Someone is always watching us, besides God. Whether it be your loved ones'
co-workers, neighbors or whoever, someone is always watching you. If you are
a child of God (not
everyone is), then you should care (Matthew 5:16). You should want
others to see Jesus Christ in your actions and life.
First, no one can make you sin except YOU. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink it. We are accountable to God for our own selves concerning our actions and words (Romans 14:12). We have no one to blame but ourselves for the sins we commit, the mistakes we make, and the foolish decisions in our life.
The Bible plainly teaches in 1st Corinthians 10:13, “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” We can never make excuses for our own wrong doing. HOWEVER, God will hold accountable, those people who LEAD OTHERS TO SIN.
I once told this truth to a Lutheran minister and he laughed in my face, saying that no one can lead others to sin. Well, he doesn't know the Word of God very well, because there are umpteen instances in the Bible where someone caused others to sin. Do not be deceived, those who LEAD others to sin WILL be judged by God for their wickedness.
To clarify, each person will be held accountable by God for their own sins; but God will also hold people accountable if they led others to sin as well.
Let's take a look in the Bible at a few people who led others to sin . . .
Satan
“Now
the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had
made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of
every tree of the garden? ... For God doth know that in the day ye eat
thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good
and evil.” (Genesis 3:1,5). Revelation 20:2 identifies the serpent as
Satan.
It was the Devil in the Garden of Eden who led Eve to sin, and then Eve led Adam to sin. Satan twisted the Word of God around and LIED to Eve. Satan is the father of all liars (John 8:44).
Satan also came to Jesus in Matthew Chapter 4, TEMPTING Christ to sin. Again, the Devil misquoted the Word of God. Jesus didn't sin (Hebrews 4:15). The Devil is a master deceiver and trickster (2nd Corinthians 11:14). Even today, Satan is still perverting the Truth of God's Word (Romans 1:25). The world is filled with Satanic lies, philosophies, and religion because Satan desires to kill, steal, and destroy (John 10:10; 2nd Corinthians 4:4).
Jezebel, Ahab's Evil Wife
“But there was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the LORD, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up” (1st Kings 21:25).
Jezebel was evil to the core and led her husband to sin greatly in the sight of God. It was Jezebel who “stirred up” the wicked desires of her husband, Ahab. Many wives have tempted and led their husbands to commit great sins. 1st Peter 3:1 teaches that husbands who won't listen to the Word of God may be “...won by the conversation of the wives.” Women have great influence over men.
Dr. R.G. Lee in his sermon “Payday Someday” said that America could be won back to God if it's mothers would repent and get right with God. Jezebel conspired and led others to bear false witness against an innocent man, Naboth, to steal his land (1st Kings 21:7). What a wicked sin!
Some wives provoke their husbands to anger by failing
to fulfill their responsibilities as a wife and mother. No husband
should have to clean up after his wife. Many wives are lazy
and undisciplined, they won't watch the kids, oversleep, won't
clean the house, don't care about their families' nutrition, cook
everything from a can or package, hide things from their husband, lie when in trouble, don't care about their children's education, won't be
sensual for their husband, won't communicate with their husband, et cetera. Then when the husband blows up in anger, she abandons him and runs
to a shelter for weeks at a time. The wife demonizes the husband for
getting angry, when she is the one LEADING him to get angry in the
first place. God will judge that lazy and careless wife. And then snakes
interfere with the marriage and tell the wife to divorce, divorce, divorce.
We are living in a rotten society of deadly serpents today!
Job's Wife
“Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die” (Job 2:9).
Job's wife literally told Job to go kill himself. Job's wife lacked faith in God, unlike Job. She missed the greatest opportunity in her life to stand by her man. She she blew it! At the time when Job needed his wife's encouragement the most, she forsook him in spirit. I realize that Job's wife was suffering too, and lost all her children. I surely don't want to be critical of her; BUT, she was attempting to LEAD Job to curse God and kill himself. This is sinful. Job was trying to hang in there for God, while his wife was trying to destroy his remaining faith. That's what Satan does!
What a sad testimony of Job's wife. Who are
you to drag someone else down into the abyss with you, just because you've
given up all hope in life? I've known several people in my life who were
like walking cancerous tumors. Their attitude's were so bad that all
they ever did was gossip, complain, criticize, tear down, condemn, slander,
attack, and be malicious. Such people oftentimes LEAD others to
sin by spreading their cancer all over the place. Attitudes are
contagious, is yours worth catching?
Abusive Fathers
“Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged” (Colossians 3:21).
It is interesting that the Bible mentions the father, and not the mother. The reason is simply because the man is the leader in the home. And if he's not, that in itself can be very upsetting (e.g., In the movie, James Dean, the father is a coward, unwilling to put his foot down and take charge of the family. The wife is overbearing. It is very upsetting to James. At the end of the movie, the father finally takes control, and their is a sense of relief).
A father is expected to take charge of his family, and failure to do so is a form of neglect. Tragically, many divorces have resulted from feminist wives who refuse to allow their husbands to be the leader that God created him to be. There is an evil Communist agenda at work in America today to lead young girls into fornication, get pregnant out of wedlock, and if there is a marriage, cause a divorce shortly thereafter. Feminism today works against the family by attacking the man of the home. The criminals behind the moral, political and economic subversion of America want parents to become mere incubators to produce loyal indoctrinated servants of the State government. No family will ever be what God intended for it to be without a strong, loving, understanding, but firm man to lead it. This is why sexual perversion is everywhere in society today, Evolution is being taught instead of the Bible, and homeschooling is becoming illegal.
I was listening to the news one day, and was saddened by what I heard. A young teenage mother got angry at her mother, so angry that she threw her own baby out of a second-story window which led to the babies death. Oh that foolish mother, who LED her own daughter, to commit such a horrible crime. I'm not justifying the daughter's act of murder; BUT, that mother is the culprit. Do you think God is blind to such influences? Do you think God will not hold the lazy and careless wife accountable, who drives her husband to sin? I'm not condoning domestic violence, I'm just saying that some foolish women CAUSE it, by LEADING their husbands to the point of blowing up. God will judge every man who is abusive to his wife; BUT, he will hold a lazy, careless, and disobedient wife even more responsible.
I preach mostly in defense of husbands, because feminism has taught American women to be rebels. God created man to do His work; but created woman to be a HELP MEET to a man. Feminists demand for everything to be 50/50, equal and no one dare say that women are more to blame. Well, the truth is that women are mostly to blame for all the divorces in America. Not one man has ever had an abortion! Not one! Over 50,000,000 children have been murdered by their American mothers. This is why our nation has no problem murdering over 1,000,000 innocent Iraqis to steal the oil. That's why the mothers in America are... MURDERERS! Feminism has not deceived men, but WOMEN (just as Eve was deceived and not Adam). Feminism is an evil agenda intended to engineer American women to kill, steal and destroy.
A wife is to be a HELP MEET to her husband. That is what the Bible teaches (Genesis 2:18). Divorces are 90% the wife's fault. Nearly every woman I have ever spoken to, who has divorced her husband, attempted to justify her sin of divorce by parading her husbands sins for everyone to know about. This is not love, for if any of these women truly loved their husbands, they wouldn't go around publicly assassinating their husband's character. Divorce is a horrible sin rooted in self-righteous hatred, unforgiveness and hypocrisy.
Jeroboam Led a Nation to Sin
“And Nadab the son of Jeroboam began to reign over Israel in the second year of Asa king of Judah, and reigned over Israel two years. And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the way of his father, and in his sin wherewith HE MADE ISRAEL TO SIN” (1st Kings 15:25).
“And he shall give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, who did sin, and who made Israel to sin” (1st Kings 14:16).
Carefully notice that the Bible says “...HE MADE ISRAEL TO SIN” (1st Kings 15:25). The sin was IDOLATRY—the worship of golden calves (2nd Kings 10:29). Jeroboam, who had journey north with 10 of the tribes of Israel after Solomon's death, did evil in the sight of God. Jeroboam feared that the Israelites under his rulership would head back south to Judah if he didn't appease them with idols to worship. So Jeroboam fabricated golden calves for them to worship, and greatly angered the Lord by doing so. Thousands of years later, nothing has changed. Many of our political leaders today have sold their souls to Satan, and are willing to do ANYTHING to get the vote and support of the voters. Whereas Jeroboam should have obeyed God, risking the loss of some of his followers; he instead gave in to the immoral desires of his followers, and rejected the Word of God. As a king, Jeroboam LED the nation of Israel under his leadership to commit idolatry.
The same is true today. Whereas our
government leaders should OUTLAW witchcraft, homosexuality, abortion,
prostitution, gambling, alcohol, pornography, evolution, and feminism--they
instead cater to the immoral desires of the wicked and LEAD America into
sin. Jeroboam could have blamed the people, claiming that he simply gave
them what they wanted; BUT, the Word of God indicts Jeroboam because he
was the leader. Likewise, today's Supreme Court justices, legislatures,
and government leaders may claim innocence on the basis that they are simple
catering to the wishes of the American people; BUT, they are the one's MOSTLY
to blame because they ARE the leaders. Just as Jeroboam, ALL of today's
leaders, who in any capacity, have allowed for the demoralization of America,
WILL be judged severely by God on judgment day for LEADING our nation
into sin.
Balaam, Prophet for Hire
“Balaam was a resident of the town of Pethor on the river Euphrates. He was a mercenary prophet who sold himself to the highest bidder. The 'love of money' corrupted Balaam; though at times, when Jehovah controlled his tongue, he couldn't help but speak the Truth. Balaam was hired by king Balak of Moab to come and curse Israel. But for all his eagerness to do so, (for he desperately wanted Balak's gold) Balaam couldn't curse the chosen people of God. Balaam's love of money and the frustration he felt at being unable to curse Israel are graphically told in Numbers chapters 22 to 25. The world would do well to learn lessons from Balaam's greed and Balak's hatred of Israel; lessons which could well apply even to the Christian church, which in ages past has sorely persecuted the people of God, the apple of Jehovah's eye. (Deut.32:10, Zec.2:8). But first a few definitions.” -SOURCE
Balaam false prophecies LED Israel to sin against God...
“Behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against the LORD...” (Numbers 31:16).
“But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication.” (Revelation 2:14).
“Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness.” (2nd Peter 2:15).
Just like Balaam, there are many such prophets
for hire today; such false prophets as Benny Hinn, Oral Robert, Joel Osteen,
Bill Hamon, Creflo Dollar, John Hagee, Robert Schuller, T.D. Jakes, Rick
Joyner, Don Stewart, Rod Parsley, Sun Myung Moon, Sylvia Browne, Oprah
Winfrey, Dr. Phil, Arnold Murray, Maitreya, John MacArthur, R.B. Thieme Jr. ,
T.B. Joshua, Bill Hybels, David Hogan, John Hinkle, Ruth Heflin, Jack Hayford,
Christian Harfouche, Gene Edwards, Francis Frangepane, Jesse Duplantis, and
hundreds more. The Bible condemns greedy televangelists (2nd Peter 2:1-3).
Conclusion of the Matter
I have provided you with numerous examples of evil people who led others into sin. God is going to hold us accountable for our own sins one day, but He is also going to hold us accountable if our words or actions cause others to sin. They can't blame you, but God certainly can and will. Jesus said in Matthew 12:36 that men shall give account to God on Judgment Day for even the words they speak.
