Ted Cruz Tells Supporters to 'Strap on the Full Armor of God' for Expected Campaign Attacks: 'We Ain't Seen Nothing Yet

Ted Cruz told presidential campaign supporters on a New Year's Eve phone call that the next 90 days could decide the election — and he warned them to prepare for an onslaught of attacks due to his recent surge in the polls.

"We're now in the final sprint," the Texas Republican senator said. "We're winning right now. And as a result, I want to tell everyone: Get ready. Strap on the full armor of God. Get ready for the attacks that are coming."

The candidate made his warning on a call with 56,817 volunteers, according to the Cruz campaign.

"We ain't seen nothing yet. ... In the month of January, we are going to see millions if not tens of millions of attacks — of TV commercials, radio, of social media, of mailers," Cruz said. "And actually as it gets closer and closer to election day, it's going to get uglier and uglier and uglier."

Cruz has been surging in the polls since November — not quite outpacing frontrunner Donald Trump nationally, but coming within striking distance, and taking a lead in the key early state of Iowa.

Trump took aim at Cruz's faith background during a Tuesday speech. Cruz has also been criticized by Florida Sen. Marco Rubio for some of his past comments on immigration.

But Cruz told supporters Thursday that he'd rather be under attack than not at this stage in the race.

"I want everyone, when we see the attacks that are coming, instead of being discouraged, I want us to be encouraged. There's an old line — if you're not taking flak, you're not over the target," he said. "If we were sitting here on Dec. 31 and no one was attacking us and no one was going to be attacking us, I would be deeply, deeply concerned. Because it would mean we weren't winning.

"We're winning and it terrifies them — you terrify them."

On the call, Cruz staffers asked supporters to donate to the campaign in an attempt to raise $15,000 today to beef up the campaign's grassroots organization.

Cruz hinted that he expects his opponents to try to dig up dirt on him and spread it in the next few months to undercut his momentum.

"Unfortunately, there are a lot of folks in politics who are not constrained by what they view as quaint notions of the truth. They believe particularly as you get close to an election day, that they can just toss out any lie, any attack and the attack will do its damage before anyone discovers that it's not true," he said. "So I want everyone here to get ready, because that is coming, and it's coming with a ferocity none of us has ever seen."