We read in Mark 11:15-18: “And they come to Jerusalem: and Jesus went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves; And would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple.  And he taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer?  but ye have made it a den of thieves.  And the scribes and chief priests heard it, and sought how they might destroy him: for they feared him, because all the people was astonished at his doctrine.”

Enabling unrighteousness under one’s watch is a sign of a bad spiritual leader and of a bad authority figure in general.  The Scribes and Chief Priests understood that Jesus cleansing the Temple was, by implication, a rebuke to themselves.  They had allowed this unrighteous business at the Temple under their watch.  They were not like the righteous Nehemiah centuries earlier who had been sent by the Persians to govern the Jews (when the Jews were under Persian rule).  Even though the Sabbath was for Jews and is not for Christians now, since it was prescribed under Judaism in the Old Covenant, under which Nehemiah lived, consider the principle in the passage we’re about to look at.  The Jewish authorities in Jesus’ time should have handled the money changers and others who tried to use the Temple for their personal interests like Nehemiah handled those who publicly defiled the Sabbath and made it a common day to do business.  

Nehemiah 13:15-22: “In those days saw I in Judah some treading wine presses on the sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and lading asses (donkeys); as also wine, grapes, and figs, and all manner of burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem on the sabbath day: and I testified against them in the day wherein they sold victuals (food and basic supplies).  There dwelt men of Tyre also therein, which brought fish, and all manner of ware, and sold on the sabbath unto the children of Judah, and in Jerusalem.  Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, and said unto them, What evil thing is this that ye do, and profane the sabbath day?  Did not your fathers thus, and did not our God bring all this evil upon us, and upon this city?  yet ye bring more wrath upon Israel by profaning the sabbath.  And it came to pass, that when the gates of Jerusalem began to be dark before the sabbath, I commanded that the gates should be shut, and charged that they should not be opened till after the sabbath: and some of my servants set I at the gates, that there should no burden be brought in on the sabbath day.  So the merchants and sellers of all kind of ware lodged without Jerusalem once or twice.  Then I testified against them, and said unto them, Why lodge ye about the wall?  if ye do so again, I will lay hands on you.  From that time forth came they no more on the sabbath.  And I commanded the Levites that they should cleanse themselves, and that they should come and keep the gates, to sanctify the sabbath day.  Remember me, O my God, concerning this also, and spare me according to the greatness of thy mercy.”

Nehemiah understood well that in order to rightfully hope that He would be spared according to God’s mercy he could not have a regard for sin.  Therefore, he knew that he could not be an enabler of sin under his watch.  The Book of Nehemiah overall is a textbook on how to not be an enabler, as well as on the extreme importance of not being an enabler of evil.

Consider also enabling on the level of family and in relation to protecting those of one’s family from the just punishment due to them for crimes which they have committed (we could apply this also to protecting those of one’s tribe or ethnicity or other group one identifies with from the just punishment due to them for crimes which they have committed).

After men from the city of Gibeah of the Tribe of Benjamin had abused a woman in an exceedingly vile and violent manner which caused her to die, her husband had successfully informed the nation as a whole of what had happened (as Judges chapter 19 closes and into Judges chapter 20).

We then read in Judges 20:8-18: “And all the people arose as one man, saying, We will not any of us go to his tent, neither will we any of us turn into his house.  But now this shall be the thing which we will do to Gibeah; we will go up by lot against it; and we will take ten men of an hundred throughout all the tribes of Israel, and an hundred of a thousand, and a thousand out of ten thousand, to fetch victual for the people, that they may do, when they come to Gibeah of Benjamin, according to all the folly that they have wrought in Israel.  So all the men of Israel were gathered against the city, knit together as one man.  And the tribes of Israel sent men through all the tribe of Benjamin (they warned them before they went to war with them), saying, What wickedness is this that is done among you?  Now therefore deliver us the men, the children of Belial (of the devil), which are in Gibeah, that we may put them to death, and put away evil from Israel.  But the children of Benjamin would not hearken to the voice of their brethren the children of Israel: but the children of Benjamin gathered themselves together out of the cities unto Gibeah, to go out to battle against the children of Israel.  And the children of Benjamin were numbered at that time out of the cities twenty and six thousand men that drew sword, beside the inhabitants of Gibeah, which were numbered seven hundred chosen men.  Among all this people there were seven hundred chosen men lefthanded; every one could sling stones at an hair breadth, and not miss.  And the men of Israel, beside Benjamin, were numbered four hundred thousand men that drew sword: all these were men of war.  And the children of Israel arose, and went up to the house of God, and asked counsel of God, and said, Which of us shall go up first to the battle against the children of Benjamin?  And the Lord said, Judah shall go up first.”

God is not an enabler.  It was His decision that the rest of Israel fight against the Tribe of Benjamin for harboring a handful of sensual perverts and murderers of their own tribe from the death penalty which God had already prescribed.

Genesis 9:6: “Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.”

It took longer than we might expect, but the other tribes of Israel prevailed against the wicked enablers of the Tribe of Benjamin.  They paid a sore price for their enabling.

Was it worth a bloody civil war to not let the enablers prevail in their efforts that justice would not be carried out on those whom they were harboring?  Yes.  By God’s own estimation right in the Holy Bible, yes.

How different are the Benjamites in Judges than the Levites in Moses’ time who put partiality aside, their own reputations aside, and misguided compassion aside to slay the idolaters of their own tribe, and even of their own families, when deputized by Moses, the highest judge in Israel (Exodus 32:26-29)!

Some of the biggest enablers of evil are preachers and other clergymen.  Look at how God rebuked many such in Israel.

Jeremiah 23:16-22: “Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the LORD.  They say still unto them that despise me, The LORD hath said, Ye shall have peace; and they say unto every one that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, No evil shall come upon you.  For who hath stood in the counsel of the LORD, and hath perceived and heard his word?  who hath marked his word, and heard it?  Behold, a whirlwind of the LORD is gone forth in fury, even a grievous whirlwind: it shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked.  The anger of the LORD shall not return, until he have executed, and till he have performed the thoughts of his heart: in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly.  I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.  But if they had stood in my counsel, and had caused my people to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.”

Ezekiel 13:22: “Because with lies ye have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad; and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, by promising him life…”

How different were these from the true preacher of righteousness John the Baptist!

Luke 3:7-9: “Then said he to the multitude that came forth to be baptized of him, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?  Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, That God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.  And now also the ax is laid unto the root of the trees: every tree therefore which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.”

We can’t talk about the Bible’s rebukes of enablers of evil much without bringing up King Ahab.

1 Kings 21:25-26: “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.  And he did very abominably in following idols, according to all things as did the Amorites, whom the Lord cast out before the children of Israel.”

Anyone, man or woman, who follows their spouse in heathen ways like Ahab did is well beyond an enabler of evil.  Yet to simply be an enabler of evil makes one evil in God’s eyes.  A man who allows his wife to regularly defy his authority as the head of the home or allows anyone to openly practice evil in his home is surely an enabler of evil.  A woman who tolerates their spouse abusing children, breaking the law in other ways, or otherwise tolerates her husband’s sin that regularly makes their home an overall ungodly environment is also an enabler of evil.  

God prescribed a particular occasion for a person who would do right in His eyes to initiate a divorce with their spouse.  Jesus never negated this in His teaching about divorce in the Gospel accounts, but rather emphasized that initiating a divorce outside of the boundaries of God’s Law (which Israel’s spiritual leaders were doing and enabling each other in), and marrying another, is adultery.  

Hear God’s Law in its prescription for one to not enable evil in their spouse.  Ahab should never have married the idolatrous Jezebel.  Yet he should have at least put her away afterwards by giving her an ultimatum that her idolatry and overall treachery would have to be put away- or she would have to be put away herself.

Deuteronomy 24:1: “When a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favor in his eyes, because he hath found some uncleanness in her: then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house.”

God also arranged it in His Law so that parents were never left without a righteous resort to dealing with rebellious children- just like God never left a husband or wife without a righteous resort in dealing with a spouse whose sin was destroying the purity of their home.  

The following had to be carried out through the judicial authorities, so the deed prescribed in this passage we’re about to read is not an option now.  Yet there is still the principle seen here that rebellion against parents and out of control behavior by teenagers/young adults is utterly unacceptable.  Something must be done to stop it- or evil is enabled.

Deuteronomy 21:18–21: “If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them: Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place; And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard.  And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear.”

Remember that this was intended for rebels utterly out of control.  The whole counsel of God also includes passages like Ephesians 6:4: “And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.”

Then there is the case of Israel’s High Priest Eli.  His sons were grown and had households of their own. Yet they served in the priesthood under him.  Eli is one of the most notable Bible examples of enabling evil because he did not restrain his sons’ oppression and lewdness by removing them from the priesthood like he should have due to his partiality and cowardice.  

Eli is especially important to emphasize on the topic of enabling evil precisely because he gave his sons a truly good sermon about their bad behavior.  Yet that was not enough.

1 Samuel 2:21-25: “Now Eli was very old, and heard all that his sons did unto all Israel; and how they lay with the women that assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.  And he said unto them, Why do ye such things?  for I hear of your evil dealings by all this people.  Nay (No), my sons; for it is no good report that I hear: ye make the Lord’s people to transgress.  If one man sin against another, the judge shall judge him: but if a man sin against the Lord, who shall intreat for him?  Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto the voice of their father, because the Lord would slay them (they might still have been persuaded to clean up their act before men for their own temporary self-preservation- that is only what God prevented, so this doesn’t prove Calvinism at all- we have rather disproved Calvinism in several of our other messages).  

Then we read in 1 Samuel 3:10-14: “And the Lord came, and stood, and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel.  Then Samuel answered, Speak; for thy servant heareth.  And the Lord said to Samuel, Behold, I will do a thing in Israel, at which both the ears of every one that heareth it shall tingle.  In that day I will perform against Eli all things which I have spoken concerning his house: when I begin, I will also make an end.  For I have told him that I will judge his house for ever for the iniquity which he knoweth; because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not.  And therefore I have sworn unto the house of Eli, that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be purged with sacrifice nor offering for ever.”

We have a contrast to Eli in King Asa.  

2 Chronicles 15:16: “And also concerning Maachah the mother of Asa the king, he removed her from being queen, because she had made an idol in a grove: and Asa cut down her idol, and stamped it, and burnt it at the brook Kidron.”

Consider also enabling evil from the standpoint of a church allowing people to be members who are known to be doing evil.

The Apostle Paul told the Church at Corinth in 1 Corinthians 5:1-2: “It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles (that is, it’s considered a shame even among the Gentiles), that one should have his father’s wife.  And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you.”

Consider also enabling evil from the standpoint of removing someone from the logical consequences of their choices- bad choices which they willfully make and don’t demonstrate an actual change of attitude about by their deeds.  It is not proper to show mercy to such.  

Many however promote such enabling by claiming that God is love- in a way that is inconsistent with His full character revealed in the Bible.

The Apostle Paul wrote the following to the Thessalonians in 2 Thessalonians 3:7-12: “For yourselves know how ye ought to follow us: for we behaved not ourselves disorderly among you; Neither did we eat any man’s bread for nought (for nothing); but wrought (worked) with labor and travail night and day, that we might not be chargeable to any of you: Not because we have not power (or, authority), but to make ourselves an example unto you to follow us.  For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.  For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies.  Now them that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread.”

The Bible truly commands that those who could work but won’t work should not eat.  They should not be bailed out of the consequences of their laziness- and so enabled in evil.  

It’s essential to declare the whole counsel of Scripture.  

Acts 20:33-35: “I have coveted no man’s silver, or gold, or apparel.  Yea, ye yourselves know, that these hands have ministered unto my necessities, and to them that were with me.  I have shewed you all things, how that so laboring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

Yet the very same man commanded that if any would not work neither should he eat.

I recommend that you read the story of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15:11-32 with this topic in mind.  Was the Prodigal Son’s father not greatly concerned about all the awful things which might happen to his son in the far country?  Of course he was.  Yet the prodigal’s sin was not going to be tolerated in the father’s home.  The prodigal knew that his father’s love would not enable sin in his own home.  Never.  Jesus intended that the father in the story of the Prodigal Son represent the Father in heaven.  This father also represents what a godly person must be in any area which they have jurisdiction.  

Evil prevails in the world because of enablers of evil.

To enable evil is to follow the devil.  The enabler is logically a partaker of the condemnation of the wicked doer whom they are enabling.

Aaron’s email is: [email protected]

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