Symbols

We are being overwhelmed with stories and discussions about symbols. Popular movies and books have discussed at length the secret meanings behind most of the major symbols of Christianity. As Christians how do we respond when our friends and neighbors ask us what we think and why religious symbols are important. Before you go and tell them all the talk about symbols is a bunch a hogwash remember, as Adventists we are big, big purveyors of religious symbols. We love symbols. We just think about our own symbols and how we interpret them and how important they are to us. If God uses symbols to reveal hidden truths to his followers doesn’t it make sense that Satan, the big imposter, would employ symbols to deceive the faithful?

It is very important for us to realize God means for us to understand the symbols in Daniel and Revelation. The symbols surrounding the beasts reveal the hidden characteristic and identity of the beast. In much the same way the hidden characteristics of the false religions of this world are revealed by their symbols. Churches and cathedrals are decorated inside and out with ornate decorations, symbols, representing the history of the theology. These decorations, or symbols, reveal the truth behind every organization and religion.

In what has to be the biggest scam ever pulled, Satan, with the use of symbols deceived and subverted an entire church. About three hundred years after the death of the Savior the Roman emperor Constantine was trying to hold together an empire. He was on dangerous ground because he had three factions within his realm ready to kill each other, in a real sense the empire was at a crossroads. Constantine had to find a way to appease the Greeks, the Christians and the Romans. He announced a day of worship to honor the venerable sun, Sun-day. He convinced the Greeks and Romans this was to honor the sun deity that he and his family had worshiped. He than set out to convince the Christians the new day of worship was in honor of the “son of God”, it wasn’t as hard as it should have been. It turns out the Christians, most of whom were converts from the sun worshiping cults, didn’t want to be identified with the Jews and their Sabbath so the transition was relatively painless.

How can we know this is what really happened? History has documented these facts quite precisely but the symbols provide the absolute proof of the marriage between Christianity and the ancient pagan sun worshiping cults. Find a picture of St. Peters Basilica in Rome and look what is sitting directly in front of the steps. It is an oblique from Egypt, their most important symbol of ra, the Egyptians sun god, worship. It’s presence in the Basilica is a reminder, a symbol of the connection between the ancient sun worshiping cults and modern religion. In ancient paintings and sculpture we find pictures of the Savior and his apostle outfitted with halos, with rays emanating from their heads. This is a representation of a figure that has been blessed by the sun god. The symbols remain to tell the story of the Church’s incorporation of sun worship, or Baal worship, into the mainstream theology. Every major Christian holiday started as a pagan festival occasioned to worship the sun and adopted to deceive the faithful. Satan does not need to get mankind to worship him, he must only get them to worship a different sun and he has won the battle.

By understanding the symbols we can divine the purpose of the institution. We can see the identity of the last day institutions as revealed by the beasts in Daniel and Revelation and we can identify the master being served by the earthly combatants. Look for the symbols representing where you spend your time and to whom you’ve pledged you fidelity. If an organization is under the manipulations of Satan its symbols will be those shared by pagan worshipers since Old Testament times.