President Donald Trump’s decision to commute the prison sentence of longtime friend and political adviser Roger Stone just days before Stone was to begin a 40-month prison sentence – he and the president say he was falsely accused – reminded me of another man who was as loyal to his president and who did go to prison.
Charles Colson, described by detractors as Richard Nixon’s “hatchet man,” went to federal prison after pleading guilty to obstruction of justice for attempting to defame Pentagon Papers defendant Daniel Ellsberg in the Watergate affair.
While the cases and outcomes are different, Stone has proclaimed a life-changing experience identical to Colson’s. In an interview with The Washington Examiner three months ago, Stone said evangelist Franklin Graham had been counseling him and urged him to ” … put my faith in God, and confess my sins, acknowledge Jesus Christ in my life. And I have done that.”
As was Colson’s experience, many skeptics and political opponents will deride Stone’s announcement. While some have used religion to keep out of prison, receive a lighter sentence or be paroled early, the faith of others has proved to be genuine. Time always tells.
Stone acknowledged that some will be skeptical, even cynical, when he told the Examiner, “I’m aware of the fact there are skeptics who are going to say, ‘Stone is posturing. Stone is maneuvering for public sympathy,’ and so on. But that’s just not the case. And he, God, knows what’s in my heart.”