»But take heed to yourselves, lest your souls be weighed down with self-indulgence and drunkenness or the anxieties of this life, and that day come upon you, suddenly, like a falling trap;
not readily to become unsettled in mind or troubled –either by any pretended spiritual revelation or by any message or letter claiming to have been sent by us– through fancying that the day of the Lord is now here.
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.
(»I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the man who keeps awake and guards his raiment for fear he walk about ill-clad, and his uncomeliness become manifest.«)
Be mindful, therefore, of the lessons you have received and heard. Continually lay them to heart, and repent. If, however, you fail to rouse yourself and keep awake, I shall come upon you suddenly like a thief, and you will certainly not know the hour at which I shall come to judge you.