The history of the cross, and its worship and use as a religious symbol by pagan nations long before the time of Christ, shows us plainly that it is not a symbol that Christians should attach any reverence toward.
Says Unger's Bible Dictionary:
"That the cross was widely known in pre-Christian times as an emblem has been clearly shown by independent investigators. Indeed. it was a well-known HEATHEN SIGN. The vestments of the priests of HORUS. the Egyptian god of light. are marked +. At Thebes. in the tombs of the kings. royal cows are represented plowing a calf playing in front. Each animal has an + 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 an +. The cross is found marked on Phonecian monuments at an early date" (p.227).
In his fascinating historical book The Two Babylons, Alexander Hislop tells us a great deal about the history of the "cross." Notice what he says about this ancient object of worship:
"There is yet one more symbol of the Romish worship to be noticed, and that is the sign of the cross. In the Papal system, as is well known, the sign of the CROSS and the image of the CROSS are all in all. No prayer can be said, no worship engaged in, no step almost can be taken, without the frequent use of the sign of the cross. The cross is looked upon as the GRAND CHARM, as the GREAT REFUGE in every season of danger, in every hour of temptation as the infallible preservation from all the powers of darkness. The cross is adored with all the homage due ONLY TO THE MOST HIGH; and for any to call it, in the hearing of a genuine Romanist, by the Scriptural term 'the accursed tree' is a mortal offence. To say that such superstitious feeling for the sign of the cross. such worship as Rome pays to a WOODEN or a metal CROSS, ever grew out of a saying of Paul, 'God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ' --that is, in the doctrine of Christ crucified -- is a mere absurdity, a shallow subterfuge and pretence. 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 honored with the same honors. THAT WHICH IS NOW CALLED THE CHRISTIAN CROSS WAS ORIGINALLY NO CHRISTIAN EMBLEM AT ALL" (The Two Babylons, p.197).
Notice! The cross that is so adored by Joseph Tkach, and others, dates back to ancient pagan worship --the "mystery religions" stemming out of ancient BABYLON! Thus Joseph Tkach is once again retracing his steps and going BACK TO BABYLON in his worship system of the doctrines of the Worldwide Church of God!
As David Whitaker points out in his article, "The Mark of the Beast and the Christian. Cross," the pagan/so-called Christian "cross" is a perversion of the mystic "Tau," the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The "Christian" cross has no direct connection with the "Tau," which was in the form of a capital "T" in English, but puts the cross-beam down the stem of the letter, as a small "t" shape. The Jews refer to it as cherev, or the "sword." It is a ancient pagan phallic symbol of the male penis, a symbol of pagan sex worship and the abominable rites of Baalism and the pagan temple prostitution carried out in worship of Astarte ("Easter") !
The major "crosses" of history, such as the Latin, Greek, and Maltese crosses, all have the cross-bar in the middle or upper part of the upright pole. The archaeologist Layard found the Maltese cross as a sacred symbol in ancient Nineveh of the Assyrians, close kin to the Babylonians (see Gen.l0:8-12). Layard identified the cross symbol he found with the sun, thus showing it was a sign of SUN WORSHIP!
The pagan cross was worn suspended from the necklaces of the Vestal virgins of Pagan Rome, even as Roman Catholic nuns wear it now, seemingly in imitation of their predecessors. The pagan Egyptians did the very same thing. Wilkinson, who studied the ancient Egyptians and nations of Africa, found that the people of many tribes "frequently had a small cross suspended to a necklace, or to the collar of their dress. . . showing that it was already in use as EARLY AS THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY BEFORE THE CHRISTIAN ERA"
What Must We Remember?
In the first and second commandments, Almighty God commands, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee ANY GRAVEN IMAGE, or any LIKENESS OF ANY THING that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not BOW DOWN thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me . . ." (Exodus 20:3-5).
Notice! God condemns the creation of any "graven image" of "anything" as an item of WORSHIP! To use the cross, therefore, as an item of worship, to loving finger it, hold it, to use it in worship, to spend time thinking of it INSTEAD OF JESUS CHRIST OR GOD ALMIGHTY HIMSELF, is an act of blatant IDOLATRY and a clear breaking of the commandments of GOD!
Rather than remember a lifeless object like the "cross," which has no power at all to deliver anybody from anything, but is an act of IDOLATRY, God tells us in His Word the things we should REALLY "remember," and keep in our minds!
Notice! God says,
"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of THEM when thou sit test in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a SIGN upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates" (Deu 6:4-9).
God commands us to "REMEMBER all the commandments of the LORD, and do them; and that ye seek not after your own heart and your own eyes, after which ye use to go a WHORING: that ye REMEMBER, and do all my commandments, and be holy to your God" (Numbers 15:39-40).
Instead of "remember the cross," which is a form of idolatry, God commands us to "REMEMBER ALL THE COMMANDMENTS OF THE LORD"! God also commands us to remember how He delivered our ancestors out of Egypt, the first Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread, and how He intervened and rescued and provided for our forefathers in the wilderness (Exodus Exo 13:3; Deu 5:15; 7:18; 8:2).
God warns us not to forget these things -- they are crucial to our salvation and overcoming!
