Charles W. Colson: A Life Redeemed

March 12, 2009 at 8:30 a.m.
Charles W. Colson: A Life Redeemed
Charles W. Colson: A Life Redeemed
By Jill Williams

How does a person go from being a Presidential top aide to prison, to one of the most respected Christian leaders in the country? How does the man who greased the wheels of politics to make things happen become the founder of Prison Fellowship? How does a man whose aspirations got in the way of his first marriage (that ended in divorce) now preach to others that divorce is a sin? Who is this man whose life has gone from one polar extreme to another? The man is Charles W. Colson, and this is the story of his rise and fall in politics, and his rise to religious leader.

From the onset, Charles W. Colson was driven to succeed. He had the brains and the personality combined to get him everything he dreamed of. He even turned down a scholarship to Harvard, because it was not on his life's plan for success. Instead, he went to Brown University and later was an officer in the Marine Corp. He went on to work on Capitol Hill in various positions, which provided him with the connections to move upward. He even served as Campaign manager before co-founding a law firm that would be very successful, but at the cost of his first marriage.

Next stop: the White House. Charles W. Colson was appointed Special Counsel to the President of the United States, Richard Nixon. This position gave Colson a seat of power unlike those before. Drawing his connections, he was an important player in the political game, but he honestly supported Richard Nixon and thought him a genius. Colson was point man on several Nixon initiatives, and became a hated man after the Watergate scandal.

So what could change this seriously driven man with virtually no religious beliefs to turn his life around 180 degrees and become such an inspiration to others? When Colson was facing prison, fighting a losing battle with the law, he was moved to call Tom Phillips, president of Raytheon, and a friend. When visiting with his friend that night, he was opened to the calling of Christ. Reading from Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis, Tom Phillips's words seared Colson's pride and summed up the error of his life to date: "For Pride is spiritual cancer: it eats up the very possibility of love or contentment or even common sense."

Colson struggled with his newly born faith, but once he was sentenced to prison and really needed his faith to carry him through, he put his passion into his religion and was reborn. Colson's Prison Ministry program has been running for over 30 years. It changes the lives of those who need it most, and its success is unprecedented. It seems true what most people say about Charles W. Colson: "God changed him" and "God used him for good." His is truly A Life Redeemed.