Who Speaks for God?

by Charles W. Colson

Charles Colson takes an alarming look at the moral and social crises of our day. Affirming God's love and power, he urges Christians to confront a society that accepts evil and mocks the Gospel.

Genres: Christian, Theology, Christian Living, Christian Non Fiction, Nonfiction, Christianity, Cultural

259 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

Almost 40 years ago, Charles W. Colson was not thinking about reaching out to prison inmates or reforming the U.S. penal system. In fact, this aide to President Richard Nixon was "incapable of humanitarian thought," according to the media of the mid-1970s. Colson was known as the White House "hatchet man," a man feared by even the most powerful politicos during his four years of service to Nixon.

When news of Colson's conversion to Christianity leaked to the press in 1973, The Boston Globe reported, "If Mr. Colson can repent of his sins, there just has to be hope for everybody." Colson would agree.

In 1974 Colson entered a plea of guilty to Watergate-related charges; although not implicated in the Watergate burglary, he voluntarily pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice in the Daniel Ellsberg Case. He entered Alabama's Maxwell Prison in 1974 as a new Christian and as the first member of the Nixon administration to be incarcerated for Watergate-related charges. He served seven months of a one- to three-year sentence.

After leaving prison, Colson founded Prison Fellowship Ministries in 1976, which has since become the world's largest outreach to prisoners, ex-prisoners and their families. Today, Colson remains a member of the board of Prison Fellowship Ministries.

A sought-after speaker, Colson has written more than 30 books, which collectively have sold more than 5 million copies. His autobiographical book, Born Again, was one of the nation's best-selling books of all genres in 1976. Another bestseller, co-authored by Nancy Pearcey, How Now Shall We Live, is considered one of the most important books written on the subject of Christian worldview. His most recent book, The Faith, is a powerful appeal to the Church to re-embrace the foundational truths of Christianity.

In 1991 Colson launched BreakPoint, a unique radio commentary that provides a Christian perspective on today's news and trends. BreakPoint is currently aired weekdays to more than 1,300 outlets nationwide that reach and estimated 2 million listeners.

Today Colson is focused full time on developing other Christian leaders who can influence the culture and their communities through their faith. The capstone of this effort is The Chuck Colson Center for Christian Worldview, an online research and training center launched in 2009 for the promotion of Christian worldview teaching. In addition to a vast library of worldview materials, the Colson Center provides online courses and serves as a catalyst for a growing movement of Christian organizations dedicated to impacting the culture. The Colson Center website also hosts Colson's popular weekly Two-Minute Warning video commentary aimed at engaging a younger generation with a biblical perspective on cultural issues.

In 2009, Colson was a principal writer of the Manhattan Declaration, which calls on Christians to defend the sanctity of human life, traditional marriage and religious freedom. Nearly half a million people have signed the Manhattan Declaration. Collaborating with other Christian ministries, BreakPoint aims to launch other ecumenical grassroots movements around moral and ethical issues of great concern.

In recognition of his work, Colson received the prestigious Templeton Prize for progress in religion in 1993, donating the $1 million prize to Prison Fellowship. Colson's other awards have included the Presidential Citizens Medal, the nation's second-highest civilian honor (2008); the Humanitarian Award from Dominos Pizza Corporation (1991); The Others Award from The Salvation Army (1990); the Outstanding Young Man of Boston from the Boston Chamber of Commerce (1960); and several honorary doctorates from various colleges and universities (1982-2000).

Reviews

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a collection of articles written by Charles Colson in the early 1980s. These same articles could be written today. While some of the articles are testimonials and concerns from his prison ministry, many address problems in the church -- the dangers of a prosperity or cheap grace, the insensitivity to sin among believers, ignorance of the Bible among professing Christians, the dignity of human life, and other topics relative to the church today.

[Mallory · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of essays, mostly written in the '80s, that challenges American Christianity with what it was turning into and had become at the time. I can't think of a Colson book that does not still scream with relevance anytime you pick it up. This one has some issues/headlines that are dated with the passage of time, but overall it's a reality check that we don't see coming out of the church much anymore.

[Randy Corn · Rating 4 out of 5]

The subtitle of this book is “Confronting the World with Real Christianity.” This book is a series of reflections by Colson on the current world situation as he tried to see it through a Christian vantage point. As you might expect, the recurring theme of this volume is the prison system and what Colson sees as the way to reform it. I do believe he has a handle on the idea of applying Biblical teaching to a growing social problem. If there is a secondary theme it would be how politics touches on Christian ethics.

I do agree with Colson that most evangelicals are guilty of not applying their faith to the issue of prison reform. What’s more, I think he is dead on about the way politicians often manipulate Christian voters. Still, he does not advocate retreat but rather knowledgeable entry into the areas where our faith touches public policy.

This book is well written and worth spending time with. I read it relatively rapidly and was struck by the quality of the illustrations that Colson came up with to make his points. I note that I bought this book in 1989 and I am almost sure it was at a Christian bookstore in Illinois. I wish I had read it then. I would have benefitted from it personally and could have used some of the illustrations in my sermons. I fear that many of them would seem dated were they used now. Still, this is a good book and I won’t hesitate to recommend it to other pastors that read. May their tribe increase!

[Nick · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF, I made it like 100 pages.

This is a loose conglomerate of essays (I think they are articles he wrote for the newspaper), they are largely disconnected and seem to range over a variety of mostly political arguments.

On the whole I agree with him, and I think Colson had an interesting testimony, I just wasn't interested in his ideas about random topics from the 1980's. The complete lack of a context made the writings nebulous. They could largely be about anything and everything; and for an introduction to outright answer the question that The Bible speaks for God, he uses very little of actual scripture to come to his solutions.

I'm also never quite clear on why this guy has any clout to say anything, nor why I should listen to him in any meaningful way. A neat testimony is great, and working with the Nixon administration and being a part of Watergate is interesting, even being in the prison system and fighting for prison reform is a worthy cause, but this book has nothing to do with any of those things. None of that gives him magical expository powers . . . nor does it make him a mouthpiece for God.

He had a platform, became a Christian, and to his credit witnessed for Christ. That is awesome, I hope we can all be so blessed to be used by God in that manner.

This book wasn't what I had hoped and ultimately just put it down.

[Abigail G · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an amazing collection of articles or journal like entries talking about pivotal political and religious subjects. The shorter lengths of passages gave space to think over the ideas presented in the material. The Biblical perspective on these matters was refreshing and challenging.

[Stephen Knox]

This collection of talks by Colson prove there is nothing new under the sun as many of the subjects he speaks to are very relevant to our world today, remarkably so given this was published some 30 years ago, with many of the talks over 40 years old.

[Candace Lazzaro · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a big Colson fan; have been for over 30 years, so it's no surprise that I loved this book. Colson is a man who was standing on the top of the world, adviser to President Nixon when his involvement in Watergate caused his fall from human grace into God's grace. Who Speaks for God? is a collection of his articles Mr. Colson wrote in the early 1980s. The articles include "Is There Evidence of the Resurrection?" which tells about Judge Bontrager who lost his judgeship because of his compassion and "The Terrifying Truth; We are Normal" about Yehiel Dinur, a concentration camp survivor who realized that Nazi Adolf Eichmann was normal. "I saw that I am capable to do this...exactly like he." (that nice little run-on sentence is by me)Mr. Colson is one of the best Christian writers of the pass 50 years in my opinion. He's not a great theologian but he knows his Bible and he knows God. He see the "normal" in people and he sees the remarkableness in other "normal" people. We are all capable of doing wicked things (For all have sinned) but at the same time, through Christ, we are able to endure amazing trials for righteousness sake.

If you're not a Christian you probably have stopped reading this before you get to this paragraph. But if not...give this book a try. You might learn something about grace.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brings good perspective to the problems we face today. This was written in 1985 and we have the same problems as then but maybe worse. All the more reason to take a stand.

[Tim Duff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although written in the 1980's the truths in this book mirrors a lot of what is happening in 2019. Sin is still sin no matter what decade.