This is the Truth Network. Ladies and gentlemen, the following contest is set for one flaw. Introducing first, from Lithuania, he weighs 123 kilos, the Russian nightmare, Nikita Kolob. Welcome to another episode, Q&A with Kolob, the devil's nightmare. I am excited today to have this man on with me.
Ben Graham, welcome to Q&A with Kolob. Hey, so glad to be here. I appreciate the opportunity.
Well, it's great to have you. We had met recently over in Sevierville, Tennessee, or face-to-face. We've known of each other, I think, right? Through mutual friends like Frank Shelton and others, right? Yes, sir. But we've never actually met.
Your reputation precedes you, Ben. I just want to say you lived up to it, just so you know. Well, I appreciate that. I know every time I see Frank, he's always posting these events with you, and I think one of them is maybe some kind of man-up conference or something, if I remember correctly. But he's always posting these different things with you, and I'm surprised that our paths have just never crossed, and he spoke so highly of you. So when I seen that you and I were going to be at the same event, I called him and I was like, hey, we're going to be together.
And I was really pumped about that, and then glad we were able to meet. And you and I have a couple things in common, but one is we have a God haircut, you and I do. That's right. That's right.
A God haircut. Well, and speaking of which, sometimes we cover that head with a lot of different hats, and what I mean by that is, man, I mean, from pastoring to acting to being a book author, you've got your own podcast. I mean, there's so much, Ben, that you do, and for people to get the full story, we're going to make sure they go listen to our interview on the Man Up show, because they're going to get, or I should say more of the story, not the full story, because there's so much you've done, and there's a lot of relatability between you and I. I was just kind of comparing notes here, you know, yeah, you've got four boys, I've got four girls, you've been to all 50 states, I've been to all 50 states, you've traveled to 40 countries, I'm almost to 40 countries.
I mean, just a lot, you know, you've been in films, I've been in nowhere near the number of films that you've been in, but I've made a few cameos along the way. And of course, the radio show, the podcasting, book author, a lot we have in common, and I mean, golly, I don't even, I'm not even sure what direction to go. I know you've got a brand new book, maybe we should just go on that direction. Take a minute, talk about your family real quick, and then just talk, just highlight the films, and then let's focus on the book. How about if we do that?
That sounds great. Well, I, you know, of course, feel very blessed. I'm a fifth generation preacher raised around ministry, and, you know, I went through the same thing my dad went through. My dad, you know, when he was about 13, said he would never be a preacher, and, you know, guess what, he became a preacher about it, you know. I guess he was 12, because it was about a year later at 13, he surrendered preaching. What's crazy is my dad, at 13, preached 11 revivals for churches. I'm talking about, like, week-long revivals for churches at the age of 13, and I can't imagine, you know, having a 13-year-old come in and preach a revival, but he did.
And then, you know, I kind of went through the same thing. I said I'd never be a preacher, and, you know, when I was about 14, I started preaching. I preached my first sermon the next day at a youth conference, and, you know, about a week and a half later, my dad and I were heading over to hear a well-known speaker at a national conference. And on the way, Dad said, hey, you better be ready, you know, they may want you to preach, kind of messing with me, and I'm like, yeah, that's pretty good. Like, haha, right?
Like, haha. Yeah, we get there, and they have worship, and they, you know, all of a sudden the host pastor gets up and he said, I heard Dr. Graham's son surrender preaching. He goes, Ben, after this song, would you come and give us a 15-minute message? He goes, I'm sorry to limit you to 15 minutes, we want to give our main speaker plenty of time, but I know everybody would love to hear you preach. And, of course, my heart just sunk, because I did not go to that conference ready to preach.
I only surrendered a couple weeks before, and then I'm thinking, 15 minutes, how am I going to go for 15 minutes? And so I think I got up there and cracked a lot of jokes about being a preacher's kid, and, you know, I don't remember, maybe told, because there was like hundreds of pastors there. I, you know, told them they didn't give their life to Christ, they were going to hell, whatever, you know. I'm not for sure what I preached, but I guess it worked, because from that, you know, God opened doors, and a lot of the preachers there invited me to come speak at their church and at their youth things. And so, you know, God opened the door, but, you know, my wife and I, we've been married 25 years, and from day one of our marriage, we were in full-time ministry, and I was a youth pastor before her and I got married, but we were in youth ministry. And then about a year after we got married, I became a senior pastor and pastored my first church in upstate New York, and, you know, that was a unique experience, but a wonderful experience.
And, you know, we still have great friends up there that were in our ministry, and people who were pastoring that surrendered under our ministry back in the day. And then my wife and I have four boys, and our oldest is married, and we have a granddaughter that's 10 months old. And, you know, one of the things that we've been blessed with is our family, talking about our children, have just been an integral part of our ministry.
And, you know, I would say my wife, and now we only have two boys living at home, but, you know, they're with me about 75 to 85 percent of my travel, and the reason they don't go 400 percent is just sometimes they need a break, because I keep a crazy schedule. But I go to, you know, what you said earlier, I think God never gave me a specific talent. I remember when I was younger, I wanted to find my niche and do that. You know, this is what you're supposed to do for the rest of your ministry. You know, my buddy Michael W. Smith used to have this song called Place in This World, and that was kind of like when I was younger. Like, what is my place in this world?
Let me find it, God, and let me do it for 70 years, you know. And I just realized God never gave me a specific talent, but he gave me a love for a lot of things, and so I've been blessed to, you know, record and sing music. I have friends that are, you know, way better, and that's all they do, but I got to get a little taste of it, you know. I love, you know, get to speak and preach, you know, got to do that, and, you know, I love the filmmaking.
So I guess that's why I've been involved in a lot of different things, and I'm one that, you know, I think I would get bored too easy if I wasn't staying busy, and so we have. And, you know, I'm very thankful for, you know, all the opportunities that God has given us, and, you know, our ministry is probably a little unique in that regard. But, you know, what I look back now and see over these last 26 years of ministry is all the things that God allowed us to do was, I really believe, shaping us for where we're at today and what he's called us to do today. You know, these were preparations, and at the time I didn't look at this as a preparation or a stepping stone or nothing like that. I went there thinking this is where I'd be all my life, but I look back and see how God used this time at this place and, you know, opened this door for this time to prepare us for where he's put us today.
And I'm so thankful, you know, for how God is constantly working in our lives, even sometimes when we don't see it. Yeah, absolutely. We can look back on that, and, of course, I think 18-plus films you've been a part of. Graham Family Films, right, grahamfamilyfilms.com, where people can find more about your films, too, right?
That's correct. So I'm the president of Graham Family Films, and we launched Graham Family Films back in probably 2014, and the Lord just, you know, had opened doors. I was in my first movie when I was 11, did some theatrical stuff, and a few little, you know, small projects when I was in high school.
But really, honestly, didn't think much more about it until about 12, 13 years ago when we came to Tennessee and got back into the films a little bit, really by accident. Just got asked to be an extra on a film, and at the end of the day they said, hey, could you, you know, could you play a priest on this project? And I was like, well, I think I could do it, you know. And so I started practicing my little cross, and, you know, I was like, I think I could do that with a hand.
And, of course, I get there the next day on set, and they're like, actually, you know, none of the crew are Catholic. You could just be a preacher. And I'm like, well, I think I can definitely do that, you know. And so, you know, it opened this door, and it led to other projects. And next thing you know, we have six filmmakers in the church I'm pastoring, and, you know, we launched Graham Family Films, and we're making movies. And, you know, it led to a passion I didn't even know I had, and that was I love getting to be involved as an actor, and started doing these movies. I was in a movie called Fearless Faith, and, you know, and then several other films.
And then the Lord started opening the door. My wife was in a couple films, and God opened the door for us to do some stuff together. And now her and I have been the lead in three movies, and we're getting ready to film the fourth one this fall and then the fifth one right before the end of the year. And, you know, and so it's exciting to not only get to do these films, but getting to do them together. All four of our boys have been involved in movies, and, you know, and it's been exciting. Our third son was in a movie called I'm Not Ashamed, which is a story of Rachel Scott, the girl that was killed in Columbine.
He played her brother when they were younger in the movie, and my kids have gotten to be involved in films. And it's just been a really awesome experience, and, you know, one of the things that I'm thankful for is what God has allowed us to do. He's allowed us to do as a family, and I think that's so important because, you know, you're probably familiar with this, but 30 years ago, 40 years ago, it really was, you know, for pastors, it was ministry first, family second. But I don't think that's the proper biblical order. I think God should be first, but I think family should be second, and then ministry. Because if you don't have your family, you really don't have a ministry.
And so we saw that shift, you know, probably 30, 40 years ago, and thankful that, you know, my family really taught me that, and then we've been able to pass that on to our children, and now to see that, you know, they've grown up in a preacher's home, and, you know, my older two boys, they're 20, almost 24 and 21, and they love God, they love church, and they love Mom and Dad, you know. I'm thankful for that because so many people who are raised in ministry grow up despising ministry, and I think a lot of that has to do with, you know, sometimes we as preachers, you know, we tend to put ministry first, and, you know, it's a tough balance, but you've got to be careful with that. And so, anyhow, but we got in the film business, and then God opened doors for us to, you know, to write some books, and we recently wrote a new book called Ignorance and Apathy, Two of America's Deadliest Sins, and, you know, I find that oftentimes pastors struggle with, you know, being engaged. I hear it all the time, people say, I wish my pastor would speak on this issue or this issue, and a lot of pastors think, well, these are social issues, you know, I can't speak on them, but the Bible commands pastors to preach the whole counsel of God, and you'll find that every social issue that is in our world today, the Bible deals with. These are really political issues, and, you know, there are absolutes, and God's word gives us absolutes, what is right, what is wrong, and, you know, maybe how we sometimes handle them in the church is not right. You know, we look at, you know, maybe like the sin of homosexuality, you know, we blast that one, but, you know, most churches won't preach on adultery, or, you know, we kind of pick and choose what we think is a worse sin, but, you know, what happens is a lot of pastors don't speak on that, and, you know, they don't understand, well, you're not supposed to be involved in things, look at Romans, and, you know, they'll quote that, but then I always remind them, the apostle Paul didn't end up in jail because, you know, he went along with what the government said, you know, he kept preaching the truth when they told him not to, this is why he was beaten, this is why he, you know, went to go stand before leaders, and as a result of that was involved in being in a shipwreck, you know, and all these things, and, you know, so preachers oftentimes don't understand scripture, prophets were, you know, often put to death because of preaching the truth, and then, you know, I look at the founding of our nation, you know, pastors were engaged, you know, the Connecticut Constitution was written by a pastor, the famous story of Peter Muhlenberg who was preaching out of Ecclesiastes, there's a time to live, there's a time to die, there's a time for war, and he said that time has come and he took off his black robe and he grabbed his musket and he walked out with a bunch of men in his church walking out with him, and his brother, Frederick Muhlenberg, who was also a pastor, wrote him a scathing letter and he said, how dare you being a man of the cloth get involved in this war, like, you know, this is no place for the preacher, we're to be neutral, well, six months later his house is burnt down, his church is burnt down, you know, Frederick's family is nearly killed, and what he found was being neutral does not work, and what he found as being neutral is not enough, and so he then gets involved, and Frederick Muhlenberg would become the first speaker of the house, you know, he was a pastor. When Paul Revere is leaving, heading to warn that the British are coming, he goes to Pastor Jonas Clark's house where Samuel Adams and John Hancock are in hiding, and, you know, they asked the pastor, Jonas, are you prepared? He said, we are, and he got all of his men ready, and they engaged in the battle, and so I remind preachers, you know, maybe we don't need to necessarily take up arms today, but we do need to engage, there's a real spiritual warfare going on today, and, you know, part of what we talk about in this book is most people's attitude is, well, Jesus said, in the last days, perilous times are going to come, so, you know, we can't stop that, you know, and so they think, let's not do anything, but the reality is the scripture tells us where to occupy until he comes, and if you read that word, occupy, it doesn't mean just to stand in place or just to fill a pew, it means to engage in what God has called us to do. Well, what's he called us to do?
He's called us to be a salt and light to this world, and so we've got to keep sharing Jesus, the love of Christ, but also the truth of Christ, that he is the way, the truth, and life. 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. The Man Up Show is honored to have Dr. Johnny Gaten as one of our longest running supportive sponsors. Dr. Gaten is regarded as one of the world's leading elite eye surgeons. He is motivated by his faith in doing all things heartily as unto the Lord.
His desire to do his best has contributed to success in his eye care practice, performing over 70,000 eye surgeries. In addition, he's a world-renowned speaker, writer, and author. Go to iAssociates.com for more information. You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com. Adriatic synapathy is all about waking up, realizing that God's people were destroyed for lack of knowledge, and so we've got to know what's going on, we've got to engage in what's going on, and we've got to be involved. And so we talk about that in this book, and we put a remedy of how we can fix the problems going on in our nation if God's people will just reengage.
Well, and if you're looking for solutions, you're out there listening, and you know we've got problems in America, and you're looking for solutions, ignorance and apathy. PastorBenGraham.com, you can find the book there, correct? PastorBenGraham.com? That's correct, yes, sir.
So you can find the book there. And GrahamFamilyFilms.com, if you want to learn more about films that Ben has been involved in, and there's lots of great ones on that website for purchase, and I encourage you to check that out. And of course, if you recognize the Graham name, perhaps, you'll quickly figure out, if you haven't already, that he is part of the Billy Graham legacy, part of the family tree, and so incredible life story that he has. We've just touched the surface, barely scratched the surface today. Well, Q&A with Cole Loff, Ben, we'll segue here on that note and give you the opportunity to ask me a couple questions. So let's make that transition, and tell me what you got for me today.
I love it. Well, you know, I was blessed to be the pastor of the original gorgeous George. His name was George Grant, and he had told me some stories, and of course, obviously, he wrestled years before you did, but he told me stories about how they killed off his character. People actually thought that he actually died as a result of that, and so, you know, he taught me a little bit about wrestling, but I would love to know, first off, you know, how you got involved in wrestling, and I want to know, you know, when you were wrestling. What was the thing that really brought you, like, what was the thing you enjoyed most about it, I guess is the right way to ask?
That's a good question. Of course, the first part, I mean, is fairly well known, and of course, you know, my book, Ring of Redemption, Nikita, a story of Ring of Redemption kind of goes into full detail about the unusual way that I got involved in wrestling, you know, not on my radar as a kid, you know, weightlifting and bodybuilding and football, you know, those were my passions, and, you know, it had nothing to do with wrestling at all as a kid growing up, and eventually some of my high school buddies had gotten involved, and one or two of my college buddies, and they eventually made a phone call and asked if I wanted to get involved, and so I had a five-minute phone call, you know, sight unseen with a pastor, a promoter in Charlotte, North Carolina, and I had that phone call and that conversation, and, you know, he just gave me some instructions on when to be in his office and, you know, have my head shaved, and I showed up the day he said to be there. He introduced me to Ivan Koloff and Don Crenodle, and Nikita Koloff is born in the hallways of June 1984. That launched me into this wrestling career, and there's so much more to that story, but I guess I'll just tease the fans, tease those listeners by saying, you know, I guess you'll just have to go get a copy of the book Ring of Redemption to get the full story, but all that to say, the second part of your question is, you know, what did I enjoy the most, and by far, I'll tell you what I didn't enjoy. I didn't necessarily enjoy the travel. We put a lot of road miles in.
In fact, in those early days, Ben, we travel anywhere from 2,000 to 2,500 miles a week in a car, and then when we went on the Superstation TBS and started traveling, you know, nationwide and eventually around the world, obviously we had to fly, so at one point combine my air miles, and I had over a million frequent flyer miles at one point as well, and so those aren't necessarily some of the things I enjoyed. However, the highlight for me was to be able to get in the ring, and from opening bell to closing bell, you know, that time to perform in the ring and entertain the fan, and the objective being, Ben, to draw you, the fan, into the story that we were trying to tell, and, you know, it's a different product now than it was then. Back then, we have more what I would call creative control in that they maybe told us what outcome they desired, but then it was up to us to get in the ring and spontaneously tell a story. You know, it wasn't even often that we talked to our opponent prior to getting in the ring because we were in smaller buildings, you know, dressing rooms would be in the opposite end of the building, and so the first time we lay eyes on our opponents a lot of times was when we got in the ring, and then through verbal and nonverbal cues, we would begin to tell that story that would lead into that outcome that hopefully drew you into the story, your emotions into the story, and became a part of the story, and that's what I enjoyed the most by far.
That's great, and really honestly, it's a little bit like, it sounds like, you know, when we're making a movie, you know, the point of entertaining is you're trying to, you know, entertain, tell a story, and so, you know, it sounds like you have a lot of experience in that. Now, let me ask you a little bit about, obviously, you know, and I don't know much about this, and you probably tell this somewhere, but what really brought you to Christ, and more importantly, what really brought you into the desire to minister, because I know that's such an important part of what you do now, you know, what really brought you into that arena of really ministering to people? It's a great question because, you know, I certainly, by far we are not five generations of, you know, pastors deep here, to say the least. My dad eventually, at the age of 46, became a Christ follower, as he would testify and say he grabbed the old rugged cross at 46 and lived to be 92, so one half of his life he was a Christ follower. I know he prayed for me a lot, and I have an audio, actually, I highlighted this on one of my Man Up shows a number early on, and it's in the archives, but an actual audio testimony of him. When he heard I got into wrestling, he said, oh Lord, he's lost now, there's no getting him back, you know. He's gone forever, you know, and fortunately God had a plan that after leaving wrestling, you know, about 11 months later, you know, through a Christian couple I'd met through other business ventures that invited me to their church, and you know, I didn't grow up in church, but I knew the story, but the story never made the 18 inch trip from my head down to my heart until the 17 October 1993, when it was in that service that I had been invited to, that I went to the altar and surrendered my life to the Lord, and I can definitively say, never in a million years. Now again, you can look at your family tree, I mean with names like Reverend Billy Graham and your dad and many others that are part of your lineage, you know, I didn't necessarily have that, so therefore I wasn't, you know, like I think at an early age you said you felt, you know, the Lord calling you into me, like I will never, I wrote down, yeah, tell God what you won't, what you're not going to do, and I just envisioned him just laughing like, okay, we'll see about that, right? I will never become a preacher, okay, we'll see about that. But anyway, all that to say, never in a gazillion years did I ever dream I'd be doing anything I'm doing, kind of like you, but I mean, I kind of pinch myself sometimes, you know, when I think about your story, I mean from author to acting to, you know, to pastoring to raising a family, you know, husband, dad, you know, granddad, I mean, all of what I'm doing from this radio show to writing books to preaching at conferences, camps, you mentioned, you know, Lex Luger and I do a camp called Man Camp where we empower men and send them home, hopefully with the tools to be godly men, godly husband, godly fathers, never in a gazillion years did I ever envision that I'd be doing what I'm doing, and I would summarize to say two words, but God, but God, I mean, I remember one time I ran into a fan, she was checking me in for a flight and she recognized me and recognized the name, she said, what are you doing now? And I go, well, believe it or not, I'm an evangelist and book author and this is, she paused and looked at me, Ben, and she's like, her wheels in her mind were just turning and she finally, she goes, pro wrestler evangelist, she goes, that's like two polar opposite ends of the world, I'll never forget her saying, right?
I went, yeah, and I just, I go, but God, there is a God, you know, and so, yeah, so. Well, I would say, I would say, and I think you agree with this, I think God's done this in quite a few lives of some wrestlers, I mean, I know there's probably more that need to come to Christ, but, you know, I've met several, I think I told you this when we were together a couple weeks ago that, you know, I didn't grow up watching a ton of wrestling, I had some friends that were just diehard fans, so I kind of knew some names, but more recently over the last four or five years, the Lord just put me in touch with several former well-known pro wrestlers that are, you know, that seem to love God and doing great things, and of course, we also have a former pro wrestler who's the mayor of Knoxville, who, you know, we've done several political events with, and, you know, I'm finding out how different ones were connected, and, you know, of course, I never throw out names because, you know, in the wrestling world, I never know if they were best friends or arch enemies, so you're always careful about that, but, you know, finding out some of these different people are close friends, and my secretary, she has a son who is down syndrome, and he knows every wrestler past, present, he knows them all, and so, you know, he's so passionate about that, and so I've learned more from him and from their family about wrestlers, but it seems like the Lord has saved several of them who are trying to do ministry like yourself, and I love that, and it's just a reminder, one, God's no respecter of persons, and then I always tell people, you know, maybe you don't have a family history, you know, where, you know, you're a multi-generation Christian, but you can start one, and you can pass it on to your children and your grandchildren, and, you know, somewhere in our family, somebody decided, you know, I want to be dedicated Lord, I want to dedicate my family to the Lord, and started passing on some important values, and I'm so thankful for, you know, that, and, you know, we want to continue to do that. Well, absolutely, and I just want to say this before we run out of time here, because if you're not familiar, of course, I'm speaking with Ben Graham today, and if you ever make it to Charlotte, North Carolina, listen, you'll be blown away, go by the Billy Graham Library and put that on your list, your bucket list of things to do, the Billy Graham Library. He has talked about, you know, how one man can make a decision and surrender his heart and life to the Lord, and then you may be out there as one person, thinking, I'm just one person, what difference can I make? Well, you go visit that library, and you're going to see quite quickly what a difference one man can make, and that has led to all these generations, and, of course, part of Ben Graham's family, and what a fascinating story, Ben. So, I'll remind you one more time, go to grahamfamilyfilms.com and check out all the different film projects that this man and his team put out, and then go to pastorbengram.com and pick up a copy of Ignorance and Apathy, because if you want the solutions to how to turn this nation around, he gives you those solutions, how you can be a voice as one man, one woman, one young man, one young woman, right, Ben?
Can make a difference, right? Last thoughts, Ben? Well, first of all, I throw out, go to the library, it's free, you'll enjoy it, even if you have children, they'll enjoy it. It starts with Betsy the cow talking to you, it's so much fun. But, you know, one thing that, you know, when they took Billy there the first time, they walked him through, you know, he said it's too much Billy, and they're like, well, you know, but it's about your life. But the whole point is, is he wanted to point people to Christ, and so at the end of that tour, when you go there, you, you know, I don't want to give it all away, but you sit through an invitation to Billy one more time, and a lot of lives are still being changed as a result of that.
But the point is, is, you know, you talked about even being young, you know, David was young, you look at the three Hebrew boys who were, you know, young when they stood for the Lord, you know, I think it's, it's, it really doesn't matter age, what matters is faith, and if we have faith in the Lord, you know, we can, we can make a difference, and we put our faith not only in him for salvation, but we put our faith in trusting him, when he puts us in situations we don't understand that may seem difficult, may seem hard, may seem more than we can bear. God always knows what he's doing, and I just want to say thank you for what you're doing, Nikita, I appreciate it, and I love the way you're trying to challenge and inspire, and I greatly appreciate you having me on here today. Well, and again, I appreciate you, and just taking advantage of all the gifts and talents God has given you, and the variety of ways that you're impacting God's kingdom, and one day, I'm grateful that our paths crossed just a while back, and I'm looking forward to our paths crossed, and again in the future, Ben.
Well, same here, and thank you again. Alright, Ben Graham, and thank each and every one of you, every week, you're so faithful to tune in, Q&A with Koloff, and ask your questions, and I hope you enjoyed this conversation today, and we're challenged by some of the things Ben shared today, and so my challenge on the way out is to go out today and just live a God-filled, and have a 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 koloff.net and donate today. If you are enjoying Q&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. 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. 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 wsmc1.com because you are number one.
