I recently completed Chuck Colson’s book, Born Again which I read via Audible. This was the 23rd book I completed in 2020.
Chuck Colson was an attorney who served as Special Counsel to President Richard Nixon. We all know the story of the downfall of Nixon and his Presidency – and Chuck Colson was known as one of the dirty tricksters behind some of Nixon’s political maneuvers, becoming known as Nixon’s “hatchet man.” In the book, Colson claims he had nothing to do with, nor any knowledge of, the Watergate scandal that brought down Nixon – and no proof has ever emerged that he did. However, he did admit to some of the dirty political tricks during his political career that at the time he believed were part of the game.
This memoir really details Colson’s rise into politics, in his 30s and early 40s, and into Nixon’s inner circle, including the many private conversations he had with Nixon, the ups and downs, the good and ill.
However, even as the Watergate scandal was not yet even a scandal, Colson’s conscience was starting to get the better of him. He details how a friend introduced him to how Jesus Christ was changing his friend and that was the seed that seemed to be planted within Colson. He started going on a path of self-discovery, questioning his own beliefs and later his political tactics before they brought him down.
As Watergate was playing out, Colson was behind the scenes meeting with friends and former enemies who found something in common: their faith. His faith began to grow, and he started finding that he was not on this path alone. Many other people were coming to Christ and sharing their testimony with him and he found that there was a loving, nurturing community of people who were encouraging him in his faith.
While he did not feel he was guilty of the allegations brought against him regarding Watergate, he did come up with an idea: to plead guilty to something he actually wasn’t charge for, but something that he was truly guilty of. When he did, he was sentenced to up to five years in prison. In this book he details how he accepted this fate and saw it as God’s will, of time he had to do, even if it meant separation from his family. While his wife did not at first understand his new faith, she soon began her own path of faith and they grew together more closely, even as he was behind bars. She would visit him as frequently as she could.
While in prison (he served only seven months), Colson held Bible studies with other inmates. He then started to minister to those who were not yet Christians. He found a fellowship in prison and when he was released, he found himself going back to that same prison to continue the Bible studies with his former fellow inmates. Then, he founded a ministry – a prison ministry – that would start enlisting people within prisons across the country and around the world to bring inmates to Christ – and to make them disciples of Christ. By the end of his life, Colson’s Prison Fellowship had extended into over 40 states and 140 countries.
In the epilogue of the book, he says this prison fellowship was the fulfillment of his “life-calling from God.” He added, “I found myself increasingly drawn to the idea that God had put me in prison for a purpose and that I should do something for those I had left behind.” In reflecting on his entire life story, he says he believes God used the Watergate scandal to call him to Christ and used him as an instrument to call thousands of others in prison to Christ through the prison fellowship programs that were born out of his own story.
In the epilogue to the book (first published in 1976) that he added in 2008, he says, “Today I can truly thank God for Watergate – and for prison – because of how he has used it for his redemptive purposes. I look in awe at what God has done and I thank Him for His mercy.”
What an amazing story of redemption, faith, fellowship, and how God works in mysterious ways. May His will be done! And may the life and soul of Chuck Colson rest in God’s hands.
You can find the book here: https://amzn.to/3gmmUhM