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Joyful Spirituality

025 The Nicky Cruz Interview [Podcast]

If you struggle to believe that a friend, colleague or loved one seemingly on the road to destruction can turn and change, Nicky Cruz’s story will give you a fresh infusion of hope. Reared in an abusive home, Cruz escaped to the streets, joined Brooklyn’s infamous Mau-Maus gang and rose to become one of New York’s most feared gang leaders. When a bespectacled country pastor named David Wilkerson arrived in town, Cruz was unimpressed. Wilkerson was beaten, spat on and humiliated but was able to utter three words that would forever change Nicky’s life.

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In the Interview

Q: How have you been touched by Nicky’s famous story? Tell me now

Cruz’s story has been told in three well-known books: David Wilkerson’s The Cross and the Switchblade and Nicky’s own books Run Baby Run and Soul Obsession. It’s even had a run as a Broadway musical. In this Open House interview you’ll hear Nicky share the story again, including:

  • His abusive family and his escape to the streets
  • Joining Brooklyn’s infamous Mau Mau gang and rising to become one of New York’s most feared gang leaders
  • The day a scared, young David Wilkerson walked into his life, and the abuse Nicky and his gang threw at him
  • The single sentence David spoke that changed Nicky forever

As I’ve said in the introductory paragraphs of Nicky’s chapter in Open House Volume 2, there wasn’t a dry eye between us at the end of this interview. It’s a fitting way to remember David Wilkerson also – a man who risked his very life to follow the call of God and love the most ‘unloveable’.

Episode Resources

You may find the following links and resources helpful:

  • Book: [amazon_link id=”0882706306″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Run Baby Run[/amazon_link] by Nicky Cruz
  • Book: [amazon_link id=”1578568935″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Soul Obsession[/amazon_link] by Nicky Cruz
  • Book: [amazon_link id=”0515090255″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]The Cross and the Switchblade[/amazon_link] by David Wilkerson

Announcements

  1. BookDepository has a brilliant deal on my book Resurrection Year including free postage worldwide. Wouldn’t it make a great Christmas gift for someone in need of a new start? 🙂

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Q: Have you read The Cross and the Switchblade, or Nicky Cruz’s book Run Baby Run? How have you been touched by his story? Tell me now

December 11, 2013
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Comments:

  • April 29, 2011
    davemiers

    i read cross and switchblade as a 9 year old. can’t remember all the details, but can remember being amazed by the work of God done in and through wilkerson. praise God for a life not wasted.

    reply
  • April 29, 2011
    Tony

    At age 14, The Cross and the Switchblade was the first Christian book I had read after becoming a Christian from one of my sisters who had been contacted via a Teen Challenge coffee shop. Run Baby Run was a close 2nd (apart from a small pocket Gideon Bible). These books both had a lasting impact were pivotal in reaching me for Jesus. 46 years later I’m now embarking on a full-time ministry as an Internet Evangelist.

    reply
    • April 29, 2011
      Sheridan Voysey

      I remember watching a video of the movie not long after I became a Christian, only to have the cassette run out of tape right at the point where Eric Estrada (Nicky Cruz) was about to repent! I was still profoundly moved. What a bold example Wilkerson has been.

      Sounds like some exciting days ahead for you too, Tony. God bless.

      reply
  • May 2, 2011
    Sheridan Voysey

    Reading The Cross and the Switchblade was a major jolt for me and strongly combatted the prevailing idea in my mind (encouraged, no doubt, by the somewhat conservative church I was attending) that God could never use Pentecostals. Wilkerson showed beyond ANY doubt that God could and did use Pentecostals, together with other denominations, to get his message through.

    When the film The Ten Commandments came out, a poster in cinema foyers proclaimed “You’ve seen the film. Now read The Book.” The same thing for me after watching Pat Boone portraying David Wilkerson.

    reply
  • May 2, 2011
    TV

    Reading The Cross and the Switchblade was a major jolt for me and strongly combatted the prevailing idea in my mind (encouraged, no doubt, by the somewhat conservative church I was attending) that God could never use Pentecostals. Wilkerson showed beyond ANY doubt that God could and did use Pentecostals, together with other denominations, to get his message through.

    When the film The Ten Commandments came out, a poster in cinema foyers proclaimed “You’ve seen the film. Now read The Book.” The same thing for me after watching Pat Boone portraying David Wilkerson.

    reply
  • June 8, 2011
    Peter_g

    I read both books in the early 1970s, as well as several other books by Wilkerson. I had been converted in the city at the age of 16, and received a call into ministry just under two years later while walking through Sydney on my way to work.

    “The Cross and the Switchblade” challenged my thought that God might be calling me into a suburban church somewhere, and showed me the needs of the city. It took me a long time to obey that call, but I now have over 27 years of city fringe ministry behind me.

    The book also challenged me in another way. Its unashamed Pentecostal stance forced me to question views and attitudes in my own church and, although I remained a Baptist, it was a significant factor in helping me shake off the shackles of a moribund fundamentalism and to accept the importance of the charismatic element in Christian faith.

    reply
  • July 1, 2011
    Rob R

    A good and wise friend bought these books for me when I was a very confused young man.  I’m probably still confused, and am certainly not young anymore.  But the simple message of God’s love, sacrifice and hope for all of us, but for also especially for me, brought me to a strong and unshakable faith.  I have met Nicky, during a speaking tour in the UK years ago.

    reply
    • July 3, 2011
      Sheridan Voysey

      Isn’t it funny how we can still feel some confusion, yet have an ‘unshakable faith’? Thanks for sharing, Rob.

      reply
    • February 28, 2017
      Brian Haslam

      so by gods faith, love and sacrifice to all of us does that include the millions that starve?

      reply
  • June 4, 2013
    Nic

    The cross and the switchblade is a real good book and i would recommend it for all teens.
    Nic

    reply
  • January 9, 2014
    Pelasio

    I was heading out the door to check out my friends waiting for me on the streets and somehow, someone switched the channel to TBN and on the screen was this movie on Nicki Cruz. I don’t know what happened, but I slumped on the couch and just watched …I can’t believe I sat right through the movie…Here I am in the office, going through Nicki Cruz on google and Voila I stumbled upon this…I just fell in love with Nicki…wish I could be like him!….

    reply
  • April 22, 2015
    Roland Lalonde

    I Was At My Home Church And Saw The Movie The Cross And The Swichblade. It showed me who I was like Nickey I grow up in the projects and was a gang leader. But the lord got a hold of me in a prision cell so god can change a life and heart.

    reply

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