Watergate and the Resurrection

When operatives of the Committee to Re-elect President Nixon broke into the  Democratic Headquarters in the Watergate Complex, I was 11 years old.  Then when the Senate started investigating the whole Watergate affair, I was 12 and 13 years old.  But I remember being fascinated with the whole affair.  I would watch the Senate hearings on Watergate when they were on TV.  Then later on in high school and college, I read everything I could find on the Watergate break-in, the cover-up, and ultimately the downfall of President Nixon.  I read All the President’s Men by Woodward and Bernstein, Blind Ambition by John Dean, The Right and the Power by Leon Jaworski, among others.  But the Watergate books that most impacted my life were the books written by Charles Colson.

Colson was a special assistant to President Nixon. People called him Nixon’s hatchet man.  Colson did the dirty work of the administration, and as Watergate revealed, there was a lot of dirty work to do.  Colson ultimately went to prison for his involvement in illegal activities.  But right before he went to prison, he gave his life to Christ and had a dramatic conversion. He writes all about the Watergate mess, his involvement, and his conversion in his first book called Born Again. Soon after I put my faith in Jesus, I read this when I was in college. So Colson’s book was one that satisfied my interest in history but also nurtured my faith.  Then his second book, called Life Sentence, recounts his starting and developing his prison ministry called Prison Fellowship.  He says in that book that his greatest failure in his life (going to prison) set the stage for what God wanted him to commit the rest of his life to, working and ministering to prisoners. Prison Fellowship has been a tremendous ministry all over the United States and all over the world, reaching and discipling prisoners. And it still goes on today after Colson died in 2012.

In one of his books, Colson told the story about why he believes in the resurrection. He says he knew the resurrection of Jesus was the truth because of his experience working in the Nixon White House.  He said during the re-election campaign all these men had an intense loyalty to Nixon. They would do anything to see him re-elected. Obviously, that was truth because they broke the law to see him re-elected.  And that loyalty held fast until the Senate started investigating the Watergate break-in. Then when the men closest to Nixon realized they might go to prison for this, that loyalty was out the window.  Everyone was just trying to protect themselves and trying to keep themselves out of prison. No one cared about Nixon anymore. Colson goes on to say that it was simply human nature to protect yourself.  But Jesus’ disciples didn’t do that.  10 of the 11 remaining disciples all died a violent death because they didn’t  renounce their faith.  They didn’t do what human nature always does.  Protect yourself. Why?  Because the resurrection was true. They saw it with their own eyes. And they knew they would be resurrected too, to spend eternity with Jesus.

As we celebrate Easter this week, we can believe that Jesus is alive and rose from the dead, and our faith is real and secure.  Watergate proves it!