9. “_I’m waiting for someone else. I’m afraid my parents or husband or wife would object. This religion is unpopular and would cause me to lose my social standing._” This is really three excuses in one, but in each case the person is being influenced by what someone else thinks, instead of being influenced by what God says. A familiar answer to such excuses is that every tub shall set on its own bottom. You’ll find that in Romans, chapter 14 and verse 12, “So then each one of us must give an account of himself unto the Lord.” It doesn’t use the word “tub,” but it says the same thing. “So then each one of us must give an account of himself unto the Lord.” When you get to the judgment day, neither your father nor your mother, brother nor sister, husband nor wife—nobody else can answer for you. Therefore, no one else should be allowed to _live_ for you. No one should be allowed to make your choices or decisions because they cannot answer for you. Someone made a remark that one of the nice things about the Catholic Church was that the members allowed the priests to make all the decisions, that they rather expected him to make their choices for them. My answer was that that would be all right if the priest could also answer for you. But the priest cannot answer for you. Therefore, you’d better not let him make your decisions. He might not make a decision that you would want to stand by on the judgment day. Nobody can answer for you, therefore nobody should be allowed to choose your course. In the light of God’s word you must accept that responsibility yourself. Furthermore, if you want to get your husband, wife, or somebody else to obey the gospel, the way to get them to do it is not to wait for them but go ahead and lead the way. Step out and do it yourself. In West Virginia a lady told me that she would obey the gospel but that she was waiting for her husband. I knew that was not a good excuse and I tried to get her to see it. One evening while we were singing the invitation song I stopped and made this remark, “If I were you, I’d rather go to heaven alone than to go to hell with my husband.” Evidently she knew that I was talking about her, for when we began to sing again she came down the aisle. The next day her husband also came. If she had waited for him, they might both still be on the outside. Now they are two of the most faithful members in the congregation.