1But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will use deceptive means to introduce heresies that are destructive because they deny the sovereignty of the Lord who purchased their salvation with His blood. They are bringing hasty destruction upon themselves.2Many will be influenced by them, following their shameful ways and bringing the way of truth into disrepute.3These teachers are motivated by greed and will exploit you by their false testimonies. Their condemnation has only been a matter of time and their destruction is inevitable!Consequences of sinfulness4God did not have mercy on the angels that sinned but consigned them to hell where they are confined to dark dungeons as they await the final judgment.5He did not save the ancient world when He caused the flood to destroy sinful people. He only saved Noah, who preached the necessity of living in right relationship with God, and some others who were with him.6God condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, burning them to the ground as an example of the judgment awaiting the ungodly.7-8He rescued Lot, another righteous man, who was greatly upset by the immoral lives of rebellious men. Lot lived among those men daily and, because of their lawless deeds that he witnessed, felt tormented in his soul.9If God could do all these things, then He certainly knows how to spare godly men from trials and to keep the ungodly in turmoil until the Day of Judgment. This applies particularly to those who give in to the evil desires of their self-life and despise those in authority.10-11Such men are so bold in their arrogance that they are not afraid to speak evil of heavenly beings. But not even the angels slander these evil men before the Lord, even though they are stronger and more powerful.12Those men blaspheme about things they do not understand. They are brutal, living only to satisfy their basic instincts and will inevitably be trapped in their own sins. They should be destroyed like beasts.13This will be the consequence of the harm they have caused. They have sunk to such depravity that they take pleasure in parading their licentious behaviour before others. They are marked by their sins and stand out like blemishes when they share in your feasts.14They look with adulterous lust on others and sin continually. They seduce the weak-willed, are well practised in satisfying their greed and spread curse all around them.15They have departed from the straight way and follow the example of Balaam, son of Beor, who loved the rewards of wickedness.16He was rebuked for his evil works by a donkey, an animal normally incapable of speech, who spoke in a human voice to restrain the prophet in his madness.17-18Such men are like waterless springs and mists driven along by stormy winds. The deepest darkness awaits them, for they speak in empty and boastful ways, appealing to the lustful desires of the corrupt nature, enticing those who are in the process of being freed from those who live in error.19They give promises of freedom while they are slaves of corruption themselves.20For if, having escaped being defiled by the world through a full knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they again become entangled in worldly corruption, they are far worse off than they were before.21It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than, having known it, only to turn away from the command given to them to be holy.22They truly fulfilled the proverbs, "A dog always returns to its vomit," and, "A washed sow wallows again in the mud."
Scripture quoted by permission. The passage above is taken from THE TRUTH VERSION. Copyright © 2009 by Colin Urquhart. All rights reserved worldwide. (The Truth New Testament)