Ed Sniadecki/John Boneck- Redeeming The Times

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Introducing first, from Lithuania, he weighs 123 kilos, the Russian nightmare, the Kita Kolob. Now, the Devil's Nightmare. Welcome back to another episode of It's Time to Man Up.

Today, it's fun. I've got two guys in the studio with me today, and not unfamiliar with either one of these men, John Bonick from Morningstar Ministries down in Fort Mill, South Carolina, and Ed Snidecki. Did I get it? Did I nail it? Yes, perfect. All right. All right. He's like, you're from Russia. You should know how to say my name.

Well, if you were to look at the spelling of his name, you would know why I was hesitant to get that right. But great to have you guys in the studio. Thanks for being here. Thanks for having us in. We're honored to be here. Well, it's great to have you here.

It's always fun to be in studio. And of course, Ed, we're going to dive into this. You got a book trilogy that you've written. Of course, John, you were, I just found out that you were instrumental in the editing of this trilogy.

And I'm just looking, how do I fit in with what the Father is doing right now? Can an ordinary person like you or me hear from God every day? What a great question, Ed. What a great question.

And I want to dive into that, talk about why a trilogy, why not just one, but then you got a second and a third book, a trilogy. But before we really kind of get into that, just tell our listening audience just a little bit about Ed Snidecki, where you're from the Fort Mill area as well. And have you always been from there and got a white family? Yeah, we live in the Fort Mill area.

I originally grew up in western New York near Buffalo, in between Buffalo and Niagara Falls. But we've been in Charlotte. I moved down to Charlotte 41 years ago in Nikita to get married. Oh, 41 years ago.

I'm not good at math, but in the 80s? Yes. So we came to Charlotte right around the same time. I came to Charlotte in 1984. Yeah. Yeah, I was 81.

For 81, okay. And we just celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary in September. Wow, congratulations on that. Thank you, thank you.

We have four adult children and six grandchildren, four boys, two girls. And can I divert a little bit and tell a little man up story? Come on, come on, absolutely. That's what we're here for. My oldest grandson, his name is Manning, Manning Atlas Collins.

Okay, come on. I love it, Atlas. So he is walking to the house with his mom, my daughter. And the garage door is opened, and then there's the man door next to the garage. I call it the man. Some people call it personnel door. I've always called it a man door. And he looks at his mom, he says, Mom, he says, you go through the garage door.

I'm going through the man door because I'm a man. Ah, come on. Four years old. Four years old.

Yes, yes. So that's for all you guys out there, you know, teach them young that they are our men. But anyways, we have four adult children.

Like I said, six grands. Our youngest son, Daniel, is working full time with Youth With a Mission. He's over at YWAM. He's in Kona, Hawaii right now, based there with YWAM ships.

But he's 25, and he's probably been, I don't know, eight or nine different countries, you know, already since he went right out of high school, right into YWAM, and he's doing that full time. Our next, well, I'll start with our oldest, our oldest daughter, Hillary. She served two tours in Iraq with the Army, her and my son-in-law, John. And they're the ones that have the four boys. And she said, Dad, she said, I lined all four boys up on the sofa the other day. And I looked at him and I said, C4, you know, for Collins. But she said, they're dynamite.

I said, yes, they are. So and then our next daughter, Stephanie, she and her husband live down near Clemson. And he works full time at Clemson University with the Army ROTC program. He's still in the Army. And then our oldest son, David, he's been married just over a year.

He lives in Rock Hill, and he works in production. He does this kind of stuff. And then our youngest son, Daniel, is in YWAM full time. That's awesome. The whole story about the four-year-old reminds me of the train up a child and the way they should go. And so it sounds like he is being trained up the right way. And thank you, by the way, and or thank your children for serving in our military.

I always appreciate the people in uniform. And so let me ask you this. So 1981, you came down to get married, you said. So how did, give a quick backstory on that. How did that work?

How did that happen? Well, my wife and I were at a business meeting in New York City. She was working for a conference company that hosted the conference. I was attending this conference. And we met there in the lobby in Manhattan at the Hilton. And one thing led to another, you know, long distance relationship over the phone.

And I eventually moved to Charlotte to get married. Wow. Yeah, there's a lot of stuff in between, but. Sure, sure. Well, and of course, one of my dear friends, Lex Luger, one of my ministry partners, is a Buffalo guy, just so you know. You Buffalo Bill fan? Not so much?

Okay. Well, they've done pretty well the last couple of years though. They've really done okay. But yeah, he's a huge, he's still, you know, born and raised, blue collar parents, you know, working. And so he's a diehard Bills fan. Yeah, most people from that area are. Yeah, that's what he explained to me.

And fortunately, I had a one-up on him this year as my Vikings took it to Buffalo, in Buffalo, but no less. I shot him a text afterwards, and he never responded. I can't figure out why, but anyway, that's a whole other story.

All right. So, John, you're in the studio. How long have you and Ed known each other? About 10 years, I think, since I've been at Morningstar, and we just started connecting. We're both elders at Morningstar Ministries, so we connected that way, but just in the things that he does and I do at Morningstar as a 50-plus pastor and all that we do. And kind of, I don't know what we call it, prayer buddies or whatever, you know, men... I call them battle buddies. That's right. And Jerry Boykin is a battle buddy.

That's right. Men need men, and we're connected. Okay.

Okay. And so you got connected in that way, and now are you a Charlotte native or... No, no, man. Where are you from, John? I've got... Ed forgot to tell you that during his life, he was in YWAM missions for 19 years, I think it was, and all over the world.

I've traveled all over the United States. I didn't know who I was until maybe I was in my 50s. God made me an entrepreneur, and I didn't know that. Wherever I was, I built things, whether as a teacher or editor, whatever I did in many professions, it wasn't the vocation of the profession, it was who I was as a man. I'm entrepreneurial, and there's...

I don't know how God does this, but however He makes you, He wants that to come out in your life. And so often we're just in business or jobs or whatever, but when you're living in who you are in Him, there's an anointing on it. So I just build things, wherever I was.

Once I built it, being an entrepreneur, I'd get bored, and I'd move on. So I've lived all over the nation and several professions, because I build things. Wow. Wow.

Now, just quick example of something, what business? Give me... What year? I mean, when I was young, when I became an English teacher, when I started as a high school teacher, they give the new teachers the dirty jobs. So I took over the intramural basketball team. By the end of the first season with intramural basketball, we had more fans coming to that than to the varsity basketball game.

Come on, for real. Later on, after I got my master's and I moved to California in teaching, I took over a yearbook program, which was in a poor school district and it was terrible. The kids were asking their money back from the activities directors, their yearbook was so bad. In three years, it became an all-American yearbook by Columbia Scholastic Press Association and so on, because I built things and I didn't know that. And then I went into editing and writing and many other things. And when I went into sales, in four years, I became one of the top sales reps in the company. Then I became the sales trainer. And then I get bored with that because I built the system and they transferred me to an educational division and I built Canada.

You don't know, you just build things. That's who you are. And so when you live in who you are, you have life with you. You can walk through problems in that, but you have something that's powerful in you that gets expressed. And so I discovered who I was and that was being an entrepreneur and building things.

That's pretty amazing. Now, we heard a little bit about Ed's family. How about you? Well, we had one child, Carson, with my wife. We moved down to Morningstar in 2009 and about two months after we got there, she was diagnosed with stage four cancer. And I was over the Kingdom Business Association at Morningstar and she lived two years and she started 50 plus. And when she went to heaven, someone said, well, you're going to keep that going.

And I said, well, maybe we will. And the Lord gave me a download on what to do, even though I was in grief and he put that mantle on me for 50 plus, although it had been started by my wife. And so I built 50 plus at Morningstar and we've had international conferences and so on just because I get to do it.

When you know who you are and you have your identity in him, you don't have to do these things right like you. You get to do man camp. We get to do it. Right. This is joy. We get to do it.

Yeah. And it's interesting. I just said recently, I was actually ministering Pinedale Christian Church here in Winston-Salem recently. And I was just sharing with that congregation, I was talking about identity, which is what you're talking about. And for men, we're all men in this room today, a lot of men listen, a lot of women listen to the Man Up Show as well, actually. But a lot of times men are wrapped up, their identity is wrapped up in what they do, right?

Their job, right? And I was emphasizing that your identity is in Christ first and anything and everything else you do outside of that is, in my view, just merely an assignment that God has for you, right? That's right, that's right.

Does that make sense? And so even for you listening out there today, even as we're discussing Ed and John are sharing some of their stories and you're listening in, we're going to talk here in a moment about Ed's trilogy. But before we get there, just think about it. What's your identity wrapped up in? I mean, is your identity in your job, whether you're a man or a woman listening to this show today, or is your identity in Christ? And if so, then just recognize, as we just said, everything else outside of that is just an assignment, just an assignment. And whether it's being entrepreneurial like John or the ability to write books like Ed or put a book together, God has an assignment for you.

But make sure your life is grounded in and your identity is in Christ first and foremost. You're listening to the Truth Network and truthnetwork.com. Nikita Koloff here, 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 Koloff Fans, and like it and follow today. If you would like to support Koloff for Christ Ministries, for a gift of $25, Nikita will send you his two CDs, Adoration and Declaration. For a gift of $50, Nikita will include his book, Wrestling with Success. And for a gift of $100 or more, Nikita will include a signed copy of his newly updated life story, A Tale of the Ring and Redemption.

Go to www.koloff.net and donate today. You're listening to the Truth Network and truthnetwork.com. John, let me ask you real quick before we dive into the books here, get back, we'll bounce back over to Ed here.

So the 50s plus and Morningstar, so just give us a quick snapshot of what's involved with that. Well, now, especially with Chris Reed there, and he said, John, I want you to have the project of the Malachi 4, 5, and 6, the spirit of Elijah calling the hearts of the fathers to the sons and the hearts of the sons to the fathers, lest I strike the nation with a curse. And we know our land is cursed. We see so much bad in the social thing and in society, but we are going to turn that around because kingdom will overcome the curse of what's going on in the nation. So I'm working with some other men at Morningstar, the younger men who are calling their sons into knighthood and manhood, and we're connecting the generations. For example, we have 50 plussers who become heavenly hosts, we call them, for all of the MSU students. So the MSU students know they have a spiritual parent or a grandparent there, just covering, praying for them. We're connecting the 50 plus generation with our school, the elementary class in our community school for creative leadership. Each grade level will have a 50 plusser representing the next generation. So children in today's society will see the generational connection because we want to recognize that God's a God of generations. And again, it's not just the person, but it's the hearts that we wanna connect, the hearts of the parents and the grandparents of all the generations to each other. And Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. That's right.

I mean, he is generational. And I may lean on you, you may or may not know this yet, but the Man Up Conference theme for next year is gonna be a Champions Summit, but there's gonna be a real emphasis, Rick wanted to move it to Father's Day weekend in June. And there's gonna be a real emphasis, we're gonna really try to encourage guys to bring their sons of all ages, of any age and all age. And one of the things Rick and I discussed was having some type of little special ceremony for them at the conference.

So I may lean on you and get back in touch with you to help with that. And a quick thing, there's a man named Bobby Wilmot. I think you may know him, but he's a younger father at Morningstar and he has like seven or eight other fathers with him, leading their sons through a knighthood process. And one of the culmination parts of that is the ceremony, the ceremony that brings them to manhood. And he wants us as grandparents in the Lord to be there in that initiation from all that they've stood in, we're calling them forth, this is who you are now.

We all recognize that from generation to generation. So that's already happening. So I'll connect you with more of that later on when you're at Morningstar too. Yeah, please. Because we're in the early planning stages, but we wanna do something this year that is some type of ceremonial type, on a smaller scale, but just something. Last year we had General Boykin call them in forward and pray a father's blessing, right?

And there were actually some fathers and sons that were at man up last year. And this, I guess we just wanna maybe take it to another step this year. So, but we'll...

Anyway, I look forward to getting with you on that. So, well, let's shift gears here and transition to the books. And A Body Rising, book one, right?

So it's a trilogy, A Body Rising, People in Place, number two, Redeeming the City, book three, Overcoming Unbelief trilogy. So let me ask you, Ed, first, so what first inspired... When did you first think, I wanna... I'm having all these experiences, I need to put this in book form.

How did that come about? Well, I wanna say I never had a thought about being an author. I work in construction, I have my own construction company, I'm just a common everyday guy out there in the workaday world, but I wanted to know Jesus in a more intimate, deeper way. And Rick Joiner did a message at Morningstar called The Six Foundational Truths of the...

The Six Foundational Faiths, Doctrines of the Faith. I'm thinking, talking faster than I'm thinking, I guess. Okay, all good.

I do that sometimes. So anyways, I was not home that weekend, so I didn't go to church, but my wife Lisa did, and I got home and she said, you probably oughta watch this. And when my wife speaks, you men out there, when your wife speaks, listen.

Anyways, it's just a little plug. The Holy Spirit is speaking through her, right? Anyways, so I got myself a bowl of ice cream, sat in my favorite chair and got in front of the television, we put it on, and he talked. And he spoke about, he said there's a seventh doctrine. He said it's the teaching of Jesus Christ. And he talked about Jesus Christ, the whole message.

Never even got to the other six. I finished my bowl of ice cream, we turned off the TV, I looked at my wife, and now I've been all over the world doing missions work, like John said. I read my Bible daily, I do communion every single morning, I'm committed to knowing the Lord. But I looked at Lisa and I said, I don't know if I know Jesus.

And that's what triggered this. And then, so the next morning, I am sitting in my chair, the same chair, I have my communion elements, I said, thank you, Father, for this day. And bam, I was in a different realm. And I'm sitting there going, oh my gosh, I'm looking around, what is going on? I had my iPad, I grabbed it, and I pushed record.

And I'm sitting there and I'm recording all this that's going on in real time of what's happening in front of me. Two days, I got with John, I read him these, he said, if this happens again, send it over. I didn't know he was an editor.

I didn't know anything about his history. I just knew John was a prayer guy at church and a fellow elder. And so we started putting these down. And after about two weeks, I felt like Holy Spirit said, it's time to go to print. And you know, Nikita, all three of these books came out in six months. And this we self-published.

And you really can't make this up. Book one, A Body Rising, was released through Amazon Publishing on Good Friday. Book two, People in Place, about intercession, was released on the National Day of Prayer through Amazon.

Amazon doesn't. Book three, Redeeming the City, you can't see the cover because this is radio, but has a truck on it. And this truck is bringing the glory into the city.

And that was released during the truckers thing going on in Canada. So it's just all this stuff was just divinely orchestrated by Holy Spirit. And I don't know how to explain it other than these were divine encounters that we happened to record, put in book form for people to experience.

And I'm looking at the back cover of book one. The Lord showed up one morning during Ed's devotional, kept showing up day after day, and the story began to unfold, right? And I like some of the questions you have here, because this may inspire others to certainly want to get copies of these books. Do you want to learn how to hear from God better?

That's a great question. Do you desire a deeper relationship with the Lord? And that's what I hear you, the word intimacy, as you were describing your encounters, the word intimacy is what popped up, bubbled up in my spirit. Do you want to feel His presence? Do you want to know what the Lord has in store in the coming days for you as part of His church? Those are some great questions.

And let me bounce over to John for a second here. So John, so when Ed starts to read, when Ed starts bringing these encounters, these experiences to you, what were your thoughts? What were your initial thoughts? Well, the first ones I read, I went, there's something on this. I didn't know what it was.

Neither of us knew what it was. But every day he would get it. And then he really started describing what he was seeing every morning in these visions or encounters. And then one day, he's watching this trucker named Sam.

And we're going, what is this in an encounter? There's a trucker going to a diner. And then he comes out of the diner.

And then there's a man who's sitting at a bench and says, hey, Samuel, I want to talk to you. And it becomes a character. Now, I'm an English major.

I have a master's in English also. And I understand writing and plot development and so on. And day after day, he's having more characters introduced.

Well, who is that? Ed's not a writer. He doesn't know how to build the plot. But every day, more people are coming in and interacting. And I'm going, this is building into a story. And then we get to finally day 23, when the Lord says, it's time to go to print. We didn't know what was going to happen. Was it going to continue?

But it continued. And through the whole series, it really is, we call it an end time trilogy. And it's about us, the common man. It's very much like Rick Joyner in the visitations.

But it brings in everyday people such as those listening in the radio right now, men and women who are in business, who are moms and pops who are doing certain things. The Lord brought them all into the story. He created the characters and the story and the climax of the story is phenomenal. It's as good as any book you'd ever read.

What the climax of the story is from one of the early characters bringing the glory into the city, from all that's happened in the city. I mean, it becomes a very complex plot with all of these characters. And we see how Jesus is moving in His body right now in this end time. So when people read this, they're going to say, this is me.

This is for me. This is what God is calling me into. So, Ed, so people will really be able to identify. So what started out as just encounters and visions on your part and working together collectively with John, you're able to really put... Would allegory, would that word apply in a sense?

I think Rick Joyner's series was called Prophetic Allegory. Okay. So you could use it, so maybe we could use that as it, but I called it like every man or like a Pilgrim's Progress type thing that people can really identify with. Okay, really relate to. Yes, mm-hmm. Okay.

So when people pick up, and let me just before we run out of time, where can people get caught? So on Amazon, is that... On Amazon, yeah. If they go to Amazon and look up either my name or overcoming unbelief in what I think is really cool, I come up right next to Smith Wigglesworth on there. So... Oh, come on. That's cool. Or if they're at Morningstar in Fort Mill, they can go to the Morningstar Bookstore and they're on sale there as well. Okay.

The Morningstar Bookstore in Fort Mill, South Carolina. Okay. Or... Now, you said they can look up your name.

Ed, I can barely pronounce your name, let alone spell your name. Come on. Okay. Well, then go to overcoming unbelief. Okay.

All right. Overcoming unbelief. A body rising. A body rising. People in place.

People in place. Redeeming the city. Redeeming the city. And man, I'm excited. I'm excited for what you guys have just described.

What's your hope in putting this in print form? What's your hope in the last minute or so that we have here? What are you hoping... What's the biggest takeaway for people for you that you're hoping for?

Well, I think John said it the best. This is a common everyday person's diagram or dialogue or synopsis of what God was doing with me every morning. The thing was is I wanted to get to know Jesus on a deeper, more intimate level. And what Jesus showed me is how much I already knew him. And that was what the biggest takeaway for me was, is that I quiet myself in the morning.

And people read their Bibles, people do what they're doing, but the big thing is getting to know the Lord. That's what I want people to see, a more intimate relationship. And experience that, yeah.

And I'll just say this, that you're not the first... I'm sure that either had an aha moment that, boy, do I really know him, right? And so this book may bring enlightenment to those people who maybe ask that same question for this, do I really know him, right? And this book will bring enlightenment to that, or these books...

I believe so, yes. Will bring enlightenment to that. Well, man, I appreciate you guys. Thank you, John. Thank you, Ed, for being on The Man Up Show today, and I'm excited. Yes, our pleasure. I'm excited for... I can't wait to get some feedback.

I believe you're gonna get some feedback from others who will pick up copies of these books, and hear some amazing stories. Thank you for tuning in to another episode of The Man Up Show with Nikita Koloff. As always, we hope we brought you an amazing story today, and we'll continue to do that week after week after week. God bless you. Have a great day. 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. Go to koloff.net and donate today. Hi, Nikita Koloff. Be sure to check out The Man Up Show, now available on television, broadcast, and podcast. Go to MorningStarTV.com or the Truth Radio Network. Check out your local listings, or better yet, download the Truth Network app today. Nikita Koloff here.

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