Many who consider themselves to be "christians" or believers or followers of Yeshua(Jesus) are not aware of their self deception! Thinking they know Yeshua and thinking they follow Him and do as He did is the most common thoughts these people have, yet often they overlook very simple facts!
Let's have a look at the most common failure in this group of people! They break the first three commandments on a daily basis and are unaware that they are doing so! What are those first three commandments? Can you say them? Do you know what they mean? These first three are also the first three as they are what is most important in God's order of things! Yet most of these self confessed believers and followers of Yeshua break these first three commandments on a daily basis!
Here they are:
Exo 20:3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Exo 20:4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
Exo 20:5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;
Most of you will now be angry at me and say, "how do we break this on a daily basis?"
Take verse 4 above and read carefully again what it says! Most people will stick at graven image and say they do not make gods for themselves in this way, and excepting catholics and many orthodox groups they would be right! But that is not the entire verse! It clearly says, "or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth." Now what is a likeness? In the Hebrew here it says, " תְּמוּנָה"- temunah, which means either image, likeness, or similitude as in similar to!
Now think, where do we get to know the correct image of the True God of the Universe??! From His Word of course, the Bible! So then we can conclude that anything that does not conform to the image of the Word of God cannot therefore be the true God! What does that make the non conforming image? It makes it a false picture, a false god!
Anyone therefore who does not have a correct image of God in their head and heart serves a false god and is breaking the first three commandments!
It is therefore essential that you get to know the True God of the Universe in a correct way, the scriptural ONLY way!
People often deceive themselves in their thoughts by saying things like God wouldn't do that or say that or judge that! God is love, He does not hate, He does not judge! All these things and more self deception does not conform to God's True image as recorded in His Word and so therefore making you who do this idolaters! And what happens to idolaters people??
What is the punishment according to God's law? Death is the punishment for idolatry according to God's Word and as we know Yeshua came to fulfil the law because we could not but He also said this, (Mat 5:18 For verily I say unto you, Until heaven and earth pass away, not one jot or one tittle shall pass from the law until all is fulfilled. ) The only parts of the law Yeshua has fulfilled that no longer apply to us as His followers are the laws of sacrifice and the kosher laws. All His commandments stand and none of them will ever pass! And He even stated this regarding them, (Joh 14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments; ).
Clearly those who deceive themselves in ways as stated above
do not love Him as they do not keep His commandments nor are they inclined to as these still live for their lusts in this world. These people will keep deceiving themselves up to the point where God will take away their "candlestick"or "lampstand"(Rev 2:5) which is the Holy Spirit unless they repent and turn and follow Yeshua in Spirit and Truth according to His Word!
I say this to those people who justify self with their self deceiving ways, "your time is running out and you had better learn quick, the fear of the Lord!"