A famous conversion experience

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A famous conversion experience

• Nicky Cruz

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Conversion experiences

• A conversion experience is when
• Someone either comes to believe in God in a way
  which changes their life or when someone changes
  their belief from one religion to another.
• Most conversion experiences are gradual and take
  place over many years but sometimes they are more
  dramatic! Lets look at an example.

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Nicky Cruz leader of the Mau Maus

• Nicky Cruz had a tough childhood. By the age of
  16 he was a member of the Mau Maus a violent
  street gang in Brooklyn.
• Six months later he became the leader of the gang
  and one of the most feared men on the streets of
  New York.
• His life was filled with drugs, alcohol and
  extreme violence. He was arrested many times and
  a psychiatrist said that Nicky was
• heading for prison, the electric chair and
  hell.

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Conversion

• One day, Nicky came across a Christian preacher.
  The preacher told Cruz that God loved him and
  would never stop loving him. Nicky spat at and
  threatened to kill him. That afternoon the
  preacher found Cruz again and repeated his
  message. This time Nicky hit him but the preacher
  just smiled.
• Nicky was deeply affected by the preacher and
  spent the next couple of weeks thinking a lot
  about what he had said.
• Then Cruz decided to go and hear the preacher
  again along with some of the other gang members.
  This time, when he heard the preacher, Nicky
  started to pray. He asked God to forgive him.

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A life-changing experience

• The very next day Cruz and some of the gang
  members who converted went to the police and
  turned in all of their weapons.
• Cruz began to study the Bible and returned to
  school.
• He later became a preacher himself and started
  travelling the world telling his story.
• He has set up many organisations which help young
  people who have fallen into crime and poverty
  like he did.