Page 81 - Attractive Deception - The False Hope of the Hebrew Roots Movement

Although the statue of Sol Invictus no longer remains, it is apparent that Constantine intended to
draw attention to this deity, and to demonstrate his devotion to it. Constantine also had coins minted
with his own likeness on one side, and an image of Sol Invictus on the reverse.

Constantine and Sol Invictus

Coinage bearing the images of Constantine and Sol Invictus continued to be minted until 325 or 326
A.D., four or five years after his edict declaring Sunday to be the official day of rest and worship in
the Roman Empire. Constantine is often described as the first “Christian Emperor of Rome,” but any
relationship between Constantine and faith in Christ was feigned. Constantine refused to receive
Christian baptism throughout his life, only assenting to it in the year 337 A.D. as he lay on his
deathbed. Observing that Yahshua commanded the first act of obedience denoting one’s embrace of
Christian discipleship to be the act of baptism, we can discern that throughout his life Constantine
remained a pagan, being a devoted worshiper of the Sun.

Most claims of Constantine having converted to Christianity are derived from Eusebius’ writings.
Eusebius was a contemporary of the Emperor and met him on a number of occasions. He states in
his Life of Constantine, that the Emperor became a Christian when he called upon his god (likely Sol
Invictus) for help just before a great battle. The story relates that Constantine received a sign as he
saw a cross illuminated in the heavens and heard a voice saying, “In this sign conquer.” The year was
312 A.D.. Going to battle and conquering an enemy under the sign of a cross is not to be confused
with coming to conviction of one’s sins, and the knowledge of Yahshua as the Savior of the world.
Observing that Constantine for decades after this date demonstrated a continuing patronage of Sol
Invictus, the lie of his conversion is exposed.

Constantine did present himself as a benefactor and protector of the Christian faith, but his motives
were arguably political. Christianity was growing rapidly in the empire and as Pontifex Maximus,
Constantine wanted to retain the titular headship of all of the religions of Rome. By declaring
Christianity an official religion of Rome, he brought it under the authority of the College of Pontiffs,
of which he was the head. Constantine also provided the Christian bishops with a salary from the
coffers of the Roman government. In doing so he obtained prestige among, and influence over, the
leadership of the Christian church. This authority was exercised when in the year 325 A.D.
Constantine convened and attended a Council of Christian bishops which was held in the city of
Nicaea. Thus, for the first time, the Pontifex Maximus of Rome was asserting a leadership role
among the Christian church. The Christian bishops acquiesced to this act of usurpation, setting a
course by which the official state religion of Christianity in the Roman Empire would be thoroughly
suborned as it became leavened with the idolatrous trappings of the College of Pontiffs.

So complete would be the corruption of Christianity in Rome after it received the investiture of
imperial authority that in ensuing centuries the Pope’s of Rome, bearing the mantle of Pontifex
Maximus, would outlaw the reading of the Bible by the common man, and become the chief