Duncan Brannon- On The Front Lines Part#1

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What do they all have in common? Tune in today to the Man Up Show. Now, The Devil's Nightmare. Welcome back to another episode of It's Time to Man Up. Today on the Man Up Show, a man's man, Duncan Brannon Esquire. Welcome to the show, Duncan. Thank you, brother. What a fascinating introduction.

Esquire. I think that's the first time I've ever gotten that title. Good.

I was hoping so. I try to be, you know, I try to be unique, you know, and what I do is I just thought it was fitting for you, you know, so. Thank you, brother.

You're kind. Well, great to have you on the show, man. I'm excited. Lots to talk about with you, and I know you got a brand new book that has recently come out, and I'm excited about that. We're going to talk more about that later on. But before we get there, what I always like to do is let our listeners know a little bit about who it is I'm talking to. And so fill in our listeners, Duncan.

Just first, a little bit on your family. I know you're down in the great state of Texas. The United States of Texas. Yeah. Everything's bigger in Texas, right? Isn't that the expression? Yes, it is. Yes, it is.

Everything's bigger in Texas. Including the pride, right? I like that. That's good. So give a little backdrop, you know, your family and kind of a little bit of your history for us.

Hmm. So, yeah, my wife and I, Roland, both of us were born and raised right here in Texas, both born in the same city, in fact, here at Fort Worth, Texas, where we've lived most of our lives. And we were, matter of fact, we were born in the same hospital. Now talk about, wow, talk about crazy, right? Crazy beginnings. Both was born in Harris Hospital, but just about a month apart.

You know, I've joked before that if we had been any closer, we could have tagged up in the hallway, you know, when we were passing by or something. But never met each other until both of us were 21. But both of us born and raised right here, Rolanda, came from just a really amazing, rich Christian background, rich Christian heritage. Father was an elder for many years.

Whole family, just a bunch of, like Levi's, I mean, mom played piano and violin and all the girls sang and so forth. So just a rich Christian heritage. And my side was the total heathen, total heathen family until I became a believer at 21. Roland, I met when we were 22, but became a believer at 21. I got radically saved. My last year in junior college, when I was studying in theater, some friends of mine that I hadn't seen in a while, all of them got saved in a domino revival and had formed a Christian band and drama ministry.

And just, we're going to head on the road and preach Jesus and just all of that. And I hadn't seen them in a while. And I went to knock on their apartment door after doing a show. And I was doing Hamlet at the time. My goal was I was going to run off and become a big blockbuster Hollywood motion picture star.

And that was, that was going to be my thing. And I walked in to a prayer meeting, knocked on the door, nobody answered. And then I, and finally just walked in cause nobody was answering and literally walked right into a prayer meeting. And I mean, they were praying so hard. They didn't know I'd even come in the room.

That's how serious they were. And of course, I'm watching all of this, all of my formerly unsaved heathen friends, and they are praying until the cows come home and just the power and presence of God was so strong in that room. It was a, it was the first Corinthians 14 moment where the scripture says, you know, if you all come together and you prophesy that you read the thoughts and intents of a person's heart, you know, and that person will say of a truth, God is in this place. And I had never sensed anything like this, this awesome presence in this room. And I was powerfully convicted before they had even finished praying. I was, I was literally on my face with my head in the carpet, just hands over my head, just going, what is this?

What am I sensing and feeling? And of course they finished praying and they see that I'm, I'm there and just, you know, wide-eyed like a deer in the headlights and began to testify and tell me about their experience with Jesus and what they were going to do. And they played this amazing set of music with lyrics like I'd never heard before, just packed full of scripture and Psalms and Proverbs, you name it. And later that night, they, they shared Jesus with me and I got saved, April 13th, sitting in the back of my friend's pickup truck, just a little after midnight.

And that was, that was my, my time with Jesus. Of course, Rolando grew up and Rolando and I got married in 1993, had two beautiful girls and raised them knowing the Lord. And both of them are successful there. Our youngest is a special education teacher out here.

And then our oldest is a speech language pathologist with the Baylor Scott and White Network. And we couldn't be prouder of them. And that's, that's a little of our story there. That's a pretty, pretty fascinating story. Let me, let me ask you, so a couple, a couple thoughts. 1993, that's the year I found my way to an altar and gave my life to the Lord.

So the minute you say 1993, that's what resonates in, in, in my, my heart was 17 October, 1993, when I found my way to the altar, surrender my life to the Lord. And I am excited. Did you hear the huge announcement, the big announcement? Well, maybe it's a minor announcement.

Anyway, Facebook, go look up my new fan page, Nikita Kolov fans, and like it and follow today. You're listening to the Truth Network and truthnetwork.com. Let me ask you a question.

Let me dig a little deeper into that. What, so, so what, what prompted you to go to that meeting? What, what was, I mean, was something already stirring inside of you or, I mean, you know, what, what, what led you to knock on that door? What led to that moment?

Yeah. So the lead up to that moment was, was really, really powerful. My, my only real strong Christian influence growing up had been my, my, my maternal grandmother. And she was a matriarch of the faith. She was like a real Sarah in our family. She was a praying grandma.

I'm telling you, man, you got a praying grandma or a praying mama. You're doomed. You are going to get it.

That's right. It's only a matter of time. It's only a matter of time. The books are in already.

They're just reeling in. Book in the jaw. Yeah. And so that was my influence growing up. But other than that, nothing else really, but my last year there in community college, God really was doing a sovereign work. You can look back and always see those things.

Right. And I remember, um, uh, signing up for classes that semester, for example, and the Baptist student union, which was there at the time was handing out little Gideon pocket, new testaments with the Psalms and Proverbs. And, um, you know, you remember those and, uh, I, uh, as, as things continued to kind of soar out of control in my own life and my parents were divorcing, there was all kinds of turmoil in my personal life as I'm trying to find my way. And I remember, uh, one night just, uh, sitting there, uh, in my apartment and picking up that little pocket Bible. And I just started thumbing through it and looking at verses, you know, they have a little index there in the back that talks about depression or verses on anxiety versus on fear and stuff like that. And I started reading the Psalms that way. And God started a little work on, on me that way. And the next thing you knew, I was, I was popping up some prayers here and there and just calling out, you know, God, are you there?

And what really, what really triggered it, um, were two things. One, there were some Christians in my life that were fellow college, college peeps. And, you know, one, for example, would, you know, invite me to, uh, after we'd get through with a show or something, you know, we'd sit down and talk and, you know, and she would play Christian music and just let me listen to it, say, I want you to listen to this song and tell me what you think.

And I want you to listen to this song. And so I had some people like that that were sowing some seeds. And the other thing was, is one night, uh, after, after doing a show, I was headed to bed and I was just thinking a lot about God, a lot about eternity, uh, and you know, my future and what I mean, and what I really saw was just, just a doomed, a doomed future. And I knelt by my bed. And I said a very simple prayer. I said, God, I believe that you're there.

I matter of fact, I always have. I believe that you've always existed. And I believe that there's a heaven. I believe there's a hell.

And I believe I'm going to the ladder, but I have one question. Who is this Jesus? I hear friends talk about this Jesus and they say, he's your son. And I don't, I don't even know what that means. And you know, I just, how can you have a son?

I don't understand that. And, you know, amen. And I went to bed and I had a dream that night and in my dream, I saw the rapture of the church. It was one of the most powerful visceral moments that I've ever experienced. Um, I, and I saw literally the great vine highway, highway 26, which is a place right over here still to this day, I saw that place and I saw a mix master. I saw all these things that weren't even there yet that are now that are there. Now I saw structures and buildings in place that are there years later.

And this, this horrible kind of apocalyptic situation. And I was standing on this bridge, had my hands in the air and was turning around slowly in this kind of clockwise manner. And I was speaking words and I could not hear what those words were, but people were stopping and they were coming towards me and they were listening. And I remember all of a sudden in this dream, there was this shout and it was a shout that penetrated every fiber of your being years later, reading the scripture. Of course, I'm reading first Thessalonians chapter four. And I'm thinking that was the, that was the voice of the archangel.

Right. It was the shout of the, of the archangel that I heard in that dream. And that shout pierces the air pierces your being. And I remember looking up and everybody stopping and looking up, there were thousands and thousands of people as far as the eye could see cars stacked up just in traffic. And there were places that were burning.

It was, again, it was this very apocalyptic scenario. And everybody looked up in the sky and all of a sudden the clouds began to roll backward like a Graham drape. And Jesus was standing there in the clouds and he had his hands down towards his side and he lifted his arms up. And as he did this beautiful light just emanated from him.

And I watched all these people that I had been talking to. I watched this light touch them and they started rising into the sky, literally coming off the ground, heading up into the sky to meet him. And last thing I remember in this dream was, was this light feeling like this light had touched the top of my head.

And yeah, as this light was shimmering down bodies, it was people's clothes were becoming white, beautiful white linen, their faces were glowing and so forth. And the last thing I remember in this dream was rising up and this sense of, of, of this revelation just dawning on me. Jesus is the son of God.

That means he's God, the son. Nikita Kolov here. Have you registered for the Morningstar Men's Conference in August? Not yet? What are you waiting for? We have an amazing lineup of speakers, including NBA All-Star Al Wood, WWE Superstar Lex Luger, General Jerry Boykin, David and Jason Benham, the Benham brothers, we're renowned evangelists, Frank Shelton, Chris Reed, and of course, Dr. Rick Joyner and yours truly. Get registered today. What are you waiting for?

Go to mstarevents.com. You're listening to the Truth Network and truthnetwork.com. Son of God means he is God, the son. And I woke up with this, this revelation, but I didn't know what to do with it. And a month later when I was doing that show Hamlet, you know, again, I hadn't seen my friends in a while. Hadn't seen Jeremy, hadn't seen Robert, some of these guys. And, uh, I knew that, uh, his Jeremy's girlfriend had an apartment nearby and they always went there all the time.

That was just, that was the whole connection there. I walked over there and walk up to this door. I hear all this commotion going on inside. So I'm thinking to myself, well, things are so noisy. They can't hear me knocking. And so they didn't know I was coming that night.

I didn't know what I was headed into. Of course, Jesus did. Right, right. Things had already been stirring inside you.

So. Yeah, it was, there was a deep stirring and I, I knew in that moment, um, you know, what really, you know, we talk about sealing the deal, you know, what were those words that you heard? What was it somebody said to you that really broke your heart for the gospel? I remember a friend of mine, Michael Shay Green, he was sitting in the truck next to me.

We're all sitting, you know, in the midnight hours in the bed of this pickup truck as my friends are sharing testimony and talking about Jesus. And my friend Shay Green reached over and he grabbed my hand and I'm, man, this was a scrawny kid I had known since junior high, probably weighed a buck five when wet, you know. So some of the, some of the heathens you'd been running with, uh, earlier in life. And yeah, and he reached over and he grabbed my hand and when he grabbed it, I mean, it was just this powerful grip. And he looked at me and when he looked at me, whatever was in him was staring through me and it was Holy spirit of course.

And, but he looked at me and he said, Duncan, and he held up my hand in front of my face. He said, you could never hold hands with anybody better than Jesus. He loves you. He, he allowed his body to be broken for your sins. His hands were pierced for every sin you've ever committed.

I mean, he just, he laid it on me and he, he said, you'll never hold hands with anybody better than him. And he loves you. He bled you. He bled for you. He died for you. And those words literally, it just, it snapped pierced your heart, my whole heart. And I just, I literally, I just collapsed in the middle of this, this pickup truck weeping and I wept so hard, so uncontrollably that as they began to lay a hand on me and just pray a sinner's prayer, all I could do was just agree. I'm literally just crying and nodding and yeah. Right.

Right. Wow. Just with all that I am.

And again, as April, April 13th, 1991, I woke up the next day and my whole world was different. I, my friends bought me a little discipleship booklet from the navigators. I devoured that thing. Anything that had the name of Jesus on it, I was reading it. Well. I wanted to be where people were everything.

Yeah. Well, and, and, and I mean, that's a powerful testimony and that dream, I just, the dream is so vivid and, and what's, what's, what's really for me, what's cool about that dream, Duncan, is that that dream that you had, that vivid dream will one day become a reality. Just read the scriptures. Couple of things I want to comment on as you're sharing some of your story, you know, you talked about reading the scriptures and reading the Bible and, and, you know, anxiety, depression, and I was reminded, you know, like, and I want to share this with our listeners.

I mean, if, you know, the Bible does, I say it often have every answer. I mean, if you're upset, go read the, you know, John chapter 14. I mean, if you're weak, go read Psalm 18, one through 29. If you're lonely, go read Psalm 23. If you, if you, if you find, find yourself wallowing in sin, go read Psalm 51. If you're worried, go read Matthew 8, 18 to 30, you know, 31. If you're anxious, Philippians chapter four, unhappy, collagions, in danger, Psalm 91, depressed, Psalm 27, lack of faith, Exodus 14, need courage, Joshua one, need direction, Psalm 73, verses 21 through 26. There's just a few references of some of the answers the Bible can give if you're out there struggling with, with certain things. And, and what I love about your dream too, is that's really where God has, has kind of resonated in my messages recently to the church.

Duncan is, is that he is coming back again and he will, he will, you know, be, he will call up those who are dead in Christ first, and then those who are alive. And so that's pretty amazing. Let, hey, let's, let's, and man, you guys, there's so much here that, that to unpack. I mean, I want to talk more about, about your acting career, cause there's some really cool things there that I know our listeners will love hearing about. But let me ask you this too, going back to your family for a moment, back to your bride. So you're born in the same hospital, but at what, how did you guys meet? Just tell us, give us a quick story on how you guys met.

Yeah. So, uh, we ended up meeting finally, uh, at a mutual friend's birthday party, uh, years later, uh, just a fellow, a fellow Christian friend that we both had, uh, I think her name was Cindy and, uh, went, went to her birthday party to help celebrate and Rolanda and her and a friend of hers were there. And I, of course, I just remember looking across this room and just instantly being smitten, you know, just looking across and going, wow. Love at first sight.

So, so some say, oh, that never happens, but sometimes it does. Come on. I was, I was bowled over and I wanted to find out who she was. And so I walked over, introduced myself and so forth. And, you know, there was just such an instant and great rapport, but I was, you know, I was a believer at this point and I was like, you know, Hey, if I'm going to even think about going out with anybody, I want to know if they're serious about their relationship.

And so I invited her and her friends to go to a Bible study. You're listening to the truth network and truth network.com. Nikita Koloff here.

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You're listening to the truth network and truthnetwork.com. And they said, yeah, sure. And the night that we were supposed to go, her friend got sick. And so it was just Rolanda and me that ended up going to the Bible study. And we went to coffee afterwards and struck up an amazing friendship. And eventually she asked me, I had been saved a year by this point.

And she asked me to start discipling her because she said, you know, more scripture than most of the people that I've known my entire life. And, you know, and so we started just this, this thing that eventually became a courtship started as an amazing friendship and discipleship. And we just grew in Christ together. And then eventually God, God brought us together.

Wow. Well, and for those listening out there and listening land, just think about what Duncan just said. It began as an amazing friendship that then led into a courtship that eventually led down the aisle into marriage and, and a beautiful family. I know I've, I've spent time with, with your beautiful family and just love, love, love you guys. You know, you meant, you said something, you made a statement that I'm sure familiar with, and that is, she made a statement, I should say that said, wow, you know, more scripture, dude, you are, you are a scripture encyclopedia. I mean, if people have enough, if the listeners haven't already picked up on that fact, I know when I met you and we're going to talk about that, we're going to get there too, to when you and I met, how, how we met and how our paths crossed, but man, when it comes to scripture, dude, you, you are, I mean, and I'm not just saying it because you're on, you know, on this interview. I mean, I don't know too many others.

I don't know. I know anyone else that really knows the word and, and scriptures. And I don't just mean, know it. I mean, you know, address, right.

Reference, Hey, what's, what's in, you know, what's in, in Samuel 17, what's Samuel 1729. And, and you, and you have the ability to just share, you know, share that. And, but, but let, before we get there, cause again, I want to, we're going to, we're going to talk about your, your, your new book and, but, but the acting, so, so you go to college for acting, your vision is to be the next big Hollywood star.

And, and so there's, all right. I'm just going to, I'm trying to think of where, where can I, okay. Don't, don't go to, yeah, I know where you, you know, where I'm going.

Don't, don't let the cat out of the bag on that one. I'm going to keep our listeners hanging here a little bit. You mentioned Hamlet.

I'm going to get to that. Cause I have fun with, with that one that people would never, never realize as even as they're listening to your voice now, what you've done, some of the voiceovers you've done, but tell us some of the stage plays we've got a few minutes left on this segment. Tell us a few of the stage plays besides Hamlet that you've been a part of.

Oh, mercy. First of all, Shakespeare was something that I just immediately took to. And so I pretty much did everything Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, ending of the shrew, um, the tempest onward and so forth. I just, I, I loved it. There was something about the language that, that King James language that I immediately identified with.

It resonated kind of with that poet inside of me, I guess. And, you know, I knew that I, that I had this propensity to act, you know, something my mom had helped me discover as a child. Uh, I did talent shows. I would do, I learned, memorized entire Bill Cosby albums as a kid. And I would do standup routines for people and, and go and compete locally and stuff and appear on television or stuff, stuff like that as it came up or go. And my grandmother, when she, uh, began to get her retirement, uh, phase of her life and so forth, she would go and she would preach at senior citizens' homes and so forth and, and take me along.

And I would do some standup and entertain, and then she'd turn around and do a Bible study and so forth. Wow. What a combination.

Oh yeah. There was just this long litany of, of the kind of the family entertainer and so forth. And so when I just decided that's what I was going to do, I went all in, of course, I don't know any other speed, you know, I, I have, I stop and I have go, that's what I have. And, uh, I, uh, so I was going to study everything. I studied fencing, I studied, I studied stage combat, I studied Shakespeare, um, method acting and so forth.

And so I've become this triple threat. I could sing, I could dance, I could do all of this. Um, and at the same time as I'm reaching, literally, I was reaching the peak of my talent. I was at the top of my game. I had won all of these awards, all of these accolades in the, in the department where I was at best actor, best supporting actor, best actor in a bit role, um, most likely to fix all this stuff. And there was still this knowing empty place inside of me. And that, that question that still stood there was business.

I knew that I could go off to Hollywood and become this blockbuster star, but I was still going to feel as empty and dead inside as I did, despite the fact that here I am in the people's eye, this kind of big measure of success or whatever. Right. Right.

Big Hollywood star or whatever. Yeah. And I just, I, I, I remember, I remember that that's what really drove me deeper into, into the journey of seeking God and, and, and searching him out, out there and searching for something more.

Yeah. There's got to be, there's got to be more, right? Well, as it, as it clearly as she tells us, he has placed eternity, what in the hearts of men. And there was that God shaped void was inside of me. And I, and I had, I had tried to fill it with everything. Literally I had, I had, I had slept around, I had tried alcohol, I had tried drugs.

I had all of these things and nothing, nothing built it still. Well, and, and I can relate to that. We're going to, we're going to, we got to bring you back for part two. Cause we haven't even got to your book yet.

We haven't got to know how we met. We're going to have to bring you back for part two. And, but I want to conclude this show by saying this, what you just said, people will fill it in with, try to fill in that void, that, that empty space, that empty place with, with all kinds of things, whether it's sex, drugs, rock and roll, whatever it is.

Right. And, and, and I can, that resonates with me, Duncan, and, and many of my wrestling peers and friends, and, you know, even myself having climbed the ladder of success, becoming a world champion in pro wrestling, but still at the end of the day, something's still missing. And so we're going to here's when we, when we come back and, and, and show too you not only do stage plays, you do, you do voiceovers and one of the most unusual voices you've ever done that I think will, will blow people away, especially when they hear your story. We're going to cover that in, in, in part two. And, but I want to thank you, Duncan, for, for, for what you've shared in part one, thank you, all of you for, for listening in to the man up show. And if you hadn't concluded by now, as I said at the opening, this is a man's man, Duncan Brandon, and excited to talk about his book, excited to talk about what else he's done besides stage plays and how him and I met. So be sure to come back for part two.

It's time to man up with yours truly the devil's nightmare, not key to Kolov. God bless you. This podcast is made possible by the grace of God and your faithful prayers, support, and generous gifts. May God bless you for your continual contributions.

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