Probably around 37 years ago, I read a book written by a man named Nicky Cruz. I had not read 'The Cross and the Switchblade' until recently, and now I have a better appreciation for both Nicky Cruz and David Wilkerson.
David Wilkerson was a country preacher in Pennsylvania, during the mid 1900s. Without telling all the wonderful ways God worked in this particular part of his ministry, I will comment on a few.
While looking at a Time-Life magazine, during the mid 1950's, David Wilkerson was drawn to an article about 7 gangsters from New York City, who brutally murdered Michael Farmer, a crippled boy with polio. David has an impression from God that seemed way out to him, but he followed the impression which led him on a search in NYC to find these 7 boys.
At first, he has nothing to go on, but his burden to find them. He goes to NYC and sits in on a court session that happened to have 2 extra seats, in which David, and his companion Miles, sat in. After that, David persisted in asking the authorities for information concerning finding the names of these boys, to which the authorities eventually became suspicious and David got in trouble with the law on account of his persistence. While he was tricked into holding up his Bible in the air, the camera men got a picture of him which went to the press immediately, which in turn, ended up on the front cover of newspapers throughout that whole section of the country! David was discouraged beyond comprehension, and went back home believing he really didn't hear from God. But what David didn't realize was that God was going to use that embarrassing, humiliating situation to bring him into a special type of ability to be able to reach these gangsters in NYC.
After going back to PA, with his tail between his legs (so to speak), David apologized to his congregation for what he had done, and for the humiliation he would have caused his church to experience, but, David could not get away from this burden that God placed upon his heart. Instead of his congregation being angry with him, they actually collected money again for him to return to NYC. David and Miles returned to NYC and again started their search for the 7 gangsters who brutally killed a crippled boy with polio.
When David arrived back in NYC, he searched for the gangsters by trying to find out what their names were. He found the name of the main one, which was luis Alvarez. As he talked with gangsters, they began to recognize David. The gangsters would stare at him and call his name. 'Davey' they would say, as they fondly nicknamed him. He began to recognize this name now. The gangsters would tell 'Davey' "You are the preacher that got in trouble with the police" "You are like us" They found Davey comforting, as they knew he was in trouble with the law, just like they were. They recognized him from the pictures in the newspaper headlines.
David was told he would need the signatures of the parents of all seven boys in order to have an audience with them. How likely would he be to find all the names of the boys, and the addresses of the homes they came from, in NYC? He went through the phone book to find the parents of Luis Alvarez. There were at least 200 Alvarez names in the phone book, and after calling 40 of them, without a good response, he gave up calling numbers with that name.
They took the car and went around Time Square and were going around in circles. They got off on a side road in order to get out of traffic, and ended up in an area known as the 'Spanish Harlem'. He found a place to park and got out of the car. He came across a group of kids and asked them if they knew where Luis Alvarez lived. No one answered. After a long pause, he walked away. Then one of the kids came running up to him and asked David some questions. "You looking for Luis Alvarez?" "Is that your car?" David was getting irritated at trying to figure out what the boy was asking for. After answering the boy's question about the car, David heard the most awesome answer he could have ever heard. The boy told him that David had parked right in front of Luis Alvarez' house!
After meeting Luis Alvarez' parents (who were trusting God to send someone to their son) and getting their signatures, David asked if Luis' father knew the names of the 6 other boys, to which Luis' father said that he didn't. One out of 7 signatures is better than none, especially since God arranged this meeting, but how would he get the other 6 parental signatures that were required for him to meet with this group of murderous gangsters?
On his way out, another young man was running up to his apartment. David called out to him, but he just kept on running. But then he stopped and took a look at David, and recognized him as the preacher who was in trouble with the law due to his desire to meet the gangsters who killed the Farmer boy. He and David communicated now, and David asked this young man if he knew the names and addresses of the other 6 boys who murdered Michael Farmer, to which the young man replied that he did. Not only did this young man give David the names of the murderers, but he directed them to their homes and David was able to get all the parental signatures he needed in order to meet with the 7 boys who murdered the crippled boy with polio!
Here is an excerpt of a conversation David had with a man named Nicky Cruz. Nicky Cruz was not one of the 7 boys who killed Michael Farmer, but this young man was as far away from God as anyone could be. When David was introduced to Nicky Cruz, Nicky didn't want to have anything to do with David. Here is how their first conversation went:
David Wilkerson: How do you do, Nicky?
Nicky Cruz: Go to hell preacher.
David Wilkerson: You don't think much of me, Nicky, but I feel differently about you. I love you, Nicky.
Nicky Cruz: You come near me preacher, I'll kill you.
David Wilkerson: You could do that. You could cut me in 1,000 pieces
and lay them in the street, and every piece would say, 'I love you'.
Nicky Cruz's story is in the book, 'Run Baby Run'.
I do not want to spill the beans, but I do want to tell you that Nicky Cruz came from a family of 19 children. The family was from Puerto Rico, and their home was not made of a loving family. His family practiced witchcraft and they were Godless people. Nicky learned violence at an early age, and was left to himself and to defend himself in NYC as a boy. But what happened in his life can only be credited to God, and you can read some of his story in 'The Cross and the Switchblade', but his story is in the book, 'Run, Baby, Run'. God had mercy on Nicky and he became a new creature in Christ. God used a man named David Wilkerson to minster God's love to him, and Nicky 'got' the Gospel.
Watch this video:
Nicky Cruz on Youtube
Here's his testimony: Nicky Cruz Testimony on Youtube
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