The day of the Lord will come like a thief--it will be a day on which the heavens will pass away with a rushing noise, the elements be destroyed in the fierce heat, and the earth and all the works of man be utterly burnt up.

Since all these things are thus pre-destined to dissolution, what sort of men ought you to be found to be in all holy living and godly conduct,

You, therefore, dear friends, having been warned beforehand, must continually be on your guard so as not to be led astray by the false teaching of immoral men nor fall from your own stedfastness.

My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:

The man who says, I have knowledge of him, and does not keep his laws, is false, and there is nothing true in him:

But in every man who keeps his word, the love of God is made complete. By this we may be certain that we are in him:

The man who professes to be continuing in Him is himself also bound to live as He lived.

My dearly-loved friends, it is no new command that I am now giving you, but an old command which you have had from the very beginning. By the old command I mean the teaching which you have already received.

Any one who professes to be in the light and yet hates his brother man is still in darkness.

He who loves his brother man continues in the light, and his life puts no stumbling-block in the way of others.

But he who hates his brother man is in darkness and is walking in darkness; and he does not know where he is going--because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father.

I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.

Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

Who is a liar but he that denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the anti-christ, [the man that] denies the Father and the Son.

Every man who denies the Son, also does not have the Father.

And this is the promise which Christ [or, "God"] has given to us: [It is] never ending life. [Note: This passage may mean that God promised us "the Eternal Life," that is, Christ, See John 3:16].

But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.

Since you know that He is righteous, be assured also that the man who habitually acts righteously is a child of His.

And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.

Every man doing sin also does lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.

You know that He appeared [in visible form as a man] in order to take away sins; and in Him there is [absolutely] no sin [for He has neither the sin nature nor has He committed sin or acts worthy of blame].

Every man abiding in him does not sin. Every man who is sinning has not seen him, nor has known him.

Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.

Every man who has been begotten of God is not doing sin, because his seed abides in him, and he cannot sin, because he has been begotten of God.

By this we can distinguish God's children and the Devil's children: no one who fails to act righteously is a child of God, nor he who does not love his brother man.

As for us, we know that we have already passed out of death into Life--because we love our brother men. He who is destitute of love continues dead.

Every one who is hating his brother -- a man-killer he is, and ye have known that no man-killer hath life age-during in him remaining,

We know what love is--through Christ's having laid down His life on our behalf; and in the same way we ought to lay down our lives for our brother men.

But if any one has this world's wealth and sees that his brother man is in need, and yet hardens his heart against him--how can such a one continue to love God?

The man who obeys His commands continues in union with God, and God continues in union with him; and through His Spirit whom He has given us we can know that He continues in union with us.

By this you know and recognize the Spirit of God: every spirit that acknowledges and confesses [the fact] that Jesus Christ has [actually] come in the flesh [as a man] is from God [God is its source];

You, my Children, come from God, and you have successfully resisted such men as these, because he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

Those men belong to the world; and therefore they speak as the world speaks, and the world listens to them.

The man who is beginning to know God listens to us, but he who is not a child of God does not listen to us. By this test we can distinguish the Spirit of truth from the spirit of error.

Beloved, we should love each other. Because love is of God, and every man who loves has been begotten of God, and knows God.

No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.

Whoever acknowledges that Jesus Christ is the Son of God--God remains in union with that man, and he with God.

By this love has been fully perfected with us, so that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because just as that man is, we also are in this world.

Love has in it no element of fear; but perfect love drives away fear, because fear involves pain, and if a man gives way to fear, there is something imperfect in his love.

If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?

And the command which we have from Him is that he who loves God must love his brother man also.

Every man who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been begotten from God, and every man who loves him who begot, also loves him who has been begotten from him.

Who but the man that believes that Jesus is the Son of God overcomes the world?

This man, Jesus the Messiah, is the one who came by water and blood not with water only, but with water and with blood. The Spirit is the one who verifies this, because the Spirit is the truth.

If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son.

These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God [which represents all that Jesus Christ is and does], so that you will know [with settled and absolute knowledge] that you [already] have eternal life.

If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it.

We know that every man who has been begotten from God does not sin, but he who was begotten from God keeps himself, and the evil does not touch him.

And we [have seen and] know [by personal experience] that the Son of God has [actually] come [to this world], and has given us understanding and insight so that we may [progressively and personally] know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true—in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.

For many deceivers [heretics, posing as Christians] have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge and confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh (bodily form). This [person, the kind who does this] is the deceiver and the antichrist [that is, the antagonist of Christ].

Every one who goes beyond the limits of the Teaching of the Christ has failed to find God; the man who keeps to that Teaching--he has found both the Father and the Son.

If any man comes to you, and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into a house, and do not speak to him to rejoice.

for the man who welcomes him is sharing with him in his wicked work.

I have a great deal to write to you, but I do not mean to use ink and paper; I hope to visit you and have a talk with you, so that your joy may be unimpaired.

[This is being written by] the elder to my dear [friend] Gaius, whom I love in the truth. [Note: This may mean "whom I truly love"].

For they went out, [ministering] for the sake of [Jesus'] name, without taking [any money] from Gentiles [i.e., non-Christians].

Therefore, we ought to support such men so that we can be coworkers with the truth.

Dear friend, take what is good for your example, not what is bad. The man who does what is good is from God; the man who does what is bad has never seen God.

Demetrius hath good report of all men, and of the truth itself: yea, and we also bear record; and ye know that our record is true.

For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.

Despite that, in the same way also these [men], [because of their] dreams, defile the flesh and reject authority and blaspheme majestic beings.

But these men sneer at anything which they do not understand; and whatever they do know by [mere] instinct, like unreasoning and irrational beasts—by these things they are destroyed.

It is too bad for these people, for they have followed the example of Cain [the murderer]; for the sake of money they have rushed into the [same] error as Balaam committed [See Num. 25:1-5; 31:16]; they [will] perish [spiritually] for having rebelled [against God] like Korah did. [See Num. 16:1-3, 31-35].

These men--sunken rocks! --are those who share the pleasure of your love-feasts, unrestrained by fear while caring only for themselves; clouds without water, driven away by the winds; trees that cast their fruit, barren, doubly dead, uprooted;

The prophet Enoch, who was the seventh after Adam, said of these men, The Lord came with tens of thousands of his saints,

to give judgment against all men, and to rebuke all that are ungodly among them, of all their ungodly deeds, which they have ungodly committed, and of all their cruel speakings, which ungodly sinners have spoken against him."

These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because of advantage.

How they said to you, In the last days there will be men who, guided by their evil desires, will make sport of holy things.

These are they who set themselves apart, natural men, not having the Spirit.

Blessed (happy, prosperous, to be admired) is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and who keep the things which are written in it [heeding them and taking them to heart]; for the time [of fulfillment] is near.

See! He is coming on the clouds, and every eye will see him, even the men who pierced him, and all the tribes of the earth will lament over him. So it is to be, Amen.

And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle.

When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. He laid His right hand on me and said, “Don’t be afraid! I am the First and the Last,

I know thy works, and thy toil and patience, and that thou canst not bear evil men, and didst try them that call themselves apostles, and they are not, and didst find them false;

So remember the heights from which you have fallen, and repent [change your inner self—your old way of thinking, your sinful behavior—seek God’s will] and do the works you did at first [when you first knew Me]; otherwise, I will visit you and remove your lampstand (the church, its impact) from its place—unless you repent.

I know thy works and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is, and thou keepest my name and hast not denied my faith. And in my days Antipas was a faithful witness of mine, which was slain among you where Satan dwelleth.

But I have a few things against thee, because thou have there men who adhere to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a snare before the sons of Israel, even to eat idol sacrifices, and to fornicate.

So thou also hast men holding the teaching of the Nicolaitans, in like manner.

Therefore repent, or else, I will come quickly and contend with such men with words that will cut like a sword.

He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.

Her children too shall surely die; and all the Churches shall come to know that I am He who searches into men's inmost thoughts; and to each of you I will give a requital which shall be in accordance with what your conduct has been.

But I say to the rest of you at Thyatira--all who do not accept such teaching, whose who did not learn 'the secrets of Satan,' as men call them--I am not laying on you any further burden;

To the Angel of the Church in Sardis write:-- "These are the words of him who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars;--I know your life, and that men say of you that you are living, though you are dead.

He who overcomes [the world through believing that Jesus is the Son of God] will accordingly be dressed in white clothing; and I will never blot out his name from the Book of Life, and I will confess and openly acknowledge his name before My Father and before His angels [saying that he is one of Mine].

And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth;

I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.

Listen, I give some of the Congregation of Satan, the men who declare that they are Jews, though they are not, but are lying----I will make them 'come and bow down at your feet,' and they shall learn that I loved you.

Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.

He that overcometh, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go out thence no more: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God, and mine own new name.

For you are saying, 'I am wealthy; I have made plenty of money and do not need anything.' But you do not know that you are [spiritually] wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.

Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle.

And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon.

And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon.

And they sing a new song, saying, Worthy art thou to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou was slain, and didst purchase unto God with thy blood men of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation,

So, I looked, and before me [stood] a white horse, and the man riding on it had a bow. And he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror [going out] to conquer [someone].

And another, a fiery red horse [of bloodshed], came out; and its rider was empowered to take peace from the earth, so that men would slaughter one another; and a great sword [of war and violent death] was given to him.

And when the Lamb broke open the third seal, I heard the third living being saying [to the one on the black horse ?], "Come [out]." So, I looked and before me [stood] a black horse, and the man riding on it had a pair of scales in his hand.

So, I looked and before me [stood] a pale green horse, and the name of the man riding on it was "Death," and the unseen place of departed spirits followed along behind him. And they were [both] given authority over one fourth of the earth, to kill people with swords, with famine, with terrible judgments and by wild animals of the earth.