Q&A With Koloff- #125

This is Darren Kuhn with the Masculine Journey Podcast, where we search the ancient paths to find ways that God brings light into a dark world and helps set men free from the struggles that we all face on a day-to-day basis. Your chosen Truth Network Podcast is starting in just a few seconds. Enjoy it.

Share it. But most of all, thank you for listening and for choosing the Truth Podcast Network. I'm excited to announce the second annual Man Up Men's Conference, a champions summit at Morningstar Ministries in Fort Mill, South Carolina, June 15th through the 17th. Why should you attend the Man Up Conference? There's never been a more critical time than now for men to stand up, step up, rise up, and man up. It's a rally call for men of all ages, teens, 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, who desire to grow in their manhood and masculinity, enhance their marriage and fathering skills, be better equipped as a godly man, godly husband, godly father, be more effective in the marketplace as salt and light. We'll have a special father-son workshop and rite of passage ceremony to celebrate this special Father's Day weekend. Be there.

Go to colof.net to get registered today. 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. Today, joining me today, Danny Marsh. Danny, welcome to the Q&A with Kolov.

Thank you, Nikita. It's a pleasure to be on. Well, it's great to have you here. Of course, we met or we've spent some time together recently and in the past at a boot camp that you and Robbie Dilmore and several others were facilitating. And I just wanted to come and I wanted to glean and learn from all of you guys. And I want to spend a minute and talk about that.

But before we get there, let our listeners know who is Danny Marsh? Where are you living? Tell us a little bit about your family. Well, I live in King, North Carolina, which we've been there about, June will be three years. From there, we used to live in Asheboro and I was the director of a ministry down there called Asheboro Men of Steel and Amos House. And we dealt with guys dealing with addiction and had some guys that come out of prison and stayed at the house for a while.

And to background that, I grew up in a little town called Carthage, North Carolina, just north of Pinehurst. And, you know, just a rural community, grew up on a farm and, you know, graduated high school and kind of got into some drinking and drugging. And it kind of took me over. And for about eight and a half years, I pretty much destroyed my life and everything good in it just about. And but in 1994, God got hold of me and redeemed all that. And so I've been clean and sober for, soon to be 29 years and tried to help guys and, you know, guys along the way or anybody and just love on people, love Jeep. Wow. Set free, clean and sober, 29 years. Congratulations on that.

That's amazing. And, you know, you mentioned Asheboro, right? You said Asheboro?

Yes. So the guys that would stay, I'm just curious, the guys that would stay at your house, did they come out of the Asheboro prison there? Yeah, most of them came out of Randolph Correctional Facility and we had a couple that came out of Lexington and, you know, just kind of a variety. And then we had some guys that come basically out of, like, homeless shelters or something like that.

We didn't discriminate on where they came from. Sure. No, and I have a reason for asking. I've actually spoke a couple times at that Asheboro prison and done a couple outreaches there with some ministries there in the Asheboro area. And was fortunate to see a number of those men and, of course, many of them were familiar with wrestling or, as we say here in the South, wrasslin', right?

Wrasslin', yes. Yeah, many of those guys were excited when they heard the Russian nightmare was coming to their prison and saw a lot of decisions, a lot of decisions, you know, guys who were, you know, and I'm sure you're familiar with this, but I call it the difference between, you know, a real relationship and jailhouse religion. But we saw true transformation in some of these guys in the time I spent there, and so God bless you. And you said men of steel, that was the ministry that you were with? Yes, it started in Burlington, North Carolina, and there was at one time eight chapters all over North Carolina and, you know, pretty awesome ministry, just basic men's discipleship, you know. Yeah, love it.

I love it. But now you're involved with Masculine Journey Bootcamp, right, with Robbie Dilmore and Sam and all the guys, right? Yeah, it was really cool because we took our ministry, we were basically, I knew I was leaving Asheboro and moving to King, and we kind of did a last hurrah. We were studying some of the John L. material, and so I found these guys that did a bootcamp in North Carolina, and I contacted Robbie, and he, you know, told me what they did, and so me and the guys from Asheboro attended a bootcamp in the middle of COVID, and lo and behold, one of the guys that was part of the team then, he said, well, where you're moving, I'm going to live about a mile from you, and we do this little radio ministry on Tuesday nights. You're welcome to come see what we do. Well, I came, and I fell absolutely in love with this band of brothers, and they are truly a band of brothers.

They stick by you thick and thin. Well, and so you attended the bootcamp, and now you're on staff. You help teach, and you do some of the powerful teachings.

Yeah, I went recently, you know, I guess maybe a year and a half ago to my first bootcamp, and then more recently to what you guys called Advanced Bootcamp. And I like that because I like to say God's kingdom's not retreating, although you look at the culture and the modern day church, and you might get that image, but anyway, that's a whole other story. Don't get me started on that. But what you're doing, what I'm doing, Lex and I through man camp, what we do through our conferences, our man up conferences, et cetera, is challenge men, you know, to step up, to man up, to really be the godly father, the godly husband, the godly man that God designed us to be, thus us being the church.

Church is not a church building. It's the people that, you know, that attend. But I was really impacted, you know, by what you guys did. I told some of the others you may not know, but I took 19 pages of notes at your Advanced Bootcamp. Probably didn't know that. Wow. Yeah. I think Robbie or somebody mentioned that, and I was like, wow, he took more notes than I did the first time.

I didn't tell them that, but they'll know now. Well, that was my, hey, that was my, I don't remember. I have to go back and look and see how many pages I took on the first camp I went to. But anyway, I mean, it's just been amazing, you know, just being a part of that, sitting under that. And for those out there listening, if you want more information on any of these things, we're talking about the bootcamp masculinejourney.org. And so that's how you can find out more about Danny's Bootcamp and what they're doing there.

And of course, you can go to colof.net if you want to learn more about Man Camp at Lex Luger, and I facilitate. And so there you go. So now any other family that you want to tell us about?

Oh, yeah. I am. I've been married for almost 21 years to my lovely wife, Michelle. We have two children.

They're grown. Kristen lives in right outside of Atlanta, a little town called Sugar Hill with her husband, Casey, and our granddaughter, Zoe. And our son, Cody, lives in Ashboro, North Carolina, and his wife, his wife, Angela. And they don't have any children as of yet, but we're praying pretty hard for another grandchild.

I hear you. And, you know, our whole story, and it'd take a whole other podcast, is just a redemption story, because Michelle and I both come from broken, battered past, and God put us together, and our motto is we're going to spend the rest of our days laughing and giggling the rest of the way. Well, you know what? We'll actually set that up sometime, because you've got a powerful story. Like you just said, God redeemed you from a lifestyle of drugs and drinking, you know, just everything that comes with that, right? And so it sounds like you do have a pretty powerful story of redemption. And I'll make a note of that, and we will have you back, okay? Oh, that'd be awesome. Well, on that note, let's segue to your questions.

And so if you want to fire away with your first question, here we go for Q&A. Well, I've been a wrestling fan most of my life that I can remember. I remember watching you guys wrestle back in the 80s, the 70s and 80s. And, you know, somebody always had a finishing move, and we've always talked about the Russian sickle. And my question to you is, what was Jesus' finishing move on you to make you submit to Jesus? He put a submission hold on me. You know, so, you know, Ric Flair, whoo, had the Figure Four. Legendary Johnny Weaver had the Sleeper Hold. Sergeant Slaughter had the Camel Clutch, right? For the longest time, Ivan Koloff, the Russian Bear, had the Bear Hug. And I actually utilized that kind of early on a little bit. And then for a while, the Inverted Backbreaker. And then eventually, the Russian Hammer led to the Russian Sickle, right? For those wrestling fans out there who are familiar, Dusty Rhodes, right?

The American Dream, Dusty Rhodes. Yes, sir. Of power, too sweet to be power. Had the Bionic Elbow, you know, he had the Bionic Elbow. And so, yeah, all kinds of finishing moves. But, you know, it's been my experience that Jesus doesn't just use a move.

He has what I believe the submission hold. Like, he didn't have to pin me down. Like, I just tapped out, right? Like, I'm like, I'm done, I'm done.

Okay, I give, I give. You know, and all that to say, you know, God's gonna pursue the heart of every single individual for as long as they're, you know, I believe, breathing air and, you know, and it got the breath of life in their lungs. And hopefully, hopefully, you know, prior to, before you breathe that last breath, like if you're listening out there today and you've yet to submit, tap out, surrender your life to Jesus, today would be a good day to do that. You know, let today be the day of your salvation.

You know, stop running or denying that there is a creator of the universe that who made you in His image. And, man, just surrender your life to Jesus. And I'm gonna tell you, it's the single greatest decision I've ever made, you know, to tap out, Danny. It really is. It's the single greatest decision I've ever made. And so, yeah, that's a great question. I've never had that question asked before. Good job. Well, I think about my own life and how, you know, he took away all my excuses and eventually I had to tap out.

So I love that scenario. Well, and let me get a little caveat to that. So, because you mentioned coming out of life of, you know, drinking and drugs and partying and all that life. You know, and whether it's that lifestyle or people pursuing, trying to climb the corporate ladder, you know, there's a void in every one of our... I say, you know, Scripture says that God's placed eternity in the heart of every man. Every man, woman, and child has eternity placed in their heart. We're all gonna spend eternity in one of two places according to Scripture, heaven or hell. And so he's placed that longing in us, some run the other direction like Jonah who ended up in the belly of a whale for a while, but others run to him. And so that's what you and I have done and I hope, you know, this show helps others to do that as well. And so, yeah, and just tap out.

So, well, great question. What do you got? What else you got for me? 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. Other than the celebrity platform that you do obviously have and have utilized very well for the glory of God, what other aspects of your, I don't believe God wastes anything. He redeems everything, I think. So, in your wrestling career, what other things, other than the celebrity status, has he redeemed and allowed and used for his glory?

Great question. And he is the redeemer and he does reconcile. And, you know, whether it's just your very own life as we've been talking about or your relationships with others, gosh, I mean, the very first thing that comes to mind is how he redeemed my relationship with my dad. So, for those who don't know, you know, my dad left when I was about three years old and I was the youngest of four, left my mom to raise four, didn't support us financially, so we became a part of the welfare system. Grew up in my early days in the projects of Minneapolis, Minnesota, you know, via Siberia.

Just kidding. And so really just didn't have a relationship at all through my childhood and teenage years. Came back into my life and watched me play college football, but the relationship was very superficial until I was in my mid-40s and he was in his mid-80s. And then the Lord put it on my heart.

I had become a Christ follower and so the Lord put it on my heart to begin to reach out more to him and just, you know, on a regular basis and really challenged me. You know, I had never heard it. In my mid-40s, I had never heard my dad say, I love you. Ever.

Ever. And nor had I said to him, dad, I love you. And so, but the Lord challenged me to start doing that. So every phone call I would have, every time I'd see him or be with him, I'd say, hey dad, I love you. And it took about four and a half months for him to, for the very first time, to reciprocate back and I love you.

And then from that point on, any conversation or any time we were together, it's I love you, dad, I love you too, son. And he became a part of my prayer team. He traveled with me some. Churches found out about his testimony of when he grabbed the old rugged cross, as he used to say. And so churches brought him in to share his testimony that I would preach.

So I like to say we had the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost all present in one service there, right? Literally and spiritually speaking, figuratively speaking. But all that to say, so the last nine, 10 years of his life, we developed a Father, Son relationship.

God completely redeemed that relationship. In fact, go to the Man Up archives. You're listening out there, go to the Man Up archives, my Man Up show, and just search and you'll find an entire show dedicated to that whole story.

There's a lot more to that story. And here's the wrestling cliffhanger. At the end of that show, there's a little surprise there for you. Not going to tell you what it is.

You're going to have to go to the show and listen to it. And at the end, there's a little surprise that will bless you. But that relationship, Danny, is just evidence that you are right.

God can and will redeem anything. And I'll end on this note, this question. I was with him. The Lord prompted me to go up to Minneapolis and I sensed he didn't have much time left. And so I got to spend the last three or four days of his life literally in the room with him at the assisted living where he was living. So the very last night I was with him that he was able to to communicate. He got up out of the chair and muscled himself up out of the chair, gave me a hug. I mean, when I first started hugging him, he didn't even know how to hug. It was like hugging a bookcase.

Right. He I mean, but he learned he learned how to hug. And but he hugged me in the very last words out of his mouth. He ever spoke to me on this earth were these words. I love you, son. Oh, wow. I love you. The very last words that I have those words to hold on to till I see him in heaven again one day.

And then about 20, 24, 36 hours or so later, he went on home to be with Jesus. But so anyway, great, great question. All right. What do you got next for me? Well, the kind of following the theme here is what you might see. But my question to you would be, spiritually speaking, as a man, as a father, wherever you want to go with it is what is your greatest challenger these days? The greatest challenge these days?

Yes. Gosh, I mean, anyone who's got their head up and head on a swivel will recognize and realize we are living in some very different times. Over the last couple, three years, in my view, anyway, things have accelerated.

And I'm going to say a decline. One, this would be a whole show in itself in terms of America at large, the church having a role in that decline, I believe. And then the nuclear family, the attack on the nuclear family, more specifically, men and manhood.

Take the man out of the house and it just seems like in many, many cases, I don't know what the percentages would be, but it seems like the family falters greatly when you get the man out of the house. No male leadership, no servanthood, no role modeling for sons and daughters, and they just get lost in the mix. And I think we're seeing that from identity crisis, you know, that man being able to speak truth and identity into a son, into a daughter who are both created in the image of God according to the Bible, according to Scripture. God makes it pretty crystal clear.

Male and female, I created them. And so all this confusion in our culture today, I believe, personally, I believe it's more spiritual than anything and leading to just an attack on the family as a whole and then individual identity. And so the biggest challenge for anyone like you or I or people in general, a mom, a dad, those dads who are still in the home, a single mom raising her children with no father figure in the picture, is to instill in those children, instill in those children their identity in Christ, not their identity in what they do or who they hope and desire they become, but their identity in Christ as a foundation. And then from there, allowing God to reveal to that individual what their purpose is, what their plan is, and what their future is.

And so, wow, you got me rolling there, Danny, I'm just saying. That's the biggest challenge for all of us. So, you know, and you guys doing the boot camp, Lex and I doing the man camp, you know, the man up conferences that I'll do 15 or 20 of those, you know, in 2023. That's, as I see it, that's the number one challenge. So there you go.

Great question. That's good. That's good.

It's been really neat to, you know, like we've spent some time together, but, you know, so often ministries like yours and ours end up in competition. And that's not the case. Shouldn't be the case.

Shouldn't be the case. It's true in churches, it's true in everything that there's a competition. But, you know, I want to stand on the building top sometimes and holler, we're on the same team.

Hello, Danny, the word unity comes to mind. I just finished a revival and I'm not going to say where and or say who. And I finished a revival and we were out to lunch Sunday after service and the pastor says, yeah, you know, the big church down the road, you probably pastored on the way down. I go, yeah, I did notice it. Yeah, well, you know, they refused to promote our revival. I'm like, come on, grow, people grow up. Hey, if you're a pastor, it's one, it's not your church.

OK, you got me going, Danny. One, it's not your church. It's God's church. And they're not your people. They're his people. You're just called to shepherd them and sew into them and equip them so they can go out into the world and preach the gospel and be salt and light. And so stop taking ownership of of of the church. It's his church.

And so unity, Danny, unity. All right. All right. You got me rolling.

OK, I'm going to stop right here. We give you the opportunity. You have one more question for we have time for one more. If you have one more.

I don't have one more. All right. Well, that's OK. We we've covered some good ground. I think we've covered some good ground. So, well, you know, it's just a pleasure to have you on the show. It was great to be able to hang out with with all of you guys and learn and glean from you guys and appreciate Danny what you're doing.

And one more time. You know, Danny Marsh, he's on on staff there. Masculine Journey. Go to masculine journey dot org and learn more about the about the boot camp. And so what whether you go there's no competition here, whether you go to boot camp, man camp, man up conference.

Let me and I'll mention that just real quick. June 15th to the 17th in Fort Mill, South Carolina. Father's Day weekend. We're going to actually, Danny, be emphasizing three generations there. We're hoping for Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. We're going to have a special workshop for fathers and sons.

Grandfathers, grandsons, all of those who are in attendance or even if you don't have a son. Hey, you are a son. I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess you have a dad somewhere. I do. Yeah. Yeah, we all do. Right. Nothing else.

We have a heavenly father. And so go to coal off dot net and learn more about the man up conference. June 15th to the 17th. I'm just telling if you're a man and we're and we're actually going to have a lot of women there, too. Got I got a power couple out of California, Sean and Krista Smith. Krista's going to actually be bringing a powerful message to men at the man up conference.

Go check that out as well. Danny, thank you for joining me, man. Thank you for having me, Nikita. Well, God bless you, my brother. And for all of you out there listening land, thank you for tuning in each and every week until next time. Have a God filled, God blessed 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 coal off dot net and donate today. I, Nikita Koloff, be sure to check out the man up show now available on television, broadcast and podcast. Go to Morningstar TV dot com or the Truth Radio Network. Check out your local listings or better yet, download the Truth Network app today. If you are enjoying Q and A with Koloff, would you help us spread the word? Tell your family, tell your friends, tell your neighbors to download, subscribe and leave a comment. Are you looking for the perfect gift for your pastor?

Well, look no further. Bless him with a trip to the Holy Land with yours truly, Nikita Koloff, the Russian nightmare. I'll be hosting this once in a lifetime trip, December 27, 2023 to January 5, 2024.

Your pastor will never be the same. Go to Koloff dot net to get registered today. Nikita Koloff here.

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