Chuck Colson otherwise known as President Richard Nixon’s “hatchet-man” died last Saturday. His comparatively long life was split into two halves by his conversion to Christ in 1973.

Prior to ’73 he had moved through the worlds of business and politics with a ruthlessness which earned him a reputation for “getting things done”. As one of Nixon’s inner circle his duties entailed listing and dealing with the President’s political opponents. He was described as an “evil genius of an evil administration” who would run over his grandmother to have Nixon re-elected.

The “Watergate” investigation into leaks of classified information brought to light the tape recordings of many conversations which had not been deleted from the White House computer system. These were of an incriminating nature and Colson was the first of Nixon’s henchmen to be imprisoned.

Faced with the enormity of the revelations he repented of his guilt – in his own words, “I got into my car and found myself in the grip of the spiritual crisis which led to my conversion. This so-called White House hatchet man, ex-Marine captain, was crying too hard to get the keys into the ignition; I sat there for a long time that night deeply convicted of my own sin.”

It was during his trial that a friend gave him a copy of S C Lewis’s “Mere Christianity” which he read and committed his life to Christ. When he publicly testified to the change Christ had made, the press were hostile reckoning it was a ploy to lessen his sentence!

In prison he saw the injustice of the “lock ‘um and leave ‘um” approach to criminal justice.

When he was released he said he would devote the rest of his life to Christian work.

In 1976, he founded Prison Fellowship Ministries, which delivers the message of redemption to thousands of prison inmates and their families. The faith based programme has cut the re-offending rate by 66%.

In 1983, he established Justice Fellowship and by the end of the 1990s, Colson had become a leading voice in the evangelical political movement, with books and a syndicated radio broadcast. He helped form a conservative coalition of leaders from the Republican Party, the Protestant evangelical community and the Catholic Church. The Catholics and the evangelicals joined forces in fights over abortion rights and religious freedom, among other issues.

Colson taught a Christian world view to millions through his books, daily radio broadcasts, public speaking and the Colson Center. He spoke out on the rise of moral relativism and the breakdown of ethics in our culture. Only 2 years ago he started the weekly Two-Minute Warning page at ColsonCenter.org calling the Church to action.

Colson’s experience presents us with a high profile view of the reality of Christian conversion put simply by Jesus “you must be born again” St John Chapter 3 Verse 7.

Another case of “Well done you good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Master” (St Matthew chapter 25 verse 23).