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.
However, he told Evangelical Focus about an encounter with a young New York pastor who came from the countryside to bring the gospel to violent youths like Cruz, a meeting which changed him forever. After Cruz initially threatened to kill the preacher, he told him: ‘You can kill me and cut me into a thousand pieces and throw them right there on the street. But every piece will cry that Jesus loves you, Nicky!’
Not long after that, Cruz gave his life to Christ at a rally in New York City, exchanging his weapon for a Bible. The 60 years or so which have followed have seen him preach the gospel around the world.
He said: ‘I thought I’d never have a chance in my life to know what love is all about.’ [But] ‘Jesus breaks the curses … I was a nobody; it was Jesus who made me a somebody.’
‘Cruz was born in Las Piedras, Puerto Rico where he was raised by his parents,’ Wikipedia states. ‘The neighbourhood in which he lived was one of the worst in Puerto Rico.’
