Evangelist and apologetics writer Josh McDowell spoke to a crowd of thousands at Washington's National Mall about the sexual abuse he suffered as a child and how he forgave his attacker.
McDowell, 76, was addressing the Together 2016 prayer rally, which attracted around 350,000 people on a blistering hot Saturday. The event closed early because of the heat and several people were hospitalised.
McDowell has spoken previously about the abuse for the 2011 documentary Undaunted: The early life of Josh McDowell. He told the Together 2016 crowd he was raped weekly between the ages of six and 13 by a man his mother had hired as a housekeeper. She refused to believe him when he told her and beat him until he said he was lying. He said the abuse stopped when he was 13. He seized the man by the throat, thrust him against a wall and said, "If you ever touch me again, I will kill you."
He eventually told his spiritual mentor about the abuse and the man believed him. He urged McDowell to forgive his abuser, and so he went to his house and did so.
He spoke of the importance of being believed, adding: "One of the smartest things I ever realised was that I needed more than Jesus... I needed a group of men around me...who would be there at 2 o' clock in the morning when I wanted to end it all."
He continued: "There's nothing too great in your life that God can't reset, nor anything too small that He's not interested in."
As well as McDowell, the Together 2016 event featured side from McDowell's testimony, the crowd also heard talks from Francis Chan, Ravi Zacharias, Ronnie Floyd and Louie Giglio.
