62 Yahushua was hung on a σταυρ—ς (stauros), “an upright pale or stake” (GEL, p. 743), also referred to as a “tree” (Acts 5:30, 10:39, 13:29; Galatians 3:13; 1 Peter 2:24). Interestingly, Galatians 3:13, refers to Deuteronomy 21:23, as a prophecy for the messiah’s death, i.e. “Cursed is everyone that hangs on a tree,” which is the same verse quoted by the Talmud as justification for hanging a blasphemer on a pole (Sanh., 6:4). That the Talmudic writers knew of Yahushua’s death on a tree or pole, see for example B. Sanh., 43a, 67a (where Yahushua is called Ben Stada, see CTM, pp. 35–41, 344ff).

The mythical notion, reflected in the false translation of “stauros” as “cross” in many English translations, that Yahushua died on a cross made its first appearance in the second century among the Egyptian Christians. The Egyptians had already long worshipped the deity Osiris-Horus with the symbol of an ankh, . The “T” or cross was also used in ancient Chaldaea to symbolize their counterpart to this sun deity, which they called Tammuz. In Greece Osiris-Horus was called Apollo and was worshipped under the sign of a “T” and “+” or cross. Some later Christians made the cross their symbol because the first letter in the Greek title χριστ—ς (Christos, i.e. Christ) was the letter “X.”

The idea that the stauros was a cross arose as a justification to use the symbol. Indeed, even today many Christians carry the symbol of the Egyptian ankh. One wonders, if the messiah had died in an electric chair would they now wear its symbol and bow down to one? The symbol of the cross gained a permanent place in the Christian Church when Constantine, at the time himself a pagan, claimed he saw a vision of a “fiery cross” in the heavens which had the words, “’εντοœτ~ ν’κα (In this (sign) conquer,” beneath it on the eve of the battle at Milvian bridge outside of Rome in 312 C.E. Lactantius, however, reports that Constantine had a dream in which he was told to place the Greek monogram representing Christ (a combination of the Greek letters “Χ” and “Ρ”), i.e. C or X, on the shields of his soldiers—which closely resembles an ankh. At the same time the pagans under his command understood the symbol to represent a vision of Apollo (Osiris-Horus), seen by Constantine at a shrine in Gaul (EB, 5, p. 72; NPNF, 1, p. 491, 1:32, n. 3).

All of this was clearly a political move to solidify the ranks among his soldiers, which included both pagans and Christians. By a clever manipulation of symbols he had the pagan ankh become an official Christian symbol. Constantine, who shortly after became emperor of the Roman empire, was the first Roman emperor to reside over a Christian theological dispute (at Nicaea in 325 C.E) had not even officially became a Christian yet. He was not baptized as a Christian until he was on his death bed (337 C.E.). In reality, for most of his life he was a pagan and through most of his reign remained an adherent to many pagan principles and philosophies.

(footnote 62. page 160, The Sacred Name)