Independence Day with Koloff!

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This is the Truth Network. Once a world champion wrestler, now a champion for Christ. Once the Russian nightmare, now the devil's worst nightmare.

And your tag team partner, Nikita Kolov. It's time to Man Up. Here we are again, another episode of It's Time to Man Up, the Man Up Podcast, the Man Up Radio Show, with the Russian nightmare, the devil's nightmare, ha ha ha ha, Chetoita, Nikita Kolov, and man, this is special for me because this is the celebration of a nation, the July 4th special edition today. This weekend we celebrate the birth of this nation, a day of freedom and independence. And so I was thinking about what could I share on this special edition on the birth of our great nation? What could I share with you, the listener? Well, if you've listened to shows in the past on other special holidays, you know I have a tendency to share some of the back story, some of the history, right? And if you haven't gathered this by now, I love history just in general. So I thought, well, I'm going to give a special edition about America, America, USA, USA. Oh, excuse me, I reverted back into my wrestling day there for a moment when I was the bad guy and all the people used to love to hate me, you know, Uncle Ivan and Nikita Kolov. Hey, you know what?

It was not hard to get people to chant that in any arena that we went in. Anyway, so the US of A. So I'm going to go back. Let's just give you a little back story here, starting with the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492, who started the European colonization of the Americas. So I'm just going to give you some highlights, right? Some nuggets. You could go research more of this for yourself if you're interested.

You may not even be interested. But that said, the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492, fast forward to the late 1600s. And what's cool about this is I had recently, I did ministry in Newark, Delaware. It was the first time I'd ever been to Delaware and did ministry. I'd been to Delaware, but not for ministry. And the pastor, I did a men's breakfast on a Saturday morning, and we finished up.

The pastor was like, well, we got the rest of the day. What do you want to do? And I said, I love history. Show me around. And so he gave me kind of a little nickel or dime tour of Newark, Delaware. And he took me down to this place called Penn's Landing, a man by the name of William Penn, who came over from England, who had been granted, from what I remember him telling me about it, like a thousand acres of land in America from the king and queen of England and to, I guess you might say, colonize this acreage, this area of land in North America. So he's handed this large piece of Northern American land holdings along the North Atlantic coast. And this was, by the way, by King Charles II. And it's interesting because he was granted this land because the king actually was indebted to William Penn's father. And so to pay the debts, pay off the debts owed to Penn's father, the admirable, the late admirable and politician, Sir William Penn, he was granted, he was granted this land. So I got the opportunity to tour Penn's Landing where he first landed when he came across the pond from England. And there's this bronze statue of him and he's holding in his hands. He's got like these different little piece offering things in his hands. And I don't remember what the pastor explained to me.

They were now off the top my head. But so I, you know, of course I had to document my time there and get my picture with William Penn's bronze statue. And then we walk across the street on these cobblestones, like the original cobblestones from the 17, like 1700.

I'm like, how is this possible? You know, 300 years later the same road and it's still drivable. I wouldn't take my car down it personally to be honest with you.

It's not like riding on one of the interstates now that are created. You know, it's nice and smooth. But it was just fascinating to see this cobblestone street and we cross over to this church that was built in 1703. 1703, it's like over 300 years old and this thing's still in like, I mean, it's pristine condition like when it was built 300 something years ago.

And it was so cool. You walk in and the graveyard, right, it has stones there from like 1689, 1708, you know, 1720 and I mean it was just—and it was shaped in the shape of a cross. And what was fascinating was if you've ever been in one of those churches that all of the pews are like in boxes. Like they're all boxed off like the whole entire church.

I'm like, what's that all about? Like a family had its own personal box that you went and sat in depending on how big your family was, I guess, or how much money you had, you know, that determined who was closest to the—up to the platform or you might say, you know, the stage if you will. And so it was just fascinating. And then—but more than that, then he takes me over to this empty lot that was one of the—again, one of the first churches built around the turn of that century in around 1700 to late 1600s. And it was a 50-seater church and a man named George Whitfield—I don't know if some of you are familiar with that name, you might want to go look that up—a man responsible for one of the first great awakenings in America who would ride into Newark on horseback to preach in this particular area of Newark. But more than 50 people showed up. In fact 8,000 people showed up to hear George Whitfield speak. And there were so many people—obviously they couldn't fit him in a 50-seater church so he walked across the street and stood on this kind of this knoll, it was like a natural amphitheater, and that's where he ministered that day. And the pastor told me he was instrumental in helping to get that piece of property state-registered, historically registered.

It has the plaque now up there explaining all of Whitfield and that whole deal. But more amazing than that is he said, yeah, he stood on that front yard of that house right there, that's where he stood to speak. He would say, oh, by the way, he goes, that's my house.

I go, what? When he purchased the house he had no idea and the previous owner found out a pastor was buying it and said, hey, I have to meet with you. And he gave him the stack of historic papers and it was sent.

So it was Pastor Chris Dito's front yard that George Whitfield stood and spoke to 8,000 people and my understanding is about 3,000 that day came to know Jesus as their Lord and their Savior. Penn was an early advocate of democracy and religious freedoms, notably for his good relations and successful treaties with the Lenape, the Lenape Native American Indians, L-E-N-A-P-E, I hope I said that right, but he was notable for creating these successful peace treaties with the Native Americans there, ultimately led the chief of the Lenape Native Americans to the foot of the cross and the chief became a believer. Also, Penn was very, very instrumental in developing what was called the democratic principles that he set forth, what was called the Pennsylvania frame of government. So William Penn, if you hadn't figured out, Pennsylvania was named after William Penn, but he was instrumental. He had a different view of government.

He was a Christ follower. He was a believer in Jesus and so when he came over from England, he had a little different idea for government other than the monarchy rule of the king and queen and so he and a friend of his wrote the Pennsylvania frame of governments and it served as, later come to find out, as inspiration for the framing of, guess what, the Constitution of the United States in Philadelphia in 1787 and it included, the Constitution included Penn's vision that, now this is pretty interesting, quote, all persons are equal under God. And so the history of that goes back to William Penn, Penn's landing. Under his direction, the city of Philadelphia was planned and developed.

The city of brotherly love, Philadelphia. The state of Pennsylvania, as I mentioned, was named after him. And it's interesting, he was imprisoned several times, get this, in the Tower of London. Several times he was imprisoned due to his faith. Because of his faith, because of his outspoken belief in Jesus Christ, he was imprisoned several times in the Tower of London. And his book, No Cross, No Crown, which was written in 1669, he wrote while in prison and became a Christian classic of theological literature. How about that?

Wow, things you never knew about the history of America, right? Nikita Koloff here. If you're needing to buy a car and have marginal credit and considering using buy here, pay here, that's worse than taking the Russian sickle. Winston-Salem Motor Cars will put you behind the wheel of a car you can rely on while helping rebuild, repair or establish your credit score. Conveniently located on Silas Creek Parkway in Winston-Salem, be sure to check them out today at wsmcthenumberone.com because you are number one. We so appreciate our listeners. If you will support this program with a financial gift of any amount, I will send you a personalized copy of my latest book, Nikita, A Tale of the Ring in Redemption.

Go to koloff.net, that's koloff.net, koloff.net, and make your contribution today. And I'm telling you, when I had the privilege earlier this year of touring Penn's Landing and going to Newark, Delaware, and learning some of the—again, for me, I was just fascinated. By the 1760s, the 13 British colonies contained 2.5 million people along the Atlantic coast and the east coast of the Appalachian Mountains. In 1776, in 1776, the British colonies were in the mountains. In 1776, in Philadelphia, the Second Continental Congress declared the independence of the colonies as the United States of America, led by General George Washington, led by General Washington, and of course, who won the Revolutionary War and the Peace Treaty of 1783, which established the borders of the new nation.

A convention wrote a new constitution that was adopted in 1789 along with a Bill of Rights that was added in 1791. And you know what that guaranteed for you historians, you historian, historical buffs? It guaranteed inalienable rights.

How about that? And with Washington, he became, of course, the first president. Later, there would be the purchase of the Louisiana Territory from France on July 4, 1803. And this immediately doubled the size of the United States. It's amazing to go look at what all that land, how much of the current America as we know it, how much that encompassed America. Encouraged by the notion of the manifest destiny, the United States expanded eventually to guess where?

The Pacific Coast. And while the nation was large in terms of area, its population by 1790 was only 4 million. So a lot of land, not a whole lot of people at that time. The 1800s saw the Civil War.

And of course, we know what that entailed and what that was all about, right? And as Abraham Lincoln had within his view or his sights to end slavery during the Civil War. And by the 1900s, to kind of fast forward, the United States became the world's leading industrial power due to an outburst of entrepreneurship and industrialization.

Whoa. A national railroad network was completed and large-scale mines and factories were established, all a part of the industrialization of America through entrepreneurship. The 1900s also witnessed World War I, World War II, as well as numerous other wars. And then in the 2000s, as we moved into a new century, mark if you will, we would witness 9-1-1, which impacted our nation to where things never again were the same, were they, after 9-1-1. As with many of these historical events, as I'm sharing with you, all of these had an impact on changing the face of our nation.

Also in the 2000s, we would see the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. As part of American history, we have a motto. South Carolina, you'll find it right on the license plate.

I think North Carolina, too. But it's, quote, in God we trust. In fact, I think it's on our monetary system. I think you'll find it on our money. In God we trust.

Because our forefathers, our forefathers, you may say, our founders of our nation, our forefathers, back from the days of William Penn to Thomas Jefferson and others, had a biblical foundation. Other traditions or other traditional models, e pluribus unum, which is my feeble attempt at Latin. No, I do not speak Latin, nor do I speak Russian. You figure that out by now, right? I learned a few words along the way. I can count to ten. Does that count for something?

I can count to ten in Russian. E pluribus unum, which means out of many, one. Hmm, interesting. Many parts, one body.

I've heard that somewhere before as well. So, that's a brief walk down memory lane for the history of America, but this leads me to talk about something else today, which is the spiritual history of America, right? So, those are some of the kind of the foundational benchmarks of America, but what about the spiritual history of America? The history of religion in the United States begins in the 1700s, centered around the American Revolution, when the colonies decided to break away, and we searched for our independence and for our freedoms, right? The American Revolution, as most, if not all, that have ventured and made the trip to America, at least back in those days, one of the benchmarks of them looking for religious freedom. Of course, many still are, and of course it's been a benchmark, or you might say a foundation of our nation, and in the face of religious persecution, the early colonies refused to compromise some passionately held Christian religious convictions, which is what led to their pursuit of freedom and independence. What you and I get the benefit of celebrating this weekend, right, when all the fireworks goes off and all the cookouts and celebrations and fun foods that we get to eat and maybe you go to a ball game or maybe you went, you're in a state where you can legally buy fireworks and set those off yourself.

I know a couple of years ago I was over in Nashville, Tennessee and walking around with some of my grandchildren and my son-in-law and daughter and doing a neighborhood walk, as their neighborhood's infamous for multiple houses setting off the fireworks out in their streets, and so it was a pretty fun experience with the family. Back then, an estimated 75 to 80 percent of the population attended churches. Can you imagine that? Approximately 75 to 80 percent attended church. I was just like, that's what you did back in the days of the founding of our great nation. Many of the founding fathers, as I think I mentioned, were active in the local church.

Many of the founding fathers. By the late 19th century, early 20th century, most major denominations began overseas missionary activity. By the end of the 20th century, mainline denominations, guess what? They began to lose membership and influence, believe it or not, and what started becoming more popular was a more conservative, evangelical, fundamentalist, charismatic denominations. And most recently, you see a big rise in what we would call non-denominational churches. And I believe in today's climate, we're even seeing a shift, especially with what we saw in 2020, what we all experienced with, in my view, the forceful closing of church doors, although there were some pastors that stood fast, stood at the helm and didn't go down into the hole and grab their life jacket, things are changing rapidly in America in regards to the church in present day. And so I'm thrilled about those who've embraced, but I look back at 2020 and feel like it's almost like a test, in a way, of who's really in, like who's really a Christ follower and who's maybe on the fringes or who's not. And every single pastor I've talked to, they were somewhat surprised by those who have never returned to church, who they thought were part of the core group, that there would be nothing that would ever keep them from attending church. But as we move closer to the end time harvest and closer to the end times in general, because you do realize Christ is coming back. I mean, he said he was coming the first time, and he did.

That's well documented. And he also stated prior to his ascension that he would be back. So he is coming back. None of us know the day, the hour, or the time, but boy, the importance of being ready, right, upon his second coming. And although he maybe came in in a stable like a lamb, he's coming back as a lion. And he will be on the white horse, armed and ready for battle.

I hope you're ready for his return. Also, also in the 19th and 20th centuries, we saw an immigration wave of people in the late 19th and 20th centuries that brought many, many, many immigrants from the Catholic countries, and including increasing Catholic diversity. We saw that happen, too, as part of the spiritual heritage of America.

At the same time, immigration brought waves of great numbers of Jews and Eastern Orthodox immigrants into America. By the 21st century, the U.S. was one of the most strongly Christian nations in the Western civilization. Of course, many say now America is post-Christian. We also saw the Great Awakening, where large scales of revivals came in spurts and moved great numbers, large numbers of people from unchurched to church. Most historians consider Jonathan Edwards, Jonathan Edwards, to be one of the forerunners of that. A Northampton Anglican minister, one of the great chief fathers of the Great Awakening. George Whitefield, I mentioned, coming from Britain, had a significant impact on the Great Awakening, and Whitefield covered 5,000 miles in America and preached more than 350 times. The Great Awakening came to an end in around 1740, but that didn't stop the growth of Christianity in America. By the 1790s, other religious leaders were coming to America. The Great, the second Great Awakening began in New England with the Great Revival and the Cane Ridge Revival of Kentucky, which focused on unchurched and sought to instill in them a deep sense of personal salvation. It also led to the founding of several colleges, including Princeton, Rutgers, Brown, Dartmouth, as well as many seminaries. And then the third Great Awakening, a period of religious activism in American history that founded the late 1850s and into the 20th century, including the Azusa Street Revival out in Los Angeles that took place in California, led by preacher William J. Seymour.

It began on April 9, 1906 and continued until roughly 1915. Some of the major awakenings were all, were, beliefs were that all people were born sinners, sinned without salvation, will send a person to Hell, all sinners, all people can be saved if they repent and confess their sins to God, accept forgiveness and accept God's grace. All people can have a direct connection with God. No more just the priests going into the temple. We are now the temple and the Holy Spirit comes and lives and dwells in us.

Religion shouldn't be a formal institutionalized but rather should be personal. These were all beliefs of the Great Awakening. The Great Awakening unquestionably had a significant impact on Christianity, reinvigorated religion in America at a time when it, when it was declining and needed a boost. So where does that leave America today in our last couple minutes together?

Where does that leave America today? Well, as I said, many now consider America to be a post-Christian nation, but I believe sending us up for one more Great Awakening that will lead us into the end time harvest and the second coming of Jesus. Now I don't know when he's coming back, I just know I want to be ready when he does. And the parable, my encouragement to you is to be like one of the parable of the ten virgins who, there were five wise and five who were not. But just, just be ready upon his return. The parable has a clear theme.

Be prepared. And I'm reminded of Colossians 1, 10 that says, you know, I want to, with my life, I want to honor the Lord, you know, in everything I do to fully please him, to sow, you know, good, good seeds into the soil and, and, and, and grow in the knowledge of him. In Galatians 2, 20, I'll end on this scripture today, that I have been crucified with Christ since no longer I who live, but it's Jesus who lives in me. In this life I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and delivered himself up for me. Men, I hope you enjoyed today's walk down history lane, memory lane about the history of America, and you got some value out of this today.

Maybe you know a little bit more about the actual history of America, a little bit more about the spiritual journey of America, and last but not least, as you celebrate this holiday, man, if you don't know Jesus, man, let this be a memorable July 4th for you because it would be the weekend that was a marker in your life because you surrendered your heart to Jesus. Thank you for tuning in today. It's time to man up. We'll see you again on another episode.

Well, we'll talk to you again on another episode. God bless you. Men, I would like to challenge each of you to consider spending five days with Lex Luger and I at Man Camp, pursuing the heart of God. Ladies, if you're listening, we'll send your men home better equipped to be men of God, godly husbands, and godly fathers.

God appeals to you. Give them your blessing and encourage them to sign up today at www.mancamp.info. Pastors, if you would like to bring Koloff for Christ Ministries and Man Up Conference to your community, go to www.koloff.org and email me.

Remember this, it's time to man up. Now key to Koloff, the Russian nightmare here for Crescent Automotive. If buying a car is a nightmare for you, my friends Brian and Jamie Johnson at Crescent Automotive make it simple to find your pre-owned dream car with no hassle, affordable windshield pricing. No matter where you live, they will get your American dream car to you, baby. DriveCrescent.com is all you need to know. Their whole inventory is right there with the right price. Everybody drives a Crescent.

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