Q&A With Koloff- #98

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Ladies and gentlemen, the following contest is set for one flaw. Introducing first, from Lithuania, he weighs 123 kilos, the Russian nightmare, Nikita Kolov. Welcome to another episode of Q&A with Kolov, the devil's nightmare. Welcome back to the Q&A with Kolov and questions and answers. This is where you, you get the opportunity to ask me, the host, the questions.

And sometimes it's in studio, more often it's a phone call where I'm calling you, because you're not always here in the North Carolina area. But with me today in studio, Santosh Agumkar. Did I get it? Did I get it? I got it right.

All right. I'm like, not your typical American name, Santosh, just so you know. It is an American name.

But for our listeners out there, let's give them a little backstory, a little backdrop. So you're originally from India. Yes. And born and raised there, grew up there. You're a PK. Yes. Born and raised near Mumbai, Bombay. That's what people know. But I was a little further down from Mumbai.

Okay. And then my dad was a teacher first. And then when Lord called him into the ministry, he gave up that teaching job in his 20s and then got into full-time ministry as a pastor after going to seminary and everything. Then he was a pastor for 16 to 18 years. And then after that, he was principal of the Bible college and so forth. But he was in ministry. Look, you've told me the story and this blows me away, but he lived to be 89?

He was 89. And until his death, he was in the ministry. And day before he died, he did communion, prepared communion, and did the communion service. And my brother said, wait a minute, this Sunday is not a communion Sunday. We said, no, no, no, I want to prepare this ahead of time anyway. I wonder if he knew something.

That's what we were thinking too. Yeah. I mean, full-time right up to really the, essentially the day of his passing, basically, which is what a way to go out. Yeah. And he did not even suffer. Boom. Just like he had, and he was gone. Wow. And that's where, but hey, he served the Lord and he's with the Lord and he lived the life.

He ran the race. That is a tremendous testimony. It is a testimony. I know you've told me, and by the way, for those of you listening out there, go to the Man Up show. I do a full interview with Santosh. You got to hear this fast. I'm serious.

You got to hear this fascinating story of this man came from India with one suitcase and $200 and fast forward all these years later, owner of his own television network, global television network. We'll talk more about that in a second. But before we get there, so you're watching your dad.

He's walking the walk, not just talking the talk, but he's walking the walk. And I know you told me that you were maybe 16, 17, in your teenage years, that you surrendered your life to Christ, that you came to faith to Christ. Right. That was a youth for Christ camp. And we rode a bicycle 30 miles with teenagers. So 30 miles just to get to the camp. Yes.

Yes. And it was fun. It took a day and a half to get there.

We stopped overnight. And then the message was 1 Corinthians chapter six. Today's the day of salvation. What would you do if you die today?

Where will you go? And that really hit me, you know, because teenagers, we are doing all kinds of things. And the next thing you know, that word like that, though I heard the message many times from my dad, but that was a different. A different speaker, a different setting. And sometimes it's that way, right? From somebody else, a third party, you might say things just hit you slightly differently, don't they? Yeah. And all these ways to speak to everyone different way.

Wow. So you give your life to Christ. You move to America. You're an entrepreneur at an early age. I know you were in radio and eventually got into television, been in it many, many years. As I mentioned, now have your own television network, but you also beautiful wife and a daughter as well. Wonderful daughter, wonderful wife. And daughter is now 23, just finished her master's program at Wake Forest university. And she's working and we are very blessed to have a wonderful daughter. You've been married how long?

28 years. And we had only one argument. Oh my goodness.

And that argument is still going on. I was going to say, it's a good thing you got your own TV network because you can have a show on that every day of the week. I'm just saying so, oh, that's a great answer. So, well, what a fascinating story and I'm serious.

I can't emphasize it enough. Go to the archives, go to the podcast archives and pull up the interview with Santos Gomkar and listen to his fascinating story about how he came here to America with virtually, virtually nothing and how it was such a walk of faith. And you'll hear him tell a lot more details of that walk of faith. Now God just opened door after door after door after door, right?

And I'm not even perfect. I'm not, I don't know why, but Lord opened the door, but there is a reason for everybody and everything. We need to just trust the Lord and walk by faith. Yeah, absolutely. And you, you will be blessed by, by, by his story, his full story. And so, well, this is the Q and A with Koloff where you get to ask me the questions. And so let's flip it around here and give you that opportunity. And, and, uh, if you're ready, it's well, what's your first question for me?

I appreciate giving me this opportunity. Also a question I always, I don't know, we met at, uh, TCT's, uh, TV station here in Greensboro a number of years ago. Yeah.

That was quite a few years back. And that fascinated me that you being a wrestler came to know the Lord and full time in the ministry. And then I always wonder how could be a wrestler be evangelist and what kind of ministry is that? You know, but coming from India, I didn't catch that because wrestling was fascinating to see, uh, you know, these bodybuilders are wrestling there and how they're hitting each other and all that.

I didn't know it was all made up there, but still fascinated me. So you had name, you had fame and you had all kinds of money at your feet. You didn't need anything. You are self-made man, but you did not have peace. That is, did you have peace? That's what I wanted to ask.

No, actually, actually I didn't. I mean, it's a great question because, uh, you know, the, the, the truth of the matter is, you know, I had all this, as you mentioned success, but there was a real sense of unfulfillment. I mean, I'd be less than honest if I didn't say, you know, I was thrilled by the roar of the crowd. Like, you know, you stand in an auditorium and there's 10, 15, 20, 30,000 people chatting your name or booing you or cheering you, you know, there's a certain adrenaline rush with that, you know, winning championship belts and titles and all of that of what at the, at the same time, at the end of the day, all those cheers or booze stop.

And then you got to look for the next thrill and the next thrill and the next thrill. And so, look, I'm blown away as much at the, by being in ministry as you are. Like I didn't grow up as a kid dreaming of being a pro wrestler. I never in a million years dreamed I would have been in full-time ministry as an evangelist and missionary to the world, but God, right?

In fact, I had, I had a gate agent one time. I was checking in for a plane trip and she said to me, she was a fan and she said, oh, are you still wrestling? I go, well, actually I'm a minister. And she's paused for a moment. She goes, let's like pull our opposite ends of the world. Kind of like you thought when you first met us, met me.

And she's like, how's that work? I go, but God. 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. And I say all that to say, you can have all the success of the world. But what I realized was without that personal relationship with Jesus Christ, you're going to all, if you're honest, you're going to, there's always going to be a sense of emptiness there, a void in your life.

So as you said, there was a sense of emptiness, having everything, all worldly things here at your feet, but you had that emptiness, but you accepted Christ and there that gave you peace, everlasting peace that changed your life. So your colleagues and friends and family members, they saw what was their reaction to that. So how you responded to that? Yeah, great question. So, so wrestlers by nature, and I don't know about every sport, but by nature is somewhat skeptical. Just because the nature of our wrestling business, as you mentioned, it's entertainment, you know, we're, we're putting on a show, so to speak.

And so they're kind of skeptical by nature. My family much more receptive to the fact that I'd surrendered my life and they became a Christ follower. The wrestlers took, took more time for them to actually see it for you might not that, not that I needed to prove it.

But, you know, it's like that old saying actions speak louder than words. So more than just me going and necessarily being testifying to them was being around them and me seeing that I was indeed a changed man. And so by seeing the changes, they eventually came to believe that what had happened was real. Unlike wrestling, that what happened was real. So Nikita, you had everything and you fulfilled all that worldly desire, everything. And now you're full time in full time ministry.

Question is this. If you have to live again, will you choose wrestling or ministry? Well, the, when I look at, so here's the interesting thing for me. When I look at my wrestling career and, and if someone wanted more of that story, maybe they're not totally familiar with, with that story. I mean, they can go on my website, go on coloff.net, get wrestling.

Yeah, get the book. Nikita Attell, the ring of redemption has my full story in there. How, how, how valuable, how rewarding what I'm doing now that you can't put a price tag on. I mean, San Jose, when I left wrestling at the age of 33, it was right before the big explosion of wrestling and big fat contracts and all of that. And so I didn't make multiple millions of dollars back in my day.

Like guys are in wrestlers and other athletes are making now. Right. But that said, in the past 28 years, since 17, October, 1993, when I gave my life to Jesus, now having traveled to 30 different countries, all 50 States, speaking to audiences, as little as one, as, as, as big as 73,000 in Jamaica and seeing thousands and thousands of people respond to an altar call, as we call it, how do you put a price tag on that? And so what I'm doing now, I feel is the ultimate call on my life.

Number one and number two, the most rewarding thing I could ever do in my life. So you traveled, as you said, you traveled 30 plus countries and you had all kinds of name, fame, and you self-made man, and you didn't need anything. And you said, Christ was the answer. Have you, why Christ?

Why not Buddha, Muhammad, other religious leaders? So even growing up, I wasn't a real, I wasn't a religious guy, whether it was Christianity or, or, or Buddhism or, or anything else. I just, religion wasn't on my radar.

Right. I was just all, as you said, I was a self-made man. I was all about me. It was my world. You were just living in it.

Okay. You didn't like it. Don't let the door hit you on the way out. And so I was familiar, you know, I'm familiar with other religions, but there was never a draw to any of those other religions. And then I'd met this Christian couple through a business adventure that I was involved in after wrestling.

And so for me, it was just a drawing, a wooing of what I call, would say the Holy Spirit to the altar, to surrender my life to Christ, and then understanding, learning that he had a much bigger and better plan for me. And, and when I think about the journey I now am on, there's just, there's just no, no, I mean, he said, I'm reminded of a scripture says, Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life. And nobody comes to the father except through me.

And so all those other avenues are end up, they end up hitting a brick wall as I have learned. And there's only one who's ever died and been resurrected. The rest of them are all in a grave, but there's only one who, who rose again. So what I hear that is, and this is my life verse also, it says, Matthew 5 16 says, let your light so shine before men that they will see your good works and glorify the father who is in heaven. So, so the attention is not towards me, though I'm doing good works and not taking the credit, but giving glory and honor to God. That's what your life was after coming to Christ and accepting him. Though you had all kinds of treasure, money, finance, help, name, fame, self-made man, but you are letting your light shine. So, so, so I, so I would just tag on onto that, that there was a day when, when, when notoriety and power and prestige and, and, and material things were a focus of mine and the accumulation of those things. But come to realize now the, the station I am in life or the point of this, this juncture of life for me now that I have no interest in chasing after all the things the world has to offer. It's an empty chase.

Reverend Billy Graham one time called it, I think the empty chase and, and, and Solomon, I think called it an Ecclesiastes as well. The vanity vanity, it's all vanity, right? So where I'm at at this point is everything I do every day. And I still go out and do autograph signings.

I'm still out in the wrestling world, trying to let that light shine as best I can. But my focus now is that everything I do, my hope is I bring glory to God at the end of the day that I've left a mark for his kingdom and not a stain. Amen. So what I hear is chasing all these worldly things will not fulfill and give you that eternal peace is only through Christ. Only through Christ. And we can, we cannot bring anything in the world and cannot take anything out of the world. So as you said, as Billy Graham said, we are chasing the empty chest and the top is all empty. Yeah.

Yeah. You can climb to the, to the pinnacle. You can get to the top of the mountain only to find out. Cause even then it's even guys who've done that climbed Mount Everest and all these other mountains only to find, okay, I've done that. I've checked that box. Now what?

Now what? And I found too many people are not, don't know their purpose, their true purpose and why God created them and brought them here and gave them life. And that that's what ultimately each and every one of us need to pursue. But what is your purpose in life? What kind of difference are you going to make? And what kind of impact and impression are you going to leave once you leave here? Amen to that. Amen to that.

Yep. So thank you for your giving me opportunity to come and ask a question. Well, man, I thank you. Thank you for being on the Q and A with Koloff and, and again, I'm going to encourage all of you go to the podcast archives and pull up Santosh Gomkar.

I'm going to keep saying that to make sure I get it right. His fast, I'm serious, his fascinating story and go check out his television network, Global Television Network. Give that website one more time if you would.

It's www.gtvenetwork.us, gtvenetwork.us for our website and then for Facebook, facebook.com Global Television Network and of course YouTube, you can go Global Television Network or on our website also. So tune in for another episode of Q and A with Koloff. God bless you and appreciate you dialing in each and every week. 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. Be sure to check them out today at wsmc1.com because you are number one. This is the Truth Network.