The Maltese Cross occurred as a religious symbol as early as the Jemdet Nasr period (~2900 BC) in precisely the form in which it is met with in Christian art.
Although the later Christians would accept this ancient design as a symbol of the cross, its representation of the radiance of the human spirit was recognized by the Sumerians 3000 years before Jesus taught about the Holy Spirit. The Sumerians could radiate and perceive their personal auras so it was not a great leap of faith to realize that their gods were similarly endowed.
As the ancient people knew, the very most important of the Eight Essentials of Life is air to breathe. Without air, men die in only a few minutes. The gods, themselves, as living gods, obviously also
had to breathe. So, the most important of all the gods was the god of the air, the god of the living breath, the god whose breath permeated the Universe and gave life to gods and men.
From the earliest records, Enlil is known as “the father of the gods,” “the king of heaven and earth,” “the king of all the lands.” Kings and rulers boasted that it was Enlil who had given them the kingship of the land,
who had made the land prosperous for them, who had given them all the lands to conquer by his strength. It was Enlil who pronounced the king’s name and gave him his scepter and looked upon him with a favorable eye. When we analyze the hymns and myths, we find Enlil glorified as a most friendly, fatherly deity who watched over the safety and well-being of all humans and particularly, of course, over the inhabitants of Sumeria.
The deep veneration of the Sumerians for the god Enlil and his temple, the Ekur in Nippur, can be sensed in a hymn which reads in part as follows:
“Enlil, whose command is far-reaching, whose word is holy, the lord whose pronouncement is unchangeable, who forever decrees destinies, whose lifted eye scans the lands, whose lifted beam searches the heart of all the lands; Enlil who sits broadly on the white dais, on the lofty dais, who perfects the decrees of power, lordship, and princeship. The earth-gods bow down in fear before him. The heaven-gods humble themselves before him …..“The city (Nippur), its appearance is fearsome and awesome. The unrighteous, evil oppressor, . . . , the informer, the arrogant, the agreement-violator, He does
not tolerate their evil in the city. The great net… He does not let the wicked and evil-doer escape its meshes.”
Such goodness and positive Virtue among the Sumerians belies the slanders and imprecations of the lying rabbis toward these ancient peoples.
The Sumerians valued the righteous, the good, the trustworthy, the humble, and the honest. And they abhorred the wicked and the evil-doer. Remember this because it has vital importance to this history. The Sumerians were a holy and virtuous people.
The gods preferred the ethical and moral over the unethical and immoral, according to the Sumerian sages. Practically all the major deities of the Sumerian pantheon are extolled in their hymns as lovers of the good and the just, of truth and righteousness. Indeed, there were several deities who had the supervision of the moral order as their main function: for example, the sun-god, Utu (who was later named Shamash).
Another deity, the Lagash goddess named Nanshe, also played a significant role in the sphere of man’s ethical and moral conduct. She is described in one of her hymns as the goddess“…Who knows the orphan, who knows the widow, knows the oppression of man over man, is the orphan’s mother, Nanshe, who cares for the widow. Who seeks out justice for the poorest. The queen brings the refugee to her lap, finds shelter for the weak.”