For nearly two thousand years, the cross has been regarded as the symbol of Christianity. Yet today, modern atheists, agnostics, free thinkers, Muslims, Hindus and an assortment of world religious thought have used what is commonly regarded as the symbol of Christianity as the very reason for determining that Christianity is patently false. What is worse, Christianity has made this rationale easy, for despite the heralds of the Protestant Reformation, much of the corruption that second-century Christians and notably, the Roman Catholic Church imported into their contemporary belief system has not only served to muddy the waters of truth, but served as a demonic distraction of epic proportions. Most modern Christians that are not Catholic are still operating on the premise that the Protestant Reformation is the ultimate ideal of Christian thinking. Since then, little of Christian thought has been reformed, much less reconsidered against Biblical accuracy. Christians have become religious-minded instead of truth-seeking. The fact remains that when Jesus walked the earth in the first century, He did not hold the instrument of His earthly sacrifice as significant to either the premise of salvation or real discipleship and neither did first century disciples of His age. Today, most Christians and virtually all of the world consider the cross as the "sola scriptura" of Christianity or a fact that is based wholly on scripture. Is the cross truly a valid symbol of Christianity?

In the eyes of some, the purist idea of the Greek word "stauros" demands the use of a torture stake or pole. Before the time of Christ, various crosses were used as religious symbols to represent the sun god or Babylonian Tammuz, which would seem to indicate that Christianity somehow derived the Christian cross from paganism. I could go to great lengths to reveal the tangled history of the pagan cross from all over the globe, but this would belie the point and the truth of the matter. Satan counterfeits everything including God's truth and seeks distraction and deception. Satan would have you distracted from virtually everything of value, including your own idolatry. (Exodus 7:8-12) The cross did not become a permanent symbol of redemption until the time of the Edict of Milan in 313. The edict of Milan removed the need for secrecy among Christians by restoring their property rights and confirming tolerance of Christians by the Roman Empire. The Romans adopted the further use of their pagan cross and the conversion of other pagan legends to symbolize the new Christianity as the Roman State Religion. The original first century Christians did not revere or respect the cross, but rather the sacrifice of Christ and His current role of Authority in Heaven.

According to Bible language, Jesus the Messiah was crucified or pierced on a tree or stake (Psalm 22:16; Zechariah 12:10), a common practice by Romans of the age (Acts 5:30, 10:39; Galatians 3:13; 1 Peter 2:24) and predicted by the prophet Isaiah. (Isaiah 53) According to Josephus, crucifixion was designed by the Romans for non-Romans and later for criminals of the State. Romans perfected the the use of crucifixion as a form of torture and capital punishment. Most of the time, Romans were not interested in making extra work for themselves. Crucifixion was designed to instill terror of the hearts of men by its' sheer abomination. Often times, thousands of rebels were crucified over a period of days. Using anything more than a stake or tree was not only a waste of materials, but a waste of the soldier's collective time as well. Posting the rebels on a cross did not increase the terror or speed the process. Romans were not known to waste materials on criminals and would reuse materials wherever possible, including the nails. However, later secular sources indicate that the Roman soldiers often did attach a cross piece to a stake or pole for crucifixion in an assembly line type process. How is it possible to know? John 20:25 reveals that nails were driven through the wrists of Jesus at the time of His execution. Two nails, one through each wrist or hand were indicated instead of a single nail. There is recent physical evidence that two nails could be used for the feet, driven through the heels of both feet from each side of the stake and using two nails. The reality is that any assumption is simply an assumption or an educated guess based on the whimsy and cruelty of the Roman soldiers and the presence of available materials. Written evidence from the time indicates that the crucified criminals often lived for many days on the instrument of torture and death that they were posted on. In later times, the terror was compounded by lengthening the time that the criminal would spend alive on the stake, hence the enhanced use of a crossmember to lengthen the throes of death.

Another possibility, in the case of Christ, was that the Romans were making a religious statement based on Jewish objections, so a departure from the norm was a distinct possibility. Matthew 27:37 indicates that the Romans placed a sign over the head of Jesus after his erection on the instrument of torture, indicating some means of support for a sign. Could the Jews purposefully have designed Christ's demise using known structures of past pagan legends as a basis for His crucifixion and why would they bother? Perhaps the Romans have played a tongue in cheek mockery of what they perceived as His kingship where the Jews were concerned by posting Him on the cross of their sun god. The possibility exists that the Romans crucified Him in the manner of their sun god legend in the manner of ancient pagan religion. Based on the later written evidence of Barnabas, Justin, Irenaeus, Lukianos, Josephus and Turtullian, persecuting Romans in later times seemed to take particular delight in forcing Christians to die in the form of their pagan mythology as the ultimate symbol of Christian humiliation. Again, only assumption and guesswork are truly possible where Christ is concerned. The cross is without question a pagan symbol used by Romans, who selected the device of the death of Jesus, along with every Christian and common criminal crucified thereafter. It would not be surprising that Romans would use such an instrument of torture, whether stake or cross. The cruelty and baseness of the Roman punishment is the main persistent fact in evidence.

From the time of the second century, many writers declared that the devil plaguerized elements of Christianity in advance to lead the world astray. Advance notice wasn't required. Pagan religious teaching of the time had already incorporated piercing into the use of the cross. Justin indicated the shape of the instrument used to crucify the Christ was a T with a lowered crossbeam. This does not mean that all Roman prisoners or condemned criminals were crucified in such a way because there was little value for doing so. However, the use of the cross in some form when crucifying Christians became symbolic of Roman persecution or terror. Constantine changed all that with his new belief system. When the Council of Nicea took place, the Emperor Constantine declared the Roman sun day to be the new Sabbath, adopted the traditional birthday of the sun god as the birthday of Jesus, borrowed the emblem of the sun god as the emblem of Christianity and incorporated the pagan ceremonies of celebrations into Christian theology. The continued devotion of true disciples of faith to either the stake or the cross is idolatry and should be cast aside. The ultimate victory of Jesus Christ and the power He holds for personal renewal is more representative of true Christianity than any cross from the past.

The reality is that the third century Roman Catholic Church through Emperor Constantine elevated the instrument of Christ's death to the status of an idol and the emblem of their new Roman religion. Regretfully, many 'mainstream' Christians have continued to do so through the ages because of the original adoption and corruption of the Christian religion by the very Roman Empire that originally exacted the crucifixion of the Christ and other Christians thereafter. Superstition and pagan influence was profound in culture then and continues to this day. Roman Catholics came to idealize the cross as if it were a living being as an object of worship, much in the same ways of adopted pagan cultures. Clearly, the Catholic Church adopted the cross, much like the Romans did from mystery cults of the past.

God alone is to worshiped or prayed to, but man often fails to take this seriously while embedding his own ideas. (Luke 4:8; John 4:23; Revelation 19:10, 22:9) Jesus was quite specific as to how disciples should pray and why. The elevation of the cross, saints and other images, especially as an object of worship and prayer is a violation of the second commandment as the Catholic Church determined to put a universal thumbprint of man on the Bible, a reflection of its' divine power in the view of the time. Evidence exists that Christ was hung on a cross of some nature by pagan Romans, if for no other reason than for humiliation to their own religious legends. However, there is no firm proof of crucifixion on an individual basis. Yet, the worship of the cross based in paganism and the promotion by the Roman Catholic Church and continued by Protestant Christianity is not encouraging. Modern Christianity's continued use of the cross has only muddied the connection between paganism and the reality of religious idolatry in the past as it continues today. It is the firm belief of this writer in combination with what Scripture dictates, that the disciple should distance himself or herself from the cross in whatever way possible. Since the cross is simply the instrument of death, it needs nor deserves no veneration, exaltation or representation as a tradition of men.

Christ's sacrifice is certain. Christ's death on a specific kind of torture stake or cross is not entirely certain, but the links of both the stake as an Asherah Pole and the cross to Mystery cults certainly are. The Catholic Church and the Protestant Reformation simply have compounded the error in the eyes of many. We have adopted paganism into Christianity and condoned that action, largely through willful ignorance. Modern Christianity has done little better in most religious circles. Rather, Christ is the One that was exalted upon His death by an abominable form of torture and a most painful form of sacrifice. Extensive use and misrepresentation of the cross is counter to scripture and should be avoided. Jesus came to free mankind from idolatry, philosophies and traditions of man, including releasing the Jews from the continuation of sacrificing living animals and continued slavery to both the law covenant and their own self-imposed religious extensions of that covenant. Commonly, we imprison ourselves with our own thinking and traditions. The Jews didn't recognize the degree of their own idolatry, continuing to exercise the law covenant in their own way until the destruction of their Temple in 70 A.D. They idolized the law covenant above the God they claimed to serve by elevating their own copious religious writings and manifesting their own ritualistic practices as they closed their hearts to the Messiah they claimed to seek. The instrument of Christ's death does not set a disciple apart from the world. The spiritual fruit of a Christian does. In modern Christianity, the ultimate deception is not simply in a torture stake or a cross. That reality has been blurred and muddied by man. The idolatry of those objects as emblems of worship along with the continued argument and distraction from the real Good News of God's Kingdom, the importance of discipleship and relationship to God through Jesus Christ is the deception of ages. Christians also risk closing our hearts to the very Messiah that we claim to seek. May that not be the case where you are concerned. You need to be able to discern between good and evil through accurate Bible knowledge. Only then can you hope to abide with God for eternity.

You could argue that the cross is the ultimate poetic irony as the instrument of cruelty is elevated to the ultimate symbol of death and life. You can also argue that the cross is one of the greatest deceptions of the philosophy and traditions of man. What does the Bible indicate? That truth of scripture rather than the religion of man is the dictate of the true disciple of Christ. The reality today is that the deceptive thinking and the influence of Rome continues today in state practices, religion and even in the world of finance in more ways than we can fully appreciate or deal with in this summary. It fully attempts to permeate your life. That is the deception that Satan has wrought on the world today in the effort that not one single person might be saved.