David Icke - The Robots' Rebellion - The Story of the Spiritual Renaissance (1994)

75 humans discovered that by rubbing two sticks together you can make fire. They believed that fire was a god and two crossed sticks were seen as sacred. The cross can be found on ancient graves and it was a religious symbol in Egypt, Assyria, Persia, India, Mexico and Scandinavia, long before Christianity. The Egyptians saw their cross, or crux ansata, as symbolic of salvation and eternal life, and our old friends the Mithraists marked the foreheads of the newly initiated with the sign of the cross. Ancient stories also describe how human sacrifices were bound to a cross and anointed with oil, so they would burn better on the altar. From such bleak traditions has Christianity come.

Constantine was never a Christian as such and he only agreed to be baptised on his death bed, no doubt as a bit of insurance. He worshipped both Jesus and the Greek god, Apollo, and he remained the head of the Pagan Church as Pontifex Maximus. But he gave Christianity the same status as the others and made substantial donations to its cause. Significantly he allowed the Church to receive legacies which had been banned up to this point and from here the Christian Church would begin to accumulate fantastic wealth as people tried to buy a place in heaven. Constantine’s efforts to increase the Christian ranks led to bribes for the poor if they became Christians, and the offer of good jobs to wealthy Pagans who converted to the faith.

Constantine became concerned when disputes began to erupt between different Christian beliefs. A churchman called Anus in Alexandria questioned the idea that Jesus was the same as God. How could a son be the same as his father and had notJehovah said that only he was God? When the Bishop of Alexandria, appropriately named Alexander, was preaching about the trinity of father, son, and holy spirit, Anus publicly questioned him. You may not think it important in the great tapestry of life to decide ifJesus was only a vehicle for God or part of three gods in one, but it now became the question that had to be decided. Anus left Alexandria for Palestine in fear of his life and two factions emerged. Neither would give way and this difference was being ridiculed throughout the Empire by the non-believers and was no doubt fuelled by the Brotherhood.

Constantine had wanted, at least in part for political reasons, to make Christianity the state religion, but he could not do this unless the disputes were settled.

He called together the bishops at Nicaea which is now Iznik in Turkey where he had a palace. At their first meeting in June 325 no