When word reached the king of Judah that the armies of Syria were already in the territory of Israel, he and all his people were so terrified that they trembled like trees shaking in the wind.

"Do not join in the schemes of the people and do not be afraid of the things that they fear.

Remember that I, the LORD Almighty, am holy; I am the one you must fear.

You, LORD, give perfect peace to those who keep their purpose firm and put their trust in you.

You are going to hear the noise of battles close by and the news of battles far away; but do not be troubled. Such things must happen, but they do not mean that the end has come.

And don't be troubled when you hear the noise of battles close by and news of battles far away. Such things must happen, but they do not mean that the end has come.

Don't be afraid when you hear of wars and revolutions; such things must happen first, but they do not mean that the end is near."

Stand firm, and you will save yourselves.

"Do not be worried and upset," Jesus told them. "Believe in God and believe also in me.

"Peace is what I leave with you; it is my own peace that I give you. I do not give it as the world does. Do not be worried and upset; do not be afraid.

I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit has warned me that prison and troubles wait for me.

But I reckon my own life to be worth nothing to me; I only want to complete my mission and finish the work that the Lord Jesus gave me to do, which is to declare the Good News about the grace of God.

Do not let anyone deceive you with foolish words; it is because of these very things that God's anger will come upon those who do not obey him.

so that none of you should turn back because of these persecutions. You yourselves know that such persecutions are part of God's will for us.

"Prophets or interpreters of dreams may promise a miracle or a wonder,

do not pay any attention to them. The LORD your God is using them to test you, to see if you love the LORD with all your heart.

But put to death any interpreters of dreams or prophets that tell you to rebel against the LORD, who rescued you from Egypt, where you were slaves. Such people are evil and are trying to lead you away from the life that the LORD has commanded you to live. They must be put to death, in order to rid yourselves of this evil.

I know what those prophets have said who speak lies in my name and claim that I have given them my messages in their dreams.

They think that the dreams they tell will make my people forget me, just as their ancestors forgot me and turned to Baal.

"These people want the kind of prophet who goes around full of lies and deceit and says, 'I prophesy that wine and liquor will flow for you.'

Jesus answered, "Watch out, and do not let anyone fool you.

Many men, claiming to speak for me, will come and say, 'I am the Messiah!' and they will fool many people.

For false Messiahs and false prophets will appear; they will perform great miracles and wonders in order to deceive even God's chosen people, if possible.

False prophets appeared in the past among the people, and in the same way false teachers will appear among you. They will bring in destructive, untrue doctrines, and will deny the Master who redeemed them, and so they will bring upon themselves sudden destruction.

In their greed these false teachers will make a profit out of telling you made-up stories. For a long time now their Judge has been ready, and their Destroyer has been wide awake!

My dear friends, do not believe all who claim to have the Spirit, but test them to find out if the spirit they have comes from God. For many false prophets have gone out everywhere.

This is how you will be able to know whether it is God's Spirit: anyone who acknowledges that Jesus Christ came as a human being has the Spirit who comes from God.

The beast was taken prisoner, together with the false prophet who had performed miracles in his presence. (It was by those miracles that he had deceived those who had the mark of the beast and those who had worshiped the image of the beast.) The beast and the false prophet were both thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur.

W_ hat we are teaching you now is the Lord's teaching: we who are alive on the day the Lord comes will not go ahead of those who have died.

and will ask, "He promised to come, didn't he? Where is he? Our ancestors have already died, but everything is still the same as it was since the creation of the world!"

and it was also by water, the water of the flood, that the old world was destroyed.

But do not forget one thing, my dear friends! There is no difference in the Lord's sight between one day and a thousand years; to him the two are the same.