While studying the Nixon years, we deep dived into Watergate through the autobiography of Chuck Colson, special counsel to President Nixon.
This book is so powerful that it was my third time reading it.
As a teenager I dug through my parent’s bookcase one summer and read it with fascination.
Then four years ago I read it again, during our dialectic studies.
Convinced of its importance, I had my son read it for his rhetoric studies.
COLSON INNOCENT OF WATERGATE
Charged with participating in Watergate, Colson pled guilty, but not to Watergate.
Colson watched the Watergate scandal unfold on the evening news with the rest of America.
INFLUENCED BY CS LEWIS
While Colson wrestled with his conscience of other things he did wrong, someone lent him CS Lewis’ book, Mere Christianity.
Now that I’ve recently read Lewis’ book, this detail struck me far more meaningfully than before.
The brilliant legal mind of Chuck Colson came mind to mind, wrestling with CS Lewis for his soul during the Watergate scandal.
While wrestling with Mere Christianity, Colson wrote his arguments on a legal pad.
Finally…Colson took Jesus Christ as his Savior and Lord.
When I first read this book as a teenager, I was simply glad Colson gave his life to Christ.
Now that my son and I have read Mere Christianity, reading this passage became a lightning bolt of the power of God’s sovereignty versus mankind’s feebleness…God’s desires v man’s desires.
The eternal struggle of right and wrong makes Born Again a modern classic.
INFLUENCED BY DIETRICH BONHOEFFER
After Colson’s conversion, he was introduced to other Christians in Washington DC, some of whom had long been ” political enemies.”
Now that they were brothers in Christ, they met regularly, prayed for each other, encouraged each other in their Bible studies, and supported each other.
During this time, Colson read another book, The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, which my son and I also recently read.
Bonhoeffer’s book forced Colson to come face-to-face with his hatchet-style of job performance.
Explaining he had no knowledge of Watergate until the news, Colson pled guilty to other wrongs, though the courts were not interested in that.
IMPRISONED FOR A LESSER CRIME
Irritated that they couldn’t charge him for Watergate, the authorities sent him to prison for the lesser crimes.
While Colson was in prison, he noticed the system encouraged failure with the inmates who often returned to prison after gaining parole.
FOUNDING PRISON FELLOWSHIP
Envisioning improvements, Colson created Prison Fellowship Ministry after his own release to enable inmates to become contributing citizens to society.
Anyone who has ever participated in Angel Tree at Christmas time, purchasing a gift for children of prisoners, has been part of the Prison Fellowship Ministry.
FOUNDING BREAKPOINT
Colson also founded Breakpoint, a wonderful apologetics radio program to help listeners connect God’s Word with current events.
Often listening to Breakpoint on the radio when my kids were little, I began interacting through email, facebook, and twitter after our homeschool years began.
Sadly, we no longer have his wit and wisdom I’ve so long enjoyed, since he passed away two years ago.
Incidentally, his home and ministry were based in Northern Virginia, where we now reside. In his latter years with Breakpoint, Colson passed the torch to other brilliant wit and wisdom found in Eric Metaxas (one of my favorite contemporary authors) and John Stonestreet.
