Second Letter From Stands On The Rock 2 Peter

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.

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.”

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.

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.

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.

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.

Aho! May it be so!