ISSUES OF FAITH: A million dollars versus one good reason
Published 1:30 am Friday, February 13, 2026
IN MY LAST column, I mentioned that I had once received a million-dollar bribe.
Everyone has been checking the paper daily waiting for the rest of the story.
By the way, if you can’t tell, I enjoy a little sarcasm.
I owned a small business for several years. Not Microsoft, Google or Amazon. A wee bit smaller.
There was a retailer looking for a new supplier. I went out to their corporate offices and pitched our products.
One evening, I received a call from the decision maker.
There was loud music in the background and his speech was a bit slurred, so I think he might have been drinking.
He said that we had the business! I was thrilled!
This represented 1 million dollars in annual sales with all of their locations that would be stocked.
For my little company, it was huge.
He then said that he would need 10 percent and that nobody could know about it, not even my wife.
I thought that I must be misunderstanding him, so I tried to clarify.
Did he mean he needed a back-end program, or marketing funds, or a rebate?
No, he wanted me to wire his personal bank account 10 percent of all purchases.
I had a sick feeling.
Is this guy for real?
I wanted the business.
My family could use the extra income.
Our company would benefit from the extra orders. But there was never a question on what I would do.
I told him, “I’m sorry, but that would not work for me.”
He called me a fool for walking away.
He said that I should think about it before saying no to a million dollars.
It reminded me of when Mr. Potter offered George Bailey a job in the movie “It’s A Wonderful Life,” and he gives George Bailey a cigar.
For a split second, George Bailey is intrigued. (I never received a cigar and I don’t smoke, so it wouldn’t have helped.) He entices him with money. Mr. Potter says that his ship had come in.
At first, George Bailey said he needed 24 hours to discuss with his wife.
Then George Bailey shakes Mr. Potter’s hand, and his expression changes.
He knows that he’s making a mistake.
He then says he doesn’t need 24 hours.
The answer is “No!”
Well, I never heard from this person again.
I assume he worked something out with another supplier who didn’t mind doing nefarious things.
I never made it big. I walked away from the million dollars.
I love the 13th article of faith of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: “We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul — We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.”
Money comes and goes. Businesses come and go.
One day we will stand before God.
The Book of Mormon ends with the prophet Moroni’s words, “And now I bid unto all, farewell. I soon go to rest in the paradise of God, until my spirit and body shall again reunite, and I am brought forth triumphant through the air, to meet you before the pleasing bar of the great Jehovah, the Eternal Judge of both quick and dead. Amen,” (Moroni 10:34).
There is respect in earning an honest living.
I’m humbled as I see hard-working people in all walks of life striving to provide for themselves and their families and be self reliant.
I strive to live in a way to be able to stand before our Eternal Judge one day.
I fall short often, but I am so glad I did not take that million-dollar bribe.
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Issues of Faith is a rotating column by religious leaders on the North Olympic Peninsula. Bishop Jason Bringhurst is the leader of the Mount Pleasant Ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Port Angeles, ComeUntoChrist.org. His email is jasonbring@gmail.com.
