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THE CROSS Now days you see the
cross everywhere, on church buildings, embroidered into clergy robes, on
clergy stationary, on pulpit cloths, in stained glass windows of church buildings
and worn around the neck of Christians and none Christian alike. Yet just a few years
ago this was not the case. When I was young you very seldom saw an
evangelical church with a cross adorning their building whether from a
steeple or any other part of the building such as stain glass windows or from
pulpit cloths. The only churches up to 30 or 40 years ago that used the symbol
of the cross was the great whore of all churches - the Roman Catholic church
along with a few of her harlot daughters of the Protestant group.
Why is it that Evangelical churches never wore the cross on the
church building or never had any on any part of the interior of the building
or clothes of the pastor - nor worn around the neck or wrists of individuals . There is a reason - a very good reason which
is being lost to the modern day Christian. Even Baptists are getting into the
habit of wearing this symbol (idol) around their neck or on their body
somewhere. Church buildings are springing up everywhere with this symbol
prominent over it. I would like to go
over the reason why churches of Protestants and especially Baptists did not
"wear" this cross. I hope on learning the facts many Baptists will
give up this pagan practice - because that is exactly what it is. Any where
you get a physical 'symbol' to take the place of the actual event is not of
Christ - it is an idol and of the devil. Please read the reason
why our forefathers would not adorn the symbol of the cross on, in or around
a church building or on themselves as stated by themselves.
The following is from
writings of different people of the many centuries since Christ. The cross as a sign of
Christianity did not come into public use in the church until towards the end
of the fourth century, when there was a definite falling away from "The
faith", and when Pagans with their symbols and rites were admitted into
the Church of Rome on condition that they submitted to her baptism. Dr. Choul, the learned Romish
antiquarian, writes thus: "if we closely investigate the subject, we
shall perceive that many institutions of our religion have been taken and
translated from Egyptian and heathen ceremonies. Of this kind are tunics and
surplices, the crowns made by our priests, their bowing around the altar,
sacrificial processions and litanies. These, 'et plusieurs
autres choses,' which the
folly and superstitious ignorance of the heathen refer to their gods and
deified men with pomp, the music of their temples, adoration and
supplications. Our priests adopt them in our mysteries and refer them to the
one sole God Jesus Christ." Another Romish authority, Didron,
admits that the Romish Church found it NECESSARY to
appropriate the images of paganism (quoted by the Baron Porcelli
in - The Cross, it's History and Use) A PAGAN SYMBOL The cross is one of the
oldest and best authenticated emblems of pagan worship. It existed in Asia,
Africa and The same sign of the cross, wrote Hislop,
"that
The sign of the cross was
unheard of in the days of the Apostles and the primitive Church. Dean Burgon, in his "letters from "The mystic Tau of ancient THE ILLUMINATED CROSS The illuminated Cross
has its origin in the pagan cross of fire, the sign of Tammuz, the Sun-god
and the Fire-god of ancient "As there is not reason to believe that the pagan festival
of burning lamps was observed in commemoration of the ancient fire-worship,
so there is a ceremony at Rome in the Easter week which is an unmistakable
act of fire-worship, when a cross of fire is the grand object of worship.
This ceremony is thus graphically described by the authoress of '
http://dshortt.homestead.com/THE_CROSS_OF_FLAMES.JPG THE PREACHING OF THE CROSS Let’s read this
scripture - 1 CORINTHIANS 1:18 -- "For the preaching of the Cross is to
them that perish foolishness: but unto us which are saved it is the power of
God" The Apostles never used material crosses in preaching the
gospel. You may examine the whole of the Acts of the Apostles and you will
find no mention of a material cross connected with their work as ambassadors
of Christ. In searching for the origin of the material cross in the Church of
Christ we find it was brought in after the Apostles left the earth by the
enemies of Christ and not by His friends; and not only so, but it is kept in
by His enemies to this day! Who but His enemies would pollute the pure saving
Gospel that Paul spoke of when he said in: GALATIANS 1:7-8 --
"..but there be some that trouble you; and
would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven,
preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have (already)
preached," unto you, let him be accursed (damned) It is a MOST
SERIOUS MATTER for people to maintain in a Christian church anything
brought in by the enemies of Christ. Some would say that
the material cross is a symbol. A symbol of what? "Oh, a symbol of
Christ's death." NO. To say such a thing is to confess ignorance. Even
little children going to school can tell you from their Bible instruction
that the symbol of Christ's death is the Lord's Supper, which He Himself instituted
- "as often as ye do this, ye show forth the Lord's death till He
come". What a pity it is that people who have had the Bible in their
hands and in their homes for so long should be under the delusion that the
instrument upon which the Saviour laid down His life should be the symbol of
His death. I tell such people that they are ignorant of the word of God, and
I tell them that, not from any ill-feeling, but from a sincere pity, and from
a desire and prayer that they should learn the truth of God's word. What then, is meant by
'the cross' here? It means the doctrines of the gospel of Christ. The apostle speaks of the preaching of the cross: 'Christ sent
me not to baptize but to preach the Gospel: not with wisdom of words lest the
cross of Christ should be made of none effect.' That is, lest the sufferings
of Christ revealed in the Gospel should be made of none effect. The Gospel is
Christ Himself. For the Gospel, Christ is preached -- NOT - a picture of Him,
not a representation of Him. No: but CHRIST HIMSELF. His atonement is
preached in the gospel as that which satisfied Divine justice and as the only
ground of reconciling sinners to God. There is no other foundation upon which
a sinner can be saved but the atoning sacrifice of the Son of God in Human
form, and that ought to satisfy the guiltiest sinner, because it has
satisfied Him against whom we sinned. It ought to satisfy the guiltiest
sinner on earth because it is the only sacrifice which has satisfied the
Divine Law in all its demands., and so Paul, who wrote this epistle says;
'This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus
came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief'. (
Extract from sermon by the late Rev. D. MacFarlane, Dingwall).
ICHABOD The material cross belong to the worship of Tammuz or Baal the Sun-god
of the Babylonians as surely as Easter, Lent and Christmas. It is not of
divine but of Satanic origin. The Lord's Churches who would not bow their
knees to Baal or Rome down through the centuries, from Christ's establishment
of the Church to the present, have not adopted the pagan custom of using
crosses as aids to worship or devotion, or as symbols of faith. Do we want to
identify with this symbol that our lord did not instruct us to use in any way
or for any reason? To ignore the command to "Touch not the unclean
thing" 2 Corinthians 6:17-18) would be to place oneself in a dangerous
and shaky position. The apostle Paul reminds God's people, who are members of
the church at OUR RESPONSIBILITY -"Wherefore come
out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the
Lord, and touch not the unclean thing", RESULT OF FULFILLING
OUR RESPONSIBILITY: "and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto
you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith
the Lord Almighty." When the cross is
placed on or in a church, can one safely conclude that the everlasting gospel
of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is in that church, and not "another
gospel"? I hardly think so. If a church is willing to identify with any
of Pagan Babylon's symbols, whether through ignorance or otherwise, how many
other Pagan symbols and beliefs might it identify with? Our concern must be
whether or not it could be truthfully said: there ICHABOD is - "The
glory is departed." (From that church) It is no longer a The cross is not the
sign of Christ but of anti-Christ. How much we need to give heed to the
exhortation: 2 CORINTHIANS 15-18 --
"And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath he that
believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the This article is taken
out of a book written by: Joe Bell Pastor
"Take up Your
Cross" I want to continue on
in this sermon about the "CROSS". Here I would like to discuss the
uses of the word cross. What it was and how it is used figuratively in New
Testament usage. In preparing this sermon
I noted that there are at least 15 places in the New Testament where the word
"cross" is used. The problem with this word is that it is used in a
couple of ways. First it is used to mean the actual "CROSS" on
which the Lord died - other times it is used in a figurative sense - that is
using the word "CROSS" to cover a whole series of events which
would be hard to spiel off every time one wants to talk about those events. so we use the phrase "THE CROSS" - or
"one's cross" - or "THE CROSS " of Jesus Christ. But I noted one
important thing - that the "CROSS" was
never used to mean a trinket or idol that was worn or carried on their person
or displayed on or in the place of worship to represent the actual cross
Jesus died on. That practice in fact is frowned upon by the law. Idols are
nothing but stone, wood, gold, silver, metal or whatever, representatives of
something else spiritual or physical. The use of these
objects were forbidden in the law - especially when it came to
worshiping them or looking on them as holding some sort of special power. Just what ways is the
word "CROSS" used in the New Testament? Lets
first determine what the "CROSS" was that Jesus died on. Was it the
t shaped structure that is so widely believed as the instrument of death? Not according to
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance - a very trusted and widely used Bible
concordance - it was not the t shaped structure at all. Just stop and think
on this a minute - look at that shape - It is not a 'CROSS" at all but a
tee Why is this symbol recognized everywhere else as a tee and yet when used
by the Christian religion it suddenly becomes a "CROSS"? The symbol
of a cross is something else entirely different. These are a
crosses: + + +. Every one is familiar with the Red Cross flag - that
is a proper cross. So is the Swiss flag which is just the reverse colours of the Red Cross. For instance - is my
last name (Shortt) spelled S H O R Tee Tee or S H O
R cross cross. Why is my name recognized to be spelled with two tees
and yet when the t is used as a Christian symbol it suddenly becomes a cross.
The answer is simple.
As usual it is Roman Catholic deception. It is true that the cross is two
bars crossing each other much the same as the letter tee. But there is a
difference. The difference is that the bars of a cross, cross each other in
the centre of each other - not a short bar crossing the long bar 2/3 or 3/4
the way up the longer bar. That is a t.(tee) Why did the Roman
Catholic Church want to deceive the world about this? Because the Roman
Catholic Church in fact does not worship the true God but a false god that
has existed many years before Christ came on the scene in ancient Babylonian
mythology - the false god Tammuz. This has already been covered in the first
part of this book so I won't repeat that here - but that is why we have the
letter t for the initial tammuz disguised as the
cross in Christianity. But if that is the
case what was the "CROSS" that Jesus died on? The cross was
mentioned in the New Testament as the instrument of death so that would mean
the only difference there would be is that the bar was in the centre of the
longer bar and not further up the long bar. Wrong again. If we look at
Strong's Concordance we will find that the Greek word for cross actually
means a pole - a pole that has been set upright in the ground. We can picture
that quite easily by thinking of a hydro pole or a lamp post - although I
doubt if they were as smoothed off as a hydro pole or lamp post. The Greek word for
what is interpreted as "CROSS" in English is "Stauros" - from the base meaning & uses --- A
stake or post (as set upright - i.e. cross as an instrument of capital
punishment. (used figuratively - exposure to death
such as self denial). From this Greek
meaning of what we interpret "CROSS" there is no doubt that what
Jesus died on was a single upright pole. But I can hear those objecting to
that by saying - but David that is against all the tradition we in the
Christian religion hold so dear. But dear brother - that is the problem - it is
only tradition brought in by that religious organization - the Roman Catholic
church to cover her worship of their god 39) Tammuz of the ancient Babylonian
religion with its t as the initial for tammuz.
Quite convenient to have the t looking so much like a cross which the English
word implies, it was easy to fool unsuspecting, uncaring people into
believing this symbol was in fact a Christian symbol. I can hear others
protesting that Jesus would have to have had His arms nailed above His head.
Exactly right - is there anything wrong with that? The protests may go on and
say that having His arms nailed above His head would cut down on the
suffering he would have endured and Jesus was meant to suffer the maximum He
could while on the cross. Wrong again. Jesus would have suffered more by
having His arms nailed above His head. Just hold your hands together above
your head for just a couple of minutes. Within a very short time you will
start getting severe cramps in the abdomen. While if you stretch your arms out
to your side it relaxes the muscles in your abdomen. Your arms may get tired
if unsupported by something but no cramps. Someone else might
object and say - "but does it really matter whether He died on a single
pole, a + or a t shaped structure? The answer to that is no - except - taking
into account what the t really is representing. As
already mentioned the t is the initial for the false god tammuz
of the ancient religion of Now the uses of
"CROSS" figuratively mentioned are: abide, bring, continue in
something started, covenant, establish then hold up or continue, stanch,
standby something you have begun. I mentioned that in the
New Testament the word cross was mentioned at least 15 times. Let's look at
some of these places and try to determine from Strong's Concordance what is
meant by each use - and they are all basically the same - either as the
actual "CROSS" Jesus died on or as a figure (not a representation -
that is something entirely different altogether) Matthew 27:32 -- and
as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name: him they
compelled to bear His cross. From context there is
no doubt the actual instrument of death was meant. 1 Corinthians 1:17-18
-- Christ sent me not to baptize, but preach the gospel: not with wisdom of
words, lest the CROSS of Christ should be made of none effect. For the
preaching of the CROSS is to them that perish foolishness: but into us which
are saved it is the power of God. Here it is used in
both senses- the factual death of Christ on the cross as well as figuratively
as the doctrines and practices He established and stood by so staunchly He
was crucified for them. Another scripture: Philippians 3:18 --
For many walk, of whom I have told you often and now tell you even weeping,
that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction. Here it is clearly in
the figurative sense. Warning those who fight those doctrines and practices
which Jesus established and stood for unto death are in fact the enemies of
Christ as well as the doctrines and practices He established as well as the
followers of Christ who take up His cause after Him as their way of life. Now lets
determine just what is meant when we use the term "THE CROSS OF
CHRIST". What was the "CROSS" that Christ had to bear? We
already know He suffered and died on the actual tree which the pole he was
crucified on was also called. (1 Peter 2:24) But there is more to
Christ's "CROSS" than that. I believe the "CROSS" that
Jesus bore used in the figurative sense was far more than just the pain and
suffering He suffered on the actual pole He died on although that certainly
was the culmination of all He suffered. The "CROSS" in the
figurative sense points to ALL His suffering he had to endure from the time
He left heaven and all its glory to live in this old world system with all
its pain and suffering that comes with just living in such a harsh place -
this world. That in itself must have been a tough
cross to bear. to leave a place of no suffering and
pain and great glory on His part to a hostile world. A world that is too hot
in summer, too cold in winter - and even when it is pleasant we have bugs and
flies and other pests - and maybe more than just pests but downright
dangerous. We are forced to work for a living some in a pretty hostile place.
Then He had to live among people who were so much different than He was -
people who do not like others that are different than they are. Just stop and think of
this for a few moments. Remember Jesus the Christ the son of God was a
perfect human - the only perfect human that has ever lived on the face of
this old world of ours. Can you imagine what kind of a life He must of lived
being so perfect alongside the not so perfect humans He lived with? As you
know and I know people do not like others that are different than they are.
This is shown in politics, religion and even a person with a disability is
just not welcome around the healthy. I know - I have a disability that makes
me alien to those about me. Many do try not to show the impatience but it
comes out very soon. I can relate to Jesus
and His what must have been a very lonely life. And
so can any other Christian - and the more "Christ like" we are, the
more knowledge we have the more alienated we are from world about us. Yet we
can not even compare what Jesus' life must have been like from the time He
could walk and play with others He would not be able to fit His perfect way
of life with those imperfect playmates about Him - probably not even His own
brothers and sisters who were just normal imperfect beings. It would be like
fitting a square block into a round hole - it just can't be done. Being a perfect child
that brought no frustration to His parents. He must have been wonderful to
them - but to his siblings He must have been what would call a
"sissy" in our day. They in all probability would want to do things
their parents had told him not to - and being a perfect child Jesus could not
go against those instructions. It is hard to even imagine the ribbing He must
have got from his younger siblings. I don't think it would
get any better throughout His life. In His youth he must have encountered others
of His own age that wanted to do things His parents instructed Him not to but
His companions wanted to do out of their sight. He couldn't because He was
perfect. This would drive Jesus to spend most of His time alone. Alone with
God being instructed by Him. Then came His
adulthood. Things would not change at all. We don't know what age He started
working but I would expect by the time He was 15 or 16. Things in those days
were not the same as our day. They went to work at an early age and married
at an early age and died at an early age - 40 being the average. Nothing like
our day where people go to school learning their trade until they are thirty
years old or there-about. Jesus was a carpenter taught by His step father. We
don't know when Joseph died but it was before Jesus' own death. What kind of carpenter
- and probably business man was he? A perfect one of course. He would be a
perfectionist - probably even to the frustration of His step father who
although no doubt honest was still not perfect. Then at age thirty
Jesus left His trade as a carpenter and the business if that was what He was
involved in and took up His ministry. This was to be full of frustration,
disappointment and mental anguish too - all part of "THE CROSS"
Jesus must endure to set us free from our sins. We saw Jesus pursued
by the crowd as long as they were being fed but as soon as they were taught
doctrines like the sovereignty of God and the doctrines of Grace as we call
them they quickly dispersed. Even His own disciples were a disappointment at times. They
fought over who was the greatest etc. Then of course at Jesus' arrest they
all fled leaving Him all alone to face His tormenters. Even Peter who had
previously showed to be the staunchest of Jesus' friends told a lie that He
did not know who Jesus was. There was a couple of things leading up to Jesus' death on the
cross that must have hurt Him more than any other thing that happened to Him.
Oh yes, the time on the tree must have been very painful physically, but what
I mean to mention now must have been terrible to bear. We have first the
refusal of God to answer His prayer when Jesus asked to be excused from what
was in store for Him the very next day - His crucifixion on the tree. Did you
ever stop to think of that? This is the only time that God ever refused to
grant a prayer of Jesus. Note that Jesus ended His pray with the words
"but not my will be done but thine be
done". Even Jesus had to pray for things within the predetermined plan
of God. In this case it was in God's plan that Jesus die on the tree. The next painful event
was when God turned His back on Jesus while He hung there on the tree. You
can just hear the cry of anguish as Jesus cried out on the cross - " My God, My God why hast thou forsaken me". Yet
he did not make a sound during the physical suffering He endured hanging
there for hour after hour on the tree. Yes - these two terrible events were
all part of the "Cross" Jesus had to bear - all of this mental
anguish was all part of the "CROSS" that Jesus had to bear. But of course the
culmination of all this was the last days of His life. His friends disowning
Him - the betrayal by one of His so called friends and his part in Jesus'
arrest. The abuse at the hands of His captors including the placing of the
crown of thorns on His head which must have torn his head to pieces because I
doubt if it was placed there any too gently, was all just a prelude to the
final act of giving His life there on that tree for the sins of His people. I don't think many
people have ever stopped to think of the horrible suffering one endured on
that cross. It was one of the most painful deaths one could imagine even by a
sin depraved human being. Not only was it grotesque in that it mutilated the
body but a person could live for a long as 72 hours on that pole. Seventy two
hours - three full days of unimaginable pain and suffering you would have to
experience to have any idea just how bad it was. In Psalm 22:14 it
gives a hint of the horrible experience death on the tree was. Let's read it.
PSALM 22:14-15 -- I am
poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like
wax: it is melted in the midst of my bowels. My strength is dried up like a
potsherd: and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws: and
thou hast brought me into the dust of death. This is only a very
gentle hint to the actual suffering one went through on the tree. I have read
in more detail what a person went through. 1. Of course the first
thing to happen was the driving of heavy spikes through each hand and each
foot - that in itself must have been pure torture.
But that is only the beginning. 2. The next was the
lifting of the tree - or pole upright from its lying position from where they
did the nailing. Once again the pain must have been excruciating as the
wounds with the spikes in them took the weight of the body. Makes me shiver
to even think of it. 3. Then came the long wait, the weight of the body hanging on the
wounds of the spikes. But there was something else now. There was nothing but
the muscles of your body holding the body up in any kind of upright position
- or bodily form. He was in mid air with only the spikes in those four wounds
holding him up there and in any kind of human form. The muscles of his body
would soon start screaming for relief - you know yourself you can not even
hold your arm out in front of you for any more than a few seconds before they
start paining and wanting relief. Now his whole body is doing this - trying
to keep his body upright in some sort of bodily shape. They soon give out and
when that happens that body becomes like a bowl of jelly held together only
by the skin surrounding the body. Even the joints of his limbs become
disjointed. He is as I said like a bowl of jelly with his bones floating
around inside him. And of course all this time He is not given any food or
anything to drink in the hot Palestinian sun. You can imagine the hunger and
thirst He must have endured. And yet he lives on for up to 72 hours total -
probably 60 hours or more in this condition of a bowl of jelly. I think it
would be with great relief when he does expire after enduring this torment
for this long. And that dear bro -
sister is what I believe is meant by "THE CROSS OF JESUS CHRIST".
Would you like to relate all that instead of those few words every time 'THE
CROSS OF JESUS CHRIST' is mentioned? It would be much too cumbersome to do
so. But we should make sure our listeners or readers do know what is behind
that phrase so there is no confusion as to what is meant. But what about the
phrase - "each of us must take up our own "CROSS"? Or
something to that affect. What is our "CROSS" that we must bear? I have my own
definition of the term based on text surrounding its use and the definition
given in Strong's concordance. I Believe what is meant by "taking up
"YOUR CROSS" of Jesus Christ is: "Making a stand for Jesus and
His cause patiently enduring the persecution and suffering you will receive
as a direct result of your stand for Christ. Matthew 16:24 -- Then
said Jesus unto his disciples, if any man will come after me, let him deny
himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. You are promised by
God that you will suffer persecution if you do take a stand with Jesus in His
cause. And anyone who has knows that that promise is true. The more or
stronger a stand we take - the greater persecution we will get at the hands
of the unsaved of this world - sometimes the most religious are the greatest
persecutors. So every time you hear
that phrase that is what is meant - to stand for Christ staunchly enduring
patiently all the persecution and suffering you will get as a direct result
of that stand. It is a lot to say
isn't it each time you refer to taking up the cause in this manner - it is
too cumbersome to say all that every time so we use the expression "take
up our cross" to mean all that was said above just the same as when we
talk about the "CROSS" Jesus bore means all that I said about Him
above. We do the same when we
refer to the heart. When we talk about believing with all ones heart (and
other uses of the term) we do not mean the literal heart that beats within us
keeping us alive. Rather we understand "the heart" to be the
spiritual us - the unseen part of us - the central core of life that makes us
tick - think the way we do, act the way we do etc. We use a short phrase to
mean something that is too cumbersome to say all the meaning behind the word
every time we speak on the subject. The only trouble is that all too often we
don't explain what is meant by these phrases to new converts and the meaning
gets lost and confusion results. Note that in no way
could the wearing of a cross or having it displayed on you or about the
church building can take the place of the meaning and what you will go
through as a result of your walk with Christ. In fact the wearing of some
trinket to represent all that Jesus did and bore for our salvation destroys
the meaning of the "CROSS and rends His work useless. A great victory
for the Devil. But of course there
are those who want to use the physical cross made of wood, or marble or
whatever to ever remind them of the cross of Christ. But why? How can
something made of wood remind anyone of "THE CROSS" as has been
discussed here? There is two things seriously wrong
with doing this. A. as has already been
discussed - the cross as used by the religious world of Christians is NOT the
shape of the tree which Jesus died. Instead their cross is in the shape of a
tee which is in memory of the false God Tammus of
the Ancient Babylonian religion. Wrong God - do you want to remember this
false God. B. The next thing that
is seriously wrong with using this kind of cross is that God in His Holy Book
- The Bible - never ordered it. In fact He gave instructions to how we were
to commemerate the memory of "The Cross"
- and I mean by that all the sufferrings of Christ
as I went over above. We remember His work in two ways - By baptism and The
Lord's supper. These are God ordered methods of remembering Christ and His
sacrifice. Any other way of remembrance is man made and therefore null and
void because they add to what God has instructed of us. Adding to God's
instructions is absolutely forbidden with this kind of warning. Proverbs 30:6 -- Add
thou not unto His words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be
found a liar. Do you want to be
called a liar by God? Well stay away from the use of the cross in your
Christian worship - it does not belong in a Christian household or place of
worship or on their person - it is an abomination to God. Jesus Christ did take up
His cross from the moment He left His home in glory to walk this world in a
very un-welcoming environment - suffered at the hands of a very un-welcoming
population which culminated in His death on the literal pole or tree. We are also called to
carry our cross - make our stand for Jesus knowing we to will suffer at the
hands of the world for this stand - possibly even unto death too. Let's dwell on that
and not on some piece of wood or metal, or stone no matter how expensive a
stone or any other material it may be - that is in the shape of a tee - not a
cross anyway. |
