Therefore I will always remind you of this, although you know it and are firmly grounded in the truth that you have.

and saved the upright Lot who was so distressed by the immoral conduct of unprincipled men??8 for as long as that upright man lived among them, day after day his upright soul was tormented by what he saw and heard of their lawless actions??9 then the Lord knows how to rescue God-fearing people from trial and to punish wrongdoers while they are being kept for the Day of Judgment,

suffering wrong as the reward for their wrongdoing. They find pleasure in the indulgence of the moment; they are a stain and a disgrace, and they revel in their deceit while they join in your religious meals.

They have eyes for nobody but adulterous women??yes insatiable in sin. They lure unsteadfast souls. Their hearts are trained in greed. They are accursed!

Such men are dried-up springs, clouds driven before the storm, and they are doomed to utter darkness.

They utter arrogant nonsense and use physical cravings to lure into immorality men who are just escaping from among those who live in error;

promising them freedom when they are themselves slaves of destruction; for a man is the slave of whatever overcomes him.

For if after men have escaped the corrupting influences of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they again become entangled in them and are overcome by them, their final condition is worse than their former one.

But by the same command the present heavens and earth are stored up for fire, and are kept for the day when godless men are to be judged and destroyed.

But do not overlook this one fact, dear friends, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years are like one day.

If all these things are to be dissolved in this way, what holy and pious lives you ought to lead,

speaking of it as he does in all his letters. There are some things in them hard to understand, which ignorant, unsteadfast people twist to their own ruin, just as they do the rest of the Scriptures.

So you, dear friends, now that you are forewarned, must be on your guard against being led away by the errors of unprincipled men and losing your present firmness.