Origin and History of the Cross, a Pagan Symbol https://ahnsahnghong.com/en/church-of-god/origin-of-cross/
The cross is not a symbol of faith which 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) in that country and in adjacent lands, including Egypt.”
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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.
Introduction of the Cross Into the Church
The use of the cross in the church began in the days of Constantine. Before Emperor Constantine legalized Christianity, the church was [persecuted by the Roman Empire], and the cross was used as an instrument to execute the Christians. Under such circumstances, it was nonsense if the church beautified the cross, which was a terrible instrument for the penalty of death, and used it as a symbol of Christianity. Actually, the church did not set up the cross for about 300 years after Jesus ascended until the time of Constantine. “The public use of the cross was adopted by the Christians as a symbol at the time of Constantine.
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However, there was a change after Emperor Constantine legalized Christianity. The church was rapidly secularized as a result of the preferential treatment of Christianity, and corrupt Roman Catholic leaders accepted pagan ideas and symbols in the name of evangelizing more pagans. The cross was one of them. They thought that the cross was a reminder of the crucifixion of Jesus to the converts who regarded the cross image as sacred, and so they brought the cross into the church for them to worship. Besides, they deified Mary, the mother of Jesus, for those who worshiped pagan goddesses, and let them worship saints and martyrs on behalf of various foreign gods.
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The cross had nothing to do with faith in the Apostolic Age, rather it was an idol that was introduced while churches were secularized and paganized. “You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them . . .” Ex 20:4–5.
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The Bible clearly testifies that making idols is a thing detestable to God and to be cursed (Dt 27:15). Despite these warnings, the Israelites in the Old Testament times accepted idols like and Asherah, which the surrounding pagans worshiped, and they combined the idols with their own faith after entering Canaan. They made various idols and worshiped them, always rationalizing it as an act of serving God. As a result, they were cursed and destroyed by God (Jer 2:27–28). Today, many churches repeat this foolishness over and over again. They accept the cross, which is a pagan symbol, as a symbol of Christianity and set it up. By doing so, they disobey God’s command, “Do not make an image and worship it.”
https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2022/05/31/what-is-the-origin-of-christian-cross
What is the evilest regime that ever existed on Earth? That would be NAZI Germany. What was their state symbol? You would say a Swastika. And you would be wrong. That is a Hindu word that those outside NAZI Germany used to describe their symbol. The NAZIs called their symbol a Hakenkreuz, which is German for Hooked Cross. It is a known fact that the NAZIs were deeply steeped in the occult.
The Sign of the Cross https://levendwater.org/books/hislop/sect56.htm
The magic virtues attributed to the so-called sign of the cross, the worship bestowed on it, never came from such a source. The same sign of the cross that Rome now worships was used in the Babylonian Mysteries, was applied by Paganism to the same magic purposes, was honoured with the same honours. That which is now called the Christian cross was originally no Christian emblem at all, but was the mystic Tau of the Chaldeans and Egyptians--the true original form of the letter T--the initial of the name of Tammuz--which, in Hebrew, radically the same as ancient Chaldee, as found on coins, was formed as in No. 1 of the accompanying woodcut; [Fig. 43]
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and in Etrurian and Coptic, as in Nos. 2 and 3. That mystic Tau was marked in baptism on the foreheads of those initiated in the Mysteries, and was used in every variety of way as a most sacred symbol. TERTULLIAN, De Proescript. Hoeret. The language of Tertullian implies that those who were initiated by baptism in the Mysteries were marked on the forehead in the same way, as his Christian countrymen in Africa, who had begun by this time to be marked in baptism with the sign of the cross.
To identify Tammuz with the sub it was joined sometimes to the circle of the sun, as in; sometimes it was [No. 4] inserted in the circle, as in. Whether the Maltese cross, which the Romish bishops append to their names as a symbol of their episcopal dignity, is the letter T, may be doubtful; but there seems no reason to doubt that that Maltese cross is an express symbol of the sun; for Layard found it as a sacred symbol in Nineveh in such a connection as led him to identify it with the sun. [No. 5]
The mystic Tau, as the symbol of the great divinity, was called "the sign of life"; it was used as an amulet over the heart; it was marked on the official garments of the priests, as on the official garments of the priests of Rome; it was borne by kings in their hand, as a token of their dignity or divinely-conferred authority. The Vestal virgins of Pagan Rome wore it suspended from their necklaces, as the nuns do now. The Egyptians did the same, and many of the barbarous nations with whom they had intercourse, as the Egyptian monuments bear witness.
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There is hardly a Pagan tribe where the cross has not been found. The cross was worshipped by the Pagan Celts long before the incarnation and death of Christ. "It is a fact," says Maurice, "not less remarkable than well-attested, that the Druids in their groves were accustomed to select the most stately and beautiful tree as an emblem of the Deity they adored, and having cut the side branches, they affixed two of the largest of them to the highest part of the trunk, in such a manner that those branches extended on each side like the arms of a man, and, together with the body, presented the appearance of a HUGE CROSS, and on the bark, in several places, was also inscribed the letter Thau."
It was worshipped in Mexico for ages before the Roman Catholic missionaries set foot there, large stone crosses being erected, probably to the "god of rain." The cross thus widely worshipped, or regarded as a sacred emblem, was the unequivocal symbol of Bacchus, the Babylonian Messiah, for he was represented with a head-band covered with crosses. [See Fig. 45]
There is hardly a Pagan tribe where the cross has not been found. The cross was worshipped by the Pagan Celts long before the incarnation and death of Christ. "It is a fact," says Maurice, "not less remarkable than well-attested, that the Druids in their groves were accustomed to select the most stately and beautiful tree as an emblem of the Deity they adored, and having cut the side branches, they affixed two of the largest of them to the highest part of the trunk, in such a manner that those branches extended on each side like the arms of a man, and, together with the body, presented the appearance of a HUGE CROSS, and on the bark, in several places, was also inscribed the letter Thau."
It was worshipped in Mexico for ages before the Roman Catholic missionaries set foot there, large stone crosses being erected, probably to the "god of rain." The cross thus widely worshipped, or regarded as a sacred emblem, was the unequivocal symbol of Bacchus, the Babylonian Messiah, for he was represented with a head-band covered with crosses. [See Fig. 45]
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Now, this Pagan symbol seems first to have crept into the Christian Church in Egypt, and generally into Africa. A statement of Tertullian, about the middle of the third century, shows how much, by that time, the Church of Carthage was infected with the old leaven. Egypt especially, which was never thoroughly evangelised, appears to have taken the lead in bringing in this Pagan symbol. The first form of that which is called the Christian Cross, found on Christian monuments there, is the unequivocal Pagan Tau, or Egyptian "Sign of life."
https://watv.org/bible_word/cross-in-babylon/
It is very common for people to associate the cross with Christian churches. However, the saints of the early Church, established by Jesus, neither erected the cross nor taught that the cross should be revered as an object or a symbol of faith.
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We cannot find a single verse in the Bible teaching Christians to use the cross in the church. Neither the apostles, who were taught directly by Jesus, nor the saints of the early Church ever erected the cross or taught that it should be revered. The cross appeared in the church after the Apostolic Age, when the church became corrupt and secularized by accepting pagan rituals. We can trace the origin of the cross to ancient Babylon. Babylonians worshiped Tammuz and used the first letter of his name “T” as a religious symbol. This custom soon spread to Egypt, and today, images of crosses can still be found in the hands of Egyptian gods on ancient wall paintings and on the tombs of their kings. The custom of setting up crosses even spread to ancient Assyria and Rome, thereby influencing their religious practices. Long before Christianity existed in Rome, pagan priests wore crosses around their necks. Moreover, the cross was placed in front of tombs as a talisman for the dead and used as an execution tool in Rome as well as in many other nations. When we look at the historical records of the Spaniards who conquered Mexico, we can see that they were astonished to discover a cross in an ancient Aztec temple where Christianity had not yet been introduced. Through this, we can easily understand that cross reverence is not a biblical teaching. The cross was revered by pagans long before it was ever used as a symbol of Christianity.
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“Cursed is the man who carves an image or casts an idol—a thing detestable to the LORD, the work of the craftsman’s hands—and sets it up in secret.” Then all the people shall say, “Amen!” Dt 27:15
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The cross is a detestable idol which must be removed from those who truly believe in God. Since the cross is associated with worship of the sun god, it must not be used as a symbol to worship God. We believe in Christ, who was sacrificed on the cross for us. The cross itself is meaningless to us. For this reason, we cannot find any cross in the Church of God that follows all of God’s teachings.
https://www.tomorrowsworld.org/commentary/the-crucifix-a-christian-or-pagan-symbol
The story of the cross as a religious symbol begins in ancient Babylon. Upon Nimrod's death, his wife Semiramis exalted her infant son, Tammuz, as Nimrod re-born. God-king worship became quickly entrenched among the ancient Babylonians…and the Tau symbol – the first character of Tammuz' name became a key symbol in Babylonian worship.
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After death, Nimrod was worshipped under various names including Marduk, Bel, Baal and Beelzebub. Baal-worship, a continuation of Babylonian religion, was what God rebuked ancient Israel for when they "did evil in the sight of the LORD. They forgot the LORD their God, and served the Baals and Asherahs" ( [Judges 3:7]. It was in service to this pagan deity that ancient Israel sacrificed their infant children as burning sacrifices [Jeremiah 32:35]. Baal worship was a terrible abomination in God's sight.
The Cross in Ancient Chaldea https://classroom.synonym.com/cross-ancient-chaldea-7322.html
G. Maspero's “History of Egypt: Chaldea, Syria, Babylonia and Assyria” speculates on the evolution of the Chaldean cross from sun symbol to a form closer to the modern Christian insignia. The Chaldeans viewed the sky as a vault split into eight segments featuring four cardinal points. As such, the four points of a two-beamed cross stand in for these points, perhaps emanating from the symbolic rays of the original circular “sun” symbol. Eventually the Chaldeans dropped the circle altogether, leaving only the two beams. Maspero theorizes that the two-beam cross may also symbolize the form of a man standing upright with open arms, as this cross typically features a series of rounded protrusions on each point, which could be interpreted as fingers.
The Origin Of The Christian Cross https://www.cgg.org/index.cfm/library/commentary/id/3965/origin-of-christian-cross.htm
The cross is the ubiquitous symbol of 'Christendom,' adorning steeples and altars and worn as religious jewelry. However, this symbol flourished centuries before Christ came on the scene, serving as an initial for Tammuz, the son of Semiramis, the prototype for the virgin Mary, worshiped and honored throughout the Middle East under various monikers. The pagan goddess Diana is depicted as having a cross over her head; the god Bacchus, the Roman god of wine, is adorned with crosses. The king of Nineveh also appears in pictures with the Maltese Cross. The cross did not enter 'Christendom' until the time of the Emperor Constantine in 325 AD, when he convened the Council of Nicaea, enforcing the display of the cross at all churches and private homes throughout the Empire. One finds it bizarre that an instrument of torture should receive worship. If Jesus had been killed by a shotgun, electric chair, gallows, or guillotine, would we feel compelled to wear these miniatures of these gruesome objects around our necks?
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More than 800 years before the Christian era, the cross was honored as a religious symbol by the people of Assyria and Babylon. It is seen on their oldest monuments. For example, in the British Museum is a statue of the Assyrian king Samsi-Vul II, son of Shalmaneser. Around his neck is an almost perfect Maltese cross.
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The form of the cross used today is known as the Latin cross. It was used prior to the 3rd century BC by the Etruscans on an ancient pagan tomb with winged angels to each side. The symbol called the St. Andrew's cross appeared on the coins of Alexander Bala in Syria in 146 BC, and on those of Baktrian kings about 140-120 BC, long before the apostle Andrew was even born. In 46 BC, Roman coins show Jupiter holding a long scepter terminating in a cross. This was Jupiter’s symbol, similar to what the Pope holds today. The temple virgins of the Roman goddess Vesta wore the cross suspended from their necklaces, as the nuns of the Roman Catholic Church do now. Obviously, cross worship did not originate with Christ, and all these various forms of the cross were occult Christians when they find out that the use of the cross by mainstream Christianity did not begin until the time of Constantine, three centuries after Christ's death. Although this fact is readily available in many historical and theological works, they still choose to ignore it so they may continue to follow the traditions of their false teachers.