4 Minute Devotions: Beijing Boycott

The Olympic Games in China are about to begin, but I cannot watch any of them. China is still persecuting and imprisoning Christians, even in the city of Beijing itself.

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1 Corinthians 9:24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.

It’s almost time for the Olympic Games to begin and it will soon seem as though the whole world is standing still. Athletes from many nations will be traveling to Beijing to compete in the Games. They will proudly carry their nations’ flags at the opening ceremonies and do their utmost to win medals for their countries. All of them will pursue the Olympic motto of “Faster, Higher, and Stronger” to attain their personal bests, so that they can go home, proud of their attempts and achievements.

As much as I have loved to watch the Olympic Games in the past, this year I cannot bring myself to do it. As a teenager, I loved participating in athletic events and was even a member of the High School sprint team. Throughout the years, I have been enthralled by the speed, skills, and success of modern athletes. This year, however, I cannot enjoy any of their performances.

My heart is heavy because the Olympics are being held in a nation that still arrests Christians and puts pastors in jail. As recent as Sunday May 25, Chinese police authorities in Beijing raided the Beijing Gospel church and disrupted worship. The pastor was arrested and interrogated; he was eventually released but is still under surveillance.

This happens every week, all over China. When the Olympic Committee chose Beijing as the site for the 2008 Games, they were assured that China would clean up its Human Rights and stop religious persecution. They never kept that promise, and so I will not be watching the Games. Instead, I will take time to pray for a young woman called Li Ying. She was arrested for producing and distributing a Christian newsletter in 2001, when China was awarded the Games. She is still in prison and will not be released until 2016.

As the world’s athletes run toward the finishing tape to secure their gold, silver, and bronze medals, be aware that just a few miles away from the sporting events, Christians are being harassed, persecuted, and imprisoned. They are running the real race that matters and their prize is a crown in Christ’s Kingdom. The Olympics are a world-wide, short-lived delusion. Winning souls for Christ and running for His Team are the eternal goals that we should be accomplishing. China may imprison Christians for years, but Christ keeps the persecuted free for all of eternity.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, we get so caught up with the world’s dreams that we sometimes forget the vision You have for the entire earth. Afflict our hearts and minds so that we will remember those poor souls that are languishing in prison in Beijing and throughout China just for believing in You. Shame us into remembering the cost of being Christians and help us to pray for those who are imprisoned just for praying, preaching, and practicing their Christianity. In Your Holy Name, we humbly pray. Amen.

John Stuart is the pastor of Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you would like to comment on today’s message, please send him an email to pastor@erinpresbyterian.org.

How To Tame a Dragon

The Olympic Games are just a season away and within the next couple of weeks athletes from around the world will be competing for places on their national teams. For years, many of these young people will have been preparing themselves to physically and mentally peak during this summer. They will have lofty ambitions and seek to gain international reputations by the winning coveted medals for their countries.

They will represent the best of humanity’s strongest, fastest and most competitive people. They are the elite athletes of the world. Throughout the summer, the hype, publicity, and commercial exploitation of the Games will take place in practically every nation on earth. Theoretically, it will be a time to lay down our arms and pick up our running shoes. It is a quadrennial event when we aspire as a species to live at peace with one another and joyfully compete. The Games symbolize the greatness, grandeur, and godliness of humankind.

But there is a shadow over this year’s Games. The host nation, China, is an unworthy venue for the Olympics. China’s human rights abuses, religious persecutions, and contempt for democracy and liberty makes it the 21st century’s equivalent of Nazi Germany. Despite giving assurances that they would do something about these internal problems eight years ago, the Chinese authorities have instead increased their inhumane practices of political executions, religious intolerance, and tyrannical policing of their nation.

In a civilized world, the evil excesses of China should not be condoned by presenting the Games in the heart of an oppressive regime. The dictatorship of Communist China dishonors the heart, spirit, and majesty of the Olympics. They are abusing the privilege of hosting the World. They should be held accountable for their human rights atrocities and boycotted for their abuse of religious minorities.

I will not watch the Olympics, nor will I esteem any new sporting records or applaud any athletes who accomplish their goals. I will not buy into the “let’s keep politics out of sports’ mentality that passes for civilized sophistry amongst sports commentators, newspapers, and television channels. China, under its present totalitarian leadership, is a bloody stain upon human rights and freedom. I will not make myself a hypocrite by watching an oppressive nation use the Olympics as propaganda to deceive its own people.

In the 20th century, the whole world made terrible mistakes by allowing Nazi Germany to host the Olympics. It seems that in the dawn of this new century, we are about to embark on a course that will see us make the same mistakes. If there is no boycott of the Games by our leaders, then we had better prepare ourselves for war in the next decade, because the Beijing will treat our acquiescence as decadent weakness, just as Hitler did in the 1930s.

Remember this: after the boycott of the 1980 Moscow Games, the tyrannical Soviet Union collapsed within a decade; but three years after the participation of all nations at the 1936 Berlin Games, the World was involved in total war.

If we do not learn from the past, we are doomed to repeat history.