GREETINGS

¹From Stands on the Rock (Peter), a sacred servant and message bearer of Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One.

To all who have taken hold of and share together with us in the way of trusting that comes from the right ways of the Great Spirit and from our Sacred Deliverer, Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One.

SHARING HIS SACRED NATURE

²May the gift of Creator’s great kindness and peace rest on you in greater measure as you grow in your knowledge and understanding of the Great Spirit and Creator Sets Free (Jesus), our Honored Chief. ³Creator’s own power has given us all we need to walk the road of life in a sacred manner. This power comes from knowing the Chosen One, who has called us to share in his honor and goodness. ⁴He has given us promises full of honor and beauty so that through them we may share the sacred nature that belongs to him and, through these promises, be set free from the evil desires that corrupt this world.

⁵This is why you must put your whole heart into uniting trust with goodness, goodness with knowledge, ⁶and knowledge with self-discipline. Unite self-discipline with never giving up, and never giving up with walking in a sacred way. ⁷Unite walking in a sacred way with family kindness, and family kindness with love. ⁸For if you are growing in these things, they will keep you spiritually strong and fruitful in the true knowledge of our Honored Chief, Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One.

MAKE SURE YOU HAVE HEARD HIS CALL

⁹The ones who do not walk in these ways are nearsighted and blind to spiritual things, and have forgotten that they were washed clean from their old broken ways. ¹⁰So then, my sacred family members, do all you can to make sure you are among the ones Creator has called and chosen to be his own. If you walk in these ways, you will never stumble. ¹¹And you will be given a warm welcome onto Creator’s good road that never fades away, the same road walked by our Honored Chief and Sacred Deliverer, Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One.

^12-13Even though you know these things and stand firm in the truth you now have, as long as I live in this body I will never stop reminding you about these things. I think it is the right thing to do, ¹⁴for our Honored Chief, Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One, has made it clear to me that I will soon walk on. ¹⁵I am making it my aim to share these things with you, so that after I have walked on you will always be able to remember what you have been taught.

A TRUE WORD OF PROPHECY

¹⁶We were not following slyly crafted, manmade stories when we made known to you the power and coming of our Honored Chief, Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One. With our own eyes we saw his chiefly greatness. ¹⁷For he received honor and shining-greatness from his Father, the Great Spirit, who spoke to him with his voice of honor, saying, “This is my much-loved Son, the one who makes my heart glad.”

¹⁸With our own ears we message bearers who were with him on the sacred mountain heard this voice from the spirit-world above.1 ¹⁹We have an even more sure word of prophecy—one that will guide you well if you follow it as you would a torch that shines in the dark. So stay alert until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.

²⁰Above all else, you must understand that no prophecy found in our Sacred Teachings is a matter of one’s own interpretation. ²¹For prophecy did not come from the mind2 of human beings but from those who through the Holy Spirit spoke Creator’s words.

A WARNING ABOUT FALSE TEACHERS

¹But just as there were false prophets among the people of tribes of Wrestles with Creator (Israel), there will also be false teachers among you. They will sneak into your gatherings and teach things that are harmful to our spiritual ways. They will even deny the Honored One who paid a great price to set them free. In doing so, they will quickly bring ruin down on their own heads. ²Many will follow their shameful ways, and because of them the way of truth will be spoken against. ³Because of their greed, they will use made-up stories to prey on you for their own gain. Their punishment for this that was spoken of long ago is not sleeping. It is still coming and will not fail to bring them to a bad end.

EXAMPLES FROM THE PAST

⁴The Great Spirit did not take pity on spirit-messengers who were guilty of wrongdoing. He banished them into the dark caves of the underworld, to be held there until the time comes for their fate to be decided. ⁵Neither did he spare the ancient world when he sent a great flood to cleanse the world from evil. But along with seven others he spared One Who Rests (Noah), who told others about Creator’s right ways.

⁶Creator decided that the people of Village of Bad Spirits (Sodom) and the people of Village of Deep Fear (Gomorrah) needed to be punished for their evil ways. So he covered them with burning ashes. He left those ruined villages as a warning for all who would walk in evil ways. ⁷But he rescued Covers His Head (Lot), a good-hearted man living among them, who was deeply troubled by the people who had given themselves over to their bad hearts and evil ways. ⁸The soul of this good man was tormented day after day by the evil things he saw and heard.

WARNINGS ABOUT BAD-HEARTED ONES

⁹So then, all of these stories show us that the Honored One knows how to rescue his holy ones from trouble and hold the bad-hearted ones captive until the day comes when he will decide their punishment. ¹⁰This is true most of all for those who give themselves over to their bad-hearted, corrupt desires and who have no respect for authority. These bad-hearted ones are reckless, stubborn, and puffed up with pride. They do not even tremble with respect when they speak evil against spirit-beings of shining-greatness. ¹¹Even so the spirit-messengers, who are greater in strength and power, do not accuse these bad-hearted ones or speak evil of them before our Honored Chief.

¹²But these people act without thinking. They are like wild animals born to be captured and killed. They speak against things they know nothing about, but they will be captured in their own cages and come to a bad end. ¹³In this way, they will suffer for the wrongs they have done. It makes their hearts glad to run wild in the light of day. They are dark spots and stains on your garments, gladly feasting with you while deep inside they laugh about how they have tricked you. ¹⁴They are always looking for someone willing to be unfaithful in marriage. They lure weak souls into their evil ways. Their hearts are well trained to want more and more. They are children living a cursed life, ¹⁵who have left the good road to walk a path of lies. They have followed in the footsteps of People Destroyer (Balaam), the son of Burning Man (Beor), who loved the things he could gain from wrongdoing. ¹⁶But a donkey, which cannot talk, spoke with a human voice and gave him a good tongue-lashing, turning the prophet away from his madness.

¹⁷These bad-hearted ones are like dried-up watering holes and clouds that scatter and melt in the wind. A place of deep darkness is kept ready for them. ¹⁸With empty boasts and puffed-up words, they prey on people’s weak human desires and lure them back into the wrong ways of those they have just escaped from. ¹⁹They promise them freedom, but they are themselves slaves to evil desires, for people are slaves to whatever controls them.

BAD HEARTS LEAD TO A BAD END

²⁰What would happen to those who, after being set free from the shameful ways of the world through knowing our Honored Chief and Sacred Deliverer, Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One, were to be overcome by these ways and to choose to walk once again on that bad path? If that happened, they would be in a worse place than they were at first. ²¹It would have been better if they had never known about the good road than, after learning about it, to walk away from the sacred teaching that was handed down to them. ²²They have proved the truth of these wise sayings: “A dog returns to its own vomit,”3 and, “A pig after being washed goes back to wallowing in the mud.”

WISDOM FOR THE LAST DAYS

¹My much-loved ones, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both letters to stir up your memories and awaken good thoughts. ²I want you to remember the things foretold by the holy prophets of old and the instructions given by the message bearers of our Honored Chief and Sacred Deliverer.

³I want to remind you, first of all, that in the last days there will come scoffers who will laugh with scorn. Following their own bad hearts, ⁴they will say things like, “Where is he? Did he not promise to appear again? Our fathers have walked on since then, but all things remain the same as they were at the creation of the world.”

⁵But they choose to ignore the truth that long ago, when Creator spoke his word, the universe came into existence, and the land was brought forth from water and by water. ⁶It was also through water that the ancient world was brought to an end by a great flood. ⁷By the same word, the skies above and the earth below that now exist will be brought to an end by fire. They will remain until the great day of deciding arrives, which will bring an end to those who walk in evil ways.

⁸But do not forget this one thing, my much-loved friends: with the Great Spirit there is no difference between one day or one thousand winters. ⁹So then, our Honored Chief is not slow in keeping his promise, even if some see it that way. Instead, he is being patient with you. He does not want anyone to come to a bad end. He wants all people to return to the right way of thinking.

THE DAY OF OUR HONORED CHIEF

¹⁰But you can be sure that the day of our Honored Chief will come. It will come without warning, like a thief. Then with a loud sound like rushing wind, the skies above will come to an end. The elemental things will melt away in the fierce heat. And the earth and the things done on it will be laid bare.4

¹¹Seeing that all these things will come to an end in this manner, you should be a people who walk a sacred path that brings honor to the Great Spirit. ¹²Keep walking in this way as you wait for the coming day of Creator, doing what you can to help it come more quickly. When that day comes, the skies above will burn away, and the elemental things will melt in the fierce heat. ¹³But we are looking to what the Great Spirit has promised—a new spirit-world above and a new earth below where all people will walk in his right ways.

WISDOM FROM SMALL MAN

¹⁴So then, my much-loved friends, since you are looking for these things, make it your aim to be found by him walking in peace, having no spot or stain on your souls. ¹⁵Remember, the reason our Honored Chief is being patient is to give more time for people to trust him to rescue them from what is coming. This is what our much-loved spiritual brother Small Man (Paul) wrote to you about, through the wisdom he was given. ¹⁶He writes about these things in all his letters. Some of the things he writes about are hard to understand. In their ignorance, people who have lost their spiritual balance misrepresent these teachings, as they do other sacred teachings, to their own bad end.

CLOSING WORDS

¹⁷So then, my much-loved friends, since I have warned you ahead of time, stay alert! Then none of these bent and twisted people will lead you down the wrong path and cause you to lose your own spiritual balance. ¹⁸Instead, keep growing in the gift of great kindness and knowledge that is yours through our Honored Chief and Sacred Deliverer, Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One.

To him be all honor and bright-shining greatness, both now and to the time beyond the end of all days.