This article was originally published in the October 1999 issue of Charisma.

In a sermon preached six months ago and circulated widely on cassette tapes, New York pastor David Wilkerson blasts prosperity doctrines, “holy laughter” and the flamboyance of evangelist Benny Hinn.

In Wilkerson’s April 11 sermon, titled “Reproach of the Solemn Assembly,” Wilkerson warned his 7,000-member Times Square Church to burn books written by any propagators of these doctrines. He also told his parishioners to stay away from evangelist Rodney Howard-Browne’s Good News New York (GNNY) crusade that ran from July 7 to Aug. 14. The GNNY campaign reported more than 48,000 decisions for Christ, the majority of them first-time salvations.

This article was orginially published in the February 1998 issue of Charisma.

It was Feb. 28, 1958, when the 26-year-old Pentecostal preacher from rural Pennsylvania disrupted a highly publicized murder trial in New York City. David Wilkerson had made the eight-hour drive from his quiet mountain village to downtown Manhattan for a simple reason: to speak to the seven accused gang members about their salvation.

In a grave attempt to share the love of God, Wilkerson had rushed to the front of the courtroom at the close of trial proceedings and pleaded publicly with the judge for permission to meet the teen-age defendants. News media were everywhere, and Wilkerson unwittingly made himself the source of headline news throughout New York City.

The judge had been receiving death threats during the trial, and Wilkerson was almost arrested as a presumed assailant. The judge later refused Wilkerson’s request to see the boys and ordered him never to return to his courtroom.

This article was orginally published in the May 1996 issue of Charisma.

In Manhattan, David Wilkerson has given the term ‘Broadway revival’ a whole new meaning.

Perhaps God had a better idea when the rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar opened 25 years ago in Manhattan at the Mark Hellinger Theatre. Today the ornate Broadway landmark houses a flourishing Pentecostal ministry called Times Square Church (TSC), founded by David Wilkerson in 1987.

“We originally came here to find a holy remnant who would welcome repentance and set an example that people could live a righteous life in the midst of Babylon or Sodom,” Wilkerson says.

David Wilkerson first offered this timely message in the July 1991 issue of Charisma. In light of his tragic death, we're reposting it as a testament to his remarkably prophetic voice.

The great need of this hour is for Christians to learn to sing the song of deliverance on the testing side of trouble.

The children of Israel were in a hopeless predicament. The Red Sea was before them; the moutains were to the left and right; Pharaoh and his iron chariots were closing in from the rear. God's people seemed helplessly trapped, just waiting to be cut down. Yet God purposely had led them into this precarious spot.

It was panic time in the camp of Israel. Men shook with fear, and women and children wept as they huddled around relatives. Moses was mobbed by irate family leaders who cried: "Surely this is the end. Weren't there enough graves in Egypt to bury us there? You had to drag us out here to die. We told you in Egypt to let us alone. It was better to be slaves there than to die in this miserable wilderness" (see Ex. 14:11).

Charisma spoke with David Wilkerson in 2008 during Teen Challenge's 50^th anniversary. Here are some never before published quotes that he shared with us.

Education regrets

“I carried with me all this time over the years a bit of self-condemnation if I only had more education. I only had one year of Bible school. My parents were poor and could not afford college. I had an inner nagging if only I had been more educated I would be much better in my exegesis of scripture. But my father taught me to pray. He said ‘God will always make a way for a praying man.’

"I was so busy in my 30s and did not have time to read enough. I was hungry for a deeper insight into scripture. I studied the Puritans and tried to improve my knowledge of scripture.

It has been 50 years since Pentecostal preacher David Wilkerson moved to New York City to reach violent gangs. His message has restored hundreds of thousands of lives.

Fifty years ago, David Wilkerson seemed an unlikely candidate to attack the Goliath-like monster of drug addiction. He was an obscure 26-year-old Assemblies of God preacher from rural Pennsylvania when he traveled to New York City in 1958 to share Christ with seven teens accused of murder.

At the time, he knew little about drugs, addiction or New York’s gang-infested inner city. What he did know was that the Holy Spirit could destroy any stronghold, even one as insidious as drug addiction.