Read the Bible

Counterfeit Cowboys

¹ Pretender prophets swindled people in the past and counterfeit cowboys will ride through your gates. They'll fill you full of lies and tell you things contrary to what the Boss said. They'll get what's coming to them in the end, but they can sure wreak havoc before that happens. ² There will be many a cowboy who will leave the narrow trail and follow the immoral highway. Their lives will seem so much better on the outside, therefore many will shun the authentic cowboy way. ³ These counterfeit cowboy's will sell their fabulous stories for a profit made off of your soul. The noose is ready for the counterfeit cowboys. Their judge has already slammed the gavel down on their destruction.

⁴ Think about it, God didn't even spare the angels who'd sinned against him. He threw them in the branding fire, chained and bound to await their day of sentencing. ⁵ God got so fed up with our ancient ancestors that he destroyed the whole world with a flood. Only Noah and seven others were saved. Noah was a cowboy who urged righteous living and practiced what he preached. ⁶ Sodom and Gomorrah were two outfits that got what was coming to them. They were utterly destroyed with fire and brimstone as an example to what happens to people living godless and shameless lives. ⁷ Lot lived there, but was rescued because he didn't like what was going on around him and didn't conduct his business in the same way those heathens did. ⁸ Lot as a good hombre, but it pained him every day to see that lawlessness around him. ⁹ God knows who is good among you and who is counterfeit. He will rescue his real cowboys from their trials, but he will hold the counterfeit in chains to await their day of sentencing. ¹⁰ This is especially true of those who travel down the trail of lust and shun God's authority in their lives.

These counterfeit cowboys are bold and show-offs. They show no respect for the glorious creatures of heaven, but instead make fun of everything that is holy. ¹¹ Even angels, with all their might and power, do not condemn or make fun of anyone before God—not even the counterfeit cowboys. That's because the angels are smart and the counterfeits are not. ¹² These types of folks are like badgers. They live only by instinct and base emotions. They live their lives like they are born to be captured or killed. They attack anything they don't understand or agree upon with insults and vile sarcasm. They will be destroyed as surely as a wolf preying upon the shepherd's flock. ¹³ Their punishment will be the suffering they caused paid back in kind. They love to shock others in broad daylight with satisfaction of the lustful, bodily hungers. They disgrace your table when you let them join you in a meal. Especially when you delight in the sinful ways. ¹⁴ They eat you up with their adulterous eyes and their sinful desires are never satisfied or satiated. The weak among you fall into their devilish traps and snares. They are well-trained and practiced in greed—masters of the trade. Despite it all, they live under the curse of God. ¹⁵ They have left the narrow trail and wander lost in the abyss. They have followed the trail of Balaam, who traded what was right for what was profitable. ¹⁶ It was so bad that he was rebuked by his donkey who spoke with a human voice and stopped him from becoming completely insane in his greed.

¹⁷ These people are like dried up dirt tanks. They drift away like the clouds after a storm. They have a place in the forever-dark prepared for them by God. ¹⁸ They yell loudly and make ignorant statements about anything and everything. They use their bodies to trap people in lust. They prey upon the weak of body and mind. I'm talking about those who are trying to get away from that kind of life, but continue to go back again and again to sin. ¹⁹ They promise freedom, but really offer slavery to sin and corruption. You are a slave to whatever controls you. ²⁰ Anyone who takes Jesus's hand to escape a life of sin and returns to it after being saved is worse off than he was in the first place. ²¹ It would have been better to have never seen righteousness than to experience it and throw it in the dirt. We are commanded to live holy lives, and it's worth it. ²² There is truth in the old saying, "A dog goes back to its own vomit." Another old saying that is true is, "A clean pig will return to the mud at the first opportunity."