Well then, are we Jews in any better condition than the Gentiles? Not at all! I have already shown that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin.

no one who is wise or who worships God.

Their words are full of deadly deceit; wicked lies roll off their tongues, and dangerous threats, like snake's poison, from their lips;

They are quick to hurt and kill;

They have not known the path of peace,

Now we know that everything in the Law applies to those who live under the Law, in order to stop all human excuses and bring the whole world under God's judgment.

Surely you know that the wicked will not possess God's Kingdom. Do not fool yourselves; people who are immoral or who worship idols or are adulterers or homosexual perverts

Some of you were like that. But you have been purified from sin; you have been dedicated to God; you have been put right with God by the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

In the past you were spiritually dead because of your disobedience and sins.

Actually all of us were like them and lived according to our natural desires, doing whatever suited the wishes of our own bodies and minds. In our natural condition we, like everyone else, were destined to suffer God's anger.

At one time you were far away from God and were his enemies because of the evil things you did and thought.

At one time you yourselves used to live according to such desires, when your life was dominated by them.

Since Christ suffered physically, you too must strengthen yourselves with the same way of thinking that he had; because whoever suffers physically is no longer involved with sin.

You have spent enough time in the past doing what the heathen like to do. Your lives were spent in indecency, lust, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and the disgusting worship of idols.

"Foolish people! How long do you want to be foolish? How long will you enjoy making fun of knowledge? Will you never learn?

Listen when I reprimand you; I will give you good advice and share my knowledge with you.

Are you immature? Learn to be mature. Are you foolish? Learn to have sense.

Leave the company of ignorant people, and live. Follow the way of knowledge."

'I don't want to,' he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.

In the meantime Saul kept up his violent threats of murder against the followers of the Lord. He went to the High Priest

As Saul was coming near the city of Damascus, suddenly a light from the sky flashed around him.

"Who are you, Lord?" he asked. "I am Jesus, whom you persecute," the voice said.

"And so, King Agrippa, I did not disobey the vision I had from heaven.

First in Damascus and in Jerusalem and then in the whole country of Israel and among the Gentiles, I preached that they must repent of their sins and turn to God and do the things that would show they had repented.

At that time you followed the world's evil way; you obeyed the ruler of the spiritual powers in space, the spirit who now controls the people who disobey God.

Be obedient to God, and do not allow your lives to be shaped by those desires you had when you were still ignorant.

It makes as much sense as eating ashes. His foolish ideas have so misled him that he is beyond help. He won't admit to himself that the idol he holds in his hand is not a god at all.

Your pride has deceived you. Your capital is a fortress of solid rock; your home is high in the mountains, and so you say to yourself, 'Who can ever pull me down?'

Jesus said, "Watch out; don't be fooled. Many men, claiming to speak for me, will come and say, 'I am he!' and, 'The time has come!' But don't follow them.

If you think you are something when you really are nothing, you are only deceiving yourself.

Do any of you think you are religious? If you do not control your tongue, your religion is worthless and you deceive yourself.

The huge dragon was thrown out---that ancient serpent, named the Devil, or Satan, that deceived the whole world. He was thrown down to earth, and all his angels with him.

And it deceived all the people living on earth by means of the miracles which it was allowed to perform in the presence of the first beast. The beast told them to build an image in honor of the beast that had been wounded by the sword and yet lived.

Jesus said to them, "I am telling you the truth: everyone who sins is a slave of sin.

But thanks be to God! For though at one time you were slaves to sin, you have obeyed with all your heart the truths found in the teaching you received.

But now you have been set free from sin and are the slaves of God. Your gain is a life fully dedicated to him, and the result is eternal life.

They are filled with all kinds of wickedness, evil, greed, and vice; they are full of jealousy, murder, fighting, deceit, and malice. They gossip

they have no conscience; they do not keep their promises, and they show no kindness or pity for others.

I am afraid that when I get there I will find you different from what I would like you to be and you will find me different from what you would like me to be. I am afraid that I will find quarreling and jealousy, hot tempers and selfishness, insults and gossip, pride and disorder.

People will be selfish, greedy, boastful, and conceited; they will be insulting, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, and irreligious;

they will be unkind, merciless, slanderers, violent, and fierce; they will hate the good;

Because they think so highly of themselves, they think that God will not discover their sin and condemn it.

He cried out in a loud voice: "She has fallen! Great Babylon has fallen! She is now haunted by demons and unclean spirits; all kinds of filthy and hateful birds live in her.