Elimination of the Cross

"For 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.
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.
19 For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.
20 Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
21 For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.
22 For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom:
23 But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness;"

There is a movement taking place that wishes to eliminate the symbol of the cross from churches and public view. False prophet Michael Rood, has actually been involved in what some Messianics are calling a "circumcision ceremony" with the removal of steeples, on which there usually resides a cross, from churches.

For example, in Rood's seminar reports, an article from January 13, 2001, the Pastor of Prince of Peace Baptist Church in Austin, Texas, Leonel Gonzalez and Messianic Rabbi David Hall of Zion Messianic Jewish Congregation held a ceremony to remove the steeple from their church building in Austin Texas. Michael John Rood was invited as “honorary mohel” to assist in the “circumcision” ceremony. The steeple was determined to be one of the "vestiges of pagan sun god worship," which according to Rood and others, have found their way into most of the world's religions. According to the article, the removal of the steeple symbolizes their efforts to remove paganism from their lives.

Unfortunately, many have neglected to deal with the false prophecies and false teachings and in many cases false credentials of people like Michael Rood and James Trimm. That apparently is somewhat acceptable to some, although clearly contrary to the Word of God. For more on Rood's various titles, including "mohel", a person of the Jewish faith who is ordained to do circumcision under the guidelines of the Jewish religion, also see: The Reverend Michael Rood. Rood incidentally, is not Jewish.

On the other side of the issue, we have Moonies and others determining that the cross is a Christian symbol and an affront to religions that reject Jesus Christ. It's presence, according to some, is preventing reconciliation between the various groups, hence needs to be eliminated. The following article appeared on CNSNews.com, an online News agency.

Christian Churches Should Stop Using the Cross, Group Says
By Jeff Johnson
CNSNews.com Congressional Bureau Chief
August 22, 2003

www.CNSNews.com.

Capitol Hill (CNSNews.com) - An interfaith group founded by Unification Church leader Sun Myung Moon is spearheading an effort to have Christian ministers remove crosses from their churches, calling them a symbol of oppression and perceived superiority. Mainstream Christian leaders call the request "outrageously bigoted."

The American Clergy Leadership Conference (ACLC), an organization that began as a project of Moon's Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (FFWPU), believes the key to "true and lasting peace in the Middle East" is reconciliation between members of the world's three largest religions.

"Jews, Christians and Muslims must come together to heal divisions of the past, to stand together in a moment of repentance and reconciliation, and thus, tear down the walls that separate us as people of faith," said Archbishop George Augustus Stallings, Jr., of the independent Imani Temple African American Catholic congregation in Washington, D.C.

The ACLC held a symposium in New York Thursday on Jewish-Christian-Muslim reconciliation and Middle East peace entitled "Harmony Amongst the Children of Abraham." Stallings, who serves as national chairman of the executive committee of the ACLC, told CNSNews.com by telephone that part of that reconciliation involves assessing how Christian traditions are perceived by people of other faiths.

"We have realized that, as expressions of faith, there are certain symbols that have stood in the way," Stallings said. "The cross has served as a barrier in bringing about a true spirit of reconciliation between Jews and also between Muslims and Christians, and thus, we have sought to remove the cross from our Christian churches across America as a sign of our willingness to remove any barrier that stands in the way of us coming together as people of faith."

Michael Schwartz of Concerned Women for America - a biblically based, public policy women's organization - was shocked at Stallings' assessment.

"If a Christian objected to a Star of David or a Crescent, we would know that person is a bigot. When a Jew or Muslim objects to the display of the cross by Christians, we know the same thing about that person," Schwartz said. "To tear down our religious symbols, to uproot our traditions is not the way to reconciliation, but rather, to recognize with respect, our own and the traditions of others is the way to true reconciliation.

"Just imagine if some misguided Christian were to suggest that the Jews have to take away their symbol and the Muslims would have to take away their symbol, not display it in public any longer," Schwartz continued. "That would be identified instantly as a statement of intolerance. Reconciliation and peace do not grow out of intolerance."

Cross is symbol of 'religious intolerance, forced conversions...racism'

Stallings acknowledges that the cross is central to teaching people about the saving grace offered through Christ's death and resurrection but, he argued, Christians have also used the cross to send other messages.

"We have held up this cross in the face of Jews to say, 'If it had not been for your rejection of Jesus, our Messiah would never have been crucified," Stallings added. "We also know that the cross has stood as a barrier in Christian-Muslim relationships because we have held up our cross as a superior faith, that we - as Christians - are superior over the Muslims."

Stallings added that "a history of religious intolerance, forced conversions, inquisitions and even racism as used by white supremacists" also follows the cross through Christian history.

"The cross does not, by any means, symbolize a 'history of religious intolerance, forced conversions, inquisitions or racism,'" Schwartz responded tersely. "That is an outrageously bigoted statement."

Rev. Phillip Schanker, vice president of the FFWPU, said getting Christian pastors to remove the cross from their churches involves more than just taking down a symbol.

"There are divergent theological understandings centered around the cross," Schanker said. "So, it's not just the symbol we're dealing with."

While Christians may view the cross as the symbol of Christ's sacrificial death to pay for their sins, Schanker agreed with Stallings that Jews and Muslims have different perceptions. Jewish tradition does not recognize Christ as the savior, and Islamic teachings deny that it was Jesus who was crucified.

Christians, Schanker said, need to consider those disparate beliefs and ask themselves if the symbolism of the cross is worth maintaining the divisions it allegedly creates.

"It's a matter of overcoming the religious arrogance, the religious chauvinism, the narrow-mindedness, the judgmentalism that often comes from insecurity," Schanker said.

Schwartz agreed that a judgmental attitude is a problem, but he said it appears those opposed to the display of the cross are the ones suffering from it.

"To paraphrase the man who died on the cross for our sins and the sins of Mr. Schanker and all those Muslims and Jews," Schwartz said, "they ought to take care of the beam in their own eye before they look at the speck in their brother's eye."

Schanker accused those who disagree with the anti-cross movement of overreacting.

"I'm sure, for some narrow-minded Christians, it seems like we're undermining or denying the very foundations of Christian belief. Not at all; nobody is questioning the salvific role or Jesus' sacrificial position," Schanker said. "But we're recognizing from within New Testament understanding that Jesus transcended the cross. Let's not continue crucifying him. That's not where he is."

Schwartz laughed in response to Schanker's statement.

"Getting these lectures on Christology from somebody who's announced himself as an enemy of the cross is really amusing," Schwartz said, recalling a comment made by a little girl in Alexander Solzhenitsyn's Gulag Archipelago in reference to prayer in Stalin's Soviet Union.

"Everyone is allowed to pray, as long as no one hears but God," Schwartz quoted. "This is the degree of religious liberty that Mr. Schanker will allow to the one religion that he apparently thinks ought never to speak its name or show its face."

Schwartz found it telling that a group founded by the leader of the "Moonies" would call together Muslims and Jews to renounce "the universal symbol of Christianity as something hateful.

"In the interest of peace, the three who believe that Jesus Christ was not God want to stifle the one who believes that Jesus Christ was God," Schwartz observed. "Is that peace through conquest, peace through surrender, peace through requiring that Christians cease proclaiming their Christianity? That is not an offer of peace."

http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewCulture.asp?Page=\Culture\archive\200308\CUL20030822a.html

***** End quote****

The Council for National Policy [CNP] articles and biographies address the Moon connections of many "christian" religious leaders, including the above mentioned Concerned Women for America's founder and head, Beverly LaHaye, wife of Tim LaHaye. From the CNP biography of Beverly LaHaye and family, we see actual connections to Moon, which may appear to be a conflict, based on the article quotes above.

http://www.seekgod.ca/cnp.l.htm#lahaye

Beverly LaHaye- CNP Board of Governors 1982, 1996, member 1984, 1988,1998; Wife of Timothy LaHaye; Founder and Chairman of Concerned Women for America Inc 1; member of the Editorial Board of the Christian Inquirer. 2 Member of Member of Ed McAteer ' Religious Roundtable Council of 56. See: Religious Roundtable
Host of "Beverly Lahaye Today," 3; has spoken at least twice at the annual conference sponsored by the charismatic Christian Believers United (CBU) Fellowship; member of ecumenical National Religious Broadcasters (NRB); signer, Evangelical Celebration See: Evangelical & Catholics Together;
Board member, The Patrick Henry Center for Individual Liberty, CNP's Gary Aldrich, Founder and President. Chairman is CNP's Hon. Edwin Meese III who holds the Reagan Chair in Public Policy at The Heritage Foundation.
Other Board members include the following CNP members: Paul Weyrich, Mr. Peter T. Flaherty, President, National Legal and Policy Center, Alan P. Dye, Esq., Lt. Col. Oliver North, Mr. Reed Irvine, Mr. Howard Phillips, President, The Conservative Caucus, Inc.; Ronald E. Robinson, Esq, President, Young America's Foundation; Mark R. Levin, President, Landmark Legal Foundation; Rep. Louis (Woody) Jenkins Chairman, WBTR-TV Channel 19; Alan Sears, Esq., President and CEO, Alliance Defense Fund.
Beverly is on the board of the 4 American Conservative Union; is or was on the board of Coalition for Better Television; served on the board of the Freedom Council, a now-defunct lobbying group operated by Pat Robertson's CBN.
In July/August of 1996, the Rev. Sun Myung Moon hosted a convention in Washington, D.C., which was also attended by several prominent evangelical leaders. The full text of Rev. Moon's speech of August 1, 1996, titled "In Search of the Origin of the Universe," is available on the Unification Home Page. 5
Dave Hunt, of The Berean Call, reported in Sept., 1996: "Sun Myung Moon's front organizations (Family Federation for World Peace, Women's Federation for World Peace, Summit Council for World Peace, etc.) promote 'morals and family values.' It is amazing to see who will join this self-professed 'Messiah' in working for these 'religiously correct' goals. Moon just hosted (7/31-8/2/96) another convention in Washington, D.C. The highly paid speakers (reportedly $80-150,000 each) included former presidents Ford and Bush, Robert Schuller, Ralph Reed, Gary Bauer (president of Family Research Council, 'the lobbying/research arm of Focus on the Family') and Beverly LaHaye. Entertainment was by Pat Boone and family. Moon says that mankind fell from grace because Eve had sex with Satan, Christ failed in His mission and Moon is the true Messiah. While evangelical speakers were careful not to offend their high-paying host with the true gospel, Moon and his wife, Hak Ja Han, boldly proclaimed their gospel. What a denial of Christ for Pat Boone to entertain, and evangelical leaders to speak, on the same platform where the host declared that he is perfecting the work 'left uncompleted by Jesus!'"
Lee LaHaye - CNP member 1998-99; comptroller, Concerned Women for America; son of CNP members Beverly and Tim LaHaye.
Dr. Timothy LaHaye- Founder of CNP 1981; CNP President 1981-82, Executive Committee 1984-85, Board of Governors 1982, 1996,1998 ; pastor, president and founder of Family Life Seminars, founded the largest protestant high school and Christian school systems in the country; Founder of Christian Heritage College; one of the original founders and member of the Executive Board of Moral Majority; founder, American Coalition for Traditional Values; a member of the Editorial Board of Christian Inquirer 6 ; Member of Ed McAteer ' Religious Roundtable Council of 56. See: Religious Roundtable;
Assisted CNP's Dr. Henry Morris in the founding of the Institute for Creation Research 6b; member of COR (Coalition on Revival);
Dennis Peacocke's Coalition on Revival (COR) was co-founded and headed by Jay Grimstead. Jay Grimstead's COR Manifesto is the document which outlines COR's goals and objectives. The 135 Christian activists who signed the document in 1986 committed themselves to working for the realization of COR's goals "until the day we die." Those on the COR steering committee include other CNP members as well as recognized shepherding movement leaders such as Bob Mumford and Ern Baxter, as well as Jack Van Impe.
For Dennis Peacocke, Mumford, Doner See: Shepherding; Jay Grimstead
PropheZine, which hosted a three-day international Prophecy Conference in Alta Loma, CA, on Sept 19- 21, 2000 with Speakers : Tim LaHaye (CNP), Gary Kah, Berit Kjos... [See: More Ecumenical Comrades]
Signer, Evangelical Celebration. See: Evangelical & Catholics Together
Left Behind, by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins, is the first of six novels (with more to come) dealing with the end times (the other two in the original trilogy are Tribulation Force and Nicolae). LaHaye says that Left Behind is "the first fictional portrayal of events that are true to the literal interpretation of Bible prophecy." Peter Lalonde, CEO of Cloud Ten Pictures, the maker of Left Behind: The Movie 6c is being sued by Tim. He is suing Namesake Entertainment and Cloud Ten Pictures, charging breach of contract and demanding unspecified damages, Religion News Service reports.
From the Seek God article Putting it Together, from the series, Taking the Name, the Mark & the Number:

"It should be very obvious that no Christian could take a mark, chip or tattoo or any other thing in their forehead, hand or arm.

However, that thinking is being usurped by the false doctrine found throughout CNP member Tim LaHaye's un-Biblical Left Behind fictional series.

People are being duped into thinking that if they have the Holy Spirit they can actually take the mark. Unbelievable, except far too many go by what they are told the Bible says, instead of reading it themselves...."

Moonie Connections: "LaHaye held the position of paid chairman with Sun Myung Moon's 7 now defunct Coalition for Religious Freedom (CRF). (Moon is the founder of the Unification Church, 8 and is the self-proclaimed Messiah to the world. He teaches the particularly vile heresy that not only did Jesus fail in His earthly ministry, but that He had sex with the women who followed Him.) (Reported in the November 1990 Omega-Letter and the 1Q96, Religion in Politics.)
Coalition for Religious Freedom [CRF] 9 : Started by Rep. George Hansen in 1984. CRF Executive committee members have included Tim LaHaye , Jerry Falwell, James Robison; Rex Humbard, D. James Kennedy, and Jimmy Swaggart. "...According to CRF president Dan Sills, [CRF] has received at least $500,000 from Moon sources. A prominent CRF spokesperson and executive committee member is Joseph Paige...Paige received $60,000 from the Unification Church for his school, which in turn gave Moon a much publicized honorary doctorate. Paige is also active in CAUSA." [1986] "the Moon organization opened an international front in its 'religious freedom" campaign. According to Moon's New York City Tribune , the World Council on Religious Liberty (WCRL) was founded in December 1986...The Chairman of WCRL is Joseph Paige, and its " Chairman of the North American Caucus is Don Sills. They have recruited Dr. Robert G. Muller, assistant Secretary general of the United Nations as chairman of the Council's International Advisory Committee. The Council's headquarters are in Raleigh, North Carolina, which is also home to Paige's Shaw Divinity School." 10.
For Dr. Robert G. Muller See: World Vision: Global Education; Letter
Biblical Discernment Ministries reported: "In June, 1985, CRF held several rallies, one of which was in Washington, D.C. There LaHaye urged the over 300 men and women present to support Moon by voluntarily going to jail with him for a week if allowed to do so by authorities. "Not that I agree with his doctrine," said LaHaye. "Not that I agree with what he teaches, because many of us don't know what he teaches. We have only read about it in the paper and you know how much we can trust the papers." (Evidently LaHaye is unaware of the many books and research papers made available by Christian cult investigators. Certainly the newspapers aren't the only source of information.) Other so-called evangelicals that served with LaHaye at CRF as executive committee and/or advisory board members were [CNP's] Don Wildmon (founder and president of the social activist American Family Association), [CNP's] Marlin Maddoux (Point Of View nationwide radio talk show host), Paul Crouch (TBN Network's infamous founder), Hal Lindsey, [CNP's] James Robison, Jimmy Swaggart, and [CNP's] Dr. D. James Kennedy (author and pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida) -- an agenda of social activism certainly makes for strange ecumenical bedfellows. [In a personal letter dated 6/3/93, LaHaye claims to have never received any pay for his stint as CRF's "temporary chairman for a month and a half." LaHaye seems to be saying, "It's okay to serve on the Board of an apostate organization as long as you don't accept pay for it."]
"LaHaye's involvement with Moon is particularly vile. In 1985, Carolyn Weaver, writing for Mother Jones Magazine, exposed the fact that LaHaye had received substantial funds from Moon's aid Bo Hi Park. This was discovered in a tape of a dictated thank you letter from LaHaye, thanking Park for a contribution in excess of $500,000. LaHaye would not admit or deny the receipt of the contribution, instead he attacked the source of the information. (Reported in the 1Q96, Religion in Politics.)" ....Moon held a Washington Family Federation for World Peace conference in late-1996 that attracted a gaggle of famous "evangelical" speakers, including Christian Coalition executive director Ralph Reed (now a political consultant), Family Research Council president Gary Bauer, and Concerned Women for America president Beverly LaHaye. Moon and his fourth wife also addressed the conference, which attracted 1,500 participants from around the globe." 11
Tim LaHaye formed the Pre-Trib Research Center (PTRC)1994, (originally headquartered in Family Life Seminar's Washington, D.C. offices, but moved to Arlington, Texas in the late-1990s), made up of a "large group of prophetic Bible scholars given a sacred task of joining with others in proclaiming, teaching, defending, and applying the doctrine of the Pretribulational Rapture of the Church."

Note: American Conservative Union>http://www.conservative.org/> board of directors includes CNP's Morton Blackwell, Alan Gottlieb, Senator Jesse Helms, Rep. Louis (Woody) Jenkins, Ralph E. Reed, Jr., Ronald E. Robinson; Other CNP members include John M. Ashbrook, Jeffrey Bell, , Jameson Campaigne, Jr., L. Brent Bozell, III, , M. Stanton Evans, David Keene, Grover Norquist , Ralph E. Reed, Jr., Beverly LaHaye, Major F. Andy Messing, Jr., Lawrence D. "Larry" Pratt, Dr. Charles E. Rice, William A. Rusher, Thomas S. Winter

See: CNP Joint Organizations; Topic CNP; Footnotes L

***End Quotes***

For Dr. Robert G. Muller See: World Vision: Global Education; Letter

It's noteworthy that Tim LaHaye's fictional and un-Biblically sound writings are causing Believer's not grounded in the Word of God to consider it to be acceptable to take the mark of the beast because they are already 'sealed' by God. The writings and movie also suggest that it is alright to lie, as the pilot did in Tribulation Force, as long as you are doing "God's work." They portrayed angels as female in the western wall scene, which is not scriptural, and so much more. See: Putting it Together.

2 Timothy 4:2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; 4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.

From the CNP Introduction article : Introduction to The Council for National Policy (CNP)

"Many Evangelical, Pentecostal, Charismatic, Catholic, Mormon and other ecumenically-minded leaders are members of the Council for National Policy, the 500+ member organization which plans the strategy of the Religious Right in the United States....

While this information includes members of the CNP, this is not to say that liberal political figures are excluded from the assessment of having "a heart of desperately wicked and deceitful above all things." No one is precluded. However, the CNP members are overtly "Christian" which is used as a cover to deceive the gullible. They have the "form of godliness" and are somewhat "ministers of righteousness", but deny the true power thereof by a carefully contrived doctrine which assiduously avoids the Scriptures which would expose their works that they are evil. Through their propaganda, they provoke visceral reactions from Christians to fight, become angry, to get involved in the political arena, to join and support their organizations through many monetary contributions which makes "merchandise of the saints.""

....In-depth biographies of CNP founders and past/present officers and many members reveal that many are directly affiliated with or part of such organizations as the Knights of Malta, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Unification Church of Sun Myung Moon, the Church of Scientology, Freemasonry, the CIA, Nazis, the Church Universal & Triumphant, the Ku Klux Klan, Templeton Foundation, Racists and other cults and organizations. This will perhaps explain the ease with which many are seduced into embracing false doctrine and the One World Religion. They don't belong to Jesus Christ. We're told specifically to not join with unbelievers.

2 Corinthians 6:14-15 "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?
And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?"

Can any Christian really believe that someone who loves Jesus Christ will knowingly join with and have the same beliefs or goals as a Nazi, a Mormon or a follower of Sun Myung Moon--who believes himself to be Messiah?...."

No Christian can join in any venture with someone who claims to be Messiah and who states Jesus will worship at his feet. The feigned attempt at reconciliation between various faiths is not possible. Elimination of symbols will not bring about the joining together of those who actually believe what they "believe." There is no joining of Jesus Christ to those who reject Jesus Christ.

2 Corinthians 6:14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?
15 And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?
16 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,

1 John 5:12 He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. 13 These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.

John 3:36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

The problem with the "symbol of the cross" versus "preaching the cross", and "Jesus dying on the cross"--which was a pagan symbol and the most horrible way to die--is that the wrong questions are being asked.

Can the Gospel of Jesus Christ be eliminated if the physical man-made symbol of the cross is eliminated? The answer is No.

Can the preaching of Christ crucified for our sins, be eliminated if the man-made symbol of the cross is eliminated? The answer is emphatically, No. "But we preach Christ crucified..."

Galatians 6:14 But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.

Hebrews 12:2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of [our] faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Colossians 1:19 For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;
20 And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.
21 And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled
22 In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:

In fact, God forbid that we view the man made symbol of a cross as Jesus Christ or representative of God. God told us to not make symbols of the Godhead.

Acts 17:29 Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device.

30 And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent.

Many Christians unwittingly pray to the symbol rather than to God, and many also use it like a talisman or charm, to ward of evil, not even realizing that is what they are doing. Both attitudes are wrong and a sin before God.

Does not using a symbol remove the truth of the cross of Jesus Christ? Absolutely not.

If it did, those who do not use a symbol of a cross would be without salvation and Jesus Christ. The reality is, that people need to take the time to see what GOD says about these things. If people believe they need a symbol to show their faith, then the question must be asked and answered, What exactly are you putting your faith in?

2 Corinthians 5:7 (For we walk by faith, not by sight:)

The questions that must also be asked are, will you lose your faith or witness, if there are no crosses to be seen? Will there be no more souls brought to salvation in Jesus Christ if there are no crosses to be seen? What is the witness? The symbol or your life in Christ?

2 Corinthians 10:5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

1 Peter 1:5 Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
6 Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:
7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:
8 Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:
9 Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.

The time is coming when a choice will be made to confess Jesus Christ before men, or not be allowed to purchase food and other goods. The time is coming, and indeed has taken place, when to confess Jesus Christ as Lord can and will mean death for some. No man made symbol will protect you. In fact, all that is of Christ is going to be attempted to be eliminated. Absolute faith in God is what this is about. Total focus and obedience to Jesus Christ.

Revelation 20:4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

Revelation 13:13 And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,
14 And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.
15 And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.
16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

For further discussion on these issues please see the series> Taking the Name, The Mark and the Number.; Putting it Together

As far as the "star of David" ---it's written about in the Encyclopedia Judaica and according to that article, it has had no root in Biblical Judaism. Those who think that the hexagram is the real symbol of Israel--which is in fact, the 7 candle menorah-- are uninformed. Even Judaic anti-missionaries suggest it came from Babylonian pagan worship, but in the same breath say that doesn't matter.

According to the 1972 Edition of the Encyclopaedia Judaica, under the article, Magen David, this hexagram symbol is known under various names: “Hebrew…Shield of David…hexagram or six-pointed star.” In this Jewish article, the six-pointed star or hexagram is mentioned many times and acknowledged as being a magical symbol:

“In Arab sources the hexagram…was widely used under the designation “seal of Solomon,” a term which was also taken over by many Jewish groups…It is not clear in which period the hexagram was engraved on the seal or ring of Solomon, mentioned in the Talmud (Git.68a-b) as a sign of his dominion over the demons instead of the name of God, which originally appeared…In Arabic magic the “seal of Solomon” was widely used, but at first it’s use in Jewish circles was restricted to relatively rare cases. Even then, the hexagram and pentagram were easily interchangeable and the name was applied to both figures.”

“Between 1300 and 1700 the two terms shield of David and seal of Solomon, are used indiscriminately, predominately in magical texts…

[Encyclopaedia Judaica; 1972 Edition, Article: Magen David ]

Isaiah 42:8

"I am the Lord: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images."

Acts 17:29

"Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's devices."

We need no symbolism to prove our faith. We have Jesus Christ, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God as a daily reminder.

Titus 2:10 Not purloining, but showing all good fidelity; that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things.
11 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
12 Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;
13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
14 Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.

Believers would do well to become informed on the total assault against the very person and Name of Jesus Christ, rather than being concerned about a symbol, which is here today and gone tomorrow. The assault against Christ rages and many are attempting to blot out the very Name of Jesus by calling it, for example, the name of a pagan god, using all sorts of pseudo- scholarship to back up their claims, but upon close examination it is quite easy to expose.

See for example: Part 1: Taking the Name; Tom Mitchell, Board member of Union of Two House Messianic Congregations, Responds; Part III... The Talmud and Jesus Christ, Michael John Rood: Messianic Karaite Rabbi, The Spreading Hebrew Roots, Topic Hebrew Roots; The One World Religion etc.

Our Savior is from everlasting to everlasting, and nothing can change or eliminate that. And His Name is above all names.

Philippians 2:5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:
10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Jude 1:25 To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and for ever. Amen.

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