David Wilkerson and the Kingdom culture of responding to haters and defamers (1), By Ayo Akerele

Christianity is built and founded on love, forgiveness, and compassion. Right from the early days of the church, servants of God and believers in general have been known for forgiveness, compassion, and love. Jesus came to promote forgiveness and love. Jesus came to establish a new order, to forgive and show the world His love. It is love that changes the world, not hate. All through the New Testament, the Apostles were attacked, ridiculed, mocked, and even persecuted with physical beatings.

You are not the bigger picture. I am not the bigger picture. Christ, the gospel, and the entire body of Christ are the main deals here. This reminds me of the story of Pastor David Wilkerson and Nicky Cruz. I’m going to teach you the lesson of your life for daring to assault me, a whole servant of God. That should have been the expectation of secular history from David Wilkerson, the senior pastor of Times Square church, when he was assaulted by Nicky Cruz, a notorious leader of the Mau Mau gang in downtown New York. Nicky Cruz had been arrested multiple times by the New York Police.

He had been prosecuted for numerous crimes, ranging from rape, murder, shop lifting, and day light robbery. But the Leopard never changes its skin. He always found his way back to his vomit. In fact, the last time he was released from prison, a senior warder told him, “You will eventually be executed.”

“So they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name.” Acts 5:41

Gracefully, the famous New York church, Times Square, was founded and pastored for many years by David Wilkerson, and it was a ministry that upheld the values of love as the foundation for reaching communities and nations for Christ. In one of their evangelistic outreaches to the unreached, the Lord instructed David Wilkerson to personally visit the hoods, the den of this notorious kingpin of criminals in New York. That was like a death sentence, reminiscent of when God told Moses to go and talk to Pharaoh.

You wouldn’t even want to meet this man on a busy day, much less going to meet him in his deadly hideout where killing you would be a sport. But David Wilkerson didn’t count his life so dear to him, like Apostle Paul (Acts 20:24). This is the hallmark of genuine servants of God; by death or by life, they are for God. Who they are and what they have matters less like the name of Christ and the kingdom of God!

Nicky Cruz was so provoked that he spat on David Wilkerson, asking him to leave his den immediately if he wanted to live to see another day. While carrying the stinking spit of a notorious criminal on his jacket, David Wilkerson, a famous general overseer of one of the most respected ministries in America, said, and I quote, “even if you cut me into pieces, every bit of me would still love you.” He then left their hood.

David Wilkerson fixed a date and drove into the hoods to meet up with this notorious criminal, unannounced. “What have you come to do here, preacher?,” asked Nicky Cruz, smelling of hard drugs and various blends of narcotics. “To tell you about Jesus and His love,” answered Pastor David Wilkerson. Nicky Cruz was so provoked that he spat on David Wilkerson, asking him to leave his den immediately if he wanted to live to see another day. While carrying the stinking spit of a notorious criminal on his jacket, David Wilkerson, a famous general overseer of one of the most respected ministries in America, said, and I quote, “even if you cut me into pieces, every bit of me would still love you.” He then left their hood.

A few weeks later, David Wilkerson was ministering in a powerful crusade in New York. He gave an altar call. It was a very large gathering, with thousands of people in attendance. While people were walking down to the pulpit from the back, he noticed one awfully dressed man strolling down the aisle. As he looked closer, it was the notorious Nicky Cruz, the deadly criminal leader of the Mau Mau cult of New York. As he moved closer, tears began to drop from his eyes. David Wilkerson was stunned. “What is happening here?” He asked. Nicky Cruz responded, “I spat on you, threatened to kill you, chased you out, and humiliated you. Yet, you showed me love and told me, ‘Even if you cut me into pieces, every bit of me would still love you.’ I have been unable to sleep. It seems like a force has captured me. I have come to give me life over to God.” It was a storm. Nicky Cruz gave his life to Christ, was discipled, and baptised. Today, Nicky Cruz is the founder of the Nicky Cruz ministries, reaching out to inmates of prisons across the globe and winning thousands of people to Christ.

This is the true meaning of Christianity. Christianity is built and founded on love, forgiveness, and compassion. Right from the early days of the church, servants of God and believers in general have been known for forgiveness, compassion, and love. Jesus came to promote forgiveness and love. Jesus came to establish a new order, to forgive and show the world His love. It is love that changes the world, not hate. All through the New Testament, the Apostles were attacked, ridiculed, mocked, and even persecuted with physical beatings. 

In Acts 5:41, the Bible says that, “They rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for the name of Christ.”

To be continued.

Ayo Akerele is the Senior Pastor of Rhema Assembly and the founder of the Voice of the Watchmen Ministries in Ontario, Canada. He can be reached through ayoakerele2012@gmail.com