Babylonian Symbols
Long before the Christian era, crosses were used by the ancient Babylonians as symbols in their worship of the fertility god Tammuz. The use of the cross spread into Egypt, India, Syria, and China. Then, centuries later, the Yisraelites (Israelites) adulterated their worship of YAHUAH with acts of veneration to the false god Tammuz. The scriptures refers to this form of worship as a ‘detestable thing.’—Ezekiel 8:13, 14.
The Gospel accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John use the Greek word stau·ros′ when referring to the instrument of execution on which YAHUSHA died. (Matthew 27:40; Mark 15:30; Luke 23:26) The word stau·ros′ refers to an upright pole, stake, or post. The book The Non-Christian Cross, by J. D. Parsons, explains: “There is not a single sentence in any of the numerous writings forming the New Testament, which, in the original Greek, bears even indirect evidence to the effect that the stauros used in the case of Yahusha was other than an ordinary stauros; much less to the effect that it consisted, not of one piece of timber, but of two pieces nailed together in the form of a cross.”
Some ancient drawings depict the use of a single wooden pole in Roman executions
As recorded at Acts 5:30, the apostle Peter used the word xy′lon, meaning “tree,” as a synonym for stau·ros′, denoting, not a two-beamed cross, but an ordinary piece of upright timber or tree.
It was not until about 300 years after YAHUSHA’s death that some professed Christians promoted the idea that Yahusha was put to death on a two-beamed cross. However, this view was based on tradition and a misuse of the Greek word stau·ros′. It is noteworthy that some ancient drawings depicting Roman executions feature a single wooden pole or tree.
True believers should not use the cross in worship. One important reason is that YAHUSHA did not die on a cross. The Greek word generally translated “cross” is stau·ros′. It basically means “an upright pale or stake.” The Companion Bible points out: “[Stau·ros′] never means two pieces of timber placed across one another at any angle . . . There is nothing in the Greek of the [New Testament] even to imply two pieces of timber.”
In several texts, scripture writers use another word for the instrument of YAHUSHA’s death. It is the Greek word xy′lon. (Acts 5:30; 10:39; 13:29; Galatians 3:13; 1 Peter 2:24) This word simply means “timber” or “a stick, club, or tree.”
Explaining why a simple stake was often used for executions, the book Das Kreuz und die Kreuzigung (The Cross and the Crucifixion), by Hermann Fulda, states: “Trees were not everywhere available at the places chosen for public execution. So a simple beam was sunk into the ground. On this the outlaws, with hands raised upward and often also with their feet, were bound or nailed.”
The most convincing proof of all, however, comes from YAHUAH’s Word. The apostle Paul says: “Messiah by purchase released us from the curse of the Law by becoming a curse instead of us, because it is written: ‘Accursed is every man hanged upon a stake [“a tree,” King James Version].’” (Galatians 3:13) Here Paul quotes Deuteronomy 21:22, 23, which clearly refers to a stake, not a cross. Since such a means of execution made the person “a curse,” it would not be proper for Christians to decorate their homes with images of YAHUSHA impaled.
There is no evidence that for the first 300 years after Messiah’s death, those claiming to be Belivers used the cross in worship. In the fourth century, however, pagan Emperor Constantine became a convert to apostate Christianity and promoted the cross as its symbol. Whatever Constantine’s motives, the cross had nothing to do with YAHUSHA. The cross is, in fact, pagan in origin. The New Catholic Encyclopedia admits: “The cross is found in both pre-Christian and non-Christian cultures.” Various other authorities have linked the cross with nature worship and pagan sex rites.
Why, then, was this pagan symbol promoted? Apparently, to make it easier for pagans to accept “Christianity.” Nevertheless, devotion to any pagan symbol is clearly condemned by the Scriptures. (2 Corinthians 6:14-18) The Scriptures also forbid all forms of idolatry. (Exodus 20:4, 5; 1 Corinthians 10:14) With very good reason.
The cross came into widespread use in the Babylonian mystery religions. As Alexander Hislop wrote in his book, The Two Babylons:
The same sign of the cross that Rome now worships was used in the Babylonian Mysteries. [It] was applied by paganism to the same magic purposes, [and] was honored with the same honors. That which is now called the Christian cross was originally no Christian emblem at all. There is hardly a Pagan tribe where the cross has not been found. The cross was worshiped by the Pagan Celts long before the incarnation and death of Messiah… it was worshiped in Mexico for ages before the Roman Catholic missionaries set foot there, … The cross was widely worshiped, or regarded as a sacred emblem, was the unequivocal symbol of Bacchus,… for he was represented with a head-band covered with crosses.
The cross was widely known in pre-Christian times as an emblem that was a well-known Heathen Sign. The vestments of the priest of Horus the Egyptian god of light are marked by a cross. At Thebes, in the tombs of the kings, royal cows are represented plowing, a calf playing in front. Each animal has a cross marked in several places on it. Rassam found buildings at Nineveh marked with the Maltese cross. Osiris, as well as Jupiter Ammon, had for a monogram a cross. The cross is found marked on Phonetician monuments at an early date.
The druids were accustomed to select the most stately and beautiful tree as an emblem of the deity. Having cut the side branches, they affixed two of the largest to the highest part of the trunk in a manner that those branches extended on each side like the arms of a man. Together with the body, they presented the appearance of a huge cross, and on the bark, in several places was inscribed the letter “T”
The form of the cross now used in Christianity actually had its origin in the letter “T.” This was the traditional symbol for Tammuz, the ancient god of the Chaldeans and Egyptians. Tammuz was the son of Ishtar, the goddess of fertility who is now unwittingly worshiped by millions of professing Christians on the holiday that bears a form of her name—Easter. The symbol for Tammuz is what the mystery religions call the mystic “T.” It is an emblem of great antiquity, and it is sometimes called the sign of life.
The shape of the [two-beamed cross] had its origin in ancient Chaldea (Babylon), and was used as the symbol of the god Tammuz (being in the shape of the mystic Tau, the initial of his name)… By the middle of the 3rd century A.D. the churches had either departed from, certain doctrines of the Christian faith. 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 T, in its most frequent form, with the cross piece lowered, was adopted.
The lower case “t”, or cross, was originally used as an amulet over the heart. Sometimes it was inscribed on the garments of pagan priests, and other ancient pagan religions used it as part of the dress of vestal virgins. These women wore crosses suspended from necklaces which they wore during the celebration of their pagan rites. Hislop wrote the following about the “t” symbol:
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 Tammuz… 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… 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.
Please, if you use this symbol, I strongly suggest a little bit of research and prayer should be entered into.
Roman Symbolism
Remember Rome was steep in Symbolism. Rome already know the Messiah calmed to be Root & Offspring of David and that He came Before Abraham and carried ABBA YAHUAH’S Name and being referred as the Tree The Vine …. They knew We were His Branches …
So symbolically the Cuting “The Tree” down to the ground separating The Tree (Messiah) from The Root (ABBA YAHUAH) and then Removed all It’s Branches (Follower’s of YAHUSHA The Messiah) was what I feel was being strongly implied here…..
So they were actually saying when they Cut the Tree and removed It (Messiah) from it’s connection to The Root (YAHUAH) and Removed It’s Branches they were symbolizing the removing our Masters connection to His Root ABBA YAHUAH – His ABBA Father and had power to remove the connection We have to our Master YAHUSHA as Natsariym (The Branches)
That was the message given in Roman Symbolism .. I feel in my heart….
