Chuck Colson Was Guilty

“When a man sees himself to be completely lost and ruined, covered all over with the defilement of sin, and with no part free from pollution, when he disclaims all righteousness of his own and pleads guilty before the Lord, then is he clean through the blood of Jesus and the grace of God.” – C.H. Spurgeon

When I was new Christian, back in the late 1970s, I read Chuck Colson’s autobiography titled, Born Again. In the book, Chuck recounts his years in the White House where he served as a special counsel to President Richard Nixon. However, his unofficial title was Nixon’s “hatchet man.” In that capacity, Colson engaged in some shady business including his involvement in the effort to discredit Daniel Ellsburg, the leaker of the Pentagon Papers.

Colson was eventually charged with obstruction of justice and pleaded nolo contendere, a Latin legal term which means “no contest.” Whereas it is not a full admission of guilt, it states that the accused person will not fight the charges and instead will take whatever punishment is coming… basically throwing oneself at the mercy of the court. In Chuck’s case, it was a 1-3 year sentence in federal prison (he served seven months at the Federal Prison Camp in Maxwell, AL) and a $5,000 fine.

Denying – or trying to rationalize – our sin is a surefire way to a guilty conscience. David languished under the unconfessed guilt of his adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband Uriah for an entire year (see Psalm 32:3-4). During that time, his soul was in utter agony. It wasn’t until he was confronted by Nathan the prophet and he openly admitted his sins that David experienced healing, forgiveness, and restoration.

Here is how Charles Spurgeon, the Prince of Preachers, explains it…

“Hidden, unfelt, unconfessed iniquity is the true leprosy, but when sin is seen and felt it has received its death blow, and the Lord looks with eyes of mercy upon the soul afflicted with it. Nothing is more deadly than self-righteousness or more hopeful than contrition. We must confess that we are nothing else but sin, for no confession short of this will be the whole truth. And if the Holy Spirit is at work within us, convincing us of sin, there will be no difficulty in making such an acknowledgment—it will spring spontaneously from our lips. Sin mourned and confessed, however deep and foul, will never shut a man out from the Lord Jesus. “Whoever comes to me I will never cast out.”

“I acknowledged my sin to You and my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,’ and You forgave the iniquity of my sin.” Psalm 32:5 (NKJV)

- Rev. Dale M. Glading, President