“There is no biblical record that the early Christians ever used the cross as a sign of their faith. “
By Rheo Knudson
| Most religions around the world have one thing in common. They have, over time, woven idolatry into their religion. They have taken biblical teachings and merged pagan traditions into their beliefs. You can often find pagan symbols within the structure of both churches and temples today. Some religions also use these symbols within their services. God warns us many times in scripture that idol worship is wrong (Jeremiah 2:11; 16:20). We see examples in the Bible of people being cursed and/or destroyed due to their idol worship. Idolatry distracts us from God rather than drawing us closer to Him. The following scriptures are clear on the subject. “Who would form a god or mold an image That profits him nothing?” (Isaiah 44:10 NKJV) “And there you will serve gods, the work of men’s hands, wood, and stone, which neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell” (Deuteronomy 4:28). Samuel calls idols useless things and Paul clearly states, “We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world” (1 Co 8:4; 10:19-20). The words “graven”, and “image” occur 66 times in 27 verses in the King James Version of the Bible. This includes 26 that use the exact phrase graven image. They are warnings not to make idols or worship them. It is so important it is included as the second commandment of the Ten Commandments. “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth” (Exodus 20:4 and Deuteronomy 5:8) This is very important to God and therefore it should be important to us. We need to be aware of and keep forefront in our minds how important this is. Why is it so important? Because this is one of many tools Satan uses to confuse people and draw them away from God’s true teachings. One of the symbols that might surprise you is the cross. Most Christians have no idea about its origin. People often wear the cross, they hang them on the walls in their homes. They are found stamped on Bibles and are often given as gifts when people get confirmed, baptized, or married. We see the cross displayed outside and in churches and oftentimes giant crosses are placed on top of high hills or other high places. Three questions you may ask: 1. Where did the symbol of the cross come from? 2. Who decided that the cross was to be a symbol of Christianity? 3. Should Christ’s followers of Christ wear or display the cross? The Origin of the Cross Vines Expository states: The cross is not a symbol of faith that first appeared after the crucifixion of Jesus, but originated from ancient Babylon. “The shape of the latter [cross] had its origin in ancient Chaldea, and was used as the symbol of the god Tammuz (being in the shape of the mystic Tau, the initial of his name) Chaldea was the central territory of Babylon. In Babylon, “T,” the initial of the name Tammuz, was used as a religious symbol to worship him. This was propagated to neighboring countries, and the cross is found in the relics of ancient countries such as Egypt and Assyria. The custom of worshiping the cross continued even after the Roman Empire was established.” Who was this god Tammuz Tammuz was a god associated with fertility and agriculture. He was worshiped in ancient Babylon, and other cultures in the Near East. Tammuz was believed to be a dying and rising god, meaning that he died each year and was resurrected in the spring when new life emerged. This cycle was believed to be a metaphor for the cycles of nature and the changing seasons. Tammuz was also associated with the Underworld and was sometimes depicted as a shepherd or a young man with a beard.) When you look deeper into the subject it gets darker Ishtar, (Semiramis, widow of Nimrod, mother of Tammuz) came to be represented as the bare-breasted pagan fertility goddess of the East. The original pagan festival of “Easter” was a sex orgy that celebrated the return of life via the fertility of Ishtar’s conception of Tammuz. Worshipers of the Babylonian religion celebrated the conception of Tammuz on the first Sunday after the Full Moon that followed the Spring Equinox. They celebrated it by baking cakes for Ishtar, getting drunk, engaging in sex orgies, and prostitution in the temple of Ishtar. Women were required to celebrate the conception of Tammuz by lying down in the temple and having sex with whoever entered. The man was required to leave her money. Babies were sacrificed in the honor of these pagan gods and their blood was consumed by the worshipers. The priest of Easter would sacrifice infants (human babies) and take the eggs of Easter/Ishtar, as symbols of fertility and dye them in the blood of the sacrificed infants (human babies). The Easter eggs would hatch on December 25th (nine months later), the same day her son Tammuz the reincarnate sun-god would be born. This is where the practice of coloring “easter eggs” came from. Many babies would be born around December 25th from the sex orgies that began on the feast of Ishtar in the Spring and many of these babies would be sacrificed the following Easter/Ishtar feast. As you delve deeper you will also see the Pagan Roots of holidays such as Easter and Christmas, but that is Another subject for another article. The cross was originally made to worship the false god Tammuz. And we see that there were a lot of sinful and evil acts that went on in relation to worshiping this false god Tammuz. In Ezekiel 8, we find mention of women weeping for Tammuz. This Chapter in Ezekiel is subtitled, Abominations in the Temple. Ezekiel has a vision in this book. “So, He brought me to the door of the north gate of the LORD’s house; and to my dismay, women were sitting there weeping for Tammuz. Then He said to me, “Have you seen this, O son of man? Turn again, you will see greater abominations than these.” God was showing Ezekiel all the idols that were brought into God’s temple. Tammuz was a false god that was worshiped and due to that heavy worship and the traditions. As people began to enter Christianity they brought the symbols and practices they were used to with them. To keep the followers the church just absorbed their beliefs into the traditions of their worship. Who decided that the cross was to be a symbol of Christianity? There is no biblical record that the early Christians ever used the cross as a sign of their faith. Only in the fourth century did the cross come into prevalent use in Christianity. “It was not until the time of Constantine that the cross was publicly used as the symbol of the Christian religion” (ibid). Constantine, who is widely regarded as the first “Christian” Roman Emperor, recognized the value of religion in uniting his empire. This was, in fact, one of his primary motivations in accepting and sanctioning the Christian religion. However, Christianity by this time had drifted far from the teachings of Jesus Christ and the apostles. There are now very different religions, compromised with many concepts and practices rooted in ancient paganism. In a section titled “Cross, Crucify,” Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words records this: “In order to increase the prestige of the apostate ecclesiastical system, pagans were received into the churches apart from regeneration by faith, and were permitted largely to retain their pagan signs and symbols. Hence the Tau or T, in its most frequent form, with the cross-piece lowered, was adopted to stand for the ‘cross’ of Christ.” The symbol of the cross was brought into Christianity by Constantine who practiced paganism. Slightly changed the symbol to please the Christians and associated it with Jesus Christ. Constantine supposedly converted to Christianity, yet still practiced pagan traditions. This was something Constantine did 300 years after Jesus Christ’s death. We see that the cross used to worship Tammuz was altered by Constantine to be associated with Jesus Christ and then brought into the Christian religion. Should followers of Christ wear or display the cross? Most people today connect the cross with Christianity rather than paganism and feel it doesn’t matter if their heart is in the right place. Many say it’s a symbol that they wear to show their devotion to Christ. But we must ask ourselves if the cross is something to be worshiped or honored. While the apostles preached “the cross [stauros]” as part of the history of Christ’s ministry, it was not something they idolized. (1 Corinthians 1:17-18) “For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect. For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:17-18) We see here that the cross that Jesus Christ died on -which might have just been a pole was merely an instrument created for the purpose of a crucifixion. And the process of crucifixion was designed to bring extreme suffering and agony before death. The Cross that Christ died on was a shameful instrument of death (Hebrews 12:2). In His crucifixion, Jesus took upon Himself our shameful sins.” Having our sins forgiven is a wonderful blessing, but there is no need to glorify the instrument used. We are so used to seeing the cross displayed that we don’t think about it, but if Jesus Christ died on the guillotine would we wear it around our neck? I might be stretching that example a bit however, it’s glorifying the instrument used to torture and kill. Hardly what God would want us to use as an example, let alone treat as something holy. The cross is just one of the many symbols people glorify and worship. We must be careful. God wants our total devotion. The Godhead alone is who we worship. Not angels, not “saints”, in fact, there is nothing else in this world or beyond we are to worship. Consider what the Bible teaches about wearing any religious symbol. Under the Old Covenant God made with ancient Israel, God instructed them to wear reminders of their faith upon their hands (Deuteronomy 6:8; Deuteronomy 11:18). This was instituted by God for them to help remind them of His Law because they did not have Gods spirit in them. During His New Testament ministry, Jesus taught His followers to display their spirituality through their actions and deeds (Matthew 5:16). Under the New Covenant, ushered in by Christ, God’s laws are to be written on our hearts—that is, in our minds (Hebrews 8:10; Hebrews 10:16). We do not need to wear external signs to identify ourselves as followers of Christ. Putting faith in something physical will not save us. God wants us to show our faith by our works and to have a relationship with him. We must remember that Satan is the master deceiver Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. And he has filled the lives of well-meaning professing believers with idolatry. So much so that he has deceived billions to believe they are worshiping God, but are partaking in idolatry. Knowing that Satan is behind all of this and has influenced idolatry to be brought into the church. We should be rebuking all pagan symbols because they are all rooted in evil and are designed by the influence of Satan to be used to deceive and muddy God’s truth. That is what Satan does, he wants to deceive everyone and keep them from knowing God’s truth. And he’s done a good job making people think they are worshiping God properly when they are not. They are worshiping the god of this world, Satan. As God OUR creator strongly rebukes Idolatry, we as His followers must also! |
Reference source: “Where Did the Symbolism of the Cross Originate?”
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