Nicky Cruz: Keeping on keeping on at 85

Nicky Cruz has revealed that his ongoing mission at the age of 85 is to bring people to Jesus in a world which sees many young people harmed by ‘loneliness’ and a ‘lack of ethics’.

In an interview with Evangelical Focus before he attended the ‘Fire in Your Bones’ conference in Madrid in early May, he spoke about how today’s world seems to have prompted an increasing number of young people to consider suicide as an option, as he did aged nine following a traumatic childhood, but that ‘transformation is in Christ.’

Cruz, 85, is the author of 18 Christian books, perhaps most notably including ‘Run Baby Run,’ and also featured in The Cross and the Switchblade. He grew up in a dysfunctional home, in which his father was a satanic priest and his mother was a witch and, perhaps unsurprisingly, his life spiralled out of control and featured violence and crime.