From Eternal Death to Eternal Life

Charles Watson

Most people don't know who Charles "Tex" Watson is because they weren't around when he became notorious.

Watson became famous by joining a hippy cult in the late 1960s. While that doesn't seem like anything newsworthy, the cult that Watson joined wasn't just any run-of-the-mill cult running around southern California in those days.

The cult that Watson joined was headed by the notorious Charles Manson, a sociopath, loser, career criminal, con artist, drug dealer and a failed musician. 

The cult had about 30 members that consisted mostly of young girls that had left middle and upper class families at Manson's behest to find their happiness and spiritual fulfillment in the self-styled guru. 

Manson managed to convince the girls that he was the second coming of Jesus Christ who would teach them how to become divine through a combination of hallucinogenic drugs, eastern philosophy, free sex and total submission to him. 

Along the way, Manson also convinced them that a global race war between blacks and whites was imminent and that he had been ordained by God to prepare a group of people who would emerge from a secret hideout at the end of the war to rule the world. 

Watson joined the group soon after he had dropped out of college in Texas and drifted west to find his own fulfillment. He grew up in Copeville, Texas, the youngest of three children from a conservative, church-going family. 

Watson was an extremely bright, gifted young man who seem destined for success in whatever field he chose. Unfortunately, he was also restless and he became disenchanted with a world that in his eyes placed more value on wealth and materialism than upon spiritual things.

And so, he took off for California in search of his own spiritual enlightenment. It was there that he met up with the diabolical and charismatic Manson who became impressed with Watson because the young man from Texas also happened to be a gifted mechanic. Since the cult had acquired a fleet of cars mostly by theft, they needed someone to maintain them. And Watson had the ability.

Watson also had a mean streak in him that was enhanced by the plethora of drugs dispensed by Manson. It was that mean streak, coupled with Watson's ample size, that convinced Manson to appoint Watson his chief executioner for a series of murders that Manson hoped would ignite his race war. 

You see, Manson was also a racist who hated blacks and wanted to commit murders that police would attribute to the Black Panthers. Manson ordered Watson and some of his women to carry out the murders, and they eagerly did. 

On August 8, 1969, Watson and his crew murdered Sharon Tate, Jay Sebring, Wojciech Frykowski and Abigail Folger in a Los Angeles home located on Cielo Drive. Watson also gunned down a young man named Steve Parent who had gone to visit a friend who was staying in a guest house on the property. The next night, Watson and his crew traveled across the city to murder Leno LaBianca and his wife Rosemary. 

Watson, his crew and Manson were eventually caught and convicted of the murders. Watson was sentenced to death in 1971, but his sentence was eventually overturned and he was re-sentenced to life in prison. Soon after he was imprisoned, Manson's influence faded and Watson's conscience began bothering him. Big time.

He realized that he had not only ruined his own life, but he'd destroyed several others, including actress Sharon Tate who was pregnant at the time. Watson's conscience condemned him severely. He could have destroyed himself in the bizarre hope that suicide would've somehow atoned for his deeds.

Instead, he remembered his Christian roots as a child--the roots that he had abandoned to follow a false messiah in Charles Manson. In 1975, he repented of his deeds and committed his life to Jesus Christ.

I know that a lot of folks treat jailhouse conversions with disdain. They think they're phony. But Watson's conversion is genuine. He's a different man today than he was in 1969 when he was under Manson's evil spell. He's truly been born again.

He also leads a ministry called Abounding In Love, that's designed to lead not only prisoners to Jesus Christ, but all people as well. In 1981, Watson also became an ordained minister. His transformation from a murderous thug to a loving, apostle of Christ is truly remarkable.

Yes, Watson remains in jail. He's been up for parole several times. But he realizes that it's unlikely that he'll ever get out, given the hideous nature of his crimes, even though they occurred 45 years ago.

Still, Watson does the Lord's work from behind bars. In the end, he's accomplished more in prison than he probably would've had he never met Manson.

Please understand that I'm not advocating folks get thrown in jail so they can start a prison ministry. What Watson did was reprehensible, and he'd be the first to admit that. 

But he managed to turn a negative into a positive. As the scripture says: "What was intended for evil, God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives." (Genesis 50:20)