Fred Barnes on Charles Colson

posted April 30, 2012

Excerpt:
Why did Colson appeal to me, beyond the power and authenticity of his Christian witness? I can think of many reasons, but I’ll keep it to a few.

Until I met Colson, I didn’t know what “muscular Christianity” was. It was Colson. His was a kind of tough guy religious faith. Go to almost any church these days and you’ll see a lot more women than men. But when Colson talked, men listened. He was on the wavelength of successful middle-aged men, inmates who came to Prison Fellowship meetings in some previously Godforsaken jail, and lots of men in between.

This is no small thing. Men are inclined to think they’re self-sufficient and don’t require God’s help to get along in life. (Women seem to know better.) Colson explained why Christ wasn’t just for wusses. And then he led men to do what they’d never expected: embrace Christ as their savior and role model. And join their wives in church.

Colson’s faith dispatched him in many directions. After serving his seven-month jail term, he started Prison Fellowship, but that was only the beginning. Mike Cromartie, his assistant in the late 1970s, introduced him to dozens of Christian scholars and theologians from whom he learned the historical and intellectual depth of Christianity. “He feasted on it,” Cromartie says. the rest

Chuck Colson to Be Buried at Quantico, Honored at the National Cathedral
The evangelical leader will be buried with full military honors.