Classic Interview | Leaving the New Age: An Interview with Frank Sontag

Hey everybody, Greg Laurie here. You're listening to the Greg Laurie Podcast, and my objective is to deliver, hopefully, compelling practical insights in faith, culture, and current events from a biblical perspective.

To find out more about our ministry, just go to our website, harvest.org. So thanks for joining me for this podcast. I want to introduce you to a friend that many of you already know. His name is Frank Sontag, and he is the host of The Frank Sontag Show, heard every day on KKLA from four to six in the evening. Now, Frank has an amazing story. In fact, he has a new book that has come out called Light the Way Home. In fact, Lee Strobel wrote the foreword for this book, and Frank was impacted by one of Lee's books, The Case for Christ, as so many were. But Frank's story is really quite unusual. For starters, he came to faith in his 50s.

You know, most people come to Christ when they're younger, many before the age of 18. But Frank came to faith in his 50s, and he went through a lot of twists and turns before he came to Christ. He actually was a leader in the New Age movement. He was a person who would give seminars and teachings on New Age mysticism. But what happened, the way he got there was, as a younger man, he was out riding a motorcycle one day, and he was hit by a car going over 100 miles per hour.

Amazingly, he survived this without a scratch, relatively speaking. And so this sent him on a quest for the meaning of life, which unfortunately led him to this New Age guru that sort of indoctrinated Frank in the ways of that belief system. And so there he was, a New Age leader, and he also hosted a popular radio program on the rock station KLOS.

He interviewed a lot of the royalty of rock and roll over the years and so forth. But then God got hold of him, and he came to faith. And I want you to hear a little bit of his story today, because it will help you know more about how to reach people that seem unreachable. So let's give a warm Harvest welcome to Frank Sontag as he comes. Frank, good to see you.

Thank you, Pastor Greg. You know, Frank, you have an amazing story here in your new book, and I was just thinking about all the people you've come into contact with. When you went to your radio show on KLOS, you met all kinds of rock and roll people. Who are some of the people you met and interviewed over the years? Pretty much all the classic rock bands, Van Halen, Aerosmith, you name it, Clapton. Boy, all of them.

Yeah. And you told me when we were in studio the other day that you had Ozzy Osbourne on once. Tell us how that went with Ozzy Osbourne. Some of you know I was on a morning show in town, Mark and Brian, and Ozzy was the guest. The guys went outside for a break, and it was just me and Ozzy.

I had not really talked to Ozzy before, and it got really quiet. And all of a sudden he blurts out, do you believe in God? Why do you think he asked you that? I don't know. I don't know. All I know is... Did he ask you like this? Do you believe in God? And he sort of mumbles, how did you understand him for starters?

But what an interesting question to ask someone randomly. And he would wear lots of crosses around his neck. Because you think of Ozzy as kind of this guy who's into Satanism, but he told you why he wore those crosses, didn't he?

He did. He said that, well, first of all, two weeks before this moment, I gave my life to Christ. So when he asked me, do I believe in God, I wanted to unleash the gospel. But, you know, Holy Spirit, hang on, Frank.

So I just sat there. We talked a little bit. He wears crosses as we talked about God. He said, because I know God exists, he said, and I know this protects me.

And then he said something like, you don't know all that dark stuff I do. So I was about to really get into sharing my testimony, and the guys were walking in. So just as they were about to walk in, I told them, I said, I'm a follower and disciple of Jesus Christ.

He's my everything. And then they walked in. Hey, God could reach Ozzy Osbourne. He reached you, right? No one is beyond the reach of God. And here, I mean, you weren't just a guy who was into New Age mysticism.

You were a guy that was teaching others how to be into it. Tell us, in a nutshell, what is the New Age? Well, it's the biggest church in America. It's the church itself.

And the belief system is that somehow all paths lead to God, that love is the answer, all religions, all faiths, as long as we can get this love thing straight. And I read all the holy books, the Quran, the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita. I never would read a Bible, though.

Couldn't open a Bible. So why do you think that is? I mean, here you are. You would be one of those people we'd meet that would say, hey, I'm into spirituality. I believe in God. But then when we'd bring up the Bible, I'm not into that. So how can a person be into, quote, spirituality, end quote, and then be so close to Christianity and specifically the gospel and the Bible? It's one of the questions of questions, Greg, because the New Age movement is riddled with hypocrisy and inconsistencies. The primary reason why so many people follow it like I did is because you can be a good person, spiritual person, but yet you can sin.

And I was in love with my sin. Right. And they kind of feel like you can believe in all things at once, like the popular sticker you often see for some reason always on Priuses is, think about it, coexist, right? How many of you have a coexist sticker on your card?

Okay, good, because I was going to say take it off now. But on the coexist sticker, they have like the little symbols of the various religions of the world. But that's sort of the belief that you can have all those things intertwined and even throw some of your own beliefs in, right? Without a doubt. And coexist is like, that's the symbol. Like ours is the fish, theirs is the coexist movement. But the funny thing is that people that talk the most about coexistence and tolerance are actually the most intolerant people of all, don't you think?

Without a doubt. I mean, I think as Christians will say, okay, you have a different belief than I have. Let me persuade you of my belief, but I'm hopefully going to do it in a loving way, a respectful way, but I am going to try to convert you over to what I believe. But on the other hand, you'll have other people who, like you used to be, I don't want to hear that at all. As you were saying that, I'm thinking that was me, 20 years talk show. I would just shout people down. I support, I was a left wing.

I can't believe I just said that. I was a left wing progressive liberal that believed all of that. And when people would call, I would have none of it. And I would try to out debate them. But as far as faith goes, people would call. I was a big guy in the Dalai Lama and all that Buddhism and the irony was I presented the show as a spiritual show. So all faith seemed like they were fine to talk about, but when someone would call in and share the gospel, I couldn't hang up on them fast enough. Why do you think we're both bald?

What happened? You've never been asked that, have you? I've not. You normally are interviewing people, so it's different for you to be on the receiving end.

Yeah, I think I need to pray about that one before I answer. Okay, so here you are. You're a new age guru type guy. You have this popular radio show. You talk to rock stars. Your life's going reasonably well, but yet you come to Christ.

So how does this even happen? Two of my good friends, actually my best friend, had met me in one of my new age seminars and we became buds and we sinned together and just hung out and had a good time. Well, three years before I gave my life to Christ, he became a Christian and I watched his life change.

And he never proselytized. He never really hit me over the head and forced it on me. But one day, him and his brother, who's also a Christian pastor, they decide to take me out and play golf. Anybody who plays golf in this room, you know you go to play golf and try to hit that ball. But unbeknownst to me, and I didn't know until we researched part of the book, they had made a concerted decision that they were going to corner me that day and press me on my new age nonsense and share the gospel with me. And it went something like this. Third hole, I'm in the fairway about ready to hit my approach shot.

Pastor Dale in my backswing blurts out, so Frank is Jesus the son of God? I like that. And I said, we're not going there. What are you doing? You know, I'm spiritual. We don't need to talk about that. A few more holes go down the line and he says, Frank?

I think I was putting. He says, Frank? Who's God? Do you believe in God? Is there only one God?

Is there absolute truth? Dale, we're not going to do that. So we actually stopped after nine holes, me thinking we had a bad day swinging the clubs. They decided at lunch they were going to really gang up on me. So they proceeded for an hour to say things like, Frank, you're married.

You've got a year and a half old son at home. If you didn't make it home today, are you right with God? And in between all of the sharing, I was very defensive. I was kind of angry. But when that question was asked, something inside me, even though I reacted, of course I am. I'm a spiritual man. I'm a good guy.

Something changed inside and I felt like it was way too quick of a defense. And that started me in a moment of really kind of mulling that over. And so Pastor Dale tells me, okay, before you leave, I was kind of a Buddhist. He said, would you, air quotes, meditate on what I asked you?

If you died on the way home, are you right with God? And I kind of patronizingly said, sure, I'll do that. So I get in my car, about ready to start the ignition. Wait, Pastor Dale. Okay, I'll pacify him. I sat in the car for a couple of minutes.

Anybody who knows anything about New Age movement, it's about clearing your mind and meditating and I'm doing all that. And I started to get very hot. And as Greg so candidly pointed out, we're both hair challenged. And I didn't wear a baseball cap that day, so I thought, did I get too much sun? And no, I'm fine.

And then I sat there a little while longer and I got quiet. And I heard, are you ready to submit to me? And I knew who it was.

I mean, it's unmistakable. Call it because he created me and I know his voice. I knew who it was. And I felt no coercion, no defensiveness, no like, I have to do this.

But I freely said yes. And then he said words that changed my life. And again, and this is the Lord speaking to you.

Yes. And then I never read a Bible, so I didn't know. But he then said, pick up your cross and follow me.

And I didn't know what that meant. I sat there a little while longer. The sensation went away. I called my two friends.

They're hooping and hollering praise God and doing that whole thing. And part of what happened was 37 years before that, I left church. I would never go back.

I swear I'd never go back. And the first words out of my mouth were, I want to go back to church. So then I knew something had happened. But a short addendum, nine nights later, Pastor Dale said, I'm going to mail you a Bible.

He said, put the Quran away, read the Bible. And my Bible came. I was up late one night. Life started to turn upside down.

It was a difficult period. So I'm flipping through the Bible. And chapter of Luke opened up. And Luke 9 23 just jumped off the page. And when I read at three in the morning, on my knees, crying like, Lord, what's happening in my life?

When I read, in essence, Jesus saying, if anyone would follow me, let him deny himself, pick up his cross. And I got on my knees and went prostate and said, Lord, I'm yours forever. I will follow you. I'm yours forever.

I will follow you. And now, isn't that great? God can reach anybody.

And now, you host the program. Now, Frank Pastore, who is a good friend of mine and of our ministry, has gone to be with the Lord. And actually, he became aware of your story after you were converted. You came to Christ in 2009, is that correct?

Yes. So he became aware of your story because it was posted on YouTube. He had you in studio. You became friends because you're both in the field of radio. You were still doing sort of, you had come from the secular radio thing.

He's doing his Christian radio show there in KKLA. The Lord calls Frank home and you end up taking his show now. It's your show, but you've carried that on. And so, from Frank to Frank and both great men, and God's really blessed you. But in closing, as we kind of approach this crusade, Frank, you know, we all know people that maybe are like you used to be, that seem so closed or so self-confident and they seem to even kind of have it together and like nothing we're going to say is going to move them. What advice would you give us on reaching a person like yourself, just like your friends reached you? Greg, I have had so many people tell me, even at the table when I was signing my book, that they were praying for me.

Oh wow. And so, first and foremost, I know you're all praying for some of your friends, just keep praying. Obviously God hears it.

He'll work it out in his time. Prayer is absolutely of the essence, the greatest tool we have. So prayer and also, for me, be careful to not be too exuberant about your love for Christ in that. You're forcing it on them.

Hear their story, develop a relationship, and then you'll know when to love them and to share his divine word. Exactly. Thank you so much. Let's thank Frank Sontag for coming. Thanks, buddy. God bless you. Thank you, Greg. Back to you soon. God bless you.

Hey everybody, Greg Laurie here. Thanks for listening to our podcast. And to learn more about Harvest Ministries, please subscribe and consider supporting this show. Just go to Harvest.org. And by the way, if you want to find out how to come into a personal relationship with God, go to KnowGod.org. That's K-N-O-W-G-O-D dot org.