You chose #1 (Do your best, do not accept bribe)- GOOD! 

Of course. This is a no-brainer. We all know this is the right approach. Shall we take this one step further, if it isn’t obvious by now.

Let us suppose Almighty God is our good coach. You are the Christian player who happens to live in the United States. The other coach is Satan. The team is the church. The other players are fellow Christians, many of whom are fighting the good fight and winning. Many are in China. The friends and the family members who are also friends with the other coach represent unsaved people in our lives.

We are told by some that we would be doing our fellow Christians in China a great service if we choose Permanent Normalized Trade Relations (PNTR) for China. Many Christians in our U.S. House have chosen the expedient way out by passing this Bill. They are trying to fix the temporal problems, not considering the longer term effects on God’s church.

If we analyze the options, we find that the expedient choice given to the player was similar to our current choices on China. Why do we have this issue coming up today?

Money. Money for the multinational business corporations. Money for the politicians. Money for the Chinese government. This is similar to the pressure put on the player to accept the bribe (by family and friends), supposedly to ‘help’ our teammates (brothers and sisters in Christ).

The player had multiple ‘good’ reasons he could have chosen to accept a bribe. He might be able to do good to others with that money, but as we see, he would have lost his and his team’s integrity (our country’s ‘Christian’ integrity, part of this as well). There are always ways we can justify our decisions when we choose to follow our own course and not God’s ‘straight and narrow’.

Is this a fair comparison? Is it fair to equate Satan (as the other coach) to China’s interests, as are represented by this scandalous coach?

The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. We are not to conform to the world. Christians are told to have nothing to do with godless deeds and to expose them. China has:

• Overall, increased persecution of Christians during the last year, according to our own government and multiple human rights advocates. They allow some Christian groups access but not without strings attached. The only Bibles available must be printed only by the government’s church’s presses. The "Three Self" church is the only church recognized by the government and house churches are illegal.
• Continued forced abortion to keep a ‘one-child’ policy. It isn’t too surprising females are more often aborted than males.
• Imprisoned and use as slave labor, Christians who worship in a different way than the government dictates. See example.
• Joined with the Islamic Sudanese government for oil (Petro China). Money raised for this will be funneled into the Sudanese military to further persecute and kill Christians in that country with helicopter gunships, etc. Sudan has one of the most horrific persecution records in the world, affecting millions of Christians.

Yes, unfortunately, China embraces the evil coach’s values. We are selling out much like the player could and justifying this action using worldly thinking. We give up our trust and faith in God and His Word.

The China PNTR situation is a great example of a test set before us. We have so far, again, failed yet another test before Almighty God! Secular, governmental, and Christian human rights advocates have claimed worsening violations during the last year in China. As Christians, we must put God and His values first.

Whatever happens with the PNTR bill, God will make it work out for His will, whatever we do!  Our choice will, however, affect our relationship to Him.

Galatians 5: 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

Our allegiance is especially to the family of believers. We should realize that the damage done to our team supercedes our short-term financial gain. It would be our, selfish, financial gain. It would be on the backs of our fellow Christians. The ones who would profit from PNTR are simply:

1. Chinese government (who continues to persecute Christians and force abortion)
2. Our politicians (who do not enjoy dealing with Most Favored Nation status on a yearly basis), and get contributions from multinational corporations.
3. Multinational companies and their stockholders (us?  -make sure your mutual funds don't hold Petro China stock).

Despite deceptive arguments to the contrary, these are the groups who see potential benefit. If this was a great idea for the Christians, there would have been an outcry for this years ago. If human rights were to be helped by this, it would have been sought years ago. As it is, the potential benefit to Chinese Christians is simply an afterthought to try to justify what would be profitable to those who want PNTR. Even they are not firmly convinced it will work. 

The provision for a commission on human rights will report to, and is composed of, representatives from the Congress and the President, who are each politically (and financially) profiting from maintaining trade.  It is like trusting research about smoking risks that is performed by tobacco companies. 

In general, these politicians fail to seriously police themselves.  They will not withold 'normalized' trade status under reported increasing persecution, why should we think that will occur in the future?  Isn't it the voter 's job, our job, to police the elected 'officials'?  We currently don't seem up to the task and therefore the elected 'officials' will not choose right, either.  In the time-being, our country lacks the moral tiller to steady the course through stormy waters that are developing.  Christians will continue to suffer and are persecuted without repentance.   

As Christians, we are directed to first do well to the other believers. We have strayed, thinking we can do well to them as a secondary gain from our lust for money and other worldly desires. We must not get sidetracked from what is most important.

We should make sure our actions are going to do good for (or at least not harm) fellow believers. Only after that has been carefully considered should we think about lining our own pockets with dollars from these choices. As in medicine, ‘above all, do no harm’.

1Corinthians 15: 33 Do not be misled: "Bad company corrupts good character."

James 1:27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Galatians 6: 7 Do not be deceived : God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8 The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. 9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

We shouldn't be surprised if whatever happens with trade (PNTR wins or loses, etc.) should occur and we find the church in China grow and flourish.  That is God's part.  Our part is to remain true to His Word and to stand firm with His direction.  Many Chinese Christians have already learned this lesson, our fellow teammates want us to play as hard as they do, not to sell out to the evil one, even if we think it might help their plight. 

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