Nicky Cruz: From Murderous Rage to Life-Giving Grace
Nicky Cruz: From Murderous Rage to Life-Giving Grace
[Originally published June 30, 2026]
Nicky Cruz (6 December 1938-present) was born in the mountains of Las Piedras, south of San Juan, Puerto Rico, to poor parents who practiced witchcraft. One of eighteen children, he grew up watching seances, satanic rituals of sorcery and voodoo, and horrible atrocities every night. His mother called him "Son of Satan" and his parents abused him physically and mentally, often forcing him to participate in their despicable practices. Nicky's heart rebelled at an early age, and an angry resentment, and then an overwhelming hate, began to grow inside. His teen years were full of rage.
In Puerto Rico at the time, it was customary for parents to send their children to the United States when they became old enough to find work and provide for themselves. At the age of fifteen, Nicky's father sent him to live with an older brother in New York City. Nicky was hardhearted and sullen, toughened by his years of tortured experience. He loathed the world and all of the people in it, he said in later years.
Soon, Nicky ran away and took to the streets. He joined a notorious gang, known for its lawlessness, called the MauMaus. Within six months, Nicky had become its fearless Warlord with a reputation for a volatile temper, ruling Fort Greene in Brooklyn through violence and intimidation. Even after being arrested many times and watching his best friend die in his arms, Nicky was seen as a hopeless case.
One day in 1958, when Nicky was twenty years old, a new preacher from Pennsylvania came to New York City for an evangelistic outreach to gangs and the lost youth who lived on the streets. His name was David Wilkerson. Viewing him as a threat to the MauMaus, and wanting to humiliate Wilkerson, Nicky and his gang showed up at the place where Wilkerson was preaching. They heckled, jeered, and broke up the meeting with their disrespectful behavior. Wilkerson confronted Nicky, telling him that Jesus loved him. Nicky refused to listen. He spit on the preacher and beat him up.
Pastor Wilkerson did not give up on Nicky. Instead, he showed him relentless love and forgiveness. He kept telling him how much God loved him. Several months later, Wilkerson scheduled a meeting at a boxing arena near Nicky's neighborhood. The MauMaus boarded the bus sent especially by Wilkerson and traveled to where the meeting was being held. According to Cruz, when he arrived at the arena, he "felt guilty about the things he had done" and began to pray in his heart. Later in the evening, after preaching the Gospel, Wilkerson gave an altar call and a large number of gang members responded. Wilkerson prayed with Cruz personally, and was with him when Nicky asked God to forgive him and save his soul. Nicky was miraculously changed from the inside out!
Afterward, Cruz and some of the newly-converted gang members went to the police station and turned in all of their bricks, hand guns, and knives, shocking the officers in the station. The police stated that if they had seen the group approaching, they probably would have shot them down.
Cruz began to study the Bible and attended the Latin American Bible School (now the Latin American Theological Seminary) in La Puente, California, from 1959 to 1962, where he met his wife, Gloria. He became a preacher himself and returned to his old New York City neighborhood, where he preached and witnessed the conversions of more of the Mau Maus to Christ, including the gang's new leader, Israel Narvaez.
Since that time, for nearly seventy years, Nicky has been traveling the world, preaching the Gospel of Jesus to millions of at-risk young people and reaching many others through his books. He worked with Wilkerson for many years in Teen Challenge, helping urban youth to find Christ, and then started Nicky Cruz Outreach in 1976 to help troubled teens internationally. He has preached in more than forty countries, in prisons, inner cities, and stadiums. Nicky says the thing that means the most to him is when he shared the love of Jesus and his own forgiveness with his parents and brother. And they came to Christ!
Cruz is now eighty-seven years young, the father of four daughters, and he and Gloria have seven grandchildren. He is still strong in his faith and witnesses every day to the powerful, life-giving grace of Jesus Christ that transformed his life completely. The day he gave his fear and hate and anger to God, he became a new person inside. This month, we celebrate with deep gratitude the victorious life in Christ which is freely offered to everyone who believes on His name.
Karen O'Dell Bullock
In Puerto Rico at the time, it was customary for parents to send their children to the United States when they became old enough to find work and provide for themselves. At the age of fifteen, Nicky's father sent him to live with an older brother in New York City. Nicky was hardhearted and sullen, toughened by his years of tortured experience. He loathed the world and all of the people in it, he said in later years.
Soon, Nicky ran away and took to the streets. He joined a notorious gang, known for its lawlessness, called the MauMaus. Within six months, Nicky had become its fearless Warlord with a reputation for a volatile temper, ruling Fort Greene in Brooklyn through violence and intimidation. Even after being arrested many times and watching his best friend die in his arms, Nicky was seen as a hopeless case.
One day in 1958, when Nicky was twenty years old, a new preacher from Pennsylvania came to New York City for an evangelistic outreach to gangs and the lost youth who lived on the streets. His name was David Wilkerson. Viewing him as a threat to the MauMaus, and wanting to humiliate Wilkerson, Nicky and his gang showed up at the place where Wilkerson was preaching. They heckled, jeered, and broke up the meeting with their disrespectful behavior. Wilkerson confronted Nicky, telling him that Jesus loved him. Nicky refused to listen. He spit on the preacher and beat him up.
Pastor Wilkerson did not give up on Nicky. Instead, he showed him relentless love and forgiveness. He kept telling him how much God loved him. Several months later, Wilkerson scheduled a meeting at a boxing arena near Nicky's neighborhood. The MauMaus boarded the bus sent especially by Wilkerson and traveled to where the meeting was being held. According to Cruz, when he arrived at the arena, he "felt guilty about the things he had done" and began to pray in his heart. Later in the evening, after preaching the Gospel, Wilkerson gave an altar call and a large number of gang members responded. Wilkerson prayed with Cruz personally, and was with him when Nicky asked God to forgive him and save his soul. Nicky was miraculously changed from the inside out!
Afterward, Cruz and some of the newly-converted gang members went to the police station and turned in all of their bricks, hand guns, and knives, shocking the officers in the station. The police stated that if they had seen the group approaching, they probably would have shot them down.
Cruz began to study the Bible and attended the Latin American Bible School (now the Latin American Theological Seminary) in La Puente, California, from 1959 to 1962, where he met his wife, Gloria. He became a preacher himself and returned to his old New York City neighborhood, where he preached and witnessed the conversions of more of the Mau Maus to Christ, including the gang's new leader, Israel Narvaez.
Since that time, for nearly seventy years, Nicky has been traveling the world, preaching the Gospel of Jesus to millions of at-risk young people and reaching many others through his books. He worked with Wilkerson for many years in Teen Challenge, helping urban youth to find Christ, and then started Nicky Cruz Outreach in 1976 to help troubled teens internationally. He has preached in more than forty countries, in prisons, inner cities, and stadiums. Nicky says the thing that means the most to him is when he shared the love of Jesus and his own forgiveness with his parents and brother. And they came to Christ!
Cruz is now eighty-seven years young, the father of four daughters, and he and Gloria have seven grandchildren. He is still strong in his faith and witnesses every day to the powerful, life-giving grace of Jesus Christ that transformed his life completely. The day he gave his fear and hate and anger to God, he became a new person inside. This month, we celebrate with deep gratitude the victorious life in Christ which is freely offered to everyone who believes on His name.
Karen O'Dell Bullock
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