About fifty of the Israelite-Jewish names of the Messiah were applied to the New-World Messiah. In Mesoamerica, as in the Near East, He was the God of the Sky and Earth, God of Abraham and Jacob, Great Lord, Yohualli, Sovereign Lord, Father of Life, God of Rains, Lord of the Green Earth, Creator, Son of God, the Wonderful King. The virgin-born and crucified Man-God, Itzamna-Quetzalcoatl, was symbolized by the cross, the serpent, the quetzal bird, the Tree of Life, fire, the hand, the shepherd's staff, Venus -- the Morning Star -- and other appropriate reminders of the Creator Life-God. These symbols preceded the earthly ministry of Jesus by many centuries, going back to "the beginning." [Bruce W. Warren and Thomas Stuart Ferguson, The Messiah in Ancient America, p. 22]