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In this Easter season, I have been thinking about the importance of redemption. Over the years, by virtue of circulation in political circles, I have known personally some people involved in public scandals. The world watches as the media follows them relentlessly for days, weeks, or even months and then evaporates, leaving behind a scene of complete and utter self-inflicted personal destruction. Some of these folks are often distraught to the point of suicide. What the cameras don’t show is what happens after the hoopla dies down. Sometimes these folks turn inward and become bitter and permanently broken, but not...

Trump has swallowed the Criminal Justice Reform Hoax, hook, line, and sinker. Something he never did in the primaries but now is embracing.

Something very strange happened to me this past week. I was seated in my library chair, mulling over current events, trying to make a few New Year’s predictions, which is the custom for commentators. I was concentrating hard, when suddenly, I saw before my eyes a headline from the New York Times. It read, “Congress Votes to End War; Troops Ordered to Abandon Iraq.” The view changed. Just as in Vietnam three decades ago, I saw Americans clinging to helicopters, trying to get themselves out of Baghdad along with friendly Shiite Muslims. There was massive confusion, bombs going off in...

March 19, 2012 (Breakpoint.org) - The most important talking point used by those who support the HHS contraception mandate is that the Catholic Bishops and their allies are “out-of-touch” and represent a minority view. You have no doubt heard things like “98 percent of Catholic women use contraception” and “most Americans, especially women, support the HHS mandate.” Well, it’s not true. The first assertion is based on a study by the Guttmacher Institute, which as an affiliate of Planned Parenthood, is hardly an objective observer. Even the Washington Post compared the media to Pinocchio for using these statistics. In fact,...

I grew up in a fundamentalist environment. The church I was baptized in believed it was inappropriate for Christians to go to a movie theater. To this day, my grandparents maintain this standard as a bulwark against worldliness. The library at my Christian school had a variety of books for children, sanitized for Christian consumption. Encyclopedia Brown made the cut, but all the “goshes” and “gee whizzes” were marked out with a heavy black pen. No second-hand cursing allowed. Films without anything objectionable were allowed at school, but looking back, I see how this analysis was applied simplistically. I still...

After the death of evangelical leader Chuck Colson, Frank Schaeffer wrote a scathing rebuke of Colson's life and implied that he was in hell. "Evangelical Christianity lost one of its most beloved and bigoted homophobic and misogynistic voices with the death of Charles W. 'Chuck' Colson, a Watergate felon who converted to 'evangelicalism' but never lost his taste for dirty political tricks against opponents," Schaeffer wrote. Schaeffer complained about Colson's political activism, which he described as "far right," and seemed particularly offended that Colson would seek to work with Catholics on issues where evangelicals and Catholics find common cause. He...

It’s pretty interesting to read the obituaries of Charles Colson by those who were alive during Watergate and those who weren’t. It’s clear that some reporters are stuck in the 1970s, apparently unaware of how the state of evangelicalism was shaped by Colson’s complex life and legacy. Colson’s rocky relationship with the media might have something with his life portrayal as reporters try to explain President Nixon’s “hatchet man” turned evangelical leader. Jonathan Aitken (who also wrote a tribute for Christianity Today) demonstrated in his biography Colson’s complex relationship with reporters, especially since his conversion was met with skepticism or...

Convicted Watergate conspirator Chuck Colson has died. That's how most mainstream press accounts reported Saturday's death of Mr. Colson, a tough-minded, ex-Marine who rose in the Nixon White House to be the president's "hatchet man." Those who knew him better reported that Mr. Colson, who nearly four decades ago as he faced his prison sentence professed faith in Jesus Christ, has gone home to be with his Lord. ...

Chuck Colson, a Watergate-era “hatchet man” for President Richard Nixon who became an influential evangelical leader after serving time in prison, died Saturday afternoon, according to his website. He was 80. Colson suffered a brain hemorrhage in late March. Colson was the first Nixon aide to be convicted of Watergate-related charges in the 1972 scandal. After a short prison sentence, he reinvented himself as a Christian leader and founded Prison Fellowship, which calls itself “the world’s largest outreach to prisoners, ex-prisoners and their families,” with a presence in 113 countries. According to his official biography, Colson “admits he was guilty...

Chuck Colson Dead at Age 80 FaithIssues Evangelical Christianity lost one of its most eloquent and influential voices today with the death of Charles W. "Chuck" Colson. The Prison Fellowship and Colson Center for Christian Worldview founder died at 3:12 PM ET today at the age of 80. After a brief illness, Colson passed away at a Northern Virginia hospital with his wife, Patty, and family at his bedside. On March 30th, Colson became ill while speaking at a Colson Center for Christian Worldview conference in Lansdowne. The following morning he had surgery to remove a pool of clotted blood...

(CBS News) Chuck Colson, a former aide to Richard Nixon, evangelical leader, author and nonprofit founder, died Saturday at the age of 80.

WASHINGTON—When President Richard Nixon's knee-capper went to prison after pleading guilty to a Watergate-related crime, he touched off one of the most compelling stories of conversion and a redeemed life in the modern American church. Charles Colson, 80, hovered near death in Fairfax, Va., as WORLD went to press April 19. "It is with a heavy, but hopeful heart that I share with you that it appears our friend, brother, and founder will soon be home with the Lord," wrote Prison Fellowship CEO Jim Liske in an April 18 message, as his wife and children gathered at his bedside. Colson...

LANSDOWNE, Va., April 18, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Jim Liske, CEO of Prison Fellowship Ministries, gave the following update this morning to the staff and supporters of Prison Fellowship, Justice Fellowship, and the Colson Center for Christian Worldview: “Dear Friends: It is with a heavy, but hopeful heart that I share with you that it appears our friend, brother, and founder will soon be home with the Lord. Chuck’s condition took a decided turn yesterday, and the doctors advised Patty and the family to gather by his bedside.

Colson Associates Expect His Imminent Death Faith Issues/DeMossNews.com "It is with a heavy, but hopeful heart that I share with you that it appears our friend, brother and founder will soon be home with the Lord," said Jim Liske, CEO of Prison Fellowship Ministries, in a statement. Jim Liske, CEO of Prison Fellowship Ministries, gave the following update Wednesday to the staff and supporters of Prison Fellowship, Justice Fellowship and the Colson Center for Christian Worldview: "Dear Friends: It is with a heavy, but hopeful heart that I share with you that it appears our friend, brother and founder will...

Chuck Colson, the evangelical leader who dedicated his life to ministering to convicts after serving time himself in prison and coming to know God, has died. He was 80. Colson was hospitalized March 30 after having trouble getting through a speech at a "Breaking the Spiral of Silence" conference in Virginia. Doctors found a brain hemorrhage, and he underwent surgery to remove a pool of clotted blood. Following the surgery, Colson's health see-sawed from stable to worse, and he remained in ICU. Wednesday, Christian leaders who knew Colson well urged prayer because he "may soon be with the Lord." Colson...

For the first time in 34 years, Chuck Colson won’t be in a prison for Easter. The famous Watergate figure and Christian convert usually spends the day ministering to prisoners, but is recovering from surgery to remove a blood clot on his brain. Colson, 80, is a giant of our time. He is a reminder of the true meaning of redemption, a concept that has been debased in our Tilt-a-Whirl media culture that can’t distinguish between notoriety and fame. In contemporary America, redemption begins sometime between the first check-in into rehab and the first cable-TV interview, and reaches completion when...

WASHINGTON, DC, April 4, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Evangelical leader and frequent life and family spokesman Chuck Colson is in critical condition in hospital after undergoing surgery this weekend. He was hospitalized Friday after enduring a brain hemorrhage while speaking in Virginia at the Wilberforce Conference. Colson underwent surgery on Saturday morning to remove a pool of clotted blood on the surface of his brain. Colson became ill while speaking at the Wilberforce Weekend conference on Friday night. “We believe that we serve a mighty God - the ‘Great Physician’ - and are hoping and praying for Chuck’s full recovery....

An old Russian joke tells about a poor peasant whose better-off neighbor has just gotten a cow. In his anguish, the peasant cries out to God for relief from his distress. When God replies and asks him what he wants him to do, the peasant replies, "Kill the cow." The joke illustrates an important point about human nature: The line between clamoring for justice and envy can be very thin. The subject came to mind when I read a recent column by Ross Douthat in the New York Times about the issue of income inequality and the redistribution of wealth....

Republican frontrunner Mitt Romney may face even more opposition regarding his faith if he becomes the GOP nominee, according to polls and several interviews by the Huffington Post. The staunchest opposition against Romney because of his faith came from Rev. Robert Jeffress, who is the spiritual leader for the largest church in Texas. Jeffress, a supporter of GOP contender Rick Perry, called Mormonism a “cult,” and Perry – along with many Christian conservatives – publicly rebuked him. According to new polls and information from Evangelical leaders, Christian views might change if Romney is chosen as Obama’s adversary in 2012. Rev....

Four years ago, the BBC decided to capitalize on the immense popularity of the long-running Doctor Who series by creating a spin-off called Torchwood. Whereas Doctor Who is, apart from the intensity of its stories, safe for the whole family, producers said that Torchwood would be “dark, clever, wild, [and] sexy.” "Doctor Who for adults” is what they called it. As a colleague wrote at the time, a better word to describe the show is “nihilistic” - it’s a judgment that’s reinforced by the show’s newest character. While Torchwood is certainly dark, it’s rarely, if ever, been all that “clever,”...