Vital Topic 5: The Sign of the Cross

The cross was used by Pagans long before the Messiah was put to death on Calvary.
The cross is a symbol of the Babylonian Sun god and was also seen on the coins of Julius Caesar 100-40 BC. The cross was the emblem of Tammuz known as the mistletoe or Branch.
It is doubtful if Christ even died on the kind of cross commonly known. It is more likely that he was crucified on a stake - an upright pole or tree with its branches lopped off. But we will not argue about the type of cross on which the Messiah died; the point is, we Christians should not venerate the cross - any cross. Nor should we have crosses in our church buildings, or wear crosses around our necks or make signs of the cross on people's foreheads. The following stunning comments are taken from pages 197-199 of Alexander Hyslop's book
THE TWO BABYLONS     ISBN 0-7136 047 0     Published by S.W.Partridge & Co, 4,5,6 Soho Square, London, England.
"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, 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 preservative from all the powers of darkness. The cross is adored with all the homage due only to the Most High; and for anyone 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 feelings for the sign of the cross, such worship as Rome pays to a wooden or metal cross, ever grew out of the 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 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 Tammuz ... 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 ... The mystic Tau, as a 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 born 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.
In reference to the adorning of some of these tribes, Wilkinson thus writes: 'The girdle was sometimes highly ornamented; men as well as women wore earings; and they frequently had a small cross suspended to a necklace, or to the collar of their dress... "

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, "no 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 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." (end of quote - emphasis mine throughout)
In view of all these amazing facts, Stewarton Bible School advises all Christians to stop wearing or venerating the cross on which our Saviour was crucified. Who in their right mind would venerate a murder weapon used to kill a loved one? It is the same with the cross. We greatly rejoice that our Saviour died to bring about our salvation; but that 'instrument of torture,' which is what the cross was, is not something Christians should venerate.

Images / Pictures / Statues
The second commandment explicitly forbids the use of idols, images, pictures & statues in the worship of Yahweh. Pictures of the virgin Mary and Joseph or even pictures of Jesus Christ and the 12 Apostles etc. are also included in this ban. These pictures and images are certainly not of Jesus Christ nor of his earthly followers. Sacred images, statues and pictures of the Saviour etc. should have no place in the homes or churches of believers who profess to keep the commandments of the Most High. Instead, churches could have texts of Scripture on their walls. Scripture texts are of course not compulsory, but they are infinitely better than images and statues of Mary or Jesus Christ and his apostles.

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Asherah / Groves / Angel Gardens

The Bible condemns the pagan practice of worshipping in groves of dedicated trees or in front of religious shrines. The word Ashereh refers to a wooden pole or mast which stood at Canaanite places of worship (Exo 34:13).

"Originally is was, perhaps, the trunk of a tree with the branches chopped off, and was regarded as the wooden symbol of the goddess Asherah, who like Ashtoreth, was the type of fertility (Exo 34:13) It was erected beside the altar of Baal (Judges 6:25, 28)" (Westminster Dictionary of the Bible)