Book of Common Prayer

¹⁸ Children, we are very near the end of time. You have heard that someone will come who is against Christ. Many who are against Christ have already come. That is how we know that we are very near the end of time.

¹⁹ They left us, but they did not belong with us. If they had belonged with us, they would have stayed with us. But they left us so that people could see that all of them did not belong with us.

²⁰ But the Holy One has given you a gift of understanding so that you all may know what is true.

²¹ I write to you, not because you do not know what is true, but because you do know. And you know that no lie is true.

²² Who then is the one who says what is not true? It is the one who says that Jesus is not the Christ. That person is against Christ, because he says there is no Father and there is no Son.

²³ Everyone who says Jesus is not the Son does not know the Father. And everyone who says Jesus is the Son knows the Father.

²⁴ So keep what you have heard from the beginning. If you keep what you have heard from the beginning, you too belong to the Son and to the Father.

²⁵ And he himself has promised us that we will live for ever.

²⁶ I have written these things to you about the ones who try to fool you.

²⁷ You have a gift of understanding from Christ. That gift stays with you. You do not need anyone to teach you. His gift teaches you about everything. It is true. It is not a lie. So stay with him as he has taught you.

²⁸ Now, my children, stay with Christ. Then we will not be afraid on that day when we see him again. We will not be ashamed to stand before him when he comes again.

²⁹ You know that he does what is right. So you know also that everyone who does what is right is his child.

¹⁶ `I am sending you out amongst people. You will be like sheep amongst bad animals like wolves. So be wise like snakes, and harmless like doves.

¹⁷ But take care. Men will take you to their courts. They will beat you in their meeting houses.

¹⁸ They will bring you to rulers and kings for my sake. Then you will talk about me to them and to those who are not Jews.

¹⁹ When men take you to court, do not be troubled about what you will say. What you are to say will come to your mind at the right time.

²⁰ It is not you who speak. But it is the Spirit of your Father who is speaking through you.

²¹ A brother will take his brother to be killed. A father will take his child. The children will talk against their father and mother, and have them killed.

²² Everyone will hate you because you are true to me. But the person who keeps on being true to me until the end, will be saved.

²³ When they trouble you in one town, go to another. I tell you the truth. You will not go to all the towns in Israel before the Son of Man comes.