gods. . . . Your victorious trophies not only imitate the appearance of a simple cross, but also that of a man affixed to it.” (The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 4, p. 191) True Christians never revered the cross or regarded it as a symbol of true Christianity.

Many persons contend that the cross is used by the churches because Christ died on one. That is what the churches say, but it is not the truth. Admitting uncertainty as to whether Christ died on a cross, the church paper of the Evangelical-Lutheran State Church of Schleswig-Holstein, Die kirche der Heimat (The Church of the Homeland), remarked in its issue of August 2, 1951: “Whether the cross on Golgotha had a crossbar or not or whether it was just a plain stake, whether it had the T-form or whether it had a crossbar placed across the upright stake is hardly possible to determine now.”

That the word “cross” appears in many English translations of the Bible does not prove that Christ’s death instrument was in the shape that the churches claim. The word “cross” stands for a number of shapes. There is the simple upright stake, called in Latin crux simplex; the crux commissa, which was shaped like the letter “T”; the crux decussata, which was shaped like the letter “X,” and the crux immissa, which was like the letter “T” but with the crossbar lowered. So when the English word “cross” is used in Bible translations made by the churches, how are you to know which of these forms is meant?

The Greek word from which the English word “cross” is translated by the churches is staurosʹ, but to the Bible writers it did not stand for the cross that churches display as the symbol of Christianity. It meant a plain upright stake. On this the book An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words by W. E. Vine states on page 256 of volume one: “Stauros denotes, primarily, an upright pale or stake. On such malefactors were nailed for execution. Both the noun and the verb stauroō, to fasten to a stake or pale, are originally to be distinguished from the ecclesiastical form of a two beamed cross. The shape of the latter had its origin in ancient Chaldea, and was used as the symbol of the god Tammuz.”

Note also what is stated in The Companion Bible, published by the Oxford University Press. On page 186 in the “Appendixes” it says: “Homer uses the word stauros of an ordinary pole or stake, or a single piece of timber. And this is the meaning and usage of the word throughout the Greek classics. It never means two pieces of timber placed across one another at any angle, but always of one piece alone. Hence the use of the word xulon [which means a timber] in connection with the manner of our Lord’s death, and rendered tree in Acts 5:30; 10:39; 13:29; Gal. 3:13; 1 Pet. 2:24. . . . There is nothing in the Greek N.T. even to imply two pieces of timber. . . . The evidence is thus complete, that the Lord was put to death upon an upright stake, and not on two pieces of timber placed at any angle.”

The cross used by the churches of Christendom has not the remotest connection with Christianity. It is instead a sacred symbol belonging to ancient pagan religions, religions that the God of truth abhorred and against which he warned the nation of Israel. (Deut. 7:16, 25, 26) It was a recognized symbol in the religion of ancient Egypt.

The Egyptian cross, known as the crux ansata, was surmounted by a circle. This combination represented the male and female procreative organs. Referring to the female symbol on this cross—the circle—by the Hindu term yoni, the book Sex and Sex Worship by O. A. Wall states on page 359: “The crux ansata (cross with a handle) was used all over the world from India, Assyria, Babylon, Egypt, to Sweden and Denmark (old Runic) and in the Western Continent. . . . It is the ankh of the Egyptians, the symbol of life, because it represents the feminine yoni in union with the masculine tau cross.”

In view of these facts, if your church has a cross on it and uses it in religious services, that labels the worship there as pagan. How can paganized worship win the approval of the true God? You need to separate from all such Babylonish forms of worship and associate with those who worship the Creator in truth.—Rev. 18:4.

Content to Be God’s Servants Full Time

WHILE on a long bus trip a Christian minister engaged a fellow passenger in conversation. From world conditions the conversation led to the hope of God’s kingdom and the wonderful blessings it will bring. The fellow passenger, a lady who had with her a small boy, became so interested that the minister showed her a copy of the Bible-study aid Life Everlasting—in Freedom of the Sons of God. With this the lady’s face fell and she asked, “Are you one of Jehovah’s witnesses?” and then told how she had vowed never to speak to one of Jehovah’s witnesses again, and here she had been engaging in a long conversation with one!

It appeared that she and her husband had been having marital problems, and he wanted to study with one of Jehovah’s witnesses because of the fine change the religion of the Witnesses made in the marriage of his sister. But this issue only caused more arguments, with the result that she packed up and with her boy was now on the way back to her mother. The discussion continued, the Witness showing her the chapters in this Bible-study aid on marriage and man’s and woman’s places in God’s arrangement. By the time the lady had reached her destination she was convinced, not only that she should return to her husband, but that together they should study the Bible with the aid of Jehovah’s witnesses.

Why had this witness of Jehovah engaged her traveling companion in conversation and steered it to the good news of God’s kingdom? Because she was content to be God’s servant full time. Yes, she appreciated that as a truly dedicated Christian she was under obligation to be alert at all times to opportunities for witnessing to God’s name and Kingdom.—Matt. 6:33.

Doing such witnessing at every opportunity is truly one way in which Jehovah’s witnesses show that they are full-time ministers of Jehovah God, even though able to devote comparatively few hours to the house-to-house preaching ministry. Another way in which they show it is by heeding the words of the apostle Paul found at 1 Timothy 6:8: “Having sustenance and covering, we shall be content with these things.”a With the mature Christian attitude they can say with Paul: “I have learned, in whatever circumstances I am, to be self-sufficient.”—Phil. 4:11.

Yes, while all truly dedicated Christians are content with the necessary material things, they keep conscious of their spiritual need. (Matt 5:3; Phil. 4:12) They know the importance of being alert to their spiritual condition, always seeking to improve it by taking in more knowledge, by serving Jehovah God and their neighbors more effectively and more freely, buying out the opportune time for themselves. (Eph. 5:15, 16) Many of them arrange their affairs so that they can serve as full-time preachers, as missionaries or pioneers, or as full-time workers at one of the Watch Tower Society’s institutions. And they encourage others, especially the younger ones, to branch out into such increased privileges of service if at all able to do so.

So, be content to be God’s servants full time as you “let your manner of life be free of the love of money, while you are content with the present things. For [Jehovah] has said: ‘I will by no means leave you nor by any means forsake you.’”—Ps. 34:8; Heb. 13:5.