This is the Truth Network. Nakita, destroy, crush, demolish all competitions. Does he want it? There it is. Yeah, and Mr.
Koloff once again made his feelings very, very apparent. It's been a long time, but the win is over. That's a bad man. No, that's a bad man. No, that's a bad man.
It's time to man up with Satan's nightmare, Nakia Koloff. With me today in studio, it's fun to have folks in studio. And I am honored to have today with me Kevin Johnston and his lovely bride here with moral support. I was trying to get around the show. She said, I'll just be moral support here for Kevin.
But guys, welcome. Welcome to the show. Thank you. Great to have you here. But you know, you had emailed me, Kevin, and shared some of your story.
And I was really honestly fascinated by it. My book, Nikita, A Tale of the Ring and Redemption, was part of your inspiration to reach out. Is that right? Yes, sir. And we're going to get there.
We're going to talk about that. Going to talk about some of your backstory.
Now, let me ask you, though, have you always been from Lexington? No, actually, I grew up in California, Dublin, California, actually.
Okay. And when I was. Yeah, 10, 11 years old, riding my bike. I remember meeting a wrestler. I yelled to him, I said, Hey, are you Moondog Mane?
He says, Who wants to know? I said, Sorry. You know, I just want to know.
So, you were watching, you watched it and recognized them.
Okay. My grandma was a huge wrestling fan. We love those grandmas and grandpas. Yes. Just for the record.
Yeah. She would fight you if you ever said, Hey, it's all scripted. Right, right. And don't get in front of the TV while she's watching, right? Exactly.
I can't tell you how many of those stories I have heard.
Some of us said, My grandma or my grandpa, they only watched two things: they'd watch Billy Graham on TV and they'd watch Professional Wrestling. Yes, sir. Quite a combination there.
So, okay, so back to California.
So you're out in California, okay? And you recognize this wrestler, Moondog. Right, right. And he had the Japanese wrestler. I think it was Mr.
Asito. Mr. Saito. Saido. Saido, yeah.
And I asked to get his autograph too. And he said, oh, he doesn't speak English.
So. Get his, you know. I'm not saying gonna say whether he did or didn't, Kevin, but it moving on, moving on. Yeah, okay.
So that was that was really neat, and I wish I would have hung on to that because my mom she laminated and everything, you know. And I, you know, I went into the military at 18 years old and. Lost everything. I mean, it just cleaned up the room. Over time, it just disappeared.
Thank you for serving, by the way. Yes, sir. Thank you. What branch of the Air Force? In the Air Force.
Okay. Security Police in the Air Force.
Okay, I was going to say: did you fly planes?
So, security police. I wasn't that smart. I understand. My dad was in the 82nd Airborne. And actually right Prior to his passing, I was able to get one war story out of him where he and his platoon.
Uh, liberated a concentration camp in Germany. Wow. Yeah, and I'm gonna tell you, when he was describing it, it was like he was there. Yeah, I mean, I just got the impression in his mind. went right there the way he was just giving me all the vivid description of it.
And uh yeah, I was like blown away. I w went back to my sister's house and told her what he said. She goes, How'd you get that out of him? I'm like, I just asked, you know, and he just opened up and shared, you know. Wow, wow.
So, anyway, all right.
So, you joined the military and from travel around the, I guess, around the globe, around the world? Yeah, yeah. I was in Alaska.
Okay. Up at Elmendorf up there in Anchorage. And Montana, which is a missile base. And did a TDY over in Korea, too.
Okay. Uh I I've been to South Korea. I actually enjoyed it. I spent about a week there and And we actually did prayer breakfasts and prayer luncheons And a couple evening services on four different military bases down in South Korea and witnessed 250 soldiers give their life to Christ while we were there.
So, yeah, it was pretty many. And one of the real highlights, that wasn't highlight enough, got to fly a $43 million chopper simulator. Wow. Which was wow. You know who we had with us?
We had the Road Warriors with us. You probably remember those names. Yes, yes, yes. Oh, yes. Adam Monahawk.
Adamah, yep. We had the Road Warriors.
Now, for the record, I just want to state for the record that this is truth. They flew it first. And I don't know which one crashed, but one of them crashed, the chopper. And it was evident, we're all laughing. One of them dudes crashed the chopper, right?
I forget, they got out Hee-Haw, and I think it was maybe Hawk. It was probably Hawk. It probably was a crazy one. That's true. That's true.
But then I got to go in by myself and got to fly by myself. And what an incredible experience.
So you leave the military. And so, what age were you when you leave the military? I was 22 years old, I believe.
Okay. I had a son with me. I had just gone through a divorce.
Okay. Very depressed. I mean, you know, in the military, they teach you one thing is to. I mean you're I don't want to say killer. But you're taught to defend, you know, as a security policeman, you're taught to defend the nation.
Yeah. We were like the infantry in the Air Force.
Okay. So when I got out, they basically well, I got out. After five years, because of my depression, it was so bad.
Okay. Okay. And. They shook my hand and said, Good luck to you. You know, that's basically.
That's just that's a Kevin, that's the craziest thing to me. I was never in the military. I mean, God's army, but I was never in the U.S. military, you know. But that's just, and now that's a whole other show we could probably do, but that's just the craziest thing to me: the disrespect for you guys that have served our nation to protect our nation and give us the liberties and the freedom that we have.
Right.
So that's just mind-blowing, but I digress. We'll move on from there.
So good luck. They say, you know, give you a handshake and say a pat on the back and say good luck. Right.
And so you're off. And where were you at that point? Were you in Montana at that point? Yeah, I was actually in Montana. That's correct.
Okay. So where'd you go from Montana?
So I went, my mom and dad, who are. Awesome prayer warriors, you know. My dad was a tough prayer mom and dad, yes, yes. And I've always said, if your mama's praying for you, you might as well give up. She ain't gonna share mama or grandma.
That's exactly right. That's right. You don't have a chance. You don't have a prayer, right?
So we've got great prayer warriors. And my dad is a very, I mean, he was a Navy guy, very straight to the point.
Okay. My dad got saved, and I know I'm here to talk about my testimony, but my dad got saved before he married my mom. The preacher told him, he says, I'm not going to marry a Christian and a non-Christian.
So he wise, wise preacher. Yes. That is not mixed well. No. In fact, it's biblical.
It says a believer is. Not supposed to marry an unbeliever.
So it is biblical.
So kudos to the pastor. Yes. Okay, so, all right, so he gets saved. He gets saved, and he was actually raised as a Mormon. He's one of the, you know, because I was raised in church and I got saved at an early age after watching the movie Thief in the Night.
Thief in the Night.
Okay, so you and I were talking before we came on air because you asked me, Do I remember that movie? And And I don't get give us a 60-second synopsis of A Thief in the Night.
Okay, so it's like the Left Behind series.
Okay. Yeah. All right. And back then, because Jesus is going to come like a thief in the night. Right.
Ah.
Okay. Keep going. And so it scared me. to death. And I got home and you know, I was pacing back and forth and you know, parents usually know when there's something bothering you.
They have that inkling, don't they? That sixth sense, if you will, to know.
Okay. And I kept on saying nothing, nothing, nothing. And finally. You know, dad came in and talked to me. I said, Well, son, what's going on?
Yeah, I'm not, I, I, I don't know if I'm going to heaven or not. And at that point, what, Kevin, let me interrupt. What in the movie, was there anything specific in the movie that, or just the movie in general, the the the storyline of the movie that Prompted that response in you?
Well, when they got near the end, of course, you know, Jesus has come back, and all these people were left behind, including preachers. Right.
You know? Which I envision one day for the record that that potentially may be a very prophetic movie right there. Right.
You've encouraged me. I'm going to see if this still can find it on Amazon or something. It's a 70s movie. Yeah, I'm going to check it out.
Okay, so you heaven and hell, and you're like, I don't want to be left behind. And these people were, you know, they were doing the guillotine, you know, the people that went and take the mark. And there were people that did take the mark. And then book of Revelation. Yep.
Book of Revelation.
Okay. And then, you know, dad explained it too: that, you know, if you're left behind and you ever take that mark, you've sealed your faith. You're done. You sealed your fate. You're done.
I mean, just read the book of Revelation. It's crystal clear. It's black and white, right? Right.
Okay, so is it at that point then that he led me to God? Your dad did. Yeah. Come on. Come on.
What an honor to do. He led me to God. And my parents were always the believers that. You don't push your child into getting baptized because they want you to make that profession on your own. Yeah, I was telling someone just the other day: you know, people say, Well, I grew up in a Christian home, and I'm like, But at some point, for those of you out there listening, at some point, you can't just ride the laurels of your parents, their coattails.
You have to make your own individual decision whether you believe the story or not, whether you receive Christ or not. At some point, you've got to make that decision on your own. You can't say, Well, I'm a Christian because my parents are Christians.
Well, you can say that, but the reality is, until you surrender your heart and give your life to Christ, you're not a child of God until that happens.
Okay, so that happens. And so, what follows that?
So, um, go through several years, you know. Um, I I believed I was saved.
Okay. I could not have been, you know, maybe I was just going through the motions. Or had an emotional experience, maybe. Yeah. And I always felt like God was.
protected me because there was a lot of times I should have been Either dead or thrown in jail.
Okay. You know, I think we, many of us, many of us, I won't say all of us, I say many of us can. Probably relate to that part of your story, Kevin. Right.
Okay. So we went through that, and then when I was 17 years old, I met a A preacher named Gary West in California. Super great guy. I mean, he talked to us. On our levels.
Yeah, I didn't try to talk down to you. Right.
Right.
Right.
In fact, I'm still friends. I got to actually see him last year. He is. My best friend married one of his daughters.
So it was really, I mean, it's just like meeting you. You know, when I got to see Gary West again, it was like. Yeah, reuniting, yeah, so yeah.
So, okay, so so does he bring it the salvation story kind of home for you, like where when it became real for you at that point? Yeah, and he's the one that baptized me.
Okay, um, he brought a lot of things real to me. Um, um, and you know, I was always under the belief that, oh, I gotta feel a chill when I get fireworks, fireworks need to go off or something, yeah, something right, right, right, which is not necessarily news, no, that. 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, Nieta Koloff Fans, and like it. and follow today. There's a way to see your life. 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 know, I believed if I would have died at that day or During that period, you'd be in heaven.
I'd be in heaven. Right.
And then all of a sudden, you know, you get older and you're thinking, oh gosh, I've done this, this, and this. How can God love me still? Because He's forgiving. Amen. He's a forgiving God.
Amen. And I have to throw in some credit to Caroline over there, who. She prays every day. She reads the Bible every day. You know, we have some really great woman to support you alongside you.
Yeah. Now, now, let's talk about that because I want to get to the rest of the story. I'm sorry. No, no, no. You're good.
You're good. So, when did the two of you meet then?
Well, that's a funny story. Yeah, I was a social worker at a nursing home.
Okay. Living where? Living in Asheville at the time. In Asheville. Asheville.
Asheville. Yeah. Okay. North Carolina. Yeah.
Okay. So um I was her m her grandma's um social worker. And she had popped in there to ask me about doing a do not resuscitate for her grandmother. And uh Yeah. And uh all of a sudden she started showing up.
more and more and bringing me like apples and bananas.
Now I don't eat a lot of fruits. But I wasn't taking the interest.
So, Caroline was taking an interest in you? Yes. That's what I'm hearing. She's in the room here, so she can either deny it or give me a thumbs up over there, Caroline. Oh, two thumbs up.
You can't see it, but I just got two thumbs up.
Okay. All right. So, and how long ago was that? How long ago was that then? 2007?
2007. Yeah. Okay. And it took me a few years to realize that she had an interest. Yeah.
You're a slow learner. I'm a very slow learner. Most men are for the record. Like, hello, like, duh. I think she likes you.
Okay. So you just kind of dated for series?
Okay. Yeah. And then we finally got married in 2017. Wow. Okay.
Okay. I mean, I actually had to beg her a lot to marry me. Gotcha. You had to grovel on your knees. Is that what she had to do?
All right. So married in 2017. And that's amazing.
So you've been journeying together ever since then. And now, now, any children together? No, not together. But you got a son. I have two sons.
Two sons. One is 41, which is hard for me to even say.
Okay. I know it ages us, right? Yeah. And he has three daughters. I got a 43-year-old daughter.
I'm like, wow. Wow. Wow. All right. So you got some grandchildren.
Right.
Okay. The loves of my life. How many grandchildren? I have three grandchildren. Three.
One is 12. And if you ever need to know something, she's the one that can let you know that you're wrong. If she knows it all. She knows it all. At age 12.
Yes. Oh, yeah. I understand. I should change your name to Google, you know. Come on.
That is funny.
Okay. Now, where do your sons live? My sons live in Thomasville. That was the reason why we moved down here because I didn't want to miss my grandchildren. You're closer to grandkids.
Good for you guys. Good for you guys. And you moved from Asheville down to Thomasville. Yeah. Well, actually, Lexington.
Lexington. Lexington. We got a good barbecue place in Lexington, by the way. Just a random thought just popped in my head there. All right.
So I want to get your whole story in here because I was fascinated.
So you're telling the story and You Say in in in the message you sent me that it was Later in life, that you really felt like you were away from Christ, but then you said, But thanks to my book, which we figured out was Nikita: A Tale of the Ring and Redemption, which has my whole life story in it, right? It's got the entire life story in it. Helped you realize, I love how you said that, that God has never left you, which is biblical. God will never leave us. Nor forsake us.
Just remember that out there. God will never leave you nor forsake you. We we can leave him. But he doesn't ever leave us. He's always there waiting, right, with his arms open wide.
You know, if we do drift off the narrow path or refuse to accept and give our life to him, he's always there to accept us and to receive us.
So you said.
So, the book helped you realize that God never left you and that He's always been waiting for you to find your way back. as he continue to chase you, And keep her safe.
So, take a minute on that and talk about how do you look you back like. Uh like him him continuing to chase you were there little little inklings or little like little signs or How did that work?
Well, there were little signs here and there, of course, with Caroline praying. I mean, she is like my mom, you know. I mean, not like my mom, you know, praying-wise. Your mom was a prayer warrior. Yeah, Caroline.
Caroline's a prayer warrior. Correct. Come on. Good job, Caroline. Two thumbs up again.
She is a prayer warrior.
Okay. So, you know, I was having lots of questions like. You know, the the Bible says that No, i Um once you're saved And God didn't have to die again to get you saved again. That's right. So if he was strong enough to save you during your time and know when he went to hell to get the keys to defeat the devil.
And come and rise again, he's strong enough to keep you saved.
So it took me a long time to realize that. I'm still a part of his family, no matter what. Yeah, he doesn't kick us out of the family. And where the warfare kicks in, let me just say this, Kevin, is, and you could probably attest to this, because the mind is the greatest battleground, right? And there is an enemy to our soul.
His name is Satan, known as the devil. He is real. And he'll do his best to try to convince us: A, either that we're not saved, you're not really saved, or you wouldn't be thinking that thought, or you wouldn't be doing what you just did. But we have to realize, right, that we're all flawed. Right, correct.
We're all broken. And we live in a broken world. And so if he can convince us that, man, he can just take us down some pretty dark paths, right? If we allow him to. But that's where we have to remain steadfast in our faith.
And it sounds like that's kind of the place you're at now. Correct, correct. It took me a long time to realize that. And honestly, listening to your book, and I, you know. Did you get the audible version?
I did. Oh, nice. I did that. A little side note: in this very studio. Wow.
I did that. Robbie Dilmore, one of my other producers, spent 25 hours in this studio with me doing that. And uh it's kind of funny, quick funny story. We did the first four chapters and he goes, Wow, that was amazing. He goes, Do you have about 12 chapters?
Like, how I said, uh like thirty-nine chapters, Robin. He went. Oh, this might take a while. And 25 hours later.
Well, that's awesome.
So, did you like the audio version? I've never heard the audible version, but did you like it? Yeah, I loved it. I have to, because I'm dyslexic.
Okay, so it's easier for me to read books. Right.
So it's easier for me to understand. Wow. That's pretty cool. Yeah. You're the first person I've talked to that's actually listened to my story.
Yeah. And I want to do it in my voice so that people could get the voice inflection and get the real, hopefully the real feelings behind the words. Right.
And it was great to hear, I'm the Russian nightmare or something like that. Come on, you do that pretty good. Have you been practicing? I've been practicing, yo. Come on, man.
Feel pretty good.
So, okay, so you're listening to the book, and that kind of stirred something within you.
So, yeah, I'm a hospice, was a hospice social worker until I just recently retired. And listening to the book, I drive up to Boone. Every day, and I was able to get through your book within a few days. Wow. Let's just keep on listening, listening, listening.
And then you got to the part where. God is there for you. He wants you to have the special relationship with him. And I'm just paraphrasing using Kevin's words. And then you said.
If you want to get to know them, You know Let's do this prayer together. And I mean, I was. I was so broken up by it, I had to pull over because I wanted to make sure I prayed. I didn't want nothing distracting me. And I really felt like that God had touched my heart like it's never been done before.
Did I hear you say before we came out of air that you were kind of got choked up and had a few tears flowing? Oh, a lot of tears flowing. Wow. And I told Caroline and I said, and it also helped me to get into tithing because, you know, tithing is very biblical. It is.
And I never really felt like, well, you know, he's got, you know, plenty. Plenty of money. He doesn't need my money. He doesn't need mine. He owns it all anyway, which he does.
And it's not about needing ours. It's about our heart. Right.
Right.
And having a cheerful heart and being a cheerful giver and being generous, right? That's really what he's looking at.
So, anyway, all right.
We've got a few couple minutes left here. And I got this money. I just have to tell you how. How God is. I mean, I got this extra money and I said, God, I told you that I'm going to give you 10% no matter what.
Come on. Now, it was hard to write that check out for $3,000. Sure. But you did it. I did it.
And I've been blessed beyond measures. It's amazing. See, for those who don't tithe, or maybe some out there listening doesn't even know what a tithe is. I'll challenge you to go Google that. Go check it out, what it is.
And if you're a churchgoer, can I just encourage you? One, you can't out give God. Amen. And it's very clear, he loves a generous giver. And I'll say this: you can sow sparingly, sow not at all.
or sow sparingly and reap sparingly, Or you can sow generously and reap generously. He's very clear on that. There's not an if/or.
So, well, man, it's a Kevin, fascinating story. Did I answer the questions that you? You did. You were phenomenal. And I sense that your story is going to be an encouragement to some others out there as well.
And so glad you brought your lovely bride, Caroline, here with us today, with you today. And Caroline, thank you for sitting in on our. conversation. Kevin, what would you say last thought? What would you say that person out there listening?
Because what I like about what you said was. And I want people to understand: you know, as God brings conviction upon our heart, it sounds like when you pulled over and had that encounter, that to me, that just solidified your relationship with Christ. Like, and from this point on, Like I was mentioning earlier, how the enemy of our soul will try to convince us we're really not saved. That's solidified it. And from this point on, you don't have to second-guess your salvation ever again.
Would that be a God has just, I feel that peace, you know? Do I question sometimes what's it going to be like when we take that last breath? You know, I know it says in the Bible that to be absent from the body would be present with the Lord.
So, you know, in that kind of a sense, it's kind of a little scary because you don't know what's going to happen. Yeah, it's going to be a good idea. It can be, but let me encourage you with this. Here's what I tell people all the time. This will be our kind of last note here because we have to wrap the show up.
If you know Christ, he says he hasn't given us a spirit of fear. Right.
So we don't have to fear death because death is only a doorway, a threshold into eternal life with him. Right.
Okay. Now, if you don't have a relationship with Jesus, by all means, you probably should fear dying because it won't bode well for you because there's no second chance once you've breathed your last breath.
So, can you? Kevin Johnston, Caroline here in studio with me. Thank you for being part of the show. Thank you, and thank you for your book and inviting us. And if you want to know more about the book or how to get the book, go on Amazon.
If you want to get the audio version in my own voice, like Kevin listened to as you travel in your highways and byways and airways, or you can get a hard copy print.
Now you can get that one signed. You just go to koloff.net and you can get a hard copy, get a signed copy.
So until next time, we want you to go out and have a job build and just.
