Don't Honor Sinners:

Sefer Likutei Shoshanim relates that the Rebbe of Savrin zy"a would travel every year to spend time in Kishinov, where he was the official Rov of the city. While he was there, the locals merited seeing open miracles. In this city, there lived a wealthy man who had fine yichus and was also very learned. However, he unfortunately had heretical ideas. His friends urged him to speak to the Rebbe. They told him that he could engage him in debate, and he could also speak to him in learning, since the Rebbe was a tremendous lamdan. At first, the wealthy man refused to go, but after he heard a lot about the Rebbe's greatness, he decided that he did want to meet him. He told his friends that he agreed to see the Rebbe, but he asked them to go first and tell the Rebbe about his yichus and prowess in Torah so that he would be greeted with respect. They did as he asked, and the man went with his friends to meet the Rebbe. When he entered the Rebbe's room, he gave “shalom", and the Rebbe immediately began telling him a story. He related, "When Klal Yisroel finished erecting the Bais Hamikdosh, the Satan went to Hashem and said, 'The entire point of my existence is to convince people to sin. But now that they built the Bais Hamikdosh, I no longer have a purpose. If I persuade someone to sin at night, the morning Tamid will atone for him. If I get someone to sin by day, the evening Tamid will atone for him. So why should I continue to exist?' "The Satan kept complaining until he succeeded in getting the Bais Hamikdosh to be destroyed, and for the daily Tamid to be stopped. "However, we still had the wise men of the Sanhedrin. When they heard that someone sinned, they would judge him and punish him accordingly. The Satan then complained again, telling Hashem that he can't convince people to sin because they are afraid of the punishment. Again, he succeeded in getting the Sanhedrin to be disbanded. "Still and all, our people were strong and if it became known that someone sinned, he was shamed and placed in excommunication. Once again, the Satan complained that he couldn't persuade people to sin, and this too ceased to be the case. And today, people are able to sin without fear. "Despite all this, the Satan wasn't satisfied. In our generation, he asks for even more. He even wants the sinner to be honored so that they can do aveiros like Zimri and demand reward like Pinchos!"