Nicky Cruz in Latvia 02-04.05

From 2 to 4 May, the world-famous evangelist Nicky Cruz will visit Latvia. Worship services with his participation will take place for three days at the Christian centre “Laba Vests”, Unijas iela 99: on 2 May at 19:00, and on 3 and 4 May at 17:00.



Cruz comes from Puerto Rico and grew up in a family where his parents were involved in various occult practices. He lived in one of the worst, most criminal districts of Puerto Rico and was always getting into trouble. Later he became the leader of a gang in New York, where at the same time evangelist David Wilkerson had recently begun his work; through Wilkerson’s ministry Nicky Cruz came to God.

Nicky Cruz is the author of several Christian books and has been director of the organisation Teen Challenge. A film has also been made about his life, “The Cross and the Switchblade”.



Nicky was born on 6 December 1938 in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in a family of 18 children. His parents practised black magic and were involved in shamanism and witchcraft. “My father was a very high-ranking priest of a satanic cult, my mother a witch. Sorcerers often visited our home and in their rituals asked Satan to be their god and perform miracles, which he did. My father’s motionless body sometimes lay on the couch for several days while his soul wandered outside the body. A heavy curse lay over my life from childhood,” Nicky recalls.

“My parents treated me very violently, both physically and emotionally. When your mother constantly calls you stupid, awkward and crippled, it hurts deeply. I hated my mother. I would rather have been called a foundling than her son. At the age of eight my mother beat me so badly that I lost consciousness. She pulled me by the hair and smashed my head against the wall. I tried to look into her eyes to find something human there, but saw only hatred. Then I swore that I would never love anyone in my life and would never cry.”

At fifteen his father sent Nicky to New York, where his older brother Frank was already living. But Nicky chose life on the street. “What can be expected from someone who has no family? On the street there was another family - a family of the rejected and humiliated who cared for one another. New York is a city where you need eyes in the back of your head. It is a jungle, and by the laws of the jungle I had to behave like a predatory animal. An animal does not know the difference between good and evil; it must kill to survive. I remembered my mother’s voice when she told me: ‘You are not my son, I do not love you, get out of my life!’ But here was a gang that offered the exact opposite - family, safety and strength. And in this family, believe it or not, there was a very strict code of ethics, sometimes even stricter than among Christians. They sincerely believed that however hostile the surrounding environment was, gang members would care for one another. Of course, it was a savage family, but even there there was a kind of understanding of love.”

After half a year Nicky became the gang leader. Under his leadership the Mau Maus gained the reputation of being the most brutal gang in New York. Even the police feared them. One of the gang’s favourite activities was to drive knives under a person’s shoulder blades and watch him slowly die in great agony. “We committed countless crimes. I remember watching my victim from the roof of a house. The person, suspecting nothing, walked down the street. From the roof you aim at his head, then pull the trigger and watch him fall. Then you shoot again to make sure the victim is truly dead. Hatred toward other gangs was so great that at night one could go to the morgue, steal the body of someone killed, cut it into pieces and scatter it on the street. The gang did not usually attack innocent people, but once the guys were very drunk and went out ‘fox hunting’. We called girls ‘foxes’. It was very dark; they saw a woman, threw a blanket over her head and hit her so that she lost consciousness. Then they dragged the victim onto the roof and raped her one after another. At the end one of the guys wanted to see what the woman looked like. It turned out to be his mother. He committed suicide by jumping from the roof. These are terrible things that cannot be forgotten.”

Nicky’s grim fame grew, but despair ruled in his soul. At night he was tormented by nightmares. “I had reached the very depths of hell. I constantly thought about suicide. When the police detained me, I was isolated from other prisoners because I was extremely dangerous. The court sent me to a psychiatrist. That is how I met Dr Goodman. He took me to Bellevue psychiatric hospital, where I was examined for 24 hours. There I saw teenagers who had completely lost their minds. I was also in the Manhattan psychiatric clinic. After six months the doctor told me: ‘You are very dangerous. I tried to reach your soul, but you are completely insensitive. I can do nothing for you. You are on the way to prison, the electric chair and hell!’”

But shortly after that Nicky met the young pastor David Wilkerson, who had come to New York to serve street children and teenagers. “I had never been interested in God and felt no respect for Him. Then suddenly this guy appeared. Police officers warned that he could be killed, but Wilkerson replied: ‘God will be with me!’ At a time when I felt needed by no one, God sent a person who came with a message of hope. Two weeks earlier the psychiatrist had told me I was going to hell, but Wilkerson said: ‘No, that is not true! There is heaven, there is God, there is Jesus Christ who died for your sins!’ I attacked him, beat him, spat in his face and cursed him with the most terrible words. But Wilkerson, paying no attention to the pain, said in a broken voice: ‘Nicky, I am afraid, but I have come here to give you a message from heaven. I have come to tell you that Jesus loves you!’ I let him go, but he continued: ‘If you want, you can kill me, cut me into a thousand little pieces and scatter them on the street, but remember - every one of those pieces will cry out: Nicky, Jesus loves you!’ These words were like a blow between the eyes; they shook me.”

Two weeks later Wilkerson held an evangelistic service and invited several local gangs. Nicky wanted to use the event to show the persistent preacher his real place. “I did not go there alone, but took 70 guys with me. There were 2000 people in the hall, including 12 gangs. We came prepared, with weapons. I was very tense and also under the influence of drugs. But within seven minutes something happened to me. Wilkerson preached about why God came to this earth. The words about Christ’s death on the cross especially spoke to me. For the first five minutes I did not understand much, but in the last two minutes the image of the cross stood before my eyes so clearly as if I myself had been there. What surprised me most was Christ’s faithfulness. Everything Jesus promised was fulfilled. Jesus promised to die for me, and He did it. For the first time in my life I felt respect for someone, and that brought me to my knees before the Saviour.”

The next day Nicky and several other gang members went to the police to surrender their clubs, daggers and firearms. Soon afterwards he began studies at a Bible school to become a preacher. Returning to New York, Nicky went again to Brooklyn, where he preached the message of Jesus Christ to the members of his former gang. As a result, several more Mau Maus members gave their hearts to Christ, including the new gang leader Israel Chavez. Nicky’s parents also experienced salvation and deliverance.

Today Nicky Cruz serves in the evangelistic organisation Nicky Cruz Outreach, which works with difficult teenagers in the USA, Latin America and Europe. He has also founded several rehabilitation centres for drug addicts and the international Christian ministry mission Truce. The Wall Street Journal called Nicky “the street Billy Graham”. Nicky Cruz is the author of many popular books. His biographical book “Run, Baby, Run” has been translated into more than 40 languages, including Latvian. Every year Nicky preaches to more than half a million people around the world.