If the dead do not rise, why would I risk my life fighting with the wild beasts at Village of Desire (Ephesus)? If the dead do not rise, some will say, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!”
Your life on this earth has been one of getting for yourselves whatever you want to satisfy your selfish desires. You have fattened yourselves like an animal prepared for a day of slaughter.
A bad end awaits these people. They have made their weak human appetites the spirit they follow. They take pride in doing things they should be ashamed of. They have set their minds on the ways of this world.
As much as she boasted in her rich living, give to her the same in sorrow and suffering. “For this is what she thinks about herself, ‘I rule as a woman chief. I am not like a woman who has lost her husband. I will never know sorrow or grief.’
For in the past you walked long enough following the evil desires of the nations who have lost their way. Like them, you walked a path of selfish and uncontrolled desires. You became drunks who went to wild drinking parties. You even prayed to forbidden spirit-images.
Instruct the ones who have many possessions in this present world not to see themselves as better than others. They must not put their hope in their many possessions, which cannot be depended on, but in the Great Spirit, who, from his great possessions, provides all we need to enjoy life.
“So keep your eyes straight. Do not let your hearts fall to the ground. Do not give yourselves to drinking or worrying about your life’s possessions, or that day will take you by surprise.