Nicky Cruz grew up in Puerto Rico under a family curse that had been spoken over him by his own parents. His mother practised witchcraft and called him "the son of Satan." His father beat him. Violence, occult involvement, and cruelty ran through the family like a river that never dried up.
A Family Legacy of Darkness
By the time Nicky arrived in New York City as a teenager, the pattern was already locked in. He joined the Mau Maus, one of Brooklyn's most violent street gangs, and rose to become their warlord. Rage was the only language he understood. The cycle his parents started — hatred, violence, spiritual darkness — seemed unbreakable. He stabbed people without remorse. He terrified entire neighbourhoods. Every professional who tried to help him, including a psychiatrist, told him he was beyond hope.
The Night the Curse Shattered
Then a skinny preacher named David Wilkerson walked into his territory and told him that Jesus loved him. Nicky threatened to kill him. Wilkerson replied, "You could cut me in a thousand pieces and lay them out in the street, and every piece would love you." Something cracked inside Nicky that night. At a rally in 1958, he gave his life to Jesus — and the generational curse of violence, witchcraft, and hatred that had defined his family line shattered in an instant. The rage drained out of him. The bloodlust disappeared. He went from warlord to evangelist.
What This Means for You
If you come from a family where anger, violence, or occult involvement has been passed down like an heirloom, Nicky's story is proof that no generational pattern is too deep for Jesus to break. The curse spoken over him by his own mother was annihilated by one encounter with the living God. The cycle does not have to continue with you.