Cal Thomas: Take heed lest you fall

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Thursday, February 27th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Myrna Brown.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard. Up next, WORLD commentator Cal Thomas shares a timely reminder from Scripture—one that applies to everyone, all the way to the top.

CAL THOMAS: President Trump is on a roll, claiming victory after victory against the “swamp.” Some of his decisions are being challenged in court, but others like closing the border and deporting migrants with criminal records are likely to be sustained. Polls show they are popular. Foreign policy is another matter, but we’ll see whether the president’s “art” of deal-making works to end the war between Russia and Ukraine.

There is one enemy that is far more dangerous than any foreign threat or the high price of eggs. That enemy is pride, which Solomon warns in Proverbs 16:18 “goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before the fall.”

Perhaps the most famous validation of that ancient truth in modern times and an example of pride’s self-destructive inner nature is the collapse of the Nixon administration over the Watergate scandal. Richard Nixon had scored a resounding victory for a second term in the 1972 election, but his pride and that of especially his chief counsel, Charles W. Colson, brought them down.

I have been re-reading Colson’s best-selling 1976 book “Born Again.” It’s about how his extreme loyalty to Nixon and the “dirty tricks” unleashed against Democrats by people hired by members of the administration, resulted in his conviction and ultimate spiritual transformation.

The story will be familiar, especially to Christians of a certain age. As the “gate” began to close on the administration, Colson visited his old friend, Tom Phillips, president of Raytheon Corporation in Boston. He noticed a difference in the man he had known in the past. Colson writes that Phillips explained to him his life had been transformed after accepting Jesus Christ and suggested Colson read C.S. Lewis’ classic “Mere Christianity.”

Taking no chance he might not, Phillips read Colson the chapter about pride in which Lewis wrote, “There is one vice of which no man in the world is free. … Pride (or self-conceit) leads to every other vice…”

Phillips added that he and the Nixon administration had brought all their troubles on themselves.

When Colson got into his car to leave, he described himself breaking down in tears because he knew Phillips was right. Pride was leading to his downfall. He eventually accepted Christ as his Savior.

Later in court, Colson pleaded guilty to this charge: “On or about June 28th, 1971, and for a period of time thereafter, in the District of Columbia and elsewhere … (the defendant) unlawfully, willfully and knowingly did corruptly endeavor to influence, obstruct and impede the due administration of justice in connection with the criminal trial of Daniel Ellsberg.”

Colson went to prison, but out of that experience came a vision to establish a ministry to inmates he called “Prison Fellowship.” The organization helps prisoners and their families. It still endures following his death in 2012.

History is replete with leaders who have been consumed with and destroyed by pride. Let this serve as a warning, Mr. President. The best friends are those who speak the truth, disregarding the effect it might have on their own positions. Will you listen and avoid the fate of others who traveled down this dead-end road and learned too late to regret it?

I’m Cal Thomas.

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