5 things to know about the late Michael Reagan: 'I was a chosen one'
1. He was adopted during Reagan's first marriage: 'Chosen'
Born John Charles Flaugher in 1945 to an unwed mother, Michael was adopted days after his birth by Ronald Reagan and his first wife, actress Jane Wyman. The two divorced when Michael was 3 years old.
When he was 4 years old, his sister Maureen told him he was adopted, which angered his mother, who assured him his adoption meant he was "chosen" and especially loved. The revelation nevertheless led to feelings of self-doubt and inferiority as he grew up.
When he was sent to boarding school at age 6, his classmates teased him about not being a "real" Reagan, calling him the "Bastard Reagan." Unsure of what the word meant, he looked it up and found it in Deuteronomy 23:2, which says, "A bastard shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord; even to his tenth generation shall he not enter into the congregation of the Lord."
His early identity struggles led to a crisis of faith and made him feel that far from being chosen, he had been rejected by God.
"I closed the Bible," Michael remembered, according to CBN. "This is like 1951. [I] didn't reopen the Bible until 1978."
Jon Brown is a reporter for The Christian Post. Send news tips to jon.brown@christianpost.com
