The most popular “sign” (“proof”) that one is a Christian is the cross–a man-made symbol composed of two pieces of material running diagonal to each. The cross is so internationally well-known as a religious sign that even the heathen acknowledge its meaning even while denying the existence of the One Who died on it. Professing Christians show their religion-identifying “sign” in a variety of ways: standing on automobile dashboards and festooned on bumpers, standing in yards, in windows, painted on flags, hanging from necks and earlobes, emblazoned in bodily ornaments, tattooed on various body parts, formed into statues, drawn in pictures, inlaid in teeth, cut into hair, shaved into beards, painted on fingernails, formed by flowers and hedges, etc. The cross is without question the most widely known symbol ever designed and created by mankind. A vertical stake with a horizontal beam near its top is known the world over as THE “sign” that one is a believer in Jesus Christ. When displayed for public view, the consensus is that the owner is a believer in the Biblical Christ who died on one.  But did He?

I will not be well-spoken of for what I am about to share with you from God’s Word. The fact that His Word, which Jesus called “Truth” in John 17:17, states in no uncertain terms that God’s Messiah did not die on a cross will have no effect on the opinions of the religious masses. It will cause no change of “signs” within the two billion plus members of “the church.” But God did not call me to scratch peoples’ ears and confirm their religious doctrines and practices. He called me, appointed me and anointed me to tell those with ears to hear and show those with eyes to see THE ONE AND ONLY pathway to the Kingdom of God–His Word. That path does not have a cross standing beside it or suspended above it.

As is my bent, I will begin at the beginning. According to archaeologists–scientists who study the ancient past by digging it up–two elongated pieces of wood lying at a 90 degree angle from each other were being used in heathen religious ceremonies and as heathen religious symbols some 2000 years before Jesus of Nazareth walked the earth. The earliest societies to use the “cross” or “crux” were found in the area called Chaldea and represented a sun god named Tammuz who was the son of Nimrod and his wife/mother. The Lord speaks of this heathen god in Ezekiel 8:14. Please read the entire chapter. The Catholic Church embraced the worship of Tammuz and changed his name to Jesus. She also did away with the Christian Holy Day called Passover and substituted the heathen holiday in honor of Ishtar, the heathen goddess of fertility.  She was also called the “Queen of Heaven” because she was the mother/grandmother of Tammuz. The English rendering of Ishtar is Easter.

Upon leaving the Catholic Church the Protestant churches retained her holidays, god and continue to celebrate them. Today the whole of Christendom honor Tammuz with “sunrise services” and his mother/grandmother with egg hunts. I admit that before God gave me His Holy Spirit so that I could learn and obey His Word, I participated in many of those Satanic observances. This in spite of the fact that God condemned “Sunrise Services” in Ezekiel 8:16.  Like everyone else I knew, that was in the Old Testament and had been “nailed to the cross.” In Exodus 20:4 we find that God condemns not only the cross, but ANY AND ALL MAN-MADE OBJECTS USED IN THE WORSHIP OF HIM. This includes pictures and statues of any human being or angel. The word “graven” refers to anything made by hand. He also commanded that we abstain from even the appearance of evil. Using a heathen symbol such as a cross announces to the world that one worships a heathen god. And it does not matter if “That’s not why I do it.” God said don’t do it. Period. He made no allowances for man’s intentions. WE WILL ALL BE JUDGED BY WHAT HE SAID, NOT BY WHAT WE THINK ABOUT WHAT HE SAID (JOHN 12:44-50). 

Following the Great Flood of Noah’s day Nimrod gathered the entirety of humanity on the plains of Shinar where he built the city of Babylon (Gen. 10,11). There he rebelled against God and, along with his mate, created the religious system known Scripturally as “Mystery, Babylon the great (Catholicism), the mother of harlots (Protestantism’s denominations) and the abominations of the earth” (Rev. 17:5). This Satan-begotten, Satan-controlled and empowered system is the progenitor of all of heathen religions, including today’s world-wide Catholic/Protestant church system whose “sign” is the two-beamed cross.

The ancient Egyptians, Hindus, Assyrians, Mexicans and Greeks used the cross as the “sign” of their dedication to their respective gods. The ancient goddess Diana is pictured with a cross over her head, much like the “Virgin Mary” is often depicted today. Baccus–the Greek god of wine–is often pictured with a headress adorned with crosses. The priests of Dagon, the fish god of the Philistines, are pictured with the “sign of the fish” woven into the hems of their robes. The same sign is often seen festooned on the bumpers and painted on the windows of cars as well as hanging from ears.

An interesting historical fact is that for the first three hundred years of the Christian Church the cross was not used as a religious symbol. Archaeologists have found no evidence of the cross being used by the early church. It was only when the Catholic Church forced the heathen peoples of the Roman Empire to “convert” to her version of Christianity that the cross became associated with Christendom. For those who need secular proof of this, check any encyclopedia or historical document for information on the subject of cross usage. The cross as a church symbol came into use in the fourth century as an accomodation to the masses of heathen “converts” within the Catholic Church. The same is true of other doctrines and practices such as the Sunday Sabbath, immediate entrance into heaven or hell at death, the trinity, the celebration of Christmas, Easter, Lent, Halloween, Valentine’s Day, halos, holy water, genuflexing, etc. See Simon of Samaria: The Legacy for an extensive study of the origins of modern church’s use of heathen doctrines and customs. The series is currently found on page 126.

The New Testament does not describe the exact shape of the instrument upon which Christ died. The New Testament was written in the Greek language, which was the language commonly spoken and written in the Holy Land at the time of Christ due to the influence of Alexander the Great who convinced many of the Jews to embrace the Greek culture which focused on the intellect instead of the Lord. For this reason Jews who had embraced the Greek culture are sometimes referred to as “Greeks” in the New Testament.

The original writers of the New Testament used the Greek word “xulon” when referring to the instrument upon which Jesus was put to death. The word can mean “stick” or “club.” A word often used in place of xulon is “stauros” which means “an upright stake” according to Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible. In Greek the words xulon and stauros are used to describe the byproduct of what was once a living tree. A toothpick is a xulon or stauros. As is a wooden spoon or fence post. They are not the same as the word “dendron” which refers to a living tree. The English rendering of the Biblical words xulon and stauros is “tree.” This is brought out in several passages of Scripture. L.J.