The title of "_Christ_" or "The Anointed," was held by the kings of Israel. "Touch not my Christ and do my prophets no harm," says the Psalmist.[196:8]
The term "Christ" was applied to religious teachers, leaders of factions, necromancers or wonder-workers, &c. This is seen by the passage in _Matthew_, where the writer says:
"There shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect."[196:9]
The virgin-born Crishna and Buddha were incarnations of Vishnu, called Avatars. An Avatar is an _Angel-Messiah_, a _God-man_, a CHRIST; for the word _Christ_ is from the Greek _Christos_, an _Anointed One_, a _Messiah_.
The name _Jesus_, which is pronounced in Hebrew _Yezua_, and is sometimes Grecized into _Jason_, was very common. After the Captivity it occurs quite frequently, and is interchanged with the name _Joshua_. Indeed Joshua, the successor of Moses, is called Jesus in the New Testament more than once,[196:10] though the meaning of the two names is not really quite the same. We know of a Jesus, son of Sirach, a writer of proverbs, whose collection is preserved among the apocryphal books of the Old Testament. The notorious _Barabbas_[197:1] or _son of Abbas_, was himself called Jesus. Among Paul's opponents we find a magician called Elymas, _the Son of Jesus_. Among the early Christians a certain Jesus, also called Justus, appears. Flavius Josephus mentions more than _ten_ distinct persons--priests, robbers, peasants, and others--who bore the name of Jesus, all of whom lived during the last century of the Jewish state.[197:2]
To return now to our theme--_crucified gods before the time of Jesus of Nazareth_.
The holy Father _Minucius Felix_, in his _Octavius_, written as late as A. D. 211, indignantly _resents the supposition that the sign of the cross should be considered exclusively as a Christian symbol_, and represents his advocate of the Christian argument as retorting on an infidel opponent. His words are:
"As for the adoration of _crosses_ which you (_Pagans_) object against us (_Christians_), I must tell you, _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 upon it_."[197:3]