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Mangasarian concludes:

The selection of the twenty-fifth of December as [Jesus's] birthday is not only an arbitrary one, but that date, having been from time immemorial dedicated to the Sun, the inference is that the Son of God and the Sun of heaven enjoying the same birthday, were at one time identical beings. The fact that Jesus' death was accompanied with the darkening of the Sun, and that the date of his resurrection is also associated with the position of the Sun at the time of the vernal equinox, is a further intimation that we have in the story of the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus, an ancient and nearly universal Sun-myth, instead of verifiable historical events.

The Cross and Crucifix

The cross and crucifix are very ancient symbols found around the world long prior to the supposed advent of the Christian savior. In the gospel story Jesus tells his disciples to "take up the cross" and follow him. Obviously, the cross already existed and was a well-known symbol, such that Jesus did not even have to explain this strange statement about an object that, we are led to believe, only gained significance after Jesus died on it.

The pre-Christian reverence for the cross and the crucifix, e.g., the cross with a man on it, is admitted by the "holy Father" Minucius Felix (211):

As for the adoration of the cross which you (Pagans) object against us (Christians) . . . that we neither adore crosses nor desire them; you it is, ye Pagans . . . who are the most likely people to adore wooden crosses . . . for what else are your ensigns, flags, and standards, but crosses gilt and beautiful. Your victorious trophies not only represent a simple cross, but a cross with a man on it.9

The early Christians were actually repulsed by the image of a man hanging on the cross, which was not adopted by the Christian church until the 7th century. In fact, the crucifix with a man on it had been imported to Rome from India ages before the Christian era. Indeed, as Walker states, "Early Christians even repudiated the cross because it was pagan. . . . Early images of Jesus represented him not on a cross, but in the guise of the Osirian or Hermetic `Good Shepherd,' carrying a lamb."1° As stated, the original occupant of the cross was a lamb, not a man. Like the image of the man on the cross, that of the crucified lamb was also very ancient, preceding the Christian era by centuries. As Taylor recounts:

On a Phoenician medal found in the ruins of Citium, and engraved in Dr. Clarke's Travels, and proved by him to be Phoenician, are inscribed not only the cross, but the rosary, or string of beads, attached to it, together with the identical Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world.

The cross was also revered by the ancient people called the Pygmies. As A. Churchward relates:

This primary Sign or Symbol, fashioned in the beginning by the African Pygmies to represent "The One Great Spirit," has been carried on by the various cults during human evolution, down to the present-day Cross of the Christian Doctrines; it has always represented the One Great One.11

Churchward thus reveals that the Pygmies were very early monotheists, evidently thousands of years before the JudeoChristian era. He also reveals the true meaning of the cross:

Fundamentally the Cross was astronomical. A Cross with equal arms denotes the time of equal day and night, and is a figure of the equinox.12

As Derek Partridge says, "What a cross with a circle in it . . . truly represents is the sun waning or dying on the zodiac, and not a man."13

The cross is the celestial emblem of the sun but it also serves as a phallic symbol. As Carpenter relates, "The well-known Tshaped cross was in use in pagan lands long before Christianity, as a representation of the male member . . ."14 Walker reiterates, "The cross was also a male symbol of the phallic Tree of Life."15

Of the Pagan origins of Christianity and the cross, Higgins concludes:

Mr. Ledwick has observed that the presence of Heathen devices and crosses on the same coin are not unusual, as Christians in