My Name Is Nicky Cruz

My name is Nicky Cruz. I was born into a family bound by witchcraft. My father was a satanic priest, my mother was a witch. My parents were deeply immersed in shamanism and black magic.
When I was born, I was raised and dedicated to Satan, my head was anointed with blood. I inherited my father's mantle, so it became a curse on my life.

When I was a child, I never got a single kiss from my mother, nor did I kiss her. I felt like I died when I was eight years old when i heard my mother say she didn't love me. I felt no affection and I got brutally beat up multiple times until I was eight. Many times I lay unconscious in a pool of blood. At the age of 4, I wanted to kill myself. You know when your mom calls you "freak", "bastard" it really hurts. I eventually realized she didn't love me and I hated her because of it. I screamed with a broken heart that I would rather be called a "nothing" than to be called her son. The last time she slapped me I was 8 years old, I swore I would never love anyone and cry again in my life.

At the age of fifteen I ended up in New York in the Mau Mau gang named after a blood thirsty African tribe. The gang became my "family" that I never had. A family of hooligans who draw their strength from each other and look out for each other. New York is a city where you have to have eyes in your neck. It was all about survival. You had to abide by the laws of the jungle. And the beast doesn't know the difference between good and evil. The beast must be killed to survive.

I could always remember my mother's voice grabbing my hair and smashing my head against the wall so blood would flow. I tried to look into her eyes like fireballs to see something human but all I saw was coldness and hate. And I heard "You're not my son, I don't love you! Get out of my life, I don't want to see you!". Being in that gang I knew I was gonna die young, but in my life I was already dead. I died when I was eight years old when my mother said she didn't love me.

At 16, I led that gang myself in New York. I fell into the depths of hell, thought about suicide many times.
When the police arrested me, I was isolated from all the other prisoners because I was dangerous. The court ordered me to see a psychiatrist.

Finally, I met Dr. Goodman. He took me to one of the worst hospitals ever, a very famous hospital for crazy people. Then he took me to another psychiatric clinic in Manhattan. Six months later, when we were walking with him on the street, he directly told me, "You're just cold! I tried to infiltrate you, punch you in the chest to get some kind of emotional response. But you're completely lifeless, you're very dangerous!”. And he said, “There ain’t nothing I can do for you Nicky! You go straight to jail to the electric chair. F*** you! And there is no hope for you. You are dead!”

But by the grace of God these words did not come to pass. God became my last hope and in my misery He found me.

I never thought about God in my childhood until suddenly this man, Pastor Wilkerson, fell down from heaven into our neighborhood. The police warned him: "They are going to kill you. This jungle, this a battlefield. All we gotta do is come get your body."

Wilkerson answered them with great conviction: "God will be with me."

The police said, "We hope He's going with you because we're not going!"

This man was used by God. When I showed no interest in anyone, God showed interest in me. He put great love in this man's heart and brought him to New York's biggest city with a message of hope.

Just two weeks before this, my psychiatrist said: “Nicky, you’re stepping on the electric chair and you’re going to hell". But Wilkerson said “No he’s not! It's heaven, it's God. It's Jesus Christ who died for your sins, who gave His life for you, just like you're willing to give your life for your friends, gang members, boyfriends and girlfriends.
There is a God who is truly the living God His name we remember. But when one of you dies, no one remembers you, you're not there anymore. But Jesus is always there. He is not dying!"
And this is the most important news David Wilkerson has ever given me.

And I approached him and started hitting him. I would not let him go. He couldn't get rid of me that easy. I cursed him, his God, and everything in this world. Like a wild animal, I jumped on him, grabbed his hair and began banging his head against the wall. Just like my mother did to me.

But this guy, ignoring the pain and blood, said in the middle of the street, in the presence of three hundred witnesses, "Nicky, I'm not scared. I came here to give you the news from heaven. I came to tell you Nicky, that Jesus loves you!"

And when he told me that, I withdrew. I've got my eyes on him. And he said, "If you want, you can kill me. And I know you can. But even if you kill me and cut me into a thousand pieces and scatter them across the street, remember: every piece will scream to you: "Nicky, Jesus loves you!"

This hit me hard. It felt like a stroke in the heart.

Two weeks later I went to listen to this man. I didn't go alone, I brought 70 guys as security to listen to this skinny guy. To my great surprise, two thousand people were already there. Twelve gangs. We came prepared. I came in with a loaded 22 caliber pistol.

And that night I listened for seven minutes, even though I was so restless, high off drugs. Wilkerson told why Jesus came to earth. What really moved me was the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The first few minutes seemed boring to me. Seven minutes later, something happened to me that night. I saw Jesus Christ crucified before my eyes, so alive that I thought I was there, and saw Him die. And this has touched me deeply.

I was struck by the perseverance of Jesus. Loyalty to friendship. He, Jesus, friend, the best friend you could ever have. He is not a lying politician who promises a lot and fails to deliver. He promises you eternal life. He promised to die for you and He fulfilled it. And I admire a Jesus like that. It was the first time in my life I felt respect for someone. And this honor brought me to kneel before my Saviour Jesus Christ. Glory be to Jesus!

Today, Nicky Cruz travels the world, ministering and preaching the gospel. The former callous "beast" teaches people about forgiveness and love. He is the founder of the Ministry of Nicky Cruz which helps young people leave a life of crime and turn to Christ and serve Him. Pastor Cruz is also the author of many books, including a bestseller, Run, Baby Run. David Wilkerson was an Assemblies of God minister and the founder of Teen Challenge (now Adult & Teen Challenge) -- the most successful addiction and other life controlling issues rehab program there is. Wilkerson's book, The Cross and the Switchblade, can also be found wherever books are sold.

This article is sourced from social media.

Why Global Missions?

Missions are founded on the
Great Commission, which are the words of the Lord Jesus Christ himself: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:18–20).

At its heart, missions is the sending of persons from an existing congregation to address people of other cultures and places beyond the usual influence of the sending church. The central purpose of the effort is to bring people to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and help them to fervently and completely follow Him.

George Peters gives the following extensive definition of missions:

"Missions is a specialized term. By it I mean the sending forth of authorized persons beyond the borders of the New Testament church and her immediate gospel influence to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ in gospel-destitute areas, to win converts from other faiths or non-faiths to Jesus Christ, and to establish functioning, multiplying local congregations who will bear the fruit of Christianity in that community and to that country."

From the Fall of Man until now, God has been on a divine plan and mission to reconcile humankind back into an intimate relationship with Himself that they may live in His presence now and forevermore. Jesus Christ as the Messiah is the crux of that divine plan and mission.

Galatians 4:4–5 says, “When the [appointed]
time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons [of God]."

John 3:16–17 gives us this: “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only [divinely begotten] Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.”

From these and other passages we note that God initiated the process (plan) by sending (mission) His Son, Jesus, with the purpose of redeeming lost humankind back into an intimate relationship with Himself that they may live in His presence now and forevermore. Jesus is the original missionary and the crux of missions.

This brings us back to the Great Commission. Jesus now sends His followers to continue God's divine plan and Jesus' divine mission of reconciling humankind back into a relationship with Himself that they may live in His presence now and forever.

“Jesus said, ‘Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.’ And with that he breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.” (John 20:21–23).

How do we continue God's divine plan and Jesus' divine mission? By taking the Good News about Jesus Christ into all the world. Again, the Great Commission is the key command or commission for this concept of missions.

The central purpose of the Great Commission and missions is to win people to Christ and to help disciple them to do the same. The final goal is to get as many as possible from every nation, tribe, and tongue to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.

John saw the realization of this final goal in his vision recorded in the book of Revelation in 7:9, "After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and tongue, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes...".

Missions is the gathering of those nations, tribes, and tongues. Jesus said, "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8).

Interpreting Jesus' words gives us the principle that mission activity can be anywhere. In
Jesus' words being applied, your Jerusalem is your local community, your Judea is your region, your Samaria is another region of your nation, and the ends of the earth is any other nation. Missions may be among Buddhists in Thailand or Somalis in Minneapolis. In today’s globalized and interconnected world, missions are easier than ever and there is no reason to not be involved in missions.

What can you do for missions?

While not everybody is called to move to the other side of the world on a mission, everybody is called to play a part in God's divine plan and mission. That can mean to do any number of the following:

• Pray
•  Mobilize
•  Give
•  Send 
• Go

Each follower of Jesus Christ should pray and discern what all God is calling him or her to do for God's divine plan and mission. Jesus commanded and commissioned us to do so and the heart of love and servanthood that His presence gives us compels us to do so.

Besides the Great Commission and other commands of Jesus, the burden of missions is far less than the guilt of having neglected others who are lost. This is illustrated in Ezekiel:

Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me. When I say to the wicked, “O wicked man, you will surely die,” and you do not speak out to dissuade him from his ways, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood. (Ezekiel 33:7–8).

From this passage, we see that God calls His servants to reach lost and wayward people with God's message. Jesus commanded us to do so in the Great Comission. To not do so is to disobey and be held responsible for that disobedience. This and the things we did in fact obediently do for Christ is what we will answer for at the Judgement Seat of Christ (2 Cor 5:10). But the presence of God in our hearts moves us to obey, because through the filling of the Holy Spirit, we have love for God and love for others (Mk 12:29-31). Indeed, Jesus as God in the flesh said, "If you love me, you will obey my commandments" (Jn 14:15).

In summary, Jesus gave us a command of global missions through the Great Commission and if you love Jesus and the billions of lost and wayward souls on this earth, then it's time to get serious about missions.

 

The Significance of Acts 2:16-21 in 2024

"This is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: “‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’" --Acts 2:16-21

Since the prophecy of Joel 2:28-32 was interpreted by Peter on the Day of Pentecost to mean they were now in the “last days,” how much more is the Lord’s Second Coming at hand 2,000 years later! Indeed, the day is far spent, and night is near. This calls for world evangelization; the gospel must be preached to every creature. Go forth into all the world and speak up with the message of repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, saints; there's little time and many lives at stake!

Furthermore, in April, we have a reminder of these things when the total solar eclipse occurs. There is much significance to this eclipse on several levels. It is not just a fun spectacle; it is a serious sign in the heavens from the Creator of the heavens and earth. He has aligned it all perfectly since creation. The times always align with the heavens. They did for Nineveh in the time of the prophet Jonah and they did for the birth of Jesus and you can find that they did all throughout history. The immediate sign of this eclipse is a warning of judgement on America if we do not repent and change our ways. But the wider sign to all the world is as a reminder of the imminience of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

To the saints, it's time to live with purpose and share the message of repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus' last words were a command to do so. Encourage one another to live accordingly. Let Jesus find us living in obedience, full of the Holy Spirit, and proclaiming the Good News of repentance and faith in Him when He returns.

To all people, saint and otherwise, let's repent and change our complacency, sin, and sinful lifestyles and put our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ!

Love, Power & Truth

The following is a testimony by Steve Harmon.

Two years ago I met a Satanist on Haight/Ashbury in San Francisco where the start of the hippy movement began. God taught me a lot in that experience about how people get set free. It basically works with three components, and it was these three components that Jesus used in His ministry.

So this guy asked me for a cigarette and I told him I don’t smoke. I began a conversation with him. He told me he was an Iraq war vet, in the marines. He’s homeless and apart of the “Occupy Oakland” movement. We talked for about 20 minutes then he told me that he had a torn rotator cuff that needs surgery. I asked him if I could pray for it to make it well. He said, “No, no…I’m a Satanist bro”. He proceeded to tell me all of his beliefs about God and the world. I just listened to him. I then said, “I’m not like other Christians you’ve met. I love people and I see value in you. There’s love in you. There’s a big heart that has been covered and people don’t see it, but I see it.”

He then told me that he has two daughters living in Oakland and that last week he celebrated his 12 year old daughter’s birthday. He gave her a birthday cake which was “hash brownies” (Marijuana laced brownies). She got so excited and was jumping up and down saying  “You’re the best dad in the whole world!”, and he said he started crying when she said that. I actually started crying myself just because the situation was so messed up, but in that, his daughter showed him a form of love and it moved him so much. Up to this point, I just wanted to hold this big guy because he was starving for love.

He told me that he nearly beat a man to death for raping his daughter’s friend. He served 5 years in prison for it. He was pouring out his life to me. I asked him again if I could pray for his shoulder and at this point, he felt more comfortable with me and he said, “Sure”. So I laid my hands on his shoulder under the signal light on the corner and started to command the infirmity to leave. I prophesied as well, then I told him to check out his shoulder. When he moved it, the pain started leaving. I prayed again and it was completely gone. He was swinging his arm and couldn’t get it to hurt. He was shocked because he also had been a shaman and he would heal people, but could never be healed himself.

From this point, I just laid into him the good news of Jesus in a way he had never heard. He was no longer objecting to it. I told him “God has a plan for your life.” He started crying  because his mom used to tell him that when he was once a pastor! His mom told him recently that all the seeds he sowed into people’s lives, (ten or fifteen of them) had gotten off drugs and were walking with God now. He cried telling me all that and said, “Now look at me. I’m homeless and an alcoholic?”

I told Him, “The Lord is still saying ‘yes’ to you,” then I asked if I could pray the Holy Spirit on him. He said “yes”.

I told him, “When I touch you, you’re gonna feel something that cannot be compared to any other drug you’ve had.” I put my hands on him and prayed for fire and love. His eyes were closed and tears were coming down his face.

After I was done, he opened his eyes and said, “That was intense!” We talked more and I just kept pouring the love of God into him. After I was done, God told me to tell him that tonight Jesus was going to visit him in a dream. He said, “Okay!” He told me that 16 years ago was the last time he felt God. I told him “16 years from that day God came and touched you again because He loves you”.

On the corner where rebellion against the establishment was birthed in the 60′s, God showed up in love and in power to tell a prodigal son to come home.

I didn’t engage with him and argue all of his outlandish ideas about Jesus and the Father. I ignored it, changed the subject, and told him about the love that I saw in his heart. I kept hitting that point until he finally softened. He was changed from a hardened Satanist into a sensitive puppy dog. Here’s how it worked:

Love brings down the walls. Power brings validity to truth. Truth sets the person free. When I first met the guy and he found out I was a Christian, he immediately put up a wall to me. My goal was to get the truth into him, but I couldn’t because of that wall. So what did I need?

Love.

Love brings down the walls. It makes the person realize you’re not a threat. Once the wall was down, he let me in and then I could display God’s power through the healing. Once the power was shown to him, when I spoke truth, he was more open to believe it because the miracle testified of the truth. Many people have walls up and it’s because they’ve been hurt. Trying to display God’s power and speaking truth to them can be difficult. Love should be the thing that begins every encounter.

For some people, you’ll have to display love to them for a very long time before you’ll have a chance to display God’s power or speak truth to them. This is because their walls won’t come down easily and until the wall is down and they feel safe with you—there’s no way they will receive the truth. At the same time, you can’t only work in love and expect that everyone will change. Mother Teresa did a lot of loving throughout her life and yet thousands died in her loving arms, scared, depressed and fearful. When love and truth is shown without the power, you can have a person who believes in the existence of a supernatural God, but they have very shallow faith that is shaky and can waver.

The moral of the story is: you need all three.