but one who is rich ought to rejoice at being reduced in circumstances, for the rich will disappear like the wild flowers.

No one should think when he is tempted that his temptation comes from God, for God is incapable of being tempted by what is evil, and he does not tempt anyone.

Of his own accord he brought us into being through the message of truth, so that we might be a kind of first-fruits among his creatures.

but no human being can tame the tongue. It is an irreconcilable evil, full of deadly poison.

and you by God's power are being protected through faith to receive a salvation that is now ready to be disclosed at the last time.

but like the holy Being who has called you, you must also prove holy in all your conduct,

Live upright lives among the heathen, so that even if they charge you with being evil-doers, they may from observing the uprightness of your conduct come to praise God on the Day of Judgment.

For God approves a man if from a sense of duty he endures suffering unjustly inflicted??20 for what credit is there in your enduring being beaten for doing wrong? But if you endure suffering for doing what is right, you have God's approval.

Dear friends, do not be surprised that a test of fire is being applied to you, as though a strange thing were happening to you,

If you are being abused for the sake of Christ, you are blessed, because the glorious Spirit of God is resting upon you.

but if a man suffers for being a Christian, he must not be ashamed of it, but must do honor to God through that name.

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,

especially those who yield to their physical nature and indulge in passions that defile them, and despise authority. Rash, headstrong men! They stand in no awe of majesty, but deride beings

against whom even angels far superior to these beings in strength and power bring no abusive charge before the Lord.

by which also that world was destroyed, through being flooded with water.

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.

I know of no greater blessing than hearing that my children are being guided by the truth.

and among the lampstands a being like a man, wearing a long robe, with a gold belt around his breast.

I advise you to buy of me gold that has been tested with fire, so that you may be rich, and white clothes to put on, to keep your shameful nakedness from being seen, and salve to put on your eyes, to make you see.

Immediately after this I found myself in a trance, and there stood a throne in heaven with a being seated on it.

Yet what was left of mankind, those who escaped being killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands and give up worshiping demons and gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wooden idols, which cannot either see or hear or move,

Then I saw a white cloud, and seated on it a being like a man, with a gold crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand.

Then I saw thrones with beings seated on them, who were empowered to act as judges. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded on account of the testimony of Jesus and the message of God, who refused to worship the animal and its statue, and would not have its mark put on their foreheads or on their hands. They were restored to life and reigned with the Christ a thousand years.

Then I saw a great white throne with a being seated on it from whose presence earth and sky fled so far that they could not be found.