ, but you know, I've met several. I think I told you this when we were together a couple weeks ago that, you know, I didn't grow up.
Watching a ton of wrestling, I had some friends that were just diehard fans, so I kind of knew some names. But more recently, over the last four or five years, the Lord just put me in touch with several former well-known pro wrestlers that are, you know, that seem to love God and doing great things. And of course, we also have a former pro wrestler who's the mayor of Knoxville, who, you know, we've done several political events with, and you know, I'm. Finding out how different ones were connected, and you know, of course, I never throw out names because you know, in the wrestling world, I I never know if they were best friends or arch enemies. Right, right.
So you're always careful about that. But you know, finding out some of these different people are close friends, and my secretary. Her, she has a son who is Down syndrome, and he knows every wrestler, past, present. He knows them all. Oh yeah.
So you know he's so passionate about that, and so I've learned more from from him and from their family about wrestlers. But, but it seems like the Lord has has has saved several of them who are trying to do ministry like yourself, and I I love that, and and it's just a reminder. One, God's no respecter of persons. And then I always tell people, you know, maybe you don't have a a family history, you know, where you know you're a multi generation Christian, but you can start one, and you can pass it on to your children and your grandchildren. And you know, somewhere in our family, somebody decided, you know, I want to be dedicated, Lord.
I want to dedicate my family, Lord, and and started passing on some important values. And and I'm so thankful for you know that. And and you know, we want to continue to do that.
Well, absolutely. And I And I just want to say this before we run out of time here, and because if you're not familiar, of course I'm speaking with with Ben Graham today. And if you've ever make it to Charlotte, North Carolina, listen, you'll be blown away. Go by the Billy Graham Library and put that on your list, your bucket list of things to do. The Billy Graham Library.
He has talked about you know how how one man can make a decision and surrender his heart and life to Lord, and then you may be out there as one. Think I'm just one person. What difference can I make?
Well, you go visit that library, and you're going to see quite. Quite quickly, what a difference one man can make, and that has led to all these generations, and of course, part of Ben Ben Graham's family, and and and what a fascinating story, Ben. Everything is so. Go, I remind you one more time: go to GrahamFamilyFilms dot com and check out all the different film projects that that this man and and his team put out, and and then go to Pastor Ben Graham. Dot.com and pick up a copy of Ignorance and Apathy because if you want the solutions to how to turn this nation around, he gives you those solutions.
How you can be a voice as one man, one woman, one young man, one young woman, right? Ben can can make a difference, right? Absolutely. Last thoughts. Last thoughts, Ben.
Well, first of all, I throw out go to the library. It's free. You'll enjoy it, even if you have children, they'll enjoy it. It starts with Betsy the cow talking to you. It's it's so much fun.
But you know, one thing that you know when they took Billy there the first time, they walked him through. You know, he said it's too much, Billy, and they're like, well, you know, but it's about your life. But the whole point is, is he want to point people to Christ, and so at the end of that tour, when you you go there, you You know, I don't want to give it all away, but you you sit through an invitation of Billy one more time, and a lot of lives are still being changed as a result of that. But the point is, is you know, you talked about even being young. You know, David was young.
You look at the three Hebrew boys who were you know young when they stood for the Lord. You know, I think it's it's it really doesn't matter age. What matters is faith, and if we have faith in the Lord, you know we can we can make a difference. And we put our faith not only in Him for salvation, but we put our faith in trusting Him when He puts us in. Situations we don't understand that may seem difficult, may seem hard, may seem more than we can bear.
God always knows what He's doing, and I just want to say thank you for what you're doing, Nikita. I I appreciate it, and I love the way you're trying to challenge and inspire, and and I greatly appreciate you having me on here today.
Well, and and and again, appreciate you and just taking advantage of all the gifts and talents God has given you, and and and the variety of ways that you're impacting God's. Kingdom, and one day I'm grateful that our paths crossed just a while back. But looking forward to our paths crossing again in the future, Ben.
Well, same here, and thank you again. All right, Ben Graham, and thank each and every one of you. Every week, you're so faithful to tune in Q and A with Cole Off and and ask your questions. And I hope you enjoyed this conversation today. And we're challenged by some of the things Ben shared today.
So my challenge on the way out is to go out today and just let God fill, have a God love. If you are a business owner and would like to advertise your company or product on the Man Up Show and/or Q and A with Koloff, contact me directly, Nikita Koloff at koloff dot net.
