The Devil Has No Mother: Why he's worse than you
think - but god is greater
Nicky Cruz
Hodder & Stoughton £11.99
(978-1-444-70332-0)
Church Times Bookshop £10.80
(Use code CT719)
FIFTY years ago, the young Nicky Cruz was rescued from the life
of a street fighter in New York by the ministry of David Wilkerson.
His story became a best-selling book and a film. He has spent the
ensuing years as an evangelist and preacher, writing a bestseller
himself (Run Baby Run), and acquiring a reputation for
hard-hitting, Charismatic, fundamentalist proclamation.
This book is, if anything, even more strident than his earlier
writings. He believes that we are selling our souls to the devil -
sometimes by default and often by compromise - and that "we" is
all-encompassing, including many of his fellow American
Evangelicals, the wider Church, and the whole of Western
society.
Cruz sees demons everywhere; but his greatest concern is that
Christians generally are apathetic about the satanic infiltration
of our daily lives. "The devil is worse than you think," he warns,
though he adds reassuringly, "but God is greater." "Pornography,
drug use, child abuse, adultery, murder, rape" are evidence of
satanic influence. So, he argues, is the widespread failure by
church leaders to denounce gay practices (the UK gets a specific
black mark here).
All of this is backed up with lengthy speculative
reconstructions of the "war in heaven" between Lucifer and Michael,
selected biblical texts, and "statistics I have recently
discovered". These report, among other things, that 40 per cent of
pastors admit to having an affair since the beginning of their
ministry, and 70 per cent suffer from depression.
If you like being hectored for 244 pages, are fascinated by
other people's sins, own a demon-possessed dog, or need to know
what to do when you meet someone whose eyes glow orange, this book
is for you. Otherwise, it's probably not.
Canon David Winter is a retired cleric in the diocese of
Oxford, and a former Head of Religious Broadcasting at the
BBC.